Vol. 3 No. 3 (2009)

With this edition of the Journal of Globalization, Competitiveness and Governability continues to comply with the regularity which our readers have come to expect, and with the internationally accepted quality criteria, audited by LATINDEX (guarantor for scientific quality criteria in Latin America and the Caribbean). 2009 is drawing to a close, and GCG has been listed in EconLit (American Economic Association), Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, the Ebsco Publishing’s Databases (Business Source Complete), DICE (ANECA-CSIC), etc...
This edition opens with an article by the tutors Mª Blázquez de la Hera, from the International Center for Competitiveness at the IESE Business School, and Mónica García-Ochoa Mayor from Madrid Complutense University. They analyse the existence of technological innovation clusters in Latin America, through an empirical study based on the indicators published in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 and the World Economic Forum 2009. The results show that there are 4 groups of countries characterised by a different capacity for technological innovation, both in terms of technological policy and the creation of technology and innovation, and in terms of the social technological preparation.
Paloma Almodovar, professor at Complutense University of Madrid, looks at the Spanish manufacturing sector, the influence of cultural distances of the level of commitment adopted on international markets and how managers are more likely to change the direction of this decision when bearing in mind the moderating effect of country risk. The results of this study confirm the hypothesis about the effect of cultural distance and country risk on levels of commitment and bring together two branches of work which have traditionally conflicted in literature in the topic.
In the next article, María Teresa de la Garza Carranza, Eugenio Guzmán Soria, and Daniel Hernández Soto, from the Technological Institute of Celaya in Mexico, review the main theories involved in the phenomenon of international negotiation, in terms of the characteristics of the company negotiator. The cultural differences between companies around the world are used as the basis for explaining the concept of cultural intelligence in the context of international business. Finally, they review the aspects involved in negotiations, placing the concepts in the context of Latin America.
The tutors Antonio A. Schuh, from the IE Business School, and Isabel Díez-Vial from Complutense University of Madrid, try to explain the success of large media corporations through related diversification and vertical integration strategies. In order to do so, they review literature identifying the specific reasons for which media companies chose to diversify; creating synergies, ensuring access to content, and strengthening their competitive position. Similarly, it is observed that companies use vertical integration in order to access exclusive content as a source of strategic resources and capacities, the key to related diversification. Finally, through a case study of Globo in Brazil, they confirm the theories developed.
For Leonor Filardo, international consultant in Economics and Finance and member of CEDICE Group, the expansion of credit cannot increase the actual goods offered. What is does is rearranges the production structure: it diverts capital investment off the course mapped out by economic wealth and market conditions. For this author, the economic boom has no solid base, it does not generate true prosperity and the wealth generated is merely illusory. Sooner or later it will become clear that it is built on sand.
The professor in international relations at the Catholic University of Brasilia, Wilson Almeida, deals with a key theme of our times, that of renewable energies. His work studies and discusses these energies in order to gain a better understanding of relations between the USA and Brazil. The governments of these countries, alongside certain companies from each, have already started the search for creative solutions for what is today considered to be one of the largest energy crises ever to have faced our planet: the imminent lack of energy once crude oil runs out.
We finish this edition by analysing the effects which different types of offshoring can have on business results. The professors Esmeralda Linares-Navarro, José Pla-Barber and Cristina Blas-García, from the University of Valencia, study the differences in business productivity and profitability resulting from the choice of types of offshoring. The work also looks at the influence of the use of this strategy on employment, one of the issues of most concern in social and economic terms. The results obtained show that no type of offshoring is better than another in terms of productivity and business profitability, and that the widespread belief about job losses resulting from the use of these strategies is not entirely clear.
In the coming year we hope to continue receiving the support and trust of all: members of the Consultative Committee, Editorial Committee, Editors and Associate Area Editors, evaluators, authors and above all, our readers.