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Aim: This study investigates the prevalence of non-malignant lesions of the cervix among various biopsy samples. Methods: This case study consists of 50 cases of cervical biopsy over almost two years. The case history and clinical details of the patients were obtained. Results: 60% of the cases that participated in this study reported white discharge per vaginum as a common clinical symptom. 4 cases (8%) showed koilocytic changes specific to the human papillomavirus during the study. Only 2% of the non-specific cervicitis showed lymphoid aggregates. Endocervical changes projected papillary endocervicitis with 9 cases (18%), squamous metaplasia with 7 cases (14%), and nabothian follicle cyst with 3 cases (6%). Conclusion: It has been concluded that 50 cases were studied histologically, which had adequate representation of both ecto and endocervical tissue. Moreover, 31-40 years of age of patients showed the highest percentage of non-neoplastic lesions of the cervix when compared to other age groups.

Using survey data from China and India, we explore the impact of network strategy of new ventures in emerging markets. We focus on two critical dimensions of network strategy, namely, broadening and deepening the network and two types of knowledge: market knowledge and technological knowledge. We find that proactive network deepening is associated with market knowledge and network broadening with technological knowledge. From a network perspective, our work highlights the counterintuitive outcomes of breadth versus depth orientation in network strategy, highlighting differences between advanced and emerging economies. We use a post-hoc multi-group analysis to show the differences even within the two emerging markets: India and China. The direct effect of partnering proactiveness on market knowledge in India is significantly higher than that in China but there is no significant difference as to the effect of technological knowledge. We use this exploratory study to highlight the opportunities for network and entrepreneurship scholars to study emerging markets and, in particular, undertake comparative studies between new ventures in China and India.

We study the internationalization of digital service multinational enterprises (SMNCs), focusing on how digitalization alters internalization theory’s assumptions about the nature of firm-specific assets (FSAs) and the theory’s predictions about governance choices in cross-border transactions. We invoke Simon’s (Proc Am Philos Soc 106(6):467–482, 1962) near-decomposability concept to explain how digitalization enables two distinct types of FSAs – technology and human capital. Applying the ideas of modularity and skill complexity, we further distinguish between core versus peripheral technology FSAs and between generic versus advanced human capital FSAs. Building on the transferability and appropriability of these strategic assets, we theorize on the FSAs’ internalization propensity in the digital age. We propose that with rising digitalization, the network plays a dual role – as a governance mode and as a strategic resource. Integrating insights from network economics, particularly increasing returns to scale, we propose that network advantages (On) emerge as a distinct strategic resource that merits separate investigation from the traditional asset-based (Oa) and transaction-based (Ot) advantages.

What determines the emergence of a winner between competing technologies? We examine competition between flat panel display technologies, with the purpose of understanding of how liquid crystal display was able to surpass plasma display panel technology despite the initial lack of a convincing technological or cost advantage, and in the absence of network externalities. We propose an explanation whereby the relative availability of pathways of suitable adjacent applications markets provides differential opportunities for technologies to increase their scope and scale of application incrementally, effecting the speed of development as well as the cost effectiveness of the end products. Our findings suggest that these sets of adjacent application markets available can strongly influence which technologies emerge as winners and which are eventually abandoned.

Our inductive study of nine European multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their R&D units in India uncovers a distinct trajectory of overseas R&D evolution in emerging markets. In contrast to the well-established trajectory of foreign R&D evolution that begins by adapting existing MNE products to the local market, this alternative trajectory begins by leveraging cost arbitrage and progresses through three unique configurations towards a global product mandate. Our study also unravels how the R&D units build embeddedness within the MNE network and with the local ecosystem, and how such embeddedness influences the evolution of their R&D mandate. We present a stylized taxonomy of R&D configurations and integrate this into an evolutionary model of emerging market R&D and suggest that research on MNE R&D in emerging markets must shift from focusing on the macro environment to exploring the dynamics of embeddedness. The study also provides useful insights to practitioners on managing R&D in emerging markets.

Research summary: Strategic alliances have been recognized as a means for firms to learn their partners' proprietary knowledge; such alliances are also valuable opportunities for partner firms to learn tacit organizational routines from their counterparts. We consider how relatively novice technology firms can learn intraorganizational collaborative routines from more experienced alliance partners and then deploy them independently for their own innovative pursuits. We examine the alliance relationships between Eli Lilly & Co. (Lilly), a recognized expert in collaborative innovation, and 55 small biotech partner firms. Using three levels of analysis (firm, patent, and inventor dyad), we find that greater social interaction between the partner firm and Lilly subsequently increases internal collaboration among the partner firm's inventors. Managerial summary: Can collaborating externally advance internal collaboration? Yes. Our research found that collaboration among scientists at small, early-stage biotechnology firms significantly increased after these firms formed highly interactive R&D alliances with a large pharmaceutical company known for its expertise in such collaboration. It is well known that alliances help new firms learn specific new technologies and commercialize innovations. Our study broadens the scope of potential benefits of alliances. New firms can also learn collaboration techniques, deploying them internally to enhance their own abilities in collaborative innovation. Managers should take this additional benefit into consideration in developing their alliance strategies. Pursuing alliance partners with expertise in collaboration and keeping a high level of mutual interactions with partner firm personnel should be important considerations to extract this value. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has infiltrated board rooms and holds promise to fundamentally alter strategic decision-making. Drawing a multiple bodies of related literature, we first offer a framew...

