A fresh look at decision making in international investment choices: Firm international coherence and home-host country relatedness

Understanding how decisions for international investments are made and how this affects the overall pattern of investments and firm’s performance is of particular importance both in strategy and international business research. This dissertation introduced first home-host country relatedness (HHCR) as the degree to which countries are efficiently combined within the investment portfolios of firms. It theorized and demonstrated that HHCR will vary with the motivation for investments along at least two key dimensions: the nature of foreign investments and the connectedness of potential host countries to the rest of the world. Drawing on cognitive psychology and decision-making research, it developed a theory of strategic decision making proposing that strategic solutions are chosen close to a convenient anchor. Building on research on memory imprinting, it also proposed that managers tend to rely on older knowledge representation. In the context of international investment decisions, managers use their home countries as an anchor and are more likely to choose as a site for foreign investments host countries that are ‘close’ to the home country. These decisions are also likely to rely more strongly on closeness to time invariant country factors of historic and geographic nature rather than time-variant institutions. Empirical tests using comprehensive investments data by all public multinational companies (MNC) worldwide, or over 15,000 MNCs with over half a million subsidiaries, support the claims. Finally, the dissertation introduced the concept of International Coherence (IC) defined as the degree to which an MNE’s network comprises countries that are related. It was hypothesized that maintaining a high level of coherence is important for firm performance and will enhance it. Also, the presence of international coherence mitigates some of the negative effects of unrelated product diversification. Empirical tests using data on foreign investments of over 20,000 public firms, while also developing a home-host country relatedness index for up to 24,300 home-host pairs, provided support for the theory advanced.

(Table 1) Dissolved Hafnium and Neodymium in the South Atlantic measured on water bottle samples during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXIV/3

We present the first combined dissolved hafnium (Hf) and neodymium (Nd) concentrations and isotope compositions of deep water masses from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Eight full depth profiles were analyzed for Hf and twelve for Nd. Hafnium concentrations are generally depleted in the upper few hundred meters ranging between 0.2 pmol/kg and 0.4 pmol/kg and increase to relatively constant values of around 0.6 pmol/kg in the deeper water column. At the stations north of the Polar Front (PF), Nd concentrations increase linearly from about 10 pmol/kg at depths of ~ 200 m to up to 31 pmol/kg close to the bottom indicating particle scavenging and release. Within the Weddell Gyre (WG), however, Nd concentrations are essentially constant at 25 pmol/kg at depths greater than ~ 1000 m. The distributions of both elements show a positive correlation with dissolved silicon implying a close linkage to diatom biogeochemistry. Hafnium essentially shows invariant isotope compositions with values averaging at epsilon-Hf = +4.6, whereas Nd isotopes mark distinct differences between water masses, such as modified North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW, epsilon-Nd = -11 to -10) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW, epsilon-Nd = -8.6 to -9.6), but also waters locally advected via the Agulhas Current can be identified by their unradiogenic Nd isotope compositions. Mixing calculations suggest that a small fraction of Nd is removed by particle scavenging during mixing of water masses north of the PF. Nevertheless, the Nd isotope composition has apparently not been significantly affected by uptake and release of Nd from particles, as indicated by mixing calculations. A mixing envelope of an approximated North Pacific and a North Atlantic end-member shows that Nd isotope and concentration patterns in the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) can be fully explained by ~ 30:70 percentage contributions of these respective end-members.

(Table 1) Sample characteristics, test consolidations and calculated elastic parameters of ODP Sites 194-1193 and 194-1196

