Ruey-Jer “Bryan” Jean

Drivers and Performance Outcomes of Relationship Learning for Suppliers in Cross-Border Customer-Supplier Relationships: The Role of Communication Culture

Recently, relationship learning between supply chain members has drawn a great deal of attention in the literature. In the context of the international electronics supply chain, which is characterized by cultural differences and complexity of products, relationship learning is difficult to achieve and relies largely on close collaboration between partners. The authors build on the resource-based view of the firm and adopt a communication culture theory to examine drivers and performance outcomes of relationship learning in cross-border relationships in the electronics industry. They propose a research framework in which a firms innovativeness orientation, trust, information technology advancement, and technological uncertainty are determinants of relationship learning. In the framework, they introduce the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer as a moderator. Using 246 electronics suppliers in relationships with international original equipment manufacturer customers, the authors empirically show that innovativeness orientation, trust, and technological uncertainty affect relationship learning positively. Furthermore, the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer moderate the effects of innovativeness orientation and technological uncertainty. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications.

Information technology and organizational performance within international business to business relationships: A review and an integrated conceptual framework

Purpose – Advanced information technology (IT) changes the way companies manage cross‐border supply chains. This paper examines the role of IT in the context of international business to business (B2B) relationship and its contribution to supply chain performance.Design/methodology/approach – This literature review paper develops a conceptual model of IT‐mediated relationships in international supply chain relationships. The framework integrates transaction cost economics and resource‐based theory perspectives and argues that IT capabilities facilitate supply chain performance, deter partners opportunism and this process is mediated by B2B processes. Moreover, environmental, relational, cultural and country level moderators are examined.Findings – It is suggested that IT capabilities contribute directly to improved organizational process such as coordination, transaction specific investment, absorptive capacity and monitoring. These in turn contribute to strategic and operational performance outcomes. Ag...

The ambiguous relationship of ICT and organizational performance: a literature review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the ambiguous relationship of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the relationship between small suppliers and their multinational enterprise (MNE) customers.Design/methodology/approach – This is a literature review paper which develops a conceptual model of IT‐mediated relationships between small suppliers and large MNE customers. The framework integrates transaction cost economics (TCE) and resource based theory (RBV) perspectives and argues that ICT integration both facilitates coordination and monitoring but also impacts on partner opportunism. It is argued that ICT integration can enhance supplier performance given certain circumstances.Findings – The paper clarifies the ambiguous nature of the power‐dependence relationship between small suppliers and their multinational customers.Originality/value – ICT both facilitates the governance relationship, balances the power between these key players but also heightens ability to exert contr...

Assessing endogeneity issues in international marketing research

Purpose – Endogeneity is a potential threat to the validity of international marketing (IM) research. The purpose of this paper is to draw the attention of IM researchers to issues of endogeneity, to provide a comprehensive overview of the sources of endogeneity, and to discuss the statistical solutions. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct the research in two steps. In the first step, the authors review the nature and sources of endogeneity specifically in IM research. In the second step, the authors review 60 IM papers on endogeneity published in the period 1995-2014 and assess the current practice of addressing endogeneity in the IM literature. Findings – Sample selection bias and simultaneity are prevalent sources of endogeneity in IM research. Internationalization-performance relationship and innovation-export nexus are the two most frequently adopted models subject to potential endogeneity. Simply lagging the main independent variable is statistically flawed in dealing with endogeneity ...

