Undergraduate university level – Core audience. Graduate university level & professional workforce – Secondary audiences
Abstract
Study level/applicability
Undergraduate university level – Core audience. Graduate university level & professional workforce – Secondary audiences
Subject area
Business – Ethics, diversity, leadership, public relations
Case overview
Noor Talbi (she) is a Moroccan entertainment entrepreneur, best but not exclusively known for her belly dancing. Noor remains actively engaged in her business enterprises. Although Noor obtained global prominence in recent decades, her life as an entertainer extends back to her childhood; Noor was born in 1970. Noor’s identity as a woman is not the gender she was identified as earlier in her life. This case explores how the complexities of identity, both personal and societal, intersect with business life as Noor is asked to use her business platform to take on the uncomfortable role of LGBT activist.
Expected learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes are as follows: examine the nature of identity construction; weigh tradeoffs created by application of competing ethical theories; analyze and evaluate how identity ethics may impact public-facing leadership decisions; and formulate and defend recommended business responses.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only.
Social implications
This case acknowledges the prominent role of culture in grappling with complex issues. Not designed as a comprehensive overview of all workplace transgender matters, it provides an introduction to generate pause and empathy among learners. The study strives to challenge students to think of ethics and identity more broadly than how an issue such as being “out” in the workplace is often depicted.
Subject code
CSS 5: International Business
Following the traditions of stakeholder salience theory, this paper aims to contend that some institutional investor activists and tactics have more power, legitimacy and urgency…
Abstract
Purpose
Following the traditions of stakeholder salience theory, this paper aims to contend that some institutional investor activists and tactics have more power, legitimacy and urgency than others.
Design/methodology/approach
The author undertakes an empirical test of a saliency table looking at the effects of institutional investor heterogeneity on portfolio firm responses using ordinal logistic regression.
Findings
This study found heterogeneity for institutional investor type to drive firm responses but not tactic type raising the importance of the attributes of each type of investor activist. The author found a rank ordering of public pension plans, hedge funds and then private multiemployer funds in saliency to portfolio firms. In addition, the use of proxy-based tactics did not help or hurt each investor type. Both findings challenge prior empirical work.
Originality/value
The rank ordering based upon the heterogeneity of institutional investor activists and their tactical interactions are tested providing empirical evidence of the most influential activist investors and tactics in one study, which is rare in the literature.
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Dale Miller and Bill Merrilees
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the historical contributions of complex innovations (both creative and tactical components) in a formative period in a major Australian…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the historical contributions of complex innovations (both creative and tactical components) in a formative period in a major Australian department store, David Jones Ltd.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a context-specific lens to examine complex retail innovation. The study adopts a longitudinal design with the focus on a single firm, which met the inclusion criteria. Data collection was predominately from company archival materials and publicly available documents, including newspapers.
Findings
An in-depth analysis of two complex innovations demonstrates the retailer’s successful management of both marketing exploration (innovation) and marketing exploitation of that innovation. Effective marketing requires operational, tactical marketing exploitation to dovetail marketing exploration.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to one successful department store. Notwithstanding, there are expectations that the lessons extend to many other retailing organizations.
Practical implications
The practical relevance is clear, with the emphasis on retail innovation (and especially complex innovation) as a basis for both surviving and thriving in an ever-changing marketing environment.
Originality/value
The use of a complex innovation approach is a novel way of examining marketing history. The study concludes that both marketing exploration and marketing exploitation are essential for retail longevity.
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David Higgins and Treshani Perera
Whilst existing literature on real estate risk management focusses almost exclusively on holistic risk management techniques, documented increases in frequency and magnitude of…
Abstract
Purpose
Whilst existing literature on real estate risk management focusses almost exclusively on holistic risk management techniques, documented increases in frequency and magnitude of unforeseen, rare and extreme events can throw up sudden, unexpected shocks that can challenge recognised real estate decision-making strategies. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
To advance real estate decision-making practice in this area, this research paper takes the skilfully conceptualised downside risk framework presented by Diebold et al. (2010), being the known (K), the unknown (u) and the unknowable (U) risk categories, to provide a blueprint for effective real estate decision making in a changing global environment.
Findings
In recording categories of risk, managing uncertainty can be achieved by an interrelated approach of adaption, robustness and resilience. This is important part of a real estate manager’s decision-making toolkit as risk recognition and knowledge of KuU event categories can augment an effective management strategy.
Originality/value
The mastery of modern real estate risk management can be better served by understanding and managing extreme downside risk events. Creating a comprehensive risk management framework can enhance comparative real estate performance whereby unprepared competitors fail in a world increasingly affected by large, highly improbable and unpredictable events.
