Seminars
To RSVP for any of these seminars contact Nemone Goonasekera.
Unless otherwise specified, the seminars are held in room 214 of the Economics and Business Building (cnr of Rose and Codrington Streets, Darlington).
| 1 April | |
| Speaker: | Andrew Delios, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore |
| Title: | Competitive Strategy and Business Groups |
| Abstract: | We discuss how research in competitive strategy can be advanced by focusing on the phenomenon of business groups and their development in evolving institutional environments and new international environments. We develop several research ideas commensurate with this discussion, and follow this with an investigation of the performance implications of business group affiliation over a longitudinal period to capture the effects of institutional transitions. Drawing from the institutional voids and market failure perspectives of business groups, we argue that as institutions in a country evolve and markets for capital, labor and products develop, the positive effects of group affiliation will decline, while the negative effects will increase. We test our arguments on a sample of 8,882 Indian firms, 3,087 of which are affiliated with business groups and 5,795 of which are not. We look at the 12 year time period, from 1993-2004, during which there has been substantial development in various markets in India. We find that group affiliation becomes affiliated with lower firm performance during a period in which substantial institutional transitions have taken place |
| About the Speaker: | Andrew Delios is Head and Associate Professor in the Department of Business Policy at the National University of Singapore. He completed his Ph.D. in 1998 at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Andrew is an author or co-author of more than 60 published journal articles, case studies and book chapters. His articles have appeared in journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Management and Organization Review and Asian Case Research Journal, among other journals. He is an author or co-author of five books: Strategy for Success in Asia (Wiley), International Business: An Asia Pacific Perspective (Pearson), Japanese Multinationals in the Global Economy (Edward Elgar), Japanese Subsidiaries in the Global Economy (Edward Elgar), and International Business in the Asia-Pacific (Pearson). Andrew has worked and lived in Asia for more than 12 years, including three years in Hong Kong and two in Japan. He has also worked in Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, New Zealand, Sweden, Thailand and the United States. |
| 9 April | |
| Speaker: | Wenzhen Jane LU, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore |
| Title: | From Inward FDI to Outward FDI: The Direct and Moderating Effects of Emerging Market Firms’ Group Experience |
| Abstract: | This study examines a firm’s foreign direct investment (FDI) activities and business group experience in relations to its outward FDI activities. Drawing on resource-based view and organizational learning theory, our analysis of a panel data of 150 Chinese firms during the period of 2000 to 2005 shows that business group experience has a positive impact on a firm’s level of outward FDI. More importantly, business group experience positively moderates the inward-outward FDI connection. Our findings point to the direct and moderating roles of a firm’s business group experience in its outward FDI activities. |
| About the Speaker: | Wenzhen J Lu (PhD, University of Western Ontario) is an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. She was awarded Outstanding Reviewer in 1996 by the Journal of Business Venturing in 2006 and received the Haynes Prize Award for Best Paper at Academy of International Business Conference in the same year. Professor Lu was a Doctoral Consortium Panelist at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting and at the Academy of International Business Annual Meeting in 2007. |
| 11 April | |
| Speaker: | Jean-Francois Hennart, Professor, University of Maryland |
| Title: | Market Entry and Expansion as Bundling of MNE and Local Assets |
| Abstract: | I look at the choice of entry modes as one between alternative ways of bundling the assets held by the MNE and those held by host-country owners. I show that this perspective provides interesting insights on the nature of joint ventures, the necessary and sufficient conditions for MNE expansion, OEM contracts, the choice between greenfield and acquisition entry, and the Uppsala Internationalization Model. |
| About the Speaker: | Jean-François Hennart (PhD, Economics, University of Maryland) is Professor of International Management and Director of Graduate Studies in Business at Tilburg University. His research focuses on the comparative study of international economic institutions such as multinational firms and their contractual alternatives, joint ventures and alliances, and modes of foreign market entry. His Theory of Multinational Enterprise pioneered the application of transaction cost theory to international business. He is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and of the European International Business Academy and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Vaasa. His work has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Organization Science, Management Science, the Strategic Management Journal and the Journal of International Business Studies, among others. |
| 1 May | |
| Speaker: | Oliver Gottschalg, Associate Professor, HEC School of Management, Paris |
| Title: | Understanding the Buyers’ Role in Private Equity Returns - The Influence of Skills, Strategy and Experience |
| Abstract: | We examine to what extent the characteristics of private equity buyers influence rates of return in their investee firms using a unique and proprietary hand-collected dataset comprising 901 US private equity backed buyout investments derived from the audited track records of private equity firms reported in Private Placement Memoranda (PPMs). We find that rates of return on the investee firm is increased with: a convex (u-shaped) relationship with the experience the private equity firm has with private equity investing; fewer deals that are done in parallel and hence the more strategic involvement by the private equity firm; and greater expertise of the private equity firm. We do not find that sector focus of the private equity firm plays a role in the value creation/rate of return on the investee. |
| About the Speaker: | Oliver Gottschalg is part of the Strategy Department at HEC School of Management, Paris. He serves as Director of the Entrepreneurship Track in the HEC MBA program, co-directs the HEC-INSEAD Buyout Research Group and teaches courses on strategy, entrepreneurship, business plan design and management buyouts at the Master, MBA and Executive Education level. He holds a Wirtschaftsingenieur Diploma from the University of Karlsruhe, an MBA from Georgia State University and a M.Sc. and PhD in Management degree from INSEAD.
