Preet S. Aulakh

EXPORT STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS FROM EMERGING ECONOMIES: EVIDENCE FROM BRAZIL, CHILE, AND MEXICO

This study develops a framework for examining the export strategies of firms from emerging economies and their performance in foreign markets. Hypotheses derived from this framework were tested on ...

The Influence of Complementarity, Compatibility, and Relationship Capital on Alliance Performance:

Value creation through alliances requires the simultaneous pursuit of partners with similar characteristics on certain dimensions and different characteristics on other dimensions. Partnering firms need to have different resource and capability profiles yet share similarities in their social institutions. In this article, the authors empirically examine the impact of partner characteristics on the performance of alliances. In particular, they test hypotheses related to both direct impact of partner characteristics on alliance performance and indirect effects through relational capital aspects of the alliance. Empirical results based on a sample of alliances in the global construction contracting industry suggest that complementarity in partner resources and compatibility in cultural and operational norms have different direct and indirect effects on alliance performance. Accordingly, organizational routines aimed at partner selection need to be complemented by relationship management routines to maximize the potential benefits from an alliance.

International Principal–Agent Relationships: Control, Governance and Performance

Abstract This article builds upon and extends previous control research by examining the effect of different control mechanisms on behavioral and economic performance in international principal–agent relationships. To this end, a contingency model is advanced and tested that explores the role governance structure plays in influencing the performance effects of different control mechanisms, as perceived by the principal. Empirical results based on a sample of U.S. firms support the proposed contingency model and highlight the value of process and social controls as mechanisms for monitoring nonintegrated exchanges with autonomous agents. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research.

Process Capabilities and Value Generation in Alliance Portfolios

This paper develops a multidimensional, process-based conceptualization of alliance portfolio management capability. Arguing that such a capability consists of organizational processes to proactively pursue alliance formation opportunities, engage in relational governance, and coordinate knowledge and strategies across the portfolio, we examine the impact of such a capability on organizational outcomes in the context of formal structure (alliance function) and strategy (portfolio diversity). Using data from 235 firms, we find that these three processes have a positive effect on a firms alliance portfolio capital, and some of these effects are conditioned by a formal alliance function and diversity of the portfolio. Whereas the ability of proactive formation and relational governance processes to create value is further strengthened in the presence of an alliance function, that of the coordination dimension is weakened. Furthermore, the benefits of relational governance are strengthened for firms with diverse portfolios, whereas the benefits of coordination processes are weakened. We discuss implications of these findings for the alliance and network literature, and in general, for firm heterogeneity. In summary, we find evidence that variance in process-based capabilities to manage alliance portfolios can explain performance heterogeneity among firms.

Norms- and Control-Based Governance of International Manufacturer- Distributor Relational Exchanges

This study contributes to an understanding of plural forms of governance by integrating research on norms-based and control-based mechanisms in managing interorganizational relationships. The authors develop a model of structural antecedents and performance consequences of these two distinct governance forms. Based on data from 129 relationships between U.S. manufacturers and foreign-based independent distributors, the empirical results show a differential effect of relationship structures on the use of control-based and norms-based governance. Furthermore, the results show that these governance forms have distinct performance implications, and the nature of their influence on the effectiveness of the relationship varies by the environmental uncertainty in the foreign markets.

Strategic alliances in emerging Latin America: a view from Brazilian, Chilean, and Mexican companies

Brazil, Chile, and Mexico constitute the leading newly industrialized countries (NICs) of Latin America. It is within these markets that the world expects significant economic gains over the next decade. Local companies in these countries are allying with foreign companies to enhance their competitive positions, yet little is understood about such interfirm collaboration with partners from these Latin American countries. Our study examines the strategic objectives of these Latin American companies, partnership structures, and their satisfaction in collaborating with companies from developed countries. Although existing studies have historically examined the dyad of strategic alliances from a perspective of developed countries (e.g., the U.S.), our study explores the issue from a perspective of companies in emerging Latin American economies.

Contract Formalization and Governance of Exporter-Importer Relationships

Exporting relationships between manufacturers and foreign importers pose unique coordination problems because, on the one hand, transactions are recurrent and both firms make non-trivial relationship-specific investments, but at the same time, the exchange partners maintain separate legal entities with individual profit claims. This study examines the role of contracts as a governance mechanism in these relationships that are neither market-based discrete transactions, nor can be governed through ownership-based hierarchies. Drawing upon recent research on contract law and interorganizational relationships, we develop and empirically test a model that incorporates both the antecedents and performance implications of the nature of contract governing exporter-importer relationships. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007.

Locus of Uncertainty and the Relationship Between Contractual and Relational Governance in Cross-Border Interfirm Relationships

The relationship between contractual and relational arrangements in interorganizational relationships has been subject to an ongoing debate. We propose that in the context of cross-border partnerships, the governance mechanisms can be both substitutes and complements depending upon contingencies posed by uncertainties of two different origins: environmental and behavioral. We argue that environmental uncertainty (i.e., instability and unpredictability of the external environment) drives the formal and relational arrangements into a more substitutive relationship by elevating the adaptation complications in which increasing reliance on either form of governance inhibits the effective operation of the other. Contrastingly, behavioral uncertainty (in the form of inadequate common grounds and shared frameworks among collaborating firms) encumbers the understanding of partner behavior and conduct and drives the governance mechanisms into a more complementary relationship in which contractual and relational mechanisms facilitate the effective operation of each other. Empirical results from 205 cross-border partnerships of large U.S. firms support our theorized relationships.

Emerging issues in international business research

Introduction - international business research - from functional to issue based focus, Masaaki Kotabe and Preet S. Aulakh. Part 1 The macro-environment: regional integration and foreign direct investment, Lorraine Eden intellectual property rights and international business, Subhash Jain global financial market and global firms, J. Jay Choi cultural balkanization and hybridization in an era of globalization, Bryan Husted. Part 2 Interfaces between business and institutions: emerging issues in MNC-host government relations in developing countries, Ravi Ramamurti national export promotion, Michael R. Czinkota industrial endowment(s) in international business, Yadong Luo business groups and economic development, Mauro Guillen. Part 3 Strategy and competition: globalization of firms - approaches, diversity and outcomes, Saeed Samiee entering foreign markets through strategic alliances and acquisitions, Michael A. Hitt and Klaus Uhlenbruck towards a research agenda on hybrid organizations, Xavier Martin the Internet and international business, Indrajit Sinha and Yaniv Gvili.

The Multidimensionality of Globalization: A Critical Perspective

Most contemporary discourses on globalization are articulated around the increasing role of transnational (or multinational) corporations (TNCs) in overseeing national and cross-national economic activities. Policies and practices of TNCs are linked to neo- or Coca-colonization, homogenization of cultural practices, and the decline of the nation-state, among others, and explained at least in part by evolving communications technologies and the related acceleration in speed and ease of transnational financial flows.1 Even political, social, and cultural reactions/resistance to globalization at local levels are posited as oppositional to the homogenizing consequences of the rise of transnational firms.2 While transnational firms, primarily originating from the Triad region (comprising North America, Western Europe and Japan) have, in recent years, increased their share in managing world trade (partially due to the privatization and liberalization of individual country markets),3 the cultural/economic homogenizing consequences of their activities have been debated in the business discipline for almost three decades, before other disciplinary scholars began to examine globalization, much less take note of writings of those in the field of international business or, more generally those outside their own fields of inquiry.4