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This paper aims to propose practical recommendations in accordance with the strategic roles played by research and development (R&D) in multinational companies (MNCs).

This study applies a qualitative method to investigate the talent management (TM) practices implemented in MNCs’ R&D units.

The findings identify four R&D strategies and four sectors of TM practices. Furthermore, there exists an alignment between R&D strategies and TM practices.

This paper has several limitations. This qualitative research is exploratory, and larger samples or quantitative methods are needed to ensure the wider applicability of the findings. When possible, longitudinal studies yield superior results in revealing the evolving strategic roles of R&D subsidiaries and their TM practices. The authors used China as the research context, and similar studies in other emerging countries with active R&D activities are required to further validate or complement the findings in this study.

This study has some practical implications for companies with regard to aligning their TM practices with R&D strategies.

R&D units play an increasingly significant role in MNCs and TM is a key issue. However, there is a lack of TM research focusing on R&D employees by taking strategies into account.

China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of innovative new products in the retail market. The challenge for retail buyers is to adjust their procurement processes to respond to consumer needs in an efficient and effective manner. This study examines factors influencing buyer‐supplier relationships in a transition economy. We present a model to explain the factors driving retail buyer dependence on suppliers. We find that retailer evaluation of supplier credibility mediates the relationship between retailer perceptions of a supplier ability to add value to its business and the ability to achieve its desired goals. In part, this is due to the supplier’s market orientation. Interestingly, guanxi ties have no impact on the retailer perceptions of the supplier credibility, but have a positive affect on retailer dependence on its supplier partners.

In recent years, author and document citation and co-citation analyses have often been applied to map the “intellectual structure” of different scientific fields, including management and international business. However, the technique of bibliographic coupling between scientific documents, which seeks to identify active research fronts in a scientific field or discipline, has been less commonly used. This study utilized this technique to identify and visualize the research fronts in the context of papers on emerging markets multinational enterprises (EM-MNEs) recently published in a wide variety of journals. The aim is not only to complement and expand the results obtained in prior studies that have used other types of systematization, such as qualitative content analysis methodology but also to propose avenues for future research.

The primary databases utilized to carry out the present research work – both comprised in the Web of Science™ (WoS) Core Collection – were: the Social Sciences Citation Index® (SCI) developed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index. A total of 496 “peer-reviewed journal articles” published between 2014 and December 30, 2019 were retrieved. With regards to the methodology, bibliometric methods were utilized, as well as social network analysis (SNA).

Particularly, the analytical techniques employed – adopting a “quantitative” method of a deductive character – allowed the identification of the most active research “fronts” in international research related to the topic under analysis: the phenomenon of EM-MNEs.

The present study has several limitations resulting from the utilization of bibliometric methods applied in the analyses performed.

The authors believe that this research is of value for future researchers since it allows the identification of research “fronts,” which shape the vanguard of knowledge and reveal current trends and future directions in the area under examination.

Work enthusiasm and organizational socialization (Training, Understanding, Coworker Support, and Future Prospects) were compared in two predominantly Chinese regions, i.e., Macau (a former Portuguese territory in China) and Zhuhai in the People’s Republic of China. Data were collected from 276 (96 Macau and 180 Zhuhai) full‐time, line‐level, ethnic Chinese employees in the two regions. Results revealed the Zhuhai employees to be much more enthusiastic at work. The Zhuhai employees also evaluated Training, Understanding, and Future Prospects more highly than did the Macau employees (no differences were found for Coworker Support). Regression analyses revealed Future Prospects to be the strongest predictor of work enthusiasm in Zhuhai, while education and years on the job explained most of the variance for work enthusiasm in Macau. The results of the comparisons are discussed in terms of the similarities and differences in the cultures and economic development of the regions.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

In recent years organizational scholars and practitioners have avidly pursued an in‐depth understanding of demographic diversity and its consequences. This study contributes to such an understanding by examining how an individual's demographic distance from others in a work group shapes his or her perception of the group's conflict and performance. Data from 233 members of 42 blue‐collar groups reveal that gender and tenure dissimilarity increase the perception of emotional conflict, indirectly reducing individual ratings of group productivity. These results suggest a process by which relational demography may indirectly affect members' confidence in their group.

Nearly a century ago, Max Weber studied Chinese lineage system and argued that the power of the patriarchal sib impeded the emergence of industrial capitalism in China. Recently, Martin Whyte re-evaluated Weber's thesis on the basis of development studies and argued that, rather than an obstacle, Chinese family pattern and lineage ties may have facilitated the economic growth in China since the 1980s. This paper empirically tests the competing hypotheses by focusing on the relationship between lineage networks and the development of rural enterprises. Analyses of village-level data show that lineage networks, measured by proportion of most common surnames, have large positive effects on the count of entrepreneurs and total workforce size of private enterprises in rural China.

Research and theory on diversity in organizations tends to examine relations between the majority and minority and to overlook relations within the minority. In this chapter we explore the dynamics within a minority that represents a token percentage (less than 15%) of the larger group (Kanter, R. M. 1977b). We argue that members of a minority sub-group are subject to inter-group and intra-group pressures and that these pressures are greatest for a minority of two. We introduce the term “duo-status” to describe this two-token situation and examine the positive, neutral, and negative dynamics that result depending on the coping strategy chosen by each member of the duo.

Understanding the impact of diversity on group process and performance has been the focus of much research, yet there are still unanswered questions about how diversity impacts group process and performance. One factor that is clearly a consequence of group composition is affective tone. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of diversity and homogeneity on affective responses from group members and argue that the relatively negative affective tone experienced in diverse groups may fuel more systematic information processing and improve decision-making performance. The implications for managing both positive and negative affect in groups will be considered.

This chapter explores the role of language in the relationship between diversity and team performance. Specifically, we consider how a linguistic approach to social categorization may be used to study the social psychological mechanisms that underlie diversity effects. Using the results of a study examining the effects of gender, ethnicity and tenure on language abstraction, we consider the potential implications for team processes and effectiveness. In addition, we propose a revised team input-process-output model that highlights the potential effects of language on team processes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research linking diversity, linguistic categorization, and team effectiveness.