The Editor's Corner
Boštjan Antončič
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Networking, Resource Acquisition, and the Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Empirical Study of Three Major Cities in China
Baoshan Ge, Robert D. Hisrich and Baobao Dong

Previously, resource-based view (RBV) research has focused on the characteristics of resources, paying less attention to the relationship between resource acquisition and the acquisition method. In addition, entrepreneurship research has focused a lot on the firm’s entrepreneurial network to explain performance. This network is critical not only to resource acquisition but also to overall firm performance. The results of a study of small and medium-sized firms in three major Chinese cities support these notions. The results differ when dividing the sample into two groups (young vs. old).

Key Words: resource acquisition, networking, performance, SMEs, entrepreneurship closedowns
JEL Classification: M20
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Urban Dynamism within the Vienna-Bratislava Metropolitan Area: Improving Regional Competitiveness and the Constructed Regional Advantage Concept
Danes Brzica

The paper focuses on the Bratislava metropolitan area (BMA) and its strategic positioning within the broader cross-border metropolitan area (VBMA). It provides a review of the internal/external urban dynamism of BMA and other processes ongoing within VBMA. We introduce the constructed regional advantage (CRA) concept and indicate factors which contribute to the higher socio-economic dynamics of Bratislava and VBMA. Our focus is on two inter-related areas: industrial sector development and urban dynamics. The idea is that only a sufficient level of urban dynamics allows VBMA to generate an adequate complexity of activities, which can promote regional competitiveness. The CRA concept is used here for better understanding of existing developmental factors in territorial cooperation. It allows one to look at various knowledge bases existing in vbma and to show that regional similarities/ complementarities can contribute to dynamic changes within this area.

Key Words: constructed regional advantage, urban dynamism, regional development, competitiveness, innovation, trans-metropolitan region
JEL Classification: R11, O18
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Are National and Organizational Cultures Isomorphic? Evidence from a Four Country Comparative Study
Rune Ellemose Gulev

This pilot study investigates whether organizational practices as observed through differing organizational cultures systematically replicate or reject national values. It is among the first to project delineated, narrow national cultural portrayals of Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Denmark against pattern-specific organizational cultures. Through country cluster analysis and correlation tests, the results achieve significance along all three dimensions. Trust allocations, authority perceptions and independence assertions were significant predictors for organizational traits of knowledge sharing practices, structure and control utilization, respectively. This demonstrates the value of assessing national values in conjunction with organizational culture in order to further understand the origins of corporate behaviour and the mechanisms that can help promote organizational effectiveness.

Key Words: national culture, organizational culture, multinational corporations, Europe
JEL Classification: Z10, F23
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Corporate Risk Management in Slovenian Firms
Aleš S. Berk, Jožko Peterlin and Mitja Čok

In today’s competitive environment the modern firm increasingly focuses on identifying, measuring and managing various risk exposures. Risk management is interwoven with the firm’s business strategy and impacts considerably on its competitive position. Thus, management should develop an integrated approach to address it. Although hedging using derivatives accounts for just one part of such an approach, the article solely covers financial risk management using derivatives. Namely, it is found that even Slovenian blue-chip firms still have room to improve as they have only recently started to use derivatives. The article reviews some of the most interesting characteristics and practices of modern Slovenian financial risk management departments and provides a practically oriented case-study which describes the important steps a risk manager must take to hedge commodity price exposure.

Key Words:risk management, derivatives, corporate finance, hedging accounting, reporting, supervision, auditing
JEL Classification: G32
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Risk and Efficiency in Credit Concession: A Case Study in Portugal
Carlos Arriaga and Luis Miranda

The relationship between banks and customers has contributed to several theories in banking economics. The quality of the credit is crucial for banks. Banks classify the risk through quantitative and qualitative indicators. Quantitative indicators are much used by banks, but qualitative indicators are also considered in credit risk evaluation. Taken together, they contribute to increase efficiency and decrease doubtful credit. Several issues arise in order to understand if risk evaluation affects the efficiency of the banking sector or if it affects the bank customer relationship. We wish to analyse some quantitative and qualitative indicators used by the Portuguese banking system. Despite the reputation of a client being a very important qualitative indicator, it is not enough to determine a classification of low risk.

Key Words: credit, banks, bankruptcy, risk
JEL Classification: E51, G21, G32, G33
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