Native American Genocide Essay

In this paper, I will argue that the act of genocide as here defined, has been committed by the United States of America, upon the tribes and cultures of Native Americans, through mass indoctrination of its youths. Primary support will be drawn from Jorge Noriega’s work, â€Å"American Indian Education in the United States. † The paper will then culminate with my personal views on the subject, with ideas of if and how the United States might make reparations to its victims. In lieu of the well known and brutal â€Å"Indian Wars,† there is a means of cultural destruction of Native Americans, which began no later than 1611. This method was one of indoctrination. Methods included the forced removal of children from their cultural milieu and enrollment of these children in â€Å"educational programs,† which were intended to instill more European beliefs. As the United States was not formally a Nation, until 1776, it would not be fair to use evidence, before this year in building a case against it. The most damaging, to the United States, are parcels of evidence that are drawn from events after 1948, the year of the Convention on Genocide. Beginning in 1778, the United States Board of War, a product of the Continental Congress appropriated grants for the purpose of, â€Å"the maintenance of Indian students at Dartmouth College and the College of New Jersey? â€Å" The young people who had returned from the schools are described by Seneca leader, Cornplanter as, â€Å"?ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, [they] knew neither how to build a Cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, [they] spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors; they were totally good for nothing† (Noriega, 376). Grants given to other schools was just the beginning. In 1820, the United States made plans for a large scale system of boarding and day schools Noriega, 377). These schools were given the mission to, â€Å"instruct its students in ‘letters, labor and mechanical arts, and morals and Christianity;’ ‘training many Indian leaders'† Noriega, 378). In the case of boarding schools, Native American children would be forcibly stripped from their homes as early as five years old. They would then live sequestered from their families and cultures until the age of seventeen or eighteen (Noriega, 381). In 1886, it was decided, by the United States federal government that Native American tribal groups would no longer be treated as ‘indigenous national governments. ‘ The decision was made, not by the conjoint efforts of the Native American tribes and Congress; but, by the â€Å"powers that be† the United States Legal System. This self-ordained power allowed Congress to pass a variety of other laws, directed towards, assimilating, Native Americans, so that they would become a part of â€Å"mainstream white America† (Robbins, 90) By this time the United States Government, had been funding over a dozen distinct agencies, to provide mandatory ‘education’ to all native children aged six through sixteen. Enrollment was enforced through leverage given by the 1887 General Allotment Act, which made Natives dependent on the Government for Annuities and Rations (Noriega, 382). The practice of indigenous religions by these students was prohibited (Noriega, 380). Students were compelled to undergo daily instruction in Christianity. In addition, only the use of English was accepted within these schools. â€Å"The food was not sufficiiently nourishing? health supervision was generally neglected? A sincere effort was made to develop the type of school that would destroy tribal ways† (Noriega, 382). While being held captive at these schools, the students were forced to learn an idealism completely foreign to them. They would study histories, which had no significance to there lives. â€Å"The books talk to him [the student] of a world which in no way reminds him of his own,† (Noriega, ). This is exactly how the students must have felt; as if they were in another world. To compound the torture, the ‘students’ at these institutions were forced to work as maintainers and farmers in order provide for the continued existence of the very establishments, which were destroying them. The methods of forced labor were considered, by the educators to be a â€Å"means of ‘developing’ the native ‘character,’ and as a way of financing further expansion of the system itself† (Noriega, 379). The â€Å"rigid military style† enforced by the schools contributed to the assimilation of the Native Americans’ culture. The students began to not only â€Å"think white† but also to, â€Å"work white† (Noriega, 384). To this point, I have provided enough evidence to make a hypocrite of the United States. However, it is my intent to prove that the United States has performed a criminal act under International law. I will do so by describing genocidal acts committed well after the time of the convention on genocide. The government was not satisfied with only educating the Native American youths, they wished to implant their victims as â€Å"a virus, a medium through which to hurry along a calculated process of sociocultural decay† (Noriega, 379). They turned their victims into witless traitors spreading their insipid ideas, and fracturing the cultural infrastructure. The apotheosis of this implantation project is clearly delineated in â€Å"The Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act† of 1975. In this act, the United States Government declared that â€Å"educated† Native Americans’ should be used to staff the â€Å"various programs aimed at them by federal policy makers† (Noriega, 356). These are the same programs which, â€Å"the government has always viewed as the ideal vehicle[s] by which to condition Native Americans to accept the values, and thus the domination of Euroamerica† (Noriega, 387). Through the implementation of this act, â€Å"nothing really changed? the curriculum taught in Indian schools remained exactly the same, reaching exactly the same conclusions, indoctrinating children with exactly the same values as when the schools were staffed entirely by white people† (Noriega, 387). In this way, the government attempted to mask the face of evil with one of familiar physical origin. It is a classic story of a â€Å"wolf in sheep’s clothing. † These violent acts have not ended, even with the convention on genocide. Indeed, the United States is guilty of committing a law, which it has promised to not only abide by, but also, to help enforce. Does this represent the â€Å"Mainstream American Culture† we so want to instill into the minds of Native Americans? We should begin taking a look at our own culture and worrying about its problems, before we start thinking about spreading it like a dreaded disease. The fact that Native Americans have arrived at this point with any of its culture left intact, is an astonishing feet in itself. It shows a character, which is ostensibly lacking, or at least not shown, within the â€Å"European† and â€Å"American† cultures. Perhaps the United States should be more the pupil than the pedagogue.

Distinctive Marketing, IT Capabilities, and Strategic Types: A Cross-National Investigation

