input promotion within a complex subsector fertilizer in nigeria despite growing evidence that fertilizers can substantially increase yields and slow down environmental degradation in sub saharan africa ssa the region still lags far behind other developing areas in fertilizer use low use rates persist despite numerous efforts to ease farmers access to quality and affordable fertilizer this article reviews the effects of nigeria s fertilizer policies including fertilizer subsidies on fertilizer use we also compare the old government led fertilizer subsidy scheme with the more recent voucher based programs and their potential effects on private fertilizer sector development based on our analysis of nigeria s experience with fertilizer subsidies we identify the potential major challenges to be faced by the new fertilizer subsidy scheme currently being implemented nationwide

bankable permits for the control of environmental pollution abstract intertemporal trading of emission permits banking is often identified as one of three promising market mechanisms for controlling pollution along with averaging and trading surprisingly the efficiency properties of permit banking systems have not been investigated using a simple optimal control model this paper investigates firms incentives for banking or borrowing emission permits and compares the emission and output streams firms would choose with the socially optimal solution we find that in many cases firms will suboptimally choose excessive damage and output levels in early periods and correspondingly too few in later periods if given the opportunity to freely move emissions between time periods we propose a simple alternative trading scheme we term modified banking that counters this problem and should be no more difficult for an environmental authority to implement than a straigth banking system

market power in emission permit markets theory and evidence from the eu ets a well known result about market power in emission permit markets is that efficiency can be achieved by full free allocation to the dominant firm i show that this result breaks down when taking the interaction between input and output markets into account even if the dominant firm perceives market power in the permit market alone i then examine the empirical evidence for price manipulation by the ten largest electricity firms during phase i of the eu ets i find that some firms excess allowance holdings are consistent with strategic price manipulation and that they cannot be explained by price speculation or by precautionary purchases to insure against uncertain future emissions my results suggest that market power is likely to be an empirically relevant concern during the early years of emission permit markets

the optimal performance of the global firm formalizing and extending the integration responsiveness framework with the increasing globalization of business there has been growing interest in how to create and manage a successful international enterprise although researchers and practitioners have grappled with the issue of globalization for some time there is no one model that encompasses the range of phenomena we observe in the global economy nor have those models that do exist been precisely formalized this paper provides an expanded approach to thinking about the organizational forms and linkages that exist in international business operations building on the popular integrationresponsiveness framework of international strategic orientation we develop a more expansive approach that is better able to account for the diversity of organizational forms and strategic choices open to managers by adding a third set of environmental pressures incorporating the beliefs of managers and by employing the idea of efficient frontiers we reformulate the integration responsiveness framework making it more consistent with modern economic models of the firm our integration responsiveness completeness irc model argues that global firms can respond to these fundamental and competing pressures by configuring themselves in a variety of ways rather than normatively prescribing that the transnational form is optimal in addition our model has methodological ramifications its formal structure suggests that empirical techniques that focus on the best rather than average performance are necessary to adequately investigate the performance differences among alternative organizational forms this may explain the paradoxical lack of empirical support for a link between organizational form and performance

market power permit allocation and efficiency in emission permit markets market power in permit markets has been examined in some detail following the seminal work of hahn q j econ 99 4 753 765 1984 but the effect of free allocation on price manipulation with market power in both product and permit market has not been fully addressed i show that in this case the threshold of free allocation above which a dominant firm will set the permit price above its marginal abatement costs is below its optimal emissions in a competitive market and that overall efficiency cannot be achieved by means of permit allocation alone in addition to being of general economic interest this issue is relevant in the context of the eu ets i find that the largest german uk and nordpool power generators received free allowances in excess of the derived threshold conditional on having price setting power in both the electricity and permit markets these firms would have found it profitable to manipulate the permit price upwards despite being net permit buyers

firm level determinants of political csr in emerging economies evidence from india multinational companies mncs frequently adopt corporate social responsibility csr activities that are aimed at providing public goods and influencing the government in policymaking such political csr pcsr activities have been determined to increase mncs socio political legitimacy and to be useful in building relationships with the state and other key external stakeholders although research on mncs pcsr within the context of emerging economies is gaining momentum only a limited number of studies have examined the firm level variables that affect the extent to which mncs subsidiaries in emerging economies pursue pcsr using insights from resource dependence theory institutional theory and the social capital literature we argue that mncs subsidiaries that are critically dependent on local resources have greater ties to managers of related businesses and to policymakers and that those that are interdependent on the mncs headquarters and other foreign subsidiaries are more likely to be involved in pcsr we obtain support for our hypotheses using a sample of 105 subsidiaries of foreign firms that operate in india our findings enhance our understanding of the factors that determine mncs political csr in emerging economies

