Overseas Corporation Research Articles

THE INFLUENCE OF HERBICIDE PROTECTION TECHNOLOGIES ON ECONOMICALLY VALUABLE TRAITS AND YIELD OF SUNFLOWER HYBRIDS IN THE CENTRAL FOREST-STEPPE OF UKRAINE

In the conditions of the Central Forest-Steppe of Ukraine during 2021–2023, the influence of herbicide protection technologies on the formation of plant height, basket diameter, oil content and yield of sunflower hybrids was studied. Twelve sunflower hybrids were studied: SY Bacardi CLP, NK Kondi, SUZUKA (Syngenta Crop Protection AG), LG5555 CLP, LG5580, LG59580 (Limagrain Europe), ЕS GENESIS, ES Bellamis CL, ES AROMATIC SU (Euralis Semences), P64LP130, PR64F66, P64LE25 (Pioneer Overseas Corporation). Sunflower hybrids were studied using classical, Express (or SUMO), Clearfield® Plus (CLP) herbicide protection technologies. Taking into account the agrometeorological conditions of sunflower hybrids cultivation and their genetic potential, it was found that under the Express Sun (or SUMO) herbicide protection technology of Dupont (consisting of sunflower hybrids resistant to tribenuron-methyl-based products), the most stable was the height of sunflower plants in SUZUKA (194–197 cm) and P64LE25 (206–207 cm) hybrids. According to the technology of herbicide protection Clearfield® Plus (CLP) by BASF (based on the resistance of sunflower hybrids to herbicides of the imidazoline group), the highest stability in plant height was shown by the hybrid LG5555 CLP (175–177 cm). According to the classical technology, using soil and post-emergence herbicides and graminicides with elements of mechanical control, the hybrid ES Bellamis SL had the greatest variation in plant height from 177 cm to 223 cm during the three years of research. The most stable was the diameter of the sunflower basket in the hybrid SI Bacardi CLP (22.3–22.5 cm) with Clearfield® Plus (CLP) herbicide protection technology. According to the Express Sun (or SUMO) herbicide protection technology, high indicators of the basket diameter were obtained in the hybrids ES AROMATIC SU (20.7–23.2 cm) and SUZUKA (19.3–23.3 cm). The highest yields per plot were recorded for hybrids SUZUKA (11.15 kg), ES AROMATIC SU (11.05 kg) and P64LE25 (10.84 kg) using Clearfield® Plus (CLP) herbicide protection technology. The hybrids that provided the best yields and formed high quality seeds were P64LE25 (3.86 t/ha), with an oil content of 47.2%; ES AROMATIC SU (3.95 t/ha), with an oil content of 47.1%; and SUZUKA (3.98 t/ha), with an oil content of 47.7%, using Clearfield® Plus (CLP) herbicide protection technology. With Express Sun (or SUMO) technology, the best hybrid was LG5580 (4.0 t/ha), with an oil content of 48.6%.

Pengaruh Kualitas Produk, Citra Merek dan Harga terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Monitor Aoc 24g2e

The increasing demand from gamers for top-notch monitors is fueling rapid growth and intense competition in the monitor industry. According to data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), Admiral Overseas Corporation AOC has emerged as a global leader in gaming monitor popularity. This achievement can be attributed to AOC's design strategy, which focuses on continuous product development and incorporates feedback from professional gaming enthusiasts. For companies, consumer purchasing decisions play a pivotal role as they contribute to revenue generation and help maintain competitive positions in the market. Several factors influence consumer purchasing decisions, including product quality, brand image, and price. This research aims to examine the characteristics and impact of product quality, brand image, price, and purchase decisions specifically related to the AOC 24G2E Monitor. The research employs a quantitative approach, utilizing descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression analysis as the analytical techniques. Primary data from 100 consumers of the AOC 24G2E Monitor were collected through a questionnaire, employing purposive sampling. The analysis results indicate that product quality, brand image, and price significantly influence the purchase decisions for the AOC 24G2E Monitor, with a coefficient of determination of 89.3%.

