576 research outputs found
The role of firm-level and country-level antecedents in explaining emerging versus advanced economy multinationals' R&D internationalization strategies
We examined firm-level and country-level antecedents of R&D internationalization strategies, focusing on differences between enterprises in emerging and advanced economies. Previous research often focuses on the relative importance of home-base-exploiting versus home-base-augmenting knowledge transfer strategies. We suggest that country-level and firm-level effects differ for the two strategies, and hence, we examined each strategy independently. Collecting data in China, India, the United States, and Germany, we demonstrated that firms' relative technological position as a firm-level characteristic can explain differences in home-base-exploiting strategies between emerging and advanced economies. In contrast, home-base-augmenting is more closely related to exploratory institutional environments, a country-level factor. Thus, either firm- or country-level antecedents can gain a dominant role, depending on the strategy implemented
Knowledge transfer and home-market innovativeness:A comparison of emerging and advanced economy multinationals
Emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) increasingly access foreign technology and knowledge by internationalizing their R&D activities. Since technological laggardness hinders efficient knowledge transfer, a successful catch-up with advanced-economy multinational enterprises (AMNEs) requires EMNEs to transfer foreign knowledge across national boundaries more effectively. However, we lack a clear understanding of how EMNEs manage this knowledge transfer and integration and to what extent the employment and effectiveness of corresponding facilitation mechanisms may differ from AMNEs. Adopting a sender-recipient model and drawing on arguments from learning theory and transaction costs economics, we suggest that EMNEs benefit more from and, consequently, are more likely to engage in mechanisms to increase recipient capabilities and sender motivation. In a comparative analysis of Chinese, Indian, German, and U.S. MNEs and focusing on frequent international exchange of R&D personnel regarding recipient capabilities and the governance of foreign R&D activities regarding sender motivation, we observe positive relationships with home-market innovation for EMNEs, but not for AMNEs. Moreover, we observe that EMNEs exploit this positive effect and are more likely to use these mechanisms when focusing on technology- than on market-seeking
Is open innovation imprinted on new ventures? The cooperation-inhibiting legacy of authoritarian regimes
Extant research explores the role played by individuals and, in particular, founders in defining open innovation strategies at the firm level. We join this discussion by combining insights from imprinting literature that explores the enduring impact of a founder's personal history, with inputs from literature that stresses the impact of past experience on trust formation. We suggest that founders are less likely to engage in open innovation if their experiences engender a generalized lack of trust. We use a unique database that includes East and West German founders to identify regional differences in activities conducted by authoritarian regimes that could inhibit trust. We find that founders who were exposed to high levels of secret police surveillance in the former socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) are less likely to engage in interfirm R&D cooperation. We contribute to the literature on open innovation by exploring how a founder's social, political, and cultural backgrounds influence strategic decisions related to open innovation, and to recent imprinting literature by showing that variation in oppressive enforcement practices in authoritarian regimes, such as surveillance activities, can leave an enduring imprint. Our findings complement recent insights on ideological imprinting effects on young firmsâ decision-making
How the country context shapes firms' competitive repertoire complexity
Research Summary: Recent research has shown that firms' ability to employ complex competitive repertoires can create long-term competitive advantages. Since research on its determinants has focused on the firm level, we lack an understanding of how country-level factors impact firms' implementation of complex competitive repertoires. Our cross-country study addresses this gap by integrating a model of country-level competitiveness factors with insights from the literature on competitive dynamics and portable governance. We argue that a country context with high-quality competitiveness factors enables firms to implement complex competitive repertoires. In addition, we hypothesize that firms with foreign investors from countries with high-quality competitiveness factors can partially compensate for low-quality factors in firms' domestic context. We found support for our hypotheses in an unbalanced sample containing 1,340 firms from 32 countries. Managerial Summary: Employing complex competitive repertoires (i.e., diverse and dynamic arrays of competitive actions), such as price reductions or new product introductions, can help firms outcompete their competition. We argue and empirically show that firms' domestic country context, specifically high-quality governance, factor and demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and strong context for rivalry drive their ability to implement complex repertoires. Moreover, we find that ownership by foreign investors from favorable country backgrounds can partly compensate for firms' weak conditions at home by serving as enabling bridges. Managers who aim to improve their firms' repertoire complexity but are restricted by their domestic country context may consider attracting foreign investors from countries that have what their countries lack
Determinants of common ownership:Exploring an information-based and a competition-based perspective in a global context
