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This research study addresses the complex interaction in between advertising and marketing capabilities, financial performance, and the moderating impact of consumer relationship management (CRM) in Jordanian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the service field. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used for this study. The study clearly verifies a significant and favorable relationship in between advertising alignment and financial performance, highlighting the tactical value of customer-centric approaches. It likewise highlights the prominent function of value development in driving monetary success and the positive effect of operational capabilities on financial efficiency. Furthermore, the research study discovers the reliable moderation of CRM in the connections amongst marketing alignment, value development, operational capacities, and financial performance. These searchings for highlight the central role of CRM in improving the effect of marketing abilities on financial end results and offer useful understandings for Jordanian SMEs in the solution sector looking for to optimize financial performance and boost client connections.This research focused on investigating the impact of marketing strategies on the financial performance of Jordanian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the service sector. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the correlations between marketing orientation, value innovation, operational capabilities and financial performance. The study found strong positive relationships between these factors and emphasised the importance of customer-centric approaches, innovation beyond products and efficient internal processes for the financial success of SMEs. The results of this study contribute to a broader discussion of SME management practises and strategies and emphasise the critical role of customer relationship management (CRM) in improving the impact of marketing, innovation and operational efficiency on financial performance. The findings of this study offer valuable insights not only for Jordanian SMEs seeking improved financial performance but also for understanding similar dynamics in SMEs around the world.

This paper focuses on the changing governance of economic development in a globalizing era in relation to the dynamics of global value chains and global production networks. Based on recent development in such East Asian economies as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, I examine how, since the 1990s, the embedded relation between one variant of state institutions, known as the developmental state, and national firms, well integrated into global chains and networks spanning different territories and regions, has evolved. Because of the deepening strategic coupling of these national firms with lead firms in global industries, the developmental state's attempt to govern the market and to steer industrial transformation through direct policy interventions has become increasingly difficult and problematic. Through this process of strategic coupling, national firms have been gradually disembedded from state apparatuses and re-embedded in different global production networks that are governed by competitive inter-firm dynamics. While the state in these East Asian economies has actively repositioned its role in this changing governance, it can no longer be conceived as the dominant actor in steering domestic firms and industrial transformation. The developmental trajectory of these national economies becomes equally, if not more, dependent on the successful articulation of their domestic firms in global production networks spearheaded by lead firms. In short, inter-firm dynamics in global production networks tend to trump state-led initiatives as one of the most critical conditions for economic development. This paper theorizes further this significant role of global value chains and global production networks in the changing international political economy of development.

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to investigate the association between the intellectual capital (IC) of firms and their financial performance.Design methodology approach - The paper uses the Pulic framework, has an Asian focus, and draws on data from 150 publicly listed companies on the Singapore Exchange. It is an empirical study using partial least squares (PLS) for the data analysis. The paper tests four elements of IC and company performance.Findings - The findings show that: IC and company performance are positively related; IC is correlated to future company performance; the rate of growth of a company's IC is positively related to the company's performance; and the contribution of IC to company performance differs by industry.Research limitations implications - The data sample is restricted to 150 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange between the years 2000 and 2002.Practical implications - IC is an area of interest to numerous parties, such as shareholders, institutional investors, scholars, policymakers and managers. The findings help to embolden modern day managers to better harness and manage IC.Originality value - The study of IC has undergone a number of stages, from early conscious awareness efforts to classification of IC, and to the search for appropriate measures of IC. This paper builds on the current research on IC and provides empirical evidence on the relevance of IC (as measured by the Pulic model) to the financial performance of companies.

