Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'International Performance - Indian Context'

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 2007.
Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Management, Faculty of Law, Business and Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2007. Includes bibliographical references.

This paper studies the relationship between firm performance, proxied by Tobin's Q, and two distinct ownership types, managerial owned firms and outside owned firms. The sample consists of 2005 young firms from Europe and the US that incorporated since the dot-com-bubble 2001. Very similar to the pre-2001 period, young and highly funded firms are of popular concern. In particular their owners, founders and CEOs are topic of interest and serve as figurehead for their company, raising the question whether their firms perform better if they also own them or not and whether that differs with the institutional framework that the company is situated in. Thus the research question is the following: What is the effect of having management as majority shareholder(s) on the performance of the young firm in different environments? To find an answer, I used quantitative data from Orbis and analyzed it using time-series panel data, recent information using simple OLS as well as multiple analyses of variance. I find evidence of higher valuations of firms owned by managers, especially in countries with common law and stronger shareholder rights. I also find evidence of relatively lower valuations of firms owned by their managers when these are situated in code law countries or countries with stronger creditor rights. A surprising addition to the findings were extreme values of Tobin's Q that may indicate another bubble in the making, coincidentally closing the circle of this study.

This thesis aims to explore the issues around intercultural translation and whether or not intercultural theatre can even truly represent non-domestic texts without distortion. In order to explore this in detail, this thesis uses as its research target an in-depth analysis of two productions produced at Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). Edinburgh International Festival was chosen as an appropriate cultural platform for this discussion due to its international recognition. In order to reveal the Eurocentric-oriented ideology within the Festival's policy and discuss the implications of this Eurocentric ideology for possibilities of intercultural translation, the thesis will explore the changes in programming policy by different EIF Festival Directors since 1947. Edward Said's 'Orientalism' is used as major reference regarding the Eurocentric ideology, and the concept of Western interculturalism. Several occidental and semi-western views are explored with relation to Broadway production on oriental themes in order to further explore Said's idea of "Orientalism". The thesis shows how this idea is present in the EIF's context, based on an in-depth analysis of two intercultural productions of 'Macbeth': Ninagawa and Kunju. The aim is to show how these two productions represent a Western audience's voice. Since the question of identification is one of the major concerns in intercultural theatre practice, the thesis discusses the issues of identity and analyses potential for indigenous Asian theatre forms to engage in intercultural exchange in a way that would be built on equality rather than changing those forms to suit Western audiences' understanding. Accordingly, two intercultural productions of Ninagawa and Kunju 'Macbeth', which were presented on EIF's stage in 1985 and 1987 respectively, and their performance texts will be analysed in terms of the implication of EIF's programming policy on Japan's and China's theatre works presented at the Festival. The resulting research outcomes indicate that equal exchange and authentic representation between different cultures may be impossible.

Although research on foreign market entry and expansion behaviour has attracted significant interest in the literature, there is a general lack of research (both conceptual and empirical) on the exit behaviour of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) firms. To address this issue, the current study develops a conceptual framework by extending the Environment-Strategy-Performance (ESP) paradigm to include the exit decision as a consequence of current performance. This thesis draws notions from various theories including the ESP paradigm, fit theory, dynamic capabilities (DC) theory, and the theory of competitive advantage. The objective is to take an initial step towards reducing the discrepancy between previous conceptual research and empirical research on exit, by developing a conceptual framework and empirically examining it in the context of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI). It also aims to lay the conceptual foundation for subsequent empirical research on international marketing and international exit. Several research hypotheses are advanced and tested using questionnaire survey data. The main research results show that both dissatisfactory performance of a foreign affiliate, and the internal strategic misfit between a foreign affiliate and its headquarters are important triggers of the exit decision. However, when the moderating role of a foreign affiliate’s marketing capabilities is considered, the impact of strategic misfit on the exit decision becomes not significant, whereas the influence of dissatisfactory performance on the exit decision remains significant. The research results have generated new insights into both international marketing strategy and international exit behaviour. Implications for both headquarters’ managers and foreign affiliates’ managers are also discussed.

