AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

MONDAY
Bundling Cultural Intelligence and Marketing Adaptations to Improve Export Performance
Stanford Westjohn, University of Toledo
Peter Magnusson, Florida International University
Srdan Zdravkovic, Bryant University
The importance of expanding exports has been stressed by world leaders as a means to improve their
economies, and is important for all firms wishing to expand their markets. In this study, we build a theoretical
case and offer evidence from a pilot study that cultural intelligence plays a role in crafting international
marketing strategy and ultimately export performance. A key component of international marketing strategy is
the degree that the marketing mix is standardized or adapted for international markets. While a standardized
strategy implies the benefits of economies of scale, an adaptation strategy is designed to better appeal to the
tastes and preferences of the culture. We propose that "culturally intelligent" export managers are better
prepared to assess culturally diverse marketplaces and suggest more appropriate adaptations resulting in
improved export performance. (For more information, please contact: Stanford Westjohn, University of Toledo,
USA: stanford.westjohn@utoledo.edu)
Session: 2.3.5 - Competitive
Track: 1 - Institutions, Governance, and CSR
Corporate Governance and International Business
Presented On: July 2, 2012 - 13:00-14:15
Chair: Andrew Delios, National University of Singapore
Board Structure: An Empirical Study of Firms in Anglo-American Governance Environments
Maureen I. Muller-Kahle, Penn State
With boards of directors playing both monitoring and guidance roles, we examine the impact of board structure
in large US and UK firms on firm performance using the lenses of agency and resource dependence theories.
We find that distinct differences in the impact of board independence, board size and outside director busyness
on firm value in UK firms. Specifically, we find that board independence has a significant positive impact on
firm value in the UK, but no impact in the US. We also find larger boards are positively associated with firm
value in the UK. However, in the UK, board busyness has a positive impact on firm value. Thus, we find
support for resource dependence theory in UK firms. (For more information, please contact: Maureen I. Muller-
Kahle, Penn State, USA: mim10@psu.edu)
Corporate Governance in Context: Regulatory, Cognitive, and Normative Institutions of Investor Protection
Anthony Paul Cannizzaro, George Washington University
This paper introduces a framework of regulatory, cognitive and normative institutions specific to the domain of
corporate governance. Viewing the arche of good corporate governance as strong minority investor protection, I
seek to understand how each of these pillars within a society might influence agency conflicts within the firm.
Prior work approaching corporate governance from an agency theoretic perspective tends to operationalize
institutions too simplistically, imposing the assumption that de jour (regulatory) and de facto (cognitive)
institutions impact firm-level governance equally. Furthermore, work on corporate governance in the
institutional theory literature has neglected the impact of institutional context on the principal-agent and
principal-principal problems that shape corporate governance at the firm level. To address these gaps, I rejoin
the divergent institutional and agency theoretic perspectives. Using data from 21 developed countries, this
analysis shows that regulatory, cognitive and normative institutions uniquely impact a firm's corporate
governance through both direct effects and by moderating the impact of firm-level characteristics on
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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