His academic research addresses various topics related to the strategic logic and the performance determinants of private equity investments. Recent work focused on questions of performance measurement and benchmarking for private equity investments, the role of managerial motivation in management buyouts, interest alignment between owners and managers as a source of competitive advantage, investment management team characteristics and the impact of syndicated private equity deals. His work has been published in leading academic journals, such as the Academy of Management Review and the Review of Financial Studies, and in various publications for practitioners, such as the Harvard Business Review, and is widely featured in the business press. He regularly presents his research at academic conferences and private equity symposia and serves as an advisor to leading investors in the private equity industry. |
| 29 August | |
| Speaker: | Professor Benjamin Milton Oviatt, Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America |
| Title: | Entry into Geographically and Psychically Distant Foreign Markets by Small and New Ventures |
| Abstract: | More often than we would expect, small and new ventures, which already suffer from few slack resources and lack of industry legitimacy take on the additional uncertainties of entry into foreign markets and foreign direct investment. Some of these foreign entries involve countries that are geographically distant and culturally quite different from the firm’s home country. Yet we have no established model of distant foreign entry to guide research. This paper presents such a model. It highlights such influential factors as business and personal networks, international business experience, product strategy, and the speed of foreign entry. |
| About the Speaker: | Professor Oviatt created Georgia State University’s first course in international entrepreneurship, its first course in international strategy, and it first entrepreneur internships. In addition, he teaches strategic management and entrepreneurship courses at the doctoral, masters, and undergraduate levels. Professor Oviatt’s pioneering research on international new ventures (conducted with Dr. Patricia McDougall, Indiana University, USA) has been recognised with a number of prestigious international awards, including the 2004 Journal of International Business Studies Decade Award. In 2000, he received honourable mention in the Academy of Management Journals’ Hall of Fame. He is one of the founders of the Doctoral Workshop in International Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. This Workshop has enjoyed eight years of sold-out operation, teaching doctoral students around the world how to conduct research in international entrepreneurship. Articles written by Professor Oviatt have appeared in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Management Science, and other publications. He is a past Associate Editor of Academy of Management Executive and has served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Review, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of International Entrepreneurship and other journals. In April 2008, Professor Oviatt will join the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. Previously he was Professor of Managerial Sciences and founding Director of the H. J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. Professor Oviatt’s extensive knowledge, research and experience will, of no doubt, provide an enthralling insight into the areas of management and entrepreneurship and is a keynote address not to be missed at PBFEAM 2008. |
| 10 October | |
| Speaker: | Professor Shuming Zhao,Dean of the School of Business, Nanjing University, China |
| Title: | Economic Reform and Human Resource Management in China |
| Abstract: |
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| About the Speaker: | Shuming Zhao is Professor and Dean of the School of Business, Nanjing University. He serves as President of the International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR), President for Jiangsu Provincial Association of Human Resource Management, Vice President of the Human Resource Research Association of China, Vice President of Jiangsu Provincial Association of Business Management and Entrepreneurs, and Member of the Human Resource Development Committee of Macao Special Administrative Region Government, P.R. China. He served as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Macau University of Science and Technology from 2002 to 2006. Professor Zhao graduated from the English Language and Literature Department, Nanjing University in 1977. He holds a master’s degree in linguistics and education (1983) and Ph.D. in higher education and human resource management (1990) from Claremont Graduate University in the United States. He was a post-doctoral fellow of human resource management at the College of Business, Florida Atlantic University in the United States from 1990 to 1991. Professor Zhao is an internationally-known scholar in human resource management and multinational business management. He was among the first group of scholars to introduce western human resource management theory to China and has conducted numerous national studies to advance the understanding of human resource management practices in Chinese firms. He has chaired several research projects for the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Provincial Government. He has published more than 20 books and over 200 academic papers and articles, such as Human Resource Management in Transnational Corporation (co-authored with Peter J. Dowling and Denice E. Welch, Beijing: China Renmin University, 2001); Research on Human Resource Management (Beijing: China Renmin University, 2001); The New Development of Human Resource Management Research, (co-edited with Feng Zhiyan and Liu Hong, Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2002); Research on Human Resource Management Strategies in Corporate Groups, (Nanjing, Nanjing University Press, 2003); Human Resource Management, 9th edition (co-authored with Robert Mathis and John Jackson, Beijing: Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2003); Research on Human Resource Management Strategies in Corporate Groups (Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2003), and A Study of Professional Competencies of Chinese Managers (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2008). |