Brand management practices in emerging country firms – exploring the patterns of variation and its impact on firm performance

Firms in emerging countries often face different sets of challenges in developing their brand management strategies. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view, the present study examines brand management practices among firms in an emerging country. Drawing on a survey of 224 firms in Turkey, the study first aims to segment firms in terms of their adoption level of brand management practices and then relate them to their overall firm and brand performances. A three-cluster solution emerging from a K-means cluster analysis reveals that firms show significant differences with respect to both performance dimensions. The findings of the study also provide evidence to the view that brand management practices add to the dynamic capabilities of emerging country firms. Finally, the study concludes with practical implications and avenues for future research

International Journal of Human Resource Management (IJHRM) Special Issue on:International human resource management in contexts of high uncertainties

The aim of this special issue is to examine more closely of the implementations of international human resource management (IHRM) practices in the contexts of high uncertainties. It seeks contexts of relevance, encompassing those experiencing financial crisis, economic sanctions, political and civil uncertainty, environmental collapse and/or deep recession. It aims to supplement the Danger and Risk as Challenges for HRM in the IJHRM special issue which encompasses terrorism, violent disorder, crime and other physical risks, by focusing on initially seemingly peaceful forms of uncertainty, even if their consequences might lead to societal collapse. While appreciating that these contexts are very different, the key theme that cuts across all of these contexts are the unexpected changes that they brought, creating considerable ambiguity for businesses, and how they manage their people. Businesses will face the challenges of coping in such contexts, with unpredictability in demand, and in supplier relations, in adding greater time pressure to the decision-making process, and in terms of work and employment relations (Pearson & Clair, 1998). Through operating in different settings, multinational enterprises (MNEs) may be able to hedge risk, but at the same time protecting their own interest from a distance can be extremely difficult (Cantwell, Dunning, & Lundan, 2010). They will also impact on MNE decisions to invest and reinvest in particular settings (Oh & Oetzel, 2011). However, reducing or eliminating their presence in the host location is not always possible. MNEs may have substantial resources and infrastructural interests in the host location that need to be protected. Again, there is often a pressing need of MNEs to use expatriates on international assignments to complete strategically critical tasks, but the same time managing expatriate staff becomes much more difficult when countries of domicile become less certain. However, these situations often present golden opportunity for businesses. Studies have found that the option value of MNEs in entering a country under the uncertain conditions can be high (Miller, 1998). This is because government and international bodies often inject considerable amount of investments into the affected countries in aiding the recovery and rebuilding process and, in turn, pumped up the local aggregate demands, opening new opportunities for MNEs in relevant industries (Vigdor, 2008). At the same time, consumers’ demand for products and services may change; demand may not necessarily decline, but what consumers may want may be different, and this will impact on the demands placed on a firm’s human resources. These MNEs may therefore experience expansion of workforce under these situations.Full Tex

Steady late quaternary slip rate on the Cinarcik section of the North Anatolian fault near Istanbul, Turkey

The distribution of plate motion between multiple fault strands and how this distribution may evolve remain poorly understood, despite the key implications for seismic hazards. The North Anatolian Fault in northwest Turkey is a prime example of a multistranded continental transform. Here we present the first constraints on late Quaternary slip rates on its northern branch across the Cinarcik Basin in the eastern Marmara Sea. We use both deep penetration and high‐resolution multichannel seismic reflection data with a stratigraphic age model to show that a depocenter has persisted near the fault bend responsible for that transform basin. Successively older depocenters have been transported westward by fault motion relative to Eurasia, indicating a uniform right‐lateral slip rate of 18.5 mm/yr over the last 500,000 years, compared to overall GPS rates (23–24 mm/yr). Thus, the northern branch has slipped at a nearly constant rate and has accounted for most of the relative plate motion between Eurasia and Anatolia since ~0.5 Ma

Global delivery models: the role of talent, speed and time zones in the global outsourcing industry

Global delivery models (GDMs) are transforming the global IT and business process outsourcing industry. GDMs are a new form of client-specific investment promoting service integration with clients by combining client proximity with time-zone spread for 24/7 service operations. We investigate antecedents and contingencies of setting up GDM structures. Based on comprehensive data we show that providers are likely to establish GDM location configurations when clients value access to globally distributed talent and speed of service delivery, in particular when services are highly commoditized. Findings imply that coordination across time zones increasingly affects international operations in business-to-business and born-global industries

High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from MNEs in Turkey

This study examines the association between the usage of high-performance work systems (HPWS) by subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Turkey and employee and subsidiary level outcomes. The study is based on a survey of 148 MNE subsidiaries operating in Turkey. The results show that the usage of HPWS has a significant positive impact on employee effectiveness. However, their impact on employee skills and development, and organizational financial performance are far less clear. Our findings highlight the extent to which HWPS need to be adapted to take account of context-specific institutional realities. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

