Search results

The study here examines how business actors adapt to changes in networks by analyzing their perceptions or their network pictures. The study is exploratory or iterative in the sense that revisions occur to the research question, method, theory, and context as an integral part of the research process.

Changes within networks receive less research attention, although considerable research exists on explaining business network structures in different research traditions. This study analyzes changes in networks in terms of the industrial network approach. This approach sees networks as connected relationships between actors, where interdependent companies interact based on their sensemaking of their relevant network environment. The study develops a concept of network change as well as an operationalization for comparing perceptions of change, where the study introduces a template model of dottograms to systematically analyze differences in perceptions. The study then applies the model to analyze findings from a case study of Norwegian/Japanese seafood distribution, and the chapter provides a rich description of a complex system facing considerable pressure to change. In-depth personal interviews and cognitive mapping techniques are the main research tools applied, in addition to tracer studies and personal observation.

The dottogram method represents a valuable contribution to case study research as it enables systematic within-case and across-case analyses. A further theoretical contribution of the study is the suggestion that network change is about actors seeking to change their network position to gain access to resources. Thereby, the study also implies a close relationship between the concepts network position and the network change that has not been discussed within the network approach in great detail.

Another major contribution of the study is the analysis of the role that network pictures play in actors' efforts to change their network position. The study develops seven propositions in an attempt to describe the role of network pictures in network change. So far, the relevant literature discusses network pictures mainly as a theoretical concept. Finally, the chapter concludes with important implications for management practice.

Many studies have been carried on the effect of trade preferences, in particular from the viewpoint of lesser developed countries. There has been little focus on the importer, who has to consider their business strategy and the risk of non-compliance of legislation before obtaining preferences. One of the main issues is compliance with the country of origin rule by an importer wishing to access preferential tariffs. The chapter provides an insight into the issues facing importers and considers whether the preferences are being used to their full potential. It raises the question: Are importers choosing not to use the reduction of import tariffs in relation to preference due to its complexity? This study was carried out to highlight importers’ issues by interviewing senior management of eight European companies in relation to their approach to generalised system of preference (GSP). The results provide an interesting evaluation of the importers’ many dilemmas when choosing to use trade preferences.

While organization theories acknowledge the influence of specific assets on dependence and increasingly represent the latter as a structure of mutual dependence (dependence of A on B and dependence of B on A), there is, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical test concerning the impact of specific assets on a structure of dependence. Our chapter aims to fill this gap. It is all the more original in that it considers a case study where dependence changes sides according to the characteristics of the transaction. We examine the dependence between Chilean exporters and European importers when trading fresh produce. Such dependence originates with the need for just-in-time coordination and compliance with a compelling demand in a context of high price uncertainty.

Using a unique dataset from international trade in fresh produce between Chile and the rest of the world, we justify the use of a concentration sales ratio as a proxy for dependence and test the influence of a variety of specific assets on the side of dependence by using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Original findings show that certain transaction attributes have a strong influence on the side of dependence. In particular, the higher the frequency and the level of specific assets such as volume, niche varieties, and joint sales with other products, in the transaction, the greater the likelihood of a higher ratio of dependence for the importer rather than the exporter. Conversely, in the event of low levels of specific assets and less frequent operations, dependence tends to be greater on the side of the exporter.

This paper aims to explore the feature and mechanism of a new type of documentary credit fraud that victimizes banks’ issuing letters of credit (L/C), harming neither the importer nor the exporter and seeks to suggest possible measures to tackle it.

This study analyzed 30 cases of documentary credit fraud against banks that were detected by the Korea Customs Service (KCS) and interviewed three key customs investigators to interpret the case reports more accurately and gain a deeper understanding into the mechanisms governing the fraud. This study draws on routine activity theory and crime pattern theory to analyze the opportunity structures of this fraud.

This study found that the importer that engaged in the fraud cases had established a solid business relationship with the exporter and had established trust with the victimized banks; the banks, despite the fact that they had their own risk management systems to screen out unqualified L/C applicants, were defrauded by the offending importers and exporters. Unlike ordinary documentary credit fraud, fraud against banks can be tackled by customs because the offender and the victim typically operate in the same jurisdiction, and this type of fraud often results in trade-based capital flight and money laundering, which is the target of customs enforcement.