Distinctive Marketing and Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types: A Cross-National Investigation ABSTRACT Keywords: strategic typology, firm capabilities, cross-national, Japan, China The authors examine the relationship between strategic type and development of distinctive marketing, market-linking, technology, and information technology (IT) capabilities to implement innovation strategy. They hypothesize that prospectors must build technical and IT capabilities, whereas defenders develop market-linking and marketing capabilities. The authors collect data from 709 firms across the United States, Japan, and China.They find support for their capability hypotheses, as well as for some of their cross-national hypotheses that are based on cultural and business environment differences among the three countries. In particular, they find support for the hypotheses that Japanese firms have greater technology and IT capabilities than U. S. firms of the same strategic type. Th ey conclude with implications for management. The strategic typology of Miles and Snow (1978) has received much attention in the marketing and management literature over the past two decades (e. g. Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Dyer and Song 1997, 1998; Griffin and Hauser 1996; Gupta, Raj, and Wilemon 1986; McDaniel and Kolari 1987; McKee, Varadarajan, and Pride 1989; Parry and Song 1993, 1994; Ruekert and Walker 1987; Song and Xie 2000; Walker et al. 2003). Almost 30 years after its initial appearance in the literature, their typology is viewed widely as having stood the test of time and is still the most popular and commonly accepted model of strategic types in the management literature, having been applied in many different industry settings (DeSarbo et al. 005; DeSarbo et al. 2006; Hambrick 2003). Miles and Snow envision strategy as the patterns in the decisions by which a strategic business unit (SBU) aligns itself with its environment, and they categorize SBUs according to these patterns. The critical underlying variable in their typology is the rate of change in an SBU’s products or markets. Using an exploratory empirical study, Miles and Snow propose four strategic types—prospectors, analyzers, defenders, and reactors—and suggest that each of the first three types chooses a different competitive strategy ith respect to products and/or markets: Prospectors will innovate technologically and seek out new markets, analyzers will prefer a â€Å"second-but-better† strategy, and defenders will focus on maintaining a secure niche in a relatively stable Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto Journal of International Marketing  © 2008, American Marketing Association Vol. 16, No. 1, 2008, pp. 4–38 ISSN 1069-031X (print) 1547-7215 (electronic) 4 product or service area.Miles and Snow suggest that all three of these strategic types can be successful if the SBU matches its strategy to the competitive en vironment and develops and deploys appropriate capabilities. Capabilities have been broadly defined as â€Å"complex bundles of skills and accumulated knowledge that enable firms [or SBUs] to coordinate activities and make use of their assets† (Day 1990, p. 38). In this article, we examine the relationship between Miles and Snow’s (1978) strategic type and four capability constructs: technology, market linking, marketing, and information technology (IT).Day (1994) suggests that both technology and market-linking capabilities (or â€Å"insideout† and â€Å"outside-in† capabilities, respectively) are critical to sustained competitive advantage and superior performance (see also Day 1990; Day and Wensley 1988). Technology capabilities, which enable the organization to improve production process efficiencies and ultimately reduce its costs and increase its competitiveness, include financial management, cost control, technology development, logistics, manufact uring, and other processes with an internal emphasis.Market-linking capabilities, which enable the organization to use its technology capabilities to exploit marketplace opportunities, include market sensing, channel bonding, customer linking, technology monitoring, and spanning processes such as purchasing and new product development (Day 1994). Marketing capabilities, such as customer and competitive knowledge, skill in market segmentation and targeting, and effective marketing program design, should also be related to an organization’s performance. In a ioneering study, Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan (1990) link marketing capabilities to the four strategic types and find that prospectors are superior in marketing capabilities. The marketing literature suggests that obtaining market and competitive information and diffusing it throughout the organization lead to better market orientation, better performance, and sustainable competitive advantage (Day 1994; Jaworski and Kohl i 1993). The literature also suggests that IT capabilities are increasingly important means to these ends.Research in both the marketing and new product streams has recognized the difficulty of communication across functional boundaries and has identified ways to improve both the quantity and quality of information (Dyer and Song 1997, 1998; Griffin and Hauser 1992, 1993, 1996; Montoya-Weiss and Calantone 1994; Parry and Song 1993, 1994; Ruekert and Walker 1987; Song, Thieme, and Xie 1998; Song and Xie 2000; Swink and Song 2007). All four capability constructs include significant marketing processes. The original, exploratory Miles and Snow (1978) research finds relationships between firm capabilities andInformation Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 5 strategic types in a limited number of industries. A subsequent study in this research stream empirically examines the relationships between marketing capabilities and strategic types and also validates a scale for assessing a business unit’s strategic type (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990). Two recent studies by DeSarbo and colleagues (2005, 2006) propose and empirically test models that include a range of capabilities in addition to marketing capabilities.DeSarbo and colleagues (2005) use SBU data from three countries (the United States, China, and Japan) to derive a descriptive strategic typology that improves on the Miles and Snow typology in terms of explanatory power; this study is extended by DeSarbo and colleagues (2006) to a predictive model that examines causalities between strategic capabilities and SBU performance. The first objective of the current study is to examine the relationships between an SBU’s strategic type and its development of the four distinctive organizational capabilities technology, market linking, marketing, and IT). This research extends the previously mentioned research stream (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; DeSarbo et al. 2005; DeSarbo et al. 200 6) in that we seek to quantify and to better understand these relationships. The second objective is to build and test hypotheses regarding cross-national differences and their effects on the relationships between strategic type selection and the capabilities, a topic in which no empirical work has been conducted so far. We gather empirical data from three countries: the United States, China, and Japan.As China and Japan are the two largest East Asian economies, and together with the United States make up the three largest economies worldwide as measured by purchasing power (World Bank 2000), it is important to examine how firms from these countries compare with respect to their capabilities and strategies. Although DeSarbo and colleagues (2005) use a three-country database to build their descriptive typology, the research does not use the extant international marketing and management literature to build or test hypotheses of cross-national differences.We believe that the cross-nati onal hypothesis testing constitutes a clear extension to the work of Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan (1990) and DeSarbo and colleagues (2005, 2006). We first propose a set of four hypotheses relating an SBU’s relative capabilities to its selection of strategic type, as well as four additional hypotheses expressing expected crossnational differences in the magnitudes of the capabilities. We then test these hypotheses using a data set of 709 managers from the United States, Japan, and China. Our empirical results largely confirm these hypotheses. We conclude by 6 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C.Anthony Di Benedetto providing theoretical implications and some possible prescriptions for managers seeking to improve their organization’s strategy selection. In this section, we define the Miles and Snow (1978) typology and discuss the implication of the strategic selection. We then define the four capability constructs and develop four hypotheses relating the capability co nstructs to strategic type. The Miles and Snow (1978) strategic types differ in the rate at which they change products or markets in response to environmental change. According to Miles and Snow, prospectors are the leaders of change in their industry.They operate within a broad product-market domain that undergoes periodic redefinition (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Dyer and Song 1997). They value being â€Å"first in† in new product and market areas as market pioneers even if not all these efforts prove to be highly profitable (Robinson and Fornell 1985; Robinson, Fornell, and Sullivan 1992). They often need to respond rapidly to early signals involving areas of opportunity, and these responses often lead to a new round of competitive actions. Nevertheless, prospectors may not maintain market strength in all the areas they enter.They compete principally through launching new products and meeting new marketplace opportunities. Consequently, they devote significant res ources to new product development, market research, and other marketing expenses (Hambrick 1983; McDaniel and Kolari 1987; Shortell and Zajac 1990; Walker et al. 2003). Prospectors also rely on close ties with the channel of distribution to anticipate customer needs and environmental changes (Walker et al. 2003). Sony’s audio products SBU, which is responsible for innovations such as the Walkman, is an example of a typical prospector organization.Defenders attempt to locate and maintain a secure niche in a relatively stable product or service area. They are less risk oriented than prospectors; typically they do not look outside well-defined product-market domains for new opportunities (McDaniel and Kolari 1987; Shortell and Zajac 1990). Rather than invest time in new product or market development, they tend to offer a more limited range of products or services than their competitors, and they focus on resource efficiency and cost-cutting process improvements to try to protect their domain by offering higher quality, superior service, lower prices, and so forth (Hambrick 1983).Defenders are normally not at the forefront of developments in the industry. Walker and colleagues (2003) distinguish between two defender strategies: price cutting and competitive differentiation. Unlike Sony’s audio SBU, Matsushita’s audio division, a typical defender organization, is likely to focus not on developing products but rather on cutting manufacturing costs (Lieberman and Montgomery 1988). HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT The Miles and Snow Strategic Typology Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 7 Analyzers show qualities of both defenders and prospectors.They attempt to maintain a stable, limited line of products or services, while moving out quickly to follow a carefully selected set of the more promising new developments in the industry (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Dyer and Song 1997). Analyzers are seldom â€Å"first in† with new products or services. However, by carefully monitoring the actions of major competitors in areas compatible with their stable product-market base, they are frequently â€Å"second in† with a more cost-efficient product or service (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Dyer and Song 1997).For example, they might develop a new product in a stable market domain or sell established products in new geographic markets or through new distribution channels. They can operate in different domains, perhaps one stable and one more turbulent (McDaniel and Kolari 1987). Miles and Snow (1978, p. 73) characterize analyzers as â€Å"avid followers of change,† always ready to pursue a promising, emerging product or market with a later-entrant, â€Å"second-but-better† strategy (Robinson, Fornell, and Sullivan 1992).They can initiate product and/or market development, but less often than prospectors; at the same time, they can focus on stability and efficiency, but to a lesser extent than defenders (Hambrick 1983). Reactors typically lack long-term plans and any consistent strategy, instead reacting to environmental pressures as necessary (McDaniel and Kolari 1987). Empirical study has suggested that prospectors, analyzers, and defenders all perform well (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Miles and Snow 1978) and generally outperform reactors.We are interested primarily in the relative capabilities of the three potentially successful archetypal strategic types, so we do not explicitly include reactors in our hypotheses. We have gathered data from reactor organizations, however, and included them in our analysis section. To create economic value, sustain competitive advantage, and achieve superior profitability, an organization requires a wide range of capabilities. Although it would be impossible to list them all, certain categories of capabilities common to many organizations have been identified and used in prior research (e. . , Day 1994; DeSarbo et al. 2006). Technology capabilities—such as financial management, cost control, technology development, and logistics—enable an organization to keep costs down and to differentiate its offerings from those of competitors. Market-linking capabilities—such as sensing market trends, channel and customer linking, and technology monitoring—enable an organization to be responsive to changing customer needs and to use its technical capabilities effectively to exploit external possibilities (Day 1994). Marketing capabilities—such as skill in segmentation,Organizational Capabilities 8 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto targeting, pricing, and advertising—enable the organization to take advantage of its market-sensing and technological capabilities and to implement effective marketing programs (Song and Parry 1997a, 1997b). Finally, IT capabilities enable the organization to diffuse market information effectively across all rel evant functional areas so that it can direct new product development. Not all organizations will have all of these capabilities (Day and Nedungadi 1994; Day and Wensley 1988).Furthermore, organizations will solidify and even develop their particular capabilities through time according to their strategic type, as Miles and Snow’s (1978) classification posits. For example, prospectors tend to compete by anticipating new product or marketplace opportunities and by implementing technological innovation; continued, successful prospecting will have the effect of strengthening inside-out and IT capabilities. The subsequent sections