International Business in Transition
Edited by Marian Gorynia

Publisher Difin, Warsaw 2009, 328pp.
ISBN 9788376410463

by Danny Van Den Bulcke based on the Introduction of the Volume

Poland has withstood the financial and economic crisis better than many other countries. It has been called 'one of the few bright spots in a recession-torn Europe hit hard by the economic crisis’ (Newsweek, October 26, 2009). The IMF carried out a recent revision of its GDP estimates for 2009 and added one per cent to its previous prospects for Poland. If this is confirmed Poland will be the only European country with a positive growth rate in 2009. Warsaw has also moved up in the ranking of cities most likely to attract companies considering an expansion during the next five years.

Marian Gorynia’s book presents an excellent background to evaluate Poland’s economic policies and the strategies followed by domestic and foreign owned companies during the country’s increasing integration in the global economy. The book deals not only with the tansition in international business towards globalization, but also and more specifically with the transition of the East and Central European countries to a market oriented economy, with a focus on Poland.

Although Marian Gorynia, EIBA’s National Representative for Poland, is listed as editor, he could easily be called the principal author of the volume. Indeed, of the seventeen chapters, Marian is the sole author of six of them, while he has one or two co-authors for eight other contributions (three with Rado Wolniak and five with Rado Wolniak and Jan Nowak). Three other chapters were co-authored with other colleagues.

The book refers to, and in a way is an extension of Marian Gorynia’s previous book, “Studia nad transformacj i internacjonalizacj gospodarki polskiej” (“Studies on the transformation and internationalization of the Polish economy”), published in the year 2007 which recorded his 20 years of cooperation with the journal EKONOMISTA. It contained articles published by himself or together with colleagues in Polish in this periodical during the years 1988–2007. The book besides transition problems investigated as well the issue of the internationalisation of the Polish economy.

After the latter publication he thought that problems of international business in transition countries that had been widely discussed by him and a number of colleagues also deserved to be published in the form of a book covering nearly twenty-years of research. In this new volume the key criterion for selecting a particular article was its previous publication in a reputable periodical or in the form of a book chapter. It is worth mentioning that two of the seventeen presented articles were published in journals listed in the ISI Master Journal List (the 2nd and the 16th article).

The present book covers a wide range of issues and approaches. Some contributions assume a macroeconomic perspective others offer a company, branch or region specific focus. The analysis covers economic policy and company strategy issues, problems of international trade and foreign direct investment, and includes insights on issues of competitiveness at company and country levels.

The first article (Strategic shift in export trade, 1995) presents and attempts to analyze changes in the volume and structure of Polish exports recorded during the initial four years of transition (1990–1994). In this paper the authors undertake the task of determining to what extent the success of foreign trade can be attributed to: a favorable international situation, government economic policy and an adaptive company behavior.

The second text (The Polish Economy`s International Competitiveness and Economic Policy, 1998) is devoted to relations between economic policy and international competitiveness of the economy. The article sets out two propositions:
• Government economic policy should assist firms in achieving competitiveness.
• Economic policy should facilitate the creation of competitive abilities in an integral manner, that is, by supporting the competitive position of exporters in foreign markets as well as the competitiveness of domestic producers in an open home market.

Both, the third (Foreign Direct Investment and Competition Strategies of Domestic Firms in Poland, 2000) and the fourth article (Internationalisation of a Post-Communist Economy – Opportunities and Threats: The Case of Poland, 2002), focus on the specific nature of the internationalisation process in transition economies. The third study elaborates on the contribution of foreign firms to the development of the Polish economy and influence of such firms on the competitiveness of Polish companies. The fourth paper raises such issues as: premises for deeper internationalisation of competitive relations, crucial problems of development of Polish foreign trade in the period of market transition of the economy, and main aspects of foreign direct investment in Poland.

The fifth text (Internationalisation of Economy versus Economic Policy under Integration and Globalisation, 2002) presents a set of recommendations for economic policy. In the article it is argued that economic success measured by the growth of welfare will be a result of the impact of three interrelated categories: competitiveness, internationalisation and effectiveness. The Participation of Transitional Economy in Globalisation – The Case of Poland (2002) aimed to determine whether the rate of integration of the Polish economy with the international environment keeps pace with the general rate of globalisation in the world. Moreover, the authors attempt to delineate some policy implications from the analyzed situation.