Interpartner learning, dependence asymmetry and radical innovation in customer-supplier relationships

Purpose This study aims to explore how absorptive and joint learning can foster radical innovation. Furthermore, dependence asymmetry is investigated as a moderator of the effects of these factors on radical innovation. Radical innovation is an important source of any firm’s success. Yet, there has been a dearth of research in the literature on how different types of inter-partner learning cultivate the process of generating such innovation. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a sample of 204 Taiwanese electronics suppliers to test the effects of joint learning and absorptive learning on radical innovation. The empirical analysis adopts a structural equations modeling approach. Findings The authors find that a supplier’s joint learning has a stronger effect on radical innovation than its absorptive learning. However, when accounting for the moderating effect of dependence asymmetry, the analysis shows that absorptive learning does have a significant effect on radical innovation. The effect of joint learning on radical innovation is not moderated by the degree of dependence asymmetry. Practical Implications This study broadens and deepens the understanding of how radical innovation by suppliers can be generated in customer–supplier relationships, and how this is shaped by the power-dependence structure. Originality/value Inter-partner learning; radical innovation; power; dependence.

Do born global SMEs reap more benefits from ICT use than other internationalizing small firms

The existence of rapidly internationalising small to medium sized firms has been widely documented in the literature. Liberalisation of markets and the emergence of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the most frequently cited enablers of this phenomenon. However, despite their unprecedented potential to reach customers and reduce trade barriers, the anticipated positive impact of ICTs on firm performance has not been empirically supported to the expected degree. This study addresses this topical issue and investigates the effect of online media use on export performance by using multivariate statistical analysis on data drawn from a survey of 115 UK-based SMEs.

Drivers and customer satisfaction outcomes of CSR in supply chains in different institutional contexts: A comparison between China and Taiwan

Purpose – While firms have widely adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in their supply chains, there is little work simultaneously examining the drivers and outcomes of such initiatives. Specifically, it is not clear how different institutional contexts may shape them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers and performance outcomes of CSR in supply chains in two different institutional contexts: Mainland China (a transition economy) and Taiwan (a market economy). Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturing factories engaging in CSR in supply chains. Relationships are examined using “soft-modeling” partial least squares analysis. Findings – The findings suggest that CSR in supply chains positively impact on customer satisfaction in both Mainland China and Taiwan. Yet, the influence on CSR in supply chains of different drivers differs according to institutional context. In the transition economy of China, CSR initiatives are driven by regulatory and efficiency forces but not by the competitive advantage force. In contrast, in the market economy of Taiwan, CSR initiatives are driven by the competitive advantage force but not by the other two. Research limitations/implications – This paper provides some empirical evidence of the influence of different institutional contexts on CSR initiatives and their impact on customer satisfaction. The research contributes to the emerging theme of institutional theory in international marketing. Practical implications – Managers should be aware that different institutional contexts may shape firms’ CSR in supply chains. However, CSR in supply chains does matter in terms of enhancing customer satisfaction in all institutional contexts. Originality/value – The authors develop and test a framework of drivers and customer satisfaction outcomes of CSR in supply chains in both a transition and a market economy.

The Role of Virtual Integration, Commitment, and Knowledge-Sharing in Improving International Supplier Responsiveness

Globalization has triggered significant structural strategy shifts of multinational enterprises (MNEs). With increasing global competition, MNEs have disintegrated their value-adding activities with their suppliers or subcontractors around the world (Buckley and Ghauri, 2004; Sturgeon, 2002). As a function of this mega-trend, the issue of how MNEs can effectively coordinate and control their global supply chain relationships with local suppliers becomes a critical task for MNE efficiency and competiveness.

Hierarchical Linear Modeling in International Marketing Research: A Review with an Application on Innovation and Export in China

当许多国际出售研究包含二时或更多的层次，在国际出售文学的有限工作使用检验不同水平效果的层次线性建模。这研究在层次线性建模上进行彻底的文学评论(HLM ) 在 28 篇国际出售论文，那从 2005-2014 采用了 HLM 并且在目标，操作层次，和另外的问题上在这些论文评估 HLM 的使用。我们为 HLM 的更多的应用召集国际出售研究，特别地为关于有重要亚公民和机构的变化的新兴的市场的研究。论文提供采用 HLM 在中国在在坚挺的革新和出口商性能之间的关系中测试工业级的政府津贴的节制的角色的解说性的实验研究。