Browsing Working Papers (INT) by Subject "kep"
Now showing items 1-10 of 10
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Theory and Evidence from the BalticsJones, Derek C.; Mygind, Niels (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We begin by identifying a typical governance life-cycle, defined as changes in ownership structure, and including both the identity of the major owner and ownership concentration. The cycle is marked by key events and phases including start-up, initial growth, mature growth, and possibly a crisis and restructuring stage or exit stage. The governance cycle for transitional countries reflects some specific characteristics –e.g. often privatization produces specific initial ownership structures, with an unusually high proportion of insider, especially, employee ownership. Subsequently pres-sures for restructuring produce strong impulses for ownership changes. There is limited possibility for external finance because of the embryonic development of the banking system and the capital markets during early transition. The governance cycle is also influenced by specific features of the institutional, cultural and economic environment in a country. The varying importance of these fac-tors is expected to produce differences in key features of ownership cycles such as the speed at which particular ownership changes occur. To provide simple hypothesis tests, we use new and rich enterprise panel data sets for the three Bal-tic countries. The data enable various measures of ownership to be constructed (including the iden-tity of major owners and ownership concentration). The empirical analysis covers the ownership cycle with emphasis on initial ownership and subsequent changes. Our key method is to assemble a series of transition matrices showing both starting and final ownership configurations for sample enterprises and to simultaneously provide information on changes in concentration for the largest single owner. For Estonia this is supplemented with an analysis of the frequencies of different own-ership-cycles including intermediary stages of ownership. In spite of important differences in insti-tutional development, especially concerning the privatization process, we find that governance cy-cles are broadly similar in all countries. Employee ownership is rapidly fading and mainly being succeeded by managerial ownership. There are changes back and forth between manager and do-mestic external ownership, while foreign ownership is quite stable. Ownership concentration is mostly increasing after privatization, which included diversification both to employees and external owners. Since ownership diversification did not sit well with the slow development of the institu-tional framework, as expected we see a subsequent concentration of ownership on both managers, external domestic and foreign owners. However, variation in institutions, there are also important differences across countries. The adjustment of ownership structures is faster in Estonia and this can be explained by the relatively fast pace of institutional change and evolution of important gov-ernance institutions, including tough bankruptcy legislation and advances in the financial system. JEL-codes: G3, J5, P2, P3 Keywords: corporate governance, life-cycle, privatization, ownership change, transition econo-mies, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania . URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6611 Files in this item: 1
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Global Competition, Collective Efficiency, and Local DevelopmentLorentzen, Jochen; Robbins, Glen; Barnes, Justin (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The paper describes the formation of the Durban Auto Cluster in the context of trade liberalization. It argues that the improvement of operational competitiveness of firms in the cluster is prominently due to joint action. It tests this proposition by comparing the gains from cluster activities in the areas of supplier development, human resource development, logistics, and benchmarking, and by contrasting the impact of joint action against a host of other variables, notably international competition and technical assistance by foreign partners. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6598 Files in this item: 1
lorentzenrobbinsbarnesoctober2004.pdf (456.8Kb) -
From Czechoslovakia To The Czech Republic and SlovakiaOoi, Can-Seng; Peji´c Kristensen, Tatjana; Lomanová Pedersen, Zdenka (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Tourism offers an arena through which a place identity is imagined, negotiated and contained. This paper compares the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and show how these countries construct and assert their identities through tourism. They both share a common history as Czechoslovakia, however, they are perceived differently by the outside world. These former Eastern Bloc countries are promoting themselves in several ways and they are also marginalising their socialist past and invoking their Central European identity. The Czech and Slovak search for destination identity takes into account tourists’ demands and perceptions. This paper introduces the concept of the orientalist tourist gaze, and demonstrates how orientalism may manifest in tourism. Data on how these two countries are imagined were collected in Denmark. Keywords: destination identity, host society-guest interaction, impact of tourism, orientalism URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6576 Files in this item: 1