This dissertation examines the identity of new controlling shareholders in partial corporate control transactions and its influence on firm performance and corporate policies in an international context. In a transfer of partial corporate control, the identity of controlling shareholder changs, thereby facilitating an event study of corporate changes resulted from controlling shareholder turnover. The dissertation comprises of three empirical research projects to address two questions: Firstly, does the identity of a new controlling shareholder in a partial control transfer matter to firm value? Secondly, how does new controlling shareholder identity explain the differences of firm performance and corporate policies in the long run? The equity block transactions in listed firms from around the world announced between 1996 and 2005 are filtered to arrive at the final sample of 215 corporate control transfers through private negotiation. This hand-collected dataset allows the dissertation to contribute to the existing literature on ownership concentration by introducing the identity of controlling shareholder into the theoretical framework and investigating its significance in an international context. It is argued that firm value, long-term performance and corporate policies can be influenced by the identity of new controlling shareholders because different controlling shareholders have distinct incentives, skills and styles. This dissertation finds that individual investor controlled firms outperform those controlled by corporate investors in both short-term abnormal returns and long-term performance after a control transfer; and that the sample firms controlled by individual and corporate investors adopt different policies of investment and financial leverage. The evidence presented here shows that individual controlling shareholders are better motivated to monitor managers and improve operational efficiency. Partial corporate control activities have important governance effects and controlling shareholder heterogeneity is a significant contributing factor to firm performance and decision making.

The Peruvian economy has performed extraordinarily over the last 10 years. The 2012 per capita GDP is 66 percent above that of 2002, and more than double its 1992 level. In a long term perspective, the cumulative growth of GDP per capita recorded in the last 10 years has been the strongest since 1900. This is the «Peruvian miracle». This paper aims to find the determinants of the Peruvian miracle. In theory, countries’ macroeconomic performance can be determined by two factors: i) the «good (bad) luck effect» that relates to the international context, which may be favorable or unfavorable, and ii) the «good (bad) policies effects», associated with short-term macroeconomic policies or structural reforms,which are policies that alter the current development model. The hypothesis of this work is that the Peruvian miracle of the last 10 years has much to do with good luck, and, in part, with good short-term macroeconomic policies.
La economía peruana ha tenido un desempeño extraordinario en los últimos diez años. El PBI per cápita de 2012 está un 66% por encima del de 2002 y es más del doble de su nivel de 1992. En una perspectiva de largo plazo, el crecimiento acumulado del PBI per cápita registrado en los últimos diez años ha sido el más vigoroso desde 1900. Este es el «milagro peruano». Este artículo tiene como propósito encontrar los factores determinantes del milagro peruano. En teoría,el desempeño macroeconómico de los países puede estar determinado por dos razones: i) el «efecto buena (mala) suerte» que tiene que ver con el contexto internacional que puede ser favorable o desfavorable; y ii) el efecto «buenas (malas) políticas», asociado a las políticas macroeconómicas de cortoplazo o a las reformas estructurales, que son políticas que alteran el modelo de desarrollo vigente. La hipótesis de este trabajo es que el milagro peruano de los últimos diez años tiene mucho que ver con la buena suerte y, en parte, con las buenas políticas macroeconómicas de corto plazo.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) occupy a place of strategic importance in most of the developed and emerging economies. This is primarily because they contribute significantly to employment, GDP, exports and wealth creation in many economies .In addition, they stimulate innovative ideas, entrepreneurial skills and are adaptable to the changing conditions of business environment. An important characteristic of SME growth in recent decades has been its penetration and expansion in the international market to accomplish the objective of growth. This is commonly known as internationalization. The empirical studies on SME internationalization provide several indications about different factors that can be expected to influence the strategy and the degree of internationalization. Accordingly, export behavior of SMEs is determined by the internal factors involving the characteristics of SMEs. Subsequently, SMEs with limited access to financial resources, managerial abilities, and marketing skills find it difficult to enter the foreign market. These barriers would adversely affect their potential for expansion and their survival. Such firms might hardly dare to internationalize. Further, export marketing literature has recognized and highlighted the importance of external determinants that influence the entrepreneurs to initiate the internationalization activity and in formulating the strategies that would enhance their export performance A significant volume of empirical research argues that firms need to focus upon the external situation, on the element of external forces, and on managerial perceptions about these environmental attributes that should be regarded as a significant causal element in determining the internationalization activities. Therefore, SMEs