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The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the influence of six key contextual determinants upon the degree of standardization for firms who enter a new market directly. In the context of international business market entry, much research emphasis has been placed upon the issues of standardization versus modification. Generally, however, this research focuses on promotion and advertising.

This paper investigates the research variables that influence standardization/modification decisions in a framework comprising “firm or company context” and “host country context”. The research, undertaken with a sample of 700 UK‐based for‐profit organizations, adapts and further develops Hofstede's study.

It identifies that the elements of competition and political risk are negatively significant in relation to the degree of standardization. In addition, economic development and international experience are positively significant in relation to the degree of standardization. Firm size and culture differences have no impact upon the degree of standardization.

Research is only conducted among British companies operating cross border.

This paper's originality is in providing specific types of elements as risk reducers in a firm's market entry strategy.

For geographers doing qualitative research, autobiographical narratives offer a discrete avenue into life experiences, everyday lived geographies, and intimate connections between places and identities. Yet these valuable sources remain mostly untapped by geographers and largely unconsidered in methodological treatises. This article seeks to elicit the benefits of using autobiographical data, especially with regard to stigmatised sexual minorities in Western societies. Qualitative research among gay men, lesbians and bisexuals (GLB) is sometimes difficult; due to the ongoing marginalisation experienced by sexual minorities in contemporary Western societies, subjects are often difficult to locate and reticent to participate in research. But autobiographical writing has a long history in Western GLB subcultures, and offers an unobtrusive means to explore the interpenetration of stigmatised sexuality and space, of GLB identity and place. A keen awareness of the power of geography of spaces of concealment, resistance, connection, emergence and affirmation underpins the content and form of GLB autobiographical writing. I demonstrate this in part through the example of my own research into gay male spatiality in Australia. At the same time we need to be aware of the generic limitations of autobiographies. Nevertheless, this article calls for wider attention to autobiographical sources, especially for geographical research into marginalised groups.

The learning outcomes of this study are to assess the shared value model and elaborate on new multi-stakeholder approaches to business, where the stakeholders include the founders, investors, partners, employees, clients and the surrounding community; to consider the synergies between community development, environmental stewardship, sustainable business practices and the long-term health of organisations and communities, considering these as the new fundamentals of business; to examine the interconnectedness of vision, strategy, purpose and leadership in creating and evolving the shared value model; to explore the relationship between shared value practices and collective well-being, and a specific reference to nurturing transformative experiences through nature, personal development and community upliftment is made; and to assess Grootbos’ ability to translate their purpose and value proposition into a strategy and sustainable vision with a possibility of Grootbos achieving global impact through its evolving model, beyond the founder.

This case study explores the evolution of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Foundation, a luxury hospitality lodge and award-winning ecotourism destination, from humble beginnings in the Western Cape of South Africa to a global example of conservation, community, commerce sustainability and transformative experiences. The establishing of Grootbos and its growth and widespread recognition can be attributed to the vision and inspirational leadership of its founder, Michael Lutzeyer. Although much success has been achieved in conservation, community upliftment and individual development of community members within their region, Lutzeyer’s and ultimately, Grootbos’ vision extended well beyond South Africa and aspired to elevate their floral kingdom and model of development and conservation to a global platform of awareness. Although a shared value vision and strategy had transformed the business, placing Grootbos as a leader in transforming their industry and sparking an evolution in the shared value model itself through the interjection of transformative experiences, the larger question remained: How can Grootbos extend the impact, towards people and planetary well-being, beyond the scope of their individual place-based business and their industry? And in terms of the dilemma Lutzeyer and the management team at Grootbos faced: How will this vision and global ambition continue through succession, beyond Luzeyer’s personal drive at the helm?

Experienced leaders within a graduate degree program, executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) or executive education in the areas of leadership development, strategy, shared value and international business.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS4: Environmental management.