explore the hypothesized relationships between strategic type and organizational capabilities.Market-linking and -sensing capabilities enable the organization to compete by sensing market changes effectively, anticipating shifts in the market environment, creating and retaining durable links with customers, and creating strong bonds with channel members s uch as wholesalers and retailers. These capabilities enable the organization to sense marketplace requirements before competitors and to connect its other capabilities to the external environment (Day 1994). Organizations of all strategic types need well-developed market-linking capabilities.For defenders, however, such capabilities are particularly critical because these organizations must correctly and quickly anticipate changes in the market and their customers’ needs if they are to maintain their prominence within their existing product-market domain (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990). Because defenders attempt to locate and maintain a secure niche in a relatively stable product or service area, they tend to offer a more limited range of products or services than their competitors, and they try to protect their domain by offering higher quality, superior service, lower prices, and so forth.To be effective in achieving these objectives, defenders must possess a high lev el of market-linking capabilities. Walker and colleagues (2003) also note that tracking changes in customer needs and competitive behavior is especially important to a differentiated defender strategy. They note that defenders should be strongest in business functions related to their competitive strategy, such as market sensing and linking. Although prospectors should also have good market-linking capabilities, their ability to sustain competitive advantage is more closely tied to the development of new products, markets, and technologies.Therefore, although Market-Linking Capabilities Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 9 market-linking capabilities are important to prospectors and analyzers, defenders will need them most. Our expectations about organizational strategy types and market-linking capabilities (relative to competitors) can be summarized as follows: H1: Along the prospectors–analyzers–defenders continuum, prospectors have the least rel ative marketlinking capabilities, nd defenders have the greatest. Technical capabilities involve the manufacturing processes, technology, new product development, production facilities, and forecasting of technological change in the industry. They are contained within the organization and activated by market, competitor, and external challenges and opportunities. By increasing efficiency in the production process, they can reduce costs and improve consistency in delivery and, therefore, competitiveness (Day 1994).Although technical capabilities are likely to be important for all strategic types, they should be most important to prospectors, which prosper in unstable, changing environments, especially those marked by rapid technological change such as biotechnology, medical care, and aerospace (Walker et al. 2003). Because prospectors use a first-to-market strategy and typically operate within a broad product-market domain that undergoes periodic redefinition (Robinson, Fornell, and Sullivan 1992), they must be able to develop new technologies, products, and markets rapidly (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; McDaniel and Kolari 1987).Walker and colleagues (2003) note that prospectors require strength in product research and development (R&D) and product engineering, and they perform best when the amount spent on product R&D is high. Because defenders typically locate and maintain a secure niche in a relatively stable product or service area, they tend to be less interested in developing new products and technologies and therefore will depend less on technical capabilities. Formally, H2: Along the prospectors–analyzers–defenders continuum, prospectors have the greatest relative technical capabilities, and defenders have the least.Marketing capabilities include knowledge of the competition and of customers and skill in segmenting and targeting markets, in advertising and pricing, and in integrating marketing activity. Conant, Mokwa, and Varadaraj an (1990) find that prospector firms have distinctive competencies in marketing planning, allocation of marketing resources, revenue forecasting, and control of marketing activities. However, although both prospectors and defenders require skills in Technical Capabilities Marketing Capabilities 10 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto arketing and market research to succeed (Song and Parry 1997a, b), certain marketing capabilities will be of most importance to defender firms because they are most concerned about protecting products and retaining customers (McDaniel and Kolari 1987). Walker and colleagues (2003) note that differentiated defenders must be able to communicate their products’ unique advantages so as to sustain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Low-cost defenders must be able to standardize effective marketing programs across all customer segments so as to reduce overall marketing costs.Thus, because both differentiated and low-cost defenders rely on marketing capabilities, they should develop them to a greater degree than should other strategic types. H3: Along the prospectors–analyzers–defenders continuum, prospectors have the lowest relative marketing capabilities, and defenders have the greatest. A firm active in product development must be able to gather technical and market information effectively and disseminate it throughout the organization (Jaworski and Kohli 1993; Kohli and Jaworski 1990; Narver and Slater 1990).These IT capabilities facilitate internal communication and cross-functional integration (Song et al. 2007). Better IT is associated with greater strategic flexibility and, ultimately, with better performance and greater organizational success (Bharadwaj, Bharadwaj, and Konsynski 1999; Swanson 1994). Day (1994) notes that more creative use of IT should lead to better firm performance, and other researchers have found that better information transmission across functional areas leads to m ore successful new products (Griffin and Hauser 1992, 1993, 1996; Gupta, Raj, and Wilemon 1986; Moenaert and Souder 1996).As we discussed previously, prospectors typically operate within a broad product-market domain that undergoes periodic redefinition. They also rely on the rapid development of new products and new markets (Robinson, Fornell, and Sullivan 1992). Therefore, prospectors need relatively high IT skills to respond rapidly to early signals involving areas of opportunity. Miles and Snow (1978) note that prospectors tend to have the most complex coordination and communication mechanisms.Because of the technologically advanced nature of the products they develop, prospectors are also more likely to encounter conflicts among marketing, R&D, engineering, and possibly other functional areas (Dyer and Song 1997, 1998; Walker et al. 2003). This makes even more critical prospectors’ ability to communicate as effectively as possible and to ensure the free flow of informati on throughout the organization. In addition, prospectors might need greater strategic flexibility than other strategic types because they must constantly monitor and target emerging technology IT CapabilitiesInformation Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 11 and product opportunities; better IT contributes to greater strategic flexibility (Bharadwaj, Bharadwaj, and Konsynski 1999). Formally, we propose the following: H4: Along the prospectors–analyzers–defenders continuum, prospectors have the greatest relative IT capabilities, and defenders have the lowest. CROSS-NATIONAL HYPOTHESES The cultural differences among Japan, China, and the United States are well documented in the literature (Hofstede 1980; Tse et al. 1988). Japanese and Chinese cultures are collectivistic and long-term oriented, whereas the U.S. culture is individualistic and short-term oriented. Japan and China emphasize group harmony and cohesiveness, whereas the United States values freedom of c hoice and competition (Hofstede 1980). The business environments in both Japan and China reflect these cultural tendencies. In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) encourages investment in key technologies and fierce competition among Japanese firms in selected industries (Kagono et al. 1985). These policies have helped strengthen Japan’s competitiveness in the global marketplace. In addition, METI’s olicies have recently encouraged new initiatives, such as growth in IT and support for environmentally friendly products (Elder 2000). The keiretsu, or interorganizational business groups, also strongly support technology development in Japan (Lai 1999; Lincoln, Gerlach, and Ahmadjian 1996; Miwa and Ramseyer 2002). A major manufacturer might work cooperatively with its suppliers and distributors (vertical keiretsu) or with other manufacturers (horizontal keiretsu) to perfect a new technology; consider, for example, the consortium of Japanese firms tha t worked with Sony in the development of the global positioning system (Campbell 1999).In addition to technology and IT capabilities, Japanese firms in many industries possess formidable marketing and marketlinking capabilities. Their cultural predilection toward group harmony and cohesiveness has led Japanese firms to value long-term relationships with their suppliers, distributors, and customers (Kagono et al. 1985; Kotabe et al. 1991; Smith, Peterson, and Wang 1996; Tse et al. 1988). These relationships enable Japanese manufacturers to link with their customer markets effectively and to develop appropriate marketing strategies and programs.Since the end of World War II, Japanese firms have closed the gap between themselves and their U. S. competitors in terms of marketing capabilities, in some industries surpassing them. As an example, Japanese carmakers are renowned for their excellence in customer research. Use of observational research techniques has enabled Toyota, Nissan, an d Honda to develop cars that are 12 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto ideally suited to the unique demands of the U. S. marketplace (Shirouzu 2001).Japanese carmakers were also among the first to use Quality Function Deployment techniques (e. g. , the House of Quality; see Hauser and Clausing 1988), which ensure that market needs drive all the subsequent steps in product development and manufacturing processes, including product engineering, process planning, and production (Griffin 1992). It was the U. S. carmakers that had to learn these techniques from Japanese carmakers to catch up (Dyer 1996). This literature suggests that Japanese firms are at least equal to their U. S. ompetitors in terms of marketing capabilities and, because of their cultural tendency toward group harmony and cohesiveness, could possess even stronger market-linking capabilities. The Chinese business environment differs from that of Japan, though the two countries share some cultural traits. Despite recent economic reforms, many Chinese firms remain state-owned enterprises, characterized by shared government and firm authority (Schermerhorn and Nyaw 1991). Since the 1970s, investment in technology and innovation has been supported strongly by government policy to stimulate Chinese economic growth and to boost global competitiveness.As decentralization has occurred, stateowned enterprises have increased their decision-making authority on issues such as products and prices (Henley and Nyaw 1986; Laaksonen 1988; Schermerhorn and Nyaw 1991), and smaller collective enterprises with even less government control have become more prevalent (Parry and Song 1994). Nevertheless, Chinese government policy continues to prioritize technology capability investment. However, our review of the literature on Chinese state-owned enterprises reveals little evidence that the Chinese government has prioritized or funded marketing, market-linking, or IT capabilities.In summary, the l iterature suggests that Japanese government and keiretsu policy favor technology and IT capability development, whereas Chinese government policy favors technology development. In addition, the marketing and marketlinking capabilities of Japanese firms are well established, whereas Chinese governmental policy has not supported the development of these capabilities On the basis of this evidence, we propose the following: H5: Japanese firms have greater market-linking capabilities than U. S. and Chinese firms of the same strategic type.H6: Japanese and Chinese firms have greater technology capabilities than U. S. firms of the same strategic type. Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 13 H7: Japanese and U. S. firms have greater marketing capabilities than Chinese firms of the same strategic type. H8: Japanese firms have greater IT capabilities than U. S. firms of the same strategic type. Note that H5–H8 can be tested for each of the four strategic types separa tely—thus the qualifier â€Å"of the same strategic type. † RESEARCH DESIGNInstrument Development and Cross-Cultural Validation Process Our constructs are defined using competitive capability theory (Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990; Day 1994) and must be operationalized using valid, reliable measures (Churchill 1979). We used a four-step instrument development procedure to develop new scales for market-linking, technical, marketing, and IT capabilities and to ensure crosscultural validity. (For a fuller discussion of the instrument development procedure, see DeSarbo et al. 2005. ) Step 1: Measurement Items for Each Capability Type.We identified relevant measurement scales from the marketing literature. We grouped the scale items derived from these scales into the four capability types. To this initial pool of items for each capability type, we added new items in instances in which we believed that not all the dimensions of the construct had been sufficiently covere d. To ensure content validity and appropriateness of items, we refined the scales through in-depth focus interviews in two SBUs. Managers at these SBUs were asked their opinions about salient issues in SBU capabilities.They were also asked to evaluate whether the theoretical model described their own experiences adequately. Next, managers commented on their perceptions of the relevance and completeness of the scale items drawn from the literature review and previous case studies. Finally, we tested and validated the Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan (1990) strategic typology scale. Step 2: Scale Development. Following Churchill (1979), we assessed construct validity of the scales being developed and corrected any scale items that might still be ambiguous.Seven judges (two professors and five doctoral students with background in measurement development) sorted the items from the first step into the four capability scales, following Davis’s (1986) procedure. Construct convergence and divergence were examined by assessing interrater reliability (for assessment statistics, see DeSarbo et al. 2005). Step 3: Instrument Pretesting. Using the judges’ comments, we reexamined all scale items and eliminated inappropriate or ambiguous items or any that were inconsistently classified.We then