Fifty years of international business theory and beyond

As the field of international business has matured, there have been shifts in the core unit of analysis. First, there was analysis at country level, using national statistics on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Next, the focus shifted to the multinational enterprise (MNE) and the parent’s firm specific advantages (FSAs). Eventually the MNE was analysed as a network and the subsidiary became a unit of analysis. We untangle the last fifty years of international business theory using a classification by these three units of analysis. This is the country-specific advantage (CSA) and firm-specific advantage (FSA) matrix. Will this integrative framework continue to be useful in the future? We demonstrate that this is likely as the CSA/FSA matrix permits integration of potentially useful alternative units of analysis, including the broad region of the triad. Looking forward, we develop a new framework, visualized in two matrices, to show how distance really matters and how FSAs function in international business. Key to this are the concepts of compounded distance and resource recombination barriers facing MNEs when operating across national borders.

Online self-and-peer-assessment for teamwork in architecture and business communications

There is considerable evidence of general student scepticism regarding the purpose of team assignments and high levels of concern for the fairness of assessment procedures when all members of a team receive the same grade. Some educators are similarly anxious about not only the validity of team grades, but also the need to assess ongoing team processes in addition to the final assignment product. This paper offers self-andpeer-assessment (SAPA) as a fair, valid and reliable method of producing information about ongoing team processes. The paper examines a pilot study investigating an online SAPA tool originally developed for a small class of architecture students. This tool is adapted for use for by students completing team assignment in two further architecture design units and for a very large class of 800 business communication students. The sample students studied on four campuses, as well as in off campus and offshore modes. The paper focuses on the initial stages of the study to demonstrate how researchers from very different backgrounds collaborated to adapt the online tool and implement a pilot study whilst maintaining both comparability of assessment and integrity of research design.

Cooperative inquiry in a business school : scope, process and dimensions

The presentation will describe a cooperative inquiry project being undertaken within the School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Law. This project involves both HRM and Management academics and was commenced in February 2008 with the broad aim of developing an ongoing teaching and learning dialogue within these discipline areas to enhance teaching and learning.
The project is also aimed at enabling individuals and unit teams to develop and pursue their own priorities in teaching and learning and align these with the goals and objectives of the Faculty and University.
In the presentation we will describe the scope, nature and methods of the inquiry and the outcomes of the project to date. One major outcome to date has been a comprehensive review of all the units within the HRM and Management majors. This review has, in turn, lead to the initiation of four further projects.
These include an activity to benchmark the School’s HRM and Management units against universities in Australia and overseas; a literature review entitled ‘Linking practice, research and the scholarship of teaching’; a project that seeks to integrate individual and institutional needs; and an action research project to capture the process of change within the Management and HRM team. These four projects will be described briefly in the presentation.

The effect of the introduction of teaching interventions and assessment strategies in first year management units

This Scholarship of Teaching research aimed to ultimately become a report and a series of recommendations on the teaching of first year Management units in universities. Many of the Australian universities benchmark themselves against the leaders in the Course Experience Questionnaires (CEQ) (Ramsden 1991) of graduating students in Australia. Most Australian universities have their own student satisfaction evaluation method. In this study the subject university uses the Student Evaluation of Teachers and Units (SETU) as their internal method of measuring the effectiveness of teaching on units on a cohort by cohort basis. This project, using one of the largest units in a Business and Law Faculty had specific measurable objectives; the results of the unit teams' interventions demonstrate that it is possible to increase student satisfaction during their transition year by as much as 11.5%. The ten recommendations ranging from changes to unit objectives, assessment methods and updated methods of marking, communication and student support, if acted upon, should have ongoing benefits for teaching and learning of first year management units.

Creating value in an introductory business IS and IT unit

Given the downturn in student enrolments in Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) units, and the poor performance of a first-year IS and IT common-core unit in a business school, a new unit was developed. Action and design science research methods were employed. The new unit has a unique focus on two key skills and on modern IT and information literacy. The first skill involves describing information systems, and the second, determining how to create business value with IT in specific business contexts. Modern IT tools like a Web-based productivity suite and professional networking services are introduced, together with advanced search techniques and services and an information quality evaluation framework. The evaluation of the utility and efficacy of the unit is based on the institutional standard student feedback survey and unsolicited feedback. The unit has achieved a significant improvement in evaluation results and feedback from students, as well as converting students who were previously averse to IS and IT to study further in these areas.

