Regional Production Relationships and Developmental Impacts: A Comparative Study of Three Production Networks

This article assesses contending regional perspectives on Pacific-rim divisions of labour based on a comparative study of production networks organized by three electronics firms (from Japan, the USA and Hong Kong) for manufacturing in the sub-regional context of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (PRC). The author argues that the flying geese model rightly discerns the possibility of upward mobility of late industrializing countries. This model, in combination with network analyses on the characteristics of Japanese firms, helps distinguish the developmental role of Japanese capital. However, the model has a disregard for the specific roles of US and overseas Chinese capital, and the filling of this gap can benefit from the regional rivalry perspective. The negative impacts of foreign investment are succinctly reflected in the regional dependence argument. Nevertheless, its exogenous bias needs to be avoided and the analysis of the endogenous factors, particularly the role of the state, can draw on the statist approach. As the regional economic reality is changing rapidly, future regional research will need to investigate how governments and firms develop strategies to cope with the continued Asian economic slow-down and political changes and reshape the regional political economy. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1999.

The Professionally Managed Family-ruled Enterprise: Ethnic Chinese Business in Singapore

This study identifies the change and continuity in the management structure of Singaporean Chinese family businesses before and after the Asian currency crisis based on an interpretive content analysis of oral history transcripts, personal interviews, documentary research and a historical analysis of Singapore's economy and society. It shows that large businesses shifted from being 'family-ruled and managed' to becoming 'professionally managed family-ruled' businesses before the crisis. Since the crisis, however, Chinese businesses in sectors that are under the watch of the developmental state, that face increasing competition from Western corporations, and lack offspring who are competent and interested in running family enterprises have loosened family rule. Businesses in sectors that are free from the direct intervention of the state, that seek survival in negative market situations, and have trusted and competent offspring to harness the advantage of the family enterprise have maintained family rule. Based on the findings, the author offers an explanatory and predictive model that takes into account the roles of markets, institutions (including culture and the state) and key corporate actors. The study concludes with suggestions for future research into the management structures of professionally managed family businesses and the role of the state. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.

MNEs' agency within institutional contexts : a study of Walmart's post-acquisition practices in Mexico, Germany, and Japan

The issue of MNEs' adaptation to host country institutional environments in their post-cross-border acquisition implementation, and the outcomes thereof, remains underexplored in international management studies. The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of three institutional approaches — (1) the earlier variant of the neoinstitutional theory (ENIT), (2) its recent variant (RNIT), and the comparative institutional analysis approach (CIA) — to explain (non)adaptation behavior in host country environments. Using Walmart's acquisition cases, we show that the MNE adopted a non-adaptation behavior in Mexico and Germany—countries which represent vastly different institutional environments—and succeeded in the former, but failed and withdrew from the market in the latter. However, in the Japanese institutional environment, which is similar to the German one, Walmart engaged in selective adaptation and survived in the market. Based on the case data, we offer a critical assessment of the applicability of the three approaches. These three approaches provide a base on which to develop a model to explain the relationship between institutional influences, an MNE's organizational agency and adaptation behavior, as well as outcomes. Moreover, we discuss future research directions and provide implications for practitioners related to MNEs' adaptation behavior and the ensuing outcomes in host markets.Nanyang Technological UniversityThe research described herein was supported by a research grant from Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University