banking and back loading emission permits in this article we focus on the so called back loading policy adopted by the european commission to increase the carbon market price this environmental measure consists of removing a share of the allowances allocated for a given period in order to reallocate some or all of them later on to analyze the impact of the permits back loading we determine the co2 price equilibrium with and without the policy measure considering not only the market for permits but also the output market of regulated sectors we propose a two period model where the market for permits is perfectly competitive and the output market can be either competitive or oligopolistic first we define the condition under which banking from one period to another is optimal this condition that is the absence of arbitrage opportunities aoa depends not only from the period initial allocation but also on production market fundamentals when this condition is satisfied the market for emission is shown intertemporally efficient second we point out that the back loading measure may create inefficiencies or leave unaffected the permits price if it alters the aoa

who is vouching for the input voucher decentralized targeting and elite capture in tanzania input subsidy programs carry support as instruments to increase agricultural productivity provided they are market smart this requires especially proper targeting to contain the fiscal pressure with decentralized targeting of input vouchers currently the instrument of choice nonetheless despite clear advantages in administrative costs the fear of elite capture persists these fears are borne out in the experience from the 2008 input voucher pilot program in kilimanjaro tanzania examined here elected village officials received about 60 percent of the distributed vouchers a factor that significantly reduced the targeting performance of the program especially in more unequal and remote communities when targeting the poor greater coverage and a focus on high trust settings helped mitigate these concerns the findings highlight the continuing need for scrutiny when relying on decentralized targeting a clearer sense of purpose increasing productivity among poorer farmers versus increasing aggregate output could also enhance the targeting performance

input subsidy programs in sub saharan africa a synthesis of recent evidence input subsidy programs have once again become a major plank of agricultural development strategies in africa ten african governments spend roughly us 1 billion annually on input subsidy programs isps amounting to 28 6 of their public expenditures on agriculture this article reviews the microlevel evidence on isps undertaken since the mid 2000s we examine the characteristics of subsidy beneficiaries crop response rates to fertilizer application and their influence on the performance of subsidy programs the impacts of subsidy programs on national fertilizer use and the development of commercial input distribution systems and finally the impact of isps on food price levels and poverty rates the weight of the evidence indicates that the costs of the programs generally outweigh their benefits findings from other developing areas with a higher proportion of crop area under irrigation and with lower fertilizer prices factors that should provide higher returns to fertilizer subsidies than in africa indicate that at least a partial reallocation of expenditures from fertilizer subsidies to r d and infrastructure would provide higher returns to agricultural growth and poverty reduction however because isps enable governments to demonstrate tangible support to constituents they are likely to remain on the african landscape for the foreseeable future hence the study identifies ways in which benefits can be enhanced through changes in implementation modalities and complementary investments within a holistic agricultural intensification strategy among the most important of these are efforts to reduce the crowding out of commercial fertilizer distribution systems and programs to improve soil fertility to enable farmers to use fertilizer more efficiently the challenges associated with achieving these gains are likely to be formidable

autonomy and procedural justice a framework for evaluating subsidiary strategy using the well supported dimensions of autonomy and procedural justice a four quadrant model of subsidiary strategy is proposed and a four part typology hypothesized partner collaborator militant and vassal subsidiaries a clustering process is used to develop a four group taxonomy that corresponds with the induced model the four groups of subsidiaries are analysed across seven alternative strategic dimensions integration responsiveness coordination configuration market scope product scope and value added scope the external and internal validity of the framework is confirmed and its utility discussed in terms of subsidiary s movement from one strategy state to another

government fertilizer subsidy and commercial sector fertilizer demand evidence from the federal market stabilization program fmsp in nigeria abstract we examine how the previous fertilizer subsidy program in nigeria fmsp affected the demand for commercial fertilizer we apply an endogenous double hurdle model to a pseudo panel and cross section data of farm households the methodology accounts for potential endogeneity of commercial fertilizer price with subsidy our specification is also appropriate where few farmers report the use of both subsidized and commercial fertilizer we find that 100 kg of subsidized fertilizer supplied to a farm household reduced the probability of its participation into commercial fertilizer market by 10 21 points while not affecting fertilizer use upon participation