This study is based on rock mechanical tests of samples from platform carbonate strata to document their petrophysical properties and determine their potential for porosity loss by mechanical compaction. Sixteen core-plug samples, including eleven limestones and five dolostones, from Miocene carbonate platforms on the Marion Plateau, offshore northeast Australia, were tested at vertical effective stress, sigma1', of 0-70 MPa, as lateral strain was kept equal to zero. The samples were deposited as bioclastic facies in platform-top settings having paleo-water depths of <10-90 m. They were variably cemented with low-Mg calcite and five of the samples were dolomitized before burial to present depths of 39-635 m below sea floor with porosities of 8-46%. Ten samples tested under dry conditions had up to 0.22% strain at sigma1' = 50 MPa, whereas six samples tested saturated with brine, under drained conditions, had up to 0.33% strain. The yield strength was reached in five of the plugs. The measured strains show an overall positive correlation with porosity. Vp ranges from 3640 to 5660 m/s and Vs from 1840 to 3530 m/s. Poisson coefficient is 0.20-0.33 and Young's modulus at 30 MPa ranged between 5 and 40 GPa. Water saturated samples had lower shear moduli and slightly higher P- to S-wave velocity ratios. Creep at constant stress was observed only in samples affected by pore collapse, indicating propagation of microcracks. Although deposited as loose carbonate sand and mud, the studied carbonates acquired reef-like petrophysical properties by early calcite and dolomite cementation. The small strains observed experimentally at 50 MPa indicate that little mechanical compaction would occur at deeper burial. However, as these rocks are unlikely to preserve their present high porosities to 4-5 km depth, further porosity loss would proceed mainly by chemical compaction and cementation.

(Table 1) Sample locations, Hf and Nd isotopic compositions and concentrations of Atlantic seawater samples with hydrographic details

The first full water column hafnium isotopic compositions of Atlantic seawater have been obtained at seven locations from the Labrador Sea to the Drake Passage. Despite subpicomolar concentrations in seawater, a precision of the Hf isotopic measurements of <0.7 epsilon-Hf units was achieved. An overall epsilon-Hf range between -3.1 in the Labrador Sea and +4.4 in Antarctic bottom water was determined, the distribution of which broadly reflects continental weathering inputs. Within particular water column profiles, significant differences of up to 4 epsilon-Hf units occur. Combined with Nd isotope data of the same samples, it is evident that the Hf isotopic composition of seawater is too radiogenic for a given Nd isotopic composition and that the largest difference between expected and measured Hf isotopic compositions in seawater occurs near the oldest continental crust in the Labrador Sea. This corroborates the previous proposition, which was mainly based on ferromanganese crust data, that the Hf isotopic composition of seawater is controlled by incongruent weathering of continental crust and possibly, to some extent, by hydrothermal contributions. Hafnium concentrations in the ocean do not increase along the deep ocean conveyer indicating an oceanic residence time of only a few hundred years, which is significantly shorter than previously assumed. The Hf isotopic composition of past seawater can therefore serve as a proxy for short distance, basin scale mixing processes and the regime and intensity of nearby continental weathering processes.

(Table 1) TOC, d13C, concentrations of C37 alkenones, crenarchaeol and GDGTs of turbidites

One of the primary prerequisites for the application of organic proxies is that they should not be substantially affected by diagenesis. However, studies have shown that oxic degradation of biomarker lipids can affect their relative distribution. We tested the diagenetic stability of the UK'37 and TEX86 palaeothermometers upon long term oxygen exposure. For this purpose, we studied the distributions of alkenones and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) in different sections of turbidites at the Madeira Abyssal Plain (MAP) that experienced different degrees of oxygen exposure. Sediments were deposited anoxically on the shelf and then transported by turbidity currents to the MAP, which has oxic bottom water. This resulted in partial degradation of the turbidite organic matter as a result of long term exposure to oxic bottom water. Concentrations of GDGTs and alkenones were reduced by one to two orders of magnitude in the oxidized parts of the turbidites compared to the unoxidized parts, indicating substantial degradation. High-resolution analysis of the Pleistocene F-turbidite showed that the UK'37 index of long chain alkenones increased only slightly (0.01, corresponding to <0.5 °C) in the oxidized part of the turbidite, suggesting minor preferential degradation of the C37:3 alkenone, in agreement with previous studies. TEX86 values showed a small increase (0.02, corresponding to ~2 °C) in the F-turbidite, like UK'37 , while for other Pliocene/Miocene turbidites it either remained unchanged or decreased substantially (up to 0.06, corresponding to ~6 °C). Previous observations showed that the BIT index, a proxy for the contribution of soil organic matter to total organic carbon, was always substantially higher in the oxidized part in all the turbidites, as a result of preferential degradation of marine-derived GDGTs. This relative increase in soil-derived GDGTs affects TEX86, as the isoprenoid GDGT distribution on the continent can be quite different from that in the marine environment. Our results indicate that the organic proxies are affected by long term oxic degradation to different extents; this should be taken into account when applying these proxies in palaeoceanographic studies of sediments which have been exposed to prolonged oxic degradation.

