Ana M. Mejías, Enrique Paz and Juan E. Pardo
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to implement sustainable practices in the Logistics Social Responsibility field. Using the best practices (BPs) approach, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to implement sustainable practices in the Logistics Social Responsibility field. Using the best practices (BPs) approach, the authors have answered the question about how logistics function can take on board the principles of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review has been applied, with an analysis of 194 papers from relevant logistics/supply chain management (SCM)-related journals over a 20-year time frame.
Findings
The authors have identified a first set of traditional BPs that are still relevant in the sustainability context, a second set of innovative sustainable BPs and a third set that can be considered sustainable BPs evolved from the traditional cost-efficiency approach, serving as a link between the other ones. This proposed taxonomy of BPs charts a progressive path toward integration of sustainable principles in SC-logistics operations.
Research limitations/implications
The methodological approaches applied entail inherent limitations. However, the authors have set out to ensure rigor by following a structured process approach.
Originality/value
The work contributes by filling two recurring gaps identified in the literature: the need to integrate social and environmental issues and develop more practical tools for implementing sustainable SCM. The progressive way of implementing sustainable BPs has advantages for logistics managers, especially when companies have limited resources for transforming their logistics process into a sustainable process. Additionally, future academic research topics are proposed.
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Gregorio Sánchez Marín and Antonio Aragón Sánchez
This paper analyzes the links among executive compensation, a firm’s strategic orientation, and firm performance. A number of key questions relative to the relationships among…
Abstract
This paper analyzes the links among executive compensation, a firm’s strategic orientation, and firm performance. A number of key questions relative to the relationships among these elements remain unanswered because prior research on this subject has reported mixed results, and, moreover, has been confined almost exclusively to U.S. firms. We develop a framework that draws on arguments from agency theory to identify such links. A research design with both archival and survey data is used to test hypotheses in a sample of 253 Spanish companies. We found that top managers’ compensation systems are linked with a firm’s strategic orientations, but in a different form than that of previous studies. Results show two differentiated groups of firms: (1) prospective firms that adapt their managerial compensation systems to the requirements of strategic context, consequently obtaining positive performance effects; and (2) conservative firms that design managerial compensation systems independent of strategic context, consequently not obtaining additional performance benefits.
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Vanessa Diaz-Moriana, Ana M. Moreno-Menendez, José C. Casillas and Unai Arzubiaga
Based on the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective, this paper aims to focus on the mixed-gamble logic to study the process of internationalization of family firms.
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective, this paper aims to focus on the mixed-gamble logic to study the process of internationalization of family firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative multiple case study is based on four longitudinal Irish case studies.
Findings
This study proposes that family leaders assess potential SEW gains and losses when facing international strategic decisions. Findings show that family firms build legacy through international practices and, subsequently, gain long-term legitimacy, defined as the transgenerational status and credibility obtained by their family leaders.
Practical implications
Given the importance of international practices for the achievement of legacy, and ultimately legitimacy, practitioners should be aware of the critical role that internationalization could play.
Originality/value
The study develops a framework that contributes to a more fine-grained understanding of the internationalization process of family firms.
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Ana C. González L., Yeny E. Rodríguez and Carol Sánchez
This study examines how women and men in family firms respond differently when asked about perceptions of financial performance. The study poses three research questions around…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how women and men in family firms respond differently when asked about perceptions of financial performance. The study poses three research questions around this topic: Are there differences among female and male responses, do those perceptions change if men and women are leaders of the family business and does the family's socioemotional wealth (SEW) influence such responses.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative research design to determine if financial performance perceptions of family firms differ based on the gender of the respondents and their leadership position, and second, if SEW's dimensions influence those perceptions, using data from the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) survey in 2015.
