The Assessment and Evaluation of Noneconomic Environments by American Firms: A Preliminary Report

Stephen J Kobrin, John Basek, Stephen Blank and Joseph La Palombara
Additional contact information
Stephen J Kobrin: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Basek: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stephen Blank: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joseph La Palombara: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Journal of International Business Studies, 1980, vol. 11, issue 1, 32-47

Abstract: This paper reports preliminary results of a study of how relatively large U.S. international firms asses noneconomic environment, how the resulting evaluations are integrated into decision making or planning, and how the process affects managerial strategy. A mailed survey of 455 firms was followed up by personal interviews with approximately 113 managers in 37 firms selected via a stratified quota sample of respondents. Findings support a conclusion that assessment and evaluation of nonmarket environments is emerging as a new managerial function in relatively large international firms. Over half of the respondents indicated that they have a group or groups which have been assigned formal assessment responsibility, both the survey results and interview data suggest a number of problems with current practice. Assessments appear to be reactive rather than active; the most important sources of information about environments are internal to the firm; assessments are typically not conducted independently of an investment or planning proposal; and resulting evaluations serve as a context in which decisions are taken rather than as input to a decision-making process.© 1980 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1980) 11, 32–47

Date: 1980
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v11/n1/pdf/8490594a.pdf Link to full text PDF (application/pdf)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v11/n1/full/8490594a.html Link to full text HTML (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:11:y:1980:i:1:p:32-47

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().