Julian L. Coleman, Arindam K. Bhattacharya and Gordon Brace
One of the more significant structural changes in Western manufacturing industry is the redistribution of “value addition activities” in product supply chains. Final assemblers…
Abstract
One of the more significant structural changes in Western manufacturing industry is the redistribution of “value addition activities” in product supply chains. Final assemblers are often choosing to subcontract the design and manufacture of large sections of their products in an attempt to focus their effort. In turn suppliers take on more of the design and assembly of the end product and may also choose to delegate some of their own activities to second line suppliers. These changes require that the profile of capabilities necessary to design and manufacture the product is also redistributed among the partners in the chain. Competition between suppliers is fierce, particularly in view of the fact that the changing structure favors fewer sources. The suppliers which survive will probably be those who successfully position themselves in terms of appropriate value adding capabilities and differentiation through high levels of customer service.
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Arindam K. Bhattacharya, Julian L. Coleman, Gordon Brace and Paul J. Kelly
Supply Chain Management leading to concepts such as lean enterprise is much in vogue today fuelled by the adoption of strategies and partnership practices used so successfully by…
Abstract
Supply Chain Management leading to concepts such as lean enterprise is much in vogue today fuelled by the adoption of strategies and partnership practices used so successfully by the Japanese companies. As part of this change, product owners are outsourcing more value through both components and systems which has effectively meant redistributing competencies. This change is concurrent with the initiative to reduce the number of suppliers. The Japanese perfected their SCM strategies and practices within their compatible supply chain structure or keiretsus. The structures emerging in the western automotive supply chains (the paper is based on research on European automotive industry) are different in many key characteristics from the keiretsus. Secondly, they appear to be emerging in an ad‐hoc rather than a planned manner. This poses a critical question for western buyers ‐ is supply chain structure critical for superior performance and if yes, then which type of structure(s) provides the most benefits while maintaining or enhancing product uniqueness?
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At a time when the gradual collapse of democratic norms and processes is obvious to anyone who cares to read the headlines, the tension between self and society is fertile soil…
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At a time when the gradual collapse of democratic norms and processes is obvious to anyone who cares to read the headlines, the tension between self and society is fertile soil for understanding democratic decay. While we may wish to see democracy refortified, the fact remains that citizens equipped to handle democratic practices are a necessary precondition for democratic revitalization. Yet, the deterioration of democracy suggests breakdown in the gears of democratic production of the democratic citizen. The following chapter examines a particular cancer that is antithetical to democracy and has afflicted your author – the authoritarian personality. Critical theorists and social scientists in the mid-twentieth century identified this personality disposition as one that cultivates receptivity to fascism and is today the beating heart of right-wing extremism in its particular incarnation as Trumpism. I develop the theory of the authoritarian personality as it shaped and inflamed at the familial, societal, and global levels. Contributing to the project of planetary sociology, I demonstrate how the changes occurring on the world stage incite the most pernicious and antidemocratic features of the authoritarian personality. All the while, I subject myself to critical scrutiny in order to illustrate the inner-workings of this personality disposition. Your author stands before you as a recovering authoritarian and hopes that by reading this chapter, you will begin to see authoritarianism all around you, perhaps even within yourself.
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DURING some courses on production and management problems at the T.U.C. Training College job evaluation and merit rating were discussed. The notes used for that purpose form the…
Abstract
DURING some courses on production and management problems at the T.U.C. Training College job evaluation and merit rating were discussed. The notes used for that purpose form the basis of a booklet which the Trades Union Congress has published at 1s. 6d. Its purpose is to equip trade union representatives with an outline of the systems most widely used.