rural nonfarm activities and agricultural crop production in nigeria although most rural households are involved in the farm sector the nonfarm sector has grown significantly in recent decades and its role in rural development has become increasingly important this article examines the effect of participation in nonfarm activities on crop expenses of farm households in nigeria the relationship is modeled using a nonseparable agricultural household model that suggests that participating in nonfarm activities can relax the credit constraints facing farm households and reduce risk thereby helping households improve farm production and smooth consumption over time the results show that participation in nonfarm activities by nigerian farmers has a positive and significant effect on crop expenses and in particular on payments for hired labor and inorganic fertilizers separate analysis of the six geopolitical zones in nigeria indicates that it is in the south south and south east zones where nonfarm participation appears to induce more hiring of labor the results support the hypothesis that nonfarm participation helps relax liquidity constraints but suggests how that liquidity is used is zone specific in general the results also indicate that liquidity is used more to pay for inputs into staple production as opposed to cash crops

subsidiary expansion contraction during times of economic crisis this paper compares two real options within country growth and across country operational flexibility to examine subsidiary expansion contraction during times of economic crisis specifically we examine how the real options orientations of individual subsidiaries interact with the general characteristics of multinational enterprise networks our main findings are that a economic crises can be detrimental for subsidiaries with stronger within country orientations and advantageous for those with stronger across country orientations and b network characteristics are not the sole determinants of subsidiary expansion contraction what really matters is how the real options orientations of individual subsidiaries mesh with the overall characteristics of the network they belong to

an empirical analysis and extension of the bartlett and ghoshal typology of multinational companies this study offers an empirical test and extension of the bartlett and ghoshal typology of multinational companies mncs a three fold typology of multinational companies global multidomestic and transnational is developed from the literature this typology is tested using data from 166 subsidiaries of 37 mncs headquartered in 9 different countries subsidiaries in the three types of mncs are shown to differ significantly in aspects of interdependence and local responsiveness

dual paths to performance the impact of global pressures on mnc subsidiary conduct and performance over the last decade the international business literature has placed ever greater emphasis on the role that learning and innovation play in determining multinational and multinational subsidiary performance the present research seeks to understand the organizational paths leading to such desirable outcomes as greater learning increased innovation and improved performance using a model tested with data collected through a survey of managers in subsidiaries of multinational firms we find dual independent paths to improved performance one through networking and inter unit learning and the other through subsidiary autonomy and innovation a particular feature of these findings is that they can be shown to be robust after controlling for a wide range of environmental pressures and firm and industry factors however in the absence of environmental controls the dual path finding is rejected these conflicting findings support the imperative to test models that include a diverse range of environmental pressures so that the true effects of organizational factors on learning innovation and performance can be identified

configurations of strategy and structure in subsidiaries of multinational corporations a three fold typology of subsidiary roles world mandate specialized contributor local implementer was induced from the literature and its empirical validity was confirmed adopting a configurational approach we then explored the ways in which subsidiary structural context varies across subsidiary role types structural context characteristics were determined through a discussion of the underlying principles of the hierarchy and heterarchy models of multinational organization the key findings were a higher strategic autonomy in world mandates than in local implementers b a more internationally configured value chain in world mandates and specialized contributors than local implementers c lower levels of internal product flows in world mandates than the other two types and d a significantly lower performance in specialized contributors implications for a configurational model of subsidiary management and for heterarchy as a higher level conceptualization are discussed

an emission saved is an emission earned an empirical study of emission banking for light duty vehicle manufacturers abstract this paper presents results of an empirical study of emission banking for light duty vehicle manufacturers an intertemporal model of manufacturers choices is combined with econometrically estimated abatement cost functions to simulate the cost savings and emission effects of an averaging trading and banking marketable permit system relative to command and control regulations while the cost savings of such a system are estimated to be modest the intertemporal emission effects may be sizable the sensitivity of the results to discount rates abatement cost functions and model specifications is also explored

managing international interdependence ceo characteristics in a resource based framework this study s basic argument is that the level of a firm s international interdependence influences the pattern of ceo characteristics ideal for enabling a ceo to contribute to firm performance in

the integration of subsidiary political activities in multinational corporations just as the competitive activities of mnc subsidiaries exhibit differentiation as well as integration so might mnc political activities this paper combines the literatures on international business government interactions and on multinational corporations with resource dependence theory as a foundation we develop and test hypotheses on factors that might influence the degree to which subsidiary political activities are integrated with affiliated organizations we find that subsidiary strategic integration and the economic integration of the host country significantly influence integration of subsidiary political activities

global account management strategies drivers and outcomes global account management gam has become a vital part of many multinational enterprises global marketing yet little is known about successful gam strategies in this study we conceptualize gam strategies and develop and empirically test an integrated theoretical model that links gam strategies to their drivers and outcomes we find that 1 global strategic priority and globalization are significant drivers of four gam strategies inter country coordination inter organizational coordination marketing activities standardization and global integration 2 inter country and inter organizational coordination have significant main effects on gam performance while global customer demand positively moderates the effects of marketing activities standardization and global integration on gam performance and 3 gam performance significantly influences relationship continuity we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications and provide suggestions for future research

