Search results

The purpose of this study is to revisit the conventional wisdom about a key contribution [i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis] in the field of strategic management. The societal context and the role of academics, consultants and executives is taken into account in the emergence of SWOT analysis during the 1960–1980 period as a pivotal development within the broader context of the satisfactory, opportunities, faults, threats (SOFT) approach. The authors report on both the content and the approach, so that other scholars seeking to invigorate indigenous theories and/or underreported strategy practices will thrive.

Applying a historiographic approach, the authors introduce an evidence-based methodology for interpreting historical sources. This methodology incorporates source criticism, triangulation and hermeneutical interpretation, drawing upon insights from robust evidence through three iterative stages.

The underreporting of the SOFT approach/SWOT analysis can be attributed to several factors, including strategy tools being integrated into planning frameworks rather than being published as standalone materials; restricted circulation of crucial long-range planning service/theory and practice of planning reports due to copyright limitations; restricted access to the Stanford Research Institute Planning Library in California; and the enduring popularity of SOFT and SWOT variations, driven in part by their memorable acronyms.

In the spirit of a renaissance in strategic planning research, the authors unveil novel theoretical and social connections in the emergence of SWOT analysis by combining evidence from both theory and practice and delving into previously unexplored areas.

Caution is advised for scholars who examine the discrete time frame of 1960–1980 through mere bibliometric techniques. This study underscores the risks associated with gathering incomplete and/or inaccurate data, emphasizing the importance of triangulating evidence beyond scholarly databases. The paradigm shift of strategic management research due to the advent of large language models poses new challenges and the risk of conserving and perpetuating academic urban legends, myths and lies if training data is not adequately curated.

The extensive brand associations research lacks organisation when it comes to the used information cues. This paper aims to systematically map and categorise the brand knowledge associations’ components and develop a typology applicable to any brand.

Using the restaurant and hotel industries in four different European cultural clusters as contexts, this work uses well-established systematic qualitative analysis approaches to categorise, code and model pictorial content in two studies. A four-stage sampling process identified Instagram brand-posted signals (photos), 243 from 26 restaurants in Madrid, Paris and Rome for study one and 390 from 29 hotels in Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm for study two. Adhering to relevant guidelines, the manual coding procedures progressed from 246 for restaurants and 231 for hotels initially generated free information coding inductive codes to a theory-informed categorisation. Quantitative analysis complemented the qualitative analysis, revealing the information cues relative utilisation.

For both studies, the analysis produced a typology consisting of two high-level and five lower-level brand knowledge association categories, namely: (a) brand characteristics consisting of the brand as a symbol, the brand as a product and the brand as a person, and (b) brand imagery consisting of user imagery and experience imagery. The five lower-level categories comprise of sub-categories and dimensions, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the brand associations conceptual structure relevant to brands operating in any industry.

Researchers can use this typology to holistically encapsulate brand associations or design projects aiming to deepen brand knowledge association aspects/dimensions understanding.

Managers can use this typology to portray brands. Some of the identified lower-level categories and/or sub-categories and dimensions are likely to need customisation to fit specific contexts.

The suggested categorisation offers a solid, comprehensive framework for effectively categorising and coding brand knowledge associations and proposes a new theory in the form of a typology.

The BRICS countries’ energy transition deserves attention not only for the domestic characteristics of these economies but also for their positioning on the current geopolitical context, marked by global challenges and conflicts. In this sense, it is essential to understand the role of the New Development Bank (NDB) in financing the transition. Since its foundation, the bank has been characterized by its focus on sustainable development. The first operations to each member carried out in 2016 were directed to clean energy sector. In addition, the institution strategy for 2017–2021 highlighted clean energy as one of the core areas for the NDB, and a new guideline for 2022–2026 shows a target of directing 40% of total approvals to projects that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, including energy transition. Thus, the research aims to assess how the NDB contributes to the energy transition process in the BRICS countries toward a low-carbon economy, based on the projects financed and through institutional strategies analysis. From this, it is possible to assume that the NDB contributes to the BRICS transition process to a low-carbon economy, but with differences between countries. On the one hand, the NDB favors more the transition in the energy sector in China, South Africa, and Brazil; on the other hand, the institution collaborates more with the decarbonization process in India, China, and Russia. Despite this, there are still limitations and challenges that hinder the NDB from becoming one of the main sources of incentives for its member countries to reach the climate targets.