국내 연기금의 해외 역혼성단체 방지 협약 대응방안

This study attempted to examine the countermeasures against overseas reverse hybrid organizations for domestic pension funds by implementing the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting(BEPS) prevention agreement in OECD’. BEPS refers to the act of avoiding taxes by using not only differences in tax laws between the two countries but also deficiencies in tax treaties. In 2015, the BEPS prevention agreement was signed at the G20 summit. It is to strengthen tax-related standards and secure tax certainty by sharing corporate transaction-related information. 
 Currently, SPC established overseas is defined as an ‘overseas corporation’. However, it is recognized as a ‘conductor organization’ overseas. For this reason, SPC is defined as a reverse hybrid organization. If SPC is defined as a reverse-mixed organization, income that has not been previously taxed will be taxed at a 25% tax rate in EU countries, and additional taxes will be levied at a 30% tax rate. In consideration of this situation, this study
 intends to examine the problems and countermeasures of the regulations for preventing foreign mixed-sex organizations. This study attempted to present a specific plan to establish a legal basis for clearly considering SPCs established overseas as conduit organizations, focusing on OECD BEPS Action2. This study is meaningful in that it examined the international tax response measures of institutional investors, including domestic pension funds.

Delhi High Court on applicability of DNA test as evidence to prove infringement of IP rights in plant varieties

Abstract Pioneer Overseas Corporation v Chairperson, Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights and Ors, W.P.(C) 6470/2013 and CM No 14085/2013, Delhi High Court, 1 July 2019 In this case, the Delhi High Court held that mere conformity to the distinctiveness, uniformity and stability (DUS) test by a plant variety cannot be a ground to disallow a DNA test to prove infringement of another plant variety.

Avoiding China's Capital Market: Evidence from Hong Kong-Listed Red-Chips and P-Chips

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to explore the puzzle of why so many Chinese firms eschew listings in China. Hundreds of firms founded in China have reorganized themselves as overseas corporations and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These firms are called Red-chips if they are state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and P-chips if they are not state-owned (non-SOEs). To examine the rationale behind the listing decisions of P-chips and Red-chips, we compare the characteristics of Red-chips (P-chips) with SOEs (non-SOEs) listed on China stock exchanges. We find that SOEs are more likely to list in China. Moreover, while we do not observe any significant difference between the performance of Hong Kong-listed and mainland-listed SOEs, we find non-SOEs that are listed in Hong Kong are significantly more profitable than those listed in China. We then explore three possible explanations for why Chinese firms, especially non-SOEs, may prefer to be listed in Hong Kong: (1) to facilitate personal wealth transfers out of China, (2) to increase access to debt capital, and (3) to facilitate more efficient stock price formation. We find that all three of these explanations have statistical support.

Scientific opinion on an application for renewal of authorisation for continued marketing of maize59122 and derived food and feed submitted under articles 11 and 23 of Regulation (EC) No1829/2003 by Pioneer Overseas Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC.

Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐003 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Pioneer Overseas Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (GMO Panel) was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the context of the renewal of authorisation application of the insect‐resistant genetically modified maize 59122. The data received in the context of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, a systematic search and evaluation of literature, updated bioinformatics analyses, and additional documents or studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant. The GMO Panel assessed these data for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the context of the original application. Under the assumption that the DNA sequence of the event in maize 59122 considered for renewal is identical to the corrected sequence of the originally assessed event, the GMO Panel concludes that no new hazards or modified exposure and no new scientific uncertainties were identified that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on maize 59122.

Avoiding China's Capital Market: Evidence from Hong Kong-Listed Red-Chips and P-Chips

There is a long line of Chinese firms waiting for government approval to list on mainland Chinese or international stock exchanges. There are also hundreds of Chinese firms that have not received government listing approval, but have reorganized themselves as overseas corporations, followed by listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These overseas corporations with mainland Chinese operations and Hong Kong listings are called if they are state-owned entities (SOEs) and if they are not SOEs. We use a comprehensive sample of Chinese firms listed in mainland China and in Hong Kong to test whether Red-chips and P-chips are (a) more likely to be firms the Chinese government does not want on mainland exchanges (because they are neither the largest and most profitable Chinese firms nor the most politically connected), or (b) likely to be firms that eschew Chinese exchanges in favor of the Hong Kong capital market (because of the immediacy of the approval process in Hong Kong or for more efficient pricing in a better-behaved market). We find that more politically connected SOEs are listed on Chinese stock exchanges, and that larger and more profitable non-SOEs are listed in Hong Kong as P-chips, for the overwhelming majority of which we can find no evidence that they ever applied for government approval to IPO. We conclude that the largest and most profitable Chinese firms that are unconstrained by their relationships with central and provincial government prefer to be listed in the Hong Kong capital market.

