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Management practices and orientation need to change when the climate of the time in which firms operate change. In the 1980s–early 1990s when the world enjoyed a broad economic growth on a global scale, Japanese management practices were once admired in awe around the world. Since the Japanese economy began to slip into a decade-long recessionary environment in the late 1990s, many Japanese firms experienced profit losses and the world’s admiration of Japanese management began to wane. This article explores how and why, and offers broader implications to management practices in general.

Our study focuses on the internal process through which market orientation influences performance in export markets, and develops a model of market orientation–marketing capabilities–competitive advantages–performance relationships. Using survey data of 491 export ventures based in China, we find that marketing capabilities mediate the market orientation–performance relationship, while competitive advantages partially mediate the marketing capabilities–performance relationship. Moreover, coordination mechanism strengthens, and cost leadership strategy weakens, the effects of market orientation on new product development and marketing communication capabilities, respectively. Market turbulence attenuates the effect of market orientation on new product development capability while competitive intensity strengthens this effect.

We study sources of operational performance improvement in supplier partnerships. We argue that supplier performance will benefit most where time-bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication efficiency by transferring productive knowledge. We examine the effects of two forms of knowledge exchange together with the prior duration of the buyer--supplier relationship. We find similar interaction patterns in two survey samples of Japanese and U.S. automotive suppliers. The effect of ordinary technical exchanges on supplier performance improvement does not vary with relationship duration. The effect of higher-level technology transfer, however, grows more positive as relationship duration increases. Other results show relevant contrasts consistent with heterogeneous sourcing behavior between the two countries. The findings highlight the role of relational assets and show that it is important to distinguish between simple techniques and higher-level technological capabilities when studying interfirm relationships. This research extends the literatures on knowledge transfer, buyer--supplier partnerships, and the performance dynamics of interfirm and intrafirm relationships in general.

This study empirically examines the role of founder ethnic composition in international new venture (INV) strategy choice and performance. We find that new ventures with more immigrant entrepreneurs on the founding team have an advantage of pursuing an INV strategy to generate higher revenues. Moreover, new ventures with an ethnically diversified founding team tend to achieve higher revenues and profits. Our findings suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs can align available immigrant resources with their new ventures’ international strategy to increase venture performance. This study contributes to both immigrant and international entrepreneurship literature. Managerial and policy implications are also discussed.

[...]the post-Cold War global economic growth era saw the establishment of various regional trading blocs, such as the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, creating a decentralized network structure (see Figure 1b). [...]since the dawn of the 21st century, we have started seeing free trade agreements extended beyond regions, such as the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), characterizing a more distributed network structure (see Figure 1c). According to the World Bank's (2020) analysis on world economies based on purchasing power parity (PPP), the PPP-based GDP's regional portions have become similar to each other (see Figure 2). [...]these populistic programs can be reinforced by social identity like cultural and racial attitudes. [...]the appeals of the populists to the working class that wants to recover their low-skilled jobs in developed countries have provoked global decoupling like Brexit and protectionism.

This study examines the determinants of international knowledge flow. From a resource-based perspective, it evaluates the impact of cross-national knowledge transfer on firm innovative performance. Based on 56,027 US patents owned by 53 selected firms in the US-based pharmaceutical industry, the results suggest that innovative performance is a curvilinear function of the international knowledge content used by a firm to innovate. As hypothesized, it was found that at (1) low and moderate levels of international knowledge content, a firm's strategy to transfer international knowledge improves its innovative performance, and at (2) higher levels of international knowledge content, there are diminishing marginal returns to transferring knowledge from overseas.

Researchers in international business have long been interested in understanding the relationship between the multinationality of a firm and its market performance. This article contributes to this research stream by incorporating firm heterogeneity in examining the multinationality-performance relationship. The findings, based on a time series cross-sectional analysis of firms from 12 different industries over a seven-year period, indicate that the impact of multinationality on both financial and operational performance is moderated by firm's R&D and marketing capabilities.

Although foreign multinational firms from the Triad regions increasingly use mainland China as both a sourcing and a marketing location, no study has directly examined the sourcing strategy-performance linkage. Using resource complementarity and resource dependence theory, we extend the sourcing literature and apply these perspectives to an important transitional economy-China. These two theoretical perspectives suggest that product and uncertainty factors moderate the relationship between strategic alliance-based sourcing (SA sourcing) of major components and market performance. We find that, at low levels of product innovativeness and technological uncertainty, the use of SA sourcing is positively related to market performance. However, the effects of product differentiation and demand uncertainty on the sourcing-performance relationship are insignificant.

ABSTRACT This teaching case presents the company Bia Brazil, one of the leading Brazilian exporters of activewear, founded in 1994 by a former gymnast, Beatriz, with websites in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. In 1996, the first exports to Costa Rica took place. Over the years, the company has expanded its sales to over 40 countries. The company seeks the constant offer of new products that meet the requirements and demands of each country. Despite its international growth, the company’s presence in the Brazilian market remains small. There have been two failed attempts at physical stores, and although it continues with only online sales in the domestic market, the entrepreneur seeks a model to grow inside Brazil. We recommend the use of the case in courses related to internationalization, more specifically to International New Ventures and Born Globals. Some connections with other classes can be made and are recommended with the case analysis. RESUMO Este caso de ensino apresenta a empresa Bia Brazil, uma das empresas brasileiras líderes em exportação do mercado de roupas esportivas, fundada em 1994 por uma ex-ginasta, Beatriz, com sites em português, inglês e espanhol. Em 1996, ocorreu sua primeira exportação para a Costa Rica. Ao longo dos anos, a empresa expandiu sua operação para mais de 40 países. A empresa busca a oferta constante de novos produtos adequados aos requisitos e demanda de cada país. Apesar do crescimento internacional, a presença da empresa no mercado brasileiro permanece pequena. Houve duas tentativas fracassadas de abertura de lojas físicas e, apesar de continuar vendendo no mercado doméstico apenas pela internet, a empreendedora continua a busca por um modelo para crescimento no Brasil. Recomendamos o uso do caso em cursos relacionados com teorias de internacionalização, mais especificamente International New Ventures (Empreendedorismo Internacional) e Born Globals. Algumas conexões com outros cursos podem ser feitas e são recomendadas na análise do caso.

In today's volatile global marketplace, firms should pursue flexible asset distribution and high-quality, low-cost manufacturing operations simultaneously. Previous studies have examined the relationships between supplier management-related variables and market performance with cross-sectional data; however, little guidance is available for newly internationalizing ventures aiming to build a global supply chain network from scratch. To shed light on this dynamic process, we examine Uniqlo's successful supply chain development in China, using longitudinal contextual data. Our findings show that Uniqlo went through discrete dynamic stages in its supply chain development efforts. First, Uniqlo, initially a small firm, developed relational governance with its suppliers by exercising dynamic economic power concentration over time. Second, it began to provide technical support to help its suppliers build competence with the aim of increasing their cooperation. Third, Uniqlo enforced compulsory nonexclusivity arrangements with suppliers to achieve supplier flexibility by not just having Uniqlo as primary customer. This provides relational flexibility through both relational governance and partner flexibility for the principal firm in the global supply chain development.