Hispanic-Owned businesses in West Michigan

Many vibrant neighborhoods in West Michigan have large, growing Hispanic populations. In fact, Hispanics are one of the fastest growing segments of West Michigan’s population, due to high immigration and birth rates. According to the U.S. Census, over 94,000 Hispanics lived in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, and Allegan Counties in 2006 — a little more than 7% of the total population — and that population has doubled since 1994. But the population of Hispanic individuals is not all that is growing. The number and variety of Hispanic-owned or Hispanic-focused businesses in Kent County is also increasing, evidenced by block after block of colorful retail storefronts on south Grandville Avenue (a.k.a. “Cesar E. Chávez Boulevard” for the legendary leader of migrant workers), on the west end of Bridge Street, and on South Division to 44th Street. There you will find an array of stores and services, from accountants and beauty shops to restaurants and supermarkets, most of which appear to be targeted to Spanish-speaking customers

The effect of product regulation on business global competitiveness: A contingency approach

This paper focuses on product regulation, which is one important type of regulation that influences business firms. We develop a theoretical model that describes the effect of product regulation on the global competitiveness of business. Special emphasis is given to the contingency effects of several variables on the relationship between product regulation and business global competitiveness. We derive three propositions about these contingency effects, and also discuss higher-order interactions that may occur between the contingency. The overall thrust of our argument is to question the universality of the assumption that regulation is detrimental to business competitiveness

Performance improvement in international environments: Designing individual performance interventions to fit national cultures

This article examines how internationalization might affect the design of individual performance improvement approaches in organizations. It begins by examining knowledge that has been learned principally from the North American context of what improves an individual\u27s performance. Then, we discuss motivators, attitudes. and behaviors of workers and how they may vary among workers in different national cultural contexts. In short, we examine individual performance improvement for its cross‐border effectiveness, using various models of national cultural differences. By doing this, we hope to provide an understanding of how performance improvement systems might require modification to fit with non‐North American work environments

The strategic organization of global law firms : Perceptions from inside and outside the firm

During the past decade, the legal services industry has undergone a sea change, in large part due to the globalization of business. Law firms, especially those headquartered in major financial centers, are expanding overseas at a fast and furious pace in an attempt to accommodate their clients’ needs and to capture a share of new and emerging markets for legal services. The increasing importance of the European Union as a new source of pan-European or “federal” law, and the establishment of a common currency, the Euro, has spurred many firms to open offices in Brussels, Frankfurt and other centers of commerce. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the concomitant dismantling of the Iron Curtain has opened up new fields for these firms, attracted to Eastern Europe and Russia by the privatization of former state enterprises. The spectacular growth of the economies of certain Asian countries and the gradual opening of The People’s Republic of China to western business has created additional incentives for these firms to establish overseas offices. Many of these offices are no longer outposts staffed by a few legal professionals. They now have many lawyers on staff, and offer a broad range of legal services not only to the clients of their home countries but also to local businesses

Value Shift: Why companies must merge social and financial imperatives to achieve superior performance

In Value Shift. Lynn Sharp Paine argues that modern corporations are now expected to meet moral, as well as financial, performance standards to be considered superior performing firms. Paine calls this a return to, or a shift in, values that now emphasize ethics, culture, environmental standards, product safety, and community investment—what students of management might call a broad stakeholder model of the firm. The author, who is professor of leadership and values at the Harvard Business School, reflects on the recent crises in corporate America that began in 2001 with the Enron scandal. These disgraceful misdeeds and the public reaction to them support Paine\u27s view that if corporations want to be considered as superior performing institutions, the public expects them to behave in morally as well as financially responsible ways

Motives for corporate philanthropy in El Salvador: Altruism and political legitimacy

This paper discusses how Salvadoran companies practice corporate philanthropy in El Salvador, and what might motivate it. First, I briefly discuss three principal theories of corporate philanthropy, and explore some current trends in international corporate philanthropy to highlight some of the motives Salvadoran companies may have to participate in charitable activities. Then, I discuss the history of the Salvadoran private sector to help us understand philanthropic activity today. Next, I suggest that philanthropic acts by Salvadoran firms are driven by altruistic and politically strategic motives, and reflect individualistic and paternalistic attitudes. In the discussion, I include examples of Salvadoran corporate philanthropy as it is practiced today, based on recent field research in El Salvador

Planning Your Global Strategy

Sound planning and due diligence are important for both domestic and international strategic initiatives. However, in an international setting there are additional cultural, legal, and logistical considerations. In this article, we discuss considerations before doing business internationally. We address how a company knows it’s ready to go international, special expertise required to go international, how to obtain that expertise, factors that should be considered in choosing a foreign market, finding an overseas partner, legal and tax issues considerations and, finally, how to get paid

Success at the Base of the Pyramid: A relational view of competitive advantage

In this paper, we propose a new framework to measure the success of projects at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), based on the relational view of strategy (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Lavie, 2006; Mesquita et al., 2008), and we test the framework using new case studies. We argue that the success of BoP projects depends on relation-specific resources and capabilities resulting from partnerships among participating organizations. Typical partners involved in a BoP project are firms that make a product or a service designed for BoP customers, a public or private agency that has local knowledge and presence, and a BoP community that uses the product. The relational view model can help assess the sustainable success of a BoP project because it examines unique interorganizational relationships and relation-specific combination of resources designed to create sustainable value (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Dyer, 1996). We apply this important model of strategic analysis to two new BoP projects