New Light on the History of Correspondence Schools

New Light on the History of Correspondence Schools Robert L. Hampel (bio) What we now call distance education began long before computers linked students and teachers. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, hundreds of private companies, public universities, and enterprising individuals sold instruction by mail. Nearly any subject could be pursued, but vocational training was the best seller. The company that dominated the field, enrolling nearly 100,000 new students annually in the early twentieth century, was in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where its massive headquarters was known as the Big Red Schoolhouse. By comparison, the largest proprietary school in Philadelphia, Peirce College, never enrolled more than 2,000 students until World War I.1 The International Correspondence Schools (ICS) found its historian in 1996, when James Watkinson published an article in this journal.2 He described the practical slant of the organization’s textbooks, analyzed its enticing ads, profiled students from two cities, and concluded that ICS was a reputable vendor of the technical know-how that could help such ambitious adults as Arthur Godfrey, Eddie Rickenbacker, Walter Chrysler, Dwight Eisenhower’s father, and the inventor of Scotch Tape get ahead. Watkinson’s valuable article said little about ICS after the 1920s; his paper traced the rise of a behemoth rather than its later life. In addition, he relied on published sources because the ICS archives were so meager—no correspondence to and from ICS staff, no annual reports to shareholders, no legal records, and no letters from students.3 The few primary sources Watkinson missed—ICS advertisements in the National Museum of American History, the autobiography of an ICS advertising manager, the notes of an Italian immigrant who took carpentry and masonry—reinforce what he found elsewhere.4 [End Page 373] Two boxes in the William Warren Scranton Papers at the Special Collections Library of Pennsylvania State University shed light on ICS from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s.5 William Scranton’s father was on the Board of Directors when thirty-two-year-old Scranton Jr. joined the company in 1949 as its vice president for legal affairs. Although the younger Scranton left in 1954, he rejoined the Board of Directors after his service in Congress, a term as governor of Pennsylvania, and an unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964. Scranton’s papers illuminate the financial ups and downs of ICS and reveal the risks of rapid expansion. From the annual reports, correspondence with ICS officers, press releases, and handwritten notes, historians can trace the lures and the perils of becoming a conglomerate. In the 1940s and 1950s, ICS rebounded slowly but steadily from the sharp loss of students during the Depression. The GI Bill briefly pushed enrollments to 115,018 in 1947, but that was the only time when ICS equaled the peaks of 1900 to 1925. The company recruited around 70,000 new students each year in the 1950s; a profitable book publishing division grew more rapidly. By the early 1960s, the annual revenue of approximately twenty million was triple the comparable figure from the early 1940s, with the stock price doing much better: from a low of one dollar in 1942, it rose to ten dollars by the early 1950s and continued to climb throughout the decade. The annual profits grew faster than the annual sales in the 1950s, and in a strong market the shares did well. The Scranton files reveal that ICS went on an acquisition binge in the 1960s, when for-profit education and publishing firms entered what investors today call a bubble. The market for schooling in many different forms seemed limitless, and stock prices skyrocketed. The company had seven suitors in 1961, but it wanted to buy rather than sell. By the end of the decade, InText (as it renamed itself) owned three vocational schools, a book distributor, an audiovisual company, a training program for overseas corporations, and five niche publishers. Annual sales began to surge in 1963, and the $22,349,000 in that year soared to $52,255,000 ten years later. But profits peaked in 1967, declined for the next three years, and became losses in the early 1970s. Some of the acquisitions were...

Scientific opinion on an application for renewal of authorisation for continued marketing of maize1507 and derived food and feed submitted under Articles 11 and 23 of Regulation (EC) No1829/2003 by Pioneer Overseas Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC.

Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐001 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Pioneer Overseas Corporation and Dow Agrosciences LLC, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (GMO Panel) was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the frame of a renewal of authorisation application of the insect‐resistant and herbicide‐tolerant genetically modified (GM) maize 1507. The data package received in the frame of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, a systematic search and evaluation of literature, an updated bioinformatics analysis and additional documents or studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant. The GMO Panel assessed this data package for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the frame of the original application. Under the assumption that the DNA sequence of the event in maize 1507 considered for renewal is identical to the corrected sequence of the originally assessed event, the GMO Panel concludes that no new hazards or modified exposure and no new scientific uncertainties were identified for the application for renewal that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on maize 1507 (EFSA, 2005b, 2009).

Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500–1850 ed. by Lauren Benton and Richard J. Ross

Reviewed by: Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500–1850 ed. by Lauren Benton and Richard J. Ross Timothy J. Fitzgerald Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500–1850. Edited by lauren benton and richard j. ross. New York: New York University Press, 2013. 314 pp. $85.00 (cloth); $27.00 (paper). With this impressive collection of studies, Lauren Benton and Richard Ross aim to contribute to a “new narrative of world history that places empires at its center” (p. 2). More specifically, they and the assembled authors wish to front legal pluralism as an essential lens on the history of empires, and by extension global history, across the early modern period. The study of legal pluralism in imperial contexts is not new, as the editors and Paul Halliday observe in helpful introductory and concluding chapters, respectively. But the hermeneutic has gained in vigor and nuance in recent years. The crux of legal pluralism in its many settings is what the authors term “jurisdictional politics”—a rubric Benton forged over a decade ago in her landmark Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400–1900 (Cambridge, 2002). A jurisdiction is “the exercise by sometimes vaguely defined legal authorities of the power to regulate and administer sanctions over particular actions or people, including groups defined by personal status, territorial boundaries, and corporate membership” (p. 6). These jurisdictions were made real by historical actors—slaves, subjects, missionaries, merchants, governors, inspectors, jurists, monarchs, and so on—who pursued their interests by fluid though mutually intelligible legal means. As such interests came into contact (and often conflict), jurisdictions might be reinforced, [End Page 897] reformed, or removed. From this perspective, the role of jurisdictional intermediaries, those who represented a mix of interests from above, below, and within (for example, a British magistrate on the island of Nevis or a Greek Orthodox patriarch in Ottoman Constantinople), assumed special salience in the exercise of empire. The benefits of this approach to imperial history, the editors suggest, include the avoidance of restrictive binaries: ruler versus ruled, state versus nonstate, public versus private, and the like. Indeed, legal pluralism’s capaciousness—its embrace of complexity, its inclusive understanding of law and legality—points to its utility. Many are granted agency. Everything is contextual. Little is static. And the material and the discursive are closely fused in generating actual, evolving historical conditions. While the book’s geographic coverage is global, stretching from Peru to New Zealand, focus is squarely on Western European imperial formations, especially as these took shape overseas. Only Karen Barkey’s chapter on the Ottoman Empire shifts attention beyond the British, French, Spanish, and, to a lesser extent, Dutch empires between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Given the volume’s scope and aspirations, coverage of Russia, Ming/Qing China, and the Mughals is strangely absent. Nonetheless, Western Europe’s ascendancy in this period is not to be begrudged. And the studies gathered here offer fresh research and searching analysis, even when considered against the backdrop of a robust historiography of European empire. The British Empire is treated most extensively. Philip Stern argues that the empire’s famed overseas corporations were not merely political intermediaries or extensions of a centralized state but “forms of ‘commonwealth’” that performed a vast range of governing functions with considerable independence (such as collecting taxes and waging war). Here and elsewhere in the book, questions regarding legal pluralism’s impact on the nature and practice of sovereignty, including its potential divisibility, are broached. Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford examine the role of imperial magistrates in the Leeward Islands and New South Wales during the early nineteenth century and conclude that these officials were at once “the problem and the answer within the jurisdictional puzzle of the colonial legal order” (p. 189) existing among masters, slaves, and convicts. Moreover, the use of magistrates was linked to pan-imperial constitutional debates and reforms aimed at uniformity. P. G. McHugh crafts a rich study of the British presence in New Zealand, submitting that the improvisational “jurisdictionalism” of the 1830s yielded by decade’s end to the necessity of direct [End Page 898] territorial sovereignty. Put differently, the sovereignty of Maori tribal chiefs (mediated by a weak British...

