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East-West trade, industrial cooperation and technology transfer
143
Book reviews Malcolm R. Hill East- West trade, industrial cooperation technology transfer Gower, Farnborough, Hampshire 1983, 117 pp. $ 47,00
and
The aim of this book is to ‘extend the existing publications on the topics of East-West trade and technology transfer, paying particular attention to the requirements of industrial executives and technologists, government policy-makers and administrators, and students of management, economics and politics’. This aim is met. The book is dense, tightly packed with material culled from a number of sources. In fact the ease with which the author is able to cite sources at pertinent points is reassuring to the reader. This is an author familiar with the background literature. The medium which Hill used to conduct his investigation is the case study and there are some thirty cases in the book. This particular application has both strengths and weaknesses. Amongs the strengths, it must be said that statistics and information generally on East-West trade is not easily obtainable, there are inevitable gaps in collection periods, lack of complementary with other data because of different collection basis etc. This may be seen in the first two chapters when Hill sets the scenario of East-West trade against which he then in further chapters is to introduce industrial cooperation ventures. On licensing Hill reports a Soviet claim of 180 licences in 1968 but 350-400 licences at the beginning of 1970. This highlights. both the difficulty of collecting statistics as well as perhaps pointing to a growth in licensing. Intern. J. of Research North-Holland
0167-8116/85/$3.30
in Marketing
0 1985, Elsevier
2 (1985)
Science
143-151
Publishers
There are no subsequent statistics to support what may have been a trend. In fact, the Soviets subsequently went ahead with very large industrial projects such as the Lada car plant with Fiat at Togliatti and the Kama River Truck Plant for which there was no main Western contractor but which accounted for some 370 licences on its own account. Cases have an inherent strength in that here is concrete detail about what happened to one company and how it responded. Cases are experiental learning, and so much loved by managers looking for something tangible: Lessons which may be learned which they may be able to put to use. Here there are more than thirty such cases, but amongst the cases, Hill seems on most familiar ground when in chapter 3 discussing cases from the machine tools industry. Amongst the weaknesses, one would have to say that it is a pity that apart from the two large industrial cooperation agreements, Hill chose not to name the other companies concerned. This is a pity in that it diminishes the immediacy: There is greater distance between the reported company and the reader than if the author was dealing with a known company. To continue this point, on page 163 there is a table based on a sample of 13 unnamed British companies where it is reported that management services were present in none of them. This would have been different if chapter 5 was used as the base rather than chapter 4 because chapter 5 names the companies and we could argue the point more. We have therefore to trust the author that the situation is as reported. Not that the author has not been meticulous, the structured questionnaire used is appended at the back of the book. No, the weakness is more that with the exception of the two large scale industrial cooperation case studies: One Polish; one
B.V. (North-Holland)
144
Book reviews
Romanian; there is only one side being presented; that of the British company. We have British managers’ perceptions of success and failure but no nearer to the actual truth as we cannot verify it with the East Europeans. However, this is not to denigrate what is a worthwhile contribution to the literature. Engaging in research on East-West trade is a form of masochism. The lack of available statistics; the difficulty of obtaining quantitative or qualitative data, surmounting doubts and suspicions amongst British as well as East European managers are all characteristics of East-West trade. Hill has done well here to produce what he has done. The cases serve another purpose also in that they have been collected in the post-detente era. It is no longer easy to obtain government backed credits for major projects in Eastern Europe because the rules have been changed collectively by the OECD-countries as a response to Afghanistan and to martial law in Poland. Doubt has replaced detente. Companies can no longer look to their governments for help but have instead to consider alternatives if they are to trade such as the various forms of countertrade. Hill has performed a useful service overall in bringing us up to date with the activities of East-West trade. Stanley J. Paliwoda University of Manchester Manchester, U.K.
Dr. Rene Kiihne Nachfragment zwischen Einzelhandel und Konsumgiiterindustrie in der Schweiz (Buying power between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods in Switzerland) Haupt, Bern-Stuttgart, 1984 Over the last ten years the phenomena of power and conflict in channels of distribution
have increasingly attracted theoretical as well as empirical attention in the marketing literature. Field studies have focused on power, the sources of power, and conflicts in channel relationships. One of the most popular classification of the sources of power was given by French and Raven (1959). They distinguished between reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert power. According to French and Raven power is a function of the perception of power sources. This is clearly the point of view of the less powerful party in a relationship. There are, however, other ways of defining power in the channels of distribution. In his book, Nachfragemacht zwischen Einzelhandel und Konsumgiiterindustrie in der Schweiz (Buying power between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods in Switzerland), Dr. Rene Kuhne challenges the classification of sources of power given by French and Raven. The book consists of five parts and an additional appendix with questionnaires used in the field research. The overall goal of Kuhne’s investigation is the empirical analysis of power structures between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods. Part II deals very extensively with the explanation and description of various concepts like market, competition, marketing, and power. This part could have been condensed. New insights are derived from the definition of the concept of power. The sources of power as described by French and Raven are not accepted as true power sources. The author argues, that the perception-based power sources are only derivations of the true power sources. Therefore true power sources are not dependent on perception. That is, they are based on (1) control of information; (2) restriction of alternatives, and (3) conditioning or modification of the environment. This is the point of view of the party who holds power.
