Fragkiskos Filippaios

Online Social Networks: Changing the Face of Business Education and Career Planning

Online social networks have become increasingly popular in recent years, providing an efficient and user-friendly way to maintain social connections and share information. They have been shown to facilitate business relationships and building of social capital using electronic media. Graduates who are coming into business for the first time are almost expected to be comfortable with interactions using social networks. This brings new challenges to graduates in the way they use social networks and how they enhance their career development and relationships with employers. This study reports the findings of a survey of 272 UK and international business school students on career development and entrepreneurship as a part of a wider study of online social networking. The results of the study reveal key differences between undergraduate, postgraduate and international student populations. The paper discusses differences across gender, educational level and nationality that have implications for social networking practices and argues for a pressing need to raise the awareness of graduates in the use of social networks to enhance their career prospects. The conclusions of the study offer better understanding of motivations and barriers to an effective application of social networks in business.

The evolution of US outward foreign direct investment in the pacific rim: a cross-time and country analysis

The location determinants of US FDI in the Pacific region of the OECD, i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Korea, are analysed for 1982–1997. The data set allowed two time periods i.e. the 1980s and the 1990s, and two different subgroups, i.e. Australia and New Zealand, and Japan and Korea to be distinguished. Statistical evidence indicates a heterogeneous response of US FDI towards different countries and for different time periods. Factors such as market size, income level and qualified and productive labour exert a significant impact on both the timing and the locational choice of US investors in the region.

Social career management: Social media and employability skills gap

Social capital theorists have established decades ago that better connected people do better in life. The emergence of online social networking sites have given a new impetus to building and exploiting connections for career management. While professionals acknowledge that social networking is essential for business and development, new graduates coming into the corporate world are not equipped with the uptodate skill set. Through the lens of the improved employability objectives, this paper draws conclusions from a recent study of UK business graduates and their use of social networking. The paper presents for discussion an employability skill set for contemporary business professional and calls for higher education to address the skill gap. Further research directions are discussed.

Foreign Direct Investment in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe: an 'eclectic' approach to Greek investments

During the last decade Greece has emerged as one of the largest investors in the Central and Eastern and South Eastern European Countries (CESEEC). This is the first paper to empirically evaluate the determinants of this investment and of the entry mode decisions of Greek firms participating in the Athens Stock Exchange. The main aim of the paper is to investigate foreign direct investment determinants using Dunnings eclectic paradigm. Our results offer strong support to the eclectic framework and suggest that it is the interrelation of ownership and institutional locational advantages that can explain foreign investment activity.

Collaborative competencies in professional social networking

We address a set of graduate competencies for professional networking.Results of a survey of 600 business school graduates from universities are presented.Skills gap between younger and experienced graduates must bridged by new curriculum.We construct social networking skills taxonomy for graduates. Social networks have earned their indisputable place as a collaborative learning tool in education. In this paper, we address the gap in literature on developing a set of competencies to allow graduates to make the most of collaborative technologies for business and professional activity as well as career management. Based on a survey of over 600 business school graduates from AMBA accredited UK universities, we are able to identify the level of awareness and degree of application of professional usage of social networks amongst students. Our results show that work experience and age of the business students play a significant role in their usage of social networks for professional purposes, knowledge and career management. The data shows that younger students are more social networking savvy when it comes to identifying business opportunities, while older graduates are less confident. This is important as traditionally graduate students are individuals in their mid careers and the skill gap between generation Y and the experienced graduates need to be bridged by adequate curriculum changes.

An event study analysis of outward foreign direct investment: the case of Greece

The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, by applying the event study methodology, it provides detailed and updated evidence on the value generating effect of different modes of foreign direct investment (FDI) entry. Secondly, this is the first paper to empirically evaluate the impact of FDI on the stock returns of Greek firms participating in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). In the case of Greece, the cross‐section analysis revealed that successful outward FDI projects tend to be located in developed countries, performed in a high‐technology sector and linked to horizontal integration.

Effects of digital footprint on career management: evidence from social media in business education

As online social media gain immense popularity among Internet users, we would like to explore the implication of social networking on career management. This paper links social capital theories and the impact of online social networks on ties between individuals in social and business uses. Social media contributes to building up individual digital footprint, or Internet content linked to individual names. We then propose a typology of the digital footprint based on the evidence from a survey of business students. Discussion of the implications of the study and arising research questions conclude the article.

Complements or Substitutes? New Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence on the Imports and FDI Relationship

Central and Eastern European countries with the liberalisation process and the recent accession to the EU are, nowadays, well engaged in trade with partner countries and at the same time receive significant and increasing interest from foreign investors. Trade and Foreign Direct Investment can potentially enhance economic growth and development as widely evidenced in the literature; hence their relationship may be of particular interest for the region especially in the context of an enlarged EU. This paper addresses the imperative need to understand the relationship of FDI and trade as well as international investors’ behaviour by developing a new theoretical approach and providing empirical evidence. We use the most expanded data span in the current literature, from the early stages of transition in 1992 to 2006 and an enriched dataset of countries, sectors and location factors. In regards to the inward FDI vs. imports relationship, results comply with our theoretical formulation and strongly indicate an overall complementarity with each other. In the case of FDI we find strong locational characteristics such as the large market size, the gradual improvement of the macro-environment and finally the quality of labour force to play a positive role.

Complements or substitutes? New theoretical considerations and empirical evidence on the imports and FDI relationship in Central and Eastern European Countries

This paper addresses the imperative need to understand the relationship between inward FDI and trade by developing a new conceptual approach and providing empirical evidence. We use an expanded time dataset, from 1992 to 2008 and an enriched dataset of countries, sectors and location factors. In regards to the inward FDI versus imports relationship, results comply with our theoretical formulation and strongly indicate an overall complementarity with each other. In the case of FDI we find strong locational characteristics such as the large market size, the gradual improvement of the macro-environment and finally the quality of labour force to play a positive role.

Strategic Internalization and the Growth of the Multinational Firm

The most readily available scenario for the early analysis of the Multinational Enterprise (MNE), rather than foreign direct investment (Hymer, 1960/1976), was the horizontally-integrated international firm. This involved the use of existing sources of firm-level competitive advantage (usually presumed to have been centrally generated) in the production of a fairly similar range of goods in a number of countries, in response to negative location characteristics (mainly restraints on trade). The invocation of internalization theory, in this case, then addressed the issue of why these existing sources of competitiveness were retained within the firm (in the process initiating or increasing its status as a multinational) when used in foreign countries. Thus the theory indicates failures in the markets for competitive advantages as intermediate goods as often preventing their marketing (through licensing, etc.) to local firms. Proprietary firm-level knowledge proved an ideal and relevant case for exposition of internalization, and was addressed systematically by Buckley and Casson (1976) in, for example, their invocation of buyer uncertainty. Throughout the book, though, their concern is with the MNE as both a ‘developer and transferor of various kinds of knowledge and skill’ (1976, p. 109). This chapter suggests that one of the crucial ways in which the MNE has developed away from a horizontally-integrated hierarchy, is in the form of increased use of decentralized learning processes that become key forces in driving their competitive development. Thus we adopt the concept (Papanastassiou and Anastassopoulos, 1997, p. 368) of strategic internalization, which ‘involves the absorption and development by the subsidiary of competitive advantages existing in the host environments.’