Search results

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of the home country government in the internationalization of multinationals from emerging markets. This is an important topic because governments play a greater role in BRIC countries. We build upon the literature on non-market strategy, extending this to emerging market multinationals.

We ground our arguments based on a multimethod case study of Vale, a Brazilian mining multinational.

Our study suggests that the role of home country governments is crucial for internationalization of firms from emerging markets, but also that it changes over time, is complex, and context-specific. We suggest that non-market strategy development is a process of co-evolution that is intricately linked to both external and internal factors.

These findings are of relevance to emerging markets where governments are less constrained and perhaps more inclined to intervene in the private sector due to a legacy of state-led growth.

We tease out unique links between market shifts, government tactics, and firm strategies. Our study shows the need to shift our attention to home country non-market pressures as an explanatory factor for internationalization trajectories.

I study the relationship between pro-market reforms and the expansion of emerging market multinational companies (EMNCs). Extending institutional economics, I propose a co-evolutionary process, whereby pro-market reforms in emerging markets induce the transformation of domestic firms into EMNCs, and the global expansion of EMNCs in turn facilitates the deepening of pro-market reforms in the home country. Specifically, I first explain how pro-market reforms lead to the emergence of EMNCs via international competitiveness, upgrading needs, and escape; I then explain how the global expansion of EMNCs leads to a deepening of pro-market reforms at home via learning, spillovers, and lobbying. I complement these explanations with a discussion of contingencies at the firm (private vs. state, domestic vs. foreign firms), industry (global vs. local industries), and country (developing vs. transition countries) levels.

During the last few decades, rising intra-regional volumes of trade as well as air passenger traffic have been key characteristics of Asia-Pacific’s economic development. Although conceptual and empirical linkages between rising levels of trade and air passenger flows are often assumed, relatively little is known about the potential causality in these parallels. In this chapter, we seek to empirically uncover this causality through the application of heterogeneous Time Series Cross Section Granger causality analysis for the period 1980–2010. Four scenarios are found amongst the different country-pairs: (1) there is no co-evolution, implying that both patterns develop independently (e.g. Japan–Australia); (2) there is ‘real’ co-evolution in that both patterns influence each other through feedback loops (e.g. South Korea–Philippines); (3) air passenger traffic is facilitated by trade (e.g., South Korea–Philippines); or (4) trade is facilitated by air passenger traffic (e.g. Australia–Malaysia). Some possible interpretations of this heterogeneity are discussed.

Preparing for a potential bioterroism is a difficult task for health care leaders because of the fundamental unpredictability of bioterroist acts. Complexity science thinking is presented as an approach that can help in this task. Basic concepts from complexity science, especially the role of relationships, are presented. Specific recommendations for action including sensemaking, learning, and improvisation are made. A case study is used to illustrate the power of complexity science thinking in assisting health care leaders addressing potential bioterroism. Questions for further research are presented.

This chapter discusses the importance of strategic knowledge creation where new business innovation across different technologies and industries forms dynamic business ecosystems through “co-creation and co-evolution.” To accelerate strategic knowledge creation through high-quality global strategic collaboration that intersects departments and industrial sectors internally and externally, the formation of business communities that originate with the formation of “Ba” and the holistic leadership of practitioners at every management level, which also promotes the ongoing growth of business communities are particularly important management elements.

This work applies state-of-the-art artificial intelligence forecasting methods to provide new evidence of the comparative performance of statistically weighted Divisia indices vis-à-vis their simple sum counterparts in a simple inflation forecasting experiment. We develop a new approach that uses co-evolution (using neural networks and evolutionary strategies) as a predictive tool. This approach is simple to implement yet produces results that outperform stand-alone neural network predictions. Results suggest that superior tracking of inflation is possible for models that employ a Divisia M2 measure of money that has been adjusted to incorporate a learning mechanism to allow individuals to gradually alter their perceptions of the increased productivity of money. Divisia measures of money outperform their simple sum counterparts as macroeconomic indicators.

The first part of this paper discusses why and how organizations join collaborative arrangements in transforming business sectors. In order to address this research question from an organization–environment co-evolution perspective, the authors begin with working out a respective framework for analysis founded on competence-based theory under the umbrella of market process theory. The starting of point of the investigation are results from comprehensive qualitative research conducted within the currently highly turbulent German healthcare sector. Embedded into an interactive research design, the fieldwork reveals a taxonomy of three reasons to cooperate in volatile environments: (1) closing resource and competence gaps in so-called “gap-closing alliances,” (2) preparing for unexpected developments in so-called “option networks,” and (3) intending to exert influence on the relevant business environment in so-called “steering alliances.” Detailed findings and particularities for the field of competence research are briefly summarized. They emanate especially from an evolutionary angle and include timing (reacting adequately to strategic windows in the market), historicity, path dependencies (on both the firm and market/industry level), and an evolutionary interpretation of resource/competence specificity.

The central research question in the second part of the paper is whether and how competence-based management of alliances is applicable to the education sector and for deriving respective management implications. For this reason, an exploratory case study is conducted of the German MBA program “Net Economy,” featuring innovative teaching methods like blended learning arrangements, multimedia case studies, and transnational learning processes in an international learning network.

Purpose – This chapter focuses on the role evolution has played in our development of politics and public policy and reviews the theoretical approaches and studies of the last decade that address biopolitics and evolution, such as the “gene-culture co-evolution theory.”

Design/methodology/approach – In this chapter some of these theoretical developments will be reviewed, including what has been called the “Synergism Hypothesis,” with particular emphasis on what is relevant for understanding the role of politics and public policy in the evolutionary process.

Findings – A new, multileveled paradigm has emerged in evolutionary biology during the past decade, one which emphasizes the role of cooperative phenomena in the evolution of complexity over time, including the evolution of socially organized species such as humankind. I refer to it as “Holistic Darwinism.”

Practical implications – This study develops an understanding of the complicated relationship between human biology and the role of evolution in shaping politics and public policy.

Originality/value – This study addresses several existing biopolitical concepts and presents new explanations and terminology for its understanding.

This chapter explains how electric driving has been transforming car mobility in The Netherlands since 1990, highlighting the role of a specific Dutch policy mix as direct factor, and the conditions through which this policy mix came about as indirect factors. The analysis is based on triangulation of findings from three methods: (1) discourse analysis of national newspapers and online blogs to understand the changing meanings of car mobility as well as changing stakeholder competences; (2) interview analysis with Dutch stakeholders to understand policy effects as well as their changing competences; and (3) analysis of relevant documents that provide the numbers of vehicles sold, implemented infrastructures and policy instruments. The study describes market changes in terms of ‘reconfiguring’ (entangled) practices of Dutch motorists, vehicle manufacturers and policy-makers, constituted by the (changing) relations between meanings, materialities, competences and policy incentives. The analysis finds a gradual reconfiguration of car mobility in three stages: The hegemony of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) mobility (1990–2008), Surge in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) mobility (2009–2015), and Surge in full-electric mobility (2016–2020). The analysis shows that the specific Dutch policy incentives were critical to orchestrating the co-evolution of ICE-based and electric mobility towards low-carbon alternatives, that is, towards more electrification. The policy mix was adapted in three successive steps, in which inconsistencies towards electric mobility (e-mobility) were solved, entailing three distinct reconfiguration pathways in each period. The relatively strong policy incentives for e-mobility in The Netherlands can be explained by the absence of an established car industry as well as particular air quality challenges in cities (triggering local support for the provision of charging infrastructure). The conclusion includes policy recommendations for countries that seek to promote e-mobility, although further research should clarify how contextual differences require specific elements in the policy mix.