the economics of pollution permit banking in the context of title iv of the 1990 clean air act amendments abstract this paper presents a model of the collective emission permit banking behavior of electricity generating units affected by title iv of the clean air act amendments of 1990 a rigorous treatment of the constraint that pollution permits cannot be borrowed from future allocations is introduced this approach enables an analysis of the impact of future changes in electricity demand regulations and technologies on the present permit price and emissions level the effect of uncertainty on the banking behavior is also explored

shifting fortunes the political economy of financial liberalization in nigeria abstract on the recommendation of the world bank nigeria began to liberalize its financial sector in 1986 contrary to the prediction of financial repression theory savings and investment decline in the wake of banking deregulation by 1995 the nigerian financial system was in a state of collapse the paper locates the main failure of nigeria s financial deregulation in the political and institutional setting of reform the institutional mechanisms needed to supervise and regulate banking under the new system were absent while private sector banking capacities were weak moreover financial liberalization was quickly captured by a clientalist state as a means of reallocating rents to strategic constituents an additional precipitating factor was macroeconomic instability the paper points to the importance of incorporating political and institutional variables into any model of financial reform or transformation

global platforms and ecosystems implications for international business theories the emergence of digital platforms and ecosystems dpe as a venue for value creation and capture for multinational enterprises holds considerable implications for the theory and practice of international business in this paper we articulate these implications by considering the dual perspectives of cross border platforms and ecosystems as a venue for multifaceted innovation and as multisided marketplace and focusing on three overarching themes at the intersection of dpes and international business that is dpes as affording new ways of internationalization as facilitating new ways of building knowledge and relationships and as enabling new ways of creating and delivering value to global customers we explain specific dpe related concepts and constructs that underlie these themes and discuss how they could be incorporated into existing ib theories in ways that would enhance their richness and continued relevance as well as their ability to better predict a multitude of emerging ib phenomena

the economic and poverty impacts of maize research in west and central africa this article assembles the results of three multicountry surveys on variety performance and adoption patterns to measure the impacts of maize research in west and central africa from 1981 to 2005 and uses cost data since 1971 to compute social rates of return on public investments in maize research in the region adoption of modern varieties increased from less than 5 of the maize area in the 1970s to about 60 in 2005 yielding an aggregate rate of return on research and development r d investment of 43 the estimated number of people moved out of poverty through adoption of new maize varieties rose gradually in the 1980s to more than one million people per year since the mid 1990s over half of these impacts can be attributed to international maize research at iita and cimmyt the article concludes with a discussion of strategic options to enhance the impacts of maize research in the region

managing foreign subsidiaries agents of headquarters or an interdependent network in this study two different theoretical perspectives are used to develop sets of hypotheses regarding the mechanisms used to manage foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations first agency theory serves as the basis for a model that predicts the use of monitoring mechanisms and incentive compensation then it is argued that these mechanisms are insufficient for managing subsidiaries characterized by high levels of intra firm international interdependence the management of which is critical to many of today s complex global firms a second set of hypotheses is argued linking international interdependence to several social control mechanisms primary and secondary data from u s based multinational corporations were used to test both sets of hypotheses the results indicate that agency theory although a useful foundation for studies of control within mncs is limited in its ability to explain fully the phenomenon of foreign subsidiary control however the model based on intra firm interdependence had much greater predictive ability copyright 2000 john wiley sons ltd

an empirical analysis of the integration responsiveness framework u s construction equipment industry firms in global competition in this study businesses competing as part of the global u s construction equipment industry were categorized into three subgroups according to the integration responsiveness framework i r in an attempt to further understand industry pressures confronting businesses that compete internationally the results show that three generic strategies suggested by the i r framework do appear in a single industry context globally integrated locally responsive and multifocal beyond providing additional insight into the nature of competition in a single global industry several broad extensions to the integration responsiveness framework are suggested

a model of intertemporal emission trading banking and borrowing abstract this paper provides a general treatment of emission trading banking and borrowing in an intertemporal continuous time model using optimal control theory the decentralized behavior of firms is shown to lead to the least cost solution attainable under joint cost minimization explicit solutions for the time paths of emissions and permit prices are derived when firms are allowed to both bank and borrow and when firms are only allowed to bank emission permits the policy implications of emission banking and borrowing are discussed

a note on market power in an emission permits market with banking in this paper we investigate the effect of market power on equilibrium path of an emission permits market in which firms can bank current permits for use in later periods in particular we study the market equilibrium for a large potentially dominant firm and competitive fringe with rational expectations we characterize the equilibrium solution for different permits allocations and discuss the large firm s stock holding constraints needed for credible market manipulation

