Abstract
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Bruno Amann, Jacques Jaussaud and Johannes Schaaper
Large multinational companies (MNCs) are strongly formalized, often standardized and complex with multiple hierarchical levels. Over the past few decades, MNCs have strengthened…
Abstract
Purpose
Large multinational companies (MNCs) are strongly formalized, often standardized and complex with multiple hierarchical levels. Over the past few decades, MNCs have strengthened their coordination and control systems by creating regional headquarters (RHQs). This study aims to investigate how MNCs rearticulate control dimensions at RHQs, to coordinate and exert control over subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 86 French MNCs in the Asia-Pacific region, this study applies a structural equation model to determine RHQs’ roles in the field of regional decision-making, coordination and control.
Findings
Large MNCs, with a significant presence in Asia, transfer coordination and control to RHQs, in a way that leads us to propose the use of the expression “regio-centralization.” RHQs become socialization hubs, where most regional decisions are taken and where international managers meet. MNCs mobilize at the same time expatriates, short-term assignees and local managers who intensively interact at RHQs. Thus, informal control at RHQs increases, partly substituting formal control by HQs. Smaller MNCs, without RHQs, on the contrary, base their control and coordination on the formalization of HQs-subsidiary relations, especially through strong reporting, in combination with centralized decision-making at HQs.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on MNCs from one specific country, France, and focuses only on the dynamic Asia-Pacific host region. Coordination and control in less dynamic regions may reveal different results.
Originality/value
This study leads to a better understanding of how large MNCs reorganize dispersed activities in the Asia-Pacific region by creating RHQs, where important control and coordination functions are relocated.
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Caroline Preslmayer, Michael Kuttner and Birgit Feldbauer-Durstmüller
Inspired by increasing public interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the intensified focus of research on family firms (FFs) over the past few decades, the purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
Inspired by increasing public interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the intensified focus of research on family firms (FFs) over the past few decades, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the existing literature on CSR in FF through a citation analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper overviews the structure of research on CSR in FF, identifying influential publications, authors, and key lines of discussion. The authors identified the underlying sample through a systematic, keyword-based literature search of seven databases. Starting with this sample, the authors analyzed a database of 4,342 references of 3,025 different sources cited in the 63 articles.
Findings
The findings show that the cited literature on CSR in FF is widespread, confirming that the research field has great heterogeneity. The authors identified the most-cited researcher as Luis R. Gómez-Mejía (University of Notre Dame, USA), with 93 citations. The average author in the group of the 22 most-cited authors (with a three-way tie for 20th-most-cited author) counts 45.45 citations in the sample of 13.95 different sources. Because the citations mostly refer to journal articles, the authors further investigated the particular journals of publication. The 20 most-influential journals cover 45.28 percent of all citations, with the Journal of Business Ethics being the most influential (6.38 percent of all citations). Within the 3,025 different sources cited in the whole sample, the publication by Dyer and Whetten (2006), which is titled “Family firms and social responsibility: preliminary evidence from the S&P 500,” is the most-cited (29 citations in 46.03 percent of the analyzed 63 peer-reviewed journal articles).
Originality/value
The authors conclude with a call for more research on CSR in FF (especially qualitative case studies). Moreover, as scholars of North America and Western Europe dominate the current landscape of research, the authors would like to encourage scholars from other countries and cultures to provide insights from their countries.
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Michikazu Aoi, Shigeru Asaba, Keiichi Kubota and Hitoshi Takehara
The purpose of this paper is to explore corporate social performance attained by listed family and non-family firms in Japan. They are measured by the composite CSP index and five…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore corporate social performance attained by listed family and non-family firms in Japan. They are measured by the composite CSP index and five attributes composed of employ relations, social contributions (SCs), firm security and product safety, internal governance and risk control, and environment concern.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ univariate and regression analyses on the quantitatively aggregated CSP score data of Japanese firms from 2007 to 2009.
Findings
Japan non-family firms tend to perform better than family firms in terms of attaining corporate social performance overall. Family CEOs positively affect CSP in the foods, textiles and apparels, and pharmaceutical industries as well as in retail trade, wholesale, and services industries, but negatively affect CSP in the heavy manufacturing industry. In these industries the joint effect of the percentage of family shareholdings and the fraction of family members on the board also augments the positive role played by family CEO. The findings are robust when the sample is ranked by Tobin’s q.
Research limitations/implications
The observation period is short due to the data availability of CSP by Toyo Keizai Inc. This data covers all the listed firms which answered the questionnaire, which may also contain sample selection problems.
Practical implications
Positive role of CEO and negative effects of shareholdings among listed family firms in Japan call for attention and corrective measures for top management and family shareholders.
Social implications
While family firms in Japan may accumulate socioemotional wealth, they should exert more efforts to advance CSP and create social capital.
Originality/value
This is the first comprehensive quantitative study in the field, which explored CSP of all the listed family firms vs non-family firms in Japan with large sample.
