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Offshoring has been studied widely in the literature on strategic management and international business. However, apart from its consideration as an administrative activity, scant attention has been paid to the offshoring of the human resource (HR) function. Research in this regard has instead focussed on outsourcing (Reichel and Lazarova, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of companies’ decisions to offshore HR activities. It adapts the outsourcing model of Baron and Kreps (1999) by including the HR offshoring phenomenon and a dynamic perspective.

While the analysis is mostly conceptual, the authors ground the author’s arguments in offshoring data from the Offshoring Research Network, to explore whether the drivers for offshoring HR differ from the drivers for offshoring other administrative activities. The idiosyncrasy of the HR function is supported by the authors’ exploratory analysis and also by the descriptive case of a multinational and its experience with offshoring.

A coevolutionary model is proposed for understanding the behaviour of companies offshoring their HR activities. This study contends that companies should address their decision to offshore HR activities from a dynamic perspective, being aware of three processes that are in constant change: the evolution of the HR function, the evolution of service providers, and the evolution of offshoring decisions.

This study seeks to make a threefold contribution to the international business, strategy, and HR management disciplines.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on competitiveness by using the business model concept and to understand the need to adapt business models to changes in the environment.

Using Catalonia as a context, the paper derives recommendations by presenting and analyzing examples of companies, referred to as “new generation companies,” that have innovated in their business models. The case studies illustrate the contributions of the business model notion to the competitiveness debate.

Reviewing the history and contemporary practice of Catalan firms, examples of “new generation” companies are analyzed to derive recommendations for managers seeking to reconfigure their business models to support innovation and internationalization. Since business models sit at the core of competitiveness, they must be the focus of managers aiming to create efficient firms that foster sustained competitive advantage.

The analysis is based on a small number of case studies.

The business model approach described in this paper enriches the current debate on competitiveness by focusing the analysis at the level of the firm.

This chapter responds to recent calls for a more in-depth examination of the crucial role played by non-managerial employees, including those in various strata such as blue and gray collars, from an alternative neo-human relations perspective. By exploring recent initiatives aimed at developing a new theory of management or extending existing ones, the goal is to broaden the conceptualization of management to include non-managerial perspectives, thereby contributing to the advancement of management theory. From this, the recent efforts in management theory—universalistic, strategic/contingent, and value-based—are evaluated for their potential. Utilizing the method of synthesizing, the aim is to introduce a significantly reconceptualizing of existing efforts toward a candidate explanation that leads to default theory enabling to generate and solve problems concerning the phenomenon of non-managerial employees in management processes. Toward this end, two arguments are put forward. First, the constrictions inherent in current management theories devalue and underestimate the significance of blue- and gray-collar employees in the overarching management processes. Second, the future trajectory of management will involve three integral dimensions: the universal dimension of cooperation and coordination inherent in management, the strategic responses to continuously evolving environmental changes as the management of contingencies, and the normative dimension of value-creation to address the specific needs of blue- and gray-collar employees. By synthesizing these three dimensions, we provide insightful signposts for the prospective evolution of management theories.

Based on a literature review of terrorism and global business literature, this paper addresses those conditions that may lead to new considerations about risk and its management at policy and the MNE (multinational enterprise) level. How do MNEs adapt to the 09/11 ‐ type risk in strategic management that shapes choices made for internationalization and for international business operations? It is observed that MNEs increasingly enlarge the notion of political risk. We suggest the development of a strategic risk assessment that incorporates terrorism which in its threat, event and aftermath does not remain local or national, but influences investment, location, logistics, supply‐chain and other performance‐ linked decisions of the international value chain through an enlarged risk‐return evaluation. Using the OLI‐paradigm as a typology, we extend Dunning’s work by incorporating the terrorism dimension. We do so mainly through the analysis and distinction of the most vulnerable links in firms’ value chain in which adjustments need to be made in the face of terrorism threat, act and aftermath. This paper attempts to improve the understanding of international management in an era of global risk and uncertainty.

In recent times, sustainable investment gaining much attention within the investors’ community and it is broadly driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. This study aims to examine the ESG-based sustainability index and economic policy uncertainty (EPU).