This study examines how cognitive categorization by host-country investors give rise to negative spillovers among host-country foreign-listed firms from the same home country when one of these foreign-listed firms discloses a financial reporting irregularity. This study further examines how attributes of host-country independent directors mitigate such negative spillover effects through signaling fulfilment of their fiduciary duties. Our results based on Chinese foreign-listed firms on the Singapore Stock Exchange from 2007–2014 reveal that host-country independent directors increase spillover effects among foreign-listed Chinese firms from financial reporting irregularities. However, such increase is attenuated when these directors signal fulfilment of their fiduciary duties through home-country, industry, or task-related experiences, and the observed mitigating effect is stronger when they possess a combination of these experiences. 本研究探讨了当一家外国上市公司披露财务报告违规行为时，东道国投资者的认知分类如何引起来自同一母国在东道国上市的外国公司的负面溢出效应。研究进一步探讨了东道国独立董事的属性如何通过释放信号履行其受托责任来减轻这种负面的溢出效应。我们基于2007-2014年在新加坡证券交易所上市的中国外资上市公司的研究结果显示，东道国独立董事会增加来自中国的上市公司的财务报告违规行为的溢出效应。然而，当这些董事通过母国、行业或职业相关的经验表明他们的信托义务的履行时，这种增加会减弱，并且当他们拥有这些经验的组合时观察到的减轻影响更强。 В этом исследовании рассматривается, как когнитивная категоризация со стороны инвесторов из принимающей страны приводит к негативным побочным эффектам для иностранных компаний из одной и той же страны, когда одна из этих иностранных компаний нарушает финансовую отчетность. В данной работе также изучается, какие качества независимых директоров в принимающей стране нивелируют негативные побочные эффекты, благодаря выполнению фидуциарных обязанностей. На основании данных из китайских компаний, зарегистрированных на Сингапурской фондовой бирже в период 2007–2014 годов, делается вывод о том, что независимые директора в принимающей стране способствуют усилению побочных эффектов среди китайских компаний из-за нарушений финансовой отчетности. Тем не менее, такой эффект ослабляется, когда эти директора сигнализируют о выполнении своих фидуциарных обязанностей в том случае, если они обладают опытом, связанным со страной происхождения, отраслью или задачами, при этом наблюдаемое воздействие усиливается, когда они обладают комбинацией этих качеств. Este estudio examina cómo la categorización cognitiva por los inversionistas da lugar a efectos indirectos negativos entre las empresas del país anfitrión que cotizan en el extranjero del mismo país de origen cuando una de estas empresas que cotizan en el extranjero revela una irregularidad en los reportes financieros. Este estudio además examina cómo los atributos de directores independientes del país anfitrión mitigan los efectos indirectos negativos mediante señalamiento del cumplimiento de sus obligaciones fiduciarias. Nuestros resultados basados en empresas chinas que cotizan en el extranjero en el Mercado de Valores de Singapur entre 2007 y 2014 revelan que los directos independientes del país anfitrión aumentan los efectos indirectos entre las empresas chinas que cotizan en el extranjero debido a las irregularidades de los reportes financieros. Sin embargo, este aumento es atenuado cuando estos directos señalan cumplimiento de sus obligaciones fiduciarias a través de experiencias relacionadas con el país de origen, industria o tarea, y el efecto mitigador observado es más fuerte cuando ellos poseen una combinación de estas experiencias.

Palm oil comprises the fastest growing monoculture in the world and is used for food, cosmetics, and agrofuels. This article analyzes the attempts to guarantee the sustainable production of palm oil and agrofuels through voluntary certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) from a critical state and hegemony theory perspective. Rather than seeing the RSPO as a voluntary and nongovernmental instrument that represents the interests of all concerned stakeholders equally, I analyze the roundtable as part of a transnational network state that is characterized by strategic selectivities, that is, some interests and strategies are privileged over others. Based on expert interviews in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore and the analysis of primary documents I conclude that the RSPO privileges business interests in general and export-oriented palm oil companies and downstream industries along the value chain in particular, whereas smallholders, plantation workers, and indigenous peoples are marginalized through different structures and processes, contributing to an actual depoliticization of socioecological conflicts.

In this study, we test the assumption that the way target firm employees respond to a takeover is contingent on their national origin. The antecedents of target firm member trust in the acquiring firm management were examined in a cross-national sample of German and Singaporean employees using a policy-capturing design. Five factors hypothesized to affect target firm member trust after a takeover were found to be significant influences on employees' trust judgments in a decision-making simulation: (i) combining firms' collaboration history, (ii) mode of takeover, (iii) whether it was a domestic or cross-border acquisition, (iv) degree of autonomy removal, and (v) attractiveness of the acquiring firm's human resource policies and reward system. Further analyses suggest that the relative importance of these factors in predicting target firm employees' reactions to a takeover varies depending on their national origin. We conclude that companies engaged in cross-border acquisitions need to consider contingencies in the cultural and institutional contexts in which the acquired firms are embedded and adapt their approaches for integrating them accordingly.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the significance of signal breaches from technical trading indicators in explaining variations in the level of corporate social responsibility disclosures (CSRD) by firms. The authors seek to determine whether firms disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) information in a genuine attempt to report their impact on society and environment or whether firms use CSRD as a shield to legitimise their business operations. Design/methodology/approach – Signal breaches from the Moving Average Convergence Divergence and Chande’s TrendScore technical trading indicators were utilised, while the voluntary environmental and social accounting disclosure index developed by Williams (1998) was adapted to measure the extent of CSRD by Singaporean firms in 2011. Ordinary least squares regression was the principal multivariate statistical technique used to analyse the data collected. Findings – Findings of this paper indicate a positive and significant association between the number of technical indicator signal breaches for a firm and the level of CSRD by that firm, particularly in the environment, energy, human resources and products and customers categories. Research limitations/implications – The collection of CSRD information is based solely on annual reports and within the context of Singapore. Results, therefore, are not completely generalisable to different jurisdictional settings. Practical implications – Findings suggest that firms with a volatile stock price trend provide greater CSRD, possibly as a legitimacy strategy to distract or change the perceptions of investors from its current legitimacy status. Findings, therefore, highlight to regulators the need to strengthen regulatory requirements and implement stricter guidelines on CSR reporting, given the importance of CSRD to users. Social implications – Findings from this study have several implications for various stakeholders including investors, regulators and society in general. Overall, findings also suggest that stakeholders should not rely solely on CSRD in their decision-making process. Originality/value – This is the first paper that has proxied stock price movement by using breaches in technical trading indicators when examining reported levels of CSRD by firms. Moreover, results greatly build on the sparse CSR research on Singapore.

