Editorial

Citation

Akbar, Y. (2012), "Editorial", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 7 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem.2012.30107caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Emerging Markets, Volume 7, Issue 3

This issue brings some really interesting research to print and we are especially happy that scholars from Latin America authored two of the papers. So to the papers: there is an impressive scope of subjects researched for this issue – knowledge management, SMEs, organizational behavior and finance. This is precisely the multi-disciplinary nature of research that IJoEM seeks to promote.

Our first paper studies relationships between people level learning dimensions, structural level learning dimensions and performance outcomes. The paper tests the original classification of dimensions of learning organization on data that was generated from 292 executives working in different types of organizations: manufacturing, consultancy, KPO, BPO, financial services and others, representing mostly domestic private, public sector organizations and multinational companies operating in Indian National Capital Region (NCR). Using a “Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire” (DLOQ), the study finds that the relationship between people level learning dimensions and performance outcomes is mediated by structural level learning dimensions in Indian cultural context. Statistical analyses revealed that the DLOQ has reasonable reliability in Indian context. This is one of the first studies of its kind for India and is therefore valuable for our understanding of the mediating role of culture in Indian companies.

The second paper is a truly unique study: SMEs in Fiji and Tonga – our first ever paper on the South Pacific islands. Our authors, Naidu and Chand, emphasize that SMEs are one of the biggest contributors to GDP, employment and plays a core role in the supply chain of large businesses. One of the major problems faced by SMEs in South Pacific Island countries is lack of finance to advance business growth. SMEs lack setup capital, liquid capital, working capital and investment capital to survive and grow. MSMEs heavily depend on the financial institutions such as banks, credit corporations and development banks for the supply of finance to meet their daily financial needs. Faced with this, the paper examines how SMEs from the South Pacific cope. Based on a self-administered questionnaire drawn up after preliminary interviews of SME owners and managers, the authors find 19 significant barriers to SME growth in Fiji and Tonga – significant food for thought for public policy makers and international development agencies alike. It is great to see research from this part of the emerging market constellation and hope we can see more of it in the future.

Vassolo and Diaz-Hermelo provide our first study for this issue from Latin America. Based on a sample of firms from 1990 to 2006, they examine the impact of country effects on the performance of Latin American firms. Contrary to previous studies on emerging market firms that suggest that country effects have a strong impact on firm performance due to institutional voids and so forth, this study finds that a significant amount of variation in performance can be attributed to firm level capabilities and that the most successful firms in the sample were those that leveraged resources to overcome institutional voids. This is an elegantly constructed study based on a good size dataset and should provide food for thought for both managers and academics alike.

Next up, our fourth paper, by Malhotra et al., which is a study of volatility spillovers between Indian and US swap markets. Using GARCH, EGARCH, and TGARCH modeling to volatility spillover between the US and Indian interest rate swap markets they find evidence of volatility transmission from the US dollar interest rate swap markets to the Indian swap markets. There is no countervailing evidence of spillover from the Indian swap markets to the US swap markets. Furthermore, the spillover impact from the US markets to the Indian markets is also highly asymmetric. The impact on volatility is asymmetric for one-year swaps, but not for five-year swaps. Findings from this study will also identify any arbitrage opportunities that may exist between different segments of the US dollar interest rate swap markets and help to improve interest rate swap market efficiency. The findings of this paper are also relevant for other emerging markets’ policy makers, as they try to become more integrated in the global economy and try to resolve market inefficiencies and country risk so that obstacles to foreign investments can be removed.

Our fifth paper by Hatum et al. examined organizational identity as an anchor for adaptation from the perspective of emerging market firms. The paper contributes to the relatively scarce literature on this topic by exploring the relationship between identity and adaptation in family firms operating in an emerging economy. The paper examines four in-depth studies of Argentine family firms operating in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Based on measures of strength of identity, the authors examine how identity affects the adaptive processes of issue identification, strategic impulse definition, and implementation, where they look at pace of adjustment. The study finds that strong-identity organizations are able to foresee relevant changes in their industries, define adequate strategic responses, and implement them in an evolutionary (i.e. smooth) manner. Conversely, loose-identity organizations misread industry trends, incur in strategic paralysis, and must eventually enforce revolutionary (i.e. violent) changes in order to ensure survival.

Our final paper of the issue, by Darek Klonowski, examined liquidity gaps facing SMEs in Poland. Based on a sample population of 278,000 firms in the Warsaw area, Klonowski selected 500 typical firms for a detailed questionnaire with a return rate of 52 percent. The paper finds profound and pronounced liquidity gaps facing Polish entrepreneurs and offers three policy recommendations: first, research and informal discussions with firms from the SME sector confirm that the process of obtaining any type of government assistance is long and driven by bureaucracy. The approval process could be broken down into a number of steps to ensure a quick decision for the applicant in weeks rather than months. Second, many programs offered could be combined in a package of capital and know-how. Obtaining capital would be conditional on receiving hands-on assistance. This ensures an effective use of capital and increases the firm’s success rate. Third, the role of assisting firms from the SME sector is spread across many ministries, agencies, and educational institutions – a single government unit focusing on the SME sector could consolidate such initiatives.

Yusuf Akbar