Individuals differ in their typical responses to change situations. Whereas some people readily accept them, others tend to resist. These differences in the typical reaction to change have been conceptualized as a personality trait, namely, dispositional resistance to change (Oreg, 2003). The resistance to change trait and its measurement scale (henceforth the RTC scale) were established through a series of studies in which the scale’s structural, construct, concurrent, and predictive validities were demonstrated. The more dispositionally resistant to change an individual is, the more likely will he or she exhibit negative attitudes toward specific changes, and the less likely to voluntarily initiate changes (e.g., Nov & Ye, 2008; Oreg, 2006; Oreg, Nevo, Metzer, Leder, & Castro, 2009). The trait is related to, yet both conceptually and empirically distinct from other traits (see Oreg, 2003), such as sensation seeking (Zuckerman, 1994), intolerance for ambiguity (Budner, 1962), risk aversion (Slovic, 1972), dogmatism (Rokeach, 1960), and openness to experience (Digman, 1990).

Previous studies have suggested that (1) a type of organizational capabilities—namely, political capabilities—are required for multinational corporations (MNCs) to grow in global markets, (2) political capabilities are important for building productive relations with governments in politically risky host countries, and (3) MNCs can develop political capabilities by accumulating foreign experiences. However, empirical studies have found both positive and negative effects of such experiences on global market expansions. This study attributes such mixed findings to our lack of understanding about MNCs’ procurement processes of political capabilities and proposes types of experiences critical for such procurements by focusing on their reactions to political changes in host countries. Using data on the global mining industry and political changes in host countries, we find that MNCs develop political capabilities and thus make entries into politically risky host countries when they accumulate the experience of partially divesting some of their assets after political changes in host countries. We also find that MNCs are less likely to enter such countries if they have more experiences of exiting from host countries following political change.

Using data from securities analysts, who are awarded status by the thirdparty organization Institutional Investor magazine, we examine the emergence of competition and articulate a model of competitive response among actors aware of the importance of status and some of the dimensions on which it may be gained. We predict analysts' initiating or ceasing coverage of stocks in response to other analysts initiating coverage on stocks they cover. We find that competition can emerge because of status seeking rather than as a response to own capabilities or market needs, with compelling, and potentially negative, market implications for overt status seeking.

This research examines how firms' accumulation of experience in other markets within an industry causes transfer problems and limits the performance advantage of within-industry diversification. Using data on the Japanese nonlife insurance industry between 1907 and 1940, we demonstrate that a firm's performance in a focal market decreases with more experience in other markets (i.e., nonfocal markets). This cumulative nonfocal market experience causes managers to transfer preexisting routines extensively and inappropriately to the focal market. We show that the negative effect deteriorates when the firms have already entered such nonfocal markets prior to their entry into the focal markets, and such nonfocal markets are populated by performance-comparable peers. We also find that the negative effect increases when firms transfer knowledge from nonfocal markets in which the focal market has low realized financial synergies, and when firms' experience prior to entry into the focal market was successful. These findings explicate mechanisms by which negative performance effects of withinindustry diversification occur, and advance our understanding of within-industry diversification by applying the idea of transfer problems from the literature on organizational learning.

Interest has been growing in alliance networks, and research has demonstrated several advantages of embedded networks, including joint problem solving. How embedded networks function as social capital and promote alliance formation has also been explored. However, less is known about constraints that they impose on firms' extensive search for partners. In this study, we advance our understanding of the downsides of embedded networks by proposing that embedded networks facilitate alliance formations, but they may also cause suboptimal resource matching in alliance formations. Specifically, we predict that, in alliances where initial resource matching is more important than ex post collaborative activities, suboptimal resource matching is more likely when firms ally with partners with which they have pre-existing direct or indirect ties and that such alliances decrease firm-level resource utilization performance in operations. Using codeshare alliance data from the global airline industry, we find support for our predictions.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms with multimarket contacts in both product and geographic markets make foreign direct investments (FDI) location choices and to advance the understanding about how managers with cognitive limits cope with opportunities to take the advantage of mutual forbearance in two types of markets. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing upon the literatures on multimarket contact and decision making, the authors develop original hypotheses on how multimarket contacts in two types of markets influence firms’ choice of destination for foreign investments. The authors test the hypotheses using longitudinal archival data on foreign market entries of Japanese auto parts makers. Findings: The authors find that when choosing FDI locations, firms reduce the cognitive burdens of coping with multimarket contacts in the two types of markets by focussing exclusively on what is perceived as relevant to the decision at hand. The authors also find that this propensity is particularly significant for large firms, whereas small firms use different decision rules and avoid entering markets with the greater degree of multimarket contact with prior entrants, whether in product or national market. Practical implications: Although heuristics simplify competitive environments and reduce managers’ cognitive burdens, such a cost-saving orientation could increase the risk associated with international entry that may end in severe counterattacks from prior entrants, wasteful foreign investments, and substantial entry failures. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by adopting multimarket contact theory to foreign market entry, jointly analyzing two types of multimarket contacts, testing three alternative hypotheses about how boundedly rational managers cope with multimarket contacts in two markets, and demonstrating that managers focus on multimarket contacts only in one type of markets when making entry decisions.

