Portrait of an Odd-Eyed Cat: Cultural Crossing as a Trademark for a Dutch-Thai Strategic Alliance

This chapter attempts a step forward in seeking a richer understanding of the dynamics of strategic alliances, specifically when viewed from a cross-cultural perspective. We report selected materials from a study designed to build a theory of culture and learning in organizations based on observations of and open-ended interviews with Dutch and Thai employees working for four selected Dutch firms in Thailand. Here we present one of those cases, a Dutch-Thai joint venture that thrived by weaving together the many intricate cultural webs to achieve a unique pattern of partnership which, metaphorically speaking, became its indispensible trademark. The case illustrates how the three levels of culture – national, organizational, and professional cultures – could all interlace in a real world setting and serve as an instrumental force of success amidst tension in one particular cross-border strategic alliance. First, we adopt a thick descriptive style of case narration to present the case of a Dutch- Thai joint venture, Chuchawal-De Weger Internationaal (CDW), painting a portrait of its origin, evolution and characteristics. Next, we turn to elaborate on the particular issue of cultural crossing, its exact theorized properties, dimensions and implications. Finally, we relate the case of CDW to the proposed theory and conclude with a reflection on how this case and our interpretation of it illuminate the complex role culture can play in the dynamics of strategic alliances.cross-cultural management, culture, qualitative case study, strategic alliance, thick-description

The emergence of landscape architecture in different contexts: factors influencing the shaping of the profession in Australia and Indonesia

This study examines the contextual factors that shape landscape architecture as an emerging profession in Australia and Indonesia. The objective is to investigate the way landscape architects perceive their roles and responsibilities in ensuring sustainable landscape development in both countries. The current status and role of the profession among architecture and planning professions is assessed. This study seeks to uncover the contextual factors that relate to the contribution of the landscape architecture profession to the development process in two different national settings

Civil aviation safety in Indonesia

The aim of the research described in this thesis is to identify factors that contribute to incidents/accident in the Indonesian civil aviation industry. Three studies were undertaken. The first study comprised of an analysis of 97 official accident investigation reports, and was aimed at capturing the nature of the incidents/accidents. The key results are that Indonesia suffers a relatively high accident rate, with the most prevalent accident types being non-fatal Runways Excursions of jet aircraft at main airports, and Controlled Flight Into Terrain accidents in the highlands, these often being fatal. The second study implemented and analysed the results of a survey of 205 professional pilots currently flying in Indonesia, who have four different flight training backgrounds, being expatriate pilots flying for the Indonesian industry, Indonesian commercial pilots, Indonesian ex-military pilots and Australian pilots. The three pilot survey constructs (cockpit management attitude questionnaire/CMAQ, power distance index/PDI and approach and landing attitudes/ALA) are analysed to compare the four groups of pilots, and it is found that Indonesian national pilots from commercial and military backgrounds have a more cavalier and less consistent approach to safety than expatriate and Australian pilots. The last study comprised an analysis of interviews with 27 senior managers of the Indonesian aviation industry, including managers from regulatory bodies, air operators, training schools, the national transportation safety committee/NTSC and the national aviation weather agency. The manager surveys confirm that a substandard safety culture is believed to exist at all levels of management and agency, as well as in airline operations and training. The three following methods: descriptive, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and thematic analysis are applied for each of the study. To triangulate and discuss the core results of the studies, the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) conceptual model is applied, and the Indonesian system is found to have safety deficiencies at all levels including Organisational Influences, Unsafe Supervision, Preconditions of Unsafe Acts and Unsafe Acts. The combination of bad weather and relatively poor pilot training and operation appears to be prevalent

Has the Nigerian oil and gas local content development policy had any impact on the indigenisation of employment and job creation? A stakeholder analysis