in their early export stages are likely to be determined by both internal and external forces In this respect, a “holistic” approach is required which would facilitate the understanding of the multitude of issues that influence the internationalization decision .Therefore, internationalization of SMEs has to be seen from a strategic angle determined by both internal and external settings. In this view, it is highly important to analyze the factors that affect the SME internationalization decision from a holistic approach by taking into account the influence of antecedents (drivers, barriers, and firm level factors) on internationalization strategy and performance. A consolidated assessment of literature on determinants, strategies, and performance indicates that even though considerable information about these issues are available, research gaps exist in these areas. Therefore, it is to fill this gap that we have proposed a theoretical framework which has been conceptualized around the core aspects of SME internationalization process linking antecedents, strategies, and performance. The specific objectives of this study are: 1. To ascertain the factors that differentiate internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs. 2. To identify and analyze the different antecedents and its influence on the internationalization speed. 3. To examine the influence of various antecedents on the mode of exports adopted by SMEs. 4. To probe the achievements of SME internationalization in terms of scope, degree of internationalization, and economic performance in terms of sales turnover. 5. To derive policy implications for promoting SME internationalization in India. Furthermore, we decided to confine our study to Karnataka state, since this is one of the better industrially developed states in India. Initially, we approached MSMEDI, VITC and FKCCI in Bangalore to get the lists of SME exporters in the state. Subsequently, we merged all the three databases and prepared the district-wise and industry wise distribution of internationalized (exporting) SMEs in Karnataka. We cleaned the raw data as it comprised duplications. The final database comprised 1271 exporting SMEs for 2012/13. Later, we prepared a district-wise list of SME exporters. Since the Bangalore urban district accounted for 958 SMEs (75%) of the total 1271 SME exporters in Karnataka, we decided to confine our study to Bangalore district. We prepared an industry-wise list of SME exporters (as per National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2008, and found that machinery manufacturing industry accounted for a maximum share (182 out of 920) of the total SME exporters in Bangalore. Therefore, we decided to confine our study to the machinery industry SMEs in Bangalore district. Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka state and a major industrial city in India. Bangalore has become a most attractive city for the global investment and has been recognized as the IT capital of India. The study is based on an Ex Post Facto Exploratory research using primary data collected from a sample of 102 exporting and 52 non-exporting SMEs in Bangalore. The data was collected during the period November 2013 to December 2014 using a semi-structured questionnaire followed by visiting the firms and having personal interviews with entrepreneurs/senior managers of the firms and data analysis is done using appropriate statistical packages. Initially, we decided to examine and differentiate internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs in same sector, in terms of their characteristics and economic performance. Further, to bring out the factors that distinguish internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs, we carried out a binary logistic regression analysis for their general profile, technical profile and size profile by combining all the three groups of profiles together. The dependent binary variables distinguished internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs. The overall results indicate that (i) non- internationalized firms are younger than internationalized SMEs, (ii) CEOs of internationalized SMEs are older than that of the later, (iii) internationalized SMEs accounted for a higher sales turnover than non-internationalized SMEs. The very fact that internationalized SMEs accounted for a higher sales turnover than non-internationalized SMEs indicated that internationalization would have enabled SMEs to achieve a higher sales turnover relative to non-internationalized SMEs. We analyzed a range of antecedents and its impact on the international strategies and performance of internationalized SMEs. Basically, the antecedents have been classified into drivers, barriers and firm level factors. For the quantitative measurement of different kinds of drivers and barriers, a Likert type ordinal scale which ranged from 1 to 5, was used. In addition, firm level factors were also taken into account as the antecedents to analyze its influence on the SME internationalization process. Further, an Exploratory Factor Analysis was first undertaken to explain the export drivers into a few underlying dimensions. