The greatly improved economic fundamentals of the major emerging economies over the last decade have propelled several emerging banks into the ranks of the world’s largest. Despite their importance in the global economy, the internationalization of emerging market banks remains an understudied phenomenon. This article examines factors that may influence the internationalization strategies of emerging market banks in the private banking sector, both when going abroad (take-off) and upon arrival in a host country (landing). The private banking sector is of significant interest given its importance in many leading financial centers around the world while undergoing major transformation due to the worldwide financial crisis, several recent scandals, and a fast-changing regulatory environment. We highlight the internationalization strategies of two banks from emerging countries, China and Brazil, and their experience in Switzerland’s traditional private banking sector. These two cases highlight factors that may influence successful internationalization such as prior industry experience, existing client base, entry strategy, ownership type, and the liability of foreignness. Our findings offer valuable implications for managers from other emerging economies by providing a better understanding of how emerging market banks expand internationally.
The ISO 14001 standard was extensively amended in 2015. The new version of the standard suggests a closer alignment of traditional environmental management systems with the footprinting approaches (Life Cycle Thinking) adopted by many corporations in recent years to assess the environmental performance of products and companies. As a result, a new link is also established with ecodesign practices. Context, risks and opportunities, performance and leadership are the four key new concepts enabling the bridge between management systems and company or product performances based on an enlarged life cycle perspective. Environmental aspects are now considered at corporate strategic level, opening the door for more integrated and structured ecodesign within companies. This document is intended as a guidance document to enable the understanding of the full consequences of integrating life cycle thinking within management systems and of how new opportunities arising from the integration may be seized. This guidance document intends to support companies and auditors in the adoption of the new standard and further promote ecodesign principles and applications.
This research aims to uncover three forms of communities of practice (CoPs), based on a set of six governance mechanisms. The focus is on the specific question of how organizations combine different governance mechanisms to balance autonomy and control in the management (steering) of CoPs. This paper is based on a study of 16 CoPs in nine multinational organizations.
Les dépenses environnementales (DE) d’une société constituent un outil d’évaluation et de suivi de sa performance environnementale. Le potentiel informatif de cet indicateur n’a pas échappé au législateur qui oblige les sociétés cotées à publier leurs DE. Notre recherche mobilise le courant de la légitimité pour identifier et expliquer les stratégies de réponse à cet item sur un échantillon de sociétés cotées françaises. Une analyse de contenu permet d’identifier trois stratégies : la non-réponse, la réponse de façade et la réponse substantielle. Les tests montrent plusieurs facteurs explicatifs associés à ces stratégies : la critique environnementale, l’actionnariat ISR et la sensibilité du secteur d’activité. Notre recherche contribue aux débats académiques et réglementaires sur la normalisation de l’information environnementale en révélant et expliquant les comportements des acteurs face à la loi.
This article explores knowledge search strategies of technology-based small firms (TBSFs) and the role that informal and proximate relationships play in the development of knowledge networks, through which knowledge exchange occurs. Drawing on interfirm relationship and social network theory, we contend that TBSFs participate in informal networks to exchange technology, market and managerial knowledge, to the extent that these knowledge configurations facilitate acquisition of external knowledge critical for their learning processes by TBSFs. Results indicate that a firm’s engagement in the exchange of various sources of knowledge is directly related to its economic activity and strategic knowledge priorities, which shape the structural dimensions of interfirm informal networks. While informal networks remain informal, certain TBSFs formalize their participation as they obtain and combine knowledge resources that are important for their activity. In examining how different interests and roles impact participation in informal interfirm networks, this study contributes to the literature on small firms and collaborative relationships.
Understanding measurement model specification is especially important for hospitality research due to its cross-disciplinary nature and the prevalence of measures used in the field which are often central to the formative versus reflective debate (e.g., SERVQUAL, socioeconomic status). The current study contributes to this topic by providing empirically based prescriptive advice to drive better measurement model specification. Specifically, the decision-making procedures developed by this study can complement theoretical reasons for a model choice as well as help determine a correct model choice when theories are equivocal or non-existent. This study combines actual and simulated data to show that model fit statistics alone cannot determine which model specification is correct, but also that a correct measurement model will generate more accurate predictions within a model which in turn will offer more accurate managerial recommendations.
In the current study, we contend that to enhance their competitiveness and performance, hotel properties need to develop and implement internal policies and procedures such as strategic management accounting that are consistent with their business strategies and account for changing competitive demands. We employ a sample composed of 80 hotel properties to investigate the key precursor of hotel property strategic management accounting use and its impact on hotel property customer and financial performance. The results highlight that market orientation business strategy is a key determinant of hotel property strategic management accounting use and illuminate the mediating influence of hotel property strategic management accounting use and hotel property customer performance on the relationship between hotel property market orientation business strategy use and hotel property financial performance. Recommendations are provided for both researchers and hotel managers concerning their future study of, or use of, strategic management accounting.
Hotel owners have two fundamental concerns: the financial operating performance of their asset and its selling price. While they often contract a hotel management company to operate the hotel through a lease or management agreement, common industry perception holds that such encumbrance decreases the sales price of hotel real estate assets. This implies that owners who outsource the hotel’s management may be sacrificing a greater selling price in exchange for improved operating results. While this is a critical issue for investors given that a their returns are largely dependent on an asset’s appreciation, the impact of different management structures on the sales price of hotels has not previously been studied. A hedonic valuation model was constructed based on 442 past hotel transactions in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2015. Hotels sold encumbered by hotel management agreements and lease agreements were found to sell at a premium compared with unencumbered properties. The impact across different geographic areas and different economic periods was also examined. Hotels under management agreement achieved the highest premiums during times of economic expansion while lease contracts did so in regional markets. The findings suggest that owners need not necessarily refrain from signing management agreements or leases out of concern for their detrimental effect on their hotel’s sales price. It also provides a strong additional selling point for management companies and should reassure lenders who prefer to underwrite loans for encumbered assets.
Since almost thirty years, three dimensional virtual reality, which required expensive and cumbersome equipment, has raised interest as it allows users to feel immersed in virtual environments. Recently, affordable head mounted displays have revived the hope that virtual reality might really be up for a breakthrough. This research looks into the sense of presence perceived by users of these new affordable devices. All the participants in this research experienced a high sense of presence for two different devices. Although on average, participants were only moderately inspired in suggesting possible future uses of the technology, marketing students were much more creative.
