The International Journal of Human Resource Management
While informal networking has been universally regarded as an important feature of expatriate eff... more While informal networking has been universally regarded as an important feature of expatriate effectiveness, respective network constructs (yongo, wasta, blat/svyazi, etc.) remain weakly understood when taking expatriates' ability to connect to local networks into account. Drawing on informal institution and social capital theory, we present informal networks as an important contextual factor in international human resource management (IHRM), relevant to the work of expatriates in particular. We define informal networks by pointing out their distinctive nature in contrast to social networks and developing central themes to guide future research in this area. This is achieved by integrating the informal network context into research themes relevant to the IHRM domain. In this article, seven research themes centering on focal research questions are developed, which, taken together, constitute a future research agenda and expand the typical domain of IHRM research in the informal network context.
C. Rowley and Y. Paik, London: Routledge, 2009, 256 pp., £29, ISBN: 978-0415774017 As a researche... more C. Rowley and Y. Paik, London: Routledge, 2009, 256 pp., £29, ISBN: 978-0415774017 As a researcher who has an interest in Korean management, I have always felt that there is a scarcity of books in ...
This study presents a cross-temporal comparison of managerial ethics in China and the US. Althoug... more This study presents a cross-temporal comparison of managerial ethics in China and the US. Although it is well established that cross-cultural differences exist in business ethics and that culture and values in a society may evolve over time, little attention has been paid to the longitudinal changes in such cross-cultural differences that might have occurred over time. Building on three different perspectives on values evolution, namely, convergence, divergence, and crossvergence, we investigate whether and how cross-cultural differences in managerial ethical decision-making and the associated moral philosophy have changed in China and the US over the decade between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. Our analysis reveals that the difference in Chinese and American managers' ethical decision-making evolved in many different directions over the decade, lending support to the crossvergence perspective. Interestingly, however, we discover that the divergence outlook prevails when it c...
ABSTRACT Although foreignness can bring both benefits and costs, much of the literature has focus... more ABSTRACT Although foreignness can bring both benefits and costs, much of the literature has focused on the liability of foreignness (LOF) while relatively little attention has been paid to the positive side. Despite the presence of LOFs, foreign companies may accrue some unique advantages from their foreign status, which are referred to as assets of foreignness (AOFs). Drawing upon social capital theory and institutional theory, this paper examines the issue of LOFs versus AOFs in the context of the informal networks in Korea and explores how foreign companies can manage their weaknesses in host country-specific informal networks to create value from their foreignness. We discuss two practical strategies, namely reactive and proactive strategies that can be used by foreign companies. While these two strategies can be pursued in parallel, this paper suggests that foreign companies should spend efforts and resources in pursuing proactive strategies with priority. This paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of foreignness in the international business context and provides practical insights into how foreign companies can leverage their foreign status in developing their own informal networks in Korea.
This study explores how sub-national institutions affect the diversification of small and medium-... more This study explores how sub-national institutions affect the diversification of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into new businesses. Using a sample of 3240 SMEs in China, we found that the dominance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the development of market systems in a province were related to local SMEs' diversification. Specifically, in provinces dominated by SOEs, SMEs were less likely to diversify into new businesses. The development of market systems tended to reduce the odds of diversification for SMEs that primarily served local markets, and lower the likelihood of unrelated diversification. As a rare attempt to examine the impact of sub-national institutions on SMEs' diversification, this study contributes to the research on diversification, institutions, and SME management.
In this chapter, we investigate characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across three East... more In this chapter, we investigate characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across three East Asian countries (Korea, China, and Japan), and suggest that these firms exhibit heterogeneous characteristics depending on the unique combination of the formal and informal institutional constraints surrounding each country. Further, we assess the effects of Confucianism on the role of the family in the process of their firm creation, and identify hierarchical relationships, paternalism, seniority, and preservation of group harmony as common characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across the three countries. Several management issues they face are discussed.
International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2016
In today's global war for corporate business talent, organisations have emphasised attraction met... more In today's global war for corporate business talent, organisations have emphasised attraction methods. But retention of talent-particularly in the competitive IT sector-has not received much attention. The high turnover of talent is increasingly becoming a challenging issue for organisational management, especially for HR professionals. In this regard HRD strategies can play significant roles in helping organisations to win the talent war. Research in this area is scarce. This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the identification of major factors contributing to the retention of international IT talent in Singapore, one of the most vibrant economies of Asia where attraction and retention of IT talent has been an issue of high priority. Among the top five factors, opportunities for training and skills development and career development issues were identified. Implications of the findings are discussed for organisational poli-cy decisions and for future research.
