| 1. |
- Azar, Goudarz
(författare)
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Food Culture Distance: An Antecedent to Export Marketing Strategy Adaptation - An Empirical Examination of Swedish and Finnish Food Processing Companies
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. - 1096-7508 .- 1559-2448. ; 14, s. 17-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores dissimilarity in food culture (food culture distance) as an antecedent to the adaptation of export marketing strategy for food products, and examines the impact of marketing program adaptation on export performance. Building on previous research, this paper introduces a model for operationalizing the construct food culture distance. Data were gathered via a mail survey of Swedish and Finnish food exporters. The results indicate a significant correlation between food culture distance and the extent of product adaptation. However, product adaptation does not affect export performance, implying that other factors, along with marketing strategy, may influence export performance.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Azar, Goudarz
(författare)
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How congruent are managers' perceptions of cultural distance with objective reality?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal. - 1352-7606. ; 21, s. 400-421
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which managers' perceptions of cultural distance - one of the most important explanatory factors in the field of international business - are congruent with objective reality.Design/methodology/approach - By subjecting a sample of 242 export ventures to correlation and confirmatory factor analyses, managers' perceptions of the cultural distance (i.e. perceived cultural distance) between 29 international markets and Sweden (the home market) were compared, with "objective" cultural distance gauged using Hofstede's (1980) scores for dimensions of national culture.Findings - A statistically significant correlation was found between managers' perceptions of cultural distance and "objective" cultural distance.Originality/value - Despite the importance of perceptual data in many theoretical and practical domains, few studies analyze the validity of such data. The present findings validate the congruence of perceptual data regarding cultural distance with "objective" cultural distance.
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| 4. |
- Azar, Goudarz
(författare)
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Inpatriates and Expatriates: Sources of Strategic Human Capital for Multinational Food and Beverage Firms
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. - 1096-7508 .- 1559-2448. ; 15, s. 73-79
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The accelerating pace of globalization makes the strategic role of human resource management increasingly important for global companies. MNEs as key drivers in the process of globalization are becoming much more differentiated networks. This enables them to source the optimal combination of inputs from the global market. Inpatriates and expatriates are MNE's strategic sources of human capital, through which knowledge is developed, carried, and exchanged within the MNE's network. This essay discusses the ways in which inpatriates and expatriates can provide competitive advantage for MNEs in the food and beverage industry, and how these MNEs should mange these strategic resources in a competitive global market.
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| 5. |
- Azar, Goudarz
(författare)
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Managerial perceptions of the cultural distance basis for internationalization decisions by firms : implications for 'low-tech' industries
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The role of managerial perceptions of cultural distance in the internationalization decisions of 'LOW-TECH' firms is explored in this thesis. A first empirical study examined managers' perceptions of dissimilarity in food culture in foreign markets (food culture distance), as an antecedent to adaptation of an export marketing strategy for food companies. A second empirical study examined the explanatory power of food culture distance in relation to choice of foreign markets by food exporters. The relationship between managers' perceptions of cultural and other business differences (psychic distance), organizational innovation, and the performance of 'LOW-TECH' firms was examined in a third study, while a fourth examined the congruence between mangers' perceptions of cultural distance and objective reality. Finally, the strategic role of inpatriates as sources of knowledge of cultural preferences in foreign markets was analyzed. The quantitative data used were obtained in two separate surveys that employed questionnaires as the data collection technique. The hypotheses were examined using three multivariate analysis techniques: structural equation modeling (SEM), regression analysis with a clustered robust standard errors approach, and bivariate correlation analysis. It was found that food culture distance influences an internationalizing firm's marketing strategies and choice of foreign market. Psychic distance was found to affect a firm's innovation strategies during the internationalization process. Perception of substantial differences in foreign markets may lead firms to adapt their marketing programs while conducting innovative strategies. The results indicated that perceived cultural distance not only entails challenges and difficulties for firms, but also provides business opportunities that make distant markets an attractive target for internationalizing firms. Managers' perceptions of cultural distance were found to be highly congruent with objective reality. Moreover, inpatriates proved to be important as sources of knowledge about, inter alia, cultural preferences in situations with a great cultural distance between the home country and the host country.
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| 6. |
- Azar, Goudarz, et al.
(författare)
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Organizational innovation, technological innovation, and export performance : The effects of innovation radicalness and extensiveness
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Business Review. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-5931 .- 1873-6149. ; 26:2, s. 324-336
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study focuses on the relevance of different types of innovation for firms' export performance. Despite ample research on the innovation performance relationship, previous studies have mainly focused on technological innovations, leaving the effects of organizational innovations relatively unexplored. Hypotheses on the relationship between organizational and technological innovations and firm export performance are tested by structural equation modelling using data from 218 Swedish export ventures. The results indicate that organizational innovation enhances export performance both directly and indirectly by sustaining technological innovation. Moreover, by fine-graining our analysis of the mediating role of technological innovation, according to its radicalness and extensiveness, for organizational innovation, we show how the latter enhances both the radicalness and extensiveness of technological innovation although, notably, only extensiveness is actually beneficial for export performance. This study helps alleviate the scarcity of research examining the links among different types of innovation in relation to export performance and contributes to international business and marketing literature by generating new evidence regarding the mechanisms through which organizational and technological innovations may improve export performance.
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| 7. |
- Azar, Goudarz, et al.
(författare)
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Psychic Distance, Innovation, and Firm Performance
- 2014
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Ingår i: Management International Review. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0938-8249 .- 1861-8901. ; 54:5, s. 581-613
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research suggests that internationalization improves a firm's ability to innovate, but the effect of internationalizing into specific target markets or destinations on the innovation ability of firms has not been fully investigated. This study examined whether the psychic distance between target market and home market affects firms' propensity to innovate. The starting assumption was that perception of a high degree of differences and subsequent environmental uncertainty when expanding into psychically distant markets triggers strategies for interacting and integrating with the market environment. These include producing and adopting innovations to processes and products and to organizational strategy, structure, and administrative procedures to cope with the new environment and overcome uncertainties. These innovations and the associated competitive advantages can improve firm performance. Hypotheses regarding the relationships between psychic distance, innovation, and firm performance were tested here by structural equation modeling using data from 186 export ventures into 23 international markets by Swedish companies. The results indicate that the link between psychic distance and firm performance is mediated by innovation.
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| 8. |
- Hansson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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Use and non-use values as motivational construct dimensions for farm animal welfare: impacts on the economic outcome for the farm
- 2018
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Ingår i: Animal. - 1751-7311 .- 1751-732X. ; 12, s. 2147-2155
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explored how farmers' motivation in terms of use values and/or non-use values to work with farm animal welfare are associated with the economic outcome for the farm. Use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from productivity and profitability considerations. Non-use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from good animal welfare, irrespective of the use the farmer derives from the animal, currently or in the future. The analysis was based on detailed information about the income statements of a sample of Swedish dairy farmers, obtained from the Swedish Farm Economic Survey, complemented with survey information about their perceived use and non-use values in farm animal welfare. The findings suggest that farm economic outcome is significantly associated with motivation in terms of use values, but not so much with motivation in terms of non-use values. This is interesting from a policy point of view, because it indicates that farmers with different approaches to farm animal welfare may experience different economic outcomes for their farms. Findings can, for instance, be used to strengthen farmers' engagement in various private quality assurance standards, which generally focus on values of non-use type, by pointing to that realisation of such values will not impair the economic outcome of the farms. Moreover, findings also suggest that farmers' economic incentives for engagement in such standards may need to be further strengthened in order to become more attractive, as findings point to that a focus on non-use values generally is not associated with more favourable economic outcomes.
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