Sougand Golesorkhi

Determinants of Board Structure in Microfinance Institutions: Evidence from East Africa

This study investigates the association between the unique characteristics of microfinance institutions and board structure. The agency and resource dependence theories provided theoretical guidance for this study. Using a panel dataset of 63 microfinance institutions in East Africa, we found that the presence of regulations and international influence is associated with larger boards, while the presence of founders is associated with small boards and less board independence. There is a higher level of board gender diversity in microfinance institutions managed by founders. There is greater diversity of nationalities in microfinance institutions that are internationally influenced. The implications for practice and theory from this study are further discussed. JEL Classification: G21, G34

The strategic development of subsidiaries in regional trade blocs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and the likelihood of subsidiaries exporting on an intra‐regional basis to European markets.Design/methodology/approach – The paper defines the strategic development of subsidiaries as increases in autonomy, embeddedness in host locations and use of networks and host country sourcing. The location of subsidiaries in industrial clusters is also considered. Use is made of multinomial probit analysis of a survey of 391 UK‐based subsidiaries to identify the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and supplying European markets.Findings – The study finds some evidence that there are links between increasing networks and supplying European markets, but there is no evidence that developing host country sourcing is associated with European supply. Location in an industrial cluster is consistently associated with supplying European markets, and autonomy also appears to be cl...

Introduction: Impact of International Business: Challenges and Solutions for Policy and Practice

Over the last several decades the international operations and activities of firms have evolved immeasurably in scale, scope, reach and form. In addition to, inter alia, the heightening of complex international interconnectivity between firms, institutions and economies at national and sub-national levels, new or nontraditional sources of international investment and trade, such as state-owned multinational enterprises (MNEs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, the international community is confronted with a new set of challenges, the scale and complexity of which are virtually unprecedented, such as ongoing economic crisis with prolonged and lacklustre return to growth and profitability in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression; unsustainable economic and social developments; and heightened security threats. The impact of these challenges on firms, governments, international organisations and civil society, invites the research community to intensify its efforts to supply useful insights, answers and innovative ideas.

Asset specificity, asset opacity and ownership structures in domestic and cross-border joint ventures

Inter-firm collaboration, including inter-firm joint ventures, has been researched extensively in the business and management literature (Delios and Beamish, 1999; Hennart and Larimo, 1998; Pan, 1996; Yan and Gray, 1994). In the international business (IB) context, cross-border joint ventures (IJVs) have been highlighted as a key element of internationalization and market development by globalizing enterprises. Whereas early IB literature focused mostly on foreign direct investment, recent literature reflects the increasing regional and global integration in the world economy, highlighting the importance of strategic flexibility as a competitive imperative facing multinational corporations (Buckley and Ghauri, 2004; Rugman and Verbeke, 2004, 2008). Ownership and location flexibility have been particularly emphasized by Buckley and Ghauri (2004) and Buckley (2009). As a consequence, the focus on alliance and joint venture formation has gained increased salience in the IB literature.

Cross-Border Transfer of Employment Relations Approaches: Country-of-Origin Effects and the Level and Type of Industry Internationalization

The cross-border transfer of business and management practices within multinational companies (MNC) forms an important strand of research in international business. The way MNCs are shaped by their institutional environments and the impact of such forces on the cross-border diffusion of these practices have attracted increasing attention. This has led to a growing focus in the international business literature on the importance of country-of-origin effects for the management of MNCs (Mudambi and Navarra, 2002; Buckley and Carter, 2004). Furthermore, the cultural perspective (see, for instance, Hofstede, 2001) has been extensively used in the international management literature as a way of explaining why MNCs from various national origins adopt different management and business practices in the international arena (Ngo et al., 1998; Tayeb, 1998). There has also been a growing appreciation that such country-specific effects interact with globalization pressures to conform to some kind of ‘best practice’ template.