(Table 4) Daily mean spectral snow albedo at different wavelengths measured at Neumayer, Antarctica

Spectral albedo in high resolution, from 290 to 1050 nm, has been measured at Neumayer, Antarctica, (70°39' S, 8°15' W) during the austral summer 2003/2004. At 500 nm, the spectral albedo nearly reaches unity, with slightly lower values below and above 500 nm. Above 600 nm, the spectral albedo decreases to values between 0.45 and 0.75 at 1000 nm. For one cloudless case an albedo up to 1.01 at 500 nm could be determined. This can be explained by the larger directional component of the snow reflectivity for direct incidence, combined with a slightly mislevelled sensor and the snow surface not being perfectly horizontal. A possible explanation for an observed decline in albedo is an increase in snow grain size. The theoretically predicted increase in albedo with increasing solar zenith angle (SZA) could not be observed. This is explained by the small range of SZA during albedo measurements, combined with the effect of changing snow conditions outweighing the effect of changing SZA. The measured spectral albedo serves as input for radiative transfer models, describing radiation conditions in Antarctica.

(Table 1) Grain size composition of surface sediments from the Barents Sea shelf

The surface layer of bottom sediments on the Barents Sea shelf has an irregular but generally very low abundance of diatoms. Tests of species belonging to present-day diatom flora were absent in nearly half of samples; their abundance was only a few shells per gram of dry sediment in 30% of the samples, it was up to 100 shells per gram in 9% of the samples, and was in thousands of shells per gram in only 13% of the samples. The lowest abundances of diatom shells were found in sediments of the eastern and northeastern parts of the sea owing to unfavorable sedimentation conditions and deficiency of dissolved silica in water. But distribution of diatom species on the surface of bottom sediments is strictly consistent with their present-day ranges. About 30% of the samples contained re-deposited Cretaceous and Paleogene diatoms indicating that bottom sediments have largely formed by scouring and re-deposition of underlying material.

(Table) Grain size distribution of sediments from core Ak-509, Black Sea continental slope

New results of geomorphological, seismoacoustic, and lithological investigations on the upper continental slope off the Arkhipo-Osipovka Settlement are presented. Here, a large submarine slump was discovered by seismic survey in 1998. The assumed slump body, up to 200 m thick, rises 50-60 m above the valley floor that cuts the slope. Recent semiliquid mud that overlies laminated slope sediments with possible slump deformations flows down in the valley thalweg. Radiocarbon age inversion recorded in a Holocene sediment section of shelf facies recovered from the upper slope points to the gravity dislocation of sediments.

Stable isotope ratios on planktonic foraminifer N. pachyderma of surface sediments from the Arctic Ocean (Table 1)

Planktic foraminifers Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sin.) from 87 eastern and central Arctic Ocean surface sediment samples were analyzed for stable oxygen and carbon isotope composition. Additional results from 52 stations were taken from the literature. The lateral distribution of delta18O (18O/16O) values in the Arctic Ocean reveals a pattern of roughly parallel, W-E stretching zones in the Eurasian Basin, each ~0.5 per mil wide on the delta18O scale. The low horizontal and vertical temperature variability in the Arctic halocline waters (0-100 m) suggests only little influence of temperature on the oxygen isotope distribution of N. pachyderma (sin.). The zone of maximum delta18O values of up to 3.8 per mil is situated in the southern Nansen Basin and relates to the tongue of saline (> 33%.) Atlantic waters entering the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait. delta18O values decrease both to the Barents Shelf and to the North Pole, in accordance with the decreasing salinities of the halocline waters. In the Nansen Basin, a strong N-S delta18O gradient is in contrast with a relatively low salinity change and suggests contributions from different freshwater sources, i.e. salinity reduction from sea ice meltwater in the south and from light isotope waters (meteoric precipitation and river-runoff) in the northern part of the basin. North of the Gakkel Ridge, delta18O and salinity gradients are in good accordance and suggest less influence of sea ice melting processes. The delta13C (13C/12C) values of N. pachyderma (sin.) from Arctic Ocean surface sediment samples are generally high (0.75-0.95 per mil). Lower values in the southern Eurasian Basin appear to be related to the intrusion of Atlantic waters. The high delta13C values are evidence for well ventilated surface waters. Because the perennial Arctic sea ice cover largely prevents atmosphere-ocean gas exchange, ventilation on the seasonally open shelves must be of major importance. Lack of delta13C gradients along the main routes of the ice drift from the Siberian shelves to the Fram Strait suggests that primary production (i.e. CO2 consumption) does probably not change the CO2 budget of the Arctic Ocean significantly.