Adoption of a Learning Contract in Higher Education

This disguised case features a marketing major, Susan Lafleur, who presented Professor Higgins, the Department Chair, with a dilemma. She needed a petition signed to enroll in a capstone course while simultaneously taking a prerequisite course. She received an employment offer from a prestigious overseas corporation, which required a baccalaureate marketing degree. Higgins informed Susan that the prerequisite courses had never been waived previously. Further investigation revealed that Susan had a marginal academic record. Higgins’s quandary involved maintaining academic standards, College policy, and compassion for the student. Decision making, motivation, and psychological contract research were applied. What should Higgins do?

Does the Chinese Government Value Good Firms? Evidence from P-Chips and Red-Chips Listed in Hong Kong

The very long line of Chinese firms waiting to be approved for listing on the Chinese stock exchanges provides a context for testing whether the Chinese government picks the best (largest and most profitable) firms for listing on the Chinese stock exchanges. Capital-hungry Chinese firms that are not approved for listing on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges frequently choose to reorganize themselves as overseas corporations, followed by listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These overseas corporations with mainland Chinese operations and Hong Kong listings are called "Red-chips" if they are predominantly state-owned entities (SOEs) and "P-chips" if they are not SOEs. We propose that the Chinese government granted approval to raise equity capital domestically to those firms with better political connections (the political connectedness hypothesis) and/or to those firms with better performance and prospects (the performance hypothesis) We find that different hypotheses are consistent with the results for SOEs than with the results for Non-SOEs. We find that the political connectedness hypothesis holds for the SOEs, and the performance hypothesis holds for the Non-SOEs. We conclude that the Chinese government has approved more politically connected SOEs and more profitable Non-SOEs to list domestically.

Enhancing the Accountability of Transnational Corporations: The Case for ‘Decoupling’ Environmental Issues

The lack of accountability of transnational corporations (TNCs) for any harmful behaviour in the fields of environment, labour and human rights is a concern for the global community. Despite various attempts, neither the United Nations nor the home or host countries of most TNCs have so far provided any effective, binding solutions. This article argues that an important reason for the lack of advancement in introducing greater accountability is because issues such as workers' rights, the environment and human rights are often discussed together. A new approach, one that is solely focused on protecting the environment, is desirable especially with the rise of new capital exporters. In 2013, China detached the issue of the environment from those of workers' or human rights, in its attempt to tackle overseas corporate wrongdoing. Its environmental guidelines are worth emulating, but it lags behind in areas such as human rights. Analysing the position of the environment among the other fields involved in the debate, we first identify several theoretical reasons for detaching the former from an international law perspective. We then provide a comparative functional analysis of four extraterritorial corporate social responsibility Bills – those in the United States (2000), Australia (2000), the United Kingdom (2002) and Canada (2009) – all of which were rejected by their national parliaments. This lends additional support to the thesis that including the environment with other targeted fields stands in the way of home countries improving the environmental behaviour of their overseas corporations.

Scientific Opinion on application (EFSA‐GMO‐UK‐2008‐53) for the placing on the market of herbicide tolerant genetically modified maize 98140 for food and feed uses, import and processing under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Pioneer Overseas Corporation

Maize 98140 contains a single insert consisting of the gat4621 and the Zm-hra expression cassettes, providing herbicide tolerance. Bioinformatic analyses and genetic stability studies did not raise safety issues. The levels of the GAT and Zm-HRA protein in maize 98140 have been sufficiently analysed. The minimum standards for the design of field trials, set out in the EFSA GMO Panel guidance document, were not met. Therefore the EFSA GMO Panel was not in a position to conclude on the comparative assessment of the compositional, agronomic and phenotypic characteristics, on the basis of the data provided. In the absence of conclusions on the comparative assessment of composition, the risk assessment was restricted to the newly expressed proteins and to specific metabolites resulting from the acetylase activity of the GAT4621 protein. The EFSA GMO Panel has identified a gap in the data on the agronomic and phenotypic characterisation of GM maize 98140 and considers that uncertainty over these characteristics remains. However, considering the scope of this application, the available data and the poor survival capacity of maize outside cultivated land, the EFSA GMO Panel concluded that there is very little likelihood of environmental effects due to the accidental release into the environment of viable grains from maize 98140. Considering its intended use as food and feed, interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment were not considered to be an issue. Risks associated with an unlikely but theoretically possible horizontal gene transfer from maize 98140 to bacteria have not been identified. The monitoring plan and reporting intervals were in line with the intended uses of maize 98140.