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Gerard Callanan, Sandra M. Tomkowicz, Megan V. Teague and David F. Perri
This study aims to present a pedagogical approach that allows students to discuss and debate the differences between two competing models of corporate governance – the shareholder…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a pedagogical approach that allows students to discuss and debate the differences between two competing models of corporate governance – the shareholder primacy philosophy and the stakeholder value viewpoint.
Design/methodology/approach
This study first presents the conceptual bases for each framework, noting that while shareholder primacy is the historically dominant approach to corporate governance that guide strategic business actions in the USA, pressures from investor and societal groups and government agencies have forced publicly traded companies to recognize the need to take stakeholder interests into account in strategic decision-making, as is the dominant model in Europe and other parts of the world. This study then provides a pedagogical structure on how these opposing perspectives can be used to foster discussion, debate and reflection within the classroom.
Findings
This paper presents a pedagogical structure that allows students to recognize the competing pressures that businesses face of maximizing profits versus concerns over social causes. There are a number of positive pedagogical outcomes that can be realized from a classroom discourse on the differing perspectives on strategic management, corporate governance and social responsibility.
Practical implications
This pedagogical structure should help future business leaders throughout the world understand the differences between the two models of corporate governance. This study offers suggestions on how this pedagogical structure can be used in the student assessment process.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a pedagogical structure to guide discussion and debate on the competing theories of corporate governance and how organizational decision-makers can devise strategies to manage the potential competing demands that can arise from the shareholder versus stakeholder models. It is highly relevant and well-suited for courses such as Business Law, Business Policy, Business and Society and Ethics.
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Ruth Beck and Leanne Dzubinski
A faith-based international nonprofit and its newly hired, narcissistic CEO are examined in this chapter. The CEO made up his own rules acting contrary to many leadership…
Abstract
A faith-based international nonprofit and its newly hired, narcissistic CEO are examined in this chapter. The CEO made up his own rules acting contrary to many leadership, financial, and HR practices, as well as ignoring the law. As difficulties mounted, there was little to no outcry. Until his abrupt departure seven years later, the CEO operated with impunity. The authors analyze the CEO’s tenure through four lenses – the leader, the followers, the environment, and their faith perspective. As a narcissist, the CEO quickly created a toxic environment and stayed one step ahead of everyone else. Employees were most often compliant and the few who were not found themselves stripped of their position as an example to the onlookers. With the Board in transition, there were no checks and balances and, coupled with a perception of instability, the environment was advantageous for a narcissist. Each of these three lenses was influenced by the faith system which the organization and its employees espoused. Faith-based compliance and organizational silence created an open door for the narcissistic leader and resulted in great damage individually and collectively. The authors offer lessons for individuals, groups, and organizations working under a narcissist.
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Feng Zhang, Jianjun Yang, Zhi Xu and Guilong Zhu
Focusing on internal corporate governance, the purpose of this paper is to apply the shareholder activism perspective to consider how large shareholder participation behaviors…
Abstract
Purpose
Focusing on internal corporate governance, the purpose of this paper is to apply the shareholder activism perspective to consider how large shareholder participation behaviors might influence firm innovation performance. Specifically, “confrontationally strategic intervention” and “cooperatively strategic consensus” participation behaviors are examined and hypothesized to have different effects on managers’ risk-taking and firm innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 182 Chinese firm samples, this paper applies hierarchical ordinary least-squares regression analysis to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that strategic intervention was negatively associated with managers’ risk-taking and firm innovation performance, while strategic consensus positively affected managers’ risk-taking and firm innovation performance. Moreover, managers’ risk-taking fully mediated the influence of strategic intervention on firm innovation performance, whereas it partially mediated the influence of strategic consensus on firm innovation performance.
Originality/value
The study extends research on shareholder participation by construing that large shareholders’ participation behaviors can significantly influence managers’ risk-taking and corporate innovation performance, further deepening the understanding of the influences of large shareholders on the firm-level outcomes. The theoretical and practical implications of this finding are also discussed.
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This article discusses findings from a study of practitioners' perceptions of issues in implementing the Safer Communities initiative in areas of high ethnic diversity. It…
Abstract
This article discusses findings from a study of practitioners' perceptions of issues in implementing the Safer Communities initiative in areas of high ethnic diversity. It highlights perceived differences in responses to crime and safety between different ethnic groups and identifies a number of dilemmas facing practitioners.
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Kathryn Farrow and David Prior
This article explores understandings of and responses to anti‐social behaviour (ASB) among members of a local authority specialist ASB unit, and the perceptions and experiences of…
Abstract
This article explores understandings of and responses to anti‐social behaviour (ASB) among members of a local authority specialist ASB unit, and the perceptions and experiences of local citizens whose complaints had been dealt with by that unit. It suggests that ASB officers operate in a ‘space’ between the demands of policy makers and the needs of residents and communities. Whilst complainant satisfaction is a key indicator of performance, the way this is achieved is more varied than a simple reliance on enforcement.