Patent management and the globalization of firms: the case of Siemens (1890–1945)

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Yves Donzé ◽  
Shigehiro Nishimura
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Companies ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Second World ◽  
Patent Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how multinational enterprises have historically managed global patenting and to what extent the localization of patent management has supported the expansion of these enterprises. This study focuses on the electric appliance industry (one of the first industries to see the emergence of global companies) and consider the case of Siemens, a German multinational company, comparing it to General Electric (GE), an American company. Design/methodology/approach The work adopts a global business history approach. Taking GE’s global patent-management model, described by Nishimura (2004, 2009, 2016), as the benchmark, this study analyzed Siemens’ worldwide control of its intellectual property rights between 1890 and Second World War, using German, Japanese and American primary sources. Findings Patent management is a common means for firms to globalize and transfer technology internationally, but it can take various forms. While GE transferred patent management to its foreign subsidiaries (a process known as localization), Siemens kept worldwide patent management at its headquarters – except in Japan, where in time it transferred this activity to a joint venture. The transfer of production called for localization of patent management while focusing on exporting to other markets made it possible to keep patent management at headquarters. Originality/value Patents are usually a source for quantitative surveys. This paper uses them to discuss how multinational companies manage property rights globally. It is the first paper to address this issue by comparing two major actors in a similar industry.

scholarly journals Bandwidth lost: family planners and post-war television

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-668
Author(s):  
Jessica Borge
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Birth Control ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Archival Document ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Post War ◽  
Television Coverage

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how early planned PR efforts at the British Family Planning Association [FPA] resulted in an epoch-making television appearance in November 1955, tessellating with current methodological debates in the history of PR.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a qualitative, micro-history approach and original archival document research conducted at Wellcome Collection, London and the BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham, to reconstruct early PR activity at the FPA. It intercedes in debates on historiography, the diversification of the history of PR and the concepts of mediatization and advocacy in historical contexts.FindingsAttaining broadcast coverage for birth control issues was historically difficult and was made more so by Marie Stopes. The subject was commonly packaged into the less problematic issues of population and infertility. The FPA achieved explicit television coverage in 1955 after establishing a focussed PR plan to stage and exploit a silver jubilee event. This vindicated the FPA's mission, validated service users and created broadcast opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsResearch is limited by temporal scope (1870s–1950s), and reliance on document sources, footage of television programmes being unavailable. This paper has implications for the history of PR, contributing to the diversification of the field by suggesting an original approach to the intersection of public relations and social change.Originality/valueThis paper surfaces overlooked primary sources and is the first account of how birth control appeared as a topic on early British broadcast media.

Air Asia India: competing for air space in an emerging economy

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 516-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tulsi Jayakumar
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Emerging Economy ◽  
Competitive Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Specific

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the competitive landscape of emerging market economies (EMEs) and the implications of business models and strategies used by multinational enterprises (MNEs) to enter and operate in such landscapes. It does so by considering the aviation sector in an emerging economy – India, and by studying the strategies pursued by AirAsia India – the Indian joint venture of AirAsia Investment Limited and Tata Sons.. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows a case study approach. Secondary data sources from the library, company website and newspaper articles have been used to build a case that would encourage students to discuss and analyze the competitive strategies followed by MNEs in EMEs. Findings Emerging markets offer attractive investment opportunities to MNEs across several industries. However, their markets for intermediate goods and services possess imperfections. Competitiveness in such markets will require going beyond country-specific and firm-specific advantages. MNEs will need to integrate location-specific advantages with internalization advantages of these market imperfections to operate successfully in the complex environments of EMEs. A one-size-fits-all approach of transposing successful strategies from home markets will fail to create value. Practical implications MNEs, such as AirAsia, will need to develop participatory skills to leverage the location-specific-advantages of EMEs and reduce their own curse of foreignness to be able to succeed in EMEs. Originality/value This paper contributes to extant literature by studying the competitive strategies pursued by a global leader in an EME. The case of the “World’s Best Low-Cost Airline” – AirAsia’s India operations seeks to go beyond the Eclectic Paradigm and the country-specific and firm-specific advantages framework, to provide a location-internalization paradigm for operating in EMEs.

Global leadership development, strategic alignment and CEOs commitment

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 487-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Canals
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Global Leadership ◽  
Leadership Programs ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Global Leadership Development ◽  
Global Companies

Purpose – Global corporate strategy has moved faster than global leadership development in many companies. This outcome has created some leadership problems: global companies may not have enough leaders in their growth markets or leaders with the required global competencies in their headquarters. The purpose of this paper is to offer some concepts that may help companies tackle those problems. Design/methodology/approach – This paper has a conceptual basis. It draws on previous theoretical knowledge on global leadership development and the experience of some leadership programs in global companies. Findings – The first is that global leadership competencies should be based on the functions that global leaders need to perform and their specific context, not on some theoretical notions isolated from the business context. The second is the need for alignment of global leadership development with the firm's purpose and strategy. The third is that CEOs’ commitment is a key factor in making global leadership initiatives successful. Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper based on business experience. It needs to be complemented with additional empirical work. Practical implications – Global leadership development should be based on real global business functions. Global leadership development should be aligned with the firm's purpose and strategy and its success depends on CEOs’ commitment. Originality/value – The study of global capabilities needs to observe what happens in companies that have global leadership programs. Global leadership development takes place in specific organizations. This paper gets theory closer to the practice of global leadership development.