Medical Tourism in the Caribbean Islands: A Cure for Economies in Crisis?

Small island states have increasingly sought new means of economic diversification. Several Caribbean states have begun to develop medical tourism, partly building on existing tourist-oriented economies. Medical tourism has boomed in this century in several states in Asia and in Central America. The Bahamas, Barbados and the Cayman Islands exemplify different strategies for medical tourism, in order to generate foreign exchange and new employment, and reduce costs from overseas referrals. Most medical tourism projects have been developed by overseas corporations and are oriented to a US market. Business principles rather than health care dominate development strategies, notably of emerging transnational medical corporations, and raise ethical issues. Success will be difficult to achieve in a crowded and competitive market.

Scientific Opinion on application (EFSA-GMO-UK-2008-53) for the placing on the market of herbicide tolerant genetically modified maize 98140 for food and feed uses, import and processing under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Pioneer Overseas Corporation

Maize 98140 contains a single insert consisting of the gat4621 and the Zm-hra expression cassettes, providing herbicide tolerance. Bioinformatic analyses and genetic stability studies did not raise safety issues. The levels of the GAT and Zm-HRA protein in maize 98140 have been sufficiently analysed. The minimum standards for the design of field trials, set out in the EFSA GMO Panel guidance document, were not met. Therefore the EFSA GMO Panel was not in a position to conclude on the comparative assessment of the compositional, agronomic and phenotypic characteristics, on the basis of the data provided. In the absence of conclusions on the comparative assessment of composition, the risk assessment was restricted to the newly expressed proteins and to specific metabolites resulting from the acetylase activity of the GAT4621 protein. The EFSA GMO Panel has identified a gap in the data on the agronomic and phenotypic characterisation of GM maize 98140 and considers that uncertainty over these characteristics remains. However, considering the scope of this application, the available data and the poor survival capacity of maize outside cultivated land, the EFSA GMO Panel concluded that there is very little likelihood of environmental effects due to the accidental release into the environment of viable grains from maize 98140. Considering its intended use as food and feed, interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment were not considered to be an issue. Risks associated with an unlikely but theoretically possible horizontal gene transfer from maize 98140 to bacteria have not been identified. The monitoring plan and reporting intervals were in line with the intended uses of maize 98140.

Competitive forces and the levers of control framework in a manufacturing setting

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore how the strategic change following a corporate takeover impacted the nature and extent of use of the firm's management control systems (MCS), in particular its performance measurement system (PMS).Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses Michael Porter's theory of competitive advantage and Robert Simons' levers of control framework to illustrate and interpret changes in the PMS within an Australian multinational subsidiary following its takeover by an overseas corporation. To provide empirical evidence on this issue, face‐to‐face interviews and archival data are used.FindingsThe findings reveal that the takeover resulted in changes in the firm's competitive forces (threat of potential entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers, and rivalry among existing firms), and therefore the firm altered its strategy to change the rules of competition in its favor. Corresponding to the strategic change, the PMS was affected, with specific implications on Simons' four levers of control: interactive, diagnostic, beliefs, and boundary systems.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that a corporate takeover is an important phase for any organization, as it involves a change in the competitive environment and strategy, and needs to be facilitated by a change in the MCS to create and sustain superior performance.Originality/valueThis case study demonstrates how interactive and beliefs systems work together with diagnostic and boundary systems in the context of change in an organization. Past research devoted to strategic change and MCS has not documented this phenomenon.

