Assessing the Financial Vulnerability of Emerging Markets

The consequences of the recent financial crises during the last two decades showed how important it is to monitor financial performance and try to predict a coming crisis. In an effort to predict a coming crisis, the authors calculate a vulnerability index based on a number of financial and economic indicators. This chapter analyzes the financial vulnerability of sixteen emerging countries as these countries are more vulnerable to financial fluctuations. The findings show that Peru, Russia, Indonesia, and Thailand are less vulnerable to a crisis, whereas, South Africa, Turkey, India, Egypt, and Hungary are more vulnerable to a crisis.

The Challenge of International Market Segmentation in Emerging Markets

Increasing paradoxical effects of globalization resulted in the increased homogenization and heterogenization of international markets. Globalization with its varying effects also increased the significance of international market segmentation over the last few decades. Despite the increased presence and usage of international market segmentation, in recent times, the rise of emerging markets have challenged the concepts and methods of international market segmentation. In order to address key issues of international market segmentation in emerging markets, this study briefly examined and assessed foremost conceptual and methodological issues of international market segmentation in emerging markets. Suggestions and future research directions are also provided.

What's in a Game?

Much has been written about e-government within a growing stream of literature on ICT for development, generating countervailing perspectives where optimistic, technocratic approaches are countered by far more sceptical standpoints on technological innovation. This body of work is, however, not without its limitations: a large proportion is anecdotal in its style and overly deterministic in its logic, with far less being empirical, and there is a tendency for models offered up by scholarly research to neglect the actual attitudes, choices, and behaviour of the wide array of actors involved in the implementation and use of new technology in real organisations. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of the Ecology of Games framework and the Design-Actuality Gap model, this chapter focuses on the conception and implementation of an electronic property tax collection system in Bangalore (India) between 1998 and 2008. The work contributes to not just an understanding of the role of ICTs in public administrative reform, but also towards an emerging body of research that is critical of managerial rationalism for an organization as a whole, and which is sensitive to an ecology of actors, choices, and motivations within the organisation.

Communication (Intercultural and Multicultural) at Play for Cross Cultural Management within Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

With the globalization of economy, multinational corporations (MNCs) and joint ventures are expanding across the world, and China's vast market is attracting more foreign enterprises. Hence, misunderstanding, or even conflicts in employees' communication and cooperation in these cross-cultural enterprises exist more often than not. Compared with the general management activities, cross-cultural communication is more difficult than the general communication. Therefore, how to overcome the barriers in cross-cultural communication and how to achieve effective communication among employees is a common problem of all cross-cultural aMNCs. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is on communication, intercultural communication and multicultural communication in MNCs. The chapter will cover the meaning of multinational corporations, as well as language and diversity, and the roles that language and diversity play in MNCs. The chapter will conclude with factors to be sensitive about when becoming effective cross cultural managers for MNCs.

Business Management Education in Reality

In this chapter, the perception of the quality of business education of different stakeholders in business education is discussed using some real-life stories and opinions. In general, students, professors, business education administrators, and employers look happy with the current business education programs and services provided by business schools. However, these stakeholders would like to do more on developing analytical, quantitative, and operational skills in students because these are the skills they will need immediately after graduation and in the labor market. The chapter suggests that it is useful and advisable for the academic institutions to have an effective information intelligence system in place in order to collect strategic academic information from different stakeholders in education. Such information can and will be used in designing academic programs and services to serve the emerging demands and interests of those stakeholders.

Institutional Reform and Export Competitiveness of Central and Eastern European Economies

Following their political and economic independence in 1989, a group of ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) embarked on major institutional reforms to modernise their economies in order to become an integral part of the global economy. This chapter provides an overview of the main institutional reforms undertaken in the CEEs and their effects on export competitiveness. The chapter focuses on selected meso and macro institutional reforms, namely price liberalisation, competition policy, trade and foreign exchange, privatisation, and corporate governance. The results show that institutional reforms in the CEEs were rapid and generally successful. All CEEs became members of the European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Institutional reforms contributed significantly to improved efficiency and growth in the export sector. The results also suggest that further reforms are needed to improve competition policy and corporate governance, both of which are still below the standards found in Western industrialised countries.

Commitment-Trust Dynamics in the Internationalization Process

This chapter describes the market entry process of Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) into the Brazilian. This chapter explores an under-researched strand in the studies of internationalization of SMEs, namely how trust and commitment leveraged the relationship orientation of the Portuguese SME in entering into the Brazilian market. Through a Case Study the chapter explores the concept of relationship orientation, trust and commitment to analyze how a Portuguese SME managed to turn around a difficult situation transforming its associates in business partners and prevented a process of desinternationalization.

A Case Study on Cross-Cultural Differences

Following the globalization trend in the world, Turkey and Belgium have become good business partners in the international arena. Belgium, with its geographically and politically critical location and high Turkish population has been a very attractive European country for Turkish investors. However, there are still Turkish companies leaving Belgium possibly due to adaptation problems to business culture in Belgium. In this chapter, cultural differences between Belgium and Turkey are investigated using qualitative research method with a single company case study. The results of the study indicate that differences between Turkish and Belgian cultures are mainly due to language, communication and relationship building styles, different level of individualism, and future orientation.

A Structurationist Analysis of Differing Policies Oriented to the Pharmaceutical Industry

This chapter has two purposes closely related to each other. The first one is to analyze why countries that have similar characteristics and benefits to each other develop different strategies in terms of rules that regulate the intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical industry. The second one is to analyze the factors that determine active participation in global governance processes with regards to the intellectual property rights of countries that are developing, specifically in the pharmaceutical industry. The study used the structurationist approach developed by John M. Hobson, and findings were tested by comparing the examples of two countries: Turkey and Brazil.

A Comparison of the Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Entrepreneurs in Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing and Developed Countries

“Entrepreneurial spirit has been described as the most important economic development stimulus in recent decades” (Chalhoub, 2011, p. 67). In the early 1990s it was estimated that small to medium sized enterprises SMEs employed 22% of the adult population in developing countries and the role of SMEs is viewed as increasingly important in developing countries because of their capacity to create jobs (Okello-Obura, Minishi-Majanja, Cleote, & Ikoja-Odongo, 2007, p. 369). According to Lingelback, de la Viña and Asel (2005), even though entrepreneurship has been linked to wealth and poverty in developing countries and has played an important role in growth and poverty alleviation, it is the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon in the world today. Examining how the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs from developing countries may differ from entrepreneurs in developed countries is important as it has been suggested that “entrepreneurship in developing countries is distinctive from that practice in developed countries and that understanding these distinctions is critical to private sector development in developing countries” (Lingelback, de la Vina, & Asel, 2005, p. 2). A review of the studies produced thus serves as a beginning for designing information packages and information services that can benefit a global population. Consequently, this chapter targets the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs revealed in studies associated with SMEs in both developed and developing countries and offers conclusions and recommendations for meeting the information needs of this population.