physical distance

　　本月原始

　　(by resaliu)关于physical distance(其实不太确定是不是这个名词了，但是应该差不离吧)的题。一段。很容易读，题也不难。

　　简介physical distance，是用来描述国家间相似性的，一般我们认为地理上越相近，国家间的相似性就越高然而，并不是在两个physical distance小的国家间实施internationalization战略就能成功举例(考点)：一项最近的研究发现，加拿大和美国是physical distance很小的国家。但是，在美国发展的加拿大企业，只有25%(不确定是这个百分比，总之很低)的企业成功了。这是因为：1.有些高管以为两个国家physical distance小，发展成功率高，就不去perceive和研究国家间的差异，因此容易失败。2.physical distance的概念是基于national level，然而很多时候regional，industry specific differences导致企业发展不利(考点)。3.两个国家间因为差异而遭遇的困难往往是不对等的，但是我们往往以为对等。(此处无考点)

　　Q1. 举加拿大企业在美国成功率只有25%的目的?

　　构筑选的为了说明在physical distance小的国家internationalization也不一定能成功。

　　Q2.以下哪种说法对于physical distance的概念是正确的?

　　构筑选的是它基于national level而不是region。

　　Q3失忆了……

　　悦读菌考古版

　　V1. by funingfs

　　物理距离之类的 physical distance讲的是physical distance什么的，是跟经济相关的，这篇读的不是特别好，可能逻辑有错误，望考古。第一段说了一下这个距离的定义 然后说了一下一般一个公司想向外扩张，会选择这个距离比较近的，因为国情相近吧，比较容易成功。第二段说了个反例。说加拿大的很多公司向外国扩张的时候，扩张到美国的只有22%，很少。因为什么我忘了。。。

　　V2. Psychic distance!我很奇怪，没人发现这不是物理距离吗，我在考场特意看了 这是心理距离吧?很短，是我的第四篇。就一段 不满一整瓶~话说Psychic distance这个概念，很早就有了。很多研究者说，心理距离比较近的话倾向于一起做生意什么的~还有 地理位置近、环境相似那么大家都觉得more likely to succeed. 可是呢，not really. 比如加拿大跟美国。22%的成功率~为啥?Executives说，他们因为觉得心理距离近 反而不太care原本需要注意的问题。导致了一些矛盾。另外，还有survey说有的人甚至觉得psychic distance远……(时间不够没看清)综上，psychic distance没有原来想的那么通用。

　　题目：很confusing的一个是“psychic distance这个理论不好用是因为：”

　　我在“用的人靠主观判断”和“本身这个理论太多virations”间犹豫好久。选的前者

　　V3. physical distance，有一个题目"the difficult part of physical distance according to the standard distance"是什么，我选的是有national 和regional对比的个选项，别的感觉都不靠谱。还有一道题说举例子”美国在加拿大投资的公司成功率不高“的作用，忘了选项了。。。。

　　V4. By budai(770 V44)第一段：截取了大牛的回忆，不知道1段还是2段

　　大概就是说企业在进行全球化扩张的时候，会选择 “physical distance”近的国家，因为普遍观念认为这样的国家与本国在各方面都很相似，容易成功。比如，加拿大的企业，就比较愿意选择美国(还是反过来，记不太清楚了)。但一个研究取样了加拿大30多个在美国投资的企业，发现成功的很少。(这有题，问想拿加拿大企业的说明什么)。研究发现，之所以很多企业会失败，主要是管理者因为近的“physical distance”，就假设两国情况相同，采用在本国内成功的策略，认为在加拿大本土N%的企业(在加拿大很成功)，他们到美国开公司，只有7%成功。人们传统以为加拿大和美国离得近，会容易成功。但是其实不是这样的。忽略了文化等很多方面的差异。(这也有题，问为什么失败)。最后好像就建议重视差别什么的。

　　有一道好像问the most difficult part for determing psychi distance,。这个题不太确定，看了一遍选项好像没对的，我选的是based on country difference, rather than regional difference.(现在想，这个应该不对)

　　疑似原文

　　The Psychic Distance Paradox -- by Shawna O'Grady , Henry W. Lane

　　It has been argued in the international business literature that companies begin the internationalization process in countries that are psychically close before venturing to more distant countries [Johanson and Vahlne 1992]. If this description is accurate, then Canadian companies would be expected to begin in the United States which is not only the closest but also, in many ways, the most similar country to Canada. Indeed, evidence from the retail industry indicates that firms have followed this pattern.

　　The literature on the internationalization process describes the sequence of market entry that firms follow when internationalizing. This sequence reflects a gradual, learning through experience process. What is not explicit in the literature is why firms follow this pattern. Researchers have suggested that entering countries that are psychically close reduces the level of uncertainty firms face in the new market [Johanson and Vahlne 1992]; and that psychically close countries are easier for companies to learn about [Kogut and Singh 1988]. Such explanations seem logical and implicitly support the conclusion that beginning in psychically close countries should improve a company's chances of success in these markets. Although the literature is not prescriptive, an unstated conclusion can be drawn from it linking sequence of entry to performance. There is an implicit assumption that psychically close countries are more similar, and that similarity is easier for firms to manage than dissimilarity, thereby making it more likely that they will succeed in similar markets.

　　Although sequence of entry is an important consideration, we believe that one limitation of this literature is that it does not address how the perceived psychic distance between countries affects the decisionmakers' choice of entry or the organization's ultimate performance in the new market. This research presents evidence demonstrating that starting the internationalization process by entering a country psychically close to home may result in poor performance and, possibly, failure. We refer to this as the psychic distance paradox. Instead of psychically close countries being easy to enter and to do business in, we argue that perceived similarity can cause decisionmakers to fail because they do not prepare for the differences. The failure lies in the managerial decisionmaking aspect of the internationalization process, to which international business researchers have not paid enough attention [Johanson and Vahlne 1992]. In addition, even in psychically close countries such as Canada and the United States, there may be significant differences that can affect the ability of managers to conduct business. What appears on the surface to be psychically close may, in reality, be more distant than expected.

　　This research was exploratory in nature and focused on the performance of Canadian retail companies that entered the United States. With the American retail market worth more than $1.5 trillion, there is a very powerful incentive for Canadian retailers to understand how to compete in this market. Consistent with internationalization theory, domestically successful companies entered a country that is not only the closest physically, but probably the most similar country to Canada. However, of the thirty-two Canadian retail companies that entered the United States market, almost 80% failed and only seven (22%) were continuing to function successfully [Evans, Lane and O'Grady 1992]. The high failure rate suggests that there may be a paradox, or inherent contradiction, within internationalization theory and the psychic distance concept, and that executives cannot always rely upon measures of psychic distance when making their internationalization decisions.

　　The purpose of this paper is to use the experience of Canadian retailers entering the United States to analyze the psychic distance concept in greater detail and to suggest some possible qualifications that could improve its use in research and practice. First, a summary of the psychic distance concept is presented, as well as the evidence in the literature positioning Canada and the United States as being culturally close. Next, the results from both clinical and questionnaire data show areas in which cultural and business differences manifested themselves, as well as empirical evidence of these cultural differences. Then, the paradox inherent in the psychic distance concept is explored, which explains how the perception of a country as having a small psychic distance from one's own can lead decisionmakers to a number of faulty assumptions, creating an inability to learn about that country. Some recommendations are provided to help companies learn in these situations. Finally, we explore the psychic distance concept in greater depth, and propose some qualifications to it. The results of this study suggest that the psychic distance concept is more complex than is generally recognized in the literature and should be explored more fully.