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On the role of knowledge in industrial districtsHåkanson, Lars (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper questions the prevailing notions that firms within industrial clusters have privi-leged access to ‘tacit knowledge’ that is unavailable – or available only at high cost – to firms located elsewhere, and that such access provides competitive advantages that help to explain the growth and development of both firms and regions. It outlines a model of cluster dynam-ics emphasizing two mutually interdependent processes: the concentration of specialized and complementary epistemic communities, on the one hand, and entrepreneurship and a high rate of new firm formation on the other. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6627 Files in this item: 1
working paper 2003-10.pdf (320.9Kb) -
Håkanson, Lars (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: All knowledge is context dependent. The relevant context is the social community where it resides, i.e. the ‘epistemic community’ formed as groups of people define and legitimize the knowledge they possess. In the mutual engagement in a common enterprise, epistemic communities develop, maintain and nurture the codes, tools and theories that provide the basis of their practice. Commonalities of code, tools and theory facilitate both voluntary transfer and involuntary imitation of knowledge within communities, also ones spanning organizational boundaries. Conversely, knowledge transfer between different epistemic communities, whether desired or unintended, is often cumbersome and fraught with difficulties. In order to achieve effective integration and cooperation between its various professional communities and subcultures, firms must therefore undertake investments in boundary-spanning mechanisms. Since these investments are specific to the context in which they take place and to the transactions that they enable, they cannot easily be organized through arm’s length contracts. Firms exist because they have a relative advantage over markets in the integration of diverse knowledge. However, the associated capabilities need not translate into a relative advantage also in the transfer of knowledge, i.e. knowledge exchanged between members of the same epistemic community. Within communities, knowledge disseminates with relative ease both intentionally and through emulation. Knowledge thus acquired can generally be applied also outside the context of the exchange and the effort or investment expended in its acquisition is not transaction specific. The governance mode applied in such exchanges is therefore determined by strategic and contextual factors, including those of traditional transaction cost logic. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6594 Files in this item: 1
governance and knowledge exchange 2.pdf (168.6Kb) -
Ionaşcu, Delia; Meyer, Klaus; Estrin, Saul (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The concept of ‘distance’ has been used by international business scholars to explain variations in international business strategies and operations across countries. The more distant a host country is from the organizational centre of a multinational enterprise (MNE), the more it has to manage cultural, regulatory and cognitive differences, and to develop appropriate entry strategies, organizational forms, and internal procedures to accommodate these differences. Scholarly research has focused on the concept of psychic distance, which has been narrowed down in empirical work to indices based on Hofstede’s work on culture. However, these measures capture only very partially the dimensions of distance of concern to international business. In this paper, we show how the broader theoretical concept of institutional distance, which incorporates normative, regulatory and cognitive aspects, affects entry strategies. Specifically, our theoretical arguments suggest that the impact of distance varies with different aspects of the concept of institutional distance, and that this impact interacts with both the investor’s experience and with the relative importance of the pertinent operation for the investing MNE. Using a unique dataset of foreign direct investment in emerging economies that incorporates multi-host as well as multi-home countries, we find empirical support for our propositions, and provide an explanation for apparently inconsistent results in the previous literature. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6620 Files in this item: 1
working paper 2004-51.pdf (550.9Kb) -
The Absorptive Capacities of South African Automotive Component SuppliersLorentzen, Jochen (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Innovative firms in developing countries have the odds stacked against them in more than one way. They must contend with the objective difficulties of all sorts of capital shortages and deficient infrastructures. Highly-trained scientists, well-endowed labs, seed funding, and institutions that test and certify prototypes and protect the resulting intellectual property are few and far between in the South. They must also come to terms with global value chains in which for different reasons both multinational corporations and smaller, knowledge-intensive firms typically keep R&D close to home. And finally, they are up against the broad brush of academic thought on industrial development which essentially holds that because of the technology gap between developed and developing countries, innovation proper can only really happen in the North. Thus if innovative firms appear on the radar