Irene Goll and Abdul A. Rasheed
This paper aims to examine the effects of 9/11/2001 on strategic variability in the US air carrier industry. The paper also seeks to examine the role of firm size in these…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effects of 9/11/2001 on strategic variability in the US air carrier industry. The paper also seeks to examine the role of firm size in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper tests two different perspectives on organizational adaptation to environmental jolts: the punctuated equilibrium model and institutional isomorphism. The two counter hypotheses predict either increasing or decreasing variability in strategic response to 9/11, respectively. This is a longitudinal study of the US air carrier industry. The sample includes the major, national, and large regional air carriers in the US from 1979 (post‐deregulation) to 2008. The data come from archival sources. The study includes measures of variability in differentiation and low cost strategies as well as scope.
Findings
Time series regressions examine the effects of the 9/11 jolt on business strategy variability in the majors, nationals, and large regionals. The results lend some support to both perspectives on organizational adaptation. Air carrier size had a significant relationship to strategic variability.
Originality/value
The paper studies the behavior of firms in the US air carrier industry following the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. It examines two different theoretical approaches to environmental jolts and should provide useful information to both academics and managers who are interested in the effects of significant environmental changes on the behavior of an industry.
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Irene Goll, Nancy Brown Johnson and Abdul A. Rasheed
This paper seeks to examine the relationships between knowledge capability, strategic change, and firm performance in the US airline industry from regulation to deregulation.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the relationships between knowledge capability, strategic change, and firm performance in the US airline industry from regulation to deregulation.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a longitudinal study with a cross‐sectional time series research design. A theoretical model is tested in which knowledge capability exerts a direct effect on strategic change; strategic change then influences firm performance. The environment moderates the relationship between strategic change and firm performance. The sample of the study includes the major US air carriers from 1972 to 1995. Knowledge capability is operationalized as the education level and functional diversity of top management. Strategic change is measured as change in hub concentration, a key variable for the airlines. The data for the present study come from archival sources.
Findings
Time series statistics with fixed effects are used to examine the relationships between the variables. The results support the theoretical model: knowledge capability influences change in strategy, which, in turn, influences firm performance. The results also indicate that the environment serves as a moderator in the relationship between strategic change and firm performance.
Originality/value
This study examines strategic change in the major US airlines during a period of profound environmental change. It integrates several streams of management research and should be useful to academics and managers who want to understand the performance implications of strategic change.
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Irene Goll, Nancy Brown Johnson and Abdul A. Rasheed
The purpose of this paper is to focus on top management demographic characteristics, business strategy, and firm performance in the major US airlines.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on top management demographic characteristics, business strategy, and firm performance in the major US airlines.
Design/methodology/approach
The relationships between management characteristics and business strategy are examined as well as the business strategy – firm performance relationships before and after airline deregulation. This is a longitudinal study (1972‐1995) that includes data from publicly available sources. Pooled cross‐sectional time series regression analyses were used with fixed‐effects to test specific hypotheses. The management demographics include age, tenure, education, and functional background. Business strategy was measured as low cost, differentiation, and scope. The study includes three measures of firm performance.
Findings
There were significant management demographics‐business strategy relationships in the deregulatory period. There were also significant business strategy‐firm performance relationships with deregulation.
Originality/value
This is a longitudinal study of management, strategy, and performance of the airlines from regulation to deregulation. It has performance implications for the major air carriers that are of interest to academics and managers.
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This essay treats both democracy and the market. The essay assesses the condition of modern workplace democracy and reconsiders the potential for genuine and thoroughgoing…
Abstract
This essay treats both democracy and the market. The essay assesses the condition of modern workplace democracy and reconsiders the potential for genuine and thoroughgoing democratic practices within corporations that find themselves “globalizing” and responding to market forces. To ground my analysis, I draw upon the case of the Mondragón cooperatives in the Basque Country, Spain, a system of worker-owned-and-managed cooperatives that began to engage the European and global markets in the years immediately preceding European Union unification in 1992. I wish to update and widen the scholarly discussions of Mondragón while also using the case to identify some of the most important contours of the intersection of democracy and the market today.
Alan Bandeira Pinheiro, Marcelle Colares Oliveira and Maria Belen Lozano
This study aims to examine the effect of the characteristics of capitalism on environmental disclosure.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of the characteristics of capitalism on environmental disclosure.
Design/methodology/approach
Over a 10-year period (2009–2018), the study examined the environmental disclosure of 3,253 companies located in 16 countries. Environmental disclosure was the dependent variable and the independent variables were economic freedom index, foreign direct investment, availability of specialized training services, corruption perception index and protection of property rights. The hypotheses were tested using panel data regression with fixed effects.
Findings
The findings showed that in countries with greater economic freedom, less availability of specialized services and less corruption, companies disclose more environmental information. The authors find evidence that confirms the main thesis of the varieties of capitalism approach: the behavior of firms is shaped by the relations between the state and society.
Practical implications
Managers should pay greater attention to the country’s institutional issues before installing or relocating their industries, as certain national institutions support the development of valuable capacities at the company-level, such as environmental disclosure.
Originality/value
This study reinforces the understanding of how national institutions can influence environmental disclosure practices, adopting new variables to represent the characteristics of capitalism. Although many previous studies have analyzed the effect of the institutional environment on environmental disclosure, it is still unclear how companies engage with environmental issues in different capitalist contexts.
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Alan Bandeira Pinheiro, Marcelle Colares Oliveira and Maria Belen Lozano
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of characteristics of capitalism on environmental performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of characteristics of capitalism on environmental performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed a sample of 6,257 companies, based in 55 countries and 8 typologies of capitalism. The independent variables are the characteristics of capitalism, measured through five indicators: cooperation between employees and employers, index of economic freedom, local competition between industries, human development index (HDI) and quality of the governance environment. To measure environmental performance, the authors created an index composed of 20 indicators. Data were analyzed using panel data regression and dynamic panel of the generalized method of moments.
Findings
The results indicate that the characteristics of capitalism can shape the environmental behavior of companies. The authors find that in countries with better cooperation between employees and employers, more economic freedom, and competition between firms, in addition to better HDI and national governance, companies have higher environmental performance. When they are in more developed countries, companies have a greater environmental performance.
Practical implications
Managers must consider the country's characteristics of capitalism when making their environmental decisions and strategies. The findings invite governments to incorporate into their regulations mechanisms to protect other interest groups, not just shareholders.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined environmental performance, which is less susceptible to greenwashing. The metric for environmental performance measures the company's concrete effort in relation to environmental issues and not just the disclosure of information. Additionally, the authors examine characteristics of capitalism supported by Varieties of Capitalism, an approach still little explored in the environmental management.