Corporate sustainability assessment procedure yields Dow Jones sustainability indexes (DJSIUS) and ESG compliant firms become a member of such indexes. To uncover the effects of policy uncertainty as follows: the study considers EPU index, equity market policy uncertainty index, economic and political events for the period 2000–2017. The authors present the study using a conditional volatility framework.

The correlation between the DJSIUS and policy uncertainty appears to be negative and statistically significant. It is apparent from the results that policy uncertainty does contain important ESG factors that explain the sustainable investment in US firms. Moreover, the stock market boom, credit crunch, Lehman collapse and fiscal crises have shown significant adverse effects on the sustainability index. More importantly, it is seen that investors’ sustainable investing considers presidential election years for portfolio planning; the uncertainty associated with the election years has also shown a negative impact on the sustainable returns.

First, sustainability is essential for the long-term stakeholders’ wealth maximization under governments’ policy uncertainty such as constrained resources, demographic and climate-change-policy, societal expectations, public-policies, regulatory structure. Second, EPU creates new opportunities and risks for sustainable firms and sustainable investing.

The study is novel in which the authors present the effects of uncertainty on socially responsible investing.

This paper aims to be a conversation with Joan Enric Ricart, conducted by Santiago Ibarreche, about his career as a successful scholar, prolific author and founder of many organizations that have contributed to the enhancement of the academic profession in the area of management.

This paper is an interview.

The interview explores Ricart’s career, his achievements and continued search for excellence in terms of teaching, research and service in academia and society. It highlights his experiences as a faculty member, a prolific author and a founder of many organizations. It also highlights his collaborations with different institutions and professional organizations and his contributions to new areas of research such as the future of cities.

The interview in this special section, A Life in Research, brings out an individual scholar’s experience and history, not only as recognition of scholarly impact but also as recognition of the person.

Previous research argues that customer switching costs play an important role in the firm’s ability to retain customers and achieve competitive advantage. Research also indicates that in the increasingly networked environment, switching costs are changing in important ways. Despite switching costs’ recognized role in contributing to competitive advantage and its increasingly strategic characteristics in the expanding networked environment, we find a lack of coherence and completeness in the conceptual tools and models developed to understand its role and help effectively to manage the phenomenon. In this paper we attempt to address these needs by expanding and refining the conceptualization of customer switching costs and developing a more useful and comprehensive framework for managers.

Although an extensive body of research treats the fields of corporate governance and sustainable development separately, less attention has been paid to the interaction between both fields. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by examining how corporate governance systems are evolving in order to integrate sustainable development thinking into them.

Drawing from corporate governance, sustainable development, and stakeholder theory literature, an analysis is performed of the governance systems of the 18 corporations that are leading the market sectors considered by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

The results of our in‐depth analysis of the 18 cases are presented and the sustainable corporate governance model that emerges from that analysis is proposed.

This model does not attempt to question or replace the previous recommendation and frameworks suggested in the literature on corporate governance and codes of governance. On the contrary, the model should be viewed as a way of integrating sustainable development/corporate responsibility into the fabric of already existing governance models suggested elsewhere.

The suggested model seems to be a good framework both for managers and for researchers because it can be used to improve the firm's governance systems as well as a guide for future research on sustainable corporate governance.

By late March 2014, the ridesharing company Uber was on a roll, rapidly expanding service to untapped markets and gaining new, enthusiastic customers, as well as a few vocal and visible detractors. Uber’s innovative organization of the supply-demand matching process produced eager customers who recruited others. Buzz marketing and aggressive recruitment of drivers augmented growth.

This case presents Uber as an example of a middleman adding real value for consumers and upstream suppliers (limo drivers). Unlike Tesla, which battled to sell cars directly to the public, Uber created value by adding a layer between limos and prospective riders, organizing the market for convenience and transparency for both sides. Where Uber stirred up the competitive equivalent of a hornet’s nest was with expansion from the livery car market into the taxi service market with UberX. The material allows for a lively discussion around disruptive digital technology and the firm’s business model.