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The purpose of this paper was to investigate antecedents and results of strategic choices of multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries in Croatia economy. Hence, the authors examined knowledge management and its association with performance. Additionally, they explored which of the strategies will be most likely chosen by subsidiaries in transitional economies that are characterized by market volatility and uncertainty.

Data were collected from a survey of 131 MNC subsidiaries operating in Croatia. To test the theoretical correlation between knowledge management capabilities and strategic orientation, the authors used the ANCOVA method and controlled for industry, years in international business and firm size.

The results pointed out the recognized necessities for a specific alignment between environment, strategy and knowledge management capabilities. The findings also suggest that there is a positive relationship between knowledge management and performance.

As with most of the research, this paper has limitations. First, all data were collected using self-report surveys raising the possibility of response set biases. Additionally, all data were collected at one point in one country specifically in Croatia.

Clearly, there is substantial interaction between the MNC subsidiary’s environment and the MNC subsidiary’s strategic orientation. Most notably, the environment studied here was at the competitive and consumer market level. Firms need to develop a strategic plan for knowledge management based upon the local environmental influences.

Other firms from Central and Eastern European and developed countries may compare their own environment, strategy and knowledge management practices in MNCs with findings from Croatia to be aware of similarities and market differences.

The strategic employment of knowledge acquisition, conversion and application are examined across firms using the Prospector, Analyzer, Defender and Reactor strategic orientations.

Past research is mixed on family small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) use of external advisors and the limited empirical evidence is confined to developed markets. Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, this research focuses on the “familiness” characteristic of SMEs and their use of external accountants as advisors in an emerging marketplace. Using internal resources for basic tasks is proposed to strengthen this relationship from a managerial cognition lens. Focusing also on SME internalization, this research probes the performance ramifications of using external accountants as advisors.

Hierarchical regression is used to test the hypotheses. The mediation hypothesis is tested by bootstrapping the indirect effect. The interaction hypothesis is visualized with simple slope analysis.

The results indicate that the familiness of SMEs is positively associated with the use of external advisors, and thereby, with high performance. SMEs with higher international exposure also use these external advisors to a greater degree. Family SMEs that have a focused use of internal resources for basic tasks benefit more from the use of external accountants for advising tasks.

This research sheds light on how family involvement in management influences firm performance, showing the moderating role of the use of internal advisors for basic tasks and the mediating role of the use of external accountants for advising. We add to the knowledge-based view by describing how family SMEs can utilize internal and external knowledge resources simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the power of leadership rhetoric with a theoretical foundation of signaling theory. Past research mostly focus on followers and not other stakeholders and the authors attempt to fill that research gap.

The research explored nearly 20 years and 51,500 pages of information from US presidents and explored the impact on stock market volatility using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity.

The research findings suggest that leaders can/do have a powerful impact on stakeholders. In particular negative statements will cause the greatest reaction due to risk adverse stockholders, neutral rhetoric will calm the market and decrease volatility and positive rhetoric was not significant.

Past research suggests that a focus on the consequences of leadership rhetoric be explored and the research suggests that people do respond to powerful leaders, even if they are not followers. Also the authors filled a gap in regard to the impact of leader communication about economic and marketplace events.

Practitioners benefit from the research as they can focus upon the US presidents’ rhetoric and strategically apply the research as they can predict the movement of the stock market immediately thereafter.

Very little research has ever explored the impact of a leader’s rhetoric and the subsequent economic impact, and no one has explored in particular the president’s rhetorical impact (who is considered by many the top leader in the USA).

This conceptual work examines how, in times of post-COVID-19 paradigm shift, the employee performance management (PM) process can help multinational corporations (MNCs) strengthen their talent management and, at the same time, meet their future needs.

We take a conceptual approach and present our perspective on what we see as the most critical trends shaping PM and talent management. Contingency theory and Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) theory provide a sound theoretical framework for understanding and responding to the complex and rapidly changing business context post-COVID-19.

Drawing on these theories, we create a framework providing a means of understanding why and how MNCs can maintain talent and, at the same time, develop new talent through the PM process.

Importantly, our study emphasizes the critical role that project management and talent management techniques play for both practitioners and scholars. In order to gain and sustain a competitive edge in the ever-changing VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) landscape, these processes necessitate ongoing reassessment and adaptation. As Plato eloquently stated, “Our Need Will Be the Real Creator,” encapsulating our vision for the proactive and dynamic nature of effective project management and talent management practices.