In the seventh contribution (National Differences in Technology Transfers in East European Transition Economies, 2002) the reasons for the limited impact of external knowledge adoption are studied based on the process of technology transfers in East European transition economies. This analysis is supplemented by examples from Croatia, Hungary and Poland.

The eight article (Polish Firms in the European Union. Their Internationalisation Projections and Perspectives, 2003) discusses possible projections and perspectives for the internationalisation process of Polish firms. The authors highlight the importance of competitiveness upgrading and advancing the internationalisation of Polish companies.

In the ninth and tenth chapter (On the Path of Poland’s Globalisation, 2003; Globalisation of a Transitional Economy: The Experience of Poland, 2003) Poland’s integration with the global economy over the last decade is examined. The authors use international trade and foreign direct investment as the dimensions of this integration. Both studies point out that in the years 1990–2000, the Polish economy was rapidly integrating with the world economy, however, Poland’s participation in the globalisation process was somewhat unbalanced.

The eleventh paper (Competitiveness of Polish Firms and the European Union Enlargement, 2004) discusses a three-dimensional concept of competitiveness of the nterprise (its competitive position, competitive potential and competitive strategy). Furthermore, it presents the results of empirical studies on the competitiveness of Polish firms in comparison with European Union firms in the light of Poland’s anticipated entry into the EU.

The twelfth contribution (Competitiveness of firms from Ziemia Lubuska and Poland’s accession to the European Union, 2005) also explores the competitiveness issue. It focuses on the competitive strategy of Polish firms located in Lubuskie Province bordering with Germany. The article is based on the theoretical concept of enterprise competitiveness and competitive gap and presents results of empirical research.

Chapter thirteen (Co-operation strategies of Polish companies as a response to foreign investor’s expansion into the Polish market, 2005) focuses primarily on the forms of co-operation between Polish and foreign companies – those which have subsidiaries or branches in the Polish market as well as those which enter the market through other forms of internationalisation.

The fourteenth paper (Motives and Modes of FDI, Firm Characteristics and Performance: Case Studies of Foreign Subsidiaries in Poland, 2005) is of exploratory character and attempts to determine and interpret the interdependencies between the motives and modes of setting up subsidiaries by foreign investors in Poland, and the main characteristics and performance of these subsidiaries. It is worth mentioning that this article received the Best Paper Award at the IMDA Thirteenth Annual World Business Congress in 2004.

With the title ‘Polish Economic Policy, Internationalisation and Globalisation’ (2006) chapter 14 identifies the three most important factors which determine Poland’s economy’s position in the international environment. These factors are: completion of the transformation process, integration with the EU and globalisation/internationalisation. The focus is on the determinants of and recommendations for required economic policy.

Chapter 15 (Poland and Its Investment Development Path, 2007) attempts to explore the concept of the investment development path (IDP) and its key component, the net outward investment position, as applied to Poland. It analyzes the available macroeconomic data identifying the IDP for Poland and formulates the reasons for, and consequences of, the country’s current IDP position.

In the last contribution (Multinational Enterprises and the Competitiveness of Transitional Host Economies: The Case of Poland, 2007) Poland’s export competitiveness is analyzed and linked to the export propensity and innovativeness of the subsidiaries of multinational enterprise (MNE). The paper re-examines the hypothesis that MNE subsidiaries in Poland make a significant contribution to host country competitiveness by raising overall export performance.

This publication should be positively received by a wide range of readers interested in international business in transition economies and will undoubtedly enhance the level of discussion on the relevant issues that are analyred in the volume.
 

Research on Knowledge, Innovation and Internationalization
Edited by Jorma Larimo and Tiia Vissak

Volume 4 in the EIBA Book Series ‘Progress in International Business Research’ 
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Hardback, 310 pp
 ISBN 9781848559561, Price € 97.95

The volume is divided into four parts. The contributions in the first part concern the internationalization processes of multinationals and international new ventures and the changes of different factors during these processes. In the second part, attention is devoted to foreign operation methods: online internationalization, the methods used in the beginning of internationalization activities, and the comparison between internationalizing with goods and services. The third part focuses on the importance of knowledge for internationalization: how knowledge is acquired from subsidiaries or headquarters and how the state could help firms in it. The fourth part discusses the importance of knowledge and innovation for the international expansion and performance of enterprises from Central, Eastern, and Southern European transition economies, and for those entering these countries. The volume provides new theoretical, managerial, and policy insights in the field of international business research and it should interest scholars, top managers, and policy makers, but also others intrigued by these issues.