An exploratory study of the determinants of the quality of strategic decision implementation in Turkish industrial firms

This paper investigates the determinants of quality of decision implementation. By drawing on a sample of 116 firms located in Turkey, the authors test whether the features of important team processes (i.e. trust and participation), of the organisation (i.e. past performance) and of implementation (i.e. its speed and uncertainty) exert an influence on the quality with which decisions are implemented. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the validity of the measures, while path analysis was used in hypotheses testing. The results suggest that quality of decision implementation is positively related to trust, participation and past performance, and negatively to implementation speed and uncertainty. The implications of these findings for theory, practice and general management are discussed

Risk factors of osteoporosis in healthy Moroccan men

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although not as common as in women, osteoporosis remains a significant health care problem in men. Data concerning risk factors of osteoporosis are lacking for the male Moroccan population. The objective of the study was to identify some determinants associated to low bone mineral density in Moroccan men.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>a sample of 592 healthy men aged 20-79 years was recruited from the area of Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Measurements were taken at the lumbar spine and proximal femurs using DXA (Lunar Prodigy Vision, GE). Biometrical, clinical, and lifestyle determinants were collected. Univariate, multivariate, and logistic regression analyses were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>the mean (SD) age of the patients was 49 (17.2) years old. The prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia were 8.7% and 52.8%, respectively. Lumbar spine and hip BMD correlated significantly with age, weight and BMI. When comparing the subjects according to the WHO classification, significant differences were revealed between the three groups of subjects for age, weight and BMI, prevalence of low calcium intake and low physical activity. The multiple regression analysis found that only age, BMI, and high coffee consumption were independently associated to the osteoporotic status.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ageing and low BMI are the main risk factors associated with osteoporosis in Moroccan men.</p

The effects of endogenous and exogenous androgens on cardiovascular disease risk factors and progression

Cardiovascular disease incidence rates have long been known to significantly differ between the two sexes. Estrogens alone fail to explain this phenomenon, bringing an increasing amount of attention to the role of androgens. Contrary to what was initially hypothesized, androgens seem to have an overall cardioprotective effect, especially in men. Recent studies and published data continue to support this notion displaying a consistent inverse correlation with atherosclerosis progression and cardiovascular disease both in regressive and prospective study models. Clinical studies have also revealed what seems to be a differential androgenic effect on various cardiovascular risk factors between men and women. Further insight indicates that in order to avoid confusion it may be also preferable to separately examine the effects of endogenous androgen levels from exogenous testosterone administration, as well as discern the differential results of low to normal and supraphysiological administration doses. This review summarizes old and recent data according to the above distinctions, in an attempt to further our understanding of the role of androgens in cardiovascular disease

The last reconnection of the Marmara Sea (Turkey) to the World Ocean : A paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic perspective

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 255 (2008): 64-82, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.07.005.During the late glacial, marine isotope Stage 2, the Marmara Sea transformed into a brackish lake as global sea level fell below the sill in the Dardanelles Strait. A record of the basin’s reconnection to the global ocean is preserved in its sediments permitting the extraction of the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic history of the region. The goal of this study is to develop a high-resolution record of the lacustrine to marine transition of Marmara Sea in order to reconstruct regional and global climatic events at 24 a millennial scale. For this purpose, we mapped the paleoshorelines of Marmara Sea along the northern, eastern, and southern shelves at Çekmece, Prince Islands, and Imrali, using data from multibeam bathymetry, high-resolution subbottom profiling (chirp) and ten sediment cores. Detailed sedimentologic, biostratigraphic (foraminifers, mollusk, diatoms), X-ray fluorescence geochemical scanning, and oxygen and carbon stable isotope analyses correlated to a calibrated radiocarbon chronology provided evidence for cold and dry conditions prior to 15 ka BP, warm conditions of the Bolling-Allerod from ~15 to 13 ka BP, a rapid marine incursion at 12 ka BP, still stand of Marmara Sea and sediment reworking of the paleoshorelines during the Younger Dryas at ~11.5 to 10.5 ka BP, and development of strong stratification and influx of nutrients as Black Sea waters spilled into Marmara Sea at 9.2 ka BP. Stable environmental conditions developed in Marmara Sea after 6.0 ka BP as sea-level reached its present shoreline and the basin floors filled with sediments achieving their present configuration.Support for the analyses was from NSF-OCE-0222139; OCE-9807266 and PSC-CUNY 69138-00 38