Mark S. Mizruchi and Mikell Hyman
We argue that the United States has experienced a decline of economic, political, and military power since the 1970s, and that this decline can be attributed in part to the…
Abstract
We argue that the United States has experienced a decline of economic, political, and military power since the 1970s, and that this decline can be attributed in part to the fragmentation of the American corporate elite. In the mid-twentieth century, this elite – constrained by a highly legitimate state, a relatively powerful labor movement, and an active financial community – adopted a moderate and pragmatic strategy for dealing with the political issues of the day. The “enlightened self-interest” of corporate leaders contributed to a strong economy with a relatively low level of inequality and an expanding middle class. This arrangement broke down in the 1970s, however, as increasing foreign competition and two energy crises led to spiraling inflation and lower profits. In response, the corporate elite waged an aggressive (and ultimately successful) assault on government regulation and organized labor. This success had the paradoxical effect of undermining the elite’s own sources of cohesion, however. Having won the war against government and labor, the group no longer needed to be organized. The marginalization of the commercial banks and the acquisition wave of the 1980s exacerbated the fragmentation of the corporate elite. No longer able to act collectively by the 1990s, the corporate elite was now incapable of addressing issues of business and societal-wide concern. Although increasingly able to gain individual favors from the state, the elite’s collective weakness has contributed to the political gridlock and social decay that plague American society in the twenty-first century.
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Ross Gordon, Katherine Butler, Paul Cooper, Gordon Waitt and Christopher Magee
This paper aims to present a discursive and evaluative analysis of Energy + Illawarra, an Australian Government Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP) funded…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a discursive and evaluative analysis of Energy + Illawarra, an Australian Government Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP) funded interdisciplinary social marketing energy efficiency programme. Energy + Illawarra was a community programme working with low-income older people in Australia and involving social marketers, human geographers and engineers. The paper aims to identify how ecological systems theory can inform social marketing, and what practicalities there may be in doing so. The paper also aims to assess whether a social marketing programme that draws on ecological systems theory can have a positive impact on people’s thermal comfort.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the paper uses critical discursive analysis to examine the use of various elements of a social marketing energy efficiency programme in relation to the different levels of ecological systems theory. Second, a longitudinal cohort survey study design is used to evaluate the programme’s influence on people’s perceptions of thermal comfort and satisfaction with thermal comfort in their homes.
Findings
The study found that ecological systems theory could be an effective framework for social marketing programmes. The evaluation study found that the intervention had a positive impact on participant’s perceptions of thermal comfort, satisfaction with thermal comfort and attitudes towards energy efficiency. However, the paper identifies some potential tensions in using ecological systems theory and suggests that issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences are important considerations in social marketing programmes.
Originality/value
The work presented here suggests that multi-level social marketing programmes that draw on ecological systems theory can make a useful contribution to social change as demonstrated by the evaluation survey finding positive impacts on thermal comfort and attitudes of participants. However, issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences should be considered in social marketing programmes.
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Giacomo Ciambotti, Matteo Pedrini, Bob Doherty and Mario Molteni
Social enterprises (SEs) face tensions when combining financial and social missions, and this is particularly evident in the scaling process. Although extant research mainly…
Abstract
Purpose
Social enterprises (SEs) face tensions when combining financial and social missions, and this is particularly evident in the scaling process. Although extant research mainly focuses on SEs that integrate their social and financial missions, this study aims to unpack social impact scaling strategies in differentiated hybrid organizations (DHOs) through the case of African SEs.
Design/methodology/approach
The study entails an inductive multiple case study approach based on four case SEs: work integration social enterprises (WISEs) and fair trade producer social enterprises (FTPSEs) in Uganda and Kenya. A total of 24 semi-structured interviews were collected together with multiple secondary data sources and then coded and analyzed through the rigorous Gioia et al. (2013) methodology to build a theoretical model.
Findings
The results indicate that SEs, as differentiated hybrids, implement four types of social impact scaling strategies toward beneficiaries and benefits (penetration, bundling, spreading and diversification) and unveil different dual mission tensions generated by each scaling strategy. The study also shows mutually reinforcing mechanisms named cross-bracing actions, which are paradoxical actions connected to one another for navigating tensions and ensuring dual mission during scaling.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides evidence of four strategies for scaling social impact, with associated challenges and response mechanisms based on the cross-bracing effect between social and financial missions. Thus, the research provides a clear framework (social impact scaling matrix) for investigating differentiation in hybridity at scaling and provides new directions on how SEs scale their impact, with implications for social entrepreneurship and dual mission management literature.
