This book presents various empirical analyses of cross border strategies adopted by global firms with a particular emphasis on the European and East Asian experiences. It also provides studies of the trends and prospects of regional economic integration, focusing mainly on East Asia. The book addresses the topic of economic integration from both a corporate perspective and a policy perspective.
This volume discusses the current trend of globalization and the main characteristics of world order, focusing specifically on the destiny of the nation state, the threat against human rights, and conflicts between unilateral hegemony of the USA and Europe. It examines the contemporary European experience and compares it with Asian reality with a view to implications for the future development of Asia. It also discusses regional integration as a framework for bringing stable peace, exploring detailed principles and specific forms of a regional community in Asia. Contributors from Europe and Asia critically review previous literature on this topic and suggest new theoretical and empirical grounds of regional community in Asia. The book takes the viewpoint of comparative civilization and experiences of European integration to offer meaningful lessons for the future of nation states and the possibility of building regional communities in Asia.
This volume is intended to be the most comprehensive textbook on economic integration in East Asia. It introduces the reader to various issues related to the topic such as institutional building of FTAs; production networks and the location choice of MNEs; R&D and innovation; infrastructure development and transport costs; international migration and service trade; monetary integration; regional disparity and poverty. It also deals with the critical energy, environmental and agricultural concerns. Each chapter contains ample data and rigorous analyses, complemented by illustrative box articles. Covering a wide range of aspects surrounding economic integration in East Asia, this well-researched text will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students of development studies, regional economics and Asian studies. It will be of particular value to those on courses concerned with economic and regional integration.
'Daniel Cahoy and Lynda Oswald have brought together some of the country's most prominent patent scholars outside the legal discipline. From the LeahySmith America Invents Act to recent court cases from the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit, this timely, informative and well-edited volume examines the latest changes in US patent law and their impact on business strategy. The book is a must-read for anybody who wants to learn more deeply about the ever-increasing role of patents in the business environment.' Peter K. Yu, Drake University Law School, US Within the complex global economy, patents function as indispensable tools for fostering and protecting innovation. This fascinating volume offers a comprehensive perspective on the US patent system, detailing its many uses and outlining several critical legislative, administrative and judicial reforms that impact business strategy. The expert contributors to this book provide an overview of how the US patent system functions today and describe how recent changes affect firms and individual inventors. Topics discussed include the drivers of intellectual property policy; recent revisions to the patent application process in terms of the new first-to-file regime, inequitable conduct, and allowable subject matter; and changes to patent enforcement and infringement related to the Federal Circuit's special role and post-grant review. Contributors address recent legislation such as the 2011 America Invents Act, which enacted some of the most significant patent reforms in decades. This examination of the US patent system highlights some of the most important issues for business. It will serve as an important tool for both policymakers and business leaders, and will also interest students and professors of business and management studies, innovation studies and business law.
'This wonderful volume brings together contributions mainly from the innovation literature, whose findings are in a sense quite familiar, but which in this collection are juxtaposed in such a way as to highlight their common institutional underpinnings. This is very much due to the efforts of the editor, whose insightful introduction and editorial vision brings out several interesting and emerging themes from this collection of papers. I think this volume breaks new ground in highlighting the embeddedness of MNE subsidiaries in multiple contexts, and it will be of considerable interest to scholars engaged with institutional analysis. However, I also believe that researchers interested in regional embeddedness, the geography of innovation, and knowledge management will find new angles to their work in this collected volume.' – Sarianna M. Lundan, University of Bremen, Germany Multinational companies are crucial actors in a global knowledge-based economy, combining the advantages of global and locally coordinated production and innovation strategies with specific regional and national factors. This book questions how MNCs can best exploit institutionally embedded knowledge, explores the utilization of external institutionally embedded knowledge in corporate innovation processes, and addresses the challenges of embeddedness. The expert contributors draw on managerial, economic, geographic and sociological perspectives to explore the essential roles of regional and national knowledge infrastructures and the cultural and political environment of MNCs. They build upon, update, and extend the discussion on the regional and national embeddedness of MNCs with new country case studies and comparative analyses, focussing on the relationship between innovation in companies and regional studies. Significantly, the book also establishes a link between two important debates that have hitherto been largely disconnected: Regional studies and international business studies separately address issues that fall within the scope of the book, but do not provide an integrated analysis of the embeddedness of MNCs. This pathbreaking book goes some way to fill this gap in the literature and as such, will prove invaluable to academics, R&D managers, regional policy makers and students with an interest in international business, business economics, regional studies and organization studies.
