International Journal of Business Environment (7 papers in press)

• Economic influences on customer satisfaction: an international comparison
  by Björn Frank, Takao Enkawa 
  Abstract: Marketing literature has extensively analyzed firm-level influences on customer satisfaction. Since macro-level customer satisfaction data have not become available until recently, researchers have just taken first steps towards analyzing economic influences on customer satisfaction. Identifying economic influences is important because their existence would impair the interpretability of corporate customer satisfaction surveys. Using principal component and regression analyses, we examine economic influences on customer satisfaction across a number of countries: Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, and the USA. Our analyses reveal that economic expansion exerts a positive influence on customer satisfaction, whereas economic expectations exert a negative influence. As a measure to improve today’s quality management practices, we thus recommend firms to correct the scores of multi-period customer satisfaction surveys for economic influences.
  Keywords: customer satisfaction; CS; business environment; economic growth; expectations; consumer confidence; stock index; international comparison; disconfirmation of expectations; quality management
   
• How can established firms survive technological discontinuities? :A case study on the Japanese rechargeable battery industry
  by Masaaki Sakamoto, Shuzo Fujimura 
  Abstract: Quite a number of established firms lose their momentum during the transition phase from a conventional technology to a new technology. How can established firms recover? We attempt to explore these questions by comparative case study analysis in the Japanese rechargeable battery industry. We deeply examine Sanyo, an established firm which recovered after technology transition, by comparing to a newcomer, Sony. We also compare it to Matsushita Battery, an established firm which did not successfully recover. These analysis leads to the conclusions as shown below. There are conditions that give them opportunities for recovery. New applications or new attributes are often triggered by the introduction to the market of a new technology. This is a turning point in the competition between established firms and newcomers. Newcomers become conservative as they elevate their status in the conventional market, whereas established firms are freed from previous constraints and consequently find it easier to adapt their new strategies. However, not established every firm can seize the opportunity to recover, or rather, make the necessary change to new attributes. An “integrated” organizational structure sometimes becomes a fundamental factor for employing appropriate technology-portfolio strategy.
  Keywords: technology environment, market environment, innovation management, competitive strategy, organizational inertia, technology-portfolio, differentiation and integration, rechargeable battery industry
   
• Increased Compensation Costs as an Externality Of Mandatory Executive Compensation Disclosure: Evidence From Canada
  by Patrice Gélinas, Michel Magnan, Sylvie St-Onge 
  Abstract: As Canadian policymakers are reviewing disclosure expectations regarding executive compensation paid by publicly traded companies, we investigate how the implementation of mandatory executive compensation disclosure impacts executive compensation levels. A regression analysis of Canadian CEOs’ pay increases between 1992 and 1997 reveals that disclosure regulation disciplines some firms to align pay with that of relevant peers, but it stimulates some others to target the top pay level in the market.
  Keywords: Executive compensation, disclosure regulation, Canada, CEO compensation, governance, public policy, regulatory environment, empirical study, publicly-traded firms, private firms.
   
• Voluntary Environmental Decision-Making in Firms: Green Electricity Purchases and the Role of Champions
  by Travis Gliedt, Tom Berkhout, Paul Parker, Joseph Doucet 
  Abstract: This study investigates the corporate decision to voluntarily purchase premium-priced green electricity by examining the internal and external factors which influence environmental decision-making. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight paired firms in Alberta, Canada. Firms purchasing green electricity typically employed a top-down decision-making process, while firms characterized by a participative process did not. An internal driver (environmental champion) was more significant than external factors (regulations, stakeholder pressure) at influencing firms to voluntarily adopt green electricity purchasing, while organizational culture was found to moderate the effect of drivers. Cost is a common inhibitor to green purchase decisions, but customer (oil industry) perceptions and government regulations were also identified in some cases.
  Keywords: environmental champion, green electricity, corporate environmental decision-making, green organizational culture.
   
• Profiting from inter-firm relations – a study in the evolving bioenergy industry
  by Satu Pätäri 
  Abstract: The role of inter-organisational relationships has become central in the quest for competitive success. Nevertheless, the rate of alliance formation has not been high in the forest industry, although the sector is in great need of new value-creating business. This study explores whether the widespread interest in renewable energy will open up new opportunities for the industry and also for the energy sector. It is argued that there is excellent potential for collaboration between the two in the biomass-for-energy business on account of their complementary assets. A total of 1,129 strategic alliances and joint ventures related to the forest and energy industries and to the emerging bioenergy sector are studied, with a view to identifying the key alliance types and the main motives for their formation. The findings indicate that alliance activity at the interface between the forest and energy sectors has been sparse, and that the existing inter-firm relations related to bioenergy remain outside their scope.
  Keywords: complementary assets; inter-firm relations; strategic alliances; joint ventures; traditional industries; forest industry; energy industry; bioenergy
   
• Upstream Coopetition in the Finnish Forest Industry – the Case of Labour and Roundwood Market
  by Rauno Rusko 
  Abstract: Demand side cooperation of the Finnish forest industry has deserved much research interest during the past decade. However, upstream or supplier side cooperation has been studied less. Because of the wide cooperative and coopetitive traditions, Finnish forest industry provides excellent case in studying cooperation conventions in different parts of product chain or supply chain. This research investigates especially how downstream coopetition is reflected upstream, across the borders of supply-side markets such as those for labour and roundwood. An empirical analysis of market information suggests cross-border correlations and causalities, that is, indications of expanded “supplier side” coopetition between the two markets.
  Keywords: coopetition; supply chain; Finnish forest sector; collusion; labour market; roundwood market; supplier side coopetition
   
• PARTNER SELECTION CRITERIA IN COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS: INFLUENCE FROM CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
  by Mário Franco 
  Abstract: The identification and selection of a suitable partner is an important condition not only in formation but also for stability of the cooperative agreements. This article intends to show precisely the interest of identifying and selecting potential partners in a cooperative agreement. Therefore, to reach this goal some results from an empirical study based on a sample of 114 cooperative agreements formed by Portuguese firms are presented. The results show that the criteria for selecting a partner in cooperative agreements are categorized in four dimensions: (1) reputation and contribution of resources, (2) complementarity and personality of the entrepreneur, (3) organizational culture and (4) local/regional identity. These dimensions are associated both with firms’ resources and capacities and with the characteristics that define the personality of entrepreneur. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.
  Keywords: Negotiation, Partner, Cooperation, Success, Criteria, Agreement, Contextual factors.