| Competitive positioning and rivalry in emerging market risk-assessment |
| | McNamara, Gerry | Michigan State U. | mcnama39@pilot.msu.edu | 517-353-6422 |
| | Vaaler, Paul | Tufts U. | pvaaler@emerald.tufts.edu | 617-627-3700 |
| | Competitive positioning and rivalry may substantially influence foreign investment risk-assessment, but there is little research
examining such links in international business or related fields. We examine them in the context of expert credit-rating agencies
and their risk-assessments of emerging-market sovereign borrowers over the 1987-1996 period. We find that factors related to
competitive positioning and rivalry provide substantial explanation to agency risk-ratings issued during the period. In particular,
we find that an agency's risk-ratings are significantly related to their positioning as an incumbent or insurgent (new entrant),
and to their positioning as a regional specialist or global service provider in the industry. We also find that agency risk-ratings
are related to the level of rivalry faced by insurgent (but not incumbent) agencies in any specific sovereign market. For research,
our findings suggest both significant general and contingent links between foreign investment risk-assessment and competitive
positioning and rivalry among agencies. For practice, our findings suggest that sovereign borrowers in emerging markets may
be more likely to obtain favorable risk-assessments from insurgent agencies as the number rivals rendering an assessment
increases. |
| | Keywords: risk; incumbency; emerging markets |
| Managerial Attitudes Towards Technology and Innovation in Developed and Developing Countries |
| | Perez, Pedro David | Cornell U. | espresso@exotrope.net | (607) 256-1313 |
| | Peters, Lois | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | peterl@rpi.edu | (518)-276-2977 |
| | The technology gap between developed and developing countries expanded during this century. A study of managers in Germany, India, the U.S.A. and Venezuela was used to determine if differences in managerial attitudes towards technology and innovation (T&I) could be a cause for the technology gap. Using cognitive mapping techniques, it was found that managers in India and Venezuela make emphasis on their countries as markets and customers, quality, availability of resources, their countries economies, and labor and labor unions. German and American managers emphasized customers, the need to differentiate themselves from their competitors, work and time constraints, and people. Developing and developed countries managers show two definite general paradigms of T&I activity, the general set of objectives and constraints that determines T&I in an economic environment (i.e., a country). In developed countries, it is the attempt to satisfy customer abilities and needs and to differentiate an organization from its competition, within an industry's technological trajectory and a given availability of qualified people. In developing countries, it is the attempt to increase quality within a country's possibilities and limitations; given the constraints imposed by limited resources, an uncertain economic environment, and resistance from stakeholders such as labor unions. |
| | Keywords: Economic development; Managerial attitudes; Cognitive mapping |
| Japanese Firm's Investement Strategies In Emerging Economies |
| | Delios, Andrew | Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology | mndelios@ust.hk | (852)-2358-7743 |
| | Henisz, Witold Jerzy | U. of Pennsylvania | henisz@wharton.upenn.edu | 215-898-0788 |
| | This study jointly examines the effects of organizational capabilities and public and private expropriation hazards on the level of equity ownership chosen for foreign subsidiaries in emerging markets. Specifically, we explore the mechanisms by which 660 Japanese multinational corporations draw upon industry-specific, country-specific and total international experience to mitigate these hazards for their 1,727 subsidiaries in 18 emerging markets. Results strongly support a novel specification that forges a link between the capabilities and the public and private expropriation hazards literatures |
| | Keywords: Multinational entry strategy; expropriation hazards; Organizational capabilites |