We develop a nuanced perspective of the influence of social capital on the internationalization of new ventures, drawing from cluster studies in economic geography and migration studies in economic sociology. It is well understood that social ties influence the internationalization trajectory of new ventures. However, economic geography suggests that whether a firm is located within a cluster or not can have a significant impact on its networking behaviour. In a similar vein, studies on global migration suggest ethnicity plays a significant role in how people build social capital to gain tacit information and legitimacy across borders. We integrate these dimensions into the study of international entrepreneurship, and attempt to distinguish between the roles of ethnic and non-ethnic ties in new venture internationalization. Using survey data from 102 Indian software new ventures, we find a puzzling observation: While ventures outside clusters build more ethnic ties, it is ventures within clusters that are able to leverage such relationships for international growth. Furthermore, non-ethnic ties are found to be more significant for international growth than are ethnic ties. We follow up the quantitative analysis with an in-depth qualitative study to provide additional explanations. We discuss the implication of these findings for both theory and practice, and propose further research to explore the interaction of diaspora and network effects on new venture internationalization.

This paper reviews India’s place in the international economy by identifying areas of its comparative advantage, characteristics of the Indian market and institutional environment, capabilities of Indian companies as global players, India’s human resource base and demographics, and industry and knowledge clusters which already are, or have the potential to become, globally competitive. Drawbacks, such as labor laws, inadequate infrastructure, and the less than complete participation of women, that currently constrain the development of the Indian market and companies in India, are also alluded to. A later section summarizes the other papers in this special issue. We conclude with recommendations for future economic policies in terms of which portions of the value chain India may emphasize, to best utilize its competitive strengths in international business.

Who should a new venture ally with in order to enhance its internationalization capabilities? While peer relationships come easily and naturally for most new ventures, interactions with foreign multinational subsidiaries operating in their local environment are complex to build and to sustain. We contribute to the relational perspective of new venture internationalization by specifically contrasting the role of new venture ties with multinational enterprises (MNEs), from those with other peer firms. We draw on a multi-method study, integrating a quantitative study based on a survey of 102 software firms in India and a longitudinal case analysis of the relationship between an international new venture (INV) and an MNE (Microsoft). We find a positive relationship between local MNE ties and internationalization capability, and a negative relationship between ties with other small firms and internationalization capability. Our post-hoc analysis of the case study serves to shed further light on this, highlighting an important caveat to the relational capital story: building ties with MNEs is necessary but not sufficient for new ventures to internationalize; they require managerial action to exploit the knowledge acquired.

The disastrous events of 2011—an earthquake and a nuclear accident, a major accounting scandal at a well-known company, and an unusual current account deficit—have brought Japan back into the international news. Although China and other countries in Asia have grown faster and gained greater attention in the last decade, Japan continues to be an important business player. Japan has the world's third-largest economy and is home to many major corporations, leading-edge technology, operational knowhow, and a strong currency. While much about Japan seems familiar, many of our beliefs about the country remain frozen in the early 1990s, when Japanese management was a hot topic and Japanese businesses appeared invincible. Japan has changed much since then, however, and deserves an updated understanding. In this article, we identify six commonly held myths about Japan, present corresponding realities, and discuss recent developments and implications for managers.

Despite the emerging consensus that most multinational enterprises (MNEs) are regional, systematic theory explaining regionalization is conspicuously absent, and empirical findings on its implications for MNE performance remain mixed. Drawing on internalization theory, we suggest that technological advantage and institutional diversity determine firms’ home-region orientation (HRO), and we posit a simultaneous relationship between HRO and performance. We apply insights from the firm heterogeneity literature of international trade to explain the influence of technology on HRO. We predict a negative and nonlinear impact of technological advantage on HRO driven by increasing returns logic, and a negative impact of institutional diversity on HRO driven by search and deliberation costs. We find empirical support for our model using simultaneous equations methodology on longitudinal data on Triad-based MNEs. Performance significantly reduces HRO, but HRO does not have a significant effect on performance.