As this paper is based on case reports of the KCS, it is inappropriate to generalize the findings or to apply the findings to other contexts. Nevertheless, the opportunity structure elaborated upon in the course of this paper may prove useful in devising measures to tackle this type of fraud elsewhere.

Documentary credit fraud against banks is relatively unexplored, in particular from criminological perspective. This study can contribute to a refinement of the application of opportunity perspective to white-collar crime.

This study seeks to provide insights concerning the predictors of industrial importers' commitment to their foreign suppliers in a relationship paradigm involving an emerging market.

Integrating a review of the relevant importer-exporter and distributor-supplier relationship literature, a model of importer commitment was developed. Based on survey data obtained from industrial importers for an emerging market, CFA and SEM were employed to test the proposed theoretical model.

The findings significantly support the theoretical framework and most of the hypothesized path relationships in the model. Predictors such as importers' knowledge significantly and positively influenced commitment through the intermediation of trust, supplier opportunism had a significant and negative effect on importer commitment, again through the intermediation of trust, and transaction-specific investment had a direct effect on industrial importers' commitment. Supplier's opportunistic inclinations did not have a significant direct effect on the commitment of the importers.

This research only considers the views of industrial importers that limits generalization. The sample size, constrained by the total number of industrial importers in the country examined, was also somewhat of a limiting factor concerning SEM modeling.

This study suggests the factors that export managers need to consider in maintaining long-term relationship with their foreign buyers, while contributing to building the relationship through knowledge sharing and curbing opportunistic inclinations.

This paper examines the antecedents of trust and commitment in industrial importer and foreign supplier relationships in the context of an emerging market. Based on the earlier literature on B2B exchanges, the role of importers' knowledge in driving commitment through the intermediation of trust offers new insights. This is particularly important because the importers are experiencing unprecedented growth opportunities. Considering their need to make decisions quickly and gain advantages from suppliers, will they remain committed to a particular supplier? Or will their commitment be strengthened by gaining knowledge of the supplier? The tested model offers unique insights.

An empirical examination of the perceived differences in offer quality between Western Australian rock lobster exporters and their respective Japanese importers reveals that consistent quality, a willingness to provide market information and a willingness to meet importers” immediate needs were the most important variables influencing an importer's decision to purchase. While both importers and exporters agreed that delivering consistent quality was the most important variable, exporters ranked competitive price much higher than importers. This suggests that Western Australian exporters may benefit from adding greater value to their product offer by providing continuous product support, timely market information and responding better to importers' immediate needs, rather than attempting to compete on price against lower cost producers.

The purpose of this paper is to test the impact of manifest conflict on performance outcomes. In particular, this paper aims to examine the moderating effect of the supplier’s customer orientation (CO) as perceived by the buyer on the conflict-performance outcomes relationships in international channel relationships.

A survey of 162 Australian importers was conducted to elucidate the associations among manifest conflict, CO and performance outcomes.

Manifest conflict was found to be negatively related to the importer’s evaluation of the exporter’s overall performance, which is consistent with previous work. However, CO was found to moderate the negative direct effect of manifest conflict on two outcome measures, “satisfaction with business outcomes” and the “evaluation of the exporter’s overall performance”. Moreover, it actually changed the effect from dysfunctional to functional for “evaluation of the exporter’s overall performance”. That is, CO changes the nature of the manifest conflict–outcome relationship by turning it from negative to positive.

This research helps answer the appeal for research on the conditions in which conflict causes dysfunctional and functional outcomes. From a practical standpoint, providing the importer views the exporter as being customer-oriented, conflict should not be avoided if it stems from disagreements that arise due to the exporter acting in the best interests of the importer. The power of CO in affecting the functionality of outcomes resulting from conflict should be highlighted.

