Niels G. Noorderhaven

The Role of Dissatisfaction and per Capita Income in Explaining Self‐Employment across 15 European Countries

This article deals with explaining the sizable differences in the rate of self–employment (business ownership) across 15 European countries in the period 1978–2000, within a framework of occupational choice, focusing on the influence of dissatisfaction and of per capita income. Using two different measures of dissatisfaction, in addition to the level of economic development and controlling for several other variables, we find that, in addition to a negative and significant impact of per capita income, dissatisfaction at the level of societies has a positive and significant influence on self–employment levels. Both dissatisfaction with life and dissatisfaction with the way democracy works are found to influence self–employment. It is concluded that these are proxies for job dissatisfaction and at the same time represent other negative “displacements” known to promote self–employment. The findings indirectly point at the potential importance of push factors within the incentive structures of modern economies.

Cultural dimensions at the individual level of analysis : The cultural orientations framework

This article describes a theoretically-grounded framework of cultural dimensions conceptualized and operationalized at the individual level of analysis, based on the work of anthropologists Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck. We present empirical data gathered from five countries - Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States - to assess the validity of the framework. We then use the results to explore how the cultural orientations framework can add insight and new perspectives to critical questions in cross cultural management research.

Cross‐cultural differences in Central Europe

The positions of four Central European countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) on Hofstedes dimensions of national cultures are estimated on the basis of matched samples of students. Findings from The Netherlands are used to calibrate the scores found for the four Central European countries. The findings show that there are important differences between the value orientations in Western Europe (represented by The Netherlands) and Central Europe. Furthermore, there are substantial differences among the four Central European countries. Slovakia has an extreme position among these countries on four of the five dimensions. The differences found may have implications for the political and economic processes of integration within Europe.

Competition between Alliance Blocks: The Case of the RISC Microprocessor Technology

Competition between alliance blocks is a new form of rivalry: groups of firms link together for a common purpose by means of strategic alliances, and competition between alliance blocks is superimposed on competition between individual firms. This paper focuses on alliance blocks in the RISC microprocessor field. In this field, alliance block competition is shaped by battles over technical standards. Based on an analysis of the competitive forces in standards battles, and taking into consideration the need for internal coordination within alliance blocks, we expect to find the formation of alliance blocks around the various proprietary RISC designs, with scarce linkages across blocks. The blocks will consist of complementary firms, including all the capabilities necessary to compete against other alliance blocks. The requisites of internal coordination, finally, lead us to expect alliance blocks with star-like internal structures when the central firm has either a very weak, or a very strong position. In intermediate cases, we expect to find alliance blocks with internal structures more approaching the characteristics of fully-connected cliques. The findings from a quantitative analysis of the network structure as it evolved in the RISC field in the period 1980-1989 support these conjectures.

The “Country-of-origin Effect” in Multinational Corporations: Sources, Mechanisms and Moderating Conditions

This conceptual paper examines the role of country-of-origin effects in MNCs. It deals with definitional problems and discusses both the sources of the country-of-origin effect, and the mechanisms through which it manifests itself.

Trust, Calculation, and Interorganizational Learning of Tacit Knowledge: An Organizational Roles Perspective

Learning of tacit knowledge in an interorganizational context is a process fraught with risks for the collaborating partners. Two conflicting perspectives on what motivates partners to cooperatively share tacit knowledge with each other emerge from extant literature: one based on calculative considerations and the other on trust-based considerations. This paper aims to show that the two perspectives can be reconciled if the unique learning-related roles of boundary spanners at the corporate and operating levels are taken into account. Operating-level boundary spanners are the primary agents of tacit knowledge learning across organizational borders, and we argue that trust is the primary determinant of knowledge sharing at that level. In contrast, the corporate-level boundary spanners shape the structures and systems of the collaboration and thus affect the extent of sharing that can take place between operating-level boundary spanners. In this role, we propose, their learning behavior is predominantly driven by calculative considerations of potential costs and benefits of knowledge sharing.

Culture, Governance, and Economic Performance: An Explorative Study with a Special Focus on Africa

Existing studies show that national cultures influence governance and economic performance, but sub-Saharan Africa is sparsely covered in international comparative culture studies, and the existing studies suffer from a western bias. This present study aims to fill this void, by focusing on sub-Saharan Africa and introducing an African bias. A research instrument was developed by means of a Delphi study among African scholars. Analysis of the data from six African countries and eight countries from Europe, Asia and the Americas, reveals eight cultural dimensions, three of which are strongly correlated to Hofstedes power distance and individualism-collectivism. Strong correlations between four of the eight dimensions of culture and indicators of the quality of governance are found. Three of the other dimensions correlate significantly with indicators of economic performance. The findings strongly suggest that a number of the cultural dimensions identified are relevant for governance and economic performance.

Transaction, interaction, institutionalization: Toward a dynamic theory of hybrid governance

Intensive long-term customer-supplier relations, or hybrids, are becoming a prevalent feature of more and more industrial markets. Received transaction cost economics and the interaction approach developed in the context of the International Marketing and Purchasing projects give different (arguably: complementary) accounts of the mechanisms underlying hybrids and the factors leading to their formation. A model integrating elements of both approaches is developed. The model is dynamic in that it consists in propositions regarding the occurrence of shifts from one form of governance to another.

Transaction cost analysis and the explanation of hybrid vertical interfirm relations

Transaction cost economics (TCE), which originally focused on the analysis of markets and hierarchies as alternative mechanisms in the governance of transactions, has lately been geared to the explanation of hybrid vertical relations between firms i.e., neither market nor hierarchy. A careful analysis of the application of TCE to hybrid vertical inter-firm relations shows that the hypothesized relationship between characteristics of transactions and the occurrence of hybrid relations is largely borne out by empirical research. However, by concentrating on the rational utilization of private ordering schemes, TCE fails to give a satisfactory account of the basis underlying hybrid relations and is incapable of explaining developments over time within these relations. Alternative and supplementary approaches are identified, elements of which could be incorporated into TCE in order to strengthen the explanatory power of the theory in these two respects.

The Argumentational Texture of Transaction Cost Economics

The deconstruction method was used to analyze a seminal text in transaction cost economics, viz., Oliver Williamsons Economic Institutions of Capitalism. This deconstructive reading revealed that the assumption of opportunism that gives rise to the problem of economic organization as formulated by William son also tends to undermine the proposed solution to this problem. The plausi bility of unified governance as a solution to the problem of opportunism in transaction relations with asset specificity is shown to hinge on the temporary deferment of the assumption of opportunism. Thus, transaction cost economics finds itself in an impasse of thought: actors have to be assumed to be both opportunistic and not-opportunistic if the logic of the theory is to be main tained.