Multinational Sales Management of Foreign Subsidiaries: A Case Study on the German Mittlestand

This research study provides insights into “How to manage foreign subsidiaries in a multinational company (MNC) belonging to the German Mittelstand” by applying a contingency perspective. Existing MNC knowledge focuses on large MNCs whereas contributions regarding an application to the German Mittelstand are scant. In particular, a framework for multinational sales management with patterns for foreign subsidiaries is missing for both academia and management. Thus, the findings of this research study contribute to existing MNC knowledge and provide ideas and guidance for managerial practice. A review of the literature identifies MNC typologies (Bartlett & Beamish, 2014; Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1988), subsidiary role models (Bartlett & Beamish, 2014; Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986), and the corresponding MNC factors. This serves as a starting point from which a conceptual framework is derived accordingly. Thereafter, a plausibility check with industry experts verifies and ensures the suitability of the identified MNC factors to the characteristics of the German Mittelstand. Then, an in-depth case study consisting of documentary, semi-structured interviews, and focus group interviews, applies the conceptual framework to the selected case of the German Mittelstand. The described research design operationalizes and modifies the selected MNC models in such a way that they suit the identified Mittelstand characteristics. This facilitates an application of the framework for multinational sales management consisting of the selected and operationalized MNC models for the MNC typology and the foreign subsidiaries. The main contribution of this research study is the framework for multinational sales management, which fills the gaps identified in existing knowledge. In particular, this research study contributes existing to knowledge by: (1 and 2) operationalizing the models for MNC typology and subsidiary roles for the German Mittelstand, (3) providing the key MNC factors for the German Mittelstand, and (4) elaborating the patterns for multinational sales management to improve the subsidiary competences and to increase the market importance of their local market with respect to their subsidiary role

Petrogenesis of diachronous mixed siliciclastic-carbonate megafacies in the cool-water Oligocene Tikorangi Formation, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

The Oligocene (Whaingaroan-Waitakian) Tikorangi Formation is a totally subsurface, lithostratigraphically complex, mixed siliciclastic-limestone-rich sequence forming an important fracture reservoir within Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Petrographically the formation comprises a spectrum of interbedded rock types ranging from calcareous mudstone to wackestone to packstone to clean sparry grainstone. Skeletal and textural varieties within these rock types have aided in the identification of three environmentally distinctive megafacies for the Tikorangi Formation rocks-shelfal, foredeep, and basinal. Data from these megafacies have been used to detail previous conclusions on the petrogenesis and to further refine depositional paleoenvironmental models for the Tikorangi Formation in the central eastern Taranaki Basin margin.Shelfal Megafacies 1 rocks (reference well Hu Road-1A) are latest Oligocene (early Waitakian) in age and formed on or proximal to the Patea-Tongaporutu-Herangi basement high. They are characterised by coarse, skeletal-rich, pure sparry grainstone comprising shallow water, high energy taxa (bryozoans, barnacles, red algae) and admixtures of coarse well-rounded lithic sand derived from Mesozoic basement greywacke. This facies type has previously gone unrecorded in the Tikorangi Formation. Megafacies 2 is a latest Oligocene (early Waitakian) foredeep megafacies (formerly named shelfal facies) formed immediately basinward and west of the shelfal basement platform. It accumulated relatively rapidly (>20 cm/ka) from redeposition of shelfal megafacies biota that became intermixed with bathyal taxa to produce a spectrum of typically mudstone through to sparry grainstone. The resulting skeletal mix (bivalve, echinoderm, planktic and benthic foraminiferal, red algal, bryozoan, nannofossil) is unlike that in any of the age-equivalent limestone units in neighbouring onland King Country Basin. Megafacies 3 is an Oligocene (Whaingaroan-Waitakian) offshore basinal megafacies (formerly termed bathyal facies) of planktic foraminiferal-nannofossil-siliciclastic wackestone and mudstone formed away from redepositional influences. The siliciclastic input in this distal basinal setting (sedimentation rates <7 mm/ka) was probably sourced mainly from oceanic currents carrying suspended sediment from South Island provenances exposed at this time.Tikorangi Formation rocks record the Taranaki Basin’s only period of carbonate-dominated sedimentation across a full range of shelfal, foredeep, and basinal settings. Depositional controls on the three contrasting megafacies were fundamentally the interplay of an evolving and complex plate tectonic setting, including development of a carbonate foredeep, changes in relative sea level within an overall transgressive regime, and changing availability, sources, and modes of deposition of both bioclastic and siliciclastic sediments. The mixed siliciclastic-carbonate nature of the formation, and its skeletal assemblages, low-Mg calcite mineralogy, and delayed deep burial diagenetic history, are features consistent with formation in temperate-latitude cool waters

