Essays of strategic alliance portfolio configuration—Its performance properties, strategic antecedents and consequential effects on multinational firms' continuing foreign expansion

This dissertation focused on an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in today's global business environment—strategic alliance portfolio. Building on resource-based view, resource dependency theory and real options theory, this dissertation adopted a multi-dimensional perspective to examine the performance implications, strategic antecedents of alliance portfolio configuration, and its strategic effects on firms' decision-making on their continuing foreign expansion. The dissertation consisted of three interrelated essays, each of which dealt with a specific research question. In the first essay I applied a two-dimensional construct that embraces both alliance relations' and alliance partners' attributes to illustrate alliance portfolio configuration. Based on this framework, a longitudinal study was conducted attempting to explore the performance properties of alliance portfolio configuration. The results revealed that alliance diversity and partner diversity have different relative contributions to firms' economic performance. The relationship between alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance was shaped by degree of multinationality in a curvilinear pattern. The second essay attempted to identify the firm level driving forces of alliance portfolio configuration and how these forces interacting with firms' internationalization influence firms' strategic choices on alliance portfolio configuration. The empirical results indicated that past alliance experience, slack resource and firms' brand images are three critical determinants shaping alliance portfolios, but those shaping relationships are conditioned by firms' multinationality. The third essay primarily employed real options theory to build a conceptual framework, revealing how country-, alliance portfolio-, firm-, and industry level factors and their interactions influence firms' strategic decision-making on post-entry continuing expansion in foreign markets. The two empirical studies were resided in global hospitality and travel industries and use panel data to test the relevant theoretical models. Overall, the dissertation advanced and enriched the theoretical domain of alliance portfolio. It particularly shed valuable insights on three fundamental questions in the domain of alliance portfolio research, namely "if and how alliance portfolios contribute to firms' economic performance"; "what determines the appearance of alliance portfolios”; and "how alliance portfolios affect firms' strategic decision-making". This dissertation also extended the international business and strategic management research on service multinationals' foreign expansion and performance.

International stock portfolio selection and performance measures recognizing higher moments of return distributions

Since the seminal works of Markowitz (1952), Sharpe (1964), and Lintner (1965), numerous studies on portfolio selection and performance measure have been based upon the mean-variance framework. However, several researchers (e.g., Arditti (1967, and 1971), Samuelson (1970), and Rubinstein (1973)) argue that the higher moments cannot be neglected unless there is reason to believe that: (i) the asset returns are normally distributed and the investor's utility function is quadratic, or (ii) the empirical evidence demonstrates that higher moments are irrelevant to the investor's decision. Based on the same argument, this dissertation investigates the impact of higher moments of return distributions on three issues concerning the 14 international stock markets.^ First, the portfolio selection with skewness is determined using: the Polynomial Goal Programming in which investor preferences for skewness can be incorporated. The empirical findings suggest that the return distributions of international stock markets are not normally distributed, and that the incorporation of skewness into an investor's portfolio decision causes a major change in the construction of his optimal portfolio. The evidence also indicates that an investor will trade expected return of the portfolio for skewness. Moreover, when short sales are allowed, investors are better off as they attain higher expected return and skewness simultaneously.^ Second, the performance of international stock markets are evaluated using two types of performance measures: (i) the two-moment performance measures of Sharpe (1966), and Treynor (1965), and (ii) the higher-moment performance measures of Prakash and Bear (1986), and Stephens and Proffitt (1991). The empirical evidence indicates that higher moments of return distributions are significant and relevant to the investor's decision. Thus, the higher moment performance measures should be more appropriate to evaluate the performances of international stock markets. The evidence also indicates that various measures provide a vastly different performance ranking of the markets, albeit in the same direction.^ Finally, the inter-temporal stability of the international stock markets is investigated using the Parhizgari and Prakash (1989) algorithm for the Sen and Puri (1968) test which accounts for non-normality of return distributions. The empirical finding indicates that there is strong evidence to support the stability in international stock market movements. However, when the Anderson test which assumes normality of return distributions is employed, the stability in the correlation structure is rejected. This suggests that the non-normality of the return distribution is an important factor that cannot be ignored in the investigation of inter-temporal stability of international stock markets. ^