combined the four scales into an overall instrument 14 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto for additional pretesting. We distributed the instrument to 32 managers in the two SBUs to further assess scale reliability and validity; two problematic items were deleted. Then, the instrument was distributed to 41 executive MBA students taking a new product development class. We subjected the results to factor analysis and assessment of reliability. (Factor loadings and reliability test results are available on request. We deleted two more items, which resulted in a questionnaire including all items judged to have high consistency and face validity. Step 4: Cr oss-Cultural Validation of the Research Instrument. To ensure that the translation was accurate and that the question meanings were not altered, we used a double-translation method to translate the questionnaire into Japanese and Chinese (Adler 1983; Douglas and Craig 2006; Sekaran 1983). After translation, we conducted field research in six Japanese firms and two Chinese firms in which we examined SBU capabilities and innovation strategies.The purposes of the field research were to establish the content validity of the concepts and the hypothesized relationships among the constructs; to establish equivalence of the constructs, concepts, measures, and samples; and to assess the possibility of cultural bias and response format bias (Douglas and Craig 2006). The field research studies were conducted over a ninemonth period with multiple visits to the companies. The field research studies were important for several reasons. First, they facilitated an assessment of construct (conceptual , functional, and category) equivalence.Second, they indicated that the measurement scales were appropriate for studying capability and strategic types in Japanese and Chinese context. Third, the field research results suggested that it is more appropriate to ask the respondents to rate their SBU on each of the capability scale items relative to their major competitors (for exact wording, see Appendix A). Appendix A provides a list of the final measure measurement items and the response format employed in the questionnaire. The following sections briefly summarize the four scales.Market-Linking Capabilities. We measured market-linking capabilities using several scale items derived from Day (1994). The items measure relative capability in creating and managing durable customer relationships, creating durable relationships with suppliers, retaining customers, and bonding with channel members. Technical Capabilities. We also measured technical capabilities according to a set of scale i tems derived from Day (1994). These items measure relative capabilities in the prediction ofInformation Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 15 technological change, technology and new product development, manufacturing processes, and production facilities. Marketing Capabilities. We measured marketing capabilities using a set of scale items derived from Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan (1990). These items measure knowledge of customers, knowledge of competitors, integration of marketing activities, skills in segmentation and targeting, and effectiveness of pricing and advertising programs. IT Capabilities.We defined IT capabilities as the relative capabilities that help an organization create technical and market knowledge and facilitate intraorganizational communication flow. We developed items to measure the possession of IT systems for new product development, cross-functional integration, technology and market knowledge creation, and internal communication. We subjected th ese items to the measurement development procedure described previously. We obtained the data from a large-scale mail survey of the companies listed in Ward’s Business Directory, the Directory of Corporate Affiliations, and the World Marketing Directory.We drew a proportionate-stratified random sample of 800 firms from each country, using each industry as a stratum. The data collection consisted of three stages: presurvey, data collection on SBU strategies, and data collection on relative capabilities. In the first stage, we sent a one-page survey and an introductory letter requesting participation to all the selected firms and offered a list of available research reports to participating firms. The letter requested each firm to select an SBU/division for participation and provide a contact person in that SBU/division.Of the 2400 firms contacted, 392 in the United States, 429 in Japan, and 414 in China agreed to participate and provided the necessary contacts at the SBU/divis ion level. In the second stage, on strategic types, we contacted the designated SBU managers directly and mailed a questionnaire and personalized letter to each manager. We employed a three-wave mailing on the basis of the recommendations of Dillman (1978). We received data on the multi-item measures of the strategic types from 308 firms in the United States, 354 firms in Japan, and 352 firms in China.Two items at the end of the instrument assessed respondents’ confidence in their ability to answer the questions. Respondents with a low level of confidence (less than 6) were excluded from the final sample. In the third stage, on the four capabilities, we sent another questionnaire to the SBU managers, followed again by a three-wave mailing. This time, we received data on the rela- Data 16 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto tive capabilities from 216 U. S. firms, 248 Japanese firms, and 245 Chinese firms.These sample sizes represent response rates of 27. 0% in the United States, 31. 0% in Japan, and 30. 6% in China. The final sample includes the following industries: computer-related products; electronics; electric equipment and household appliances; pharmaceuticals, drugs, and medicines; machinery; telecommunications equipment; instruments and related products; air conditioning; chemicals and related products; and transportation equipment. The majority of participating SBUs/divisions had annual sales of $11 million–$750 million and 100–12,500 employees.Appendix A presents all of the measures used in this study. We asked respondents to rate their SBU on each of the capability scale items relative to their major competitors. We used an 11-point scale to elicit levels of agreement, with values ranging from 0 (â€Å"much worse than our competitors†) to 10 (â€Å"much better than our competitors†). We used the data collected in the second phase of the collection process to classify the SBU/division into the four strategic types. We adopted the 11-item scale from Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan (1990).We classified the SBU’s strategic type (prospector, analyzer, defender, or reactor) using the â€Å"majority-rule decision structure† (for details, see Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan 1990) with the following modification: For an SBU to be classified as a prospector or a defender, it must have at least seven â€Å"correct† answers. Before testing our hypotheses, we performed principal factor analyses with Varimax rotation on all the variables measuring the four relative capabilities for all three countries. To assess measurement invariance, we examined factor structure similarity (Mullen 1995).We retained variables using the following criteria: (1) Each factor must contain the same scale items across all three countries, (2) each item’s factor loading must be comparable across all three countries, and (3) for each factor, the factor loading must exceed . 40. This procedure produced four factors and reduced the total number of variables to 21. We made comparisons among the factor structures of the three countries using visual inspection, the salient similarity index, and Pearson correlation of the factor loadings across the three countries. The factor loadings appear in Table 1.As indicated, all factors are distinguishable and well defined for all three countries. The percentage of the variance explained by the four factors is 72% for the United States, 71% for Japan, and 69% for China. The examination of the diagonal of the factor score covariance matrix indicates that all factors for the three Measures ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Factor Analysis of the Capability Scales Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 17 Table 1. Principal Component Factor Analysis: Rotated Factor Patterns United States Market-Linking Capabilities Market-sensing capabilities Customer-linking (i. e. creating and managing durable customer relationships) capab ilities Capabilities of creating durable relationships with our suppliers Ability to retain customers Channel-bonding capabilities (creating durable relationships with channel members such as wholesalers, retailers) Eigenvalue of this factor % variance explained by this factor Technical Capabilities Manufacturing processes Technology development capabilities Ability of predicting technological changes in the industry Production facilities New product development capabilities Eigenvalue of this factor % variance explained by this factor Marketing Capabilities Knowledge of competitors Effectiveness of advertising programs Integration of marketing activities Skill to segment and target markets Effectiveness of pricing programs Knowledge of customers Eigenvalue of this factor % variance explained by this factor IT Capabilities IT systems for facilitating crossfunctional integration IT systems for new product development projects IT systems for internal communication (e. g. , across diff erent departments, levels of the organization) IT systems for facilitating technology knowledge creation IT systems for facilitating market knowledge creation Eigenvalue of this factor % variance explained by this factor . 71 . 80 . 90 . 58 . 86 . 85 . 62 . 89 4. 22 20. 1 . 97 . 93 . 90 . 92 . 91 6. 10 29. 1 . 85 Japan .81 China .88 .80 . 81 . 79 .77 . 71 . 57 .79 . 66 . 70 .65 3. 04 14. 4 .44 1. 68 8. 0 .67 2. 64 12. 6 .79 . 78 . 78 . 77 . 71 2. 51 12. 0 70 . 81 . 69 . 73 . 78 4. 36 20. 7 .95 . 95 . 94 . 95 . 90 . 86 5. 69 27. 1 .95 . 86 . 94 . 93 . 83 . 83 5. 39 25. 7 .90 . 89 .83 . 80 .75 . 66 . 74 1. 66 7. 9 .85 . 65 . 57 5. 08 24. 2 .46 . 67 . 63 1. 75 8. 3 18 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto countries are internally consistent and well defined by the measurement items. We provide the final set of included measurement items in Appendix A and the construct reliabilities (as measured by Cronbach’s ? ) and item-to-total correlations in Appendix B. All 12 construct reliabilities (three countries ? four constructs) exceeded the . 70 level that Peter (1979) recommends.To test H1–H4 in each of the three country settings, we performed multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) to compare the scores on each of the four multi-item relative capability scales across all four strategic types using SAS general linear model procedure. For each capability scale, we obtained a multiple-item scale by a simple average of the items. As Table 2 shows, the MANOVA F-statistic was significant for all four relative capabilities and in all three countries, so we computed pairwise comparisons to examine the nature of the differences in relative capabilities among the four strategic types. We also include the t-test results of the pairwise comparisons in Table 2.The results in Table 2 provide support for H1–H4 in all three countries. (A hypothesis is supported if at least one pairwise comparison is significant and the direction is in t he hypothesized direction. ) As H1 hypothesized, the relative marketlinking capabilities of defenders and analyzers are significantly greater than those of prospectors in all three countries, though the difference between defenders and analyzers is not significant. For example, in the United States, mean scores on market-linking capabilities are 2. 69, 2. 35, and 1. 67 for defenders, analyzers, and prospectors, respectively. The F-statistic from the analysis of variance is 3. 52, which is significant at p < . 05.T-tests of the paired comparisons showed that both the defender mean and the analyzer mean were significantly larger than the prospector mean (D > P; A > P) at the p < . 05 level. We obtained similar results for the Japanese and Chinese samples. These findings are consistent with H1. Prospectors have lower market-linking capabilities than defenders and analyzers because the latter two strategic types rely primarily on their market-sensing and -linking abilities to serve thei r current markets with their current products and technologies. The results also support H2 (prospectors have greater technical capabilities than defenders) in all three countries.For the United States, the prospector and defender means were 3. 42 and 2. 25, respectively, significantly different at p < . 05. Both prospectors’ and analyzers’ technical capabilities are greater than those of defenders in Japan. The means for prospector, analyzer, and defender were 8. 75, 8. 47, and 7. 84, respectively; both prospector and analyzer means were significantly Tests of H1–H4: Possession of Capabilities by Different Strategic Types Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 19 20 Table 2. Analysis of Variance Results: Relative Capabilities and Strategic Types Strategic Type Prospector 1. 67 (1. 67) 3. 42 (2. 70) 1. 75 (1. 50) 7. 5 (1. 49) 6. 72 (1. 79) 5. 48 (1. 09) 5. 05 (1. 72) 2. 37 (1. 75) 3. 26 (1. 99) 1. 98 (2. 38) 2. 78 (2. 46) 2. 25 (2. 59) 2. 46 (2. 90) 2. 16* 7. 47** 31. 96** 2. 35 (1. 82) 2. 69 (1. 79) 2. 46 (2. 01) 3. 52** Univariate Defender Reactor F-Value Paired Comparisons Hypothesis (t-Tests)a D > P; A > P P>D D > A; D > P; D > R; A > P P > A; P > D; P > R; A > D; A > R Countries/Relative Capabilities Analyzer Supportedb Yes Yes Yes Yes United States Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities IT capabilities Japan 1. 03 (. 91) 8. 75 (1. 23) 3. 58 (2. 36) 9. 48 (. 87) 9. 00 (1. 01) 3. 9 (2. 88) 8. 47 (1. 20) 7. 84 (1. 35) 3. 68 (2. 73) 8. 72 (1. 09) 1. 96 (1. 12) 2. 07 (1. 19) 2. 51 (1. 56) 7. 42 (1. 42) 4. 82 (2. 29) 8. 46 (1. 28) 19. 17** 12. 02** 2. 24* 11. 28** D > P; A > P; R > D; R > A; R > P P > D; P > R; A > D; A > R R > D; R > A; R > P P > A; P > D; P > R; A > R Yes Yes No Yes Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto IT capabilities Strategic Type Prospector 1. 21 (1. 28) 8. 53 (1. 27) 2. 9 2 (2. 20) 8. 96 (1. 10) 8. 58 (1. 13) 7. 94 (1. 33) 7. 59 (1. 60) 13. 38** 3. 37 (2. 52) 3. 9 (2. 82) 4. 13 (2. 45) 2. 30* 7. 81 (1. 28) 7. 43 (1. 19) 6. 79 (1. 85) 15. 69** 2. 17 (1. 52) 2. 22 (1. 49) 2. 71 (1. 74) 11. 21** Univariate Defender Reactor F-Value Paired Comparisons Hypothesis (t-Tests)a D > P; A > P; R > A; R > P P > A; P > D; P > R; A > R; D > R D > P; R > P P > A; P > D; P > R; A > D; A > R Countries/Relative Capabilities Analyzer Supportedb Yes Yes Yes Yes China Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities IT capabilities Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types *p < . 10. **p < . 05. aSignificant differences at p < . 0 are reported. bA hypothesis is supported if at least one pair is significantly different in the hypothesized direction. Notes: Each cell shows the mean; standard deviations are in parentheses. P = prospector, A = analyzer, D = defender, and R = reactor. Table 2. Continued 21 higher than the defender mean at p < . 