Part I starts with the chapter ‘‘The Internationalization Processes of the Multinational Corporation: A New Research Agenda,’’ which is a conceptual paper by Desireé Blankenburg Holm, Rian Drogendijk, Jukka Hohenthal, Ulf Holm, Martin Johanson, and Ivo Zander. The authors examine the assumptions and features of the Uppsala internationalization model (Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975; Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). They state that for studying the internationalization processes of today’s multinational companies (MNCs), it is necessary to have a wider view than the one proposed by the Uppsala model as the latter still has several gaps and neglects some important issues regarding such firms’ internationalization processes.

The second chapter deals with the question‘‘Why Do Some International New Ventures Become Global Start-Ups? An Exploratory Study of the Finnish ICT Industry’’. It is an empirical paper by Niina Nummela, Kaisu Puumalainen, and Sami Saarenketo. They use the classification developed by Oviatt and McDougall (1994) for analyzing international new ventures (INVs). The authors pay attention to three important dimensions: (1) the time dimension (at what age they entered their first international markets), (2) the extent of these firms’ international sales (are they global or only international), and (3) the scope of their international sourcing (which resources they acquire from abroad)..

The third chapter ‘‘A Behavior-Based Analysis of the Changes of the Structure, Systems, and Culture in the Internationalization Processes over Time’’ is an empirical paper by Bernhard Swoboda, Martin Jager, Dirk Morschett, and Hanna Schramm-Klein. The chapter focuses on changes in 20 partial dimensions of German family-owned firms’ internal (organizational) structures, information and strategic planning systems, and organizational culture (including leadership characteristics and cultural transfer) along with changes in their target countries and establishment chains/operation modes in 10 years. Based on survey and interview data, the authors show that internationalization is not always an incremental (linear) process: over time, many companies follow periods of expansions and reductions (e.g., divestment).

Part II starts with the chapter ‘‘Global Online Entrepreneurship: The Review of Empirical Literature,’’ which is a conceptual paper by Anna Morgan-Thomas, Marian V Jones, and Ji Junzhe. The authors analyze 45 empirical works published in 1997–2008 in peer-reviewed academic international business, information technology, entrepreneurship, and economics journals and those containing quantitative and/or qualitative data in the field of global online entrepreneurship (GOE). The authors compare these studies’ main objectives, theoretical frameworks, methodologies, main findings, and other characteristics and also develop research implications.

The fifth chapter ‘‘Internationalization Patterns of Chinese Private-Owned SMEs: Initial Stages of Internationalization and Cluster as Takeoff Node’’ is an empirical paper by Susanne Sandberg. The chapter analyzes the takeoff and initial stages of internationalization of Chinese SMEs and the importance of clusters and other network relationships for such firms. Based on case study data from five privately-owned firms from the Yangtze River Delta region, the author concludes that these companies follow different internationalization paths.

The sixth chapter ‘‘Internationalization of Goods and Services: A Comparison of the Internationalization of Service Providers and Manufactures in Switzerland’’ is an empirical paper written by Ralph Lehmann. The chapter studies how the internationalization of service and manufacturing firms differs and whether service exporters need different export promotion measures than manufacturers. Based on interview materials and survey data from 132 Swiss service providers and 198 production enterprises, the author concludes that service exporters are often younger and that their companies are smaller. Also they sense the psychological, linguistic, and cultural distance more strongly than manufacturing firms as they have to create personal contacts with their customers.

Part III starts with the chapter ‘‘Do Japanese Investors Use their Joint Ventures with European Partners in Europe as Trojan Horses to Capture Their Knowledge?,’’ which is an empirical study by Jean-François Hennart and Shinichi Ishii. The chapter investigates if the partnership behavior of Japanese partners in joint ventures (JVs) with European partners is better explained by (1) the Trojan Horse Hypothesis (THH; assuming that Japanese firms establish JVs to steal their partners’ knowledge and dissolve JVs – liquidate them, buy out their European partners, or sell off their stakes to their partners or other firms – as soon as they have achieved their goal; or by (2) the ‘‘cooperative specialization’’ view (CS; arguing that Japanese firms set up JVs to achieve long-term cooperative specialization.

