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Today’s society requires companies to act more and more effectively for the general good, by respecting human rights and the environment. Innovative and enlightened companies try to meet this need through the adoption of several initiatives. Accordingly, the International Standard Organisation is now working on attempts to unify these initiatives and to formulate an internationally recognised standard, providing guidance to companies on social responsibility. Currently the SA8000 international standard is the most often used tool – based on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) philosophy – which guarantees the respect of fundamental workers’ rights. Since 2003, Italy holds the world record for its number of SA8000 certified companies. This paper discusses the findings of a two‐stage survey of the Italian SA8000 certified companies carried out over the last two years. The focus of the survey is on both reasons and effects of the implementation of SA8000 standard. In the first stage the rate of response was very high while in the second stage it was satisfactory. The results provide a clear picture of the companies and their degree of achivement and awareness of the fundamental principles of human resource management. A section of the survey deals with some issues related to the Public Sector.

The object of this research is the reconstruction of the existing legal response by European Union states to the phenomenon of immigration. It seeks to analyse the process of conferral of protection.

One main dimension is selected and discussed: the case law of the national courts. The study focuses on the legal status of immigrants resulting from the intervention of these national courts.

The research shows that although the courts have conferred an increasing protection on immigrants, this has not challenged the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the states to decide, according to their discretionary prerogatives, which immigrants are allowed to enter and stay in their territories. Notwithstanding the differences in the general constitutional and legal structures, the research also shows that the courts of the three countries considered – France, Germany and Spain – have progressively moved towards converging solutions in protecting immigrants.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the different legal orders analysed.

This article examines how establishing a family constitution influences strategic planning in family businesses, applying the strategy-as-practice theoretical framework.

We analyzed qualitative interviews with family members and non-family managers involved in both constitution-making and strategic planning.

The study reveals that family constitutions drive formalization of governance mechanisms, aligning family values with business goals. Key findings highlight that constitutions professionalize decision-making, enhance family cohesion and introduce structured strategic planning.

Our proposed model illustrates how constitutions act as a bridge, integrating family governance with corporate strategy, thereby supporting business continuity and succession. These results suggest a structured, governance-focused approach to strategic planning, where family constitutions play a central role in aligning family and business interests.

This study examines antecedents and impacts of HR competence and effective HR practices in organizations. People are an essential asset in organizations, but their potential is reduced without robust HR practices and competent HR professionals. Few studies have investigated causes of low HR professional competence and poor HRM practices.

This explanatory mixed-method study used survey data (N = 322), interviews and online statements. Data was collected in Vietnam, a country well suited to this study as it has considerable variation in institutional arrangements. It has legacies of Chinese, French and Soviet influence and more recently has adopted international reform models, such as new public management.

Agency accountability, autonomy and servant leadership promote HR competence, and consequently effective HR practices, and employee and employer outcomes (public service motivation, organizational commitment and organizational performance). Interviews triangulate findings from the survey data and explain barriers (rules, incentives, nepotism, corruption) to these quantitatively examined processes occurring. Strategic solutions for improving HR practices and professional competence are identified.

Practical implications of this research include a greater understanding of the importance of individual accountability and autonomy for executives, with the promotion of servant leaders through better screening and leadership development. Selection criteria should hinge on achievement, merit and the desire to serve the public interest. Competent HRM units should be developed and supported. Such units should focus on managing performance through ensuring line managers do basics such as setting clear goals, giving feedback, training and developing staff. Developing succinct appraisal criteria that reward good performers and sanction poor performers needs to be prioritized.

This study provides useful guidance on how to reform public administration systems so that reforms are more effective.

This study identifies both institutional and leadership antecedents to both HR competence and HR practices and their subsequent impacts. Its institutional and developing country orientation complements past studies that have been psychologically oriented and in the global north.

It is a well known problem the interactions between the market value of cash flows and the discount rate (usually the weighted average cost of capital, WACC) to calculate that value. This is mentioned in almost all text books in corporate finance. However, the solution adopted by most authors is to assume a constant leverage D%, and hence assume that the leverage gives raise to an optimal capital structure and the discount rate is constant. On the other hand, most authors use the definition of the Ke, the cost of leveraged equity for perpetuities even if the planning horizon is finite. Among these authors we find the work of Wood and Leitch W&L 2004. In this article we wish to analyse the claim made by W&L 2004 in the sense to have found an iterative solution to the problem of circularity that results in a “near” matching with the Adjusted Present Value APV, proposed by Myers, 1974. They use as the basic principle the fact that there is a “near” constant relation between Ke the cost of equity and Kd the cost of debt. They consider as well that the cost of debt Kd is not constant and changes proportionately with the leverage D%. We propose a very simple and precise approach to solve the above mentioned circularity problem.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between relational capital produced by universities and knowledge structures, which include both the capacities and competencies that students have learned and the capabilities they have put into practice.