05. In China, prospectors scored higher than analyzers and defenders on this capability (prospector, analyzer, and defender means were 8. 53, 7. 81, and 7. 43, respectively; the prospector mean was significantly higher than the other two means at p < . 05). H3 was supported in the United States and China samples. For the U. S. ample, defenders had significantly greater marketing capabilities than analyzers, and analyzers had significantly greater marketing capabilities than prospectors. The defender, analyzer, and prospector means on relative marketing capabilities in the United States were 3. 26, 2. 37, and 1. 75, respectively, all significantly different from one another at p < . 05 according to the pairwise t-tests. For the Chinese sample, the only differences are the pair between defenders and prospectors and the pair between reactors and prospectors. However, for the Japanese samples, the hypothesis was not supported. The three â€Å"archetypal† strategic types we re insignificantly different and, notably, rather low.The reactors had significantly greater marketing capabilities than all other three strategic types. Finally, H4 was also supported in all three countries. Almost without exception, prospectors had greater IT capabilities than analyzers, which in turn had greater IT capabilities than defenders. For example, in the U. S. sample, the relative IT capabilities for prospectors, analyzers, and defenders were 7. 95, 6. 72, and 5. 48, respectively, all significantly different from one another at p < . 05. Similar results were found in Japan and China. In summary, our expectations, expressed in our hypotheses, were that prospectors would be strongest in technical and IT capabilities and defenders in market-linking and marketing capabilities.We find support for all these hypotheses in all three countries, and all significant findings were in the hypothesized directions. The next set of hypotheses involves expected cross-national differences in terms of the relationship between capabilities and strategic types due to cultural or business environment differences. Before discussing the direct empirical testing of these hypotheses, however, we explain some preliminary findings regarding cross-national differences using data from Table 2. Market-Linking Capabilities. Reactors had significantly greater relative market-linking capabilities than did other strategic types in both Japan and China, but not in the United States. Market-linking capability = 2. 51 and 2. 71 in Japan and China, respectively; in each case, this is the highest capability mean. ) Miles and Snow (1978) find that reactors Tests of H5–H8: Cross-National Similarities and Differences 22 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto did not implement strategies consistently and therefore did not fully develop internal capabilities that would enable them to compete successfully. Our results suggest that this expectation is not borne out in Japan or China, possibly because some firms in these countries have well-developed market-linking capabilities but choose to compete as reactors rather than defenders.That is, superior market-sensing skills enable these firms to act successfully as prospectors in certain markets and as adapters or defenders in others. This finding appears to be supported by the H3 results, at least for Japanese firms. Reactors in Japan have significantly greater relative marketing capabilities than all other strategic types. Leaders of a multinational organization doing business against a Japanese competitor should keep in mind that a firm apparently lacking a consistent strategy (i. e. , displaying reactive behavior) may be nonetheless highly skilled in marketing and market linking and, therefore, a surprisingly formidable opponent. Technical Capabilities.Although H2 was largely supported, it is worthwhile to note that across all four strategic types, managers from U. S. firms rated their technica l capabilities (relative to competitors) substantially lower than did their Japanese or Chinese counterparts. The means for the United States were 2. 2–3. 4 on a ten-point scale, and comparable means in Japan and China were 7–9. This finding suggests that in Japan and China, all strategic types (including defenders and reactors) have well-developed relative technical capabilities. Again, a U. S. firm in competition against, for example, a Japanese defender should not infer low technical capabilities from its competitor’s defensive posture. Marketing Capabilities.Finally, it was surprising to note that H3, which involves relative marketing capabilities, was not supported in Japan and only partially supported in China. As we noted previously, Japanese reactor firms have the greatest relative marketing capabilities; all other firms are insignificantly different on this capability. In China, defenders rate significantly higher than prospectors in this (as hypothesiz ed), but we found no other significant differences among the archetypal strategic types. Cross-National Differences. To test the cross-national hypotheses (H5–H8), we performed additional analyses to compare the means on each relative capability construct across countries for each of the four strategic types using SAS general linear model procedure.We used the same procedure described previously: a MANOVA followed by a series of pairwise t-tests to identify significant differences. As Table 3 shows, the F-statistic was significant for 13 of the 16 possible comparisons. Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 23 Consider first the technology and IT capability hypotheses (H6 and H8). Table 3 shows that across all four strategic types, Japanese and Chinese SBUs rate significantly higher than U. S. SBUs in relative technical capabilities. As an example, technical capabilities for prospectors were rated as 8. 75, 8. 53, and 3. 42 for Japan, China, and the United St ates, respectively (significant at p < . 05).This is directly supportive of H6. Japanese and Chinese SBUs also rated significantly higher than their U. S. counterparts in relative IT capabilities across all four strategic types; therefore, we find only partial support for H8. For prospectors, IT capabilities were 9. 48, 8. 96, and 7. 95 for Japan, China, and the United States, respectively (significant at p < . 05). High relative IT capability among Japanese SBUs was expected according to H8, but the high relative IT capability among Chinese SBUs was unanticipated and is worthy of further research. We found less support for the market-linking and marketing capability hypotheses (H5 and H7).Cross-national differences are not very pronounced in the case of relative marketlinking capabilities. As Table 3 shows, U. S. prospector SBUs rate significantly higher than their Japanese and Chinese counterparts, and U. S. defenders rate significantly higher than their Japanese counterparts. The se findings are contradictory to the expectations of H5. Given the evidence of Japanese market-linking expertise, it is surprising that Japanese SBUs rate significantly higher than U. S. or Chinese competitors in market linking only in the case of reactors. In addition, H7 is only partially supported. Japanese and Chinese prospectors and analyzers rate significantly higher than their U. S. ounterparts on relative marketing capabilities. For example, in the case of prospectors, marketing capabilities are rated as 4. 58, 2. 92, and 1. 75 for Japan, China, and the United States, respectively (significant at p < . 05). Although we expected high relative marketing capability for Japan, we did not expect the significantly lower marketing capabilities among U. S. SBUs. Nevertheless, consistent patterns appear with respect to the cross-national hypotheses and suggest directions for further research. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION According to the Miles and Snow (1978) typology, organizations ado pt certain mechanisms to respond to environmental changes.That is, they choose to be pioneers in product or market development or to protect existing positions within their niches, or they seek some kind of intermediate position between these two extremes. As a result, firms exhibit relatively consistent strategies, or patterns of product-market innovation decisions, in response to environmental shifts. Furthermore, a firm that pursues a given strategy develops certain capabilities that help it implement that strategy, thus increasing the likelihood that it will continue to use the same strategy in response to future environmental shifts. As Ham- 24 Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di BenedettoStrategic Types/ Relative Capabilities United States 1. 67 3. 42 1. 75 7. 95 9. 48 8. 96 33. 14** 3. 58 2. 92 13. 91** 8. 75 8. 53 202. 00** 1. 03 1. 21 4. 74** Country Japan China Univariate F-Value Cross-Country Comparisonsa U. S. > China; U. S. > Japan Japan > U. S. ; China > U . S. Japan > China; Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Japan > China; Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Prospectors Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities IT capabilities Analyzers 2. 35 2. 78 2. 37 6. 72 9. 00 8. 58 3. 59 3. 37 8. 47 7. 81 230. 38** 5. 46** 58. 07** 1. 96 2. 17 1. 16n. s. — Japan > China; Japan > U. S. China > U. S. Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Japan > China; Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities IT capabilities Defenders 2. 69 2. 25 3. 26 5. 48 8. 72 3. 68 3. 69 7. 94 7. 84 7. 43 2. 07 2. 22 2. 70* 163. 99** . 54n. s. 121. 94** U. S. > Japan Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. — Japan > China; Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types IT capabilities Table 3. Analysis of Variance Results: Cross-National Comparisons 25 26 Table 3.Continued Country Un ited States 2. 46 2. 46 1. 98 5. 05 8. 46 7. 59 4. 81 4. 13 7. 42 6. 79 2. 51 2. 71 . 17n. s. 38. 68** 7. 99** 28. 82** Strategic Types/ Relative Capabilities Japan China Univariate F-Value Cross-Country Comparisonsa Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. — Japan > China; Japan > U. S. ; China > U. S. Reactors Market-linking capabilities Technical capabilities Marketing capabilities IT capabilities Michael Song, Robert W. Nason, and C. Anthony Di Benedetto *p < . 10. **p < . 05. aSignificant differences at p < . 10 are reported. Notes: n. s. = not significant. brick (1983, p. ) notes, â€Å"prospectors tend to want to continue prospecting; defenders tend to want to continue defending. † Among the capabilities Miles and Snow investigate are technology, structure, management processes, and power distribution. As we noted previously, the Miles and Snow (1978) typology is, above all, a typology of innovation strategies. In this study, we mapped four ca pabilities of interest to innovating firms (market-linking, technical, marketing, and IT capabilities) onto the Miles and Snow strategic typologies. We hypothesized (in H1–H4) that prospectors, which typically pursue a first-mover strategy through product-market innovation, would need to build up technical and IT capabilities.Similarly, defenders, which are most concerned with preserving protected market segments with existing technology, must develop market-linking and marketing capabilities. We found supporting evidence for all these hypotheses in firms from all three countries. We then developed and tested a set of cross-national hypotheses (H5–H8), based on cultural and business environment differences existing among the United States, Japan, and China. Our development and empirical testing of these hypotheses represent a significant advance of the literature beyond the contributions of DeSarbo and colleagues (2005, 2006). We found clear support for one of the four hypotheses (H6), partial support for two others (H7 and H8), and no support for the last (H5).In general, the cultural and business environment prevalent in Japan and China has given SBUs in those countries relative advantages in technology and IT capabilities (H6 and H8), yet we did not observe anticipated advantages in market-linking and marketing capabilities (H5 and H7). This study has some implications for theory development and further research. In general, the results support the hypotheses that relative to other organizations, prospectors develop greater technical and IT capabilities so that they can pursue first-to-market initiatives and that defenders develop greater market-linking and marketing capabilities so that they can respond effectively to marketplace changes.These findings lend support to the Miles and Snow (1978) typology and to the contention that organizations tend to respond in certain, consistent ways to environmental change. Therefore, our findings can be i nterpreted as further empirical support of the Miles and Snow typology, originally conceived after an exploratory study of a limited number of industries but empirically supported in other settings (Hambrick 2003). Our findings are also consistent with Hambrick’s (1983) contention that prospectors want to keep prospecting and consequently develop the capabilities most closely related to Information Technology Capabilities and Strategic Types 27 prospecting more than do other firms. Because IT has evolved only in the past few years, further research should explore the impact of IT on strategic choices.Because no existing theories are sufficient to enable us to predict a priori the nature of cross-national differences in the relationship between the four capabilities and strategic types, further research also should examine further our preliminary results regarding cross-national differences in relative capabilities. In addition, note that our model provides evidence of the val idity of Conant, Mokwa, and Varadarajan’s (1990) 11-item scale for assessing strategic type in both Japan and China. We believe that this is the first application of this scale in China and one of the first in Japan (for an earlier Japanese application, see Dyer and Song 1997). There are several notable managerial implications. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology suggests that organizations must do a sincere internal and external assessment when planning strategic moves for future competition.The external assessment should include analysis not only of likely opportunities or developments in product, market, and technology but also of past moves by primary competitors classified by strategic type. In the internal assessment, the organization’s leaders must identify honestly the firm’s strengths and recognize its weaknesses in light of external challenges. They must then choose a strategic stance, deciding how it can best capitalize on the strengths and overcome th e weaknesses. Although this recommendation is hardly new, it is important in this context to recognize that there is a mutually complementary relationship between capabilities and strategies.Relative strengths in technology and IT capabilities might suggest that a prospector (or even an analyzer) strategy could be a more appropriate choice than a defender strategy. Consistent, successful pursuit of a prospector strategy over time should help a firm develop these relative strengths and enable it to retain its competitive advantage. This implicitly suggests also that a firm that recognizes itself as a reactor type should use its internal assessment to decide which â€Å"archetypal† strategic type it should strive to become. Cross-national differences in strategic type also carry managerial implications. Previously, we noted several

