An exploration into the impact of the global crisis on emerging economies and firms and their responses to it. The ways in which the leading emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are dealing with the challenges of the global crisis are complemented by the approaches applied by countries and firms from Central and Eastern Europe. This is a pioneering volume shedding light on the successful international activities of the emerging economies in the global crisis. Offering a variety of perspectives, the chapters deal with the successful application of specific modes of market entry of BRIC economies in developed countries and the ways in which Russian, Indian, Chinese, and also Polish, Slovene and Estonian firms have coped with the challenges of the global crisis.@en

Competition for FDI is intensifying and changing in scope as governments of developed and developing countries alike place a higher emphasis on the quality rather than on the quantity of FDI. Against the backdrop of contemporary international business trends, we argue that shifting from quantity to quality in FDI promotion entails a new policy mix and a new approach to performance evaluation. We examine the challenges that investment promotion agencies targeting quality are confronted with from an intellectual capital management perspective, drawing attention to the implications for their human, structural and relational capital. This study offers a broad framework to better guide FDI policy reform and evaluation.@en

The mission of project portfolio management (PPM) is seen in evaluating, prioritising and selecting projects in line with the business strategy. Alignment of all on-going projects with the overall business strategy is generally recognised as very important for most modern organisations. Despite this recognised relevance, the available empirical evidence remains scant and in best cases it is represented by qualitative case-studies that do not provide a basis for generalisation of results. Quantitative empirical evidence is largely non-existent. The aim of this session is to develop a conceptual framework embracing a number of key variables of PPM and corresponding interrelations, derived from the extant body of literature and to test it empirically. We conducted a survey amongst experienced portfolio managers representing a wide range of organisations possessing established PPM mechanisms. Data obtained in this tailor-made survey was tested in the framework using Structural Equation Modelling. Our results provide support to most of the formulated hypotheses. We find that strategic alignment between projects and the organisation¿s business strategy has a positive effect on the PPM performance and this alignment, in its turn, is impacted by two mutually interdependent mechanisms of portfolio establishment and portfolio steering. On the basis of our findings, we formulate several managerial implications and directions for further research.@en

Traditional technologies can have an extended lifetime if companies use various cost-reducing strategies. One of these strategies employed in Western European countries in the past decades has been low-cost outsourcing in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), mainly derived from low wages. Specifically, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary are prime destinations for low-cost outsourcing. However, there is a trend of increase in wage levels in these countries, posing the question of how long (time-period) cost advantages can be gained in the CEE region in the future. Far distance outsourcing of manufacturing goods causes a lot of strain on transport and the environment, and in a situation of diminishing cost-advantages in CEE, the question can be posed to what extent traditional manufacturing can `return¿ to Western Europe if smart manufacturing methods are being used. This study adopts a scenario-analysis approach in which four scenarios are drawn, particularly focusing on labor cost development and other cost advantages, and on other critical factors in outsourcing like availability of low-skilled labor and productivity changes. Each scenario will be examined in terms of attractiveness for outsourcing and potential implications on decisions for (continuing) outsourcing relationships with CEE.@en

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) has emerged as a central tool of governing multi-project environments in modern organisations. Management of innovation projects is a distinctive research area within the discipline of project management. Innovation projects by their nature differ from conventional (engineering and construction) projects, characterising by a higher degree of uncertainty in the first instance. This paper aims to critically examine implementation and applications of PPM in Philips Research, a research division of the global electronics company Royal Philips Electronics. Philips Research possesses a well-established, mature PPM; all projects covered by PPM are of innovative nature. The empirical evidence collected in the case study is broadly consistent with literature and supports its main tenets, specifically the issue of strategic alignment, PPM processes and organisation, and common challenges of PPM. This study provides further empirical support to it and contributes to the extant body of literature.@en

The purpose of this study is to examine specific use of strategic alliances and acquisitions for Chinese firms to catch-up technologically and to enhance their internationalization competence.@en

Internationalisation of Chinese firms is a salient feature of the contemporary world economy. They evolve from local producers to multinational companies, strengthening their presence in a variety of economies ¿ from neighbouring developing countries to sophisticated western markets. Their competitive advantage is often found in access to low costs labour, and in many cases, state support. Innovation is becoming an important variable of the international business strategies of emerging Chinese multinationals. The question is whether innovation will be a new competitive advantage of emerging Chinese multinationals. While this is a very relevant subject, due to its novelty, it is not yet sufficiently addressed. Therefore the aim of this paper is to contribute to the nascent literature stream on this topic. We examine performance of Chinese companies in the global R&D and innovation rankings, both quantitatively and qualitatively. On the basis of our findings, we provide conclusions and managerial implications.@en