Exploring the antecedents of industry globalization: a longitudinal investigation

PurposeThere is considerable variation in the extent of globalization across industries. The authors attempt to identify the structural conditions of the industry that lead to these variations.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of 33 manufacturing industries over the nine-year period from 2007 to 2016, the authors test for antecedents of industry globalization.FindingsThe authors find that industry globalization is positively affected by medium levels of barriers to entry, industry competition, industry assistance, low and mediums levels of capital intensity, industry concentration and industry regulation and negatively affected by low levels of technological change and industry assistance. In addition, the life cycle stage of the industry has an impact on the level of globalization with the growth stage having the highest level of globalization.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the major limitation of the paper is that the authors rely entirely on trade data to measure the level of industry globalization. The authors did not have a choice because foreign direct investment (FDI) data are available only at the country level. Second, given that globalization can occur at the country, industry and firm levels, the focus on industry-level structural characteristics alone may be seen as a limitation.Practical implicationsThe results of the study can provide guidance to practicing managers to apply industry analysis for predicting the potential for and direction of globalization of their industries. This will enable them to formulate appropriate strategies to cope with global competition.Social implicationsThe study has important public policy implications. National governments have many levers at their command that can be used to influence the structural characteristics of industries, such as industry regulation, industry assistance and industry concentration. They can selectively use these levers to either facilitate or impede globalization.Originality/valueMuch of the empirical focus of prior research on globalization has been on countries, rather than industries, as the unit of analysis. There is clearly variation in the extent of globalization across industries with some industries highly integrated while others remain primarily local or regional. Based on a novel approach to measure the extent of globalization at the industry level, the authors identify its antecedents. The value of the paper lies in the fact that the analysis of 33 manufacturing industries over a ten-year period shows that the structural characteristics of the industries drive their extent of globalization.

How regulatory changes are driven by a need for control in reputational scandals: a case study in the German insurance industry

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that evolve during reputational scandals and lead to changes in industry regulation. It explores the processes by which a demand for external industry regulation evolves, also addressing the consequences of firms’ competitive behaviors which lead to substantial misbehavior and the destruction of reputational capital. The authors are interested in whether and how regulatory activities – in the case analyzed here, changes in insurance regulation regarding sales commissions for insurance brokers – are used as a costly, external behavioral control mechanism (third-loop learning) to terminate a reputational scandal that cannot be stopped by internal controls at a firm level (first-loop and second-loop learning) anymore. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores a real-life case in the German insurance industry that peaked in 2012 and has been well documented by broad media coverage, complemented by interviews with leading industry representatives. Using causal process tracing as a methodology, the authors study the factors in the case that led to an industry scandal. The authors further analyze why the insurance firms involved were not able to limit the scandal’s impact by internally controlling their behaviors, but had to call for external regulation, thus imposing costly restrictions on sales and contract processes. To identify the mechanisms underlying this result, theories from the fields of economics (game theory) and sociology (vicious cycle of bureaucracies), as well as organizational learning theory, are used. Findings The authors find that individual rationality does not suffice to prevent insurance firms from scandalous business practices, e.g. via implementing appropriate internal behavioral control measures within their organizations. If, as a result, misbehavior leads to reputational scandals, and the destruction of reputational capital spills over to the whole industry, a vicious cycle is set in motion which can be terminated by regulation as an externally enforced control mechanism. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the analysis of a single case study, combining published materials, e.g. broad media coverage, with interviews from representatives of the insurance industry. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms that have been identified can be used in other case studies as well. Practical implications The paper shows that if firms want to avoid increasing regulation, they must implement strong reputational risk management (RRM) to counteract short-term profit pressure and to avoid restrictive regulation imposed on the industry as a whole. Furthermore, it sheds light on the relevance of spillover effects for RRM, as not only employee behavior within an organization might lead to the destruction of reputational capital but also that from other firms, e.g. from elsewhere within an industry. Originality/value The paper contributes by emphasizing a direct causal link between corporate scandals, loss of reputation and regulatory change within the insurance industry. Furthermore, the paper contributes by combining economic theories with organizational theories to understand real-life phenomena.

