Search results

In the past decade, Chinese enterprises have achieved superior cost advantages in the labor‐intensive industries. This paper explores the valuable resources that Chinese enterprises use to develop such advantages and the effective mechanisms they employ to sustain the advantages.

The study used a multiple case design that allows a replication logic, in which a series of cases is treated as a series of experiments with each case serving to confirm or disconfirm the inferences that are drawn from the others. Twenty‐nine cases were collected. The data analysis consisted of three steps (1): within‐case analysis; (2) cross‐case analysis; and (3) proposition‐shaping analysis.

Evidence from this study indicates that the Chinese enterprises employ a complicated multi‐step framework to develop and sustain their cost advantages. The framework consists of various resources at different levels. Resources at the same level fit, support, and reinforce each other and they work together to achieve certain competitive advantages. The advantages are not constants. They are renewed frequently, and the advantages at previous step serve as the foundation for generating the next round of advantages. The contextual and historical causality between these resources and the advantages result in their sustainability.

The findings of this study make contributions to the existing strategy literature on two fronts. First, the sustainability of a competitive advantage results from the contextual and historical causality between various resources in combination. Second, in addition to physical, human, and organizational resources, valuable resources may also include intangibles, such as culture, norms, large home market size, tough domestic competition, and flexible organizational structures, etc.

This chapter examines the sensitivity of executive incentive compensation to market-adjusted returns and changes in earnings for high-tech (HT) firms vis-à-vis firms (NHT) in other industries. Consistent with the hypotheses, this chapter uncovers the following evidence: First, the sensitivity of executive bonus compensation to market-adjusted returns is weaker and more symmetric for HT firms than for NHT firms (a control group), which implies that the problem of ex post settling up, documented in Leone et al. (2006), may be far less serious in HT firms than in NHT firms. Second, the sensitivity of executive incentive compensation to earnings changes is generally more symmetric for HT firms than for NHT firms, which is consistent with the view that HT firms engage in more conservative financial reporting than NHT firms. Third, the sensitivity of executive equity-based compensation to market-adjusted returns is significantly negative for HT firms compared to NHT firms when bad earnings news is announced. The results imply that HT firms, with a strong motive to attract and retain their highly talented executives, judiciously use both short-term and long-term incentive compensation schemes by compensating for a reduction of short-term incentive pay with an increase in long-term incentive pay. The issue of executive compensation has been a longstanding one in the United States and Canada, and the issue of executive compensation-performance sensitivity for HT firms is also relevant in this era of the information technology (IT) revolution, especially when prior research has shown that HT firms differ from NHT firms in their market-valuation process.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has led in a very short time to a worldwide pandemic that has had severe effects on both businesses and daily lives. In a scenario characterised by the social distancing imperative, the sharing economy found itself struggling to survive, deprived of its core asset, namely, peer (human) relationships. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the coping strategies that have been implemented by sharing economy platforms to navigate the pandemic.

An explorative empirical investigation of 20 sharing economy platforms was carried out during the first lockdown phase (March–June 2020). To drive the analysis, a theoretical framework was developed by merging the literature on the business model and crisis management strategies.

The answers provided by sharing economy platforms to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been classified into nine typologies of intervention according to the developed framework, with illustrative examples.

This paper provides an empirical investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sharing economy field and it offers evidence about the immediate reactions of sharing platforms to the health crisis effects. The paper also introduces a framework about business model and crisis management strategies as a conceptual tool that could be adopted by firms from other industries.

Weighs up whether a dumbing down has taken place in the British tabloid and broadsheet press. Material is presented from The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Times, and also from a number of television channels for comparison. Provides evidence which suggests that, while there has been changes in news reporting it is not strictly one way and down; indeed, there is some evidence to indicate an upmarketing amongst the tabloid press and television.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Public libraries and public service broadcasters are threatened by political developments in the UK and USA. They are targets in a divisive culture war waged by ideological organisations that disseminate misleading and false information about social and political matters on line, on screen and in print. The purpose of this paper is to alert information professionals to this issue and suggests that, although they should not engage in this war, they must be prepared to use their professional expertise to identify and correct unreliable material. Further, they should cooperate with other true information organisations to expose the fallacious sources that endanger democracy.

The authors analysed material from academic texts and papers, professional journals, serious contemporary journalism, political manifestoes, Internet blogs and items from the BBC sound archive to illustrate the history, size and nature of the problem and to suggest how it might be dealt with. This documentary analysis was based on the belief that information professionals are not the only people examining and concerned about this issue. It therefore included material from a wide range of other disciplines, including psychology, medicine and politics.

There is evidence that populist movements from the political right dislike information organisations and have historically, through misinformation and misrepresentation, persuaded working class citizens that they are being exploited by an elite. Public libraries and the BBC are highly trusted organisations, but much of the British public goes to sources it trusts least, such as tabloid newspapers, for information on politics and society. Librarians and BBC broadcasters demonstrated their value during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they need to engage with other professional groups to fully understand what is happening and counteract the threats it presents to our democracy.

The paper deals with a significant current issue that needs to be considered urgently by practitioners, academics and policy makers. It includes practical examples and suggestions demonstrating how information workers have and can help their users identify and use trusted and accurate information sources and perhaps be made aware of editorial bias.