An Analysis of Chinese acquisitions of Made in Italy firms in the luxury sector

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) from emerging economies has begun to increase significantly and has been growing at a faster pace than Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the developed world. This research seeks to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions and their implications for the “Made in Italy” luxury sector and its firms. This paper presents a cross-case analysis of two Chinese acquisitions in order to provide some in-depth insights into the influences and the motives driving Chinese firms to invest in the luxury Made in Italy sector, the patterns and modes of the Chinese acquisitions as well as the competitive strategies and the distinctive challenges that both investors and acquired firms have to face. From the findings, it emerges that both the investor and the acquired firm need to overcome several key challenges to be mutual benefits from the acquisition

An analysis of Chinese acquisitions of Italian firms in the manufacturing sector

Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging economies has begun to increase significantly and has been growing at a faster pace than FDI from the developed world. This research seeks to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions and their implications for the Italian firms in the luxury manufacturing sector. This paper presents a cross-case analysis of two Chinese acquisitions in order to provide some in-depth insights into the strategic drivers moving the Chinese firms to invest in the luxury manufacturing sector, the post-acquisition benefits and challenges as well as the distinctive integration strategies. The study contributes to our understanding of how emerging market firms acquire and integrate firms from advanced economies, and how such acquisitions contribute to the acquiring firms' performance and competitiveness. To this end, strategic drivers, post-acquisition benefits and challenges as well as integration strategies were identified

Global Work Arrangements in the Virtual Enterprise – Some Lessons from Automattic

Global work arrangements tend to be particularly problematic for Virtual Enterprises, to the extent that there is a vast literature emphasising the challenges that these companies need to face in identifying, attracting, developing and retaining talent on a global scale. Drawing on the experience of Automattic, the paper outlines how the company has successfully addressed such challenges by implementing Global Talent Management in a very peculiar way. From the findings, it emerges that stemming from their experience there are some exemplary and valuable lessons for companies from all sectors on how to embrace Global Talent Management in a more creative way and the great benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness that can flow from doing so. Keywords: Global Talent Management, Virtual Enterprise, Distributed Company, Automatti

Post-Acquisition Integration Strategies– Some illustrative evidence from Chinese acquisitions of Italian luxury firms

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) from emerging economies has begun to increase significantly and has been growing at a faster pace than FDI from the developed world. This research seeks to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions and their implications for the Italian firms in the luxury sector. By relying on two in-depth case-studies, this paper presents a cross-case analysis of four Chinese acquisitions in order to provide some in-depth insights into the post-acquisition integration strategies implemented by the Chinese investors in the luxury Made in Italy sector. The study contributes to our understanding of how emerging market firms implement post-acquisition integration strategies when acquiring firms from advanced economies. To this end, the benefits and challenges associated with the post-acquisition integrations strategies implemented by the Chinese investors were identified. Keywords: OFDI, Chinese acquisitions, Post-acquisition strategy, Integration strategy, Made in Italy, luxury manufacturing secto

Global Work Arrangements in the Virtual Enterprise – Some Lessons from Automattic

Global work arrangements tend to be particularly problematic for Virtual Enterprises, to the extent that there is a vast literature emphasising the challenges that these companies need to face in identifying, attracting, developing and retaining talent on a global scale. Drawing on the experience of Automattic, the paper outlines how the company has successfully addressed such challenges by implementing Global Talent Management in a very peculiar way. From the findings, it emerges that stemming from their experience there are some exemplary and valuable lessons for companies from all sectors on how to embrace Global Talent Management in a more creative way and the great benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness that can flow from doing so. Keywords: Global Talent Management, Virtual Enterprise, Distributed Company, Automatti

Post-Acquisition Integration Strategies– Some illustrative evidence from Chinese acquisitions of Italian luxury firms

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) from emerging economies has begun to increase significantly and has been growing at a faster pace than FDI from the developed world. This research seeks to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions and their implications for the Italian firms in the luxury sector. By relying on two in-depth case-studies, this paper presents a cross-case analysis of four Chinese acquisitions in order to provide some in-depth insights into the post-acquisition integration strategies implemented by the Chinese investors in the luxury Made in Italy sector. The study contributes to our understanding of how emerging market firms implement post-acquisition integration strategies when acquiring firms from advanced economies. To this end, the benefits and challenges associated with the post-acquisition integrations strategies implemented by the Chinese investors were identified. Keywords: OFDI, Chinese acquisitions, Post-acquisition strategy, Integration strategy, Made in Italy, luxury manufacturing secto

Towards a better understanding of family business groups from a cross-cultural perspective

Around the world, some of the largest firms in many countries are controlled by family business groups such as Fiat in Italy, Ford in the US, Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong, Samsung in South Korea and many others. Further, many family groups have a long history. Although family business groups are a significant and long standing phenomenon in most parts of the world, their resilience to globalization in their use of different governance structures and relational capabilities have received little attention from a cross-cultural perspective. Drawing on our previous work, the study provides a theoretical framework to classify family business groups’ key traits on the basis of their etic/emic distinction from a cross-cultural perspective

Quality practices, priorities and performance: an international study

This paper presents the results of a survey administered across seventeen countries that seeks to examine quality practices, priorities and performance. The participating countries were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain,Sweden, UK and USA. The methodology involved the use of a self-administered questionnaire to director/head of operations/manufacturing in best practice firms within the sector of firms classified by ISIC(rev.2) Division 38. There is evidence of both similarities and differences across the countries studied. Further analysis is required to explore the convergence versus “culture specific” argument.International, Practices, Priorities, Performance