Most studies of responses to change in competitive environments focus on competitorspecific adaptations. However, rivals are often acutely aware of one another, and this awareness should influence their competitive behavior. In this study, we focus on three market structures that affect competitive behavior: competitive parity, status disparity, and multipoint contact. In particular, we examine how securities analysts responded to a regulatory discontinuity, Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg-FD), which promotes competitive parity by eliminating privileged access to proprietary firm information as a critical source of competitive advantage. We predict and find that Reg-FD activated mutual forbearance among analysts linked through multipoint contact. We also predict and find that high-status analysts forbear more strongly. Analysts' responses to heterogeneity in competitive advantage thus depend importantly on their competitive overlap and status, which has implications for both their behavior and the information they provide to investors. © Academy of Management Journal.

While some previous studies have found that the role of founders' collective experiences is paramount in resolving problems inherent in startups, others have failed to substantiate this. This study claims that this incongruence is attributable to a failure to consider organizational processes in which founders' experiences translate into organizational assets through information distribution and interpretation. Using the data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, this study demonstrates that startups reach their break-even point faster when their founders have had work experience in the same industry, and that this effect becomes stronger when these firms commit more resources to information distribution and interpretation. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of political risk on firms' likelihood of foreign market entry and performance by adopting a strategic view of political risk and drawing upon the arguments of multimarket contact theory. Design/methodology/approach: This study estimates the location choice and performance of Japanese auto parts-makers using panel regression models. Findings: The study finds that firms with low multimarket contact in the home country and high multimarket contact in the host country are less likely to avoid politically risky host countries and that firms which entered politically risky host countries exhibit greater performance when the degree of multimarket contact with prior entrants is high. Research limitations/implications: Although the research design raises a concern about the generalizability of the findings, this study highlights the strategic importance of politically risky markets and suggests the importance of considering competitive interactions with rivals in examining interdependent behavior in foreign direct investments. Practical implications: Instead of consistently avoiding politically risky markets, managers should actively consider the potential strategic importance of these markets. A post-entry strategy suggested by the findings is taking positive steps to leverage the benefits of multimarket contacts for managing subsidiaries in politically risky host countries. Originality/value: Unlike previous studies, this study emphasizes the strategic potential of politically risky markets and takes a view that firms have variable political risk tolerance. Furthermore, the authors' adoption of multimarket contact theory allows a novel approach to benchmarking against rivals for foreign entry decisions. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Departing from prior work that demonstrates the stickiness and stability of alliance networks resulting from embeddedness, we extend matching theory to study firms' withdrawal from alliances. Viewing alliance withdrawal as a result of firms' pursuit of more promising alternative partners (outside options) rather than failures in collaboration, we predict that a firm is more likely to withdraw from an alliance when there is a higher density of outside options that have better match quality than the current partners. We also propose that, because matching is two-sided, outside options have a greater impact on a firm's withdrawal when they are more likely to initiate new alliances. Using data on alliances in the global liner shipping industry, we show that, controlling for internal tensions in the alliance, outside options predict alliance withdrawals. Thus, despite the alliance stickiness and stability, firms alter their alliances in response to the availability of promising outside options, even leaving alliances that appear successful. © 2013 INFORMS.

Firms have variable risk preferences in decision-making processes, but previous studies in the field of international management tend to view firms as inherently risk averse, and risky location choice as rare and exceptional. Drawing upon the arguments of problemistic search and slack search, we investigate the conditions under which firms make risky choices of location for foreign direct investments. Using longitudinal international expansion data on firms in the Japanese auto parts industry, we find that although firms generally avoid risk in choosing foreign direct investment destinations, they take risks when facing intense home-country competition and a lack of business group affiliation. Nonetheless, we find that small firms with business group affiliation are more likely to enter host countries with high political instability than are large firms with such affiliation. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

While previous research on vicarious learning assumes that managers pay adequate attention to any event in an environment, boundedly rational managers can only pay selective attention to salient events. This study proposes the hypothesis that managers pay disproportionately less attention to and learn less from an external event if it has attributes almost identical to those that they have encountered in the past in either a direct or an indirect manner. An analysis of errors by Japanese firms operating nuclear power plants supports this theory and presents an explanation about why an organization repeats an error that others have made in the past. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved.