subsidies and crowding out a double hurdle model of fertilizer demand in malawi this article uses a double hurdle model with panel data from malawi to investigate how fertilizer subsidies affect farmer demand for commercial fertilizer the article controls for potential endogeneity caused by the nonrandom targeting of fertilizer subsidy recipients results show that on average 1 additional kilogram of subsidized fertilizer crowds out 0 22 kg of commercial fertilizer but crowding out ranges from 0 18 among the poorest farmers to 0 30 among relatively nonpoor farmers this indicates that targeting fertilizer subsidies to the rural poor is likely to maximize the contribution of the subsidy program to total fertilizer use

an empirical analysis of the integration responsiveness framework in global industries in this study businesses competing in global industries were categorized into three groups according to the integration responsiveness framework for conceptualizing industry pressures confronting business competing internationally using this framework contextual conditions associated with each group were examined competitive attributes distinguishing each group were then identified to clarify alternate business level strategies for competing within a global industry context beyond providing additional insight into the nature of competition in global industries several broad extensions to the integration responsiveness framework are suggested

implementing global strategy characteristics of global subsidiary mandates implementing a global strategy requires coordinating subsidiary activities across country locations the assumption often made is that such coordination must be managed at headquarters however an alternate approach is decentralized centralized responsibilities in which different subsidiaries within the multinational are given worldwide mandates to manage specific products or products lines this study identifies subsidiary characteristics that are associated with receiving a global mandate by examining foreign subsidiaries located in france germany japan u k u s and canada

permit banking in emission trading competition arbitrage and linkage abstract several existing or proposed climate policies have considered bankable permits in a cap and trade c t program that covers beyond a single sector e g electric power or allows the program to link to external c t programs in other regions this paper develops a model of permit banking under imperfect competition and imperfect inter temporal arbitrage in which the firms in one dominant sector can exert market power in both product and permit markets while those in other sectors or linked programs are perfectly competitive a simple analytical model is developed to generate contestable hypothesis we further extend the model to account for the physical power system institutional rules and market conditions and then apply it to the pennsylvania jersey maryland pjm market we show that if the dominant firm has market power then the permit price rises at a higher rate than the discount rate contrary to perfectly competitive permit market where the permit price rises at the discount rate following the classic hotelling s rule furthermore under a declining emissions cap system with the permits front loaded in early time periods the dominant firm has an incentive to suppress the permit prices monopsony when buying the permits in early periods and then inflate the permit prices monopoly when selling them in later periods numerical results of the pjm case are consistent with the analytical conclusion

task success based on contingency fit of managerial culture and embeddedness the article extends research on the contingency of fit in international management at the level of managerial tasks foreign firms managerial tasks are embedded in two environments with different profiles and different managerial cultures fit them to ensure task success study 1 analyzes 18 critical incidents summarizes chinese and japanese managerial cultures and identifies three types of managerial tasks we hypothesize that task success depends on the fit between task type and the chosen managerial culture such that foreign firms can have their operational local and people tasks successfully completed using home host or integrated managerial cultures respectively study 2 tests our hypotheses using 112 critical incidents the fit pattern at the level of managerial tasks advances the contingency perspective in international management and equips managers with cultural agility to confront international challenges

adaptation and performance in foreign markets evidence of systematic under adaptation past empirical studies have yielded no consistent relationship between strategy adaptation and firm performance these inconclusive results may be partially due to a bias amongt managers to under adapt their host market strategies this paper presents the results of the second stage of a longitudinal study identifying a potential status quo bias among exporters leading to systematic under adaptation

disrupting demand for commercial seed input subsidies in malawi and zambia summary this study uses nationally representative household level panel data from malawi and zambia to identify the determinants of subsidized maize seed and fertilizer receipt and to estimate how input subsidies affect households commercial purchases of improved maize seed varieties in both countries we find that households in areas where the ruling party won the last presidential election acquire significantly more subsidized inputs than other households results also indicate that each additional kilogram of subsidized maize seed acquired by a household reduces its commercial improved maize seed purchases by 0 58 kg in malawi and by 0 49 kg in zambia on average

is increasing inorganic fertilizer use for maize production in ssa a profitable proposition evidence from nigeria inorganic fertilizer use across sub saharan africa is generally considered to be low yet the notion that fertilizer use is too low is predicated on the assumption that it is profitable to use rates higher than currently observed there is however limited empirical evidence to support this using a nationally representative panel dataset this paper empirically estimates the profitability of fertilizer use for maize production in nigeria we find that fertilizer use in nigeria is not as low as conventional wisdom suggests low marginal physical product and high transportation costs significantly reduce the profitability of fertilizer use apart from reduced transportation costs other constraints such as soil quality timely access to the product and availability of complementary inputs such as improved seeds irrigation and credit as well as good management practices are also necessary for sustained agricultural productivity improvements