Market demand for sustainability in management education

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gitsham ◽  
Timothy S. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Senior Executives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Business Executives ◽  
Global Companies ◽  
Faculty And Administrators ◽  
Survey Responses

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the relevance of sustainability in management education through exploration of the needs and expectations of a key group of business schools’ stakeholders – senior executives of leading corporations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents findings from a survey regarding sustainability within management education returned by executives from a wide span of global companies. The study includes 194 survey responses by senior executives from companies that are signatories of the United Nations Global Compact. Findings – Results from a survey of executives from leading multinational enterprises reveal widespread recognition that sustainability issues are increasingly important for effective management, thus that managers must be appropriately trained for these emerging challenges. Survey results also indicate the kinds of skills and qualities seen as valuable by corporate leaders. Research limitations/implications – It is not possible to extrapolate from this study the aggregate sentiment of all senior business executives, but the sample of 194 respondents is significant. Practical implications – The expressed demand from business leaders provides context for business school faculty and administrators involved in the development of appropriately trained professionals. Originality/value – The study provides indication of demand from a significant subset of influential executives, providing support for the on-going progress of the integration of sustainability topics and training in the curricula of business and other fields.

A qualitative case study of MNE legitimacy

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Pavlovich ◽  
Paresha N Sinha ◽  
Mark Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Milk Powder ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Institutional Voids ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Scandal

Purpose – An international joint venture (IJV) helps multinational enterprises (MNEs) overcome the “liability of foreignness.” However, in the presence of institutional voids, MNE’s overreliance on the local partner can result in the MNE unwittingly becoming involved in a corporate scandal. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the causes, impacts and outcomes on the MNE’s legitimacy following a corporate scandal. Design/methodology/approach – Using secondary data, this paper presents a qualitative case study of the Fonterra-Sanlu milk-powder scandal in China. Findings – The paper identifies the institutional voids that contributed to the scandal. It also examines the effects of the scandal on the MNE’s legitimacies and evaluates the appropriateness of its actions in China during the formation, erosion and repair stages of its legitimacy. Research limitations/implications – It contributes to legitimacy literature by discussing the importance of MNE’s active commitment when entering the emerging market. It argues that the building of pragmatic legitimacy is not sufficient, and explains why attendance to moral obligations is part of building moral and cognitive legitimacy. Originality/value – This unique case study of a corporate scandal offers deep insights into how, what and why questions regarding how the three forms of legitimacy are necessary for improving IJV performance by MNEs operating in emerging economies. It particularly highlights the importance of moral legitimacy as a mechanism for overcoming institutional voids.

Experiencing historical empathy's humanizing lenses: adolescents' interpretative flights

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherri Colby
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
World War ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Historical Empathy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
Second World ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeDefined as perceiving the past via the lens of former peoples, historical empathy engenders rich cognitive and affective understandings. Drawing on Ricoeur's hermeneutics (1981, 2004), this paper departs from previous work on historical empathy by conceiving empathy as dialogically mediated by sociocultural and narrative perceptions.Design/methodology/approachThis hermeneutic phenomenology explores eight adolescents' engagements with primary sources from the Second World War.FindingsThis study reveals the power of empathy to draw the students into the past and to investigate sources. Alternately, the students struggled with fanciful elaborations and overidentifications with historical figures.Practical implicationsCultivating wise judgments begins with accepting the inherent link between students' historicity and historical empathy and then teaching students to wisely interpret.Originality/valueThis study broadens historical empathy's framework to include Ricoeur's hermeneutic philosophies of narrative and history.

The role of multinational enterprises in global valuation

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-23
Author(s):  
Tamir Agmon
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Global Sourcing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Growth Convergence ◽  
Convergence Process ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Global Companies