Vector Correlators in Lattice QCD: methods and applications

We discuss the calculation of the leading hadronic vacuum polarization in lattice QCD. Exploiting the excellent quality of the compiled experimental data for the e^+e^- --> hadrons cross-section, we predict the outcome of large-volume lattice calculations at the physical pion mass, and design computational strategies for the lattice to have an impact on important phenomenological quantities such as the leading hadronic contribution to (g-2)mu and the running of the electromagnetic coupling constant. First, the R(s) ratio can be calculated directly on the lattice in the threshold region, and we provide the formulae to do so with twisted boundary conditions. Second, the current correlator projected onto zero spatial momentum, in a Euclidean time interval where it can be calculated accurately, provides a potentially critical test of the experimental R(s) ratio in the region that is most relevant for (g-2)mu. This observation can also be turned around: the vector correlator at intermediate distances can be used to determine the lattice spacing in fm, and we make a concrete proposal in this direction. Finally, we quantify the finite-size effects on the current correlator coming from low-energy two-pion states and provide a general parametrization of the vacuum polarization on the torus.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure files; corrected a factor 2 in Eq. (7) over the published versio

Metacognition as Evidence for Evidentialism

Metacognition is the monitoring and controlling of cognitive processes. I examine the role of metacognition in ‘ordinary retrieval cases’, cases in which it is intuitive that via recollection the subject has a justified belief. Drawing on psychological research on metacognition, I argue that evidentialism has a unique, accurate prediction in each ordinary retrieval case: the subject has evidence for the proposition she justifiedly believes. But, I argue, process reliabilism has no unique, accurate predictions in these cases. I conclude that ordinary retrieval cases better support evidentialism than process reliabilism. This conclusion challenges several common assumptions. One is that non-evidentialism alone allows for a naturalized epistemology, i.e., an epistemology that is fully in accordance with scientific research and methodology. Another is that process reliabilism fares much better than evidentialism in the epistemology of memory

Mussel adhesive protein inspired coatings: a versatile method to fabricate silica films on various surfaces

A simple and versatile biomimetic strategy for the fabrication of silica films on a variety of substrates including gold, polystyrene and silicon wafers was developed using nanogram amounts per cm 2 of silicatein. The strategy exploits the adhesive property of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and a decapeptide (Ala-Lys-Pro-Ser-Tyr-DHP-Hyp-Thr-DOPA-Lys), important components of mussel adhesive proteins, to modify the surface of substrates. DOPA molecules polymerize to poly(DOPA) and the decapeptide forms thin films on gold substrates at pH 8.5, rendering the substrate compatible for silicatein immobilization. Nearly 50 ng cm 2 of silicatein is immobilized on poly(DOPA) and decapeptide coated surfaces where these polymer films act as "cushion" to protect the active structure and maintain the activity of the largely chemically adsorbed silicatein at ca. 95% of that experienced in solution. Uniform silica films of thickness 130-140 nm and roughness 12-14.5 nm were fabricated on coated gold surfaces. Evidence to show that this method is also applicable for the fabrication of uniform silica films on polystyrene and silicon substrates over multiple length scales in an economical way is also presented

Davidson on Self‐Knowledge: A Transcendental Explanation

Davidson has attempted to offer his own solution to the problem of self-knowledge, but there has been no consensus between his commentators on what this solution is. Many have claimed that Davidson’s account stems from his remarks on disquotational specifications of self-ascriptions of meaning and mental content, the account which I will call the “Disquotational Explanation”. It has also been claimed that Davidson’s account rather rests on his version of content externalism, which I will call the “Externalist Explanation”. I will argue that not only are these explanations of self-knowledge implausible, but Davidson himself has already rejected them. Thus, neither can be attributed to Davidson as his suggested account of self-knowledge. I will then introduce and support what I take to be Davidson’s official and independent account of self-knowledge, that is, his “Transcendental Explanation”. I will defend this view against certain potential objections and finally against the objections made by William Child

The hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon g − 2 from lattice QCD

We present a calculation of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, $a_\mu^{\mathrm hvp}$, in lattice QCD employing dynamical up and down quarks. We focus on controlling the infrared regime of the vacuum polarization function. To this end we employ several complementary approaches, including Pad\'e fits, time moments and the time-momentum representation. We correct our results for finite-volume effects by combining the Gounaris-Sakurai parameterization of the timelike pion form factor with the L\"uscher formalism. On a subset of our ensembles we have derived an upper bound on the magnitude of quark-disconnected diagrams and found that they decrease the estimate for $a_\mu^{\mathrm hvp}$ by at most 2%. Our final result is $a_\mu^{\mathrm hvp}=(654\pm32\,{}^{+21}_{-23})\cdot 10^{-10}$, where the first error is statistical, and the second denotes the combined systematic uncertainty. Based on our findings we discuss the prospects for determining $a_\mu^{\mathrm hvp}$ with sub-percent precision.Comment: 42 pages, 7 figures, version published in JHE