Building professional discourse in emerging markets: Language, context and the challenge of sensemaking

Using ethnographic evidence from the former Soviet republics, this article examines a relatively new and mainly unobserved in the International Business (IB) literature phenomenon of communication disengagement that manifests itself in many emerging markets. We link it to the deficiencies of the local professional business discourse rooted in language limitations reflecting lack of experience with the market economy. This hampers cognitive coherence between foreign and local business entities, adding to the liability of foreignness as certain instances of professional experience fail to find adequate linguistic expression, and complicates cross-cultural adjustments causing multi-national companies (MNCs) financial losses. We contribute to the IB literature by examining cross-border semantic sensemaking through a retrospectively constructed observational study. We argue that a relative inadequacy of the national professional idiom is likely to remain a feature of business environment in post-communist economies for some time and therefore should be factored into business strategies of MNCs. Consequently, we recommend including discursive hazards in the risk evaluation of international projects

The public image of the contemporary Russian police : impact of personal experiences of policing, wider social implications and the potential for change

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the perception of the police by members of the public in post‐Soviet Russia following their personal experiences of policing, identify broader social implications of the contemporary public image of the Russian police and assess the potential for changing the current situation. Design/methodology/approach – The discussion is conducted on the basis of findings derived from an empirical study carried out by the author which involved qualitative interviews with members of the public who had personal experiences of policing, and with police officers. Findings – Findings indicate a very negative perception of the police by members of the public. Personal experiences of police misconduct appear to affect negatively citizens' general evaluations of the entire institution. Research limitations/implications – The study was small, and only those who have had personal encounters with the police were interviewed, so the findings should not be treated as necessarily representing attitudes of the population in general. Practical implications – The negative public image of the police revealed by this study has numerous dangerous consequences: people feel insecure and unprotected, lose trust towards legal authorities and refuse to cooperate with the police. Social implications – Distrust towards the police generates a situation where citizens have to be self‐reliant in protecting themselves against crime. Many of the strategies adopted towards this end are problematic. Originality/value – The paper presents a unique insight into public perceptions of the Russian police. It may suggest implications for policy and practice that could help enhance support of citizens for the police, or at least prevent further deterioration of the existing situation

The Impact of Socialist Imprinting and Search for Knowledge on Resource Change: An Empirical Study of Firms in Lithuania

In this paper we examine how firms change their resources in response to exogenous shocks in their business environment. Building on core ideas from the literatures on organizational imprinting and firm resources, we suggest that founding conditions differentially imprint firm resources. These initial imprinting differentials in turn influence the search for knowledge required to adapt or change firm resources in the face of external change in their business environment. We also suggest that the level of imprinting and the location of search independently and jointly influence the success with which firms are able to change their resources. We use survey-based data from a set of firms in Central Europe that experienced an exogenous shock in 1989-1991 to test our arguments. We develop a measure of pre-shock imprinting (called socialist imprinting) on resources and use it to predict where firms will search for knowledge to undertake change in the post-shock period and how successful that change will be. We find that the level of socialist imprinting influences the search location for knowledge to change key resources and activities following the shock. In terms of the success of change undertaken, we see that distant search for knowledge is positively linked to it. We also observe that the level of imprinting and search location jointly impact the success of change; for resources with higher socialist imprinting, distant search was more effective than local search. This research makes three important contributions in the context of existing research on organizational imprinting and firm level change. One, it focuses on firm-level resources to examine the impact of imprinting. Two, we examine how differences in resource level imprinting influence the search for new knowledge required to transform these resources. Three, we demonstrate that the interaction between the level of imprinting and the nature of search has important influences on firm performance. Our findings also provide insights to practitioners and policy makers who deal with firms in transitional economies. Practitioners can better understand how to undertake firm level change more effectively in the context of sudden exogenous shock. For policy makers, both of domestic and international institutions, understanding the change process can help formulate assistance programs more effectively.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39830/3/wp446.pd

Forging success : Soviet managers and accounting fraud, 1943 to 1962

Attempting to satisfy their political masters in a target-driven culture, Soviet managers had to optimize on many margins simultaneously. One of these was the margin of truthfulness. False accounting for the value of production was apparently widespread in some branches of the economy and at some periods of time. A feature of accounting fraud was that cases commonly involved the aggravating element of conspiracy. The paper provides new evidence on the nature and extent of accounting fraud; the scale and optimal size of conspiratorial networks; the authorities’ willingness to penalize it and the political and social factors that secured leniency; and inefficiency in the socialist market where managers competed for political credit

IMC customer-based perception: strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour

Last decades Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) have been mainly analysed from a managerial perspective, overlooking the customer opinion. Thus, this research studies IMC customer-based perception, its strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour (satisfaction, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repurchase intention), from a multi-country perspective. The structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis are based on the customers´ survey data in Belarus and Spain. The results suggest that technology orientation positively affects IMC, and, customer orientation does not. IMC positively affects customer satisfaction, which in turn positively impacts on WOM and repurchase intention. WOM does not influence on repurchase intention. IMC directly affects WOM and repurchase intention in Spain and does not in Belarus, which is the significant country difference

Unconventional research in USSR and Russia: short overview

This work briefly surveys unconventional research in Russia from the end of the 19th until the beginning of the 21th centuries in areas related to generation and detection of a 'high-penetrating' emission of non-biological origin. The overview is based on open scientific and journalistic materials. The unique character of this research and its history, originating from governmental programs of the USSR, is shown. Relations to modern studies on biological effects of weak electromagnetic emission, several areas of bioinformatics and theories of physical vacuum are discussed

Special Libraries, April 1962

Volume 53, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1962/1003/thumbnail.jp