Japanese Horizontal Keiretsu and the Performance Implications of Membership

Our study investigates the effect of Japanese horizontal keiretsu group membership on firm risk and return. Like prior studies, our results show that horizontal keiretsu membership has a negative effect on firm profitability. However, we find that horizontal keiretsu networks are likely to increase the gap between targeted and realized returns, which we call the outcome-aspiration gap. Moreover, in contrast to prior studies, our results indicate that keiretsu membership does not enable member firms to reduce risks by smoothing profitability. Instead, our findings provide evidence that is counter to the conventional notion that Japanese horizontal keiretsu allow their member firms to trade off profits for reduced risk.Horizontal keiretsu, Performance, Risk sharing

Зрительское кресло для учреждений культуры

Выпускная квалификационная работа посвящена проектированию зрительского кресла для учреждений культуры. Несмотря на то, что в дизайне делается уклон на особенности кинокресел, разработанный проект универсален и для других учреждений культуры, таких как театры, концертные залы, библиотеки и др. Особенностью и уникальной чертой кресла является встроенная барьерная защита, выполняющая профилактическую функцию по защите человека от распространения респираторных инфекций, передающихся воздушно-капельным путём. Объект исследования. Мебель для общественного пользования. Предмет исследования. Разработка зрительского кинокресла, универсально подходящего и для иных учреждений культуры благодаря некоторым трансформируемым элементам.The graduation project is aimed to design a cinema seating suitable for several other entertaining institutions. The unique feature of the seating is a build-in barrier screen, designed to keep people safe from airborne infections. The result of the work is a design solution for a cinema chair that meets the modern requirements of comfort, convenience and safety. The project offers options for solving some uncomfortable aspect of cinema settings, such as ineffective navigation in the audience hall, lack of storage for personal belongings, low level of ergonomics, etc. The graduation project includes an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion, a list of used sources and additions to the chapters

What and how do SMEs gain by going international? A longitudinal investigation of financial and intellectual resource growth

This study examines the accumulation of financial and intellectual resources of U.S.-based biopharmaceutical SMEs. We find that internationalized SMEs experience better financial resource growth than domestic market-focused SMEs only in the long run. While international expansion per se does not enable SMEs to accumulate more intellectual resources than via domestic expansion, it exerts a positive impact over time for SMEs with strong alliance capabilities. Moreover, we show that alliance capabilities are more important than in-house technological capabilities for key resource accumulation of internationalized SMEs over time. Our results infer that SMEs gain the benefits of resource exploration via international expansion

Les stratégies de localisation des firmes multinationales : vers de nouvelles approches pratiques et théoriques ?

Coordination d'un numéro thématique pour la revue Management International, Vol. 16, N° 1.Une analyse des études consacrées aux stratégies de localisation des firmes multinationales laisse apparaître un domaine de recherche qui appelle des avancées à la fois théoriques et empiriques afin de mieux cerner la complexité des choix de localisation. Ce numéro thématique vise à contribuer à une meilleure compréhension des stratégies de localisation des firmes multinationales

The impact of partner diversity within multiparty international joint ventures

Despite the significant role that multiparty international joint ventures (MPIJVs) play within multinational enterprises, we know little about the significant challenges associated with the management of these ventures. Therefore, we combine the Resource-based View of the Firm and Transaction Cost Economics to investigate the effects of the key aspects of partner diversity (i.e., variety, balance, and disparity) on MPIJV dissolution. We test our hypotheses using a dataset of 248 MPIJVs in China. We find empirical support for a U-curve shaped effect of variety and a negative linear effect of balance on MPIJV dissolution

Global cities, connectivity, and the location choice of MNC regional headquarters

One of the manifestations of the increasing diversity in multinational corporation (MNC) operations is the growing importance of regional headquarters (RHQs). RHQs assume an intermediary, bridging role between the corporate headquarters and local affiliates and other actors in their respective regions. They can have a coordination and control (i.e., administrative) mandate as well as an opportunity seeking (i.e., entrepreneurial) mandate. Since these mandates require RHQs to interact with various internal and external entities and exchange knowledge across distant locations, MNCs tend to locate their RHQs in highly connected “global cities” because these places allow the firm to economize on spatial transaction costs. In this paper, we explore the interplay between geographic distance, RHQ roles, and connectivity by analyzing which global city is selected by an MNC when establishing an RHQ. We argue that there is substantial heterogeneity among MNCs in the importance they attach to city connectivity — which we conceptualize as encompassing the effects of the international flows of people, knowledge, and services—because the connectivity needs of an RHQ varies in relation to its corporate mandate as well as to the geographic configuration of the MNC’s activities. Our mixed logit analysis of the location choices for 1,031 newly established RHQs in 48 global cities between 2003 and 2012 provides qualified support for the notion that the relationship between city connectivity and location choice is more pronounced for RHQs with an entrepreneurial role. Although the geographic distance of a city to the MNC’s regional affiliates discourages the establishment of RHQs with administrative roles, distance effects disappear when the city is highly connected. Moreover, well connected cities are able to attract MNCs’ RHQs from distant countries-of-origin.status: publishe

Global cities, connectivity, and the location choice of MNC regional headquarters

One of the manifestations of the increasing diversity in multinational corporation (MNC) operations is the growing importance of regional headquarters (RHQs). RHQs assume an intermediary, bridging role between the corporate headquarters and local affiliates and other actors in their respective regions. They can have a coordination and control (i.e., administrative) mandate as well as an opportunity seeking (i.e., entrepreneurial) mandate. Since these mandates require RHQs to interact with various internal and external entities and exchange knowledge across distant locations, MNCs tend to locate their RHQs in highly connected “global cities” because these places allow the firm to economize on spatial transaction costs. In this paper, we explore the interplay between geographic distance, RHQ roles, and connectivity by analyzing which global city is selected by an MNC when establishing an RHQ. We argue that there is substantial heterogeneity among MNCs in the importance they attach to city connectivity—which we conceptualize as encompassing the effects of the international flows of people, knowledge, and services—because the connectivity needs of an RHQ varies in relation to its corporate mandate as well as to the geographic configuration of the MNC’s activities. Our mixed logit analysis of the location choices for 1,031 newly established RHQs in 48 global cities between 2003 and 2012 provides qualified support for the notion that the relationship between city connectivity and location choice is more pronounced for RHQs with an entrepreneurial role. Although the geographic distance of a city to the MNC’s regional affiliates discourages the establishment of RHQs with administrative roles, distance effects disappear when the city is highly connected. Moreover, well connected cities are able to attract MNCs’ RHQs from distant countries-of-origin.nrpages: 54status: publishe