Some illustrative examples on academic and practical interests

Some illustrative examples on academic and practical interests in the topic of value and interest assessment (VAIA)

Prepared by Joseph, K.K. Ho         Dated: January 3, 2017

This note defines the terms of academic interest and practical interest in the topic of value and interest assessment (VAIA) (Ho, 2016a). Illustrative examples are then provided on these two terms.

Section 1: on basic terms

Academic interest means academically relevant as well as interesting from the standpoint of the academic community. Academic interest reflects design quality of a piece of research/ academic work from the academic perspective.

Practical interest means practice-/application-relevant as well as interesting from the standpoint of the practitioner community. Practical interest reflects design quality of a piece of research/ academic work from the practical perspective.

Section 2: on illustrative examples

Interest type	Illustrative examples from academic literature
Academic interest	Example 1: “…while the importance of gathering performance assessments from all partners of a IJV is regularly acknowledged …., most existing studies have analysed and measured the performance of IJVs mainly from the MNE’s perspective. Performance indicators that may be of greater relevance to the localpartner firm have been neglected” (Mohr, 2006) - (Ho, 2016b). Example 2: “…most existing IJV performance constructs are geared towards companies from developed countries without taking into consideration the perspective of IJV partners from developing countries” (Mohr and Puck, 2005)” - (Ho, 2016b). Example 3: “Despite its significance, the notion of subsidiary entrepreneurship, in terms of competencies that could contribute both to subsidiary- and MNE-level development, has largely been neglected in the relevant literature” (Dimitratos, Liouka and Young, 2014) – (Ho, 2016c). Example 4: “…while the benefits of individual subsidiaries interacting with their particular local environment to create knowledge and initiatives for dissemination across the MNC is increasingly accepted …, the potential for a subsidiary to exploit their local environment through developing subsidiary entrepreneurship has been underexplored” (Scott, Gibbons and Coughlan, 2010) – (Ho, 2016c).
Practical interest	Example 1: “…expansion into emerging countries is a difficult decision because, while there are many opportunities for increasing profits, there are also many risks involved. These risks are due to the specific environmental uncertainty of emerging countries. In particular, a significant proportion of these risks is related to the political and economic uncertainty of these countries: government instability, political turmoil, debt default or rescheduling, fluctuating currency rates, discriminatory tax systems, and corruption” (Meschi, 2005)” - (Ho, 2016b). Example 2: “ …expatriates running Sino-Western joint ventures have considerable problems in developing personal relationships” (Demir and Söderman, 2007) - (Ho, 2016b). Example 3: “The traditional Thai antipathy to downsizing – particularly by Western-parented company – is reflected in a a labour law which makes layoffs difficult and potentially costly. The nature of social relationships in Thai culture is such that the need for externally imposed change programmes is invariably construed as a ‘loss of face’ by senior local executives accustomed to the traditional top-down management system” (Andrews, 2010) – (Ho, 2016c). Example 4: “For MNEs originating from mature markets, managing subsidiaries in emerging economies appears to be a difficult task because the local environment of these foreign subsidiaries usually presents important differences from the home-country environment of the parent company. In fact, the distance separating the headquarters of the MNEs from their local subsidiaries may affect relationships between them” (Beddi and Mayrhofer, 2013) – (Ho, 2016c).

Concluding remarks

A piece of research or academic work that meets the academic interest is considered as more interesting academically; in the same vein, a piece of research or academic  work that meets the practical interest is perceived as more interesting from the standpoint of the practitioner community.

References

Ho, J.K.K. 2016a. “Value and interest assessment grids (VAIAGs) for dissertation project evaluation” Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog November 12 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2016/11/value-and-interest-assessment-grids.html).

Ho, J.K.K. 2016b. “Mind mapping the topic of international joint venture (IJV)” Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog December 31 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2016/12/mind-mapping-topic-of-international_31.html).

Ho, J.K.K. 2016c. “Mind mapping the topic of subsidiary management (SM)” Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog December 25 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2016/12/mind-mapping-topic-of-subsidiary.html).