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the 13 identified export drivers could be reduced to three underlying dimensions. On the other hand, firms might get discouraged to internationalize, due to the obstacles faced either in the form of internal or external sources. According to the results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis, internal barriers which consisted of variables were grouped under four dimensions. The external barriers which consisted of 14 variables were grouped under two dimensions. After identifying the different determinants to SMEs internationalization, we analyzed how these identified determinants were able to differentiate between early and late in terms of internationalization speed. Thereafter, discriminant analysis was performed to analyze how well the explanatory variables were able to differentiate the two groups or categories i.e. early entrants compared to late entrants. Among the different firm level factors, CEOs age and exclusive export marketing division had a significant discriminant coefficient. The results revealed that it is the younger CEOs and their commitment towards internationalization facilitate firms to enter the international market at any early age. Further, among the different barriers, competitive constraints significantly differed between early and late internationalization stating that lack of competitiveness was a major factor responsible for the late internationalization of SMEs. Subsequently, we looked at how various determining factors (antecedents) influence the mode of exports adopted by the SMEs. Firstly, based on the survey data the mode of exports are classified as exports through (i) a multinational company, (ii) international trade exhibitions, (iii) exports through the network of friends and export organization and (iv) E-commerce. Secondly, we looked at the factors which influenced these SMEs in choosing the four alternative modes of entry for internationalization, by means of binary logistic regression technique. Further, the results revealed that those SMEs with CEOs who are less qualified, not highly committed and smaller in size relied on local MNC customers to enter the international market. Further, if SMEs are not highly competitive, face market barriers and influenced by the unanticipated conditions preferred to use MNC route. Subsequently, SMEs with more qualified CEOs’, face operating constraints and policy barriers preferred to enter international market through international trade exhibitions. Those SMEs with CEOs’ who are younger and face finance and information barriers and policy constraints facilitate firms to depend on various sources of network. Finally, SMEs with more qualified CEOs’, smaller in size and face policy barriers have entered the international market through E-commerce route. Finally, we analyzed the role of determining factors on the scope, degree of internationalization and on the economic performance of SMEs. Initially, the different determinants that influence the scope and the degree of internationalization are analyzed. Finally, we analyzed the impact of degree of internationalization on the economic performance of SMEs by using three multiple regression models. Among the firm level factors, only CEOs’ international experience positively influenced the scope of internationalization compared to those firms with CEOs who had lesser international experience. Therefore, it is the entrepreneurs’ competency and skills acquired over a period of time which facilitated firms to expand their scope of internationalization. Subsequently, internationalization speed had positively influenced the scope of internationalization indicating that those SMEs that had entered the international market at an early age were able to diversify its international market. Generally, early exporters were more entrepreneurial in the sense they were capable of identifying, exploring and exploiting opportunities abroad by means of their proactive behavior. We analyzed the influence of speed, scope of internationalization and along with the firm level factors on the degree of internationalization. The results revealed that it was the capabilities that were acquired in terms of experience and the commitment that facilitated firms to achieve a higher degree of internationalization compared to firms that were not capable and committed to internationalization. Further, internationalization speed had positively influenced the degree of internationalization indicating that those SMEs that had entered international market at an early age were able to achieve a higher degree of internationalization compared to those firms that had entered at a later age. Finally, we analyzed the influence of scope and degree of internationalization along with the antecedents on the economic performance in terms of total sales turnover. In the present study, the degree of internationalization had positively influenced the economic performance of SMEs indicating that those firms that had achieved a higher degree of internationalization were able to achieve higher sales turnover than the firms with a lesser degree of internationalization. Therefore, by means of widening foreign markets and building room for expansion, exporting to foreign markets was considered an important route for firm progress. The results of this study underline the need for policy trust to improve the international activities of SMEs. Further, from the research perspective, results provide a significant addition to the existing knowledge about the importance of entrepreneurial competency, commitment to internationalization and an appropriate strategy in explaining the internationalization efforts of SMEs in the emerging market of India.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) occupy a place of strategic importance in most of the developed and emerging economies. This is primarily because they contribute significantly to employment, GDP, exports and wealth creation in many economies .In addition, they stimulate innovative ideas, entrepreneurial skills and are adaptable to the changing conditions of business environment. An important characteristic of SME growth in recent decades has been its penetration and expansion in the international market to accomplish the objective of growth. This is commonly known as internationalization. The empirical studies on SME internationalization provide several indications about different factors that can be expected to influence the strategy and the degree of internationalization. Accordingly, export behavior of SMEs is determined by the internal factors involving the