The semiconductor industry has attracted considerable attention during the last twenty years as a major high stakes business battlefield between American corporations and Japanese society. Recently, other Asian countries have made inroads into this industry. Consistent with Michael Porter's thesis on the importance of national industry related clusters (Porter, J 990), this paper predicts that between now and the year 2000, the entrepreneurial characteristics of American companies will lead them to significant market share increases and that Japanese businesses will lose market share to other Asian companies, particularly in South Korea. Beyond the year 2000, the industry may evolve to the point where geographic areas concentrate on specific dimensions of the industry with the United States strong in innovation and Asia emphasizing manufacturing efficiencies. It is also possible that later in the 21st century, continued economic growth in Asia could lead to Asian companies taking expanded leadership roles in the industry. This paper acknowledges the importance of government intervention both in the United States and Japan in the early stages of the industry, but argues that the evolving maturity of the semiconductor industry is reducing the need for government subsidies, even though trade issues, especially with China, continue to be important.

This study examines the strategy–performance relationship within publicly traded German firms. Strategic management literature provides several strategic frameworks that offer guidance on promising strategies. However, given major changes, such as globalization, managers wonder whether strategic frameworks are still applicable.

The authors employ principal component analysis (PCA) to measure competitive strategy and analyze a sample of 6,037 firm-years among 651 firms between 2000 and 2019.

While the authors find evidence for the existence of efficiency-based strategies, differentiation-based strategies and mixed strategies, only differentiation-based strategies are positively related to performance.

The study’s results contribute to the discourse on the strategy–performance relationship, as they provide insights into promising strategies that are of interest to researchers and practitioners. Further, the authors introduce a new measure of competitive strategy based on PCA.

Porter's generic strategies' framework is characterized by serious limitations from the perspective of both research methodology and managerial relevance. It is not suitable for an empirical description of multinational or diversified firms' strategies. Its usefulness for the description of other firms' strategies is unclear. Furthermore, it is now generally accepted that Porter's “stuck in the middle” proposition does not hold. Both the theoretical and empirical arguments related to this proposition are discussed.

Illustrates the methods of pointing to remotely‐accessible electronic resources in libraries in a university system ranging from research centers to community colleges. The online catalogs of libraries in the State University of New York (SUNY) system were tested for remotely‐accessible electronic resources. Each library's internet home page was also searched for means of linking to journal titles. The libraries at SUNY campuses have shown different responses to the issues of making available aggregator databases, web sites, and e‐books. A marked decrease in the use of the online catalog to make available remotely‐accessible electronic resources at academic libraries other than those at the research level was noted. The findings are limited insofar that no effort was made to determine the reasons why each library did or not include records for remotely‐accessible electronic resources in their online catalogs. Academic libraries find desirable a single search interface for remotely‐accessible electronic resources, and this may include the library's online catalog. This study will be of value to those who are concerned with the ways in which remotely‐accessible electronic resources are made available in various sizes of academic libraries, particularly those engaged in decision making about online resources.

This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of literature on wine and tourism, as it explores the value contribution of tourism in the context of strategic grouping of wineries.

A panel of three online surveys about the strategic management of German wine estates served to analyze wine and tourism as potential strategic levers. More than 300 German wineries participated in the surveys.

Almost 50 per cent of the interviewed wineries planned to extend their tourism services. The implementation rate is high and reaches nearly the level of new product implementation. Tourism is therefore highly relevant. It can serve to profile in the market. Cost leaders and boutique wineries were two strategic groups indicating reluctance to pursue tourism-based strategic initiatives. The data illustrate a potential strategic trade-off between tourism and export management.

The study is neither representative for the German nor for an international winery population. Data were generated in a broader context of strategic and innovation management research. Descriptive analyses dominate the explorative study.

Extending services to win tourists helps to differentiate and to attract new clients. For less differentiated strategies (price-value and quality-leadership), tourism can be a strategic lever to sustainably increase profits. Smaller wineries need to strategically assess their growth option. They may face a strategic dilemma whether to export their goods or to add tourism offer components. Fierce international competition and restrictions due to small size represent export barriers, favoring a strategy to exploit market potentials via tourism. Concerted wine tourism efforts require a more sensitive approach considering the individual strategic motivation of wineries. The strategic value depends on the strategic grouping.

Wine and tourism can create regional and thereby social value. Addressing the strategic value of tourism for the individual wineries fosters tourism engagement and encourages a cluster approach.

Literature universally praises the synergetic value of wine and tourism. This research proposes a more sensitive approach reflecting strategic groupings and individual value contribution of tourism activities for the wine estates.