Search

Purpose – After years of financial success with consumers in Japan, the Häagen-Dazs brand suffered accelerating sales declines. This case study presents the three significant reasons and the solutions developed to successfully reinvent the brand. Design/methodology/approach – The key to this challenge was the vision and strength of the leader who was tasked with the turnaround and the case looks at his problem assessment, insights and solutions. Findings – Even a strong and popular brand needs good leadership to retain its position in the marketplace. Practical implications – As your market evolves you need to reinvent your brand constantly, but that does not mean churning the product. In Japan, product churn is an occupational hazard of consumer marketing and, as in this case, resisting such a tendency was the best strategy. Originality/value – This case shows that it takes leadership qualities to get innovative strategic initiatives past the marketing gatekeepers who are best at monitoring the status quo but not quick to sense the need for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are four major modes through which firms undertake foreign direct investment (FDI) - merger and acquisition (M&A), joint venture (JV), new plant (NP) and others (O). The four modes of FDI are distinct from each other, and each has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. While a large and growing empirical literature examines the determinants of FDI, very few studies examine the determinants of different modes of FDI. The central objective of this paper is to empirically analyze the extent to which the determinants of FDI such as firm size influences the choice of one mode of FDI over another. Our analysis follows a stylized two-stage investment process. First, we look at the probability of whether a Japanese firm is willing to undertake FDI in the US. Second, for firms that are willing to undertake FDI, we analyze which mode of FDI - i.e. M&A, joint venture, new plant or other FDI - they will undertake. The second stage is the innovation of this paper and its contribution to the FDI literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Viacom's MTV localisation strategy in East Asia - specifically South Korea, China and Japan, which should be interpreted not in the context of globalisation but of glocalisation, because the strategy for entry into foreign markets means that localised programming and business modes are more successful than other strategies (e.g. standardisation or unification). The results of this study show that Viacom's MTV used joint ventures as its primary localised business mode in East Asia. This particular mode is more efficient and beneficial to an international company like Viacom in countries that are not only distant, but also culturally, politically, financially and economically challenging to them. In terms of localised programming, MTV Korea, MTV China and MTV Japan all used local staff and local languages, and all three channels showed different trends in the types of programmes they broadcast: MTV Korea aired more local programmes, MTV Japan aired more Western music and MTV China depended more on programming from neighbouring nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This current study investigates how employees' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) mediates the relationships among perceived human resource management practices (i.e., retention-oriented compensation and formalized training) on the employees' intention to leave their jobs. The universalistic proposition framework provides the basis for this study. Using a sample of 152 respondents from a Sino-Japanese joint venture located in China, we found that retention-oriented compensation and formalized training are positively related to the engagement of OCB, while they are negatively associated with intention to leave the organization. In addition, we also discovered that OCB mediates the effects of retention-oriented compensation and formalized training on the said intention to leave. We likewise discuss their implications in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical formalization of the joint-venture contract, as an alternative to foreign direct investment (FDI), within a Dissipation of Intangible Assets (DIA) framework. In a two-period model, we discuss how the threat of knowledge spillover shapes the boundaries of a multinational enterprise (MNE). Similarly to the theoretical findings on the FDI-licensing trade-off, we show that the integrated solution is more likely to emerge when know-how easily spills over—i.e., when firms are endowed with more intangible assets or they belong to high-tech industries. Probit estimates, from a new firm-level data set, show that Japanese manufacturing operations in Europe are in line with these predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]