| Changes in the Specialization of Canada's Exports to the US Under Free Trade |
| | Wesson, Thomas James | York U. | twesson@bus.yorku.ca | (416) 736-2100 x77897 |
| | This study looks at a simple question: have Canada's exports to the US become more specialized
in terms of commodities shipped under the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?
Several factors influence this question. First, under the FTA US based MNEs will optimize
their production on a continental basis having their Canadian plants specialize in selected
products. The FTA will also allow Canada to export more of those goods for which it possesses
comparative advantage. Both of these effects will increase the product specialization of
Canada's exports to the United States. The FTA may also effect the incentives and attitudes of
Canadian managers, forcing them to seek international markets for products which the
traditionally did not.
The current analysis applies a series of trade concentration indices, analogous to Herfindahl
indices, to assess the concentration of Canada's trade with the United States. This analysis
shows that Canada's exports to the United States became less concentrated over the period 1988-
1996, whatever level of aggregation one looks at.
It would appear that the effects of the FTA on the incentives and motivations of Canadian firms
and their managers dominate the effects pushing Canada toward increased export specialization.
This finding sheds light on how Canadian firms have adjusted to free trade. It clearly has
implications for the further development of trade policy in Canada and elsewhere. Canada has
long been vulnerable because of its reliance on a few product groups for the bulk of its exports.
It seems that the FTA has alleviated this problem. |
| | Keywords: international competition; managerial attitudes; trade policy |
| Cross-Broder Knowledge Transfer In Multinational Corporations |
| | Lucas, Leyland | Rutgers U., Newark | leylandl@pegasus.rutgers.edu | (973)-353-1650 |
| | Recent research has advocated a new approach to how we look at multinational corporations (MNCs). This research has suggested that MNCs should be viewed as repositories of knowledge, and a network of capabilities (Leonard-Barton, 1995). Such an approach infers that resources may be transferred among subsidiaries for a number of reasons, other than efficiency. Furthermore, accepting MNCs as a network of resources insinuates that how individuals within these subsidiaries interact may play a critical role in the transfer of knowledge and other resources. These arguments have significant implications for which theoretical lenses are used to examine the process of knowledge transfer within MNCs. Here, it is argued that the network approach to understanding knowledge transfer among subsidiaries is more informative than other theories that advocate efficiency considerations and resource dependency. This paper argues that how knowledge is transferred among subsidiaries is closely related to such factors as proximity, cultural and geographic similarities, the degree of local responsiveness, and the strength of the informal network. |
| | Keywords: Knowledge; Multinational; Transfer |
| Managers' Views of Political Risks: An Empicial Exploration of Miller's Conceptualization |
| | Govekar, Michele A. | Ohio Northern U. | m-govekar@onu.edu | (419)-772-2072 |
| | Govekar, Paul L. | Nova Southeastern U. | pgovekar@bright.net | (419)-675-2545 |
| | Miller (1992, 1993) developed and tested an 'integrated risk management perspective' for international business, explicitly categorizing uncertainties by managers' integrated perceptions of them. Mueller & Mueller (1997) used this same type of approach to analyze risks inherent in the Post Communist Economies. We explore Miller's (1992) general environmental uncertainty category using an independent research instrument and data gathered in the same general time period. Miller (1992) divided managers' perceptions of risk into three broad categories: general environmental uncertainties, industry uncertainties, and firm uncertainties. He further sub-divided the first category into political uncertainties, government policy uncertainties, macro economic uncertainties, social uncertainties and natural uncertainties. We develop three hypotheses about the general environmental uncertainties category and test them using generally contemporaneous data. . The factor analysis of the responses to the questionnaire loaded the responses in fair accordance with Miller's results and with two of Mueller & Mueller's (1997) four factors. We provide discussion of these results, drawing conclusions for practice and further research. |
| | Keywords: Political risk; Perception; International management |
| Assessment and Valuation of Knowledge in International Acquisitions: A Conceptual Analysis |
| | Mukherji, Ananda | Texas A&M U. / International U. | max@tamiu.edu | (956)-326-2526 |
| | Mukherji, Jyotsna | Texas A&M U. / International U. | jyo@tamiu.edu | (956)326-2542 |
| | Dibrell, C. Clay | U. of Memphis | cdibrell!@mocha.memphis.edu | (901)-678-2038 |
| | As more firms enter the international arena, managers are faced with the challenge of how to compete in this more complex environment. In order to survive and thrive, firms must have the appropriate knowledge to compete. To accomplish this task, managers must consider how the forces of globalization, knowledgization, and alliances work, and the factors that affect their ability to attain knowledge. One important way to obtain the needed knowledge is by acquiring another firm. However, what has been somewhat overlooked in the literature is the cost of acquiring knowledge, the factors behind escalating bids to acquire knowledge, the valuation of knowledge, the impact of knowledge acquisitions on returns, and whether the cost of acquiring knowledge renders its utilization moot. This paper conceptually explores the variables associated with acquiring knowledge and using knowledge. It focuses on those antecedents -- tacitness of knowledge, information asymmetry, reputation and quality, familiarity and expertise, international culture, and national experience -- which directly influence how managers assess and value knowledge when making an international acquisition. The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss these antecedents, and how they create conditions for managers to overbid the value of knowledge that is planned to be acquired. Lastly, building upon Barney's (1988) work, we analyze a process through which an acquiring firm's performance, based on the net present value of returns, is closely related to the value of knowledge that is procured. |
| | Keywords: knowledge valuation,; overbidding,; international acquisitions |
| International Business in the "Double Triad": National Institutions and International Markets |
| | Choi, Chong Ju | Cambridge U. | c.choi@jims.cam.ac.uk | +441223 766379 |
| | Eldomiaty, Tarek | City U. Business School | T.Eldomiaty@city.ac.uk | +44171 477 8777 |
| | Lee, Soo Hee | U. of London | S.Lee@mbs.bbk.ac.uk | +44171 631 6771 |
| | Donghoon, Oh | Cambridge U. | D.Oh-1@city.ac.uk | +44181 481 2957 |
| | In international business research, there is an ongoing debate about the importance of national factors which may be relatively
unique, to international markets and globalization which tend to standardise [Rugman 1993, 1997; Kogut 1991; Murtha and
Lenway 1994; Porter 1990; Dunning 1993; Gray 1995]. This paper's premise is that national business systems are important,
but not necessarily unique; there are three major groupings of national business systems. In an analogous way that Rugman's
and Dunning's double diamond analysis broadened the single diamond analysis of Porter, this paper introduces a, "double triad"
framework. This framework combines the existing widely researched global economic triad in international markets [Vernon 1966;
Ohmae 1985] with a triad of national business systems [North 1990, 1991], consisting of Anglo-Saxon, Communitarian and
Emerging business systems. This double triad framework more comprehensively analysed the complex nature of interdependence
between national institutions and international markets. |
| | Keywords: markets; institutions |