To analyse research data and test the proposed model, partial least squares structural equation modelling (SmartPLS 3.2.9) is used on a sample of 125 students of a Spanish university.

The results of the study demonstrate that the creation of relational capital by universities will depend largely on how students’ capacity is supplemented and merged with students’ competency to develop synergies that increase the students’ capability to give an additional value to the community members.

This study allows an in-depth analysis of the cause and effect link between the knowledge structures and support the members of higher educational institutions to understand how to achieve relational capital in universities.

In the academic field of business management, several potential theories were established during the last decades to explain companies' decisions, organizational behavior, consumer patterns, and internationalization, among others. As a result, businesses and scholars were able to analyze and decide based on theoretical approaches to explain the current conditions of the market. Secondary research was conducted to collect more than 36 management theories. This chapter aims to develop the most famous theories related to business applied in the international field. The novelty of this chapter relies on the compilation of recognized previous research studies from the academic literature and evidence in international business.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of networking on business performance by uncovering particular and significant methods of pursuing business connections, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Tangier.

A two-stage design, which incorporated both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was employed in this study. Approaches were employed in succession with the findings from the quantitative phase informing the qualitative phase. Initially, a paper and online survey questionnaire was administered to a population of 365 industrial SMEs to gain some insights on the perceptions of owner-managers of the impact of networking on business performance. Following the quantitative phase, 15 in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected owner-managers of SMEs, forming a judgmental selection, to explore their experiences, beliefs, and attitudes with respect to networking factor.

Both quantitative and qualitative phases of the study found that networking was a significant factor in influencing the success of SMEs. The concept of wasta, the Arabic word for connections, emerged from the qualitative phase. Findings show that using wasta, through politico-business networks is important since it enables access to current information that is crucial for the success of SMEs. The concept of wasta was also mentioned in relation to financial resources and suppliers. Findings revealed that strong relationships with suppliers enable firms to get financial resources in the form of trade credits. Furthermore, the relationship between wasta and human resources was also revealed. Findings showed that owner-managers use their network relations through wasta in order to recruit their staff.

The findings of this study add to the understanding of networking in Arabic countries with the importance of wasta in an economy that functions on relationships. The findings of this study could therefore be useful to international managers to assist their intercultural effectiveness by adjusting to culture-specific networking in Tangier.

This study is among those few studies located in the Middle East North Africa region that explore the performance of SMEs from the perceptions of owner-managers themselves, and not based on aggregate or economic data. It supports previous findings of several studies and contributes additional evidence that suggests the significance of wasta and its impact on SME success.

The paper is a proof of concept (PoC) intervention study aimed for developing performance management (PM) practices in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the longer-term aim enabling the SMEs to improve their productivity. The intervention was designed and deployed by a collaborative quartet of academics, management consultants, accountancy firm and a commercial bank manager.

The paper firstly musters a set of initialising PM practices aligned to productivity improvement. These are utilised to design a knowledge transfer intervention for deployment with a set of manufacturing SMEs incorporating some associated productivity tools. The evaluation of the intervention utilised a case study approach founded on a logic model of the intervention to assess the development of the PM practices.

The intervention contributed to a partial development of the mustered practices and the productivity diagnostic based on the multi-factor productivity (MFP) abstraction and a data extraction protocol had the strongest impact. The study revealed the importance of the three interlaced factors: Depth of engagement, feedback opportunities and the intervention gradient (the increase of independent action from the participating SME's and the diminishment of the external intervention effort).

The case study is based on a limited number of individual SME's, and within just the manufacturing sector.

SME businesses will require a more sustained programme of interventions than this pilot to develop PM capability, and depth of engagement within the SME is critical. Professional stakeholders can be utilised in recruitment of firms for intervention programmes. Business can start developing PM capability prior to PMS implementation using the tools from this programme.

The productivity diagnostic tool, based on a synthesis of MFP and the performance pyramid, an array of potential initialising practices for PM capability and discovery of potential mechanisms for PM practice development.