A New Copper Extractant and its Extraction Performances in Sulfate Medium

Employed methanol, toluene, formaldehyde, 4-tert-octylphenol, and hydroxylamine as raw materials, triumphantly obtained a new extractant for copper by the processes of salinization reaction, formylation reaction, oximate reaction and so on, the purity of new extractant is > 98% by purity test. The extraction performances are very perfect. The maximal extraction efficiency is up to 90.4% for Cu2+by single-stage extraction, and recovering Cu2+in 170g/L H2SO4medium by stripping, stripping of copper >99.3% can be obtained. The preparation cost of the extractant is very low. It can contribute to better development of hydrometallurgy for copper, and gradually reduce dependence of Chinese copper industries on overseas corporations.

Science For The People

The Management of Science and Technology in the West Indies I believe that the creativity of scientists and technologists is an important force affecting the lives of people in all societies. To some people the scientist is a mad devil creating engines of war and environmental destruction. To others, he is a saint creating healing medicines and breeding high-yielding crops. Saints or devils, we ought to be interested in what our men of science are doing to and for our island societies, and to study the threats and opportunities facing them, for the deployment of their talent has important consequences for everyone. The Social and Economic Setting Our scientists and technologists operate in societies very different from those in which their metropolitan colleagues work, and most importantly different from the societies in which a large number of them received formal training. Our countries have evolved from sugar plantations to economies pinning hopes on development by inviting large multinational corporations to establish industries here.1'2 Local manufacturing enterprises have evolved from commissioned agencies by assembling what formerly was imported in a fully made-up form. Slowly but surely, control of major natural resources passed into the hands of multinational corporations and their agents together with control over loyalties of a significant segment of local technical talent-what might be called an internal Brain Drain. The largest number of scientists is probably to be found in the Civil Service or in quasi-governmental organisations such as statutory boards and the University of the West Indies. An important segment of technical talent may be found in the professions of medicine, engineering, architecture and surveying. However, the deployment of talent in all those sectors reflects the general dependence of the economy and the society even now, ten years after political independence. Interviews with Jamaican technicians and scientists working for the manufacturers in partnership with or under direct control from an overseas corporation reveal that their main function is to see that local processes and products conform to specifications set by Head Office. Quality control or public relations is emphasised at the expense of productive innovations. When, in spite of the emphasis, a native scientist persists in attempting innovations he is actively discouraged by Head Office, because: (a) An important profit is based on charges made for use of patented materials and processes supplied from the parent firm. (b) Preservation of the international brand image is all-important, even if the proposed innovation may introduce features of special benefit to the local community into the process or product being marketed. ©) Acceptance of locally-inspired innovations may lead to unwelcome demands for greater sharing of profits. Often, however, there is little opportunity for innovation when operations consist of assembling pre-designed and almost- finished components. Not surprisingly, creative employers in such firms quickly find themselves promoted to administration or sales to become executives rather than producers. An interesting example of resistance to local innovation was revealed in the response of the alumina industries to suggestions that they use local starch rather than wheat middlings to precipitate alumina. Various reasons were advanced to explain why this change was not feasible. Local starches would block filters, carry-over too far downstream in the process and impair the efficiency of extraction. One cannot judge the validity of these objections without access to data on actual trials with comparisons made between wheat middlings and local starches. Surely, however, the fact that the process was patented in North America and that there may be strategic advantages to the companies in using a North American raw material also affect the choice of a starch for the process. …

Effects of China's recent development in the rest of the world: With special attention to Latin America

In one respect, China's economic awakening is bad for those economies that have been technological ahead of China and that China is now catching up to. The special feature of China's advance in recent decades has been its harnessing a high volume of Chinese saving to domestic investment projects involving technology transfer through cooperative arrangements with overseas corporations in the West, especially the US. The openness of export markets to China has served to amplify the resulting investment opportunities. The result has been a phenomenal increase of productivity and of the supply of exports. The negative effect for the US and other advanced economies in the West stems from the resulting import substitution by China, thus a decline in overseas demand for US exports, hence a deterioration in the US terms of trade and resulting decline in the real factor rewards that US producers can afford to pay to domestic inputs, including labour, particularly low-skill manufacturing labor. Of course, there are in other respects some important gains for the West from China's commercial success and economic development.