(Table 3) Isotopic composition of pyrite sulfur and carbonate carbon in carbonate nodules and host sediments from Core DM9-666, Gulf of California

Isotopic-geochemical study revealed presence of mantle He (3He/4He up to 223x10**-8) in gases from mud volcanoes of Eastern Georgia. This fact confirms that the Middle Kura basin fill encloses an intrusive body previously distinguished from geophysical data. Wide variations of carbon isotopic composition d13C in CH4 and CO2 and chemical composition of gas and water at temporally constant 3He/4He ratio indicate their relation with crustal processes. Unusual direct correlations of 3He/4He ratio with concentrations of He and CH4 and 40Ar/36Ar ratio can be explained by generation of gas in the Cenozoic sequence of the Middle Kura basin.

(Table 2) Chemical composition of bottom sediments from Core AMK35-3452

During the last 25-30 ka a layer of pelagic sediments covering basement rocks was formed within the hydrothermal field located at 14°45'N (Logachev hydrothermal field). Composition of edaphogenic minerals from bottom sediments points to the fact that serpentinites or serpentinous abyssal rocks and gabbroids prevail among rock outcroppings within the hydrothermal field. Hydrothermal activity of the studied area extends over at least 25-30 ky. A sharp increase in hydrothermal activity took place at the boundary between Würm and Holocene. Intensive discharge of ore-bearing fluids persists up to present time.

(Table 1) Ratio of hydroxy-GDGT vs. the total core GDGT was calculated based on the detection of hydroxy-GDGT

Hydroxylated glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (hydroxy-GDGTs) were detected in marine sediments of diverse depositional regimes and ages. Mass spectrometric evidence, complemented by information gleaned from two-dimensional (2D) 1H-13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy on minute quantities of target analyte isolated from marine sediment, allowed us to identify one major compound as a monohydroxy-GDGT with acyclic biphytanyl moieties (OH-GDGT-0). NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data indicate the presence of a tertiary hydroxyl group suggesting the compounds are the tetraether analogues of the widespread hydroxylated archaeol derivatives that have received great attention in geochemical studies of the last two decades. Three other related compounds were assigned as acyclic dihydroxy-GDGT (2OH-GDGT-0) and monohydroxy-GDGT with one (OH-GDGT-1) and two cyclopentane rings (OH-GDGT-2). Based on the identification of hydroxy-GDGT core lipids, a group of previously reported unknown intact polar lipids (IPLs), including the ubiquitously distributed H341-GDGT (Lipp J. S. and Hinrichs K. -U. (2009) Structural diversity and fate of intact polar lipids in marine sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 6816-6833), and its analogues were tentatively identified as glycosidic hydroxy-GDGTs. In addition to marine sediments, we also detected hydroxy-GDGTs in a culture of Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus. Given the previous finding of the putative polar precursor H341-GDGT in the planktonic marine crenarchaeon Nitrosopumilus maritimus, these compounds are synthesized by representatives of both cren- and euryarchaeota. The ubiquitous distribution and apparent substantial abundance of hydroxy-GDGT core lipids in marine sediments (up to 8% of total isoprenoid core GDGTs) point to their potential as proxies.

