The story of Temple Bar: creating Dublin's cultural quarter

The paper conceptualises and explores the links between cities, commerce, urbanism and cultural planning by drawing on Temple Bar in Dublin as an example of how, by linking these concepts to practice in real concrete situations urban life or urban culture can be created and/or revitalised. Temple Bar is Dublin's emerging cultural quarter, an experiment in urban revitalisation which is deliberately focused on culture and urbanism as ways of rediscovering the good city. It has attracted considerable interest from across Europe, and has secured EC funding to kick-start the process of renewal. The author was appointed by the Irish Government to prepare the area management and development strategy for Temple Bar in 1990. Wary of the dangers of property led regeneration, of the destructive impacts of sudden or cataclysmic change, the agencies in Temple Bar have deliberately adopted a strategic management approach to the area. This is referred to as 'urban stewardship', a process of looking after and respecting a place, and helping it to help itself. The paper explores whether there is a 'culture of cities' and whether it is possible to recreate an urban culture. Following Raymond Williams, an anthropological definition of culture is employed, "... a particular way of life, which expresses certain meaning and values not only in art and learning but also in institutional and ordinary behaviour". Rather than being simply an add-on to the serious concerns of economic development and the built environment, culture has both helped shape, and continues to develop in, the streets, spaces and buildings of the city.

Do we need different frameworks to explain infant MNEs from developing countries?

I argue that the initial set of firm-specific assets (FSAs) act as an envelope for the early stages of internationalization of multinational enterprises (MNEs) (of whatever nationality) AND THAT there is a threshold LEVEL of FSAs that IT must possess for such international expansion to be SUCCESSFUL. I also argue that the initial FSAs of an MNE tend to be constrained by the location-specific (L) assets of the home country. However, beyond different initial conditions, there are few obvious reasons to insist that INFANT developing country MNEs are of unique character THAN ADVANCED ECONOMY MNEs, and I predict that as they evolve, the observable differences between the two groups will diminish. Successful firms will increasingly explore internationalization, but there is also no reason to believe that this is likely to happen disproportionately from the developing countries.

Economic analysis of international supply chains: an internalization perspective

Offshoring and outsourcing in global value chains have been extensively analyzed from a strategic management perspective (Gereffi & Li, 2012; Gereffi, Humphrey & Sturgeon, 2005; Mudambi & Venzin, 2010). This paper examines these issues from an internalization theory perspective by summarizing the contribution of internalization theory to supply chain analysis; considering how a division of labor is coordinated and comparing coordination by management with coordination by the market; and discussing the formal models of supply chains developed by economists. Supply chain researchers possessing an interest in economic principles and good mathematical skills can make an important contribution to internalization theory, and it is hoped that this paper will encourage them to do so.

Successful strategy making in Bupa not-for-profit provident: a case study and interview with Mr Ray King, chief executive of Bupa

Purpose – The focus of extant strategy literature is on for-profit organisations and within these group public organisations. There are other forms of organisations and following the deep recession of 2008 there is greater interest in other forms of organisation. In this case study and interview the aim is to examine strategy, strategic decisions and strategic management of a not-for-profit provident. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on documentary evidence and a semi-structured interview with Ray King, chief executive of Bupa. The perspective of CEO is key in strategy and such perspectives are relatively rarer. Findings – Bupa invests its surplus to provide better healthcare. Free from the pressures of quarterly reporting and shareholders it can pursue long-term value creation for members rather than short-term surpluses. Research limitations/implications – The case study and interview offers a unique insight into strategy-making within a successful mutual provident that has grown organically and externally becoming an international leader in health insurance. Originality/value – This case study sheds light on strategy-making within a not-for-profit provident that has diversified and grown significantly over the past six decades. Furthermore, very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of a chief executive who has successfully managed a business in a turbulent environment.

The outsourcing strategy of local and multinational firms: A supply base perspective

Firms outsource through connecting to local and global supply bases and making such connections produces costs of search and evaluation, which are a function of transaction characteristics and firm capabilities. We argue that firms outsource more when those costs are low. Hence, domestic subsidiaries of multinational firms, with low cost access to both local and global supply bases, outsource more than either domestic firms or foreign subsidiaries, as confirmed by evidence from a large data panel. We also propose that among foreign subsidiaries, distance from the home country co-determines search and evaluation costs such that subsidiaries from more distant countries outsource less. This is confirmed for geographic distance, but a positive effect is found for political distance and a mixed effect for cultural distance.

Mark Casson: the Entrepreneur at 30 -continued relevance?

Mark Casson's The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory (1982) has become one of the most influential books in the field of entrepreneurship. For the first time, this article outlines its origins and summarizes its main themes. The article goes on to show how Casson's subsequent research has closely followed the research agenda he set for himself in The Entrepreneur and illustrates the continuing challenge his work presents to entrepreneurship scholars. The article is based on an interview the authors conducted with Mark Casson on the thirtieth anniversary of the book's publication. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

Revisiting the 'modern' multinational enterprise theory: an emerging-market multinational perspective

Using Triad-based multinational enterprises as their empirical setting, influential scholars in international management uncovered key organizational characteristics needed to create globally integrated and locally responsive multinationals. They proposed a “modern” theory of multinationals' organization (Hedlund, 1994). But recently, a new generation of multinationals from emerging markets has appeared. Little is known about their organizational choices and some scholars even doubt that they leverage organizational capabilities altogether. Does the “modern” theory still hold in their case? This exploratory study of three emerging-market multinationals (EMNEs) discloses that for reasons related to their origin in emerging economies and to the competitive specificities of these economies, EMNEs approach the global and local conundrum in ways which are both similar – and vastly different – from recommendations of the “modern” theory. We inductively develop a new theory that accounts for the evolution of organizational capabilities in EMNEs to reconcile global integration and local responsiveness. We discuss its implications for the executives of both emerging and Triad-based multinationals.

Making internalization theory good for practice: the essence of Alan Rugman’s contributions to international business

This perspectives paper and its associated commentaries examine Alan Rugman's conceptual contribution to international business scholarship. Most significantly, we highlight Rugman's version of internalization theory as an approach that integrates transaction cost economics and ‘classical’ internalization theory with elements from the resource-based view, such that it is especially relevant to strategic management. In reviewing his oeuvre, we also offer observations on his ideas for ‘new internalization theory’. We classify his other novel insights into four categories: Network Multinationals; National competitiveness; Development and public policy; and Emerging Economy MNEs. This special section offers multiple views on how his work informed the larger academic debate and considers how these ideas might evolve in the longer term.