Juan Saavedra and Catalina Alvarado-Cañuta
This article analyzes biopolitical strategies for the recovery of neoliberal normality in urban areas affected by earthquakes in 1985, 2010 and 2015 in Chile (intensity >8.0Mw).
Abstract
Purpose
This article analyzes biopolitical strategies for the recovery of neoliberal normality in urban areas affected by earthquakes in 1985, 2010 and 2015 in Chile (intensity >8.0Mw).
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative design research. In total, 198 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven focus groups. The data were processed in search of discursive threads, guided by the categories contained in the analysis and those arising from the interview transcripts.
Findings
Results describe three clusters of discursive threads: disruption of normality, strategies of disaster biopolitics and narratives on the recovery of normality in the medium to long term. In the analyzed cases, disaster biopolitics entered domestic and community spaces to govern life; while the aim was to safeguard lives, it also sought to ensure the continuity of the neoliberal regime. The disaster biopolitics used the exception to normalize, constructing subjectivity and memory around the idea of catastrophes.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative design can be used in sudden and extreme situations, but it is not possible to anticipate similar results in other kind of disasters (e.g. drought).
Social implications
This study wants to contribute a political vision about disasters by describing the process of restoring order, which follows highly destructive disasters, by demonstrating that in Chile, the biopolitical exception was key to returning to neoliberal normality.
Originality/value
The findings can help improve emergency responses and propose the necessity of political contextualization in post-disaster recovery processes.
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Mahmood Momin and Sabrina Chong
The purpose of this study is to examine how visual elements along with textual narratives are used to disclose workplace diversity-related information in corporate social and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how visual elements along with textual narratives are used to disclose workplace diversity-related information in corporate social and environmental reports.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative content analysis is used to examine the workplace diversity-related information in the 2016 standalone sustainability/corporate responsibility reports of 47 Fortune companies. A total of 539 tables, figures and photographs and their related textual narratives are analysed through an impression management lens.
Findings
The study finds that multiple types of visual elements are used to supplement textual narratives to communicate workplace diversity-related messages. The positive and often non-verifiable workplace diversity-related information is symbolically suggestive of the companies’ workplace diversity commitment and success. While tables and figures are typically presented using numbers, percentages and words to enhance and promote the positive information, the “feel-good” photographs are used to arouse positive feelings in the readers. These visual elements are presented in either a single-visual or mixed-visual presentation form.
Practical implications
This study has the potential to inform and assist preparers in the use of multiple visual elements and textual narratives to promote an impartial and substantive reporting of workplace diversity-related information. Understanding the motivation behind the usage and presentation of visual elements can be useful for the promulgation of guidelines for workplace diversity disclosure, and make readers aware that the visual elements can be exploited for impression management and symbolic legitimacy.
Originality/value
This study provides empirical evidence on the use of multiple types of visual elements in the reporting of workplace diversity-related information. It demonstrates how these visual elements are strategically used and presented to deliver an impression of workplace diversity to the readers.
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WHILE MIGUEL DE CERNANTES SAAVEDRA languished as a guest of King Philip of Spain in a small noisome cell of the Madrid prison, he had time to do two things. He wrote each day at a…
Abstract
WHILE MIGUEL DE CERNANTES SAAVEDRA languished as a guest of King Philip of Spain in a small noisome cell of the Madrid prison, he had time to do two things. He wrote each day at a rickety table with the quill and parchment he had bribed his jailer to supply. His manuscript concerned an old gentleman farmer, grey, lean, and weatherbeaten—like Cervantes himself, then fifty‐six—who had read so many books about chivalry that ‘his brain had dried up and he had gone completely out of his mind’. The old man was obsessed that he must leave his farm and ride out as the knights of old had done into a world of giants, maidens in distress and deep enchantment. Nearly four hundred years later the name of the old knight‐errant is still world famous, for Cervantes chose with care the name of his run‐down hero, Don Quixote. (Cervantes spelt it Quijote.)
Cuba’s 1959 Revolution brought about dramatic changes not only in that island‐nation but also in the USA. Cubans, and later Cuban‐Americans, have changed the face of Miami and…
Abstract
Cuba’s 1959 Revolution brought about dramatic changes not only in that island‐nation but also in the USA. Cubans, and later Cuban‐Americans, have changed the face of Miami and south Florida. The economic and social successes of Cuban‐Americans, the third largest Latino group in the USA, are prevalent in scholarly and popular literature. In this annotated bibliography, the author presents journal articles, chapters in books, books, and human rights reports, published between 1990 and 1998, as well as World Wide Web sites, that discuss the Cuban‐American experience. Articles from the popular literature are not included, nor are materials that deal primarily with Cuba or Cuba‐USA relations.
