Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have generally been portrayed as failures in relation to environmental sustainability due to their low take-up rates of sustainable business practices. This judgment arises when frameworks and standards that have been developed in, and for, large fi rms are applied to SMEs. Such assessment can provide a misleading impression of the uptake of sustainable business practices, as SMEs do not operate simply as miniature large fi rms. The performance of SMEs should be assessed using benchmarks that fi t the circumstances of small fi rms. Based on interviews with 50 small-business owners in New Zealand, we explore how environmental responsibility is understood and translated into practice. This paper contributes to the emerging stream of research that aims to build a theory of environmental responsibility that is grounded in the experiences of SME ownermanagers, and takes into account the heterogeneity and characteristics of the SME sector.
This paper presents a framework for analysing the role of regional headquarters in the globalisation strategies of transnational corporations (TNCs). Drawing upon a theoretical gap in existing urban studies and international business literature, we argue that the triadisation and regionalisation of TNC activities increase the demand for control and co-ordination functions previously performed by the global headquarters. Many global corporations consequently establish regional headquarters to penetrate into emerging markets, which may be too geographically distant to be co-ordinated and managed by the global HQs, and to achieve simultaneously global integration and local responsiveness. Based upon an empirical survey of 130 RHQs in Singapore and 20 follow-up personal interviews, we test some of the propositions of this regional strategy framework. Our ndings tentatively con rm that three independent variables play a statistically signi cant role in shaping the strategic decision by global corporations to establish RHQs in Singapore: geographical distance, strategic necessity and the availability of business services.
This article examines "consistent" conjectural variations in an oligopoly model with a homogeneous product. A conjectural variation is consistent if it is equivalent to the optimal response of the otherfirms at the equilibrium defined by that conjecture. When the number of firms is fixed, we find that competitive behavior is consistent when marginal costs are constant, but that when marginal costs are rising, the consistent conjectural variation will be between competitive and Cournot behavior. Finally, if we allow free entry and redefine consistency to account for such, then only competitive behavior will be consistent. * Bell Laboratories. This article represents the views and assumptions of the author and not necessarily those of the Bell System. I wish to thank P.
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