Findings
The findings indicate that due to the lack of theory regarding gender as a social construct, empirical data collected for family business studies should take under consideration if respondents are women, men, leaders and the family influence in the family business when collecting data from surveys and asking for perceptions of financial performance. Results show that women in family businesses tend to have more positive perceptions of financial performance than men, but if women are leaders, those perceptions not only decrease but become negative. In addition, the family's socioemotional wealth (SEW) exacerbates those tendencies.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by helping to understand the potential limitations of subjective measures of financial performance, as women increasingly become family business leaders. It also contributes to gender studies by demonstrating that there is a lack of gender theoretical perspectives specifically, gender roles, suggesting that differences in self-promotion and self-evaluation between men and women leaders of their family firms. Finally, this study adds to the study of SEW as a multidimensional construct by showing the different effects, or lack of them by each dimension and showing the strong effect of family continuity on the perception of financial performance.
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Luis Gomez-Mejia, Rodrigo Basco, Ana Cristina Gonzalez and Claudio G. Muller
Eduardo Antunes and Frederico Fonseca
Digital technologies have impacted our culture by expanding into every interstice of everyday life. Mobile gadgets for communications, work and leisure, social media, apps and…
Abstract
Digital technologies have impacted our culture by expanding into every interstice of everyday life. Mobile gadgets for communications, work and leisure, social media, apps and platforms – the diverse array of items that we usually refer to as digital media and that keep people permanently connected – are at the core of a wider change that goes beyond the use of technology. These technologies provide the material structure for the complex and constant fluxes of information that permeate people's lives, originating new dynamics that impact people's relations, beliefs, practices, representations and identities, bodies or creative and political expressions. Understanding technology as a producer of meanings, subjectivities and agency that are shaped by power relations is central to the MyGender project. Hence, technology is not seen as neutral but as a place of political power. This chapter places young adults at the centre of the changing environment as main cultural and media producers and traces their practices, discourses and representations. By integrating diverse theoretical and empirical contributions that focus on the most relevant aspects of this changing environment, analysing significances, practices and negotiations related to digital cultures and young adults, this chapter proposes a narrative critical literature review that aims to provide a solid framework for the remaining chapters, within the theoretical horizon of the MyGender project.
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Ana Felicitas Gargallo Castel and Carmen Galve Górriz
The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderated effect of family involvement on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and firm performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderated effect of family involvement on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
According to agency and transaction cost theories, distinctive family business characteristics provide a unique context that favours a more efficient use of ICT. The authors perform a multivariate analysis that includes the moderating effect of family involvement and considers the possible endogeneity of the ICT variable.
Findings
The results, using a large panel of Spanish manufacturing firms, confirm the importance of family involvement for explaining differences in terms of the impact of this technology in family and non-family businesses. The relationship between ICT and performance is stronger for family firms than for non-family firms.
Research implications
The paper provides new evidence for the academic literature on ICT impact and family firms. It corroborates the importance of using an organizational perspective to explain differences in the effect of ICT on performance.
Practical implications
Family firms should understand the opportunities that family involvement offers regarding ICT impact on performance, and exploit this moderating effect to achieve competitive advantages.
Originality/value
No previous studies deal with the impact of family involvement on ICT-performance analysis. This study fills this gap and increases the understanding of how family business involvement moderates the ICT-performance relationship.
Objetivo
Este trabajo explora el efecto moderador de la participación familiar en la relación entre las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y resultados de la empresa.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
De acuerdo con la teoría de Agencia y la teoría de los costes de transacción, las características distintivas de las empresas familiares proporcionan un contexto único que favorece un uso más eficiente de las TIC. Se lleva a cabo un análisis multivariante que incluye el efecto moderador de la participación de la familia y recoge la posible endogeneidad de la variable TIC.
Resultados
Los resultados, obtenidos a partir de un gran panel de empresas manufactureras españolas, confirman la importancia de la participación de la familia para explicar las diferencias en términos del impacto de esta tecnología en las empresas familiares y no familiares. La relación entre las TIC y el rendimiento es más fuerte en las empresas familiares que en las no familiares.
Implicaciones de la investigación
El artículo proporciona nueva evidencia sobre el impacto de las TIC y sobre las particularidades de las empresas familiares. Se corrobora la importancia de utilizar un punto de vista organizativo para explicar las diferencias en el efecto de las TIC en el rendimiento.
