Do indigenous firms incur a liability of localness when operating in their home market? The case of China

Liability of foreignness has been one of the building blocks of theories of multinational enterprises. This paper looks at a parallel issue - the liability of localness that local firms may face as a result of foreign firms’ presence in their country. The results show that local Chinese firms enjoy location-based advantages over their foreign counterparts and these, together with their firm-specific advantages, have significant positive effects on their performance. The superior firm-specific advantages of foreign firms appear to erase the magnitude of such effects and create a significant negative impact on local Chinese firms’ performance, and this effect is heightened by foreign firms’ multinationality advantages. The research suggests that local Chinese firms incur a liability of localness, and the extent of the negative impact of such liability on local firm performance is largely dependent on the relative strength of various advantages that the local and foreign firms possess

Do Foreign Firms in China Incur a Liability of Foreignness? The Local Chinese Firms’ Perspective

Liability of foreignness has been one of the building blocks of multinational enterprise theory development, but we have limited knowledge about the liability of foreignness in the context of multinationals operating in developing countries. This study suggests that in a developing country like China, foreignness may still exist, but its negative impact on foreign firms’ performance may have become insignificant. Local Chinese firms were found to enjoy significant location-based advantages over their foreign counterparts, contributing to liability of foreignness. However, the adverse effects of liability of foreignness on foreign firms appear to be off-set by the foreign firms’ superior firm-specific and multinationality advantages over local Chinese firms. Further, the location-based advantages that foreign firms have built up over time further serve to strength their overall competitive position in China

Protocol for a randomized controlled study of Iyengar yoga for youth with irritable bowel syndrome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Irritable bowel syndrome affects as many as 14% of high school-aged students. Symptoms include discomfort in the abdomen, along with diarrhea and/or constipation and other gastroenterological symptoms that can significantly impact quality of life and daily functioning. Emotional stress appears to exacerbate irritable bowel syndrome symptoms suggesting that mind-body interventions reducing arousal may prove beneficial. For many sufferers, symptoms can be traced to childhood and adolescence, making the early manifestation of irritable bowel syndrome important to understand. The current study will focus on young people aged 14-26 years with irritable bowel syndrome. The study will test the potential benefits of Iyengar yoga on clinical symptoms, psychospiritual functioning and visceral sensitivity. Yoga is thought to bring physical, psychological and spiritual benefits to practitioners and has been associated with reduced stress and pain. Through its focus on restoration and use of props, Iyengar yoga is especially designed to decrease arousal and promote psychospiritual resources in physically compromised individuals. An extensive and standardized teacher-training program support Iyengar yoga's reliability and safety. It is hypothesized that yoga will be feasible with less than 20% attrition; and the yoga group will demonstrate significantly improved outcomes compared to controls, with physiological and psychospiritual mechanisms contributing to improvements.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Sixty irritable bowel syndrome patients aged 14-26 will be randomly assigned to a standardized 6-week twice weekly Iyengar yoga group-based program or a wait-list usual care control group. The groups will be compared on the primary clinical outcomes of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, quality of life and global improvement at post-treatment and 2-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes will include visceral pain sensitivity assessed with a standardized laboratory task (water load task), functional disability and psychospiritual variables including catastrophizing, self-efficacy, mood, acceptance and mindfulness. Mechanisms of action involved in the proposed beneficial effects of yoga upon clinical outcomes will be explored, and include the mediating effects of visceral sensitivity, increased psychospiritual resources, regulated autonomic nervous system responses and regulated hormonal stress response assessed via salivary cortisol.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01107977">NCT01107977</a>.</p

Do Chinese firms incur a liability of localness as a result of inward foreign direct investment? Local firms’ perspective

Liability of foreignness has been one of the building blocks of theories of multinational enterprises. This paper looks at a parallel issue - the liability of localness that local firms may face as a result of foreign firms’ presence in their country. The results show that while local Chinese firms enjoy superior location based advantages over their foreign counterparts and these, together with their firm-specific advantages, have a significant positive effect on their performance, foreign firms’ superior firm-specific and multinationality advantages appear to erase the magnitude of such effects and create a significant negative impact on local Chinese firms’ performance. This suggests that local Chinese firms incur a liability of localness at home in relation to the presence of foreign firms in the country