Bradley R. Barnes

Opportunism as the Inhibiting Trigger for Developing Long-Term-Oriented Western Exporter-Hong Kong Importer Relationships

Notwithstanding the extensive literature on opportunism in buyer–seller relationships, scant empirical attention has been given to this issue in both international and Chinese contexts. Using a sample of 202 Hong Kong Chinese importers, this article highlights the harmful effect of Western exporters’ opportunism on importers’ long-term orientation through the intervening role of key behavioral constructs. The study confirms almost all hypothesized associations between the constructs examined, indicating that an exporters opportunistic behavior reduces trust and generates conflict. In turn, low trust reduces commitment, and conflict impedes communication. Low levels of both commitment and communication reduce importers’ satisfaction, which inhibits their long-term orientation. The importers proactive initiation of the relationship moderates the link between opportunism and trust but not that of opportunism with conflict. The study also confirms the moderating role of importer dependence and exporters’ marketing adaptation on the association of satisfaction with long-term orientation. The authors find moderating effects on this association through the Chinese constructs of renqing and mianzi, albeit in the opposite direction to that hypothesized.

Interpersonal Factors as Drivers of Quality and Performance in Western–Hong Kong Interorganizational Business Relationships

The authors report the findings of a study conducted among a sample of 202 Hong Kong–based Chinese importing companies regarding their working relationships with Western export manufacturers. In particular, the study emphasizes the effect of interpersonal factors on financial performance through the intervening roles of intercompany trust and relationship quality. Using structural equation modeling, the authors confirm that (1) several interpersonal relational dimensions—namely, personal communication (sijiao), personal credibility (xinyong), and personal affection (ganqing)—positively influence interfirm trust; (2) trust plays an instrumental role in enhancing the components of the interfirm relationship quality (i.e., cooperation, commitment, and satisfaction); (3) interfirm relationship quality is positively related to superior financial performance; and (4) most of the associations between each of the interpersonal factors and interfirm trust were moderated by the importers size and foreign suppliers origin as well as by the length of the relationship and which party initiated the relationship. The authors extract several conclusions and implications from the findings and provide directions for further research.

The influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on the export performance of emerging market firms

Purpose Drawing on the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on export performance. The study also examines the interaction effects of relational capability on the marketing capabilities – export performance relationships. Design/methodology/approach A stratified random sample of 1,047 exporting firms was approached. Survey data were collected from 333 Vietnamese exporting firms and analysed using hierarchical moderated regression. Findings The results reveal that a firm’s relational capability not only strengthens the efficiency of the export pricing capability – performance, marketing intelligence capability – performance, and marketing communication capability – performance relationships, but is also the strongest predictor of export performance amongst those capabilities identified. Whilst engagement in market intelligence, product development, price setting and promotional activities have a positive payoff, the findings confirm that there is less need for exporters to engage in after-sales service and distribution capabilities. Originality/value The study introduces the notion of relational capability alongside export marketing capabilities as predictors of export performance. The authors also examine the moderating influence of relational capability on the link between export marketing capabilities and export performance. By focusing on Vietnam, the study provides fresh insights surrounding the development pathway for firms in emerging markets.

Spatial Spillover Effects from Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam

Abstract This paper investigates the role of inter-firm interaction and geographical proximity in the determination of productivity spillover effects from foreign to domestic firms. We developed an estimation approach using the Spatial Durbin model and applied this to a firm-level dataset from Vietnam from 2000–2005. We found that productivity spillovers diminished when the distance between foreign and domestic firms increases and that interactions among local firms amplify the spillovers. Within short distances, the presence of foreign firms creates positive backward, negative forward and horizontal spillovers. Based on the findings, several implications are extracted regarding promotion policy for foreign direct investment in developing countries.

Exploring the gap between policy and practice in private branding strategy management in an emerging market

Purpose Private-label goods are now available in more than 55 countries worldwide and their total sales value is estimated to be in excess of one trillion US dollars. The prevalence of such goods, however, drastically differs across countries. Whilst market share in some developed economies exceeds 50 percent, penetration appears much lower in emerging economies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate marketing issues surrounding such low-penetration levels in emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with: 36 store managers and the marketing director of a large emerging market retail chain. Findings Eight factors were found to impede the retail chain’s vision regarding implementation of the private branding strategy. Practical implications Several implications are extracted from the study, mainly in the context of emerging markets that managers should consider in order to improve their private branding strategies. Originality/value Although some research has aimed to shed light concerning the significance of private brands from retailers’ perspectives, such research has not tended to address the issue of how to implement private brand strategies in emerging markets. To bridge the gap, this study investigates these issues from a retail chain management perspective in order to potentially leverage performance advantages associated with the nurturing of private-label branded goods.

Improving Expatriation Success: The Roles of Regulatory Focus and Burnout

The study empirically and theoretically contributes to the HRM discipline by developing and testing a cohesive model drawing on the pertinent literature from expatriate management, burnout, and regulatory focus theory. Drawing on data from 233 expatriate managers, the study aims to examine the relationships between expatriate adjustment and the outcomes of job satisfaction and withdrawal cognitions via expatriate burnout. Specifically, the findings reveal that: a) higher levels of both work adjustment and interaction adjustment lead to reduced expatriate burnout, with the former having a greater effect on burnout than the latter; b) burnout serves as a full mediator between work adjustment and withdrawal cognitions, and a partial mediator between work adjustment and job satisfaction; and c) regulatory focus serves to moderate expatriate adjustment – outcome consequences, i.e. promotion-focused (as opposed to prevention-focused) expatriates demonstrate a stronger burnout – job satisfaction relationship. Several implications are extracted from the study for regulatory theory, burnout and expatriation management practices as well as suggested avenues for future research. Keywords: expatriate, adjustment, burnout, regulatory focus, job satisfaction, quit.