With economic sustainable development and improvement of the living standard, China insurance industry has been developed quickly as the result of reforms and development of national economy since 1980. The average annual rate of growth nearly reached 30%. The premium income of whole insurance industry are about 564,140 million RMB, and total assets about 1.97 trillion RMB in year 2006. The differences in regional GDP and personal income as its uneven distribution of natural resources and economic inequalities caused. It is also caused uneven development of the Chinese insurance industry nationwide. This study refers to the report of the State Council of China as indicated 4 major economic areas that 1. The North-East region: to revitalizing the old industrial base. 2. The Western region: to implementing the great development as blueprint by government. 3. The Central region: to promoting as key position of economy development. 4. The East region: encouraged to take the leading position in order to implementing policy of central government, etc. To submitted regional strategy of insurance operations in China, the study also refers the dissertations of the domestic and international scholarship with analytic approach of SWOT, analysis of covariance and Chi-Square test. And also carries the directive analysis and the summary of operational strategy of insurance business. It is also concluded that along with the individual income increase will resulting service demand widely. Key words: China Economy, China Insurance Industry, Regional Strategy.

The Wider Caribbean Region does not have a regional waste management strategy. An integrated approach to waste management throughout the region would benefit many economic sectors, safeguard people’s health and improve environmental quality. Numerous studies, above all a project conducted in 1994 by the World Bank, pointed out that one of the main reasons why such strategy has not been developed yet lies in the scarce availability of data in the waste management sector. Through on field researches and the analysis of institutional reports, the objective of the present study is defining the reasons that led and still underpin such scarcity. Furthermore, the study proposes a new methodology of data collection and improvements to one of the mathematical model that is used to estimate waste quantities in ports. The purpose of the paper is to find an integrated solution to a double challenge: waste abundance and energy scarcity, with focus on ship generated waste management.

We adopt a Penrosean perspective to study the effect of rapid international expansion on the subsequent divestment of international operations. We draw on regional strategy theory and differentiate Penrosean managerial resources by their geographical fungibility to argue that the effect of rapid international expansion on the divestment of international operations varies with the regional patterns of firms' international expansion and international experience. We test our hypotheses using two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation on data that capture the international expansion and divestment of retailers over the period 2003-2012.

During the last decades, the world has become increasingly globalized, leading to an increased interdependence between nations. This development has given rise to an increased vulnerability to turbulence created by external events and made it even harder to find the right strategic fit while managing the trade-offs between global integration and local responsiveness. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to understand how external events, namely Trade wars, Brexit and Pandemic affect an MNC's international strategy and how an MNC can adapt its strategy and structure to respond to the turbulent environment. Consequently, this thesis follows a case study-based design which helps to provide an in-depth company view and a strong foundation for the analysis of the strategic considerations made by the case company. The findings show that external events affect the company's capacity to produce, reduces trade opportunities, and prevents the continuous supply. Further, a direct response to the turbulent environment is to adapt the strategy and structure towards an adjusted Regional Strategy, with a focus on interdependence within geographical market clusters. This will create more opportunities to find the integral trade-off between global integration and local responsiveness and consequently respond to the arising regional complexities.

No / Drawing on regional strategy theory we complement the core effect of firm-specific advantages on the performance of multinational enterprises with an analysis of the performance consequences of home region concentration on firm performance. We also develop hypotheses regarding the effect of foreign entry timing, internationalization speed and international experience on the performance effect of home region concentration. We test our hypotheses against unique longitudinal data from a panel of 128 multinational enterprises in the retail sector whose geographical spread of international activities we traced between 1995 and 2010. Our findings support the predictions of regional strategy theory and highlight the importance of foreign entry timing and internationalization speed in strengthening the positive effect of home region concentration on the performance of multinational enterprises.

This paper draws on evidence from Victoria to examine why more innovation takes place in some areas than in others. In so doing, it explores the relationship between innovation and networks. / Despite a large number of recent government policy statements on innovation, there has been very little attention paid to the spatial dimensions of innovation. / The literature on innovation increasingly points to the important role played by local and regional networks in driving innovation. Innovation is the result of the production, use and diffusion of knowledge, and this demands collaboration involving networks of individuals, organisations and institutions. / To test the theory of a connection between networks and innovation across regional Victoria, patent data is used as a proxy measure for innovation. This data is then cross-referenced with various social and economic data sets. / The analysis reveals that innovation in Victoria is substantially concentrated in ‘hot spots’ such as inner Melbourne. In some parts of Victoria very little innovation takes place at all. / This research has found that all things being equal, more innovation will take place in those areas in which there is a greater density of informal networks. However, not all types of networks are positive, and they are more important in provincial areas than in big cities. Innovation clearly has a spatial aspect, and innovation policy needs to give particular attention to the requirements of provincial areas.

