Mike Chen-ho Chao

Developing the strategic resources of Chinese entrepreneurial firms

Purpose – Applying the theory of cooperation and competition, this paper proposes that entrepreneurial firms can obtain social capital in terms of trust and reciprocity by developing cooperative goals with other firms, rather than competitive and independent goals. Such cooperative relationships may then enhance the firms strategic resources, including corporate reputation and market access.Design/methodology/approach – Results were obtained from structural equation modeling of data from 120 entrepreneurial firms in Shanghai, China.Findings – The hypotheses were supported, except that reciprocity was found to affect corporate reputation negatively. The results suggest that cooperative interdependence and trust in the network of entrepreneurial firms, not self‐sacrificing reciprocity, can foster a firms business development.Originality/value – Although there is evidence in the literature suggesting that social capital influences the performance of entrepreneurial firms both directly and indirectly, there...

Perceived ethicality of moral choice: The impact of ethics codes, moral development, and relativism

Purpose - Motivated by the heated discussion with regard to the Chinese milk powder incident, the current study aims to explore the determinants of Chinese managers’ moral judgment. Are Chinese professional managers’ moral judgments on an ethical dilemma influenced by their commitment to the norms and values recognized by a prestigious professional association outside of China? Do Chinese managers’ moral development and level of relativism impact their ethical decisions? Design/methodology/approach - A structured survey was conducted, generating 544 valid responses from Chinese managers. Findings - The results showed that moral maturity and relativism, independently and together, were significantly related to Chinese managers’ moral judgment on a hypothetical business dilemma, though, no significant effect was found for their commitment to ethics codes. Originality/value - The findings confirm the important role of moral development and relativism in Chinese mangers’ moral judgment and suggest the need for further research on the impact of professional ethics codes.

Does the Presentation of Comparative Prices Matter? An Extended Abstract

Recently Biswas et al. (2013) showed that comparative price promotions could be affected by the spatial location (left vs. right) of a sale price vis-a-vis its regular price. The location of a sale price in reference to its regular price assumes importance as it influences consumers’ ability to compute the depth of a discount when performing calculations (Alba et al. 1999; Biswas et al. 2013; Lichtenstein et al. 1991). Generally, in a comparative price offer (RP − SP), the regular price (RP) will be the minuend, while sale price (SP) the subtrahend. However, in addition to determining the arithmetic difference between prices, the perceived difference between prices will also depend on the ease or difficulty with which consumers could compute price information (Thomas and Morwitz 2009). When a comparative price conforms to a normative presentation that people expect to see when performing mathematical computations (RP − SP and not SP − RP; Biswas et al. 2013), it tends to make computations easier, and influences consumers’ assessment of the discounted offer (Thomas and Morwitz 2009). However, several retailers often offer comparative prices where a regular price is presented vertically above or below its sale price (e.g., macys.com; Amazon). So far research does not inform us if consumers will evaluate a comparative price promotion that is presented horizontally differently than if it was presented vertically. Hence, the research issue is whether a spatial difference in presentation of comparative prices (vertical vs. horizontal) affects consumers’ perception of discounts and if so when?

Transforming cross-cultural conflict into collaboration: The integration of western and eastern values

Purpose Scholarly research provides few insights into how integrating the western values of individualism and low power distance with the eastern values of collectivism and high power distance may influence cross-cultural conflict management. Following the framework of the theory of cooperation and competition, the purpose of this paper is to directly examine the impacts of organization-level collectivism and individualism, as well as high and low power distance, to determine the interactive effects of these four factors on cross-cultural conflict management. Design/methodology/approach This is a 2×2 experiment study. Data were collected from a US laboratory experiment with 80 participants. Findings American managers working in a company embracing western low power distance and eastern collectivism values were able to manage conflict cooperatively with their Chinese workers. Moreover, American managers working in a company valuing collectivism developed more trust with Chinese workers, and those in a company culture with high power distance were more interested in their workers’ viewpoints and more able to reach integrated solutions. Originality/value This study is an interdisciplinary research applying the social psychology field’s theory of cooperation and competition to the research on employee-manager, cross-cultural conflict management (which are industrial relations and organizational behavior topics, respectively), with an eye to the role of cultural adaptation. Furthermore, this study included an experiment to directly investigate the interactions between American managers and Chinese workers discussing work distribution conflict in four different organizational cultures.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of a Global Brand's Strategies on Micro-Blogging Sites: Sina Weibo vs. Twitter

Micro-blogging platforms have been used increasingly by multinational companies as a marketing tool. Global corporations utilize platforms such as Twitter and Weio, leading micro-blogging sites, and promote their brand equity and increase engagement with their customers. The question is whether they use these platforms strategically, localizing the content and the structure to meet the needs of their target population. This study uses case study content analysis to begin answering this question. Starbucks posts over a one-month period on Twitter in the U.S. and on Sina Weibo in China were analyzed using three existing validated frameworks: descriptive analysis, content classification, and content customization. The results indicate that Starbucks somewhat localizes its posts to its Chinese consumers, in terms of content, symbols, values, and offerings. In terms of descriptive analysis, the study found that Starbucks underutilizes its Sina Weibo site compared to its Twitter site; posts more community-related information on Sina Weibo than on Twitter; and provides more action-related information on Twitter than on Weibo. This paper goes on to suggest micro-blogging strategies for multinational companies in the Managerial Implications section and concludes with a discussion on the direction of future research for scholars in this field.

The Journey from Market Orientation to New Product Performance in Foreign Markets: A Knowledge and Learning Perspective

We utilize the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), complemented by organizational learning and knowledge management, in developing a conceptual framework of market orientation-product innovation-new product performance linkages in foreign markets. We argue that there are four resources and capabilities affecting a firm’s new product performance in foreign markets: market orientation, host-country knowledge (both explicit and tacit), absorptive capacity (both potential and realized), and product innovation. First, market orientation influences a firm’s level of host-country knowledge. Second, potential absorptive capacity has both a moderating effect on the relationship between market orientation and host-country knowledge and a direct effect on host-country knowledge. Third, realized absorptive capacity has a moderating effect on the host-country knowledge-innovation relationship. Finally, product innovation has a direct impact on new product performance, but its influence on new product performance is moderated by the level of turbulence in the host-country market (i.e., market and technology turbulence).