Dysfunction from Focusing on Overseas Business
Abstract
For this study, a questionnaire survey was administered to 824 people who had been posted overseas for at least one year (657 of whom had been involved in a business for the overseas market) in order to explore the factors behind the success of an overseas business. The results made clear, on one hand, that if Japanese companies focus on an overseas business, by, for example, defining the objectives and roles of the business, investing in market research, and posting core personnel abroad, they reach desirable outcomes, but, on the other hand, those outcomes are adversely affected when companies define the objectives and roles prior to conducting market research. A focus on overseas business increases personnel’s organizational identification with his or her headquarters and with the overseas business unit. However, dysfunction occurs when personnel feel high organizational identification with the overseas business unit, and that they are not expected to show customer-oriented behavior. According to our additional analyses, this dysfunction of organizational identification emerges when one perceives a weak identity of one’s organization.Â
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
C. A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal, Managing across borders: The
transnational solution, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1989.
L. A. Bettencourt, S. W. Brown, and S. B. MacKenzie, “Customeroriented
boundary-spanning behaviors: Test of a social exchange model
of antecedents,†Journal of Retailing. 82(2), pp. 141–57, 2005.
J. S. Black, H. B. Gregersen, and M. E. Mendenhall, “Toward a
theoretical framework of repatriation adjustment,†Journal of
International Business Studies, 23, pp. 737-760, 1992.
A. C. Burns and R. F. Bush, Marketing research, Prentice Hall, Upper
Saddle River, 2000.
J. Cayla and L. Penaloza, “Mapping the play of organizational identity
in foreign market adaptation,†Journal of Marketing, 76(6), pp. 38-54,
G. Fukutomi, K. Kuroiwa, and K. Kotani, “Social identity of offshore
employees: When do organizational identity and identification improve
international business performance?†A paper presented at 2016 Annual
Conference, Academy of Marketing Science, 2016.
P. Ghemawat, Redefining global strategy: Crossing borders in a world
where differences still matter, Harvard Business Press, Boston, 2007.
S. Ghoshal and C. A. Bartlett, “The multinational corporation as an
interorganizational network,†Academy of management review, 15(4), pp.
-625, 1990.
H. B. Gregersen and J. S. Black, “Antecedents to Commitment to a
Parent Company and a Foreign Operation,†Academy of Management
Journal, 35(1), pp. 65-90, 1992.
A. K. Gupta and V. Govindarajan, V, “Knowledge flows within
multinational corporations,†Strategic Management Journal, 21(4), pp.
-496, 2000.
K. Hewett and W. O. Bearden, “Dependence, trust, and relational
behavior on the part of foreign subsidiary marketing operations:
Implications for managing global marketing operations,†Journal of
Marketing, 65(4), pp. 51-66, 2001.
C. Homburg and O. Jensen, “The thought worlds of marketing and sales:
Which differences make a difference?†Journal of Marketing, 71(3), pp.
–42, 2007.
C. Homburg, J. Wieseke, and W. D. Hoyer, “Social identity and the
service-profit chain,†Journal of Marketing, 73(2), pp. 38–54, 2009.
B. J. Jaworski and D. J. MacInnis, “Marketing jobs and management
control: Toward a framework,†Journal of Marketing Research, 26(4),
pp. 406-419, 1989.
F. Mael and B. E. Ashforth, “Alumni and their alma matter: A partial
test of the reformulated model of organizational identification,†Journal
of Organizational Behavior, 13, pp. 103-123, 1992.
J. P. Meyer, T. E. Becker, and R. van Dick, “Social identities and
commitments at work: Toward an integrative model,†Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 27, pp. 665–683, 2006.
C. Moorman and R. T. Rust, “The role of marketing,†Journal of
Marketing, 63, pp. 180-197, 1999.
C. H. Noble, “The influence of job security on field sales manager
satisfaction: Exploring frontline tensions,†Journal of Personal Selling
& Sales Management, 28(3), pp. 247–262, 2008.
S. N. Ramaswami, “Marketing controls and dysfunctional employee
behaviors: A test of traditional and contingency theory postulates,â€
Journal of Marketing, 60(2), pp. 105-120, 1996.
J. R. Rizzo, R. J. House, S. I. Lirtzman, S, “Role conflict and ambiguity
in complex organizations,†Administrative Science Quarterly, 15 (June),
pp. 150–163, 1970.
M. Sasaki, Y. Yamashita, W. Uehara, G. Fukutomi, and H. Fukuchi, H,
“Managing Foreign Subsidiaries in Emerging Countries: Are They
Different from Western Subsidiaries?†A paper presented at 17th. World
Marketing Cogress, Academy of Marketing Science, 2014.
C. H. Schwepker Jr. and D. J. Good, “Marketing control and sales force
customer orientation,†Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,
(3), pp. 167-179, 2004.
J. N. Sheth, “Impact of emerging markets on marketing: Rethinking
existing perspectives and practices,†Journal of Marketing, 75(4), pp.
-182, 2011.
A. Smale, I. Bjorkman, M. Ehrnrooth, S. John, K. Makela, and J.
Smelius, “Dual values-based organizational identification in MNC
subsidiaries: A multilevel study,†Journal of International Business
Studies, 46, pp. 761-783, 2015.
R. W. Thomas, G. N. Soutar, M. M. Ryan, “The selling orientationcustomer
orientation (S.O.C.O.) scale: A proposed short form,†Journal
of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 21(1), pp. 63–69, 2001.
D. A. Whetten, “Albert and Whetten revisited: Strengthening the
concept of organizational identity,†Journal of Management Inquiry,
(3), pp. 219-234, 2006.
Y. Yamashita, G. Fukutomi, W. Uehara, H. Fukuchi, and M. Sasaki,
Marketing strategy and organizational processes: An empirical study on
Japanese firms (written in Japanese), Yuhikaku, Tokyo, 2012.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.