Environmental sustainability awareness and academic curriculum improvements: the case of a business and law faculty in an Australian university

Climate change, global warming, rising sea levels, ice cap melting, carbon taxes and trading schemes etc. are all major environmental issues that confront the modern world. Universities are now trying to ensure that their students graduate with an understanding of environmental sustainability regardless of their field of expertise. 

A construção de uma marca corporativa global no sucesso da internacionalização: um desafio às empresas brasileiras do segmento business to business

Considerando o crescente número de empresas brasileiras que tem investido em unidades operacionais no exterior e a necessidade de criar a identidade de uma corporação transnacional, esta pesquisa objetivou explorar a existência e a influência de um processo estruturado de construção de marca corporativa global por parte de empresas transnacionais brasileiras do segmento business to business. Um estudo múltiplo de casos foi realizado entre cinco empresas significativas listadas no ranking de transnacionalidade. Ao final desta pesquisa, foi possível verificar que embora todas as empresas estudadas afirmarem possuir um processo de construção de marca corporativa global, tal fato não se confirmou. Também verificou-se que o nível de maturidade do processo entre as empresas é diverso, bem como a sua importância no sucesso da internacionalização, diante das características distintas das corporações estudadas. Uma série de dificuldades neste processo, bem como as soluções adotadas e propostas são indicadas. A relevância dos diversos stakeholders no Brasil e no exterior no processo de internacionalização foi analisada, e entre as empresas estudadas não houve uma forte distinção destes no Brasil e no exterior. Verificou-se haver aderência entre os processos espontâneos de construção de marca corporativa das empresas e as linhas de pensamento dos pesquisadores estudados, existindo peculiaridades na maneira em como o processo se estabelece e em como a identidade corporativa se expressa.

Coordinated Lot-sizing and Dynamic Prizing under a Supplier All-units Quantity Discount

We consider an economic order quantity model where the supplier offers an all-units quantity discount and a price sensitive customer demand. We compare a decentralized decision framework where selling price and replenishment policy are determined independently to simultaneous decision making. Constant and dynamic pricing are distinguished. We derive structural properties and develop algorithms that determine the optimal pricing and replenishment policy and show how quantity discounts not only influence the purchasing strategy but also the pricing policy. A sensitivity analysis indicates the impact of the fixed-holding cost ratio, the discount policy, and the customers' price sensitivity on the optimal decisions.

Care and operation of pumping engines and units.

Mode of access: Internet.

Can the Paks-2 Nuclear Power Plant operate without State aid? A business economic analysis

Many studies have investigated the prospects for returns, the budgetary and financing background and energy management effects of the new nuclear power plant units to be built at Paks. This document seeks to complement previous economics-based studies by adding a new criterion. The key question in our analysis is whether the power plant company will be capable of independent operations in an economic sense - or will its survival depend on further additional aid by the owner, i.e. via the central budget, after its commissioning? We shall examine from a corporate perspective in what ways the already disclosed financing terms and conditions may affect the everyday operations of the power plant company.

Health information management : What business are we in?

Developments in information technology will drive the change in records management; however, it should be the health information managers who drive the information management change. The role of health information management will be challenged to use information technology to broker a range of requests for information from a variety of users, including he alth consumers. The purposes of this paper are to conceptualise the role of health information management in the context of a technologically driven and managed health care environment, and to demonstrat e how this framework has been used to review and develop the undergraduate program in health information management at the Queensland University of Technology.

The Behavior of Hydroxyl Units of Synthetic Goethite and its Dehydroxylated Product Hematite

The behavior of the hydroxyl units of synthetic goethite and its dehydroxylated product hematite was characterized using a combination of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) during the thermal transformation over a temperature range of 180-270 degrees C. Hematite was detected at temperatures above 200 degrees C by XRD while goethite was not observed above 230 degrees C. Five intense OH vibrations at 3212-3194, 1687-1674, 1643-1640, 888-884 and 800-798 cm(-1), and a H2O vibration at 3450-3445 cm(-1) were observed for goethite. The intensity of hydroxyl stretching and bending vibrations decreased with the extent of dehydroxylation of goethite. Infrared absorption bands clearly show the phase transformation between goethite and hematite: in particular. the migration of excess hydroxyl units from goethite to hematite. Two bands at 536-533 and 454-452 cm(-1) are the low wavenumber vibrations of Fe-O in the hematite structure. Band component analysis data of FTIR spectra support the fact that the hydroxyl units mainly affect the a plane in goethite and the equivalent c plane in hematite.