Purpose The research proposition of this paper is that multinational enterprises (MNEs) were important in the process of growth and divergence that took place in the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rate of growth of GDP per capita was unprecedented, but it was coupled with an increasing gap between the developed and the developing countries. MNEs are even more important in the growth and convergence process that started at the beginning of the twenty-first century where the gap is closing. Global sourcing is the strategy that has led to closing the gap while high growth continues. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on macroeconomics general equilibrium model in an imperfect market and on looking at the inventive process as the driving process of the development and the location of MNEs. Using a financial economics model of assets and liabilities, it is shown that MNEs affect the geopolitical distribution of income and wealth through expanding their liabilities. The methodology is a combination of applying economic model and using historical and current data to motivate the use of the model and to validate the models and the conclusions derived from them. Findings MNEs and major global companies before the name MNE was used were shaped by major macroeconomic processes like the inventive process and the same time they were the prime movers of the two major economic processes of the last 200 years: growth and divergence and growth and convergence. The ideas-led growth model shows why MNEs are becoming larger. As MNEs became bigger they start to import inputs through value maximizing strategy of global sourcing. This led to transfer of value to suppliers in emerging markets that grow over time and eventually it led to new MNEs from emerging markets large countries like China and from smaller countries in Asia and elsewhere. The growth convergence process and the resulting changes in the geopolitical distribution of MNEs is assisted by rapid changes in technology that reduces transactions cost. The continuation of rapid changes in transactions costs is likely to change the current structure, strategy and the location of MNEs and may reverse the growth convergence process once more. Originality/value The study begins with aggregate macroeconomic processes and relates them to the development of MNEs and in particular to the development of MNEs from emerging markets. It highlights the importance of global value chains and global sourcing in the process of growth and divergence and the turning of the “Wheel for Fortune” toward China and India as it has been prior to the sixteenth century.

A blueprint for succeeding despite uncertain global markets

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Zámborský
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Core Capabilities ◽  
Global Uncertainty

Purpose This paper aims to highlight the importance of developing capabilities to thrive amid global uncertainty. The study builds a framework to help managers assess uncertainty in the global business environment and develop capabilities to prosper amid uncertainty. In doing so, the paper explains three capabilities – sensing the context, driving the market and redesigning the business – providing examples to capture each capability and managerial implications. Design/methodology/approach The framework of this study is based on academic research in dynamic capabilities and the author’s scholarly study on global strategy. The paper develops managerial guidelines and illustrates those with practical examples of multinational enterprises to make the case for why managers need to develop the three core capabilities for thriving amid uncertainty to achieve competitive advantage. Findings This study identifies three core capabilities that organizations should build if they are to thrive amid global uncertainty, namely, sensing the context, driving the market and redesigning the business. The key practical guidelines to manage this process are provided, including a managerial tool with 10 steps to developing capabilities to thrive amid global uncertainty. Practical implications The framework allows for developing dynamic capabilities in a world of new uncertainties such as digital disruption and de-globalization. It offers key guidelines for the journey, thus enabling managers to steer their firms toward thriving in an uncertain global environment. Originality/value The augmented uncertainty of the global business environment presents new challenges. The value of this paper lies in the simplicity and practicality of the framework and its focus on the role of an uncertain global environment in developing dynamic capabilities.

Can’t take the heat? Climate and foreign subsidiary locations

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-67
Author(s):  
Amanda Budde-Sung ◽  
Tanya A. Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Location Choice ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Foreign Subsidiary ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to build upon climato-economic theory to investigate the issue of climate’s effect on foreign expansion and location choice. Design/methodology/approach This empirical paper looks at foreign subsidiary location through the lens of the climato-economic theory. To do this, the study uses a balanced data set, looking at foreign expansion before, during and after the global financial crisis of US multinational firms. A multilevel step-wise regression is used to look at climate, culture and economic effects on foreign location choice. Findings The findings suggest that US multinational enterprises tend to have fewer foreign subsidiaries in countries with extreme climates, and they prefer locations with warmer climates, avoiding locations with colder climates, although they gravitate toward locations with less sunshine. Climate emerges as an important factor in location choice, with greater weighting than other factors, including economic and cultural factors in times of economic calm, but the weightings of the factors change during times of economic crisis. Originality/value This paper contributes to the global business literature by extending the climate-economic theory to macro levels affecting the firm. The paper is the first to look specifically at how climate affects foreign subsidiary location.

What determines the adoption of employee empowerment practices by MNE subsidiaries in China?

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 871-894
Author(s):  
Yishuai Yin
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Employee Empowerment ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hrm Practices ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Mne Subsidiaries

Purpose This paper aims to explore how institutional factors determine the adoption of employee empowerment practices by multinational enterprises (MNEs) subsidiaries in China. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the effects of MNE subsidiaries’ external and internal institutional factors on the degree of employee empowerment practices adopted by these subsidiaries. Using hierarchical regression analysis, hypotheses were tested with a sample of 99 MNE subsidiaries operating in China. Findings The results show that both the informal institutions of the host country and the subsidiary’s characteristics play an important role in shaping the degree of empowerment practices adopted by MNE subsidiaries in China. Originality/value Employee empowerment practices have been increasingly used by MNEs to leverage human resources for organizational competitive advantage. Although a large body of work has studied a bundle of HRM practices as a whole adopted in MNE subsidiaries, there is a paucity of research on the specific empowerment practices in MNE subsidiaries. This research fills this important gap in the literature by investigating the institutional forces that influence the empowerment practices in MNE subsidiaries in China.

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