'This research project combines contemporary and historical analysis to trace the evolution of Australian multinationals. It provides unique insights into how firms from a small economy achieved global competitiveness in their niche markets, while examining the barriers that inhibited others. The evidence is presented in comparative, industry and firm-case studies, and tells the story of international business made in Australia. The longitudinal and multi-level analysis in this research provides new insights that challenge the predominance of cross-sectional analytical framework dominating strategic management. Any scholars sincerely interested how companies from small countries can succeed on the global stage ought to read this book.' - Klaus E. Meyer, University of Reading Business School, UK The international business literature often struggles to depict a universal experience of internationalisation from the perspective of large countries. This book seeks to enrich the literature by providing a nuanced overview of the little-known Australian experience, being an atypical case of a small- to medium-sized economy which liberalised rapidly from the 1980s outside any trading bloc. Six data-rich survey chapters explore Australia's mixed success in founding its own multinationals. The experience of Australian firms is set in historical and comparative perspective, including interactions with inward and specifically American FDI. Five industry studies next consider why firms in retail, wine and professional services were more successful than in financial services and shipping. Nine detailed case studies of firms then identify the elements of administrative heritage, strategy and learning that have been the key to success or failure. The book concludes by outlining what can be learned from Australia's example and presenting implications for future research. The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms will appeal to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in international business and international economics.
In an age in which it is increasingly necessary for nations to consider their competitiveness and at a time when the world economy is facing recession, this book explores the possible trajectory of ASEAN arguably one of the most dynamic areas in the world as a regional economic and political bloc. This important and timely study focuses on the role of foreign direct investment in advancing the performance of ASEAN and the competitiveness of its firms, whereas other studies typically focus solely on the role of trade. The expert contributors an interdisciplinary assembly of economists, lawyers and political scientists present a comprehensive view of ASEAN s experiences over the past decade, addressing the industrial competitiveness of ASEAN and analysing the role of MNEs against the background of the challenges of integration. They illustrate that regional integration will only be a success if ASEAN s linkages are broadened with global partners through negotiations of Free Trade Agreements. The book concludes that although much still remains to be done, and many promises are still to be unveiled, ASEAN s coming of age is an historic milestone. Competitiveness of the ASEAN Countries will appeal to a broad readership including students, academics and researchers with an interest in Asian studies, international business, international economics and international law.
It is apparent that environmental issues affect the livelihoods and well being of individuals, communities and businesses the world over. In that vein, this book examines the impact that climate change and other environmental factors have on business. The effect of climate change, while a significant factor, will influence business slowly, but inexorably. Executives should manage environmental risk at three levels: regulatory compliance, potential liability from industrial accidents, and pollutant release mitigation.Companies that are proactive in mitigating their exposure to climate-change risks will not only generate new profitable opportunities, but also gain competitive advantage over their rivals in a carbon-constrained future. Enhancing Global Competitiveness through Sustainable Environmental Stewardship provides frameworks for identifying how climate change might affect a business, and suggests strategy guidelines to manage the risks and seek opportunities.This seminal collection of research will be of particular interest to students and scholars of sustainability studies, business and management, and business professionals concerned with the role they will play in the changing and challenging times that lie ahead for business growth and environmental consciousness.
Managing the Contemporary Multinational explores the role of headquarters in different structures of multinational firms and shows how this role is affected by the complexity of contemporary research. This topical book illustrates that contemporary research has added complexity to the attributes of the multinational, with implications for the role of headquarters. It examines claims that subsidiaries contribute to the overall competitiveness of the corporation, that they are organized in corporate networks spanning country borders, and that they depend upon specific relationships in the external network. It is stressed that headquarters knowledge of the multinational and its business environment is crucial, but also problematic. The eminent contributors question whether headquarters have become more or less important given the complexity of contemporary research, and argue that the answer to this question depends on the theoretical foundation adopted in the multinational. Based on empirical studies, this invaluable book will be a captivating read for students and researchers interested in international business and international management.
Large and medium sized retailers have increased their international operations substantially over the last 25 years. This is evident in: the number of countries to which these retailers expand; the growing international sales of retailers; and the heightening of the level of commitment of retailers to their international activity – a trend that is likely to continue over the next decade as general globalization in the service industries increases. The managerial implications of the moves to become global are considerable. Different retailers are pursuing different approaches, to varying degrees of success and are no longer simply multi-national, but are also multi-continental. Consequently, existing concepts and theories of international business fit uneasily in explanations of international retailing, so new corporate strategies need to be explored. Featuring in-depth studies of seven retailers, by international scholars from Japan, the UK and Sweden, Global Strategies in Retailing explores recent developments in strategy that are related to international retailing and in particular, the emergence of a Global Portfolio Strategy. As such, this book will be important reading for all international business and retailing students and academics researching in these areas.