business cycles and emission trading with banking abstract we propose an emission cap adjustment policy for an emission trading system ets that allows banking of allowances for later use and faces business cycle uncertainty the forward looking banking decisions cause a commitment problem with respect to regulator s next period allowance supply decision we tackle the commitment problem by focusing on the markov equilibrium of the policy the equilibrium policy has a surprisingly simple structure combining features from both price and quantity instruments the regulator s ability to choose a new cap for each period does not render banking obsolete but on the contrary makes banking an integral part of the equilibrium policy using data from the eu ets to calibrate the model we solve the markov equilibrium policy for the case of carbon emissions regulation and compare markov policies with and without the possibility to bank allowances a counterfactual analysis of the eu ets during the period of 2009 2013 shows that the optimal markov policy would have led to a steadier allowance price level and a stricter emission regulation than what was actually observed in the eu ets

international configuration and coordination archetypes for medium sized firms in global industries the purpose of this study is to determine the basic configuration and coordination patterns for medium sized firms competing in global industries analyzing 126 businesses competing in nine different global industries five distinct archetypes are identified the results suggest that selective globalization in which the firm defines its global strategy around a narrow subset of the value chain may lead to the most effective outcomes

emission permit banking pollution abatement and production inventory control of the firm abstract in this paper we present a dynamic model modified with emission permit banking and pollution abatement and investigate the effect of emission permit banking and pollution abatement on the production inventory strategy of the firm after introducing emission permit banking and pollution abatement the cost function consists of the inventory holding and production costs the cost of investment in abatement capital goods and the emission procurement selling cost furthermore the inventory holding costs are linear production costs are non decreasing and convex functions of the production level and the costs of investment in abatement capital goods are increasing and convex functions of the investment level we compare the optimal production inventory strategy before emission permit banking and pollution abatement and thereafter the mathematical investigation is based on the arrow karlin model

patterns of strategic control within multinational corporations the management of multinational operations is often required to balance conflicting priorities between responsiveness at the national subsidiary level and central coordination for global competitiveness such balancing requires that relevant data be brought to bear on decisions that consensus be created among key managers and that relative power among them be carefully balanced in large complex mncs the balancing process can be institutionalized through the structuring of relationships between headquarters and subsidiaries

market power and transferable property rights the appeal of using markets as a means of allocating scarce resources stems in large part from the assumption that a market will approximate the competitive ideal when competition is not a foregone conclusion the question naturally arises as to how a firm might manipulate the market to its own advantage this paper analyzes the issue of market power in the context of markets for transferable property rights first a model is developed that explains how a single firm with market power might exercise its influence this is followed by an examination of the model in the context of a particular policy problem the control of particulate sulfates in the los angeles region

intertemporal emission trading with a dominant agent how does a restriction on borrowing affect efficiency in this paper we analyze how restricting intertemporal trading by prohibiting borrowing of emissions permits affects the ability of a dominant agent to exploit its market power we show that the monopolist could take advantage of the constraint on borrowing by not distributing the sale of permits cost effectively across periods furthermore we show that a constant present value price over time does not imply a cost effective distribution of abatement permit sales across periods

market seeking mnes in an emerging market how parent subsidiary links shape overseas success this study extends research on parent subsidiary links applying new theoretical perspectives those of resource dependence and dynamic capability to the new empirical setting of an emerging market we suggest that parent subsidiary links help to mitigate emerging market threats by reducing external dependence and help to capitalize on emerging market opportunities by enhancing local responsiveness

managing formalization to increase global team effectiveness and meaningfulness of work in multinational organizations global teams may help to integrate across locations and yet with formalized rules and procedures responsiveness to those locations effectiveness and the team members experiences of work as meaningful may suffer we employ a mixed methods approach to understand how the level and content of formalization can be managed to resolve these tensions in multinationals in a sample of global teams from a large mining and resources organization operating across 44 countries interviews observations and a quantitative 2 wave survey revealed a great deal of variability between teams in how formalization processes were enacted only those formalization processes that promoted knowledge sharing were instrumental in improving team effectiveness implementing rules and procedures in the set up of the teams and projects rather than during interactions and utilizing protocols to help establish the global team as a source of identity increased this knowledge sharing finally we found members personal need for structure moderated the effect of team formalization on how meaningful individuals found their work within the team these findings have significant implications for theory and practice in multinational organizations