(Table 1) Granulometry of sediments obtained during research cruises of Tender Ems and Hermann Wattenberg in Kiel Bay, Baltic Sea

Sediment cores, mainly push-box samples, from a channel system of the Kiel Bay are described. The channel system, of glacial and fluviatile origin, is important for the distribution of heavy, salt-rich water entering from the North Sea through the Great Belt, Sediment erosion and transport in the channels is due entirely to currents, because the bottom lies too deep for wave action. The sediments of these channels proude information about current velocities and their frequencies. Grain-size, minor sediment structures and thickness of the sediments vary remarkably. Nevertheless, for those parts of the channels where stronger currents occur, some typical features can be shown. These include: small thickness of the marine sediments, erosional effects upon the underlying sediments, and poor sorting of the sediments, whereby fine and coarse fractions are mixed very intensively. Besides strong currents which effect the bottom configuration and deposits in the Fehmarn Belt, there must exist longer periods of low current action upon the bottom, although current measurements show that current velocities higher than 50 cm/sec at some meters above the bottom occur frequently during the year. In the channel to the west of the southern mouth of Great Belt, coarse sediments were found only in elongate, deep throughs within the channels. This is believed to be due to an acceleration of the entering tongues of heavy water as they flow downslope into the throughs. Minor structures of two sediment cores were made visible by X-ray photographs. These showed that the mixing of sand and clayey material is due partly to bottom organisms and that the mud, which appears 'homogeneous' to the bare eye, is built up of fine wavy laminae which are also partly destroyed by boring animals. At another location in the channel system, there was found a thin finegrained layer of marine sediment resting upon peat. Palynological dating of the peat shows that very little older sediment could have been eroded. The current velocities, therefore, must be too low for the movement of coarse material and erosion, but too high to allow the Sedimentation of a lot of fine-grained material.

(Table 2) Age determination of Aegean Sea sediments

The modern Aegean Sea is an important source of deep water for the eastern Mediterranean. Its contribution to deep water ventilation is known to fluctuate in response to climatic variation on a decadal timescale. This study uses marine micropalaeontological and stable isotope data to investigate longer-term variability during the late glacial and Holocene, in particular that associated with the deposition of the early Holocene dysoxic/anoxic sapropel S1. Concentrating on the onset of sapropel-forming conditions, we identify the start of 'seasonal' stratification and highlight a lag in d18O response of the planktonic foraminifer N. pachyderma to termination T1b as identified in the d18O record of G. ruber. By use of a simple model we determine that this offset cannot be a function of bioturbation effects. The lag is of the order of 1 kyr and suggests that isolation of intermediate/deep water preceded the start of sapropel formation by up to 1.5 kyr. Using this discovery, we propose an explanation for the major unresolved problem in sapropel studies, namely, the source of nutrient supply required for export productivity to reach levels needed for sustained sapropel deposition. We suggest that nutrients had been accumulating in a stagnant basin for 1-1.5 kyr and that these accumulated resources were utilized during the deposition of S1. In addition, we provide a first quantitative estimate of the diffusive (1/e) mixing timescale for the eastern Mediterranean in its "stratified" sapropel mode, which is of the order of 450 years.

(Table 1, 2) Foraminifera biometric data, and boron isotopic composition of Globigerinoides sacculifer of sediments from the Ontong-Java Plateau

Sediment samples from the Ontong-Java Plateau in the Pacific and the 90° east ridge in the Indian Ocean were used to investigate whether shell size and early diagenesis affect d11B of the symbiont-bearing planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer. In pristine shells from both study locations we found a systematic increase of d11B and Mg/Ca with shell size. Shells in the sieve size class 515-865 µm revealed d11B values +2.1 to +2.3 per mil higher than shells in the 250-380 µm class. This pattern is most likely due to differences in symbiont photosynthetic activity and its integrated effect on the pH of the foraminiferal microenvironment. We therefore suggest smaller individuals must live at approximately 50-100 m water depth where ambient light levels are lower. Using the empirical calibration curve for d11B in G. sacculifer, only shells larger than 425 µm reflect surface seawater pH. Partial dissolution of shells derived from deeper sediment cores was determined by shell weight analyses and investigation of the shell surface microstructure by scanning electron microscopy. The d11B in partially dissolved shells is up to 2 per mil lower relative to pristine shells of the same size class. In agreement with a relatively higher weight loss in smaller shells, samples from the Ontong-Java Plateau show a more pronounced dissolution effect than larger shells. On the basis of the primary size effect and potential postdepositional dissolution effects, we recommend the use of shells that are visually pristine and, in the case of G. sacculifer, larger than 500 ?m for paleoreconstructions.