本論文基於在區域整合的趨勢下，國內學界及業界對於台灣市場可能被邊緣化感到憂慮，以及在國際企業理論的領域裏，與區域策略搭配的區域組織設計之探討仍不足的動機下，探討當多國公司的母公司為因應環境的改變而採取區域策略時，會如何進行區域內的組織結構設計。研究著重在區域總部、次區域總部與子公司角色的定位與演變。本論文採用質性研究，研究十家母國在美國或歐洲的多國公司的區域組織設計，這十家多國公司均為全球五百大公司之列，且在產業內有極高的市場佔有率排名。本論文以台灣做為地主國，上述各多國公司的台灣子公司均為擁有良好能力與知識的子公司，且過去均有足可證明的事件佐證該子公司在多國公司內部具有重要的策略地位。 本論文共分為四個研究。在第一個研究，本論文探討台灣子公司成長過程中的重要網絡，以了解內外部網絡對於多國公司在台子公司角色演化的影響。本論文發現影響貢獻型子公司成為卓越中心或託管中心的內外部網絡因素主要有四大方面：(1)多國公司內部資源流；(2)地主國市場策略重要性；(3)子公司打破規則；(4)母公司政策。而貢獻型子公司成為卓越中心或託管中心後，可以進一步地影響地主國的共生與競食系統共同發展，並使母公司賦予其更多的任務，因此是一種正向循環的效果－有能力與負責重要責任的子公司，因網絡的影響，將愈有能力與負責更多任務。 第二個研究著重探討多國公司的經營策略與子公司角色改變的關係。本論文發現當多國公司擬從全球策略或複國內化策略改變成區域策略時，就會產生授權程度的改變，亦有可能增加或減少組織層級，使台灣子公司的自主權受到影響，台灣子公司角色重要性可能會提高或減低。若台灣子公司的角色上升，代表多國公司會運用台灣子公司的能力知識到整個區域市場，這種情形可能有三個原因：（一）當產業的關鍵成功因素之一是與外部網絡的鑲嵌程度有關，且貢獻型子公司與外部網絡的鑲嵌程度高時。這是因為台灣子公司具有中國子公司較欠缺的管理外部網絡的知識，而這種知識對於建立產業遊戲規則是很重要的。（二）當台灣的消費者在區域內具有領先指標意義時。具有領先指標的台灣子公司的知識被中國子公司「借用」的部分愈大，則台灣子公司的角色愈重要。（三）當母公司愈不了解中國市場，而台灣市場跟中國市場的性質很相近時。一旦母公司認為台灣子公司是一個中介者的角色時，就會依賴這種溝通的機制，而不會輕易抽離這個導管。 第三個研究探討多國公司為執行區域策略所做的組織層級的調整。本論文發現多國公司會在原本的組織結構裏增加一個新的組織層級。如：原本為母公司、亞太區域總部、子公司等三個層級的多國公司，現在可能變成母公司、亞太區域總部、大中華次區域總部、子公司等四個層級。本論文發現次區域總部的設立是一種普遍的現象，且次區域總部會取代區域總部去管理其所屬區域內的各子公司。本論文發現次區域總部的設立可以使得多國公司更有效地平衡全球整合效率與地主國回應壓力等二股力量。本論文亦發現多國公司的許多功能別政策，在次區域總部成立後，已改由次區域總部做決策，取代了過去由子公司或是由區域總部作決策的現象，且次區域總部取代子公司或區域總部作決策的替代程度，受到二個因素的影響而有程度不等的現象：一為該產業的整合與回應壓力，一為該多國公司在亞太地區的銷售表現。 第四個研究探討區域策略動機、區域組織結構與子公司角色的關係。本論文發現多國公司為了追求區域的規模經濟而採用區域策略，則市場銷售量較小的邊緣地主國的子公司成為被整合者，（次）區域總部成為強力整合者。多國公司若為了掌握地區的機會而採用區域策略，則擁有挑剔的消費者的子公司成為機會提案者，（次）區域總部成為機會執行者。多國公司若為了掌握地主國的大客戶而採用區域策略，則擁有挑剔的大客戶的子公司成為客戶服務者，（次）區域總部成為服務子公司者。多國公司若為了促進子公司之間的能力知識流通而採用區域策略，則擁有特殊能力與知識的子公司成為一個整合性玩家，（次）區域總部成為能力發掘者與知識交換促進者。當多國公司的區域整合動機主要是為了追求效率與回應的平衡時，則區域總部扮演一個整合平台的角色，宜較為集權；當多國公司區域整合的動機是為了將各項要素更有效地流通到子公司時，區域總部較為分權。區域總部的設立位置是取決於與它互動最密切的內外部網絡的地點，因此當多國公司的價值活動佈局與利益關係人的地理位置愈分散，區域總部就愈有可能呈現出虛擬式的型態。次區域總部是個次層級的整合平台，多國公司是否須設次層級的整合平台，取決於該平台欲整合的標的物（如產品、知識）在該次區域內的互動程度是否遠大於與其他次區域內的子公司的互動程度。 總結來說，本論文對於多國公司的組織設計提出具體的理論與實務上的建議。在不同的環境前提與能力條件前提的考量下，多國公司可考慮在母公司或子公司進行目標、環境認知、決策、流程、能力、資源等的整合，也可以設立一個新的平台－即區域總部或次區域總部－來進行目標、環境認知、決策、流程、能力、資源等的整合。多國公司的母公司可以透過設立區域總部、劃分次區域、以及設計以下三個組織層級─區域總部、次區域總部和子公司─的分權程度及所扮演的角色，將區域的競爭優勢達到最大。 / The thesis explores the roles and responsibilities change of regional headquarters, sub-regional headquarters and subsidiaries when MNCs change to adopt regional strategy in accordance to the environmental changes by a qualitative research method. Ten MNCs among the top 500 enterprises with good performance and operation in Taiwan are investigated in order to understand how they design their regional organizations in the host region and what the roles Taiwan subsidiaries play along with the change to regional strategy. The thesis consists of four studies. The first study explores how network resources influence MNCs subsidiary to gain, maintain or lose the roles of center of excellence or mandates in Taiwan by grounded theory. The study finds that policies of headquarters, flows of resources within a MNC, the importance of a host country, the cooperative and competitive local players and initiative-taking by subsidiaries are important factors for the evolution of subsidiaries roles. When a subsidiary becomes a center of excellence or has a mandate, it may improve its ability and then in turn further enables it to gain more responsibilities – a subsidiary will become stronger and stronger and get more and more charters. Using a case study approach, the second study explores how regional strategy adopted by MNCs influences the role