The impact of multinational and domestic enterprises on regional productivity: the evidence from the UK

The paper explores the effects of Multinational and Domestic Enterprises (MNEs and DOMES respectively) on regional productivity both in theory and in the case of UK regions. Our empirical evidence shows that MNEs are more intensive in terms of R&D and intangibles and this has a stronger effect on regional productivity. This result however is moderated by the origin of the MNEs. When we control for this, we find that DOMEs can outperform certain MNEs from specific origins. In particular, we conclude that laggard regions can more easily absorb the managerial and organisational expertise of DOMEs; and that home country-shaped MNE strategies may not be always aligned to the needs of host regions

A future for business education: why business as usual is bad business

Business education is relatively young, about 140 years old. It started as a case study-based approach with little by way of a conceptual foundations. A key reason in the view is that business education has gradually served as a “general purpose technology”. It could be argued that the evolution of business education has gone from practice to theory and back to practice. Today business education is a multi-billion-euro sector. Popular magazines, such as Fortune, wonder what is killing business education in the US. Starting with students, the success of business education led to business schools often becoming the cash cows of financially challenged institutions. Not surprisingly, many a commentator, including numerous documentaries and dramatisations of the crisis, questioned the role and legitimacy of business education. Business education and the business schools need to be re-imagined, adapted to and help shape the (a brighter) future

Inter-national Branding Strategy and its Effect on Brand Performance: A Comparison Between the USA and China”

Although product and service brand strategy has long been argued as an effective method of explaining consumer decision making process and brand performances (at both non-financial and financial), with the advancement of technology and highly competitive business environment today, understanding consumer behavior is getting ever more complex. Many companies face difficulties with their brand performances, for example lack of brand loyalty and low market share, and cannot sustain their market leadership. Our study explores the relationship between branding strategy at both corporate/firm and product/service level with financial performance (e.g., company profitability/growth, return on investment), by comparing 50 brands and 5000 consumers from two countries namely USA and China. This study will help better understand the relationship between customer mind set measures and outcomes on the performance level, and contribute to the company’s strategic brand positioning and marketing strategy

Foreign direct investment and economic integration

In this paper, we explore the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the competitiveness of emerging economies and economic integration. We structure the paper as follows. Following this Introduction (Section I), in Section II, we assess briefly and critically extant theories of FDI and the MNE. In Section III, we critically assess competitiveness and catching-up theory and policy and the role of FDI in this context. Section IV sets off from limitations of extant scholarship identified in the previous section to develop a novel framework for competitiveness and catching-up and discuss the role of FDI, clusters and government policy in its context. Section V discusses ways through which emerging economies can effect economic integration through enhanced competitiveness and accelerated catching-up, by leveraging strategies informed from recent developments on scholarship in International Business (IB) strategy. Section VI summarizes and concludes

Edith Penrose’s ‘The Theory of the Growth of the Firm’ Fifty Years Later

This is an earlier draft for the introduction to the book "The theory of the growth of the firm" published by Oxford Press, 4th edition, 2009

Re-inventing artisanal knowledge and practice: a critical review of innovation in a craft-based industry

This paper presents a critical review of the ways in which the specialised knowledge and working practices of craft-based industries have been transformed in the context of broader processes of industrialisation and global competition. The opening section makes the case for artisanal knowledge as a ‘Cinderella’ subject that remains important yet largely uncharted territory for innovation researchers. It is followed by a critical review of existing empirical and theoretical studies that have examined the reproduction and reinvention of artisanal knowledge. The review concludes that valuable insights remain obscured due to the way in which this literature is distributed across discrete disciplines with little evidence of cross-fertilisation or integration. Several common themes emerge, which provide the basis for an outline theoretical framework. The central arguments are illustrated with reference to a case-based analysis of the technological and social innovations that have taken place in English farmhouse cheesemaking over an extended period, from the pre-industrial era to the beginning of the present century. The concluding section considers how more nuanced understandings of artisanal knowledge and practice might enhance innovation theory and contribute to the continued flourishing of craft-based industries