characteristics of SMEs. Subsequently, SMEs with limited access to financial resources, managerial abilities, and marketing skills find it difficult to enter the foreign market. These barriers would adversely affect their potential for expansion and their survival. Such firms might hardly dare to internationalize. Further, export marketing literature has recognized and highlighted the importance of external determinants that influence the entrepreneurs to initiate the internationalization activity and in formulating the strategies that would enhance their export performance A significant volume of empirical research argues that firms need to focus upon the external situation, on the element of external forces, and on managerial perceptions about these environmental attributes that should be regarded as a significant causal element in determining the internationalization activities. Therefore, SMEs in their early export stages are likely to be determined by both internal and external forces In this respect, a “holistic” approach is required which would facilitate the understanding of the multitude of issues that influence the internationalization decision .Therefore, internationalization of SMEs has to be seen from a strategic angle determined by both internal and external settings. In this view, it is highly important to analyze the factors that affect the SME internationalization decision from a holistic approach by taking into account the influence of antecedents (drivers, barriers, and firm level factors) on internationalization strategy and performance. A consolidated assessment of literature on determinants, strategies, and performance indicates that even though considerable information about these issues are available, research gaps exist in these areas. Therefore, it is to fill this gap that we have proposed a theoretical framework which has been conceptualized around the core aspects of SME internationalization process linking antecedents, strategies, and performance. The specific objectives of this study are: 1. To ascertain the factors that differentiate internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs. 2. To identify and analyze the different antecedents and its influence on the internationalization speed. 3. To examine the influence of various antecedents on the mode of exports adopted by SMEs. 4. To probe the achievements of SME internationalization in terms of scope, degree of internationalization, and economic performance in terms of sales turnover. 5. To derive policy implications for promoting SME internationalization in India. Furthermore, we decided to confine our study to Karnataka state, since this is one of the better industrially developed states in India. Initially, we approached MSMEDI, VITC and FKCCI in Bangalore to get the lists of SME exporters in the state. Subsequently, we merged all the three databases and prepared the district-wise and industry wise distribution of internationalized (exporting) SMEs in Karnataka. We cleaned the raw data as it comprised duplications. The final database comprised 1271 exporting SMEs for 2012/13. Later, we prepared a district-wise list of SME exporters. Since the Bangalore urban district accounted for 958 SMEs (75%) of the total 1271 SME exporters in Karnataka, we decided to confine our study to Bangalore district. We prepared an industry-wise list of SME exporters (as per National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2008, and found that machinery manufacturing industry accounted for a maximum share (182 out of 920) of the total SME exporters in Bangalore. Therefore, we decided to confine our study to the machinery industry SMEs in Bangalore district. Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka state and a major industrial city in India. Bangalore has become a most attractive city for the global investment and has been recognized as the IT capital of India. The study is based on an Ex Post Facto Exploratory research using primary data collected from a sample of 102 exporting and 52 non-exporting SMEs in Bangalore. The data was collected during the period November 2013 to December 2014 using a semi-structured questionnaire followed by visiting the firms and having personal interviews with entrepreneurs/senior managers of the firms and data analysis is done using appropriate statistical packages. Initially, we decided to examine and differentiate internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs in same sector, in terms of their characteristics and economic performance. Further, to bring out the factors that distinguish internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs, we carried out a binary logistic regression analysis for their general profile, technical profile and size profile by combining all the three groups of profiles together. The dependent binary variables distinguished internationalized SMEs from non-internationalized SMEs. The overall results indicate that (i) non- internationalized firms are younger than internationalized SMEs, (ii) CEOs of internationalized SMEs are older than that of the later, (iii) internationalized SMEs accounted for a higher sales turnover than non-internationalized SMEs. The very fact that internationalized SMEs accounted for a higher sales turnover than non-internationalized SMEs indicated that internationalization would have enabled SMEs to achieve a higher sales turnover relative to non-internationalized SMEs. We analyzed a range of antecedents and its impact on the international strategies and performance of internationalized SMEs. Basically, the antecedents have been classified into drivers, barriers and firm level factors. For the quantitative measurement of different kinds of drivers and barriers, a Likert type ordinal scale which ranged from 1 to 5, was used. In addition, firm level factors were also taken into account as the antecedents to analyze its influence on the SME internationalization process. Further, an Exploratory Factor Analysis was first undertaken to explain the export drivers into a few underlying dimensions. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the 13 identified export drivers could be reduced to three underlying dimensions. On the other hand, firms might get discouraged to internationalize, due to the obstacles faced either in the form of internal or external sources. According to the results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis, internal barriers which consisted of variables were grouped under four dimensions. The external barriers which consisted of 14 variables were grouped under two dimensions. After identifying the different determinants to SMEs internationalization, we analyzed how these identified determinants were able to differentiate between early and late in terms of internationalization speed. Thereafter, discriminant analysis was performed to analyze how well the explanatory variables were able to differentiate the two groups or categories i.e. early entrants compared to late entrants. Among the different firm level factors, CEOs age and exclusive export marketing division had a significant discriminant coefficient. The results revealed that it is the younger CEOs and their commitment towards internationalization facilitate firms to enter the international market at any early age. Further, among the different barriers, competitive constraints significantly differed between early and late internationalization stating that lack of competitiveness was a major factor responsible for the late internationalization of SMEs. Subsequently, we looked at how various determining factors (antecedents) influence the mode of exports adopted by the SMEs. Firstly, based on the survey data the mode of exports are classified as exports through (i) a multinational company, (ii) international trade exhibitions, (iii) exports through the network of friends and export organization and (iv) E-commerce. Secondly, we looked at the factors which influenced these SMEs in choosing the four alternative modes of entry for internationalization, by means of binary logistic regression technique. Further, the results revealed that those SMEs with CEOs who are less qualified, not highly committed and smaller in size relied on local MNC customers to enter the international market. Further, if SMEs are not highly competitive, face market barriers and influenced by the unanticipated conditions preferred to use MNC route. Subsequently, SMEs with more qualified CEOs’, face operating constraints and policy barriers preferred to enter international market through international trade exhibitions. Those SMEs with CEOs’ who are younger and face finance and information barriers and policy constraints facilitate firms to depend on various sources of network. Finally, SMEs with more qualified CEOs’, smaller in size and face policy barriers have entered the international market through E-commerce route. Finally, we analyzed the role of determining factors on the scope, degree of internationalization and on the economic performance of SMEs. Initially, the different determinants that influence the scope and the degree of internationalization are analyzed. Finally, we analyzed the impact of degree of internationalization on the economic performance of SMEs by using three multiple regression models. Among the firm level factors, only CEOs’ international experience positively influenced the scope of internationalization compared to those firms with CEOs who had lesser international experience. Therefore, it is the entrepreneurs’ competency and skills acquired over a period of time which facilitated firms to expand their scope of internationalization. Subsequently, internationalization speed had positively influenced the scope of internationalization indicating that those SMEs that had entered the international market at an early age were able to diversify its international market. Generally, early exporters were more entrepreneurial in the sense they were capable of identifying, exploring and exploiting opportunities abroad by means of their proactive behavior. We analyzed the influence of speed, scope of internationalization and along with the firm level factors on the degree of internationalization. The results revealed that it was the capabilities that were acquired in terms of experience and the commitment that facilitated firms to achieve a higher degree of internationalization compared to firms that were not capable and committed to internationalization. Further, internationalization speed had positively influenced the degree of internationalization indicating that those SMEs that had entered international market at an early age were able to achieve a higher degree of internationalization compared to those firms that had entered at a later age. Finally, we analyzed the influence of scope and degree of internationalization along with the antecedents on the economic performance in terms of total sales turnover. In the present study, the degree of internationalization had positively influenced the economic performance of SMEs indicating that those firms that had achieved a higher degree of internationalization were able to achieve higher sales turnover than the firms with a lesser degree of internationalization. Therefore, by means of widening foreign markets and building room for expansion, exporting to foreign markets was considered an important route for firm progress. The results of this study underline the need for policy trust to improve the international activities of SMEs. Further, from the research perspective, results provide a significant addition to the existing knowledge about the importance of entrepreneurial competency, commitment to internationalization and an appropriate strategy in explaining the internationalization efforts of SMEs in the emerging market of India.