The eighth chapter deals with ‘‘Innovation Processes at Unit Level: A Study of Headquarters’ Involvement, Innovation Impact, Transfer Performance, and Adoption Success’’ by Francesco Ciabuschi and Oscar Martín Martín. The chapter investigates the impact of headquarters’ (HQ) involvement in innovation development and transfer at their business units’ level. The empirical part of this paper is based on face-to-face interview data about 71 innovations in 52 business units from 14 countries from Europe, Asia, and the USA.

Part III ends with the ninth chapter ‘‘External Facilitation in the Internationalization of High-Tech Firms,’’ which is an empirical paper by Anita Juho and Tuija Mainela. They study how internationalization can be facilitated through an external development program. Based on a longitudinal case study of two small high-tech Finnish firms that participated in a one-year business development program Global Clusters, the authors conclude that internationalization depends on the firm itself (e.g., its knowledge, experience, technology, relationships with other companies, and other resources), the network consisting of institutions and actors whose main task is facilitating internationalization and the firm’s ability to participate in such a network and benefit from it, for instance, to learn and create relationships.

Part IV starts with the tenth chapter ‘‘Market Concentration and Innovation in Transnational Corporations: Evidence from Foreign Affiliates in Central and Eastern Europe,’’ which is an empirical paper by Liviu Voinea and Johannes Stephan. The chapter studies if local market concentration impacts R&D and innovation activities of transnational companies’ foreign affiliates in five transition economies: Romania, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, and East Germany. The authors investigate how the innovation activities of foreign affiliates operating in concentrated home markets (those where competition is low, e.g., where monopolies or large oligopolies exist) differ from the activities of those operating in nonconcentrated markets.

The eleventh chapter ‘‘Escaping the Trap of Low-Cost Production and High Dependency: A Case Study of the Internationalization Networks of Small Subcontractors from the Baltic States’’ is an empirical paper by Hans Jansson and Mikael Hilmersson. The authors analyze how small exporting subcontractors from emerging markets leap over the barrier of low technology and high dependency. Based on a case study of eight small and medium-sized internationalizing enterprises from the Baltic Sea Region the authors state that Baltic subcontractors have been seriously affected by the current economic crisis: it has increased their vulnerability as demand has decreased, and they are getting out-competed by new low-cost producers.

The final chapter ‘‘Information Provision by Public Authorities and Business Partners in Southeast Europe: Effects on Firm Performance’’ is an empirical paper by Alexandra Kaar and Alma Šehi . The authors study how local employees, public authorities, and local business partners (suppliers, customers, competitors, and other firms in the region) provide information about the host country environment to foreign firms investing to Southeast Europe (SEE), how this helps them to overcome the liability of foreignness and affects their success in the particular foreign market.

Handbook on Small Nations in the Global Economy.
The Contribution of Multinational Enterprises to National Economic Success
Edited by Daniel Van Den Bulcke, Alain Verbeke and Wenlong Yuan

Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham 2009, Hardback, 304 pp
ISBN 9781843765929, Price £ 95.00

Table of Contents

1. Small nations in the global economy: An overview (Daniel Van Den Bulcke, Alain Verbeke and Wenlong Yuan)
2. Globalization in the Netherland (Annelies Hogenbirk, John Hagedoorn and Hans. van Kranenburg)
3. Belgium’s diamond of comptetitiveness. A comparison between foreign and domestic companies (Filip De Beule and Ilke Van Beveren)
4. Porter’s diamond and small nations in the global economy. Ireland as a case study (Sean Cassidy, Frank Barry and Chris van Egeraat)
5. Upgrading the international competitiveness of a transition economy. Slovenia in the European and global economy (Andrea Jaklic, Matija Rojec and Marjan Svetlicic)
6. Multinational enterprises from small economies.Internationalization patterns of large corporations from Denmark, Finland, and Norway (Gabriel Benito, Jorma Larimo, Rajneesh Narula and Torben Pedersen)
7. The competitive advantage of Canada. A firm-level analysis (Wenlong Yuan and Alain Verbeke)
8. Chile as an example of the augmented diamond (Robert Grosse)
9. The development trajectory of a small island economy. The successful case of Mauritius (Jahan Peerally and John Cantwell)
10. New Zealand and the challenge of global competition (Peter Enderwick and Joanna Scott-Kennel)
11. The competitive position of a developing economy. The role of foreign direct investment in Cambodia (Ludo Cuyvers, Reth Soeng and Daniel Van Den Bulcke)