Theory of foreign portfolio investment

This dissertation examines one category of international capital flows, private portfolio investments (private refers to the source of capital). There is an overall lack of a coherent and consistent definition of foreign portfolio investment. We clarify these definitional issues.^ Two main questions that pertain to private foreign portfolio investments (FPI) are explored. The first problem is the phenomenon of home preference, often referred to as home bias. Related to this are the observed cross-investment flows between countries that seem to contradict the textbook rendition of private FPI. A description of the theories purporting to resolve the home preference puzzle (and the cross-investment one) are summarized and evaluated. Most of this literature considers investors from major developed countries. I consider--as well--whether investors in less developed countries have home preference.^ The dissertation shows that home preference is indeed pervasive and profound across countries, in both developed and emerging markets. For the U.S., I examine home bias in both equity and bond holdings as well. I find that home bias is greater when we look at equity and bond holdings than equity holdings solely.^ In this dissertation a model is developed to explain home bias. This model is original and fills a gap in the literature as there have been no satisfactory models that handle at the same time both home preference and cross-border holdings in the context of information asymmetries. This model reflects what we see in the data and permits us to reach certain results by the use of comparative statics methods. The model suggests, counter-intuitively, that as the rate of return in a country relative to the world rate of return increases, home preference decreases. In the context of our relatively simple model we ascribe this result to the higher variance of the now higher return for home assets. We also find, this time as intended, that as risk aversion increases, investors diversify further so that home preference decreases.^ The second question that the dissertation deals with is the volatility of private foreign portfolio investment. Countries that are recipients of these flows have been wary of such flows because of their perceived volatility. Often the contrast is made with the perceived absence of volatility in foreign direct investment flows. I analyze the validity of these concerns using first net flow data and then gross flow data. The results show that FPI is not, in relative terms, more volatile than other flows in our sample of eight countries (half were developed countries and the rest were emerging markets).^ The implication therefore is that restricting FPI flows may be harmful in the sense that private capital may not be allocated efficiently worldwide to the detriment of capital poor economies. More to the point, any such restrictions would in fact be misguided. ^

A case study of adults in college who developed an experiential learning portfolio

This single-case study provides a description and explanation of selected adult students' perspectives on the impact that the development of an experiential learning portfolio had on their understanding of their professional and personal lives. The conceptual framework that undergirded the study included theoretical and empirical studies on adult learning, experiential learning, and the academic quality of nontraditional degree programs with a portfolio component. The study employed qualitative data collection techniques of individual interviews, document review, field notes, and researcher journal. A purposive sample of 8 adult students who completed portfolios as a component of their undergraduate degrees participated in the study. The 4 male and 4 female students who were interviewed represented 4 ethnic/racial groups and ranged in age from 32 to 55 years. Each student's portfolio was read prior to the interview to frame the semi-structured interview questions in light of written portfolio documents. ^ Students were interviewed twice over a 3-month period. The study lasted 8 months from data collection to final presentation of the findings. The data from interview transcriptions and student portfolios were analyzed, categorized, coded, and sorted into 4 major themes and 2 additional themes and submitted to interpretive analysis. ^ Participants' attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of their learning from the portfolio development experience were presented in the findings, which were illustrated through the use of excerpts from interview responses and individual portfolios. The participants displayed a positive reaction to the learning they acquired from the portfolio development process, regardless of their initial concerns about the challenges of creating a portfolio. Concerns were replaced by a greater recognition and understanding of their previous professional and personal accomplishments and their ability to reach future goals. Other key findings included (a) a better understanding of the role work played in their learning and development, (b) a deeper recognition of the impact of mentors and role models throughout their lives, (c) an increase in writing and organizational competencies, and (d) a sense of self-discovery and personal empowerment. ^

The teacher portfolio as a vehicle for reflective practice

This qualitative case study was limited to an eighteen-hour workshop on “Constructing a Reflective Teacher Portfolio.” The study was conducted at the Nova Center, a research and development school, in the Broward County Public School System. Six participants took part in the study. The study examined the process used by the participants as they constructed their portfolios, explored the reflective aspect of their construction, and investigated the impact that constructing a portfolio had on them and their work. ^ Data was gathered using interviews, observations, and artifacts. Content analysis and the combined frameworks of Van Manen (1977), Smyth (1989), and Pugach and Johnson (1990) were used to examine the data. The data indicates that the portfolios and workshop were not as effective as anticipated in encouraging the participants to examine their work. The following themes emerged as a result of this study: (a) teachers begin constructing their portfolios by gathering material that represents past successes; (b) examining philosophies of education, writing a personal narrative and sharing with colleagues stimulates reflective practice; (c) teachers have difficulty expressing their personal beliefs about education; (d) creating a reflective portfolio is a constructivist process that encourages divergent products; (e) teachers initially do not recognize a strong connection between constructing a portfolio and improving their work; and (f) constructing a portfolio may be an inside-out approach to educational reform. ^ Recommendations were presented to improve the workshop, specifically focusing on teachers examining their practices and learning from students' work. Additional study is needed to evaluate the influence of these changes in the workshop. ^