This study explores the determinants of common ownership. Drawing on two explanatory lenses, we suggest an information-based perspective and a competition-based perspective. We theorize on and empirically test both perspectives at the firm, industry, and country levels. Based on 14,372 observations of firms from the MSCI All Country World Index for the years 2008 to 2017, we find evidence supporting the information-based perspective at the firm, industry, and country levels: Access to and the value of private information about rival firms increases common ownership. For the competition-based perspective, we find support at the industry and country levels, specifically uncovering that common ownership is higher in more concentrated industries and in countries with more extensive laws regarding anticompetitive conduct. Our findings contribute to research by stressing the relevance of both perspectives. Overall, our study has broader implications for understanding the emerging phenomenon of common ownership
Recontinentalizing Canada : Arctic iceâs liquid modernity and the imagining of a Canadian archipelago
Studying mobile actor networks of moving people, objects, images, and
discourses, in conjunction with changing time-spaces, offers a unique opportunity to
understand important, and yet relatively neglected, ârelational materialâ dynamics of
mobility. A key example of this phenomenon is the recontinentalization of Canada amidst
dramatically changing articulations of the meanings and boundaries of the Canadian landice-
ocean mass. A notable reason why Canada is being re-articulated in current times is the
extensiveness of Arctic thawing. The reconfiguration of space and âmotilityâ options in the
Arctic constitutes an example of how âmateriality and sociality produce themselves
together.â In this paper we examine the possibilities and risks connected to this
recontinentalization of Canadaâs North. In exploring the past, present, and immediate
future of this setting, we advance the paradigmatic view that Canadaâs changing Arctic is
the key element in a process of transformation of Canada into a peninsular body
encompassed within a larger archipelagic entity: a place more intimately attuned to its
immense (and growing) coastal and insular routes.peer-reviewe
Bacterial vs. zooplankton control of sinking particle flux in the ocean\u27s twilight zone
The downward flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) decreases significantly in the oceanĂs mesopelagic or âtwilightâ zone due both to abiotic processes and metabolism by resident biota. Bacteria and zooplankton solubilize and consume POC to support their metabolism, but the relative importance of bacteria vs. zooplankton in the consumption of sinking particles in the twilight zone is unknown. We compared losses of sinking POC, using differences in export flux measured by neutrally buoyant sediment traps at a range of depths, with bacteria and zooplankton metabolic requirements at the Hawaii Ocean Timeâseries station ALOHA in the subtropical Pacific and the Japanese timesâseries site K2 in the subarctic Pacific. Integrated (150â1,000 m) mesopelagic bacterial C demand exceeded that of zooplankton by up to 3âfold at ALOHA, while bacteria and zooplankton required relatively equal amounts of POC at K2. However, sinking POC flux was inadequate to meet metabolic demands at either site. Mesopelagic bacterial C demand was 3â to 4âfold (ALOHA), and 10âfold (K2) greater than the loss of sinking POC flux, while zooplankton C demand was 1â to 2âfold (ALOHA), and 3â to 9âfold (K2) greater (using our âmiddleâ estimate conversion factors to calculate C demand). Assuming the particle flux estimates are accurate, we posit that this additional C demand must be met by diel vertical migration of zooplankton feeding at the surface and by carnivory at depthĂâwith both processes ultimately supplying organic C to mesopelagic bacteria. These pathways need to be incorporated into biogeochemical models that predict global C sequestration in the deep sea
Navigating the Structural Coherence of Sea Life
Ice breaking by ships can cause irreparable harm to the ecologies and cultures of northern regions. This chapter revolves around a central question: what are the barriers preventing the development of a legal mechanism to limit this act of environmental violence? The chapter suggests that the central barrier is not so much legal as it is ontological: foundational conceptions of space that underpin Western legal institutions are unable to value the form of water, reducing it instead to an ed space that is used for movement or resource extraction. This chapter demonstrates how a consideration of the environmental violence of ice breaking requires us to challenge underlying ideas about the various surfaces, volumes, structures, and movements of ocean-space that are inherent in Western conceptions of mobility, time, and territory. By looking beyond the oceanâs seemingly formless liquidity, this chapter explores how thinking from an oceanic perspective can challenge the limits of law, and how an inquiry that directly interrogates legal norms and institutions can reveal gaps in our understanding and governance of the ocean
Prognostic and therapeutic significance of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 as tumor marker in patients with pancreatic cancer
In pancreatic cancer ( PC) accurate determination of treatment response by imaging often remains difficult. Various efforts have been undertaken to investigate new factors which may serve as more appropriate surrogate parameters of treatment efficacy. This review focuses on the role of carbohydrate antigen 19- 9 ( CA 19- 9) as a prognostic tumor marker in PC and summarizes its contribution to monitoring treatment efficacy. We undertook a Medline/ PubMed literature search to identify relevant trials that had analyzed the prognostic impact of CA 19- 9 in patients treated with surgery, chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy for PC. Additionally, relevant abstract publications from scientific meetings were included. In advanced PC, pretreatment CA 19- 9 levels have a prognostic impact regarding overall survival. Also a CA 19- 9 decline under chemotherapy can provide prognostic information for median survival. A 20% reduction of CA 19- 9 baseline levels within the first 8 weeks of chemotherapy appears to be sufficient to define a prognostic relevant subgroup of patients ('CA 19- 9 responder'). It still remains to be defined whether the CA 19- 9 response is a more reliable method for evaluating treatment efficacy compared to conventional imaging. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
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