From the introduction to the volume

Professor Michael Porter (Harvard Business School) published “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” in 1990. This path breaking book conveyed the message that the success (and international competitiveness) of specific industries in a nation critically depends on the configuration of - and interplay among- four sets of parameters: factor conditions; demand conditions; related and supporting industries; and strategy, structure and rivalry. The outcome of a favourable configuration and interplay, according to Porter, then leads to a strong national “diamond” and therefore, to an internationally competitive industry, as measured by exports or outward foreign direct investment. In Porter’s work, success in international markets follows prior domestic success in terms of innovation, productivity improvements, clustering, etc.

However, in the case of small open economies, favourable diamond conditions are unlikely to exist for each of the four sets of parameters simultaneously, if only domestic elements are taken into account. Here, linkages with other nations, whether on the sourcing side or the demand side, are often critical from the outset to create strong industries. More specifically, both inward and outward foreign direct investments may be important tools to gain access to external resources that can complement national diamond determinants, and lead to high, sustainable domestic production and employment per capita vis-à-vis other nations (sustainability implies the absence of government shelter as a critical factor explaining observed success). Foreign direct investments should therefore be viewed not simply as an outcome of domestic economic success, but as critical inputs to achieve such success. For example, inward foreign direct investments by multinational enterprises may imply an infusion of technological and managerial knowledge, and therefore productivity improvements in the domestic economy. In contrast, outward foreign direct investments may provide access to raw materials (resource seeking investments), to foreign demand (market seeking investments), to strategic assets (strategic asset seeking investments) or to production efficiencies not achievable in a domestic context (efficiency seeking investments), in each case raising the living standards in the domestic economy, as compared to the situation without multinational activity.

The main thesis advanced in this book is that small nations increasingly need to rely heavily on both home grown and foreign multinational enterprises to achieve domestic economic success in industries characterized by international competition, as these firms augment the domestic diamond determinants with foreign components, thereby permitting sustainable high production and employment per capita as compared with other nations.
The book consists of eleven chapters. This chapter synthesizes the findings of the following country-based chapters: The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia, Canada, Chile, Mauritius and New Zealand and highlights common features as well as differences in the success stories. Three Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland and Norway, are discussed in a seaparate chapter. This enables to derive a number of implications for managers and public policy makers that should help to increase the contribution of multinational enterprise activity in general, and inward and outward foreign direct investment flows specifically, to domestic economic success in small open economies. As noted above, two domestic success indicators, namely sustainable high production and employment per capita vis-à-vis other nations, in specific industries, constitute the rationale for the selection of the case studies. These provide wide geographical coverage, including North America (Canada), South America (Chile), Africa (Mauritius), Western Europe (Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Nordic countries), Eastern Europe (Slovenia), Asia (Cambodia) and Oceania (New Zealand). This selection also covers a diversity of national circumstances, with low, middle and high income countries represented, as well as economies that are developing, in transition from socialism, and highly industrialized. The countries also vary widely in terms of size, whether measured by area, population or GDP.

For the most part, the various country-based chapters discuss the foundations of domestic economic success of each nation selected using essentially the same template so as to increase the reader friendliness, intellectual rigor and conceptual integrity of the book. The template begins with a short description of the strengths of the national economy in terms of Porter’s diamond determinants, with a focus on the most successful international industries, as measured by sustainable domestic production (whether by home grown firms or subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises), and employment per capita vis-à-vis other nations.

This is followed by a description of the role of inward and outward foreign direct investment and multinational enterprise activity in the successful industries considered, including the historical evolution of overall inward and outward investment flows. Building upon this background, for each of the industries, both inward and outward investments are analyzed, focusing on the specific reasons why inward investment was attracted into the nation studied: to what extent did internalization-arbitrage occur, i.e., the combination of the firm specific advantages of foreign multinational enterprises from specific foreign nations with domestic location advantages?