An investigation into advertising's ability to foster favorable evaluations of brand extensions

Taking a respected brand name and placing it on a new product has become a popular strategy for leveraging the name's equity and goodwill. Current research has indicated that the success of doing so depends in part on the perceived “fit” between the core brand and the extension. When the name is extended to a closely related product category, consumers are very likely to transfer their favorable attitudes toward the core to the extension. However, as the perceived fit declines, this transfer becomes less likely. ^ This dissertation examined whether particular advertising tactics (e.g., using a common endorser or logo for the core and the extension) could enhance perceived fit between the core brand and its extension, thus leading to more favorable attitudes toward the extension than would otherwise occur. The sample was undergraduate students from universities in the southeast. The generating mechanism tested was that the transfer of associations between core brand and extension would enhance the overlap of associations between the core brand and the potential extension. ^ Research questions were analyzed using a 3 (levels of fit) x 3 (treatments) x 2 (replicate) experiment. The data analysis was conducted with repeated measures ANOVA's, UNIVARIATE ANOVA's, UNIVARIATE ANCOVA'S, and planned linear contrasts. ^ The results, except for the hypotheses on fit as a mediator of extension attitude, do not indicate that the presence of an endorser or brand mark closely aligned with the core brand enhanced perceived fit between core brand and extension. ^

A comprehensive portfolio construction under stochastic environment

Prior research has established that idiosyncratic volatility of the securities prices exhibits a positive trend. This trend and other factors have made the merits of investment diversification and portfolio construction more compelling. ^ A new optimization technique, a greedy algorithm, is proposed to optimize the weights of assets in a portfolio. The main benefits of using this algorithm are to: (a) increase the efficiency of the portfolio optimization process, (b) implement large-scale optimizations, and (c) improve the resulting optimal weights. In addition, the technique utilizes a novel approach in the construction of a time-varying covariance matrix. This involves the application of a modified integrated dynamic conditional correlation GARCH (IDCC - GARCH) model to account for the dynamics of the conditional covariance matrices that are employed. ^ The stochastic aspects of the expected return of the securities are integrated into the technique through Monte Carlo simulations. Instead of representing the expected returns as deterministic values, they are assigned simulated values based on their historical measures. The time-series of the securities are fitted into a probability distribution that matches the time-series characteristics using the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit criterion. Simulated and actual data sets are used to further generalize the results. Employing the S&P500 securities as the base, 2000 simulated data sets are created using Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, the Russell 1000 securities are used to generate 50 sample data sets. ^ The results indicate an increase in risk-return performance. Choosing the Value-at-Risk (VaR) as the criterion and the Crystal Ball portfolio optimizer, a commercial product currently available on the market, as the comparison for benchmarking, the new greedy technique clearly outperforms others using a sample of the S&P500 and the Russell 1000 securities. The resulting improvements in performance are consistent among five securities selection methods (maximum, minimum, random, absolute minimum, and absolute maximum) and three covariance structures (unconditional, orthogonal GARCH, and integrated dynamic conditional GARCH). ^

Determinants of Mid-scale Hotel Brand Equity

The traditional brand management in the hotel industry is facing a great challenge as numerous brands provide many choices to hotel guests. In such competitive environments, hotel firms realize that capitalizing on one of the most important assests they own- the brand- is critical to achieve a premier growth goal not only rapidly but also in a cost- effective way. THe purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of cutsomer-based hotel brand equity for the mid-priced U.S. lodging segment by assessing the impacts of four-widely accepted brand equity dimensions: brand awareness, brand associations, percieved quality and customer loyalty. 277 travelers participated in this study at the airport in a Midwestern city. Perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand associations were found to be the core components of brand equity, while brand awareness, a seemingly important source of brand equity, did not exert a significant influence on building brand equity of mid-priced hotels. The result of this study sheds insight about how to create, manage, and evaluate a distinctive and successful hotel brand.

Cruise Brand Management

Brands have always been associated with cruise and line voyage operations, but the branding concept has taken on new meaning in the modern cruise industry. In the consolidation of cruise lines under a few major corporate structure today, the acquiring entity has most often chosen to invest in lines acquired under their existing names, retaining separate brand identity. The author summarizes industry experiences with the acquisition and management of multiple brands under a single corporate structure, together with the rationale and advantages, this article is an updated and expanded version of that first given at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention March 11, 1999.

Measuring Brand Equity of Restaurant Chains

Little research has been done to measure brand equity of hospitality companies. It is important for food service organizations to measure accurately their brand equity in order to manage and leverage it properly. This study attempts to measure the brand equity of casual dining restaurant chains in monetary terms using conjoint analysis.