screen at all, they are likely to register but an errant blip, the exception to the rule, that do not warrant systematic analysis. This paper analyses the absorptive capacities of automotive component suppliers in South Africa. It shows that some firms design and manufacture innovative products, while others upgrade their technological capability or merely strive to attain execution competence. It suggests that the reason for the differential performance lies in the strategic use of advanced technical skills and the kind of learning about frontier technology engendered by R&D. It further discusses the ways in which foreign-owned technology is internalised more or less easily depending on whether or not it is controlled by multinational firms or by passive investors. Section 2 reviews the literature on absorptive capacities in developing countries. Section 3 discusses innovation and the technology frontier in the automotive industry, and Section 4 briefly outlines why this is relevant to firms in South Africa. Section 5 presents data and methodology. Section 6 discusses the findings. Section 7 concludes with suggestions for further research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6622 Files in this item: 1
itsr&dstupidapril2004.pdf (358.6Kb) -
Bernhard Nielsen, Bo (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper develops a conceptual model, based on a structural equation approach, for empirically investigating the role played by relational embeddedness in the process of creation of synergies of knowledge related capabilities in international strategic alliances. The theoretical model identifies an underlying latent construct; knowledge embeddedness and its antecedents: complementarity, compatibility, tacitness, trust, protectiveness, coordination, and cultural distance, which needs to be explicitly recognized and integrated in the theory of creation of synergies in international strategic alliances. While the individual importance of most of these variables has long been recognized in both strategic alliance and social exchange literature, their simultaneous effects have thus far been ignored. Embeddedness is hypothesized to be a full mediator of these effects on creation of synergies. Furthermore, alliance longevity, absorptive capacity, network capacity, and collaborative know-how are proposed to moderate these effects. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6547 Files in this item: 1
wp7-2001-bbn.pdf (115.4Kb) -
Mygind, Niels (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: With reference to the discussion about shareholder versus stakeholder maximization it is argued that the normal type of maximization is in fact stakeholder-owner maxi-mization. This means maximization of the sum of the value of the shares and stake-holder benefits belonging to the dominating stakeholder-owner. Maximization of shareholder value is a special case of owner-maximization, and only under quite re-strictive assumptions shareholder maximization is larger or equal to stakeholder-owner maximization. Broad stakeholder maximization is the sum of the returns to all stake-holders also including the shareholders of a company. Although it may be the ultimate goal for Corporate Social Responsibility to achieve this kind of maximization, broad stakeholder maximization is quite difficult to give a precise definition. There is no one-dimensional measure to add different stakeholder benefits not traded on the mar-ket, and therefore there is no possibility for practical application. Broad stakeholder maximization instead in practical applications becomes satisfying certain stakeholder demands, so that the practical application will be stakeholder-owner maximization un-der constraints defined by other stakeholders’ interests. These constraints vary for dif-ferent stakeholder owners and new standards for Corporate Social Responsibility and more active political consumers will strengthen these constraints. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6613 Files in this item: 1
share stake max wp53 2004.pdf (132.8Kb) -
Bernhard Nielsen, Bo (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Although trust has been given much attention in alliance literature as an explanatory factor, little research has been devoted to defining and operationalizing trust. Trust is more or less seen as a magic ingredient, poorly understood much like the concept of luck, and usually attributed ex post; successful alliances seem to involve trust; unsuccessful alliances do not. The extant literature has treated trust as a residual term for the complex social-psychological processes necessary for social action to occur. Since trust is a social phenomenon, both national culture and institutional arrangements have an impact on trust and the perception of trust. Hence, this paper develops a conceptual model, based on a structural equation approach, for empirically exploring the role played by trust in the process of learning in international strategic alliances. The model distinguishes between pre-alliance formation factors and post-alliance formation factors in an attempt to respond to calls for research examining the evolution of trust and its impact on international collaborative relationships. The determinants of trust in international strategic alliances are examined and a series of testable propositions are derived to guide future empirical investigation. Keywords: Trust, Strategic Alliances, Learning URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6571 Files in this item: 1
wp8-2001-bbn.pdf (116.3Kb)
Now showing items 1-10 of 10