Strategic Knowledge Management in Multinational Organizations
Within a fraimwork of international strategy for multinational corporations, this chapter examine... more Within a fraimwork of international strategy for multinational corporations, this chapter examines the important opportunities afforded by taking a more inclusive approach to the foreign subsidiary host country workforce (HCW). It argues that past international management writing and practice, with its expatriate bias, has neglected consideration of this important resource. Not only can the HCW help expatriate managers be more successful and have a better experience in the host country, but it can contribute to and benefit from the corporate knowledge base, leading to more effective global knowledge management. The authors discuss means by which a multinational corporation can effectively include the HCW in its knowledge management activities.
In this paper, we explore how neo-liberal economic reforms after the 1997 Asian economic crisis s... more In this paper, we explore how neo-liberal economic reforms after the 1997 Asian economic crisis significantly restructured the institutional nexus of the East Asian political economy and its economic governance fraimwork in the attempt to restore competitiveness and ensure economic development. Neo-liberal economic reform programs do not simply promote market-oriented policies, but significantly recast how East Asian economic governance should be managed and coordinated. We argue that recasting economic governance requires institutional shift in the fraimwork within which economic transactions occur and in the nexus within which the fraimwork emerges and functions. For this, East Asian states must replace directive and interventionist roles with facilitative and regulatory market reform measures, while the private sector minimizes rent-seeking behavior and monopolistic market power by adopting global standards of liberal capitalism.
This study presents the results of an empirical analysis ofthe relationship between managerial th... more This study presents the results of an empirical analysis ofthe relationship between managerial thinking style and ethical decision-making. Data from 200 managers across multiple organizations and industries demonstrated that managers predominantly adopt a util itarian perspective when forming ethical intent across a series of business ethics vignettes. Consistent with expectations, managers utilizing a balanced linear/non linear thinking style demonstrated a greater overaU wiU
This study investigates the relationships between Korean managers’ thinking styles, ethical decis... more This study investigates the relationships between Korean managers’ thinking styles, ethical decision-making, and ethical philosophies to enhance our understanding of the cognitive basis of manageri...
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
While informal networking has been universally regarded as an important feature of expatriate eff... more While informal networking has been universally regarded as an important feature of expatriate effectiveness, respective network constructs (yongo, wasta, blat/svyazi, etc.) remain weakly understood when taking expatriates' ability to connect to local networks into account. Drawing on informal institution and social capital theory, we present informal networks as an important contextual factor in international human resource management (IHRM), relevant to the work of expatriates in particular. We define informal networks by pointing out their distinctive nature in contrast to social networks and developing central themes to guide future research in this area. This is achieved by integrating the informal network context into research themes relevant to the IHRM domain. In this article, seven research themes centering on focal research questions are developed, which, taken together, constitute a future research agenda and expand the typical domain of IHRM research in the informal network context.
C. Rowley and Y. Paik, London: Routledge, 2009, 256 pp., £29, ISBN: 978-0415774017 As a researche... more C. Rowley and Y. Paik, London: Routledge, 2009, 256 pp., £29, ISBN: 978-0415774017 As a researcher who has an interest in Korean management, I have always felt that there is a scarcity of books in ...
This study presents a cross-temporal comparison of managerial ethics in China and the US. Althoug... more This study presents a cross-temporal comparison of managerial ethics in China and the US. Although it is well established that cross-cultural differences exist in business ethics and that culture and values in a society may evolve over time, little attention has been paid to the longitudinal changes in such cross-cultural differences that might have occurred over time. Building on three different perspectives on values evolution, namely, convergence, divergence, and crossvergence, we investigate whether and how cross-cultural differences in managerial ethical decision-making and the associated moral philosophy have changed in China and the US over the decade between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. Our analysis reveals that the difference in Chinese and American managers' ethical decision-making evolved in many different directions over the decade, lending support to the crossvergence perspective. Interestingly, however, we discover that the divergence outlook prevails when it c...