The study establishes the benefits of an agile and flexible PM approach to help develop talent and pave the way for future research in this increasingly critical area

The study explores inpatriation and the role of performance management (PM) upon knowledge transfer through the theoretical lenses of leader–member exchange (LMX) and social embeddedness theories.

The study adopts a qualitative approach and focuses on inpatriate managers at the headquarters of three large UK healthcare multinational corporations (MNC). The authors were able to collect and analyze 24 interviews, with a focus on our key variables. The authors also conducted interviews with human resource (HR) personnel responsible for global mobility.

The findings suggest that the inpatriate managers’ willingness to transfer knowledge is contingent on their LMX with their supervisor and embeddedness within the firm. The authors found that good PM is the facilitator.

The critical contribution of the paper is exposing apparent weaknesses in current inpatriate PM practices in contributing to the MNCs' global knowledge flows, and ultimately, firm performance. This study's findings add to the awareness of how MNC knowledge flows transpire and emphasize the importance of rigorous PM practices for MNC knowledge transfer.

This study aims to support and extend signalling theory because of information asymmetry. This study also aims to answer the call to further negative signalling and explore immediate reactions to signals, thus alleviating a gap with regard to temporality of signalling.

The study used two separate data sources, the S&P 500 and 51,500 pages of the public papers between 1981 and 1999, nearly 20 years of data. Inter-rater reliability, controlled for all macroeconomic announcements identified in the literature, is used, and the data are empirically tested using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GJR-GARCH) modelling.

In accordance with signalling theory and the efficient market hypothesis, the study found that receivers do react to positive signals from a credible insider signaller to obviate information asymmetry. In line with previous research, the study also finds that receivers react much stronger to negative signals.

Investors, financial managers and top executives responsible for their stock price need to focus on presidential signalling as these directly affect market volatility. In particular, investors and financial managers can predict stock price volatility based upon signals from the president.

This is the first research study that explores the correlation between presidential signalling and market volatility. This study is important for investors and financial managers.

Supply chains have become a strategic strength to many firms due to the nature of the globalization of business. The past roles of supply chain managers have changed dramatically and now also include various new duties that will enhance firm competitiveness due to their boundary spanning nature and the new focus of learning organizations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This was a theoretically developed paper exploring trust, learning organizations, and supply chains.

Researchers are now focussing on the relationship among the supply chain network through the paradigm of relational marketing as the governance structures of contractual arrangements globally cannot be anticipated.

The research through the lens of relational marketing explores how supply chain managers’ core duties are now compounded by global/cultural nuances in respect to implicit knowledge acquisition and relationship development through strong-form trust.

As organizations have expanded globally, control mechanisms utilized in the past may need to be supplemented with a new type of personnel, that of the inpatriate. Expatriates were the most widely used staffing for corporate control, but due to various issues, a complementary set of employees to facilitate corporate goals could be utilized. Inpatriation, as a practical and conceptual means to augment expatriation, is discussed, compared with, and contrasted to, expatriation. This research explores the use of inpatriates in facilitating global control.

The purpose of this paper is to aim at proposing a research agenda in the intersection of strategic supply chain management and logistics (SCML) of global organizations from the perspective of international human resource management (IHRM).

To disclose the intellectual structure of research to date across both fields, the content of up to 280 articles dealing with IHRM and 174 papers addressing challenges in SCML in global organizations from a human resource management (HRM) viewpoint were analyzed. A stepwise hierarchical cluster and discriminant analysis were conducted to map a joint research agenda. Approaches from Upper Echelons theory and Co-Evolutionary theory of global organizations were adopted.

Top management teams (TMT) are crucial to manage SCML successfully in today’s global organizations. Research on this intersection should draw attention to find antecedents, consequences and the process showing how those talented people grouped in dispersed teams can be a source of competitive advantage. Six different areas of research are proposed. It is proposed that future research should focus on the human capital (HC); meaning those key individuals of an organization that make things happen. In the near future, the global organization’s competitiveness will be shaped by how the organization manages its HC in SCML. Methodologies such as meta-analysis are suggested to summarize the extant literature on IHRM when applied to SCML in global organizations.

The search was conducted in SSCI-ISIWoK and Scopus databases. As a limitation, some articles and other scientific contributions not abstracted there were not included. Nevertheless, both searches enabled obtaining balanced results between scope and richness of content.

Only a marginal portion of literature reviews have been conducted by using mixed methods in the fields of IHRM and SCML. The results will be useful for scholars of both fields in their attempts to enlarge the knowledge boundaries in these areas. From a practitioner’s viewpoint, this research may provide an integrative framework for global organizations to build a competitive advantage based on managing HC and its SCML strategically.