fertilizer subsidies political influence and local food prices in sub saharan africa evidence from nigeria abstract the last decade has seen a resurgence in the use of fertilizer subsidies in sub saharan africa however there is limited empirical evidence on the effects of fertilizer subsidy programs on local food prices using an instrumental variables approach we explore the effect of a fertilizer subsidy program on the seasonal growth rates of grain prices in nigeria our results suggest that the fertilizer subsidy program had very small effects on the growth rates of grain prices between the post planting and post harvesting seasons we also find that political influence played a role in the distribution of subsidized fertilizer we discuss how the weak effects on the price growth rates may be caused by low market orientation output market structures greater focus on farmers incomes low marginal productivity of fertilizer and politically influenced targeting

the effect of emission permit trading with banking on firm s production inventory strategies abstract we investigate the effect of tradable emission permits with banking on the production inventory strategy of a firm in this paper the basis of the work is the well known arrow karlin dynamic production inventory model in which the inventory holding costs are linear and production costs are non decreasing and convex functions of the production level the cost of environmental protection is taken into account in the model we assume there is an emission trading program with which firms are able to purchase their emission rights or sell them and the rights are allowed to be deposited in intertemporal trading we compare the optimal production inventory strategies of this paper with those without emission permits

impacts of community driven development programs on income and asset acquisition in africa the case of nigeria summary this study evaluates the impacts of a community driven development cdd project on household income and acquisition of productive assets in nigeria using recall data difference in differences and propensity score matching approaches the study finds that the project succeeded in targeting the poor and women farmers in its productive asset acquisition component participation in the project also increased the mean income of beneficiaries by about 40 60 but the impact of the project on income of the poorest beneficiaries was not statistically significant additionally sustainability of this achievement is uncertain since the project did not involve rural credit services the large cash transfer through its productive asset acquisition component is also unsustainable future studies should be undertaken using longer term panel data to capture the pattern and trend of the impact of this project

legitimizing leveraging and launching developing dynamic capabilities in the mne multinational enterprises mnes face simultaneous pressures for global integration and local responsiveness while the extant literature acknowledges that most mnes are neither entirely geared towards achieving global integration nor local responsiveness scarce attention is given to how mnes develop organizational flexibility to address multiple and shifting strategy pressures over time in this paper we draw on the dynamic capabilities literature to explore how the mne develops the capabilities needed to achieve this flexibility through a qualitative longitudinal case study spanning 12 years we identify three recombination capabilities legitimizing leveraging and launching capabilities through which the mne develops organizational flexibility we find that these recombination capabilities improve the mnes ability to sense and seize new opportunities and enable the mne to overcome organizational impediments to achieve flexibility our study offers a process perspective that shows how the three capabilities together nourish the mnes resilience to continuously balance between global integration and local responsiveness our findings have managerial implications illustrating that launching new strategic initiatives may fail if the mne does not have the capabilities to legitimize the new initiatives and to ensure that existing organizational strengths are properly leveraged to support the new initiatives

the determinants of mne subsidiaries political strategies evidence of institutional duality in this study we develop and test a model of the determinants of political strategies used by foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises mnes using recent theoretical advances in institutional theory that recognize that mne subsidiaries are confronted with pressures for isomorphism within the corporation internal legitimacy and within the host country external legitimacy we integrate international business and political strategy literatures to create a multilevel model of subsidiary host country and parent determinants of political strategy our hypotheses are tested using survey and archival data from western european subsidiaries of us mnes

do input subsidy programs crowd in or crowd out commercial market development modeling fertilizer demand in a two channel marketing system many governments in developing countries distribute fertilizer at subsidized prices in an effort to stimulate small farmers agricultural productivity and food security prior fertilizer demand studies have largely failed to account for the effects of government programs on farmers commercial purchases using a double hurdle model and nationally representative rural household panel data in zambia we distinguish between these sources and measure the contemporaneous crowding in and crowding out effects of government input programs on commercial fertilizer sales where the private sector is relatively active and average wealth is higher areas seemingly more likely to be targeted by government programs results indicate that subsidies have substantially crowded out the private sector in some cases to the point that such programs could actually lower overall fertilizer use on the other hand in poorer areas where the private sector is relatively inactive subsidies help to generate demand and crowd in private sector retailers empirical studies explicitly modeling farmers fertilizer purchase behavior within a dual marketing framework can provide important insights for agricultural policy discussions in developing countries