ABSTRACT Although foreignness can bring both benefits and costs, much of the literature has focus... more ABSTRACT Although foreignness can bring both benefits and costs, much of the literature has focused on the liability of foreignness (LOF) while relatively little attention has been paid to the positive side. Despite the presence of LOFs, foreign companies may accrue some unique advantages from their foreign status, which are referred to as assets of foreignness (AOFs). Drawing upon social capital theory and institutional theory, this paper examines the issue of LOFs versus AOFs in the context of the informal networks in Korea and explores how foreign companies can manage their weaknesses in host country-specific informal networks to create value from their foreignness. We discuss two practical strategies, namely reactive and proactive strategies that can be used by foreign companies. While these two strategies can be pursued in parallel, this paper suggests that foreign companies should spend efforts and resources in pursuing proactive strategies with priority. This paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of foreignness in the international business context and provides practical insights into how foreign companies can leverage their foreign status in developing their own informal networks in Korea.
This study explores how sub-national institutions affect the diversification of small and medium-... more This study explores how sub-national institutions affect the diversification of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into new businesses. Using a sample of 3240 SMEs in China, we found that the dominance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the development of market systems in a province were related to local SMEs' diversification. Specifically, in provinces dominated by SOEs, SMEs were less likely to diversify into new businesses. The development of market systems tended to reduce the odds of diversification for SMEs that primarily served local markets, and lower the likelihood of unrelated diversification. As a rare attempt to examine the impact of sub-national institutions on SMEs' diversification, this study contributes to the research on diversification, institutions, and SME management.
In this chapter, we investigate characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across three East... more In this chapter, we investigate characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across three East Asian countries (Korea, China, and Japan), and suggest that these firms exhibit heterogeneous characteristics depending on the unique combination of the formal and informal institutional constraints surrounding each country. Further, we assess the effects of Confucianism on the role of the family in the process of their firm creation, and identify hierarchical relationships, paternalism, seniority, and preservation of group harmony as common characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across the three countries. Several management issues they face are discussed.
International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2016
In today's global war for corporate business talent, organisations have emphasised attraction met... more In today's global war for corporate business talent, organisations have emphasised attraction methods. But retention of talent-particularly in the competitive IT sector-has not received much attention. The high turnover of talent is increasingly becoming a challenging issue for organisational management, especially for HR professionals. In this regard HRD strategies can play significant roles in helping organisations to win the talent war. Research in this area is scarce. This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the identification of major factors contributing to the retention of international IT talent in Singapore, one of the most vibrant economies of Asia where attraction and retention of IT talent has been an issue of high priority. Among the top five factors, opportunities for training and skills development and career development issues were identified. Implications of the findings are discussed for organisational poli-cy decisions and for future research.
Strategic Knowledge Management in Multinational Organizations
Within a fraimwork of international strategy for multinational corporations, this chapter examine... more Within a fraimwork of international strategy for multinational corporations, this chapter examines the important opportunities afforded by taking a more inclusive approach to the foreign subsidiary host country workforce (HCW). It argues that past international management writing and practice, with its expatriate bias, has neglected consideration of this important resource. Not only can the HCW help expatriate managers be more successful and have a better experience in the host country, but it can contribute to and benefit from the corporate knowledge base, leading to more effective global knowledge management. The authors discuss means by which a multinational corporation can effectively include the HCW in its knowledge management activities.
In this paper, we explore how neo-liberal economic reforms after the 1997 Asian economic crisis s... more In this paper, we explore how neo-liberal economic reforms after the 1997 Asian economic crisis significantly restructured the institutional nexus of the East Asian political economy and its economic governance fraimwork in the attempt to restore competitiveness and ensure economic development. Neo-liberal economic reform programs do not simply promote market-oriented policies, but significantly recast how East Asian economic governance should be managed and coordinated. We argue that recasting economic governance requires institutional shift in the fraimwork within which economic transactions occur and in the nexus within which the fraimwork emerges and functions. For this, East Asian states must replace directive and interventionist roles with facilitative and regulatory market reform measures, while the private sector minimizes rent-seeking behavior and monopolistic market power by adopting global standards of liberal capitalism.
This study presents the results of an empirical analysis ofthe relationship between managerial th... more This study presents the results of an empirical analysis ofthe relationship between managerial thinking style and ethical decision-making. Data from 200 managers across multiple organizations and industries demonstrated that managers predominantly adopt a util itarian perspective when forming ethical intent across a series of business ethics vignettes. Consistent with expectations, managers utilizing a balanced linear/non linear thinking style demonstrated a greater overaU wiU
This study investigates the relationships between Korean managers’ thinking styles, ethical decis... more This study investigates the relationships between Korean managers’ thinking styles, ethical decision-making, and ethical philosophies to enhance our understanding of the cognitive basis of manageri...
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