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Recognizing the difference of labor laws between the U.S. and China, the U.S. parties need to recognize the differences when negotiating and investing in China, because some of the clauses can be settled when signing contracts or agreements. For China’s part, minimum wages are crucial for them to remember when they do business in the U.S.; the good thing is that they do not have to pay holidays that are different from China. Overall, the benefits are tremendous when the differences are recognized in advance of investments, contracts or agreement negotiations. Recognizing the differences between the two labor acts will avoid unnecessary cost and conflicts.

The notes reproduced here were taken by Glenn Johnson in Lloyd Mints’ course on Money and Banking at the University of Chicago in the fall of 1946. Several additional sets of course notes taken by Glenn Johnson have been published in the archival volumes of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. These included notes from Frank Knight's course on economic theory (Volume 24C) and Albert L. Meyer's course entitled elements of modern economics (appearing in this volume). A brief biography of Glenn Johnson is provided in Volume 24C, along with notes from his course on Agricultural Economics Methodology taught at Michigan State University.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the extant empirical body of knowledge regarding the impact of Guanxi on international Business-to-Business (B-to-B) relationships.

After the collection and refinement of studies that appeared in marketing, business and management literature during 1995-2018 period, a systematic review was conducted to discover the current situation and future research directions on the subject.

Theoretically, vast majority of the reviewed studies lacked a theoretical foundation, with the remainder anchored primarily on the resource-based view, social network theory and social exchange theory. Methodologically, Ganqing, Xinren and Mianzi are the most frequently investigated dimensions, whereas Renqing is the least investigated dimension. Data are mostly obtained from both Chinese and Western counterparts through survey and analyzed through univariate and multivariate data analysis techniques. Empirically, extant research focused on many diverse outcomes including trust, financial performance, cooperation, satisfaction, time orientation, opportunism and liability of foreignness, while under-examining the drives of Guanxi.

This study provides a synthesis of extant line of research on the subject that are published in peer-reviewed international journals, which publish research in English. A meta-analysis may be conducted for providing a further detailed framework.

This study contributes to international marketing literature by providing an in-depth and synthesized inventory of knowledge to scholars; deriving a comprehensive analysis of theoretical foundations, methodological approaches and findings addressed by scholars in the field; noticing theoretical, methodological and empirical gaps to be examined; and providing future research directions.

Recently, a few major US firms such as General Motors and Dow Corning have begun to plan international physical distribution strategy on an integrated basis. However, many firms still plan international physical distribution strategy on a more fractionalised basis using several independent functional department and/or country plans. This is reflective of the polycentric orientation that has predominated in international marketing strategy. These non‐integrative approaches to strategy planning can result in ineffective and inefficient international physical distribution for several reasons.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how managerial estimates of long-term market price trends can be included into investment analysis of metal mining. The inclusion of subjective market information with a new cycle reverting price process is proposed.

Subjective managerial estimates are included into stochastic metal price modeling by defining separately the following parameters of each price cycle phase: approximated length, approximated long-term price level and volatility. An net present value-based investment analysis model is applied together with Monte Carlo simulation.

It is plausible to combine managerial estimates about metal price trends and cycles with stochastic modeling for shorter term and to include the information into investment analysis. The results show that the difference between the proposed process and the commonly used mean reverting process is remarkable in terms of decision-making implications.

The proposed method allows the inclusion of more relevant information into the metal price modeling used in mining investment analysis. Results suggest that the cyclical nature of metal prices affects project value of metal mining projects, and it should be considered when making irreversible investment decisions. The proposed method can be generalized for any cyclical processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organisational learning (comprising absorptive capacity, nature and type of alliances and learning environment) through strategic technology alliances on technology transfer and new product development. The paper is based on a larger research on alliances in the Malaysian manufacturing industry.

The antecedents and outcomes of organisational learning were tested using structural equation modelling, based on data collected from 335 organisations through an online survey questionnaire.

The findings depict that absorptive capacity, nature and type of alliances and learning environment significantly affect technology transfer in Malaysian manufacturers, but not necessarily new product development simultaneously. Nevertheless, the results establish technology transfer as an effective means for building innovative capabilities in developing new products. This is imperative for attaining Malaysia's current goal in improving the manufacturing industry and becoming an industrialised nation by the year 2020.

The findings advocate further deliberations for manufacturers in Malaysia in shaping their strategies and learning objectives when embarking on collaborative relations, as these can result in technological competencies and ultimately the capacity to develop new innovative products.

The paper offers useful insights for manufacturers when forming technology alliances; and facilitate decisions by current practitioners in managing collaborations. The paper also informs Malaysian Government institutions in developing mechanisms, economic policy strategies and business support services for enhancing the economic and commercial viability of Malaysian manufacturing activities and products.

The value of this paper lies in discerning the current capabilities and strategies of manufacturing firms in developing nations in order to remain competitive.

Corporate incubation is a type of business incubation designed to assist small firms to develop using know-how available in large companies. The purpose of this paper is to explicate how incubation services can be co-produced and describe the contributions and conditions influencing learning and firm development.

The study used a longitudinal single-case method to analyze a small firm’s development process during four years of incubation. The authors recorded and analyzed interviews with the incubator manager and the entrepreneur, and with incubator staff and external stakeholders.

The incubator provided knowledge- and network-based services. These services emphasized the need for the entrepreneurs to be both proactive and receptive to counseling. Although the incubator and the entrepreneurs made progress in developing the company, a dispute over ownership shares threatened to break down the incubation process.

Taking evidence from a longitudinal case study, this paper exemplifies and emphasizes that incubation can be a process of interdependent service production in which entrepreneurs are active contributors. Future research should explore how managers and entrepreneurs handle the ambiguities of valuation of incubator contributions.

For managers it is important to take seriously the key task of communicating the value of the incubator’s contribution to the companies they recruit. For entrepreneurs it is important to find ways to estimate potential for value added from the incubator.

This paper provides a processual understanding of the dynamics of incubator co-production, not found in extant literature.

This paper aims to examine ways in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) can secure knowledge assets across global operations.

The paper reports the results of a comparative case study. The practices of four MNEs are considered in conjunction with practices identified in the literature. A comparative company analysis is conducted using the resource‐based view of the firm.

The paper principally concludes that MNEs have several options for protecting knowledge assets. A set of seven recommendations are derived from the analysis.

The recommendations derived from the analysis could be beneficial for enterprises who do knowledge work in global settings.

The paper offers background and consideration for those companies with IP in global business environments. The background, analysis and recommendations add to the body of knowledge in this area.