Field Observation of Middle School

Field observations of Middle School The favoritism, all once we have heard about the favoritism, but what exactly is? favoritism is defined as the inclination to favor more to some people than to others without assessing their merit or what is right. This is one of the most controversial topics in the institutes, elementary schools, universities, jobs even in the same family.There are several reasons why the favoritism is given, one is for the money, almost always see them as people with a good economic status can do what they want, from government up to schools, another reason may be the physical, that almost always occurs in women, among other things. In any of these cases can be harmful both to which is favored for which it is not, since helping one person, we do that does not strive for what they want and create for all are perfect, otherwise, low self esteem and it is to convince the person that it is useless.In the case of the school, I think we have all noticed or suspected th at there is some kind of favoritism of some teachers towards students, Millers teacher aren’t the exception in this case; never criticizing them, say that everything they do is good, or simply do nothing and still passed with very good rating.In these cases the damage affects the student who is favored since their performance is not brought to a limit or a high level of effort to gather the requirements of pass in already is a matter or more. Leading the favored student to create an atmosphere of comfort to her around and so accustomed to not avail themselves of their merits to get something in daily life. On the contrary, the student who is not favored, as I mentioned before, tends to have low self-esteem and even strives to be better.In my fifth time tutoring at Miller, I notice a little unusual, that many teachers probably doesn’t pay attention or they do it without realizing they are doing it, which was having one of the girls as her favorite student, she was pay m ore attention to this student, she was trying to talk to her more softly, and this student was as we can call it the right hand of the teacher. I am not opposed students being more helpful, but the problem is when students are being more control and yelled at any situation.The favoritism is evident in this situation. Today there was another incident at school, when we arrived at Miller, there was a teacher with male student, the teacher was furious and was demanding to call the police, and we were there for part of this whole situation waiting our turn to sing in. The teacher was screaming and angry at this student because the teacher forgot her bag in the classroom.When she returned to her classroom, she said there was missing her credit card, driver license, and social secure number card, I know some of these documents are very important for any individual, but when the teacher returned to class there was only a single students in classroom, and because he is male and most likely easy to get in trouble was blame for this indecent. I am not saying that this student was innocent, why blame only the last male student that was in class? Why not the whole classroom?Is it because maybe the teacher thinks that a girl student was incapable of stealing those important documents from her teacher; or is it easier to presume that it was a male student who stole those documents from her. I left the office before the whole indecent was fixed, I am not even shore if the teacher brought all of those documents she was saying was stolen from her gab, because when an instructor has to teach more than 30 students a day plus they have to do parenting at home as well, the responsibility becomes greater because of these a person do make mistakes as well, like forgetting those documents at home.

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Capitalism - Assignment Example Various companies reduced their labour force while others fully shut down leading to massive loss of employment. The economic depression led to loss of business and closing down of many businesses, which led to decline in tax revenues. Many organizations and individuals were also unable to pay their taxes, which made things worse. Prices of goods and services also declined, and profits not witnessed. Crop production fell with most farms affected by drought, which saw the fall in crop prices. The hardships witnessed and non-remittance of taxes forced people out of their homes creating a situation of homelessness. Situation of unemployment and homelessness seriously affected the poor in the society. The economic activities in many countries were markedly affected with many sectors facing problems. Construction industry in many countries slowed and even stopped owing to materials and labor force needed. Farming in a rural setting was also affected by drought and financial inability. Farmers were not able to pay off debt accrued from production expenses due to poor production and fall in crop prices. Among the sectors affected is the mining and logging sectors, which faced drastic, negative effects due to decline in demand for its products, most were forced to cut down on their activities with others closing up, which further affected unemployment. The ending of the great depression was witnessed by different countries at different times, but it was with the advent of WWII. There is believe that government spending in the war stimulated the economies of various nations. The war required production of various products to be used in the war and agricultural goods to be consumed. The sourcing of labor to participate in the war aided in solving the unemployment problem. Women and men who did not participate in the war also got the opportunity to work in the local industries (Maddison, 2007).