We depart from previous research that has substantiated brokerage advantages in interorganizational networks by shifting focus to the dynamics of brokerage positions and its performance consequences. The brokerage position disappears when triadic closures or bridge decays occur in a subnetwork consisting of a broker and its two partners. We predict that embedded structures of this subnetwork exert multilevel influences on the disappearance, and that structures that promote persistence constrain brokerage advantages. Our analysis of codeshare alliances in the global airline industry supports the theory, demonstrating that the persistence decreases brokersf performance but increases their partnersf performance. (96 words).

Although models of alliance network dynamics have focused primarily on alliance formation, this study advances research by investigating member withdrawal from alliances. We develop a model of cohesion and friction at the relationship, network, and market levels and propose cross-level cohesion and time-varying effects on member withdrawal, giving predictions that are distinct from those of alliance formation studies. Our analysis of alliances in the global liner shipping industry showed greater withdrawal rates as a result of market competition and time-dependent effects of prior direct and third-party ties, suggesting that member withdrawal has both social and task-related causes.

This study advances understanding of network dynamics by applying matching theory to the formation of interorganizational alliances. We introduce market complementary and resource compatibility as two critical matching criteria of alliance formation and argue that good matches increase firm performance. Using data from liner shipping, we found effects of matching on alliance formation. But contrary to our expectations, alliances by networked firms, rather than isolate firms, exhibited better match quality, suggesting that networks facilitate matching rather than sacrifice it. We also found evidence that alliances with matched partners improve firm performance and survival chances. © Academy of Management Journal.

The notion of centrality advantage in network evolution claims that well-connected firms have an advantage in tie creation. Using data from the Japanese automobile industry, this study articulates why the rich get richer in vertical networks and examines how peripheral producers in vertical networks create new distant ties regardless of the disadvantage caused by being peripheral. We find that peripheral producers create distant ties when they enter markets entered by other producers with high centrality and when they have ties with buyers that have higher structural equivalence with other buyers.

The concept of dispositional resistance to change has been introduced in a series of exploratory and confirmatory analyses through which the validity of the Resistance to Change (RTC) Scale has been established (S. Oreg, 2003). However, the vast majority of participants with whom the scale was validated were from the United States. The purpose of the present work was to examine the meaningfulness of the construct and the validity of the scale across nations. Measurement equivalence analyses of data from 17 countries, representing 13 languages and 4 continents, confirmed the cross-national validity of the scale. Equivalent patterns of relationships between personal values and RTC across samples extend the nomological net of the construct and provide further evidence that dispositional resistance to change holds equivalent meanings across nations. © 2008 American Psychological Association.

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) member succession in breaking organizational inertia. We compare the impact of two types of change in TMTs-in member number and demographic heterogeneity-on subsequent strategic reorientation using data on the diversification activities of firms in the Japanese textile industry. Our findings suggest that executive succession does not trigger strategic change unless succession entails change in the values and interests of executives embedded in their demographic traits. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Much is now known about the role of repeated ties in network evolution processes, but we know less about the establishment of ties with strangers. In this paper, we add to the literature on network dynamics by examining the patterns of buyers' search for new ties with partners in vertical relations that they have had no direct tie with in the past. Our hypothesis is that buyers favor previously unknown new partners that have specific network, social, and market characteristics. Our longitudinal analysis of supplier network formation in the Japanese automobile industry shows that a searching buyer favors strangers that have higher network centrality, ties with other buyers with which it has more shared bridges and similar product lines, and lower multimarket contact as new partners.

We examine how relationship, network, and market-level sources of cohesion and friction cause firms to persist in or withdraw from alliances that jointly provide assets for service production. Study of alliance withdrawal is needed to complete our models of network dynamics, which thus far have focused primarily on alliance initiation. We investigate withdrawal from open-ended interfirm alliances in the shipping industry, and the findings include greater withdrawal rates as a result of market competition and time-dependent effects of direct and third-party ties. The study of alliance withdrawal is a necessary complement to the vast literature on alliance formation in pursuit of an understanding of network evolution.

Strategic change is one of the most critical decisions that organizations make. We focus on the role of groups at the upper echelon of hierarchies and propose that concentrated power either in the CEO or the top management team is prone to be exercised, leading to a high rate of strategic change. We derive hypotheses on how formal and informal power concentration in top management teams have an effect on changes in corporate diversification. The findings suggest that power concentration strongly affects decision making. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.

