Tobias Koellner and Steffen Roth
This article shows that business family and family business research is dominated by reductionist and biased concepts of culture that are in sharp contrast with recent advances in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article shows that business family and family business research is dominated by reductionist and biased concepts of culture that are in sharp contrast with recent advances in anthropology and the broader social sciences that would allow for more fine-grained analyses.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an inbound theorizing approach, state-of-the-art anthropological and sociological concepts of culture are introduced to family business research.
Findings
The resulting interdisciplinary update unveils that prevailing concepts of culture in family business research confuse cultures with countries or nations and neglect the processual constitution of culture.
Originality/value
The article advocates a research agenda emphasizing the social construction and reproduction of culture as well as the need to systematically draw on findings from anthropology and sociology so as to allow for better cross-cultural comparisons in the field of family business research.
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This article explores the concept of state entrepreneurship, particularly focusing on its darker aspects when states act as creative destroyers.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the concept of state entrepreneurship, particularly focusing on its darker aspects when states act as creative destroyers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a systems-theoretical approach to develop a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of statehood and its role in driving disruptive innovation. The research design includes an analysis of cases of state-mandated planned obsolescence, examining the ethical, political and economic implications of these strategies.
Findings
The main findings highlight that while state-driven innovation is often justified by noble goals such as climate change mitigation, these strategies may lead to ethically questionable outcomes, particularly when economic benefits for the state or associated entities are involved. The study also demonstrates that several aspects of state entrepreneurship align with established definitions of dark side entrepreneurship. The article concludes by underscoring the need for further research into the social costs incurred as states pursue their entrepreneurial missions.
Originality/value
The article demonstrates that states are organisations that pursue business models that would be considered unethical if adopted by other organisations. These models include strategies of state-mandated forms of planned obsolescence, a strategy commonly regarded as environmentally unsustainable or even criminal if performed by business organisations.
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This chapter focuses on the conservative Heritage Foundation's “Project 2025” and especially its comprehensive Mandate for Leadership, which provides a detailed plan for…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the conservative Heritage Foundation's “Project 2025” and especially its comprehensive Mandate for Leadership, which provides a detailed plan for fundamental policy and administrative changes to be instituted in a Trump second term. It advocates an unparalleled concentration of executive power, elimination of the independence of the civil service and Department of Justice from the office of the president, and institution of permanent dominance of Trumpian conservatism. The specific focus is on the Mandate's proposed antienvironmental policies, which are weaved throughout the document and are designed to roll back sweepingly previous climate-change and environmental protection policies. Stressing maximal usage, production, and export of fossil fuel, the Trumpian “energy dominance agenda” is in polar contradiction to climate science policy aimed at decarbonizing the economy and society and averting catastrophic climate change and a “Hothouse Earth.” The Mandate's postfactual discourse combined with its advocacy of an all-powerful president and conspiratorial vision of the “woke” left as public enemy has definite protofascist overtones.
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Yi Nie, Lin Luo and Xiulin Geng
Green funds represent a hybrid approach that integrates both environmental and financial considerations. Firms also strive to balance social benefits with economic performance…
Abstract
Purpose
Green funds represent a hybrid approach that integrates both environmental and financial considerations. Firms also strive to balance social benefits with economic performance. This study aims to analyze how green fund shareholdings impact firms’ dual performance and explores the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a sample of A-share companies listed on China’s exchanges from 2008 to 2022. A fixed effects model is used to assess the dual value of green funds in enhancing both environmental and financial performance while also exploring viable pathways to achieve a “win-win” outcome.
Findings
Green fund shareholdings significantly enhance both financial and environmental performance, with corporate reputation and corporate transparency acting as mediators. Media oversight and executive compensation positively moderate the relationship between green fund shareholdings and dual performance. In competitive industries, the influence of green fund shareholdings on environmental performance is more pronounced than their effect on financial performance. In the context of politically connected firms, green fund shareholdings have a reduced impact on financial performance, with no significant difference in environmental performance. In addition, the impact of green funds on ownership structure is heterogeneous, promoting dual performance in private firms but not in state-owned enterprises.
Originality/value
This study enhances the understanding of green funds’ dual investment logic, provides deeper insights into their role in fostering sustainable corporate development and extends the application of institutional logic in enterprise management.
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Marzenna Cichosz, Maria Aluchna, Ewa Sońta-Drączkowska and A. Michael Knemeyer
Organizational pursuit of sustainability in multi-tier supply chain systems operating in unpredictable environments is often associated with the emergence of paradoxical tensions…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational pursuit of sustainability in multi-tier supply chain systems operating in unpredictable environments is often associated with the emergence of paradoxical tensions. This study aims to summarize and synthesize existing literature on managing various paradoxical tensions in supply chains (i.e. sourcing, making, delivering and reverse logistics) as organizations pursue sustainability transformation. It also strives to motivate new academic research inquiry into developing responses to sustainability paradoxes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on a systematic literature review of 73 papers from the Web of Science database selected at the intersection of paradox, sustainability and logistics/ supply chain management (SCM). Applying paradox theory as a guiding lens, we investigate organizational strategies, practices and capabilities described in the literature to navigate sustainability paradoxes in supply chains.
Findings
The results assert that the success of sustainability transformation will depend on an organizational ability to recognize, accept and navigate paradoxical tensions in one's supply chain. This requires developing the dynamic capabilities of paradoxical leadership, strategic agility, innovativeness, collaboration with contextualization and governance. Successful sustainability transformation is not reliant on finding an optimal, final design but rather the continuous balancing of tensions inherent within or across the organizations that make up one's supply chain.
Practical implications
The research offers an integrative conceptual framework to guide organizations in navigating sustainability paradoxes in supply chains, embracing strategic, practice and capability levels. It also outlines opportunities for future research inquiries connected to this framework that are needed to build additional insight for addressing paradoxical tensions related to the pursuit of sustainable supply chain management.
Originality/value
This study takes a dynamic capabilities approach to navigating paradoxical tensions in pursuit of sustainable supply chain management.