Economic growth in the Western world increasingly depends on meaningful engagement with emerging markets, such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and Turkey. Business schools are responding in their research and curriculums with increased attention to these markets. However, to understand and leverage these opportunities for teaching and learning, it is apparent that students and executives require a major transformation of their mental models, not simply incremental adjustments or extensions. Institutional economics can help prospective and established managers recognize the role of formal and informal institutions and enable them to work around the “institutional voids” in emerging markets (Khanna & Palepu, 2010). We draw on this framework to identify critical shifts in mental models required for managing effectively in emerging markets and suggest core elements of the management learning process required to accomplish such a change.

We examine the effect of the institutional environment (IE) on the mortality of overseas subsidiaries. We develop hypotheses to study the impact of political openness and social openness, two dimensions of the institutional environment and how joint venture status moderates these relationships. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 12,000+ Japanese overseas investments from 1986–1997 in 25 countries, using Cox hazard models. Our results suggest that the sociopolitical context has a strong influence on the mortality of overseas subsidiaries. We theorized a negative main effect for political and social openness and positive interaction effects with openness when the FDI is through a JV. The results are consistent with the hypotheses. However, political and social openness show significantly different influences on subsidiary mortality.

We extend the “centers of excellence” concept to address the diversity and multidimensionality of subsidiary competence. Using Rugman and Verbeke's diamond network model, we hypothesize the contingencies influencing the links between host-country environments and subsidiary competence configuration, and provide evidence from more than 2000 subsidiaries in seven European countries. Our results provide new insights into how multinational enterprises can overcome “unbalanced” national diamonds by acquiring complementary capabilities across borders. Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40, 42–57. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400420

Real options theory has emerged as a promising avenue to study joint venture (JV) evolution as a strategic response to managing uncertainty. We extend the real options approach by integrating it with game theory. Such a combined method enriches the valuation functions of each partnering firm and helps to identify the optimal decisions for exercising options in a JV. In our model, each firm's synergy from the joint operation and its knowledge acquisition capability (KAC) can significantly influence the competitive dynamics between partners, potentially affecting how each firm decides to acquire, divest, or dissolve. We employ a new solution technique in real options theory to capture the stochastic process of three factors, and use computer simulation to test the model under varying conditions. The results are stated in five testable propositions, providing a better understanding of the dynamics of a JV. We find that symmetries between partners in synergy or KAC contribute to stability or dissolution of the JV, whereas asymmetries in synergy or KAC make acquisition of the JV assets by one partner desirable. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Although international joint ventures (IJVs) may mature over time and develop competitive viability, they maintain some risk of instability owing to their shared ownership. Such instability can ultimately lead to their internalization by one of the partners. In this study, we consider factors that influence (1) whether IJVs evolve toward becoming a wholly owned subsidiary, and (2) which parent (foreign or local) gains ownership of the venture. We use a sample of Hungarian joint ventures, and find that only when there is both a power imbalance between the parents and high levels of conflict is the likelihood that the joint venture converts to a wholly owned subsidiary enhanced. The extent to which the joint venture has learned from the foreign parent indirectly determines which parent gains full ownership. Extensive knowledge transfer to a joint venture in a transitioning economy combined with high levels of conflict increases the likelihood of the foreign parent gaining full ownership. In contrast, when there is extensive knowledge transfer and low conflict between the parents, the local parent is more likely to internalize the venture. Our results suggest that the relationship between partner power and outcomes in ventures is more complex than originally believed, and is contingent upon the level of conflict between the parents of the IJV. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 491–507. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400341

Innovation networks can often be viewed as loosely coupled systems of autonomous firms. We propose that hub firms orchestrate network activities to ensure the creation and extraction of value, without the benefit of hierarchical authority. Orchestration comprises knowledge mobility, innovation appropriability, and network stability. We reject the view of network members as inert entities that merely respond to inducements and constraints arising from their network ties, and we embrace the essential player-structure duality present in networks.

The article reviews the books “Research Methodology in Strategy and Management, Volume 1” and “Research Methodology in Strategy and Management, Volume 2,” both edited by David J. Ketchen, Jr., and Donald D. Bergh.

The article reviews the book "Innovative Firms in Emerging Market Countries" edited by Edmund Mann and John Cantwell.

Drawing on organizational learning and economic sociology, we address how relational embeddedness between the foreign parent and international joint venture (IJV) managers influences the type of knowledge (i.e., tacit and explicit) transferred to the IJV, and how the importance of relational embeddedness varies between young and mature IJVs. We also examine the influence of tacit and explicit knowledge on IJV performance. Our results show the importance that tie strength, trust, and shared values and systems play in the transfer of tacit knowledge, especially for mature IJVs. Our findings are consistent with Uzzi's tenets: tacit learning is accumulative, assists in explaining explicit knowledge, and is enhanced by social embeddedness. We also find that the influence of transferred tacit knowledge on IJV performance stems principally from its indirect effect on the learning of explicit knowledge. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 428–442. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400098

The article discusses research relating to the influence of power, learning, and conflict on international joint ventures. The research indicates that conflict between parent companies plays an ind...