Implicaciones prácticas
Las empresas familiares deben entender las oportunidades que ofrece la participación de la familia en relación con el impacto de las TIC en el rendimiento, y explotar este efecto moderador para lograr ventajas competitivas.
Originalidad/valor
No hay estudios previos sobre el efecto de la participación de la familia en el análisis del impacto de las TIC en el rendimiento. Este estudio ofrece evidencia al respecto y una mayor comprensión del papel moderador de la participación familiar en la relación TIC-rendimiento.
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María Concepción López-Fernández, Ana María Serrano-Bedia and Manuel Palma-Ruiz
The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent different obstacles (financial, knowledge, market, and perception) affect the propensity of Mexican family firms to engage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent different obstacles (financial, knowledge, market, and perception) affect the propensity of Mexican family firms to engage in innovation activity. Second, it examines whether the perception of these obstacles differs between two subgroups of family firms, considering levels of ownership and family management control.
Design/methodology/approach
Information was gathered through a CIS methodology-based questionnaire applied to 161 CEOs of Mexican family firms. Binomial logistic regressions were performed identifying obstacles that were truly relevant for the family firm subgroups in the sample.
Findings
For subgroup 1, knowledge and market factors were significant and negatively related to the propensity to engage in innovation activities; for subgroup 2, only market factors were relevant. The results also show how the tenure of the CEO, the number of generations involved, and the family involvement in management and non-management positions affect the results obtained.
Practical implications
Implications for family business scholars embrace the assessment criteria of different family business definitions. While the implications for managers and policy makers include the recognition of the factors that affect innovation in Mexican family firms in order to design and implement adequate strategies to overcome them.
Originality/value
This study addresses some of the raised demands in the literature. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first attempt to explore the factors hampering innovation in family firms in Latin America. Second, this study was undertaken in response to the call for exploring variations in innovation behavior across different family business types in regards to ownership and family management control. Moreover, this study responds to the call to analyze financial and non-financial factors separately and to expand the geographical areas, sectors, and sizes of family firms, more specifically in Latin America.
Propósito
En este trabajo se explora hasta qué punto los diferentes obstáculos (financieros, de conocimiento, de mercado y de percepción) afectan a la propensión de las empresas familiares en México para participar en actividades de innovación. En segundo lugar, se examina si la percepción de estos obstáculos se diferencia entre los dos subgrupos de empresas familiares, considerando los niveles de propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
La información se obtuvo a través de un cuestionario basado en la metodología CIS aplicado a 161 CEOs de empresas familiares mexicanas. Se llevaron a cabo regresiones logísticas binomiales para la identificación de los obstáculos verdaderamente relevantes para los subgrupos de empresas familiares en la muestra.
Resultados
Para el subgrupo 1, los factores de conocimiento y de mercado fueron significativos y negativamente relacionados con la propensión a participar en actividades de innovación; para el subgrupo 2, sólo los factores de mercado fueron relevantes. Los resultados también muestran como la permanencia del director general, el número de generaciones que participan, y la participación de la familia en puestos directivos y no directivos afectan los resultados obtenidos.
Implicaciones prácticas
Implicaciones para los investigadores en empresas familiares incluyen los criterios de evaluación de diferentes definiciones de empresa familiar. Mientras que las implicaciones para gerentes y responsables políticos incluyen el reconocimiento de los factores que afectan a la innovación en las empresas familiares mexicanas con el fin de diseñar e implementar estrategias adecuadas para superarlas.
Originalidad/valor
Este estudio aborda algunas de las demandas planteadas en la literatura. En primer lugar, en la medida del conocimiento de los autores, se trata del primer intento por explorar los factores que dificultan la innovación en empresas familiares en Latinoamérica. En segundo lugar, este estudio se llevó a cabo en respuesta a la llamada para explorar variaciones en el comportamiento innovador entre diferentes tipos de empresas familiares considerando los niveles propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar. Por otra parte, este estudio responde al llamado para analizar los factores financieros y no financieros por separado y para expandir a otras áreas, sectores geográficos y tamaños de empresas familiares, más específicamente en América Latina.