The Influence of Social Responsibility Image Relative to Product and Service Quality on Brand Loyalty: An Exploratory Study of Quick-service Restaurants

Social responsibility (SR) is becoming an increasingly significant component of many firms’ strategic planning decisions. Research has shown that consumers tend to reward socially responsible behavior. However, there has been little testing of the construct in the hospitality industry. Additionally, when other important variables that influence consumer brand loyalty are considered, will brand social responsibility image (BSRI) still play a significant role? This study investigates the importance of SR and its impact on brand loyalty, relative to product quality and service quality in the quick-service restaurant industry. The authors were also interested to learn whether BSRI impacted consumers' image of product and service quality. It was found that BSRI had a positive impact on brand loyalty, product quality, and service quality. However, product quality was a significantly stronger predictor of brand loyalty than BSRI. Where the vast majority of studies of SR have utilized scenario analysis of hypothetical firms, this study utilizes consumers' perceptions of a real-world firm.

Advertising effects on brand search and preference: Assessing the mediational role of *Aad and *Ab

Most advertising research has focussed at examining effects of advertising on attitudinal responses or brand preference and choice. However, in a natural environment, the time period between advertising exposure and purchase decision is filled with prepurchase search. Prepurchase external search refers to information search from sources other than memory, prior to making a purchase decision. Usually consumers access only a small subset of available information and base their choice decisions on it. Prepurchase search therefore acts as a filter and, the final choice depends critically on the small subset of potential inputs the consumer notes in the environment and integrates into the decision. Previous research has identified a variety of factors that affect consumers' prepurchase search behavior. However, there is little understanding of how specific advertisements designed by marketers impact consumers' prepurchase search. A marketer would like consumers to search information that reflects favorably on his/her brand. Hence, s/he would attempt to influence the brands and attributes on which consumers seek information prior to making a choice. The dissertation investigates the process by which a particular marketer's advertising influences consumers' search on available brands, i.e., the marketer's brand and other competing brands. The dissertation considers a situation where exposure to advertising occurs prior to seeking information from any other source. Hence, the impact of advertising on subsequent search behavior is the topic of interest. The dissertation develops a conceptual model of advertising effects on brand search and conducts two experiments to test the tenets of this model. Specifically, the dissertation demonstrates that attitudinal responses generated by advertising mediate advertising effects on search attitudes and behaviors. The dissertation goes on to examine how attitudinal responses generated by advertising and subsequent effects on search alter brand preference and choice. ^

"You can trust me": An examination of trust -in -the -brand advertising appeals

Using trust-in-the-brand appeals in advertising has been a very common practice However, research has yet to examine the effectiveness of such appeals. Can the use of trust appeals in advertising enhance a product's trustworthiness and help the advertiser gain consumers' trust? Might such appeals lead to more favorable attitudes toward the advertised brand? Given the absence of research that speaks to these questions, this dissertation attempts to fill this void by exploring persuasion outcomes of using trust appeals. Specifically, this research aims to assess whether the use of trust appeals affects persuasion; explicate how such appeals may work; anticipate when an ad containing trust appeals may be more or less effective; and finally conduct and report the results of preliminary empirical tests. ^ A conceptual model is offered in the dissertation describing how trust appeals may affect persuasion outcomes. It is proposed that using trust advertising appeals will result in more trust-related thinking, enhance the perceived trustworthiness of the advertised brand, and finally lead to more favorable brand attitudes and trial intentions. This dissertation also examines the differential effectiveness of alternative trust appeals. Elaborate trust appeals that provide substantiation for trust are expected to perform better than simple trust appeals. An implicit elaborate trust appeal is anticipated to outperform an explicit elaborate appeal. ^ Two experiments were conducted. Including a trust appeal in an ad enhanced the perceived trustworthiness of the advertised brand which, in turn, led to more favorable brand attitudes and greater trial intentions compared to a similar ad without the trust appeal. The results also support the proposed mediating role of perceived trust. The empirical test speaking to the hypothesized differential effect of alternative trust appeals provides support for marketing practitioners' efforts in seeking the most effective use of such appeals. Evidence was obtained in the second study demonstrating that an elaborate trust appeal worked more effectively than a simple trust appeal. Contrary to the expectation, this persuasion advantage held regardless of whether the elaborate appeal was in an explicit form or an implicit form. ^

Using Social Media to Build Your Academic Brand

This professional development session will review recent research on the use of social media by faculty and academic staff. The bulk of the presentation will focus on social media strategies and techniques that attendees can use to develop and build their academic brand. This session will be useful to various audiences including established faculty, new faculty and graduate students.