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Germán Scalzo and Héctor X. Ramírez-Pérez
This chapter is an exploratory study of business ethics as it relates to family firms; it primarily aims to explore virtue ethics as an alternative proposal for the ethical…
Abstract
This chapter is an exploratory study of business ethics as it relates to family firms; it primarily aims to explore virtue ethics as an alternative proposal for the ethical concerns that family firms face in their management, thus overcoming the limitations of relevant business ethics approaches and integrating them into an overarching paradigm. Ethics can be classified into three main streams: (1) deontology, (2) utilitarianism, and (3) virtue ethics. The former two approaches have been widely used in the realm of business and family firms for many years and they tend to instrumentalize ethics for business purposes. Yet, they are mostly powerless to explain and promote the ethical concerns surrounding the family firm’s culture. Virtue ethics regained philosophical interest in the second half of the twentieth century, shifting the focus of morality from “the right thing to do” to the “best way to live.” By bringing together two consolidated research fields, family firms and virtue ethics, this chapter contributes a rich perspective to current research in both fields and opens up new ways of answering many of the cultural questions that family firms bring to the table.
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There is great uncertainty and volatility in the evaluation and measurement of green supplier satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap based on the information…
Abstract
Purpose
There is great uncertainty and volatility in the evaluation and measurement of green supplier satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap based on the information entropy theory (IET) to describe the probability of green supplier satisfaction degree.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors introduce a formal model using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), IET and entropy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to evaluate green supplier satisfaction and promote them for the better implementation of green supply chain management practices.
Findings
The first finding is developing an effective framework for green supplier satisfaction, incorporating various measures of environmental dimension. Second, a hybrid uncertainty decision method is introduced, by integrating AHP and IET and entropy-TOPSIS.
Research limitations/implications
One of the main limitations of the research is that the authors introduced a conceptual example. Real-world applications need to investigate the accuracy and effectiveness of these measures, and the operational feasibility of this method.
Originality/value
This is one of the first works to provide a comprehensive appraisal model for evaluation of green supplier satisfaction. This study and research method can form general guidelines, and organizations can increasingly benefit from using green supplier satisfaction evaluation as a management tool. Green supplier satisfaction evaluation is just the beginning.
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Marsela Thanasi-Boçe, Indri Dyrmishi and Selma Kurtishi-Kastrati
This chapter critically examines the unique challenges and opportunities faced by family-owned startups in emerging economies, a topic that has received limited attention in…
Abstract
This chapter critically examines the unique challenges and opportunities faced by family-owned startups in emerging economies, a topic that has received limited attention in existing literature. Recognizing the high failure rate of startups, particularly in family firms, this study seeks to understand the factors contributing to their success or failure. Employing a qualitative analysis, the chapter explores various economic, legal, and cultural dimensions that influence these businesses. It provides a comparative perspective, drawing insights from various emerging economies to identify patterns and differences in the experiences of family-owned startups. The chapter aims to fill the knowledge gap by offering a comprehensive view of the success and failure dynamics in family-owned startups, with a focus on strategic, managerial, and operational aspects. This approach offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners, aiming to guide future research and practical interventions to support the sustainability and growth of family firms in these dynamic markets.
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Beata Agnieszka Żukowska, Olga Anna Martyniuk and Robert Zajkowski
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to…
Abstract
Purpose
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to reinforce the financial and non-financial resources of businesses facing threats to their economic existence. This work proposes and examines various dimensions of the survivability capital construct, verifying whether family firms expecting deterioration of their economic situation or problems with survival due to the COVID-19 crisis can mobilise sufficient capital to survive.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides empirical evidence based on a cross-sectional online survey of 167 Polish family firms, conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method (scale) of survivability capital measurement was elaborated and validated using principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Next, the mobilisation of the different dimensions of survivability capital was examined using PLS-SEM modelling.
Findings
The survivability capital of family firms is composed of two dimensions: internal (based on directly involved family members) and external (based on not directly involved family members). Family firms facing crisis-induced deterioration of the economic situation engage its internal component. Subsequently, family firms forecasting decreasing probability of survival during a crisis try to engage both the internal and the external components of survivability capital. Such behaviour is in line with the resource-based view as well as with the sustainable family business theory.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine analytically the survivability capital construct. While previous studies mentioned the existence of survivability capital, this study attempts to introduce its various dimensions and test the mobilisation of survivability capital during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Maria Iborra, Vicente Safón and Consuelo Dolz
An important issue for medium-sized enterprises (MEs) in strategic management research is the ability to be resilient, recover and bounce back, after a disturbing and extenuating…
Abstract
An important issue for medium-sized enterprises (MEs) in strategic management research is the ability to be resilient, recover and bounce back, after a disturbing and extenuating external event, such as the recent financial and economic crisis. Researchers have made efforts to understand the antecedents to resilience. Some studies propose capabilities and resources that strengthen experimentation while other researchers emphasize factors that support reliability. This study seeks to reconcile these views relying on upper echelons theory as the top management of MEs’ shape organizational attitudes and behaviors. The authors propose two antecedents in MEs related to management capabilities, ambidexterity and consistency, and the characteristics of family ownership that allow building of experimentation and reliability. We test our hypotheses on a dataset of 3,006 MEs and show how manager ambidexterity and family ownership play important roles in ME resilience.