The geographic concentration (associated with clustering benefits) of domestic production and employment in the successful industries is then studied, including discussion of the role of multinational activity in domestic cluster functioning. The last section of each case assesses the impact of government policy (or the lack thereof) on the success of the industries studied to establish whether specific types and processes of government intervention were particularly effective in facilitating “internalization arbitrage” through linking (a) inward foreign direct investment with domestic location advantages, and (b) outward FDI with both domestic and foreign location advantages, thereby creating internationally competitive value chains. The key question is whether some types of government policy might be viewed as best practices that merits replication by other nations, or whether they were effective primarily in a specific institutional context, a particular path-dependent trajectory of events or an idiosyncratic cultural environment.

What more is known about the research thesis on the basis of the country case studies? Are there best practices policies of general applicability, or do governments need to base their strategies on their specific institutional context, particular path dependent trajectory of events or idiosyncratic cultural environment?
What distinguishes the more successful cases? While governments were activist in the sense of ensuring companies had access to good information, low taxes, and minimal bureaucratic obstacles, they were realistic in their targets.

In short, a successful country strategy consists of three elements. First, the border must be made as permeable as possible to international trade and investment flows. Second, the sectors targeted for priority development must be ones where there is at least a latent location advantage that can be ”unlocked”. This could be strategic location, favourable climate, or underutilized resources (such as a pool of cheap labour or unused trade quota. Third, once the investment process begins and some early positive outcomes are achieved, including higher government income, this must be reinvested in developing location advantages at the macro- and sectoral levels. These new location advantages must be crafted in such a way that they complement and augment the firm specific advantages of foreign companies especially, so as to bind these firms more strongly to their new host environment.

None of this is easy. Making markets accessible often means stepping on the powerful toes of vested interests. Identifying and unlocking true latent location advantages at the macro- and sectoral levels, and differentiating these from the hopes, dreams and often self-delusions of decision makers is tricky. Building complementary location advantages takes time, and though generally accessible in principle, may be perceived as undue favoritism benefiting foreign investors. Nothing worthwhile is easy. However, the success stories outlined in this book suggest that the effort is worth making, and that with an appropriate policy regime FDI can, indeed, add both new facets and sparkle to the diamonds of small open economies.

From a conceptual perspective, the country cases do confirm that Porter’s single diamond components (domestic factor conditions, domestic demand conditions, domestic related and supporting industries, domestic strategy, structure and rivalry) reflect merely a set of initial conditions, which can be improved upon through both inward and outward investment, thereby creating resource linkages between the home and host environments of the MNEs involved.
 

Itinerarium Amicorum Daniel Van Den Bulcke
Edited by Filip De Beule

University of Antwerp, Antwerp, 2009, 171 pp.
 

Travels with Danny: Introduction to the Volume
By Filip De Beule, Lessius University College, Antwerp, Belgium

When Danny Van Den Bulcke became emeritus professor an international workshop was organized both in Antwerp and in Ljubljana in December 2004, the year he had his 65th anniversary.

The conference papers written by leading experts in IB (International Business) was published by Palgrave in 2005 (Cuyvers and De Beule, 2005). The book was handed over to Danny by the rector of the University of Antwerp, Professor Van Loon in the presence of the editors Ludo Cuyvers and Filip De Beule.

At the same time it was attempted to make a lighter book with contributions of colleagues who had travelled with Danny, had attended conferences or international workshops with him or had hosted him for a lecture at their university or school. Many of them had special recollections of those travels or visits, especially because somehow they thought him to be responsible for mishaps or all kinds of adventures or problems. Quite often these problematic trips were related to meetings that were organized by the European International Business Academy (EIBA) and the Academy of International Business (AIB). Danny played an active role in both of these academic associations and wad respectively President and Chairman of EIBA and Chairman of the West European Region and Vice President of AIB. Even before he became Chairman of EIBA he played an active role behind the scenes in prospecting and choosing the venues for the annual conferences during more than twenty years. Other experiences of this globetrotting IB professor are situated in Asia, where he was responsible for setting up cooperation agreements and carried out teaching assignments in a great many countries.

A friend from the time he was a student at Ghent University, Louis Uytterschaut, kept track of Danny’s travels around the world in what he called a ‘Liber Itinerarium’ by collecting the postcards forwarded to him during the period 1984-2004. Somehow he had succeeded in getting Danny to promise that he would send a postcard from the places he visited. Both kept their promise, i.e. Danny bought cards and stamps in no less than 52 countries and Louis collected them in an album, which he handed over to Danny at the time of his retirement. His short introductory text (in Dutch) is included in this volume.

