Risk Management for the Future

A large part of academic literature, business literature as well as practices in real life are resting on the assumption that uncertainty and risk does not exist. We all know that this is not true, yet, a whole variety of methods, tools and practices are not attuned to the fact that the future is uncertain and that risks are all around us. However, despite risk management entering the agenda some decades ago, it has introduced risks on its own as illustrated by the financial crisis. Here is a book that goes beyond risk management as it is today and tries to discuss what needs to be improved further. The book also offers some cases

\u27Pyrates\u27 of the Lyceum: Big Pharma, Patents, and Academic Freedom in Neoliberal Times

Academic freedom and freedom of expression are threatened by the corporatised university. As neoliberal policies embed themselves in all aspects of public (if not private) life, freedom of expression and academic freedom are being degraded and denigrated in the university, in the popular press, in the law, and in public life. The influence of intellectual property rights and proprietary claims surrounding patents are muzzling freedom of thought by corporate interests. Universities and the freedom of academic researchers to explore their fields have become casualties on this neoliberal battlefield. This political economy seeks to expose the free market contagion involved with patents, intellectual property, and the university in our postmodern neoliberal era. This is an era that proclaims itself as a new normal: this argument aspires to advance a patently problematic discourse to counter this brave new world and the intellectual pyscho-pharmacology and ideology of neoliberalism

Cognitive and Affective Evaluation in Forming Unique Destination Image Among Tourists Visiting Malacca

Since Melaka is positioned as Historical City inaugurated by UNESCO in 2008, the study suggests unique image as a new component of image associations. A number of overseas tourists were selected as samples . Results showed that unique image was significantly constructed and affected by cognitive and affective evaluations. Cognitive evaluation was significantly affected by the types of information source, while affective evaluation was affected significantly by social psychological motivations. The research proves that Melaka has fulfilled the requirements to differentiate the city as a unique tourist destination. The positioning of Melaka as truly Malaysia and World heritage should be translated into the rational benefit of encountering unspoiled historical side and multi-racial living cultures. Positive unique image creation leads to intention to revisit and recommend others experiencing the world heritage and history of Melaka

CHINA’s EXPANDING CULTURAL INFLUENCE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CHINESE MEDIA IN KENYA

ABSTRACT CHINA’s EXPANDING CULTURAL INFLUENCE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CHINESE MEDIA IN KENYA This dissertation seeks to demonstrate growing cultural influence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in African countries and illustrates how the PRC attempts to use its economic power and cultural influences to shape African countries’ foreign policies to benefit the PRC by using the Chinese media and cultural expansion in Kenya as a case study. In order to achieve this objective, this study examines the internal and external economic and political forces in both China and Kenya that have helped to establish the current pattern of China’s media involvement and other cultural engagements in Kenya. This study analyzes the response of Kenyan media to China’s recent engagement with the country, especially China’s growing involvement in media and other cultural production in Kenya. China’s growing presence in Africa has provoked a heated debate about the nature of Chinese engagement and its implication for the African continent. Critics argue that China is using its power to develop a neo-colonial system in Africa. Rather than direct political control of African countries, China operates behind closed doors to influence African countries’ foreign policies to benefit Chinese interests. Despite criticism of colonialism, some observers perceive current Sino-African relations as a partnership for development. Both China and African countries are gaining significant benefits from this relationship. After analyzing two leading Kenyan newspapers’ coverage of China’s involvement in Kenya, this study found that both newspapers’ representations of China are natural; unlike Western media’s negative views of Chinese presence or China’s positive self-portrait. However, the Kenyan media’s framing of China’s engagement in the country should not be viewed as stagnant because China-Kenya interactions are rapidly evolving

Can Upward Brand Extensions be an Opportunity for Marketing Managers During the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond?

