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Matrix structures are complex and conflict prone, so multinational enterprises (MNEs) would utilize them only if they conferred some advantage over less complex organizational structures. Based upon the information-processing view, a theory of matrix advantage is proposed. It is supported by a secondary analysis of data from a major study of German MNEs. Matrix structures are shown to have an advantage over the elementary structural types. Specifically, the matrix structures fit higher levels of transnational strategy than elementary structures. Transnational strategy is assessed by two concepts: firm internationalization (involvement in foreign sales, manufacturing, and research and development (R&D)) and corporate integration (intracompany transfers). Moreover, three-dimensional matrices are associated with higher levels of transnational strategy than are two-dimensional matrices, confirming the gains from having additional structural dimensions. Matrix structures arise because of the need to simultaneously fit high levels of both firm internationalization and corporate integration. Matrices fit the transnational strategy type of Bartlett and Ghoshal. Implications are drawn for the relationship between the head office and the subsidiary. The matrix often subjects the subsidiary to conflicting expectations from the head office, which it can attempt to manage. Similarly, the head office is challenged by the task of integrating the information that comes from different dimensions of the matrix.

We compare environmental impacts associated with incoming foreign direct investment versus domestic capital in China. We use aggregate data on Chinese provinces’ economic and pollution indicators to explore the effects of the financial origin of fixed capital. Our simultaneous models consider three prime channels through which these effects work: economic scale, sectoral composition, and pollution intensity. Results show that emissions associated with foreign financed capital are lower than with domestically financed capital for some but not all of the considered types of pollution.

The structural perspective on China's prospect of democratization has three variants. The first emphasizes the structural requisites for the survival of the authoritarian state. It argues that the conditions, such as the governing capacity of the state and support from the Chinese people that used to sustain the authoritarian state, have deteriorated significantly and the authoritarian state cannot escape a collapse in the near future (Chang, 2001). The second focuses on the structural requisites for democratization. It holds that the rise of the middle class and the emerging spread of education in China will create favorable conditions for the country to head toward democratization (Gilley, 2004). The third stresses the resilience of China's authoritarian regime. It argues that the rise of democratic polity in Europe resulted from the special social structures of the continent in the feudal period. Since China's social structure in its premodern period was quite different, democracy did not become a solution even after the middle class emerged in China. For the same reason, China's political change will be most likely to move toward rule by law rather than democratization in the future (Pan, 2006).

This paper explores why and how Japanese tourists travel in their home country. This work uses in-depth interviews and focus group interviews as its study design. Nature is an important aspect of Japanese life, and the meaning and use of nature include spiritual and bodily purification. Furthermore, Japanese domestic nature-based travels are strongly linked to self-identity and self-presentation, in that the Japanese travel not only for the sake of enjoyment, but also to a large extent as an instrument for learning, sharing and communing. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical contributions and practical applications.

This chapter addresses the issue of value creation in the retail banking sector, focusing on France. The author shows that since the 2007 financial crisis, banking organizations have used a disruptive innovative approach to regain the trust of retail banking customers. This innovative hybrid design is not only driven by efficiency and fully dematerialized solutions, but also considers human, social, and territorial development aspects.

This chapter is based on an EU statistical analysis (2009–2013) of two strategies used by French, Italian, and German national banks to manage the 2007 financial crisis: closing retail bank branches and lay-offs. Interestingly, in France, bank units and employee numbers fell the least. A complementary qualitative analysis of the principal banking innovations promoted by R&D directors helps to explain the main features of the French strategy to cope with the mistrust of clients and employees.

Though low-cost models are promoted as major innovations today (“banking is necessary, bankers are not”), and result in massive offshoring and restructuring levels to face new global competitors such as Google, Amazon, and PCCW-HKT, the French retail banking sector, previously state regulated but progressively deregulated, has adopted an original strategy to regain trust and loyalty. Rather than adopting these low-cost models strictly, with full dematerialization, it focuses on balanced innovation – such as the “neighbourhood bank format,” which improves knowledge of the expectations and needs of local clients and environments. These solutions are not only global or local, but a mix of both dimensions.

Global industries like finance are embedded in both territorial and historical relationships and governance. This means that they can only be observed from this dual perspective, which is a dilemma that characterizes today’s economy. Innovation decisions and design particularly illustrate the banking sector’s embeddedness, with the dichotomy between fully digitalized options and fully territorialized services. Therefore, innovation is neither a “Champion” or leadership question, nor a mere ICT option. It is a hybrid combination to restore trust and relations.

The implications of such a balanced approach to innovation are highly important in terms of offshoring, lay-offs, and outsourcing practices, which are adopted as essential, and taken for granted by owners and CEOs in global value chains such as finance.The given data and analysis give concrete means to integrate local cultural and institutional habits, so that innovation make sense to stakeholders.

This chapter suggests a critical approach to innovation strategies and trends in the finance sector.

During the past 30 years environmental policy was never between the top priority areas of public intervention in Greece. Legislative measures related to the protection of human health and nuisance from private economic activities were introduced as early as in the beginning of last century. The post dictatorial constitution of 1975 provided, for the first time, specific provision for the protection of natural environment. However, a comprehensive framework legislation regulating all facets of environmental degradation was adopted only in 1986 but remained, for a long period, practically inactive since the necessary implementing decisions were issued with considerable delay. The country's accession into the EU, in 1981, provided a cognitive and material basis for the modernisation of environmental policy through the incorporation of the environmental acquis into domestic law and building up of domestic administrative capacities through the use of the structural funds. However, low prioritisation of environmental protection in the domestic policy agendas of successive Greek governments continued to affect domestic administrative structures and policy traditions.

This paper provides a primer on European multinational business groups (BGs) and their subsidiaries. Firms in these BGs appear to have higher sales performance than firms in domestic groups (15% higher). This leads us to investigate which elements increase the likelihood that a group will transition towards multinational status. BGs’ characteristics matter for foreign acquisition: groups becoming multinational are usually larger, have a more hierarchical structure with respect to the number of layers in a group, and are more diverse in terms of sectors. Groups tend to expand into bordering countries or countries providing particular advantages, such as a large internal market. The first acquisition is a corporate-level decision that appears to be made by the group’s controlling firm and is often a diversification into a different industry.

This chapter tries to explain the impact of the European Commission's ERASMUS programme on national higher education policies of 18 European countries. Based on an analysis of the literature on Europeanisation and policy impact, it is hypothesised that the impact will be very modest, but that there may be indirect impacts and differences in impact across countries dependent on institutional features of the higher education system. The empirical findings support the hypothesis: ERASMUS certainly has increased policy-makers’ awareness of the importance and possible consequences of further internationalisation. Nevertheless, ERASMUS has a more profound effect on higher education institutions and students. In addition, policy-makers have been much more influenced regarding their internationalisation policies by the Sorbonne and Bologna Declarations. There are some noteworthy differences between the countries that relate to specific domestic characteristics (e.g. language and colonial history).

Archaeological evidence from the prehistoric Spondylus industry of coastal Ecuador is analyzed here to clarify how craft production was structured and the role that it played in the rise of social complexity. Many models of social development propose that elite cooption of specialized craft production can be a useful avenue through which aspiring elites can gain differential status. Contrary to the expectations of these models, data from coastal Ecuador indicates that craft production of sumptuary goods was an activity primarily carried out by household units for the benefit of the domestic economy. Increased trafficking with northern Peruvian states at ca. 750 seems to have promoted local social stratification by attracting large numbers of households to the restricted locales where they could exploit these resources, which in turn prompted a strengthening of the kinds of political conditions that facilitate orderly interaction and minimize internal social conflict.