Social Capital Management Challenges in Malaysia

The main objective in this chapter is to understand the challenges of Social Capital Management in Malaysia. In the same time will also explore how social capital able affect Malaysian firms to be successful in international business with the global market's environment, there is full of uncertainty impact that may affect the entrepreneur's international performance. At the end of this chapter able to have an idea how to handle social capital and outcome all challenges. Not just so, in the chapter enable managers to discover more about Malaysian culture, value and firm behavior. Social capital might not a common term that can be found in business area. In this chapter we will discuss further more in the term of social capital.

Operational Structure of Multinational Enterprises in Africa

The operational structures of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in Africa, a developing and emerging economy do not necessarily differ from those of the developed or even Less Developed Economies (LDEs) except in few areas such as size and capital outlay. Meanwhile, both MNEs of African origin and those which originate from outside Africa do have salient attributes: they have many foreign affiliates or subsidiaries in foreign countries; they operate in a wide variety of countries around the globe; the proportion of assets, revenues, or profits is high; their employees, stockholders, owners, and managers are from many different countries; and they are involved in much more than merely establishing sales office, but incorporate a full range of manufacturing, research and development activities. This chapter examined operational structures of MNEs with focus on meaning, attributes, financing, exchange rate risk and international financial investment, strategies for improved financing and outlay of MNEs in selected African countries.

Managing National Competitive Disadvantages

There are a number of national competitive disadvantages multinational firms in Thailand face, but these disadvantages do not create insurmountable barriers. The national competitive disadvantages found in Thailand include a national brand which is not associated with advanced technology and a lack of an innovative national environment. At the strategic level, foreign multinationals can often overcome these disadvantages by using competitive advantages coming from their country of origin while local multinationals can select to operate in more mature industries or through positioning into segments where the national competitive disadvantages do not create significant barriers to success.

Chinese Wisdom, World Quality

The typical feature of emergent economies is a slow, apparent transformation from being predominantly a home base of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to becoming more home markets for various firms that expand internationally. In this aspect, China differs from its Asian forerunners. Without question, the most rapid development in recent decades within East Asia and the global economy as a whole is the (re-)emergence of China. While most studies on growth strategies for multinational corporations from emerging economies come from the perspective of economic strategies in international business, this study offers a novel perspective by using visual semiotics as a framework of study and analysis of data. It uses theories of social semiotics borne of the traditions of linguistics to conduct a systematic analysis of the representations of China's desire to go global with their automobile industry. The company in focus is China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely) in the years between 2007 to 2011, just prior to an after its acquisition of Volvo Car Corporation (VCC).

Exploring the Social Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Institutional Change

Despite the vast and growing literature on the economic impact of foreign direct investment (FDI), its social significance is somewhat a neglected issue. Focusing on Russia, this chapter examines the effect of FDI and (formal) institutions (proxied, alternatively, by the [1] accumulated stock of small and medium sized firms or SMEs and [2] number of economic crimes per 100,000 population or corruption) on (informal) institutional change (proxied by the change in the number of violent and property crimes per 100,000 population). The empirical findings provide robust support for a significantly positive direct impact of SMEs, whilst observing a significantly negative effect of corruption and either significantly positive impact of FDI or insignificant effect of multinational firms in this context.

On the Relationship between Informal and Formal Institutions, Foreign Direct Investment, and Innovation in Emerging Markets

This chapter examines innovation in socio-institutional environments of three largest and most diverse emerging markets: Russia, India and China over the period 1990-2014. It considers formal (proxied by corruption) and informal (proxied by trust) institutions and non-linear forces. It also examines the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in (the likelihood of) fostering innovation and of two research and development (R&D) inputs: R&D expenditures and personnel. A significantly positive direct effect of trust and a negative direct effect of corruption are confirmed, whilst there is a significant non-linear decreasing relationship with trust and increasing relationship with corruption. Interestingly, FDI and R&D expenditures are found to decrease innovation, whilst R&D personnel increase innovation output across the sample.

Ethical and Social Challenges

Globalization has been a factor that has brought countries closer worldwide, and Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are eager to look for new market opportunities in developing countries. This chapter analyzes the implementation of MNEs' global ethical principles in business into local moral standards of societies from developing countries. The author will discuss, using current scenarios, how principles of both moral relativism and moral absolutism can provide a profitable or punishable opportunity within developing countries when MNEs operate accordingly, or not, to ethical decision making processes in business. Additionally, the chapter proposes how MNEs' managers can discover the limits of moral free space, to distinguish a moral value in tension with their own from one that is intolerable. At the end, it is expected that MNEs' managers can apply ethical decision making in business by clearly perceiving and understanding their corporate culture in a developing country society.

Operational Approaches in Organizational Structure

This chapter analyzes the challenge of organizational setup in developing countries faced by MNEs. In doing so the chapter focuses on different types of structural options available for MNEs and studies factors influencing the decision of how to structure the MNE in developing countries. In essence, the chapter presents a list of structural options for MNEs to choose from according to their needs, contextual situations and strategic direction. The factors influencing the decision to structure the company are general factors, management orientations, corporate culture, information and communication technologies, strategy and learning organizations. Finally, the chapter forwards some essential recommendations for MNEs to follow when deciding about which organizational structure is relatively more suitable than others while operating in developing countries.

Strategic Options for MNEs Operating in Emerging Markets

This chapter outlines some of the basic opportunities, conditions, and strategic options for firms operating in emerging markets. Increasing FDI figures show that emerging markets offer many opportunities for foreign investors, but also pose specific challenges for doing business. Some factors are more abundant and less expensive, especially low to medium-skilled labor and natural resources, while sophisticated services are more difficult to obtain. A specific characteristic of emerging markets is the lack of business-enabling intermediaries. Therefore, foreign MNEs frequently need to fulfill tasks that are not within their range of activities in their home countries. Additionally, many governments in emerging economies act slowly and erratically; and laws are often not enforced systematically. In this context, foreign MNEs can choose between acquiring a local company, partnering up, or going it alone. The chapter looks at the pros and cons of these modes of internationalization and presents some concluding comments on the flexibility required by working under such conditions.

MNEs Management Strategies in Developing Countries

Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operating in emerging or developing countries face a variety of complex and multifaceted challenges categorized into two broader spheres: conventional and contemporary. Conventional challenges are market forces (i.e., demand, supply, prices), industrial trends (structure, degree of competition, bases of competition) and national environment (i.e., political, economic, cultural and legal). Contemporary challenges include growth paths, strategic direction, new management styles, risk management, corporate social responsibility and new environmental dynamics in the context of the emerging global dynamics. The real challenge for MNEs therefore, is to achieve sustainable growth and profitability and facing effectively all these multi-faceted challenges simultaneously.