Government initiatives are continuously being designed to create stable and supportive environments for developing new industries. Presents a conceptual model for use by governments in creating and sustaining an appropriate climate that facilitates the national adoption of e-business. It focuses specifically on the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Also suggests six categories of e-business readiness metrics and measures to be used for assessing how a country is performing in terms of providing a positive e-business readiness climate. Examples of innovative initiatives are provided from Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, and Singapore. Concludes that a balance among attention to infrastructure components has not yet been achieved in these countries.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of electronic commerce (EC) implementation success for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to present outcomes of a comparative study between two countries to reflect the differences in the adoption strategies and explore reasons behind such variations. Design/methodology/approach - Preliminary studies were conducted in both Australia and Singapore prior to a cross-country survey, which collected the perceptions of small businesses about their experience with internet-based EC. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the influencing factors that affect success in the implementation of internet-based EC. Findings - By regressing overall satisfaction on the 19 influencing factors of EC success, the paper found that five factors: observability; communication channel; customer pressure; supplier pressure; and perceived governmental support, make significant contribution to the adoption of internet-based EC in Australia; and only three factors: firm size; perceived readiness; and observability, have significant impact in Singapore. Research limitations/implications - The exploratory nature of the research means confirmatory or causally directional hypotheses could be generated in the future. It would also be insightful to conduct longitudinal studies to confirm the direction, to help clarify causality and test for feedback effects of adoption decisions. There was also no attempt made to control for industry type, which could tested more intensively in a chosen industry. Generalisability to other geographical context could be achieved if the research model can be tested over several other countries. Practical implications - The study has found that the proposed model can be used in investigating drivers of EC implementation in SMEs, and the empirical data has adequately supported the model. The findings show that the organisational and innovation characteristics are necessary, but to provide a more comprehensive picture in explaining the implementation behaviour of SMEs, one needs to consider other factors and contexts especially when testing the model in different countries. Communication methods employed, government support, external pressure from customers and suppliers have been found to be very important for Australian SMEs in this decision. Originality/value - A major contribution of this study is that it provides an understanding of what the organisational, technological, communication, and external environmental drivers of EC implementation are. The findings of this study could also help companies embarking upon cross border activities by illustrating the differences in EC adoption between the two Asia-Pacific nations. The study also provides a close examination of the inhibiting and facilitating factors which can affect EC adoption success. By knowing the relative importance of these factors, SMEs may be spared from expending their limited resources and energy on less important factors which have limited contribution to EC implementation success. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

This article analyses the Singapore government's recent attempt to make Singapore a 'Global Schoolhouse' by transforming its tertiary education sector. It examines the government's attempt to promote greater diversity and autonomy in the tertiary education landscape; it also examines the government's systems of state funding and accountability for the tertiary education sector. The article utilises a policy analysis approach to examine the development of the 'Global Schoolhouse' in Singapore. In particular, it examines a case study of the setting up and subsequent sudden pull-out of the University of New South Wales Asia (UNSW Asia) to highlight the increasing challenge faced by the government in this undertaking. Despite the government's promotion of greater diversity and autonomy in the tertiary education landscape, the government maintains centralised control through systems of accountability to, and funding from, the state. The case study of UNSW Asia shows that it is a paradoxical challenge for the government to engineer a tertiary education 'market economy' with private foreign players while maintaining centralised control over the achievement of its strategic agenda within its stipulated time frame. The study serves as a mirror to other developing countries in understanding the challenges in developing a 'Global Schoolhouse' while trying to maintain centralised control. [Author abstract, ed]