Importance of Political Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Importance of Political Communication - Essay Example The study has indicated that political communication has contributed to institutionalisation of societal democracies. Reviews on political communication tend to drum the same idea. Introduction Politicians use communication as a tool to disseminate information to the society. Political critics believe argued that political communication whether external or internal acts as a nerve of the government. Those sentiments are observable through daily activities of politicians. Communication is the powerful tool that describes the landmark made in the political world. Reformists used political communication to move masses and advance the political ambitions. For instance, civil right movements have been able to woo civilians by creating powerful speeches that move emotions. Political debates usually draw politicians of various factions together. Patterns employed in communication may vary but the political information intends to give a particular influence to the audience (Dahlgren, 2005:16 6). This study investigates influence of political communication by analysing research articles in the same area. The aim of the research is to evaluate theories relating to political communication, their relevance in the political sphere, and the mode of communication dissemination. Theories developed about political communication focuses on mode of information dissemination. Some theorists have sought to explain how politicians settle in certain decisions. The prediction of the analysis suggested that dealing with small group would create a greater political impact as opposed to large groups. Studies in political communication have sought to investigate influence of politics with respect to psychology, speech communication, mass communication, journalism, broadcasting, and political science. The revelation of the study answers the question on how political communication influences the reputation of a country. The study mode reviews the existing literature on the same topic with a view or relating aspect of public relation and political communication. Findings and Results Political communication has changed in response to changes in technology. The reviewed literature on political communication with respect to the changing technology has confirmed the above finding. This finding tends to explain the reason by various technological approaches used by the politician in disseminating their communication. Politician’s concern is to influence a voter or a prospective voter to take side within a given political inclination. Pattern of information processing is the basis of voter decision. Zeter (2008:236) observed that voters decision occur the same way as personal decisions made when choosing a friend. People consider attributes, which would create a friendly relationship between the politician candidate and the community. The process seems to use identification of personal qualities as the most viable way of choosing political candidate. It means that huma n desirable characteristics should characterise the political campaign alongside other issues (Stanyer, 2007:212). Political bangles contain photo portraits, personal achievement among other desirable attributes that would persuade the voter to accept a particular candidate for a political position. Voting system takes similar approaches because the argument tends to look at the long-term benefit that the policy would

Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Justice - Essay Example Therefore, all through the Bible, the nature of God remains constant (Comereason.com, 2010). Gods essential nature is the foundation of his justice or righteousness. Nevertheless, just as with man, it is not something conceptual but it is seen in his relation to the world – it is his kingship founding and preserving the right. This appears as retributive justice, meaning that response of His holy will, as grounded in His eternal being against wickedness wherever found. God himself cannot fail to be concerned about good and evil. All the Major Prophets maintain on Gods demand for righteousness. However, this is not the major feature of Gods justice. Theology has attempted to portray Gods justice as the basic fact in His nature with which we must reconcile His mercy the best way possible. Actually, the Scriptures most frequently regard Gods justice, or righteousness, as the act of His mercy. Justice imply the relief of the afflicted and needy, thus Gods justice is His kingly authority engaged on behalf of men, and justice and mercy are continually joined (Bibleencyclop edia.com, 2010). Many people mistakenly deem and wrongly charge that God in the Old Testament was a brutal and angry God, fast to judge and punish, whereas God in the New Testament is loving and full of grace. This certainly does not recognize that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. In addition, there are those who allege that the writers of the Old Testament were too primal to comprehend God and they therefore misinterpreted His nature and recorded those misinterpretations in the Bible (City-data.com, 2010). Primarily, justice had to do with behavior concerning others, particularly with regard to the rights of others. Businesses apply justice where there is demand for just measures and weights. It is also required in courts, where the rights of the poor and the rich, sojourner and Israelite, are regarded equally. In general, this justice is

Business Policy (Case Study) Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Policy ( ) - Case Study Example It is observed that the most powerful feature of the Ford is its flexibility to assimilate with various market situations. This extreme feature has assisted the company to vie with many competitive aspects of the market. It also seems that the Ford possesses an efficient management team whothat effectively forecasts the market and changing consumer tastes and thereby designs innovative car models. This case study gives a detailed view of the automobile industry evolution and its progress over different eras. This paper evaluates the features of Ford Motor Company and also analyzes impact of 2008-09 economic crises on the company. Context of the case The first internal-combustion powered vehicles were notably produced by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in Germany. This was an epoch-making innovation in the history of automobile industry. By the end of nineteenth century, hundreds of manufacturers were producing automobiles both in Europe and in America. The twentieth century witnessed the rapid growth of automobile industry and thus the upward trends in sales volume were clearly visible after the Second World War. From the figure 4.1, it is precise that trucks and buses were less produced in US at the beginning of the 19th century as compared to other passenger vehicles (p.49). However, this trend gradually changed after 1990s and it can be clearly attributed to the effects of globalization and industrialization. Uncertainty over the design and technology of the motorcar was the major issue that impeded the early years of automobile industrial growth. The figure 4.3 indicates that US motor vehicle production as percentage of world’s production gradually declines from 1965 to 2008 (p.50). During the earlier periods of motor vehicles production, the internal-combustion engines faced tough competition from steam as well as electric motors. However, ranges of fascinating features of internal combustion engines could dominate the market. Over this period, compa nies brought different designs and technologies among which many one-promising designs were relegated to the scrapheap of history. As we discussed earlier, the Ford Model T was one of the designs that became the focus of attraction of automobile market in this period. Different countries adopted different sized market segments so as to capture the market opportunities. It is necessary to note that â€Å"Fordism† was the first major revolution in process technology although Toyota’s â€Å"clean production† got world wide acceptance during the 1980’s and 1990’s. The case reflects that the cost of creating a new mass-production passenger car from drawing board to production line was in excess of $1.5 billion. This huge cost associated with product development blocked faster economic growth of car manufacturers. This situation persuaded the companies to think about the concept of mergers and acquisitions. These integration processes and thereby combine d operating costs have assisted the companies to take advantages of lower product development costs economies. The figure 4.4 shows that Ford had made alliances with numbers of other automakers like Tata and Toyota. The Ford’s trend of the past 30 years shows that the firm moves toward increasing outsourcing of materials, components, and services with intent to achieve lower

Migration Project Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Migration Project - Research Paper Example It is difficult for Muslims to immigrate to America at present. Same way many of the gulf countries also started to control immigration in recent times because of the demographic imbalances it created in gulf countries. In short, migration is a controversial subject at present and that is why I decided to research more about this subject. Immigration is a difficult process now, especially to America. â€Å"Illegal immigration into the United States is massive in scale. More than 10 million undocumented aliens currently reside in the U.S., and that population is growing by 700,000 per year†(Kane & Johnson). Terrorism is causing big problems to America at present and therefore they are keen in reducing immigration as much as possible. This paper is written based on an interview I conducted with my own wife Amani Shami. I met her in 2009 at Saudi Arabia and married her in the same year. She is a student at Kent state university now. She came to America in 2010 after our marriage. Before coming to America, she has completed her graduation in Geography at the University of King Khalid, Saudi Arabia. As a new immigrant to America, I do believe that my wife can definitely help me to prepare this paper with respect to migration. Saudi Arabia, the country which Amani belongs is a periphery country. Countries can be classified as periphery, semi-periphery or core countries based on development, share of global wealth, strength of institutions, dependency on other countries etc. Even though Saudi Arabia is a rich country in the Middle East, it is periphery in nature when we compare it with America. Push and pull factors can affect immigration from one country to another. Land scarcity in home country, Political and/or religious persecution, Revolutions and Poverty are some of the push factors whereas Promise of freedom (religious and political), Hope for a new life, Industry Jobs, etc are some of the pull factors of immigration. In Amani’s case, Hope for a n ew life (Pull factor) forced her to migrate to America. It should be noted that America is the most developed and wealthiest country in the world and no other country offers the same freedom and liberties that America offers for human life. Apart from these factors, another factor which motivated Amani to migrate to America is the opportunity to live with her husband and complete her studies in America. The quality of education in America is comparatively higher than that in Saudi Arabia. Amani was actually failed to receive a job in Saudi Arabia because of stiff competition from others. It should be noted that majority of the Saudi youths are going abroad for getting quality education and when they return, companies often appoint them at the expense of domestically graduated students. Even though, Amani came to America as a student, the family reunion program helped her in a lot in visa processing. Even though she applied for green card first, the delay in processing green card app lications forced her to apply for a student visa. Getting a student visa in America is much easier than getting a green card now. Green card application processing may take 1 to 2 years whereas student visa processing may take less than 6 months in America. Amani faced little problems in entering America even though there are many complaints about the treatment of immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants at American airports. The authorities did not ask any confusing or

