Kate Gillespie

The Political Dimensions of Corruption Cleanups A Framework for Analysis

Political corruption has been a pervasive and persistent phenomenon throughout history. It is found today in diverse degrees and forms in all types of political systems. The subject has long been of interest to philosophers, historians, and social scientists, but discussion has intensified significantly since the mid 1960s with the study of modernization and development. There are relatively few efforts, however, to systematically study cleanups, that is, government-announced campaigns to curb or eliminate corruption. The intent of this essay is to provide a conceptual framework in which we can examine cleanups within and across states. We begin with a synthesis of the abundant work on corruption and an examination of the tangential literature on cleanups. We conclude with several generalizations about the political aspects of cleanups, particularly their political contexts, stimuli, objectives, strategies, and consequences. These generalizations are derived primarily from a survey of twenty-five Middle Eastern and North African states covering a seventeen year period to confirm tentatively the empirical relevance of our propositions. Case examples from elsewhere are cited to illustrate the applicability of our propositions outside the Middle East, although further confirmation awaits more thorough investigation from other regions.

Export promotion organization emergence and development: a call to research

Most existing research examines export promotion organization (EPO) performance by assessing how firms benefit from their awareness, perceptions and use of EPO services. Remarkably, few studies examine how EPOs decide which services they will offer. This paper is presented as a call for further research to better understand how and why EPOs determine, deliver and amend their service offerings. This paper first reviews the EPO literature linking EPO service offering to firm awareness, perceptions and use of EPO services, all of which ultimately impact firm performance. Next, it is proposed that both macro‐ and micro‐level approaches derived from the organizational studies literature can be used to explore more fruitfully the effect of EPO genesis and change on EPO services. Each approach is followed by a brief illustrative example. In conclusion suggestions for further research, proposed methodologies, and a discussion of the policy implications of this line of inquiry are presented.

Protecting Global Brands: Toward a Global Norm

In 1995, the World Trade Organization bound member countries to new standards of foreign trademark protection. Developed countries were given a year to bring their national trademark regimes into compliance. Other countries were allowed from 5 to 11 years. In the past 7 years, governments have taken many steps to reach compliance. Nonetheless, many countries fall short of the envisaged global norm. To better understand the challenges of the past several years, the authors focus on the state of national trademark regimes on the eve of the establishment of the World Trade Organization. The authors particularly address how contagion influence, resource constraints, and xenophobia affected treaty participation, domestic trademark law, application processing, and the relative treatment of foreign and domestic applications. The authors analyze data for 62 countries, which suggest that distinct patterns of foreign trademark protection existed for developed countries, newly industrialized countries, less developed countries, and transitional economies. The authors explain the managerial implications of these findings and argue that there is evidence that countries are moving toward global norms in trademark protection. However, an international treaty is the beginning, not the end, of this process.

Globalization, biculturalism and cosmopolitanism: The acculturation status of Mexicans in upper management

Globalization forces many managers to increasingly interact with new cultures, even if these managers remain in their home countries. This may be particularly true of managers in emerging markets, many of whom experience an encroaching US culture due to media, migration, and trade, as well as the importation of US-style business education. This study explores the possibility of applying acculturation insights developed in the immigrant and sojourner contexts to the context of local managers in emerging markets. By exploring the acculturation of Mexican managers in Mexico, we help to redress what has been identified as a key omission in prior acculturation research — the acculturation of a majority population. Our results suggest that Mexican managers who are bicultural or culturally independent (cosmopolitan) are more likely to be in upper management positions in Mexico. Our study supplements earlier work supporting the efficacy of biculturalism in minority populations. It also supports a growing body of research that conceptualizes individuals who rate themselves low on similarity to two cultures as being cosmopolitans and not marginalized individuals who experience difficulty in life. Mondialisation, biculturalisme et cosmopolitisme : l’acculturation des cadres supérieurs mexicains (Kate Gillespie, J. Brad McBride and Liesl Riddle) La mondialisation oblige de plus en plus les managers à interagir avec de nouvelles cultures, même si ceux-ci demeurent dans leurs pays d’origine. Ceci est sans doute le cas des managers issus des marchés émergents, la majorité d’entre eux étant confrontée à une culture américaine envahissante, que ce soit du fait des médias, de la migration, du commerce ou de l’importation d’une éducation en management à l’américaine. L’étude explore la possibilité d’appliquer certains résultats de la recherche sur l’acculturation dans des contextes d’immigrants et de séjourneurs aux contextes des managers locaux dans les marchés émergents. En explorant l’acculturation des managers mexicains au Mexique, nous redressons ce qui a été identifié comme une grave omission de la recherche sur l’acculturation jusqu’à aujourd’hui, à savoir l’acculturation de la population majoritaire. Nos résultats suggèrent que les managers mexicains biculturels ou culturellement indépendants (cosmopolites) ont plus de chances d’occuper des postes de cadres supérieurs au Mexique. Notre étude complète des précédents travaux appuyant l’efficacité du biculturalisme chez les populations minoritaires. Elle vient en appui à une recherche de plus en plus importante qui conceptualise les individus qui se classent en bas de l’échelle en termes de similitude à deux cultures de cosmopolites et non d’individus marginalisés faisant l’expérience d’une vie difficile.