碩士
健行科技大學
國際企業經營系碩士班
103
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the skills of international students. The critical abilities assessed correspond with the trending course and educational objectives worldwide, and the assessment results have mostly exhibited satisfactory reliability and validity. Currently, most studies based on the PISA have focused directly on the academic achievements of students in each country without considering the country’s input factors such as national circumstances and economy. Therefore, this study investigated the input–output performance by applying the efficiency model, bootstrapping, and context-dependent model of performance analysis. According to the 2012 PISA results, this study involved assigning mathematics, reading, and scientific capability as input items and designating gross domestic product, the human development index, educational expenditure, urbanization, and student–teacher ratio as output items to investigate the difference in the educational performance of Taiwan and 34 OECD countries. In academic research, data envelopment analysis is a commonly used method for measuring input–output performance, enabling input–output performance of each decision unit to be objectively assessed. The context-dependent model in data envelopment analysis can be divided into different levels of efficient frontiers, enabling low-ranked countries to emulate the educational performance of middle-ranked countries, and middle-ranked countries to emulate the performance of high-ranked countries. Furthermore, this study incorporated standard deviation and performed bootstrapping through repeated sampling to enhance accuracy. The results indicated that, among high-income countries, Taiwan, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and South Korea exhibited the highest relative efficiency and were worth imitating by other high-income countries. Among low-income countries, Chile, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey demonstrated the most satisfactory educational performance and were worth imitating by other low-income countries. In the context-dependent model, we employed the relative attractiveness and progress between high and low levels to analyze the improvement directions of and competition among countries of each level. Mexico, Hungary, and Mexico individually exhibited the highest relative attractiveness towards the countries of other levels, indicating that their educational performance was superior and sufficiently satisfactory for imitation by other countries. Luxembourg, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland required different improvements in progress and should therefore inspect their current educational policies and seek directions of improvement to promote educational performance. In the performance analysis of bootstrapping, we determined the countries that could be referred to and emulated by countries exhibiting unfavorable educational performance. Moreover, we found that low-income countries can emulate countries with low income and unsatisfactory educational performance because overly discrepant national circumstances inhibited immediate efficiency improvement through imitation. Several low-input countries were imitated numerous times; for example, Turkey was imitated 21 times, followed by Poland (16 times). The educational performance data acquired using the context-dependent model and bootstrapping efficiency analysis can be mutually compared and verified to identify the exact policy orientations and role models for emulation.

博士
東吳大學
經濟學系
97
According to United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism industry is a star industry in the 21st century. It is estimated that by 2010, the output value of tourism industry in the world will reach USD$ 6,591.1 billion, which is 11.6% of the global GDP. In Taiwan, from 2002 to 2008, the annual tourism revenue was 1.2%~1.6% of GDP. As for international tourist hotels, from 2004 to 2008, the annual foreign exchange revenue slightly increased. Moreover, the Executive Yuan proposed the “Guidelines and Action Plans for Service Industry Development” in 2004, which included tourism industry. In the development of tourism industry, international tourist hotels are an important links. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the performance of international tourist hotels in Taiwan. After reviewing the literatures concerning DEA, the findings are as follows: (1) Inefficient Decision Making Units (DMUs) are not critical: Most of DEA models tend to divide DMUs into efficient and inefficient ones. Increasing or eliminating any inefficient DMUs does not influence the evaluation result. These literatures do not evaluate other DMUs upon inefficient ones. (2) DMU evaluation is not from the consumers’ perspective: When selecting the products, consumers tend to have their criteria, such as prices, brands and functions. The past DEA models tend to be based on the producers’ perspective. (3) Decision of weights: the weights of output in most of DEA models are produced automatically and it cannot reflect the evaluation in the market. Thus, the beforehand information included in the evaluation would result in the evaluation meeting the market, industry or consumers. Based on the above, this study adopted Context-dependent DEA to solve the problems of most of DEA models, in hope that the result of evaluation could allow DMUs to recognize their positions in the market and the potential rivals in order to adjust their output arrangement and lead to efficient strategies of operational management. This study first analyzed the operational efficiency of 49 international tourist hotels in Taiwan from 2004 to 2006 by output-oriented Context-dependent DEA. In this evaluation, increasing and evaluating any DMUs could significantly influence the result of evaluation. The model can also assess the attractiveness of