Early COVID-19 research has guided current managerial practice by introducing more products across different product categories as consumers tried to avoid perceived health risks from food shortages, i.e. horizontal brand extensions. For example, Leon, a fast-food restaurant in the UK, introduced a new range of ready meal products. However, when the food supply stabilised, availability may no longer be a concern for consumers. Instead, job losses could be a driver of higher perceived financial risks. Meanwhile, it remains unknown whether the perceived health or financial risks play a more significant role on consumers’ consumptions. Our preliminary survey shows perceived health risks outperform perceived financial risks to positively influence purchase intention during COVID-19. We suggest such a result indicates an opportunity for marketers to consider introducing premium priced products, i.e. upward brand extensions. The risk-as�feelings and signalling theories were used to explain consumer choice under risk may adopt affective heuristic processing, using minimal cognitive efforts to evaluate products. Based on this, consumers are likely to be affected by the salient high-quality and reliable product cue of upward extension signalled by its premium price level, which may attract consumers to purchase when they have high perceived health risks associated with COVID-19. Addressing this, a series of experimental studies confirm that upward brand extensions (versus normal new product introductions) can positively moderate the positive effect between perceived health risks associated with COVID-19 and purchase intention. Such an effect can be mediated by affective heuristic information processing. The results contribute to emergent COVID-19 literature and managerial practice during the pandemic but could also inform post-pandemic thinking around vertical brand extensions

Three Essays on Firm Learning and Performance in the Context of Corporate Divestiture

The question of whether and how firms learn continues to fuel debate amongst strategic management scholars. Within its answer lies the potential for identifying and capitalizing upon valuable drivers of firm performance advantage. In this dissertation, I take aim at this question by investigating the viability and efficacy of three different learning processes in the context of corporate divestiture. This approach not only permits a comprehensive examination of firm learning, but also affords the opportunity to advance our understanding of a heretofore understudied, but important, mode of corporate development. Using a combination of publicly-available datasets and hand-collected data, I construct a large sample of cross-industry and cross-border divestitures originating from U.S.-headquartered firms during a twenty-six year period. From this platform, I consider whether and how firms may learn through 1) direct experience accumulation, 2) internal experience transfer, and 3) external experience transfer. In the first case, by developing six process-based performance measures that closely track the unfolding of the divestiture process, I find that the firm’s own divestiture experience acts as a double-edged sword, both augmenting and impairing different aspects of divestiture performance. In the second, I consider activity-to-activity learning transfer, and examine if experience gained in a firm’s execution of acquisitions is transferable to its execution of divestitures. Not only do I find that a firm’s learning how to acquire can directly impact its divestiture performance, I find that a firm’s learning how to acquire influences its ability to learn from its own direct divestiture experience. In the third case, I consider experience transfer across firm boundaries, specifically by examining divestiture experience sourced from the investment bankers and buyers engaged in the firm’s divestitures. I find that this external experience can not only play an outsize role in firm divestiture performance, but that it often impedes it. Taken together, these findings contribute new insights towards answering the question of whether and how firms learn

Security Exchange Theory

Security Exchange Theory is a novel approach to alliance behaviors in which a great power gives scarce security goods to a small state. This behavior is a puzzle for two reasons. First, it seems unlikely that a rational state would give away valuable resources without getting something in return, yet small states seem to have nothing to offer. Second, small states sometimes refuse great power offers, which would seem to indicate that "free" security goods impose some sort of cost. This theory addresses both of these puzzles. First, it argues that great powers evaluate small states on their ability to contribute to the great power's security agenda. The extent to which a small state can do so is its Perceived Strategic Value (PSV) in the eyes of the great power. Ceteris paribus, small states with higher PSV receive larger security exchanges. Second, it argues that small states face a wider array of threats than do great powers and array their forces to meet the greatest threat facing the regime. To the extent that the small state's security perspective mirrors the great power's, the level of security exchanges will be higher. However, because security exchanges impose costs on both parties, there are many cases in which either low PSV or an incompatible small state strategic agenda makes a security exchange unlikely. I test the theory using great power - small state interactions in the Middle East between 1952 and 1961 using qualitative methods and from 1952 to 1979 using statistical analysis. I find Security Exchange Theory is a powerful and parsimonious solution to the puzzle of great power - small state exchange behavior

'Pyrates' of the Lyceum: Big Pharma, Patents, and Academic Freedom in Neoliberal Times

Academic freedom and freedom of expression are threatened by the corporatised university. As neoliberal policies embed themselves in all aspects of public (if not private) life, freedom of expression and academic freedom are being degraded and denigrated in the university, in the popular press, in the law, and in public life. The influence of intellectual property rights and proprietary claims surrounding patents are muzzling freedom of thought by corporate interests. Universities and the freedom of academic researchers to explore their fields have become casualties on this neoliberal battlefield. This political economy seeks to expose the free market contagion involved with patents, intellectual property, and the university in our postmodern neoliberal era. This is an era that proclaims itself as a new normal: this argument aspires to advance a patently problematic discourse to counter this brave new world and the intellectual pyscho-pharmacology and ideology of neoliberalism