productivity and welfare effects of nigeria s e voucher based input subsidy program summary in an attempt to go beyond the so called smart subsidies nigeria has embarked on a potentially innovative mobile phone based input subsidy program that provides fertilizer and improved seed subsidies through electronic vouchers in this article we examined the productivity and welfare effects of the program using household level data from rural nigeria the article employed instrumental variable regression approach to control for the potential endogeneity of the input subsidy program our results suggest that the program is effective in improving productivity and welfare outcomes of beneficiary smallholders the size of the estimated effects suggests a large improvement in productivity and welfare outcomes moreover the distributional effects of the program suggest no heterogeneity effects based on gender and farm land size these results are robust to using alternative measurements of program participation the benefit cost ratio of 1 11 suggests that the program is marginally cost effective overall our results suggest that while improving average productivity is a good outcome for improving food security improving the distributional outcome of the program by targeting the most disadvantaged groups would maximize the program s contribution to food security and poverty reduction

international strategy and environment an assessment of the performance relationship this study develops a classification of international business level strategies built on the dimensions of segment differentiation and geographic scope in addition performance outcomes associated with specific international environment and business level strategy matches are suggested using information from firms competing in both global and multidomestic industries the study finds that geographic scope and segment differentiation can be used to distinguish four international strategies the effectiveness of which is a function of the environments in which firms compete

split management control and international joint venture performance a framework is presented to characterize four different ways in which management control is partitioned between a multinational enterprise mne and local partners within international joint ventures jvs split control management shared management mne partner dominant management and local partner dominant management the framework was tested using a sample of international jvs in korea we found that jvs following the split control management performed better than any other approach no performance differences were found among the remaining three types of management control this suggests that mnes and local partners should split control that is choose the activities to control so that those chosen activities can be matched with their respective firm specific advantages

human capital in multinational enterprises does strategic alignment matter this research proposes a strategic human capital alignment framework to examine whether the alignment between subsidiary strategy i e export oriented vs local market oriented strategy and human capital i e parent firm vs local specific human capital is positively related to subsidiary performance in multinational enterprises mnes we further explore two important exogenous i e foreign exchange rate change and endogenous i e mne international experience boundary conditions since they may adjust the positive effect of strategic human capital alignment on performance the analysis based on 5604 subsidiary observations of 423 mnes from 1990 to 2012 confirms the positive synergic effect of aligning subsidiary strategy and human capital and shows the moderating effects of foreign exchange rate change and mne international experience by presenting the importance of subsidiary strategy global staffing alignment and the roles of external economic environments and internal organizational capabilities as boundary conditions the strategic human capital alignment framework suggests that what makes human capital valuable for the firm is its alignment with strategic orientation thus managers should carefully deploy the appropriate type of human capital to fulfill the requisite organizational strategy and take into account changing external and internal contextual conditions in applying the framework

strategic and financial performance implications of global sourcing strategy a contingency analysis using a contingency model of global sourcing strategy this study investigated the moderating effects of sourcing related factors on the relationship between sourcing strategy and a product s strategic and financial performance the results lent some support to the contingency model of global sourcing strategy in that product innovation process innovation and asset specificity were significant moderator variables for financial but not strategic performance however the results provided no support for bargaining power of suppliers and transaction frequency as moderator variables in other words in achieving high financial performance for a product whether a particular sourcing strategy should be used for a particular product depended on the levels of product innovation process innovation and asset specificity

high profit strategies in mature capital goods industries a contingency approach high profit and low profit strategic gestalts in two different types of mature capital goods industries are examined multiple avenues to high profits are found within both types but they differ

the use of process and output controls in foreign markets this study builds upon previous control research to propose a model of formal controls used in managing activities performed in foreign markets theoretically derived contingency relationships are also proposed to assess the performance consequences of different formal control types the findings support the importance of internal and external sources of uncertainty in determining the type of control used partial support was also found for the premise that the fit between the type of control used and the type of uncertainty perceived will contribute to superior performance

a review of research on the growth of multinational enterprises a penrosean lens abstract we provide a comprehensive review of the growth of multinational enterprises mnes based on a quarter century 25 years of scholarly international business publications we synthesize research insights on the determinants of the growth of mnes through the lens of penrose s theory of firm growth which is the most influential theoretical perspective on firm growth the review takes stock of the research findings on the facilitators constraints and the trajectory of growth of mnes and elaborates on the commonalities and differences between research on the growth of mnes that draws on penrose s theory and research that does not this comparison highlights the opportunity to build an internally coherent theory of the growth of mnes that is a theory that connects what an mne is to what determines an mne s growth it also indicates that past research placed a strong emphasis on exogenous factors e g cross country distances as key constraints on growth even though the penrosean lens suggests a close consideration of endogenous factors that drive international growth as well as endogenizing the ostensibly exogenous growth determinants the review highlights the importance of firm specific managerial knowledge and learning which shapes the direction of the growth of mnes and ensures its administrative coherence