Alfredo J. Mauri

Firm and industry effects within strategic management: an empirical examination

This study brings out the complementarities between resource-based and industrial organization schools within strategic management through an empirical examination of firm and industry effects. A variance component analysis of 264 single-business companies from 69 industries using 5- and 15-year periods suggests that firm effects are more important than industry effects on firm performance, but not on core strategies such as technology and marketing. The findings also point to the need to study core strategies at lower levels of aggregation to understand the sources of competitive advantage.

The impact of global integration on MNC performance: evidence from global industries

Using a sample of 91 firms in four global industries, this study finds evidence of an inverted U-shaped curve between global integration and return on sales. The multiple regression results highlight the benefits of global integration in developing competitive advantage, but also indicate tradeoffs associated with configuring and coordinating international activities by the global firm.

THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON STRATEGIC ALLIANCES: AN APPLICATION OF THE UTTERBACK AND ABERNATHY MODEL OF PRODUCT AND PROCESS INNOVATION

This paper examines the influence of the innovation cycle on strategic alliances. Hypotheses based on Utterback and Abernathys model are tested using 86 strategic alliances. The statistical results support the influence of the innovation cycle, rather than technological intensity, on determining the structure and functional emphasis of strategic alliances.

THE IMPACT OF PUBLISHING AND PATENTING ACTIVITIES ON NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF THE US PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

This paper studies the role of publishing and patenting activities as predictors of new product development for a sample of companies in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The research also examines the relation between new product development and firm performance. Hypotheses are developed based on the well-established absorptive capacity literature. The results show that publishing scientific articles and stock of patents are both significant predictors of the number of new molecular entities (NMEs) for which a firm receives approval. In addition, the degree to which a firm builds on its own technology (measured as self-citations in its patents) also predicts NMEs, but the regression coefficient had an unexpected negative sign. Finally, the performance results confirm that the approval of NMEs is significantly associated with the market-to-book ratio of a firm. The managerial implications of these findings and study limitations are also discussed.

Developing International Managerial Skills Through the Cross-Cultural Assignment: Experiential Learning by Matching U.S.-Based and International Students

This article describes the “Cross-cultural Assignment,” an experiential learning technique for students of business that deepens self-awareness of their own attitudes toward different cultures and develops international managerial skills. The technique consists of pairing up small teams of U.S.-based business students with small teams of international students from the same country, who are not yet completely fluent in English, to form augmented teams that then need to execute tasks and produce several end-products. This pedagogical method has been used successfully in recent years in international management and international business courses for both lower-classman and upper-classman undergraduate business students and for students in graduate MBA programs. The article positions the technique within the literature on experiential learning and cultural differences, describes the methodology in detail, offers several examples of its use, and discusses the benefits and challenges observed in its implementation.

The Performance Implications of a Global Integration Strategy in Global Industries: An Empirical Investigation Using Inter-area Product Flows

Several authors in international management have stressed the importance of global integration for firms competing internationally. Surprisingly, little empirical research has been conducted on the relationship between global integration and performance.

U.S. MNE Firm-Specific Advantages and Inter-regional expansion

This study examines how characteristics of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and locational advantages affect the international expansion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) at the inter-regional level. The conceptual framework expands on Rugman and Verbeke’s original model. We examine the impact of location-bound FSAs as reflected in sales productivity of domestic labor forces, non-location bound FSAs as reflected in cross-border intra-firm sales, FSA fragmentation as reflected in unrelated diversification, and complementary resources as reflected in employees concentrated in host regions on US MNEs’ sales in other regions including EU and Asia- pacific. For empirical testing, we used and compared industry and firm level panel data. We find that location-bound FSA and unrelated diversification hinder expansion to other regions, while non-location bound FSAs and host region complementary resources facilitate expansion to other regions. This study contributes to the literature on company internationalization...