Book reviews Malcolm R. Hill East- West trade, industrial cooperation technology transfer Gower, Farnborough, Hampshire 1983, 117 pp. $ 47,00
and
The aim of this book is to ‘extend the existing publications on the topics of East-West trade and technology transfer, paying particular attention to the requirements of industrial executives and technologists, government policy-makers and administrators, and students of management, economics and politics’. This aim is met. The book is dense, tightly packed with material culled from a number of sources. In fact the ease with which the author is able to cite sources at pertinent points is reassuring to the reader. This is an author familiar with the background literature. The medium which Hill used to conduct his investigation is the case study and there are some thirty cases in the book. This particular application has both strengths and weaknesses. Amongs the strengths, it must be said that statistics and information generally on East-West trade is not easily obtainable, there are inevitable gaps in collection periods, lack of complementary with other data because of different collection basis etc. This may be seen in the first two chapters when Hill sets the scenario of East-West trade against which he then in further chapters is to introduce industrial cooperation ventures. On licensing Hill reports a Soviet claim of 180 licences in 1968 but 350-400 licences at the beginning of 1970. This highlights. both the difficulty of collecting statistics as well as perhaps pointing to a growth in licensing. Intern. J. of Research North-Holland
0167-8116/85/$3.30
in Marketing
0 1985, Elsevier
2 (1985)
Science
143-151
Publishers
There are no subsequent statistics to support what may have been a trend. In fact, the Soviets subsequently went ahead with very large industrial projects such as the Lada car plant with Fiat at Togliatti and the Kama River Truck Plant for which there was no main Western contractor but which accounted for some 370 licences on its own account. Cases have an inherent strength in that here is concrete detail about what happened to one company and how it responded. Cases are experiental learning, and so much loved by managers looking for something tangible: Lessons which may be learned which they may be able to put to use. Here there are more than thirty such cases, but amongst the cases, Hill seems on most familiar ground when in chapter 3 discussing cases from the machine tools industry. Amongst the weaknesses, one would have to say that it is a pity that apart from the two large industrial cooperation agreements, Hill chose not to name the other companies concerned. This is a pity in that it diminishes the immediacy: There is greater distance between the reported company and the reader than if the author was dealing with a known company. To continue this point, on page 163 there is a table based on a sample of 13 unnamed British companies where it is reported that management services were present in none of them. This would have been different if chapter 5 was used as the base rather than chapter 4 because chapter 5 names the companies and we could argue the point more. We have therefore to trust the author that the situation is as reported. Not that the author has not been meticulous, the structured questionnaire used is appended at the back of the book. No, the weakness is more that with the exception of the two large scale industrial cooperation case studies: One Polish; one
B.V. (North-Holland)
144
Book reviews
Romanian; there is only one side being presented; that of the British company. We have British managers’ perceptions of success and failure but no nearer to the actual truth as we cannot verify it with the East Europeans. However, this is not to denigrate what is a worthwhile contribution to the literature. Engaging in research on East-West trade is a form of masochism. The lack of available statistics; the difficulty of obtaining quantitative or qualitative data, surmounting doubts and suspicions amongst British as well as East European managers are all characteristics of East-West trade. Hill has done well here to produce what he has done. The cases serve another purpose also in that they have been collected in the post-detente era. It is no longer easy to obtain government backed credits for major projects in Eastern Europe because the rules have been changed collectively by the OECD-countries as a response to Afghanistan and to martial law in Poland. Doubt has replaced detente. Companies can no longer look to their governments for help but have instead to consider alternatives if they are to trade such as the various forms of countertrade. Hill has performed a useful service overall in bringing us up to date with the activities of East-West trade. Stanley J. Paliwoda University of Manchester Manchester, U.K.
Dr. Rene Kiihne Nachfragment zwischen Einzelhandel und Konsumgiiterindustrie in der Schweiz (Buying power between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods in Switzerland) Haupt, Bern-Stuttgart, 1984 Over the last ten years the phenomena of power and conflict in channels of distribution
have increasingly attracted theoretical as well as empirical attention in the marketing literature. Field studies have focused on power, the sources of power, and conflicts in channel relationships. One of the most popular classification of the sources of power was given by French and Raven (1959). They distinguished between reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert power. According to French and Raven power is a function of the perception of power sources. This is clearly the point of view of the less powerful party in a relationship. There are, however, other ways of defining power in the channels of distribution. In his book, Nachfragemacht zwischen Einzelhandel und Konsumgiiterindustrie in der Schweiz (Buying power between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods in Switzerland), Dr. Rene Kuhne challenges the classification of sources of power given by French and Raven. The book consists of five parts and an additional appendix with questionnaires used in the field research. The overall goal of Kuhne’s investigation is the empirical analysis of power structures between retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods. Part II deals very extensively with the explanation and description of various concepts like market, competition, marketing, and power. This part could have been condensed. New insights are derived from the definition of the concept of power. The sources of power as described by French and Raven are not accepted as true power sources. The author argues, that the perception-based power sources are only derivations of the true power sources. Therefore true power sources are not dependent on perception. That is, they are based on (1) control of information; (2) restriction of alternatives, and (3) conditioning or modification of the environment. This is the point of view of the party who holds power.