Evaluation of good manufacturing practices (GMPs) in traditional fish cracker home industries in Pangkahkulon-Gresik, East Java, Indonesia

Fish crackers are one of the very popular snacks in Indonesia. The production processed of this snack, which starts from handling of raw materials to packaging, must be in accordance with food safety that has been determined by the government through the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) in 5 fish cracker home industries in Pangkahkulon Village, Ujungpangkah, Gresik District. The evaluation method used is based on the Indonesia Minister of Industry Regulation No.75/M-Ind/Per/7/2010 and regulation of the head of BPOM No. HK03.1.23.04.12.2200 of 2012, both was concerning the procedures for Inspection of Home Industry Food Production Facilities. The results indicate that the home industry has not implemented GMPs in accordance with BPOM regulations so that the five SMEs can be categorized at the lowest level (level IV). Some critical findings include the absence of closed waste bins, animals and pets that roam around the production site, do not have a record of the production process and do not have a label that shows the list of ingredients used along with the nutritional value available.

“Free libraries for the free people”: How mass-literature “shadow” libraries circumvent digital barriers and redefine legality in contemporary Russia

Shadow mass-literature online libraries in Russia developed during the early Post-Soviet years. They are a phenomenon rooted in both the practice of circumventing constraints caused by state censorship, and a book production process of insufficient quality. Since the fall of the USSR, Russian legislation has aligned itself with international standards, adopting their strictest instantiation. In 2013, “anti-piracy” legislation made “information intermediaries” responsible for illegal content, introduced an “eternal” blocking of sites, made pre-trial negotiations more difficult. Successive amendments have sought to respond to the circumvention tactics developed by shadow libraries. In this context, for a library which is not part of the book market, remaining in the legal realm means freezing its own content or becoming a self-publishing platform. Libraries that become illegal have to ensure the sustainability and growth of their collections by multiplying their dissemination means, to provide personal security to administrators through a “safe” geographical location or strict anonymity, and to guarantee an access to their collections on the Russian Federation territory through inventive circumvention techniques. They leave the public struggle against state and industry regulation of the Internet to digital rights advocates, and promote a particular vision of “freedom” anchored in the mastery of technical tools and in uncensored cultural practices.

DOMESTIC COMPONENT LEVEL ASSESSMENT FOR A SALT FACTORY AND A SALT PRODUCTION

The TKDN (Domestic Component Level) assessment of goods and services is a method to determine local manufacturers/industrie’s capability to create quality products internationally standardized. This study assessed the salt factory's TKDN to increase the NaCl content, based on cost-based analysis stipulated at the Minister Industry Regulation No.16/M-IND/PER/2/2011. Meanwhile, the TKDN of salt production was assessed based on process-based analysis stipulated in Minister Industry Regulation No.16/2020. According to the cost-based analysis results, the goods and services at the pilot project stage had the TKDN value of 27.4%. However, due to an increase in the number of main domestic components at the commercial stage, this value increased to 70.9%. Meanwhile, according to the processed-based analysis results, the salt production had the same processes at the pilot project stage and commercial stages. The TKDN value of 85.5% was obtained for the two stages. The value is relatively high because the raw material is produced locally with the local labor and used work tools owned by the local industry. The cost-based analysis was found to be highly dependent on the equipment component’s origin, while the process-based analysis depends on the origin of labor, works tool, and material owner. Keywords: domestic component level; process-based analysis; cost-based analysis; salt factory; salt product.

Sex Worker Health Outcomes in High-Income Countries of Varied Regulatory Environments: A Systematic Review

There is significant debate regarding the regulation of the sex industry, with a complex range of cultural, political and social factors influencing regulatory models which vary considerably between and within countries. This systematic review examined the available evidence on the relationship between different approaches to sex industry regulation in high-income countries, and associated effects on sex worker health status. Objectives included identification of sex worker health outcomes, including sexual health, substance use and experience of stigma and violence. A search was performed electronically in eight scholarly databases which yielded 95 articles which met the criteria for inclusion. Findings suggested that sex workers in legalised and decriminalized countries demonstrated greater health outcomes, including awareness of health conditions and risk factors.

Game Analysis of the Driving Modes in the Supply Chain Management Regarding Credit System Construction

This paper analyzes effort levels of supervisors, the manufacturers association and the administrative supervision department, and manufacturer in a supply chain management regarding credit system (CS) construction based on two different driving modes using game theory. A whole CS construction, in a supply chain management system, can be generally divided into two driving modes, industry regulation (IR), and administrative supervision (AS). The authors firstly establish payoff functions based on traditional income function and marginal effort-cost function. And then they analyze strategic equilibriums of the supervisors and the manufacturers based on their decision roles in the two modes. After that, they make comparisons on equilibrium states between IR and AS. From the results, they find that strategic equilibriums in AS construction is not necessarily better than those in IR construction. These results can also provide strategic help for CS construction in supply chain management when considering better combination between IR and AS.