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Francisco Javier Saavedra-Macías, Samuel Arias-Sánchez and Ana Rodríguez-Gómez
Vicente Sandoval, Claudia Gonzalez-Muzzio, Carlos Villalobos, Juan Pablo Sarmiento and Gabriela Hoberman
This paper examines disaster capitalism in Chile, that is, the relationships between disasters and neoliberalism. It looks at two post-disaster dimensions: disasters as windows of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines disaster capitalism in Chile, that is, the relationships between disasters and neoliberalism. It looks at two post-disaster dimensions: disasters as windows of opportunity to introduce political reforms and disasters as occasions for the corporate class to capitalize on such disasters.
Design/methodology/approach
Two indices, disaster capitalism (DC) and post-disaster private involvement (PDPI), are proposed for cross-case analysis. They are based on legal records, institutional reports and economic data. The DC assesses the introduction of reforms following disasters, while PDPI evaluates the share of public-private funding used for recovery. Both indices are applied here to two disasters in Chile: the 2010 Maule earthquake, and the 2008 Chaitén volcanic eruption.
Findings
Results show that the highly neoliberal Chilean context leaves limited space for new neoliberal reforms. Although recovery is implemented predominantly through the private sector, the state still assumes greater responsibility for recovery costs. Results also detect poor levels of participation from the private sector in accounting their efforts and making them publicly available. Likewise, the research suggests that neoliberal reforms become more likely after disasters. However, the preexisting politico-economic context matters. Finally, there is clearly a need for data systematization in post-disaster recovery.
Originality/value
In the Chilean context, the indices proved beneficial as a strategy for data collection and a method for scrutinizing the implications of neoliberal policy implemented in the wake of disasters, as well as in evaluating the role of the corporate class during recovery.
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María Guadalupe Calderón Martínez
Universities play a key role in the production and transfer of knowledge. The purpose of this research is to describe practices of knowledge management at UNAM in response to…
Abstract
Universities play a key role in the production and transfer of knowledge. The purpose of this research is to describe practices of knowledge management at UNAM in response to COVID-19. A qualitative methodology is used. Through documentary research, information was collected to present four descriptive case studies to identify elements that characterise a knowledge-intensive organisation through the value chain model. This chapter begins with a review of the literature on the creation and transfer of knowledge from universities to society in the context of COVID-19. The knowledge value chain concept is integrated in order to model elements related to both infrastructure and processes that have allowed for continuity in the development of knowledge production and transfer activities. These results contribute to the modelling of management practices to create value in organisations.
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José M. de la Torre‐Ruiz and J. Alberto Aragón‐Correa
The purpose of this paper is to examine how, within a team, the value of their best member depends critically on the performance of the rest. Analysis of the interdependent team…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how, within a team, the value of their best member depends critically on the performance of the rest. Analysis of the interdependent team members complements the traditional focus of resource‐based‐view analyses of isolated resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used data from 584 National Basketball Association teams (30 teams collected over 21 seasons).
Findings
The authors find a positive relationship between best member performance and team performance that increases as the rest of the team members’ performance improves.
Practical implications
Having team members with a high individual performance does not imply that the team will have a competitive advantage over the rest. To gain this advantage, it is also necessary that the rest of the team members also show a high individual performance.
Originality/value
These results contribute to the team literature increasing our knowledge about the effect of complementary resources on gaining competitive advantage. Additionally, sports teams offer the possibility of using objective data to assess team members’ individual value within a team.
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Nilda Barrutia-Montoya, Elia Ramirez-Asis, K. P. Jaheer Mukthar, Mercedes Huerta-Soto, Robert Concepción-Lázaro and Juan Villanueva-Calderón
Many scholars and practitioners in the fields of business and management have recently published theoretical and empirical studies on the subject of business culture and its…
Abstract
Many scholars and practitioners in the fields of business and management have recently published theoretical and empirical studies on the subject of business culture and its impact on its growth and effectiveness; yet, there has been a dearth of research on the topic of how organizational culture affects productivity. Moreover, there are hardly any theoretical or empirical research that examines these two concepts within the context of a micro-enterprise. This chapter uses a sample of 279 Ancash Region microenterprises to investigate the effect of local entrepreneurial culture on businesses’ overall performance. Among the four types of entrepreneurial cultures studied, only the Hierarchical culture was shown to have no effect on the degree of performance of the microenterprises. There is evidence of a significant causal relationship between the variables studied, the coefficient of determination was; business performance (r2 = 0.796), with an SRMR of 0.037, the confirmatory model is relevant within its range of accuracy, while market culture has the greatest impact on business performance.