In this paper, we study the transition from planned venture to operational start-up in the emergent independent power sector. Planned ventures face tremendous obstacles in assembling the resources necessary to begin operations; we hypothesize and show that formal certification from authorized actors increases the likelihood of making this transition. Moreover, we find that the effects of certification are contingent on the legitimacy of the sector as a whole: Certifications have a stronger effect on start-ups when sector legitimacy is low than when it is high. This research helps us understand a rarely studied organizational transition-from entrepreneurial intention to actual operations-within nascent sectors. It directs attention to the legitimating effects of formal certification, highlights the importance of a multilevel approach to legitimacy, and contributes to the growing rapprochement between entrepreneurial studies and institutional theory. © 2007 INFORMS.

International joint ventures (IJVs) enable foreign firms to complement their lack of local knowledge and resources by accessing their local partners' knowledge and resource bases. However, IJV formation is not simply a means of overcoming legitimacy-related challenges that stem primarily from a local market's unfamiliarity with foreign firms. This paper proposes that foreign firms can increase the legitimacy of their IJVs to facilitate local market penetration by building interorganizational linkages through which third parties and, especially, prospective customers in local markets can infer the viability and competence of IJVs. Our empirical analyses of manufacturing IJVs in Japan support our arguments. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recent work on multiunit-multimarket (MUMM) firms has shown that the market entry behavior of these firms is influenced by learning processes and by opportunities for reduced competition with firms that have a high degree of multimarket contact. There is still uncertainty as to the prominence of these motives in guiding entry behavior, and the important implications for market competition and antitrust enforcement calls for further research on this theme. We review work on the way MUMM firms determine market entry and product innovation, and present some results on the patenting behavior of large Japanese shipbuilding firms. The findings suggest that firms are more likely to take out patents if their multimarket overlap with other firms in the market is high. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a bundle or system of human resource (HR) practices and firm performance and the processes through which these HR practices affect organizational outcomes. Using a sample of fifty-two Japanese multinational corporation subsidiaries operating in the United States and Russia, we examine the impact of HR systems on firm performance mediated by employee skills, attitudes and motivation in an attempt to shed light on the so-called 'black box' through which HR practices lead to firm performance. The results support the notion that employee skills, attitudes and behaviours play a mediating role between HR systems and firm outcomes in multinational corporations. These findings illustrate the varying impact of synergistic systems of HR practices and their generalizability in different national contexts.

This research responds to the charges of two criticisms about the embeddedness approach - (1) that it does not treat embeddedness as a variable and (2) that it does not explain economic performance - by investigating how variations in the social origins of alliances account for alliance performance. The hypotheses of this research state that the strength of ties between individuals who initiate alliance formation processes is positively related to alliance performance, because such ties eliminate the uncertainty that firms face when forming alliances, reduce the likelihood of partners' malfeasance, and facilitate information exchange for sharing tacit knowledge. However, analysis of the mail survey data on biopharmaceutical R & D alliances indicates that such a simple association does not exist. Rather, one possible interpretation of the findings is that the activation of strong ties in forming alliances seems to be a double-edged sword that not only creates an opportunity for building successful alliances but also restricts the ability of organizations to acquire heterogeneous information and cutting-edge knowledge.

This paper examines the differences in perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of human resources (HR) practices in firms operating in the People's Republic of China. The major finding is that while there are no significant differences between HR and line executives' perceptions of the importance of each functional area in human resource management (HRM), there are significant differences between line and HR executives' perceptions of the effectiveness of these areas. Line and HR executives both view the issue of securing, developing and maintaining human resources as a critical issue for the execution of daily operations and long-term strategic plans. However, line executives perceive HR performance effectiveness as significantly lower in these functional areas than HR executives do. Therefore, HR departments are not meeting the performance expectations of line executives. There are three possible reasons for the poor performance of HR departments. First, government intervention may limit HR departments' ability to act strategically. Second, HR departments may not have enough power to act strategically. Third, HR departments may have few capabilities to respond to line executives' demands.

This paper presents the results of a study on the human resource function in Chinese operations of large multinational companies. Surveys of both line and HR executives in these firms were conducted. Results reveal that line executives are quite sensitive to the critical nature of people management issues as busi ness issues, and that they see HR's strategic orientation as the most significant area for improvement. Both line and HR executives note the importance of acquiring, developing, and retaining human capital in order to successfully compete in China. The challenges and opportunities implied by these results are discussed.