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The basement and the first 11 floors, including the superb banking hall, were handed over in July and became fully operational at the beginning of August. The upper sections of the building are being progressively handed over; the whole building will be completed by November. Architects Foster Associates have worked with their client, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, to produce far more than a serviced shell; the building incorporates a host of sophisticated systems related to the various operational functions of the bank and has been termed a ‘finance factory’.

This paper aims to apply the Legitimacy-Based View (LBV) of political risk to the experience of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in the First World War. The paper shows that HSBC’s ability to survive this conflict was due, in part, to its ability to manage political risk by maintaining legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders in its home market(s), Hong Kong and the UK.

This case study is based on the surviving internal correspondence from this period in the HSBC Group archives in London and other primary sources.

This paper suggests that maintaining legitimacy in the home market is crucial to firm survival and profitability. Managers’ efforts to bolster firm legitimacy should ensure that individuals in all of the relevant government departments continue to regard the multinational enterprise (MNE) as legitimate.

This paper shows that the LBV is a potentially powerful analytical tool, but it also argues that the LBV must be modified so as to incorporate insights from the theoretical literature on ethnic and national identities, particularly the insight that such identities are culturally constructed and malleable.

Warfare tends to increase the degree to which a MNE’s stakeholders feel emotional bonds to their respective nations. HSBC’s experience in the First World War suggests that continued profitability in wartime may depend on the firm’s ability to shed its peacetime “world citizen” identity in favour of one that is more closely aligned with that of its home nation. Preserving political capital in wartime may require the ruthless termination of relationships with clients and employees who are associated with the enemy nation. Another lesson that MNE managers can derive from this paper is that preserving legitimacy in the home country may require the head office to exert more control over overseas managers, than would be the case in peace. A MNE in wartime that is concerned about the loss of legitimacy in the home country should consider adopting an organizational architecture that temporarily reduces subsidiary autonomy.

Buckley (2009) called for the re-integration of business history in International Business research. This paper is part of the ongoing historic turn in International Business and other management disciplines. This paper also argues that International Business scholars need to consider the impact of past wars on contemporary multinationals as we may witness the re-emergence of Great Power rivalries similar to those that led to the First World War. This paper proceeds on the assumption the probabilities of a war between two major capitalist economies are non-trivial and that additional investigation of the impact of major interstate warfare on MNEs is therefore merited. Historical research can help us to think about what a war between capitalist countries would mean for today’s MNEs.

This article contains findings of a survey in Hong Kong amongst a representative sample of companies directed to understanding their buying behaviour and attitude to banking services. The areas explored include split‐banking behaviour, bank usage, bank switching, perceived importance of attributes of a bank in a banking relationship, and usage of other financial services. As Hong Kong may be the third financial centre in the world, after New York and London, and there is a general lack of literature on corporate banking behaviour of Hong Kong companies, this research aims to contribute a pioneering study, which is expected to provide invaluable insights to banks operating in Hong Kong both locally and foreign‐based so as to formulate their bank marketing strategies.

Suggests that, with sound economic growth, a rising population and changing lifestyles, the Asia Pacific Rim offers an attractive trading environment for retailers and manufacturers. Reports that the trading environment in the region is somewhat diverse, so businesses wishing to take advantage of the opportunities on offer must have a flexible marketing approach which allows them to adapt to local needs. Considers a range of wider marketing environment factors which are shaping the trading conditions in the region. Provides case studies of retailer Yaohan, Hongkong Bank, manufacturer and retailer Giordano and food manufacturer Ajinomoto (which distributes its products from a wide range of outlets). Uses these to illustrate the impact of economic, political, cultural and demographic trends and to show how companies in the region are responding to these factors.

Examines the market positioning of foreign banks in Korea from 1983 to 1988. Examines predictions with respect to the Korean market derived from Dunning′s general proposition that firms tend to enter foreign markets so as to exploit their ownership‐specific advantages (OSAs). Also examines whether foreign banks′ performance in the Korean market can be explained in terms of fit between market positioning and bank OSA profiles. The findings largely confirm the usefulness of OSA analysis in predicting foreign bank behaviour in Korea.

This guide is compiled in order that banks may see the extent of the overall problem of fraud and money laundering in documentary credit transactions. It also contains advice on how banks and bankers may protect themselves and their staff from the consequences of fraudulent attacks against the system.

Like it or not, change is inevitable if you are to survive. Far better to instigate change than allow other people to inflict it on you. To anticipate the future has to be good to allow time to implement change rather than having to react to it. This appears quite simple, but is it? This special themed issue of Management Decision contains a number of examples of how organizations have managed change. Lessons can be learned from other industries than your own with regard to best practice and basic principles which can then be applied to your own organization..

The banking industry is facing tremendous changes. Even the few stable securities that were left are susceptible to erosion. Aggressive growth strategies against increasing competition; the diminishing use of cash; the worldwide trend towards global banks through mergers and acquisitions; and the growing importance of information technology, confront the banking industry with huge changes both in real estate and facilities management. While the design of bank facilities has for centuries focused on expressing wealth and magnitude, today even the banking industry, often regarded as one of the most conservative of industries, is transforming its buildings into lean, customer‐oriented facilities. This article provides a descriptive overview of the impacts of the above changes based on literature and case studies in three major Dutch banks.

Given the country‐specific characteristics of corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is an increasing interest in studying CSR in developing countries. Such studies play an important role in broadening people's knowledge of CSR under different economic, social and cultural conditions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the CSR reports (CSRRs) of listed companies in the largest emerging market, namely China.

Based on a content analysis of 81 CSRRs (2007) of listed companies in domestic security markets of China (the Shanghai Security Exchanges and Shenzhen Security Exchange), the CSR features of Chinese companies are thoroughly evaluated.

The main findings of the study are as follows. Only 5.05 percent of listed companies published their CSRRs in China, and 4.42 percent of them issued a separate CSRR. Most companies (97.18 percent) use “CSRR” as the name of their stand‐alone CSRRs; 79 percent of companies hold a positive attitude to taking on social responsibilities, while no company holds a negative attitude. Various social issues and stakeholders of companies are addressed in CSRRs. In general, state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) have higher propensity to address most of social issues, which may reflect that SOEs are more politically sensitive than non‐SOEs because most of the social issues are just “political slogans” proposed by the Chinese Government in recent years. However, non‐SOEs have better performance than SOEs in addressing the interests of stakeholders. Meanwhile, industrial firms show higher propensity to address the interests of stakeholders than service firms.

The results of this study indicate that CSR reporting practice is still at an early stage of development in China. Meanwhile, Chinese companies tend to follow the Chinese guidelines in issuing CSRRs rather than adopt international guidelines. In addition, Chinese companies are somewhat politically sensitive in addressing social issues. A major weakness of this study is that the sample only represents the best companies in assuming social responsibilities in China, thus some results cannot be generalized to all Chinese companies.

The paper helps people, especially Westerners, to comprehend CSR in China. To the author's knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to examine CSR in China.