Beyond Commodities: Argentina’s dynamic biotech industry

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Jerry Haar

Source: feelgrafix

By Jerry Haar and Krystal Rodriguez

The dictionary definition of crucible is “an extremely difficult experience or situation; a severe test or trial”. This is precisely where most of Latin America finds itself with its excessive dependence on commodities as the linchpin of its economy. In good times governments spend commodity windfalls on projects or programs to garner support for the political party in power. In bad times, politicians engage in handwringing and scapegoating, and the governing party borrows excessively to make up the shortfall in revenue from commodity sales.

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Birmingham Insights on Asia – (4) International Strategic Alliance Performance (High Technology Industry in Taiwan)

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Michael Czinkota

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This comment is based on Jo-Chun Chieh’s Dissertation written under the supervision of Prof. Michael Czinkota at the University of Birmingham, UK.

3, Organizational culture differences have more influence than national culture differences on International Strategic Alliance (ISA) performance, from the Taiwanese managers’ perspective. Two of the organizational cultural dimensions, professional and pragmatic orientation, ranked as the first two elements of importance when cooperating with a foreign partner, while two of the national cultural dimensions, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, was ranked subsequently. Pothukuchi et al. (2002) addressed a similar concept with differences in organizational culture, compared to differences in national culture, considerably facilitating conflict and impeding cooperation between alliance partners.

4, The study justifies that ISA practice indeed significantly interferes with the relationship between culture differences and iSA performance. John (1984) indicates that long and sticky partnership between cooperative enterprises reduces that potential for opportunistic behavior while the dissolution of a partnership often leads to poor decision-marketing, interaction and management of inter-organizational relationships. Complementary resources, absorptive capacity, commitment, and trust are important willingness to work together (Day & Klein, 1987). This partnership can evolve positive or negative consequences, depending on how Taiwanese managers implement their managerial practices with foreign partners.

Birmingham Insights on Asia – (3) International Strategic Alliance Performance (High Technology Industry in Taiwan)

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Michael Czinkota

This comment is based on Jo-Chun Chieh’s Dissertation written under the supervision of Prof. Michael Czinkota at the University of Birmingham, UK.

The study investigated the perspective of Taiwanese managers, thereby examining the impact of national and organizational culture differences and International Strategic Alliance (ISA) practices on ISA performance. Four findings can be concluded as follows.

1, National culture differences partly influence ISA performance, especially in the uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation dimensions. This finding corresponds to one of the cultural functions proposed by Schneider (1989). He states that culture serves two functions, to solve external adaptation and internal integration problems. Uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation especially impact on external adaptation. In other words, Taiwanese managers in the high-technology industry emphasize and are good t coping with opportunities and threats from the external environment, as well as being good at developing ISA strategies with foreign alliance partners. on the other hand, power distance, individualism and masculinity influence employee relationships within an organization.

2, Organizational culture differences also partly influence ISA performance, especially in professional and pragmatic (market -oriented) dimensions. Kasper (2001) associates corporate culture and market orientation, claiming that “market oriented organizations are open, employee-oriented, results-oriented, pragmatic, professional…”. This finding reflects that Taiwanese managers in the high-technology industry emphasize the importance of building objectives and obtaining new knowledge when cooperating with ISA foreign partners. Kasper (2001) also associates innovation, stating that customer contacts and customer participation in the R&D procedure are the basis of innovation. This notion implies that Taiwanese managers have high consciousness about global competition and pay attention on balancing innovation and market orientation.

Stay tuned for two more conclusions on our next Birmingham Insights on Asia.