Market liberalization and international alliance formation: The Mexican paradigm

Abstract Market liberalization has emerged as a major phenomenon affecting global business today. Coincident with the spread of market liberalization, business alliances have become the dominant form for promoting international business. Current research and discussion of international business alliances—or strategic alliances—have centered on the Triad markets (the United States, Japan and Western Europe), yet international strategic alliances can play a special role in market liberalization in less developed countries (LDCs). The purpose of this paper is to examine international strategic alliances from the perspective of Mexican managers contending with the current market liberalization in their country. It focuses on motivations for alliance formation and alliance partner selection and the role of stakeholders in alliance formation. The study is designed to project patterns of alliance formation in the many other liberalizing economies throughout the developing world.

The Role of Country of Manufacture in Consumers' Attributions of Blame in an Ambiguous Product-Harm Crisis

ABSTRACT This paper examines how country of origin, in particular country of manufacture (COM), impacts the assessment of blame by observers to a product-harm crisis when information is unclear as to a firms culpability for the crisis. In a pilot study and experiment involving three product categories, we find evidence that a negative country of manufacture increases blame attributions to the company when consumers are not familiar with the brand involved. However, when consumers are familiar with the brand, country of manufacture information does not impact blame attributions. In addition, we find evidence that brand affects how consumers process information pertaining to firm culpability. An unknown brand causes observers to assess information associated with company blame as more important when compared to a well-known brand.

Smuggling in emerging markets: Global implications

Abstract Economists and policymakers have lauded the adoption of liberal trade policies in many of the emerging markets. From the outside it may appear that governments in these countries have cemented a new set of rules governing economic behavior within their borders. Yet the authors have found that these countries are likely to see the emergence or resurgence of smuggling and contraband distribution in response to trade liberalization. In order to survive under trade liberalization, smugglers will rely on cost savings associated with the circumventing of legal import channels. In addition they may employ violence to bolster a diminished competitive advantage and may seek new illegal sources, both local and international, for the consumer products they distribute. In a market environment in which organized crime competes alongside more legitimate channels of distribution, U.S. multinationals will face new challenges relating to strategic planning, maintaining alliance relationships and corporate control of global brands and pricing.

Middle East Response to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Critics of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have claimed that the FCPA has destabilized friendly regimes, hurts U.S. exports, and constitutes moral imperialism. This article evaluates the impact of the FCPA on 26 Middle Eastern and North African states over the past decade. It traces host-country response to specific FCPA-related scandals and explores the possible destablizing effects of these scandals; investigates the impact of the FCPA on U.S. competitiveness in the Middle East, particularly vis-a-vis European and Asian competition; and discusses the role the FCPA may have played in curbing corruption in the Middle East.

Smuggling and the global firm

The smuggling of licit products across national borders has been the subject of academic research for 30 years but little attention has been given to the role that multinational corporations play in smuggling. When addressed at all, global firms have been generally represented as unwitting actors in smuggling activities. Because of the illegal nature of smuggling, empirical research into firm participation has been daunting if not impossible to undertake. However, recent revelations arising from scandals involving the Black Market Peso Exchange--as well as scandals and lawsuits surrounding the international cigarette industry--shed new light on global firms. This paper examines evidence suggesting that the role of global firms in international smuggling may not be as benign as previously portrayed.

Consumer Innovativeness Among Street Vendors in Mexico City

Abstract This study relates innovative consumer behavior to informal economic activity within the urban lower middle class of one of the worlds major emerging markets, with focus on product innovations in the areas of retail and consumer goods and services. of prime interest are the innovation adoption habits of street vendors, a group hypothesized to possess greater innovative tendency than those of similar social background employed as formal sector wage earners. Results indicate that street vendors report higher income and lower levels of education than their formal sector neighbors and these two groups show distinct product acquisition/patronage patterns, as well. However, the street vendors do not always demonstrate more innovative behavior, as adoption appears product specific.