Abstract
Several issues make it challenging for any new journal to establish itself. The greatest challenge is to cover the diversity of management topics in a synthesized manner and to establish the quality of the journal as we progress to this second issue. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors, all those who helped in review, revisions, and editing papers for this issue. Without their time and effort, this issue could not have been developed. I would also like to thank Area Editors and Members of the Advisory Board for their valuable suggestions, comments, and general support. I trust they will keep promoting the journal.
In this issue, the first article “Dynamics of Joint Ventures between Multinational Enterprises and Local Firms in Emerging Economies: The Case of Financial Services” is by Murali Patibandla. In the context of emerging economy, he analyzes the motivation for joint venture between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local firms. Complementarity in resources of technology of MNEs, institutional knowledge of local firms, spreading of risk turbulence of markets, and institutional complexity of emerging economies are driving forces behind the joint ventures. Two case studies are used as an example to demonstrate the dynamics of joint venture, which utilize a combination of intangible asset theory of MNEs, Williamson’s concepts of asset specificity and holdup, and the resource-based theory of firm. Both the case studies involve financial services, namely, credit cards and insurance products, where a large local bank provided the brand name, while the MNEs provided the back-end technical-support, which is a seeming reversal of the normal pattern in emerging markets. On the basis of a resource-based view, the article reveals that at inception of joint ventures, investments in relation-specific assets may be small and possibility of holdup seems to be remote, but when markets become complex the possibility of holdup increases dramatically. The author further examined that, conceptually, joint ventures are treated as temporary governance choices and these kinds of hybrid arrangements are important for the success or failure of firms operating in developing markets where technology and rivalry are undergoing rapid changes. Through his research, Patibandla provides fresh insights on the issue of joint ventures, especially in the context of financial services, in an emerging economy.
Huiying Du, Ge Zhu, Tingjie Lv, and Xuan Sun are the authors of the next article “Factors Affecting Purchase Intention on 3G Value-added Services.” They investigate consumers’ behavior and perception of using 3G value-added services and their implication for designers, managers, marketers, and system providers in China. On the basis of reviewing the previous research papers, they contribute by developing an integrated conceptual model of consumer adoption and proposed nine important factors, namely, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, perceived price, use experience, perceived enjoyment, need for uniqueness, social influence, context and compatibility. On the basis of a questionnaire investigation, an empirical study of 826 professional participants is carried out to test the hypotheses in Chinese 3G value-added service market. They concluded that security and social influence are two of the most important factors in 3G market; 3G value-added services must be enjoyable and useful, and that user context should be friendly and compatible.
This is followed by “Managers’ Orientation on Trust and Organizational Performance” by Joanna Paliszkiewicz. She explored the construct of managerial trust after economic crisis. An empirical research is conducted in enterprises from Mazovia Province in Poland. On the basis of this, she investigates a positive correlation between manager’s orientation on trust and organizational performance. Trust influences individual work performances because it is a critical precursor to those exchanges that subsequently lead to many performance outcomes. She further emphasized on a need to set up effective rewards and distribution mechanisms, to avoid harmful suspicion and hostility among members of organization, and to improve the trust level. Joanna presented an approach on how investment in building trust between managers and subordinates creates value and influence organizational performance.
The fourth article in this issue “Coordination Mechanisms Illustrated with Project Management Using the Viable System Model (VSM) as Organizational Framework,” by Miguel A. Morales-Arroyo, Yun-ke Chang, Alejandro Barragán-Ocaña, Jaime Jiménez, and Gabriel Sánchez-Guerrero, provides an insight into the coordination problems in organizations. Although information communication technologies (ICTs) have contributed in the praxis to reduce coordination problems, little effort has been undertaken to understand this phenomena from the perspective of coordination. They conceptualize mechanism of coordination using the Viable System Model as an organizational framework and illustrated the problem of coordination on a specific subject of project management. Coordination issues involve the whole organization and cannot be addressed only with feedback and control mechanisms; consequently, an application that allows extending the usual context of the VSM model is discussed. In doing so, they emphasized on the fact that coordination is a consequence of dependency of entities involved in accomplishing a complex objective. Morales-Arroyo, Chang, Barragán-Ocaña, Jiménez, and Sánchez-Guerrero enhance our understanding of coordination of project management activities in the context of Viable System Model.
Following the fourth article, next is an expert opinion interview with Ms Zarin Daruwala, President, ICICI Bank, by Prageet Aeron on “Opportunities for Management Students in the Banking Sector.” Ms Zarine Daruwala provides an understanding of the future of banking sector in India and the role of higher management educational institutions in the growth of this sector. She also discussed about the employment opportunities and considers banking sector as the fastest-growing employment sector in India which requires specialized skilled management trainees at entrance level and recommends management institutions to focus in this area.
In “Can We Blame the Climate of an Organization for the Stress Experienced by Employees?,” Sanjeev P. Sahni and Vaijayanthee Kumar discuss the impact of workplace environment on employee’s behavior in experiencing stress at work. They explore the relationship between stress and organizational climate among employees of a large manufacturing organization and conducted a study on 625 employees using convenience sampling method to test their hypotheses. The empirical findings are significant for management practitioners, organizational psychologists, and human resources personnel. Sahni and Kumar suggest a focus on diagnosing the climate of the organization, especially giving importance to strengthen the support system and empowering employees with decision-making power which, if neglected, may cause stress to employees.
This is followed by an article that provides a comprehensive literature review to determine the scope for future research in the High-technology industries—“A Coevolutionary Model as a Collaborative Mechanism for the Business Exchange in the High-technology Industrial Value Chain” by Sajal Kabiraj and Dwarika Prasad Uniyal. These industries are highly capital-intensive enterprises dealing with short life cycle products, offering potential to simultaneously examine different perspectives of collaborative relationships. Kabiraj and Uniyal present issues pertaining to responsiveness, collaborative development practices, and a discussion on supply chain collaboration from various perspectives of the High-technology industry. Keeping this in view, the purpose of the study has been to provide a brief background of the High-technology industry supply chain, and to examine the reasons behind the current transformations within this industry, focusing specifically on the reasons behind the emergence of collaborative initiatives to survive in the marketplace.