This note extends transaction cost analysis of international joint ventures (IJVs) to include explicitly the effect of equity. It challenges the common practice of treating all foreign investments with between 5 percent and 95 percent equity as IJVs. A fine-grained analysis of the role of foreign equity ownership on the survival of 12,984 overseas subsidiaries confirms a declining, nonlinear, and asymmetrical relationship between equity and mortality in overseas subsidiaries. While investments involving small ownership levels ( 80%) have mortality rates comparable to that of wholly owned subsidiaries. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Through studying joint ventures during the early (1993) and late phases (2001) of Hungary’s economic transition to market economy, we demonstrate how institutional and economic transformation alters foreign parents’ roles in the success of joint ventures. Foreign parent decision influence and resource provision affected market performance and knowledge acquisition differently in the two phases. We conjecture that the value of foreign partner involvement in a transition economy depends in part on the maturity of the transition.

This paper presents a comparative study of the export performance of U.S. and Canadian small and medium-sized exporters. A parsimonious model is developed drawing on the resource-based theory of the firm, with three sets of resources, namely firm size, enterprise, and technological intensity. These key resources are good predictors of the export strategy of a firm. Export strategy is modeled as degree of internationalization, and its effect on the overall firm performance is studied using firm-level performance measures. LISREL's multiple group analysis feature is used in the analysis to test the model. The results confirm the validity of the model across the two data sets.

Crafting international strategy for firms from transition countries poses a strategic dilemma. While moving upmarket to advanced countries can enhance exploratory learning, the competitive nature o...

In industrial manipulators for high torque applications, friction is quite significant and has to be incorporated in the dynamic model to ensure control robustness. Such a dynamic model has to be efficient to facilitate real-time computations. The paper discusses a modified Newton-Euler algorithm for symbolic implementation which proves to be computationally more efficient than the earlier published results. The paper also describes a method for modeling friction at the joints as well as in the transmissions in the robotic manipulators.

We explore how differences in process and product RD While absorptive capacity play a dominant role at lower capability levels, the diminishing returns to process and product R&D take over at the higher capability levels. Using a novel dataset of Indian pharmaceutical producers between 1994 and 2007,we find that, exporting per se, results in enhancements to a firm's technical efficiency. While firms with better process R&D capability on an average benefit more from exporting relative to less capable firms, firms with wider horizontal scope benefit less from exporting relative to firms with narrower scope. However, when we discriminate firms at the low and high end of the capability spectrum, we find that the role of prior process and product R&D in moderating the extent of LBE is non-monotonic, with leaders gaining more than laggards at low capability levels, while at high capability levels, laggards gaining more. We contribute to the literature in three ways: by adding the contingency element of capability levels to the LBE literature, by demonstrating novel empirical strategy for computing productivity effects at the firm-level and by providing a parsimonious explanation of the mechanism by which exporting contributes to a source of competitive advantage.

MNEs can usefully be conceptualized as intraorganizational networks; structurally, they often resemble loosely coupled systems. With subsidiaries possessing assets, resources, and capabilities crucial to the worldwide network, management by fiat is unlikely to be effective, and an integration of headquarters/subsidiary perspectives is necessary. Yet the MNE literature is surprisingly silent on the who, what, and how of such integration. This paper introduces the notion of “orchestration” and suggests that high performance requires headquarters to effectively manage the orchestration processes of mobilizing resources, appropriating value, and ensuring global network stability. Research propositions are developed and managerial implications are discussed.

This chapter presents a conceptual framework of organizational learning that integrates process models of learning (Argyris and Schon, 1974; Lyles, 1988; Nonaka, 1994; Ring and Van de Van, 1992, 1994) with the structural models of learning (Badaracco, 1991; Mowery et al., 1996). We apply this framework by using it to analyse two published case studies on organizational learning in international joint ventures (IJVs).

We draw from insights in the neo-institutional and evolutionary economics literatures to develop a Theory of Speed of Socialist Imprinting Decay that extends existing theory in three new directions...

Emerging markets, long a source of cheap labor, is increasingly staking its claim to a bigger share of global innovation. We extend Ghemawat’s Arbitrage, Adaptation, and Aggregation (AAA) framework...

The proposed panel symposium is a response to recent recalls for increased efforts in new theory production in International Management (Buckley, 2002; Cheng, 2007; Shenkar, 2004) as well as in the...