relatively more efficient international tourist hotels and progress of inefficient ones. In addition, in order to include beforehand information (e.g. experts’ and consumers’ opinions) in the model, this study adopted Context-dependent DEA including Value Judgment (VJ) and obtained the weights of output by questionnaire survey, in order to meet the views of the industry and market. Finally, it probed into the influence on attractiveness and progress with or without VJ to enhance the effect of weights on the result of evaluation. Finally, this study described the possible different influences of two approaches of weight decision (subjective and objective) on attractiveness and progress of DMUs by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results of two evaluation approaches demonstrate that with or without VJ, attractiveness and progress of DMUs would be influenced. Moreover, the finding of Wilcoxon signed-rank test also supports this conclusion. Finally, this research elaborated the influence of external environments (i.e. managerial model, locations of hotels, occupancy rate and source of customers) on the operational performance of international tourist hotels by Tobit regression analysis. The finding of this study shows that only occupancy rate significantly and positively affects the operational performance of international tourist hotels.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
運動與休閒管理研究所
102
This study applies the Context Dependent Data Envelopment Analysis (CD-DEA) to measure the performance of the ITHs in Taiwan in the first stage, by choosing four inputs (numbers of employee from room department, numbers of employees from food and beverage (F&;B) department, square meters from F&;B, number of occupied rooms) and five outputs (other revenue, room revenue, F&;B revenue, occupancy rate, revenue per employee) during 2008 - 2012. Secondly, the study uses the truncated regression with bootstrapped procedure to examine the determinants (including the duration and space of the convention and exhibition events of the performance of the ITHs, with controlling the hotel operation types, guest types and ownership of management. The first stage result demonstrates the efficiency value of ITHs’and categorizes the ITHs by layering different levels, The second stage result shows that ITHs which are franchise chain have a better advantage when competing with other hotels. The ITHs in scenic spot have a better performance. The higher rate of domestic traveler leads to the worth performance of ITHs. The duration of convention and exhibition, the space of convention have significant influence on operating performance. It indicated that convention and exhibition could be an important factor when comparing the performance of ITHs. This research also provides the ITHs which have inefficient performance a reasonable and meaningful benchmark to improve their performance by attracting more conventions in the adjacent ITH area.

Sustainability is a growing theme in society and associated with it, comes the concept of circular economy (CE) that tries to reuse products to have greater durability, thus contributing to the reduction of waste. A very important agent in this theme is the eco-innovations (EI) that can be developed to promote the growth of this new economy concept. This study intends to determine the key drivers of EI for Portuguese companies, considering their evolution towards a circular economy. Through a Tobit model, all the variables that were identified throughout the literature review were tested, to understand their impact on firm performance, through turnover growth (TG), using data from the CIS, from where the most appropriate questions were chosen. It was not possible to verify the effect of all variables, because not all were significant. It was also found that not all drivers that appeared to have a positive impact on the TG, do have, which shows that not all potential drivers of eco-innovation are in fact and that they may represent negative impacts for the company, contrary to what one would predict. The negative effect that is still notorious regarding the costs that companies have with the implementation of these new measures should be highlighted, since this is a factor that presents itself as one of the biggest inhibitors for companies to integrate this type of action in their internal strategies.
A sustentabilidade é um tema em crescimento na sociedade e associado a este surge o conceito de economia circular (EC) que tenta reaproveitar os produtos de forma a terem uma maior durabilidade, contribuindo assim para a redução do desperdício. Um agente bastante importante neste tema são as eco-inovações (EI) que podem ser criadas em prol do crescimento deste novo conceito de economia. Este estudo pretende determinar os impulsionadores mais significativos de EI para as empresas portuguesas, considerando a sua evolução em relação à economia circular. Através de um modelo Tobit, testaram-se todas as variáveis que foram apuradas ao longo da revisão da literatura, de modo a tentar compreender o seu impacto no desempenho da empresa, através do turnover growth (TG), recorrendo-se a dados provenientes do CIS, de onde foram escolhidas as questões mais adequadas. Não foi possível verificar o efeito de todas as variáveis, por nem todas se terem manifestado significativas e nem todos os determinantes que aparentavam ter impacto positivo no TG, o tiveram. Isto vem demonstrar que nem todos os potenciais impulsionadores de eco inovação o são na verdade, podendo representar impactos negativos para a empresa, contrariamente ao que seria de prever. De salientar o efeito negativo que ainda é notório relativamente aos custos que as empresas têm associados à implementação destas novas medidas, pois este é um fator que se apresenta como um dos maiores inibidores para que as empresas integrem mais este tipo de ações nas suas estratégias internas.