A Little Labor Knowledge Could Go a Long Way for HR as Unions Push Essay

A Little Labor Knowledge Could Go a Long Way for HR as Unions Push Into Private Sector - Essay Example 5. Secondary issue(s): The need for organizations to apprise themselves on current labor laws stemmed from the thrust of the National Labor Relations Board to familiarize themselves on the National Labor Relations Act which incorporates rights of the employees both in union and nonunion places. Further, current issues that emerged focusing on social media and â€Å"whether employer crackdowns on its use by employees venting about their job violates the National Labor Relations Act† (Pyrillis, 2011, par. 5). 6. Relationship of primary article discussion to this course (Strategic Planning & Implementation): The article discussed issues pertinent to the need for contemporary organizations to revert to giving significance in the role of industrial relations and labor laws. Upon closer evaluation, the article’s discussion is related in scope to the Strategic Planning and Implementation course in terms of anticipating changes in the external environment and assuming a more pr oactive than a reactive stance. As learned from the module, â€Å"strategic planning is a step by step process with definite objectives and end products that can be implemented and evaluated. Very simply, it is a process by which we look into the future, paint a picture of that future based on current trends, and influence the forces that will affect us† (Ahoy, 1998). 7. ... d to incorporate knowledge of current labor laws and industrial relations in anticipation of future trends that see the increasing importance of these functions in human relations management. In the article written by Lieberman (2010), she stressed that through effective application of strategic planning process, organizational success can be ensured. She enumerated six steps in the strategic planning process, to wit: â€Å"1. Identify the problem; 2. Outlining the process for developing appropriate strategies; 3. Establishing success criteria; 4. Brainstorm, prioritize, and select viable strategies; 5. Articulate clear, measurable action plans; and 6. Define ways to measure progress and success† (Lieberman, 2010, p. 1). As these appears to be a standard planning process, the differentiating factors emerge as the organizations’ ability to design appropriate strategies given the identified problems and in line with their mission and goals. Linking this discourse to the p rimary article, it can be deduced that lessons from stategic planning courses emphasize the need to look into the future so that the design of strategies would incorporate future trends and therefore the proactive stance is effectively implemented. The article written by Powell (1992) aimed to establish the link between strategic planning and financial performance. As averred, various studies have already published findings that enumerate the benefits of strategic planning in terms of directly improving economic value through generation of information; â€Å"it ensures a through consideration of all feasible options, it forces the firm to evaluate its environment, it stimulates new ideas, it increases motivation and commitment, it enhances internal communication and interaction, and it has symbolic value

Safety training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Safety training - Essay Example Although Pro's Choice conducted safety and health training program for its employees using videos, posters, and pamphlets, safety and health practices may not have been seriously implemented by both management and employees. It may also be that the training methods chosen were not suited for those being trained, thereby little learning was achieved and implementation of supposedly learned practices failed. Another reason would be that the working environment at Pro's Choice has also not been provided as free from hazards as evidenced by the OSHA citations and fine for a serious infraction. This is indicative of Pro's Choice lack of commitment to safety and health for its employees, which may be the reason why supervisor safety warnings are joked about as a band-aid procedure. Firstly, management commitment to occupational safety and health should be established, especially since there are government laws that companies have to comply with. Moreover, the lack of management commitment will eventually be costly for the company as it may result in additional medical costs for injured employees, government sanctions for violations and infractions, and deterioration of company image as a good place to work.

Attraction and Performance of Unilever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Attraction and Performance of Unilever - Essay Example The company at global level has 120 different HR systems and it is therefore imperative to evolve integrated TM policy to adjust fast and survive in this environment. What differentiates Unilever as a potential employer to attract talent How an employee can derive satisfaction with his needs addressed from his work with the company "Through HR processes, we answer these needs and deliver solutions, experiences and stretch assignments that keep people engaged in their jobs" (Le Camus 2008). A business strategy howsoever strong can translate into profitable business result only when the right talent is attracted, developed and assigned the job compatible with the talent. The Unilever TM policy identifies the talent needs for future business strategy and mobilizes the talent to develop in them the capability to achieve business results. Performance orientation is vital to success in business. It becomes easier as a practice when the business development objectives of an organisation converge with the personal development objectives of its employees. ... It is the task of the line managers to deliver performance management by managing the talents through providing guidance with a view to achieving personal development of the employee and business development of the organisation within the desired timeframe. However, for delivering employee brand experience, the line managers need to be thoroughly aware of the importance of people management. It is therefore necessary for an organisation like Unilever to ensure that the line managers perform their tasks of grooming in a way that there are always people who can take up the mantle of team leadership. An executive must not leave the company without growing a replacement ready to take up his or her role. This sows the seeds for the organizational success as there are always mentors by whom new talents are nurtured resulting in each employee getting enriched by the experience and becoming an ambassador for the organisation. To be able to manage business of a global scale, an organisation needs to create a talent pool from all over the world. The operational units of Unilever are spread across diverse cultures creating complex barriers that need to be overcome through HRM 3 strategies coordinated on a global scale. TM in the context of Unilever involves managing employees coming from different parts of the world to perform across a wide range of level from domestic to global. The company has to develop a framework for International HRM to effectively address this diversity in the employees' background in respect of culture, education, economic, political and legal systems and create an integrated TM process to grow in the global market. The theme of this process is

Is there a benefit in bonding amalgam restorations to remaining tooth structure Essay Example for Free

Is there a benefit in bonding amalgam restorations to remaining tooth structure Essay The use of bonded amalgam in restoring the teeth began as early as the 1990’s when a few practitioners began to use certain substances to bond the amalgam restorations directly to the tooth. These practitioners began to bond the amalgam directly to the enamel and/or the dentin. The process of bonding amalgam to the tooth was fairly simple. First, the cavity was prepared and the surface of the cavity was thoroughly cleansed, washed and dried. An etchant was applied to the surface of the cavity, and etching was done for certain period of time. Then, a bonding agent was applied to the surface of the prepared cavity. This bonding agent was chemically cured. After this, amalgam can be condensed into the cavity. The resin can whilst curing, bond the magma to the tooth. A mechanical interlocking between the amalgam and the resin would develop. Such restorations would have a lot of advantages over conventional amalgam restorations. However, the evidence available currently regarding bonded amalgam is rather insufficient, as the results of long-term studies are lacking. Studies for a period of two years following the insertion of bonded amalgam have been conducted, and benefits predicted on a long-term basis needs to be thoroughly tested (Bryant, 1998). The use of bonding agent for dental amalgam was first thought of immediately after composite resins were successfully bonded clinically. One of the most frequently utilized agents for bonding amalgam to the tooth structure is 4-META. This enables bond shear strength of about 10 MPa. On the other hand, if the same agent is utilized to bond composite resins to the tooth structure, a bond strength of about 20 MPa is achieved (Graig, 2002). One of the main reasons why dental researchers began to work on the use of bonded amalgams for clinical use was because the newer restorative material have not been very successful in replacing dental amalgam. During the early days when bonded amalgams were initially tested, researchers were able to notice that bonding helped to provide certain benefits against unbonded amalgams (Zbynek, 2002). Bonded amalgam restorations claim several benefits:- 1. The retention form of a cavity may be improved following use of bonded amalgam (Bryant, 1998). However, some researchers feel that the bond retention offered by bonding amalgam be very less or even negligible. This is because the bonding agent may not adopt in a proper manner to the surface of the cavity or the amalgam (Graig, 2002). 2. There is no much of need to cut the tooth extensively and to prepare several retentive features such as grooves, dove tails, undercuts, etc. 3. As the tooth is prepared conservatively, the resistance form of the tooth is improved. This means that the restoration can tolerate stresses better that could fracture the cusps. The clinical evidence available for this in the form of clinical trials is rather insufficient in this regard (Bryant, 1998). Studies have shown that in a MOD (class VI) cavity prepared with amalgam, the resistance to fracture was more than doubled when a bonding agent was utilized, compared to in situations when a bonding agent was not utilized. The case of the improvement in the facture strengths of bonded amalgam was comparable to that of bonding composite resins. The fracture strength achieved by bonding composites was similar to that of bonding amalgam in case of MOD restorations. However, in both cases, the resistance to fracture was as not as high as that of normal tooth material. The fracture resistance depended on several factors such as the amount of tooth material cut, the width of the proximal box, etc. Studies have shown that as the width of the restoration is increased, the resistance to fracture decreases. Research has also demonstrated that the retention obtained by bonding amalgam for MOD cavities was similar to that of placing pin-retained restorations. Hence, the potential to use bonded amalgam instead of pin-retained restorations could be considered. However, long-term studies in this regard have not been considered (Graig, 2002). Some other situations in which bonded amalgam restorations could be useful include large cavity preparations in posterior teeth (as the extent of the cavity preparation would reduce) and in class V cavities in which the occluso-gingival height is reduced, as the need for pins is eliminated (Zbynek, 2002). 4. As the tooth is cut to a conservative extent, and the need to build several retentive features is reduced, the chances of the patient developing post-operative hypersensitivity are greatly reduced. Besides, the resin bonding agent tends to seal the dentinal tubules and prevent the excessive drying (Zbynek, 2002). However, several other factors plays a very important role in preventing the development of hypersensitivity including the extent to which the amalgam is condensed, excessive drying of the tooth, the experience and the technique utilized by the dental practitioner, etc (Bryant, 1998). 5. Bonding agents help to improve the marginal seal and reduce the microleakage in a dental amalgam restoration. The gap present between the tooth and the amalgam is reduced thus lowering the microleakage (Zbynek, 2002). The fluid flow into the cavity is either abolished to decreased (Graig, 2002). Besides, the dentinal tubules are sealed to a greater extent, which could reduce and prevent damage to the pulp (Bryant, 1998). The microleakage is frequently measured using the dye leakage technique (Cenci, 2004). 6. The bonding strength between the tooth surface and the restoration is increased when an amalgam bonding agent is utilized. Studies have shown that the bond strength that develops when no bonding agent is utilized is about 4 to 8 MPa. However, when a bonding agent is utilized, the bond strength shoots up to about 20 MPa (Graig, 2002). 7. The rate of secondary caries is reduced (due to better marginal integrity and reduced marginal leakage) (Zbynek, 2002).