Agnieszka Chidlow

Exploring the effects of international sourcing on manufacturing versus service firms

As the extent of international sourcing rises and the number of functional activities spreading across-national borders increases, there is a call for a better understanding of its impact on structural change. In this work, we explore the effects of international sourcing comparatively and look for differences between manufacturing and service firms. This study is based on a unique Slovenian data set that links the recently conducted Eurostats survey on international sourcing with a detailed financial firm-level data. The results from the matching methodology suggest that service firms involved in international sourcing gain an improvement in the quality and technological learning, resulting in the employment growth and development. This is not the case for manufacturing firms driven primarily by cost cutting. In our view, a better understanding of these effects is vital for both manufacturing as well as service firms that are influenced by this new trend.

Regional Determinants of FDI Distribution in Poland

In this paper we examine the location determinants of the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Poland, at a regional level. Using survey data from an online questionnaire in February 2005 and a multinomial logit model incorporating the investor???s specific characteristics, we show that knowledge-seeking factors alongside market and agglomeration factors, act as the main drivers for the inflow of FDI to the Mazowieckie region (including Warsaw), while efficiency and geographical factors encourage FDI to the other areas of Poland. Some implications are drawn for FDI attraction policy in Poland.

Data collection procedure equivalence in emerging economy market research

An increasing interdependence among international companies and emerging economies has led to an unprecedented surge in international trade and investment activities, forcing both managers and researchers to seek information and make sense of cross-country data. However, undertaking international research based on multi-country surveys, especially in emerging economies, has long been acknowledged as a difficult task (Przeworski and Teune, 1966; Sekaran, 1983; Nasif et al., 1991; Cavusgil and Das, 1997; Berry, 1999). While workable solutions have been offered in areas such as questionnaire development and data analysis techniques (Jobber and Saunders 1988; Jobber et al., 1991; Harzing, 1997; Brock, 2003; Reynolds et al., 2003; Chidlow et al., 2014), achieving equivalence in data collection procedures and methods still remains to be resolved (Kjeldgaard et al., 2006; Yaprak, 2006; Hult et al., 2008, Piekkari et al., 2009). Data collection procedure equivalence, including comparability with regard to research instrument equivalence (e.g. face-to-face interviews, mail surveys, etc.), and sampling coverage and survey administration procedures (Craig and Douglas, 2000; Hult et al., 2008; Chidlow et al., 2015), if not achieved, threaten the main purpose of conducting research in the context of emerging economies. As postal surveys still dominate other methods of cross-country data gathering (Adler, 1983; Peng et al., 1991; Yang et al., 2006; Chidlow et al., 2015), the aim of this chapter is to investigate ‘if’ and ‘how’ scholars report postal survey administration procedures, and whether or not an equivalence of data collection procedures can be established in emerging economy market research. In line with other researchers (e.g. Sekaren, 1983; Nasif et al., 1991; Hult et al., 2008) it is our belief that establishing this is an important step towards achieving overall comparability and equivalence in cross-national research. Moreover, there is a great need to go deeper into the data collection method equivalence issue to see whether the data collection procedures proposed by scholars (e.g. Dillman, 1978 and 1999; Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010) are followed in cross-national research or not. This is because the equivalence in data collection procedure is the key to achieving equivalence in collected data.

Regional Motives for Post-Entry Subsidiary Development: The Case of Poland

The issue of location-specific factors of a multinational company???s activities has long been investigated by international business scholars. To our knowledge, however, all these studies have put attention on the pre-entry location decision of foreign subsidiaries, rather than the post-entry decision. As such, by incorporating a regional perspective into the study of a subsidiary???s development this work offers an understanding of the importance of location-specific factors for the post-entry development of a multinational company???s subsidiaries at the regional level. The empirical analysis, used in this work, utilises a discrete-choice model with primary data from an online survey of 91 foreign-owned subsidiaries in Poland. The results demonstrate that the Mazowieckie region is the most attractive location for post-entry subsidiary development if knowledge-seeking factors are important to MNCs. Further, the findings indicate that South-East and South-West regions are more favoured for post-entry subsidiary development when efficiency-seeking factors are important to multinational companies. The findings also show that none of the examined regions are significant for the post-entry subsidiary???s development if agglomerations factors and infrastructure are important to multinational companies.

Establishing Data Collection Procedures Equivalence in International Business Research

Following a number of earlier studies on data equivalence in cross-cultural international business research, this article uses a content analysis of articles published in four leading international business journals from 2000 to 2009, to uncover the equivalence in current state of data collection procedures used by researchers in mail surveys. The results show that, despite repeated calls and the existence of a well established theoretical framework for mail survey data collection by Don Dillman (1978, 1999), international business scholars have not been inspired to adopt and report the data collection procedures adequately in their work. We hope this work will draw due attention to the aspect in international business research.

Data Collection Procedures Equivalence in International Business Research

Following the work undertaken by Hult el al., (2008) on data equivalence in cross-cultural international business research, this study examines mail survey administration procedures equivalence within 94 studies published in the Journal of International Business Studies from 2000-2008.The results show that, despite the existence of a well established theoretical frameworks for mail survey data collection by Don Dillman (1978, 1999), international business researchers have not been inspired to adopt and report the data collection procedures adequately in their work. We hope this work will bring to an end continuance of this neglect.