Conflict is a fact of life in channel relationships, but little is known about its functional and dysfunctional effects (Frazier, 1999; Skarmeas, 2006). The empirical evidence largely points to conflict being dysfunctional; however, research also indicates that context can play an important role in moderating the functionality of conflict. In this paper the authors ask: what role does CO play as a determinant of the functionality of manifest conflict in channel relationships? They argue that the exporter’s CO changes the context in which the importer and the exporter interact and, thereby, changes the way in which the importer interprets the supplier’s actions.

Relationship marketing has been playing an important role in the development of marketing theory and practice. Though the concept has been extensively applied in international marketing in understanding the dynamics of exporter-importer relationships, few studies have looked at dyadic data to investigate the impact of mutuality of relational variables on the exporter-importer relationships. The objective of this study is to understand the impact of mutuality of key relational variables on exporter-importer relationship performance. A dyadic model of mutuality is proposed. The model highlights the impact of balance, level and quality of perceptual bi-directionality of relational variables.

The model was tested using dyadic data collected from exporter-importer relationships involving Australian exporters and their Southeast Asian import partners through a cross-sectional, quantitative survey. Mutuality of relationship constructs was measured using the perceptual bi-directionality (PBD) method.

The results support the central hypothesis that mutuality of relational constructs has an impact on relationship performance.

The study is the first to apply the perceptual bi-directionality method to measure mutuality of relational constructs in an exporter-importer setting. The study contributes to the general understanding of international business and exporter-importer relationship performance in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to identify important elements of a strategy to facilitate small farmer participation in international supply chains for fresh produce.

The study employs survey data collected from a national sample of US fresh produce importers. Their concerns and suggestions regarding potential for transactions with small Mexican farmers were assessed, with factor analysis providing a thematic summary of their perspectives.

Results of the study reveal that US importers are not uniformly pessimistic about the ability of small farmers to meet their demands. On the contrary, almost one‐third said they probably would work with small farmers in the near future. In general, importers are interested in transactions in which the product meets consumer and government expectations and is grown on the buyer's terms, the grower is reliable over time, the transaction is simplified, and the grower handles transportation. Importers rate small farmers poorly on their ability to achieve the last two factors, but these are also the items rated least important to the importers. New approaches to building market capacity in small farmers are also highly valued by the importers, including government investment guarantees, and arrangements for facilitating contact between importers and growers. More traditional methods, such as cooperatives and use of brokers, were not rated as highly.

The study relies on cross‐sectional, self‐report data from one side of the grower/importer dyad. Incorporating longitudinal data with a dyadic perspective could provide additional insight.

A practitioner perspective on the challenges in international fruit and vegetable supply chains, particularly as relates to developing countries, is of considerable value. Not only can governments choose improved policies for improving market readiness for the growers, but also members of supply chains themselves can identify tactics for ensuring successful transactions by enhancing coordination. The prospects for a win‐win outcome for growers and importers are improved.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to analyze the role of exchange rate appreciation expectation in trade invoicing from the perspective of importers, then empirically analyze it using Japanese export data.

Constructing a theoretical model of importer behavior by analyzing the importer's utility function under an assumption such as “menu cost”, then using econometric method to justify the theoretical model's finding.

It was found that under the assumption of “menu cost”, risk neutrality and price rigidity, there are three directions of appreciation expectation's effect: increasing, unchanged and decreasing theoretically; but under common condition, only a large appreciation expectation will cause an importer to reduce the use of exporter's currency, and the role is constricted by exporters' bargaining capacity. The empirical results of Yen's use in Japan's exports justifies the model's conclusion and shows that commercial pressure and political events are the most important signals to form large appreciation expectation.

This paper has important policy implications for Renminbi (RMB)'s exchange rate policy under the context of RMB internationalization, in order to promote RMB's use in exports; China should control the large appreciation expectation of RMB and the best way is to rigorously tackle trade deficit with US and European countries, and to eliminate the explicit appreciation signal.

The paper analyzes the role of exchange rate appreciation in trade invoicing theoretically and empirically for the first time; and reasonably explains the development of currency invoicing in Japanese exports and contemporary Chinese exports, as well as having important policy implications for Chinese exchange rate policy.