Integrated reporting (IR) provides a joint overview of an organisation’s financial and sustainability performance and strategies. While the prior literature often critiques IR’s potential to entrench injustice, a systematic approach has not been followed. Therefore, this paper provides a systematic literature review, uncovering IR injustices, informing the development of an IR injustice assessment framework to identify injustices and a research agenda.

Combining Flyvbjerg’s phronetic social science and the phases of the IR idea journey to focus on injustice, this paper reviews published IR articles to inform a critique of IR. As a result, we identify specific injustice(s), the actors responsible for them, as well as the victims, as a basis for recommendations for praxis through the development of an IR injustice assessment framework and a research agenda.

We find that different approaches are needed in each phase of the IR idea journey. In the (re)generation phase, a pluralistic approach to IR is needed from the very beginning of the decision-making process. In the elaboration phase, the motivations and the features of IR are assessed. In the championing phase, IR champions support radical innovation, whereas IR opponents are obstructing its spread. In the production phase, the extent to which IR and integrated thinking are linked to the business model is assessed. Finally, we find that IR’s impact is often limited by the symbolic implementation of its tenets.

The findings suggest a need for companies to rethink the ways in which IR is implemented and used to analyse the ways in which IR is supported and disseminated within and outside the organisation, to focus on internal processes and to reflect on the expected impact of IR on the company’s stakeholders.

This study represents the first systematic approach to identifying IR-related injustices, involving how IR adoption might create injustices and marginalise certain stakeholder groups, and offering recommendations for praxis. Furthermore, the paper details the role of IR in either mitigating or amplifying these injustices and develops a research agenda.

The New Development Bank (NDB) was established by BRICS to address the need for a new balance in the global financial order. It is primarily composed of developing economies and initially lacked Western presence. The NDB was envisioned as a bank from and for the Global South, promoting green initiatives and adopting a noninterventionist approach, which led to high expectations for its performance. However, after it began operations, our analysis revealed that the NDB has encountered operational limitations. Our evaluation followed three steps: discussing the creation and expectations of the NDB, analyzing its funding policies and performance, and presenting future challenges. The NDB was evaluated by considering its Articles of Agreement, General Strategy, Annual Reports, and a comparison with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's performance.

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) have long played an important role in resolving of international challenges, including though research cooperation. They are believed to be less politically engaged than bilateral development assistance programs and therefore better positioned to form the global agenda. The New Development Bank (NDB), in its turn, is an especially important player among MDBs, since it is one of the few institutions with the world's largest economies as its cofounders, but without any of the G7 economies. In 2020, it showed its ability to provide well-timed and effective loans to its members during crises, approving the first NDB Emergency Assistance Program in Combating COVID-19 in March 2020.

In this chapter, we discuss changes to the global sustainable development agenda and the NDB's contribution to sustainable development goals (SDGs) in member countries, potential instruments, and priority sectors in the longer-term and implications for the global financial architecture, given the changing global economic environment. We have looked at the alignment of NDB projects with the SDGs and concluded that the NDB primarily contributes to SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 8, and SDG 9, with the latter leading the way with its 49 projects. This is consistent with the Bank's mandate, which highlights infrastructure as a primary sector of investment.

In this paper, we ask: how do individual factors affect individuals’ intentions of adopting fast payment systems (FPS)? We examine the role of financial literacy and beliefs about cash as individual-related variables that complement the technology acceptance model (TAM) in explaining the individuals’ intention to adopt financial innovations.

We surveyed consumers in 11 Latin American countries to measure relevant variables. By applying structural equation modeling, we extended the TAM. We demonstrated that financial literacy and beliefs about cash contribute to developing a fine-grained understanding of what stimulates individuals’ adoption of financial innovations like FPS.

Our results support the claim that individuals with higher levels of financial literacy exhibit a higher intention to adopt FPS through the mediation role of beliefs about cash, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude.

To improve FPS’s acceptance probability, designers must add highly usable platforms. However, it could be more important to increase the perceived usefulness of FPS as the system competes directly with traditional payment methods such as cash. If individuals exhibit strong positive beliefs about cash, their attitudes and intentions of adopting FPS will decrease. In addition, policymakers and designers may modify beliefs about cash individuals exhibit by identifying and intervening in their determinants (e.g. financial literacy).

Besides technology-related factors, we demonstrate that beliefs about alternative technologies (e.g. cash) influence the intention to adopt financial innovations like FPS.