Although about 30 contributions were received, some quite short but other much longer, they were not published. While on the one hand, the number of contributors kept asking when it would finally get ready and on the other hand Danny’s 70th anniversary was fast approaching, it was decided to ask for additional ‘Danny stories’.

To make the distinction between the contributions written in 2004 (December) and 2009 (January), the dates will be indicated. Since his retirement Danny has continued to work like before by accepting teaching assignments abroad and participating in conferences and symposia. Consequently the number of countries visited by Danny has increased even more. Of course, it is not the number of countries that is important, but the fact that he has friends all over the world. Those who were able to contribute are only a small sample of the global friendships he developed all the while making sure that the discipline of International Business would benefit from common initiatives.

When the academic activities were followed by a reception in December 2004, Danny’s sons in law, also on behalf of his two daughters and five grandchildren, made a much applauded intervention in which some unknown sides of his personality were described. This presentation, together with the speech from the rector, is also included in this volume. In fact a number of other contributions in Dutch are taken up in part one of the volume.

In total there are 75 contributions to this volume. It is impossible to summarize and classify the stories told in these contributions. Yet, it might be interesting to mention that two of them claim to have saved Danny's life and three admitted that the best picture of their wives was made by him.

While it is sure that Danny will be delighted that his travels have received so much attention from his friends and colleagues from all over the world, it is doubtful that –given his typical critical attitude – what has been written about him is sufficiently complete and correct. On the one hand, it would not be all that of a surprise to hear him say that the volume concentrates on the period of the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century and is strongly focused on Asia. Although the 1970s and 1980s are barely covered, it is unlikely that he was sitting still at that time. Also by some coincidence the African continent is not represented, although he had projects there in countries such as Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa and Madagascar. On the other hand the stories told by the corresponding authors reflect their reality and does not necessarily coincide with Danny's appreciation of the same experiences. But, it is up to him to take up the challenge of writing his own 'memoires' about his globetrotting while attending international conferences and lecturing abroad. The contributors to this volume will certainly be his most avid readers. Hopefully he will find the time to take up this challenge.

To end on a sad note: two of the contributors to this 'Itinerarium Amicorum' passed away before this volume came out. André De Moor died in 2004 and was not even able to attend the special events at the time of Danny's retirement, while the outstanding International Business scholar, John Dunning who was a keynote speaker during the International Conference in Antwerp in December 2004 and contributed a chapter to the Festschrift left us in February 2009.

Hard copies of ‘Itinerarium Amicorum’ are no longer available, but the book is available on the following website: http://www.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=*CIMDA&n=4548

Cas en Marketing. Cas Pédagogiques et Corrigés
Editors: Sylvie Hertrich and Ulrike Mayrhofer
Publisher:Editions Management & Société
Collection Etudes de cas, Cormelles-le-Royal
ISBN : 978-2-84769-093-4

This book presents 12 case studies covering major aspects in the field of marketing: marketing analysis and strategy, market-study, consumer behaviour, brand management, product, pricing, distribution and communication policies, experiential marketing, international marketing, sports marketing, tourism marketing. All cases are based on real situations in companies (Carrefour, Compagnie des Alpes, Futuroscope, Lenovo, Levi Strauss, Procter & Gamble, etc.) The two editors of the book, Sylvie Hertrich (Ecole de Management Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg) and Ulrike Mayrhofer (IAE de Lyon, Université Lyon 3 and Groupe ESC Rouen) have developed a rich expertise concerning the creation of case-studies: they have written more than twenty cases in collaboration with companies and have received eight times the prestigious Golden Pen Award, given by the Centrale de Cas et de Médias Pédagogiques, Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris. The authors are recognised specialists in their field, having gained a rich experience in teaching, research and/or marketing practices: Abdelmajid Amine, Olivier Badot, Gabriele Brambach, Denis Darpy, Mitsuyo Delcourt-Itonaga, Saskia Faulk, Isabelle Frochot, Jean-Luc Giannelloni, Bruno Godey, Sylvie Hertrich, Patrick Hetzel, Björn Ivens, Mattias Kaestner, Chantal Lai, Ulrike Mayrhofer, Fabien Ohl, Suzanne Pontier, Nathalie Prime, Élisabeth Robinot, Claire Roederer, Gary Tribou, Björn Walliser.