Practical implications
The model offers a practical tool for decision-makers in SEs, such as managers and social entrepreneurs, providing insights into what scaling pathways to implement (one or multiples) and, more importantly, the implications and possible solutions. Response mechanisms are also useful for tackling specific tensions, thereby contributing to addressing the challenges of vulnerable, marginalized and low-income individuals. The study also offers implications for policymakers, governments and other ecosystem actors such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social investors.
Originality/value
Despite the growing body of literature on scaling social impact, only a few studies have focused on differentiated hybrids, and no evidence has been provided on how they scale only the social impact (without considering commercial scaling). This study brings a new perspective to paradox theory and hybridity, showing paradoxes come into view at scaling, and documenting how from a differentiation approach to hybridity, DHOs also implemented cross-bracing actions, which are reinforcement mechanisms, thus suggesting connections and synergies among the actions in social and financial mission, where such knowledge is required to better comprehend how SEs can achieve a virtuous cycle of profits and reinvestments in social impact.
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Thomas Boysen Anker, Ross Gordon and Nadia Zainuddin
The emerging consumer-dominant logic of marketing captures consumers’ active and primary role in a range of mainstream marketing processes such as branding, product development…
Abstract
Purpose
The emerging consumer-dominant logic of marketing captures consumers’ active and primary role in a range of mainstream marketing processes such as branding, product development and sales. However, consumers’ active role in driving pro-social behaviour change has not yet received close attention. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and explore consumer dominance in social marketing. The authors propose a definition of consumer-dominant social marketing (CDSM) and explicate five key elements which underpin the phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual study offers an analysis informed by exemplars with significant representations of consumer-dominant pro-social behaviours and projects. The methodological approach is characterised as “envisioning conceptualisation”, which is explained in terms of MacInnis’ (2011) framework for conceptual approaches in marketing.
Findings
As a phenomenon, CDSM operationalises the following elements: power, agency, resources, value and responsibility. The authors demonstrate how these elements are interconnected and define their meaning, significance and implications in the context of social marketing and pro-social behaviour change. The authors also identify this new form of social marketing as existing on a continuum depending on the level of involvement or dominance of the consumer and of social marketers; at one end of this continuum, exclusive CDSM is entirely consumer-driven and does not engage with businesses or organisations, while on the other end, inclusive CDSM encompasses partnership with external stakeholders to achieve pro-social behaviour change.
Research limitations/implications
The existence of inclusive and exclusive CDSM points towards an intricate power balance between consumers, mainstream social marketers and businesses. While this study identifies and explains this substantial distinction, it is an important task for future research to systematise the relationship and explore the optimal balance between consumer activism and involvement of formalised organisations such as charities and businesses in pro-social behaviour change projects.
Practical implications
The study provides social marketing professionals with an understanding of the benefits of harnessing consumer empowerment to enhance the impact of social marketing interventions.
Originality/value
The study makes a theoretical contribution by introducing, defining and explicating consumer dominance as a substantive area of social marketing.
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Sandra I. Cheldelin and Louis A. Foritano
Successful businesses today are attending to internal and externalchanges. Their leaders value diversity and seek a heterogeneousworkforce, recognising that effective work teams…
Abstract
Successful businesses today are attending to internal and external changes. Their leaders value diversity and seek a heterogeneous workforce, recognising that effective work teams are essential in the process. In the shaping and managing of new organisational cultures, consultants can provide assistance. This article describes a Fortune 50 company client where a particular method of team‐building was used that involved the results of a five‐month consultation which included 20 subgroups in eight cities.
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Chee W. Chow, Kamal M. Haddad and Anne Wu
This study contributes exploratory evidence on the relationships between corporate culture and company size, competitive environment and corporate performance in the U.S. and…
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This study contributes exploratory evidence on the relationships between corporate culture and company size, competitive environment and corporate performance in the U.S. and Taiwan. The findings indicate that environmental uncertainty – one aspect of industry dynamics – failed to uncover any widespread effects of this variable on Taiwanese firms’ corporate culture. In contrast, not only did we find that the corporate cultural aspects most valued differed from country to country, but that they related to corporate performance in different ways.