In the early 2000s, the Federal Government of Nigeria introduced the oil and gas local content development (LCD) policy so as to develop in-country capacity and indigenous capabilities and participation. Yet, the literature on Nigeria’s LCD appraisal remains scant. Indeed, to the author’s knowledge, to date, no study has investigated the extent to which the policy has fostered indigenised employment and job creation. This PhD study aims to fill this gap by undertaking an initial attempt to appraise the extent to which the Nigerian LCD policy has had an impact on indigenous employment and job creation in the oil and gas industry. To this end, we adopt a stakeholder theory evaluative framework articulated around six criteria: i) value added; (ii) dynamism of HE curriculum vs industry demands; (iii) suitability and employability of graduates; (iv) ‘payment’ for LCD; (v) emergence of in-country entrepreneurs; (vi) domiciliation vs indigenisation. Following the identification and categorisation of the main stakeholders in the oil and gas industry (Government; International Oil and gas Companies; Indigenous operators; Multinational oil and gas service providers; Indigenous oil and gas service providers; EPC contractors and fabricators; and HE institutions), application of a full Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Actor Linkage Matrix (ALM) reveals that: • Most of the relationships present within the stakeholder network are uni- rather that bi-directional, with the latter being limited to the relationship between the government and International oil and gas companies (IOCs); • The IOCs emerge as the stakeholder group exhibiting global centrality within the network, indicating that this group pivotally determines the activities of the Nigerian oil and gas industry; • There exists a significant disjoint between HE institutions and other stakeholder groups within the network; • The ‘interconnectedness’ of the stakeholder network identified, as measured by the mean density index (59.5%), displays at best a moderate level of connectivity. Furthermore, evidence obtained by means of a mixed method inquiry approach that uses semi-structured interviews, documentary material and statistical data in relation to the criteria of the framework developed to evaluate the impact of the LCD policy on indigenous employment and job creation, points to the following findings: • Value added: Value has been added in various areas viz indigenous employment, contract and sub contract awards, domiciliation of OEM activities and international partnerships. However, considerable external support is still required thus making a case for extending the waiver window; • Dynamism of HE curriculum vs industry demands: Limited collaboration between academia and industry, hence HE curriculum is not in tandem with industry requirements (not fit for purpose); • Suitability and employability of graduates: Employees are lacking in core technical skills, but still generally suitable following additional training upon employment. Ascension to supervisory and managerial positions was mainly attributed to on-the-job experience acquired over time; • ‘Payment’ for LCD: This is a joint responsibility with all the stakeholders’ contribution to be seen as necessary yet singularly insufficient to pay for LCD. The government should realise that industry players are businesses which are profit driven and as such, be conscious of their responsibility to champion the cause of LCD as regulators; • Emergence of in-country’ entrepreneurs: LCD has led to the proliferation of indigenous oil and gas firms. Competitiveness and implementation of ISO standards is expected to resolve the issue of quality service and on-time delivery; • Domiciliation vs indigenisation: Both domiciliation and indigenisation of oil and gas services bear their usefulness in various respects. However, for domiciliation to work, basic amenities (power, water and access to good transportation) and security of lives and property should be put in place. Overall, these findings - which are obtained from the very first application of stakeholder analysis to LCD policy - make a significant contribution to scholars’ knowledge. Important implications and valuable recommendations for many stakeholders flow from the insights gained

A critical evaluation of the effectiveness of local content policy (LCP) and transparency practices in LCP implementation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