of contribution subsidiaries. A contribution subsidiary will be more important to a MNC in the following situations: when a key successful factor of the industry is network embeddedness; when sophisticated consumers in the host market are opinion leaders within the region; and when a parent does not have enough knowledge about the host country of a black hole while the nature of the market served by the contribution subsidiary is similar to that host market. A MNC can adopt three kinds of organizational design to explore the ability of contribution subsidiaries, namely, virtual, charismatic and focused centers of excellences. The more important a contribution subsidiary is, the more knowledge it integrates, and the more functional activities it is in charge. Subsidiary autonomy increases with the increase of subsidiary importance, too. The third study explores the organizational adjustments within MNCs following the trend of regional integration. The result shows that MNCs set up sub-regional headquarters (e.g., Greater China sub-regional headquarters) under a regional headquarters (e.g., Asia-Pacific regional headquarters). A sub-regional headquarters replaces a regional headquarters in order to directly manage subsidiaries within the sub-region. The emergence of sub-regional headquarters is in response to the need for a balance between integration and local responsiveness. An increasing number of decisions are made by sub-regional headquarters, instead of by subsidiaries, parent companies, or regional headquarters. Although the emergence of sub-regional headquarters is a trend, industry characteristics and the degree of the transfer of a firm’s specific advantages (FSAs) from home to a host region both affect the delegation of authority to a sub-regional headquarters. The fourth study explores the motivation of MNCs in adopting regional strategies and the reaction of MNCs to design regional organization and assign subsidiary roles. When a MNC adopts a regional strategy for the purpose of economies of scale, a contribution subsidiary becomes a periphery and the regional headquarters becomes a strong integrator. When a MNC adopts a regional strategy for the purpose of regional opportunity, a contribution subsidiary becomes an opportunity provider and the regional headquarters becomes an opportunity executor. The two motivations mentioned above make a regional headquarters more centralized. When a MNC adopts a regional strategy for the purpose of following the customer, a contribution subsidiary becomes a service provider and the regional headquarters becomes a supporter. When a MNC adopts a regional strategy for the purpose of facilitating the knowledge transfer, a contribution subsidiary becomes an integrated player and the regional headquarters becomes a knowledge facilitator. The two motivations mentioned above make a regional headquarters more decentralized. The location of a regional headquarters is decided according to the location of the most important stakeholders. The decision whether to set up sub-regional headquarters is made according to the frequency of the interaction with the cross subsidiaries in that sub-region. MNCs can design a regional organization to make sure the regional strategy can be executed in the most efficient way. MNCs can gain competitive advantage through the assignments of the roles of regional headquarters, sub-regional headquarters and subsidiaries under the regional strategy.