One of the aims of the Local Content Policy (LCP) is the economic development of Nigeria through the utilisation of local personnel and resources in the activities of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Many studies have investigated the LCP, but limited work has been undertaken in investigating the transparency practices involved in the implementation of the LCP in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The study critically evaluates the effectiveness of the LCP and the transparency practices associated with its implementation. A conceptual framework based on accountability was developed and employed in designing the research instrument. This framework was underpinned by the institutional theory, which links accountability discourse to regulatory institutions where organisations within a particular field are subject to pressures to exhibit legitimacy through socially and culturally authorised administrative routines that are intended to render accountability. The study employed a qualitative methodology and the data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with respondents from twenty-three indigenous oil and gas companies, regulatory bodies, international oil and gas companies and non-governmental organizations. The research findings demonstrate that the various LCP stakeholders views on the definition and purpose of the LCP differ significantly. These diverse opinions affect the way in which the LCP is perceived and implemented in the oil and gas industry. The study has been instrumental in revealing a number of positive effects the LCP has generated since its implementation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. For example, the LCP compelled IOCs to utilise local resources in their operations, resulting in the domestication of oil and gas activities. However, the findings also reveal that the LCP has been enforced despite the lack of local capacity and capability for its implementation. The findings, therefore, highlight a number of challenges associated with LCP implementation including: the lack of infrastructure; insufficient capital and manpower; absence of trust; and the lack of coordination between the regulatory agencies in the industry. The research findings also reveal that there are different levels of transparency in the implementation of LCP. Determination of the level of transparency in LCP implementation and compliance monitoring is at the discretion of the NCDMB and the oil and gas companies, which unfortunately facilitates corrupt practices. Therefore, this study argues that significant improvements are required in transparency practices in LCP implementation by strengthening the LCPs monitoring and enforcement process. Further, enforcement should strictly be the responsibility of the NCDMB, with no interference from the Nigerian government. Some further recommendations arising from this research include the need for investment in infrastructure that will facilitate indigenous companies participation in the industry. Also, efforts should be made to promote partnership and collaboration between indigenous companies and IOCs, encouraging investment in world-class infrastructure that can compete with international standards. To foster this partnership, the government and IOCs must invest in educational institutions which could boost the knowledge and capacity of Nigerians. The research concludes with the development of two new models: (1) The LCP stakeholder perception model; and, (2) The LCP implementation model. These models, which are the main contributions of knowledge arising from this thesis, will potentially aid the effective implementation of the recommendations arising from this study

Trust, Organizational Controls, Knowledge Acquisition from the Foreign Parents, and Performance in Vietnamese International Joint Ventures

Successful adaptation in strategic alliances "calls for a delicate balance between the twin virtues of reliability and flexibility" [Parkhe 1998]. On one hand, the joint venture must be flexible enough to respond to the uncertainties of competitive business environments because it is not feasible to plan for every possible contingency. Yet, on the other hand, unfettered flexibility invites dysfunctional behavior, such as opportunism and complacency. This delicate balance accompanies a parallel balance between trust and control of the joint venture. The primary goal of this study is to empirically examine this relationship in the context of Vietnamese international joint ventures (IJVs) by building on the model of knowledge acquisition and performance in IJVs established by Lyles and Salk [1996]. This study makes three major contributions to the literature. First it confirms several findings of the original Lyles and Salk study [1996]. Second, we strengthen Lyles and Salk's original model by incorporating multiple measures of both interorganizational trust and control as independent variables. Finally, this study represents one of the first in-depth examinations of business in the emerging Vietnamese economy.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39713/3/wp329.pd

International Purchasing Offices: An empirical research

International Purchasing Offices (IPOs) play an increasingly important role in the management of international sourcing activities, both in developed and emerging economies. We performed a systematic literature review on IPOs. This allowed us to identify and summarize the main research streams and to highlight some weaknesses (e.g., methodological issues and lacking theoretical foundations) and gaps. We concluded that few significant studies have been devoted to IPOs and proposed some directions for future research organized into three questions: (1) Does an IPO add value to the company? (2) How are the IPOs set up, how do they work, and how do they develop? and (3) What is the role of the IPOs within the global sourcing organisational structure? We conducted an exploratory multiple case study research to face with the second and third questions pursuing three main aims: (1) to propose a typology of IPOs and highlight the relationship between strategy and structure in a global purchasing context; (2) to study IPO macro-organisational structures (i.e., organisational archetypes) and their evolution over time; and (3) to study IPO micro-organisational structures (e.g., individual tasks, activities, and capabilities) and their evolution over time. We identified three types or clusters of IPOs along four dimensions (i.e., motives for sourcing from China, global purchasing strategy for China, IPO structure and IPO followership) and presented a causal model and associated propositions to explain how an IPO may become more strategic for its parent company. We then proposed a dynamic evolution model, consisting of five stages differentiated by number, depth, and breadth of roles, in which IPOs could leapfrog some stages, re-trench (move back to lower stages) and be potentially withdrawn. Finally, we highlighted some resources/capabilities required by IPOs; we proposed a typology of IPO micro-organisational evolutionary behaviours; and we recognized three contingent factors that jointly affect these behaviours (i.e., the architectural and technological complexity of the sourced items, annual volume sourced abroad, and experience in the foreign context)