Julia Hartmann, Andrew Inkpen and Kannan Ramaswamy
The long-term energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy challenges the future of oil and gas firms. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the world’s largest…
Abstract
Purpose
The long-term energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy challenges the future of oil and gas firms. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the world’s largest oil and gas firms’ strategies are responding to the transition.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used content analysis of annual reports to examine the renewable strategies of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas companies. Data were analyzed using two complementary statistical methodologies to build a taxonomy of the patterns in strategic behaviors involving renewable energy.
Findings
Five transition archetypes are identified – three reflect an active pursuit of renewable energy, whereas the other two are more defensive in posture. The authors also find that the firm’s country context has an important bearing on renewable strategy. Both normative social pressures and regulatory pressures play key roles in influencing a firm’s commitment to a renewables’ strategy.
Research limitations/implications
Using an innovative research method, we develop a new taxonomy to classify how the world’s largest oil and gas firms are shaping the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy..
Originality/value
Using an innovative research method, the authors developed a new taxonomy to classify how the world’s largest oil and gas firms are shaping the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
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To contribute to the development of a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), this study aims to focus on media attention as an under-researched…
Abstract
Purpose
To contribute to the development of a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), this study aims to focus on media attention as an under-researched antecedent. Media transmit information about (good or bad) business practices and information recipients often adjust their behavior accordingly. Although media often uncover scandals in supply chains, no systematic understanding explicates how they shape lead firms’ reactions to scandals. This empirical study investigates how media attention to a major supply chain scandal influences buying companies’ SSCM.
Design/methodology/approach
The research setting is the fashion industry, five years after the Rana Plaza building collapse. Matched SSCM data from 73 fashion lead firms and news articles collected from major outlets were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression analyzes.
Findings
This study generates nuanced insights into the role of the media in triggering SSCM. Certain facets of media attention (direct media exposure and negative framing) result in higher levels of SSCM, others have no significant effect (media visibility) and some result in less SSCM (positive framing).
Research limitations/implications
The varying effects of different facets of media attention on SSCM have not been established previously. Both media and supply chain researchers should address these unique effects in their continued assessments.
Social implications
External stakeholders can use these findings to devise more effective ways to influence lead firms and improve social and environmental conditions in supply chains.
Originality/value
This study is the first empirical investigation of the effects of various facets of media attention on SSCM.
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Julius Eggert and Julia Hartmann
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential synergy between companies’ sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) activities and their supply chain resilience…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential synergy between companies’ sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) activities and their supply chain resilience (SCRES). The authors propose hypotheses about the impact of buying companies SSCM activities on the inflicted damage by unexpected supply chain disruptions and the recovery time afterwards and test these empirically using data from companies during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigate a sample of 231 of the largest publicly traded companies in the European Union with 4.158 firm-year observations. For the analysis, the authors generate variables capturing the companies’ intensity and years of experience of their SSCM activities targeted at the supply chain and run regression analyses on the inflicted damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery time after the disruption.
Findings
Buying companies’ SSCM activities have a positive effect on their SCRES. The damage inflicted by unexpected supply chain disruptions is lower when companies have higher levels of SSCM and longer experience with it. The recovery time afterwards is significantly reduced by longer experience with SSCM efforts.
Research limitations/implications
The authors suggest SCRES is reinforced by transparency, situational awareness, social capital and collaboration resulting from companies SSCM activities translate into increased SCRES.
Practical implications
The authors show that companies with superior SSCM are more resilient in a crisis and conclude that, therefore, companies should invest in SSCM to prevent future supply disruptions.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study analyzing a data set of multi-industry companies, linking their SSCM activities to SCRES during the pandemic.
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Julia Hartmann, Richard Germain and Anna Grobecker
The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically examine antecedents to environmentally conscious operations (ECOs) and to investigate the effect of ECOs on performance in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically examine antecedents to environmentally conscious operations (ECOs) and to investigate the effect of ECOs on performance in the transitioning economy Russia. The authors examine organizational antecedents such as innovativeness, proximity to major urban centers of gravity, and interaction with international customers because there is evidence that external antecedents such as stakeholder pressure may not be as effective in transitioning economies as they are in developed countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a structural equation model to test the hypothesized relationships on a sample of 769 private sector manufacturing companies located in Russia having used the survey method for data collection.
Findings
The authors find that the proximity to major urban centers of gravity, interaction with international customers and a firm-internal culture of innovativeness are positively related to ECOs. The authors also find evidence that ECOs are positively related to performance. ECOs partially mediate the relationship between international trade and firm performance.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to investigate antecedents to ECOs in Russia and one of the few that uses diffusion of innovations theory to unpack potential ECO antecedents.
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The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for spatially sorting objects into an annular structure.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for spatially sorting objects into an annular structure.
Design/methodology/approach
A swarm‐based model that requires only stochastic agent behaviour coupled with a pheromone‐inspired “attraction‐repulsion” mechanism.
Findings
The algorithm consistently generates high‐quality annular structures, and is particularly powerful in situations where the initial configuration of objects is similar to those observed in nature.
Research limitations/implications
Experimental evidence supports previous theoretical arguments about the nature and mechanism of spatial sorting by insects.
Practical implications
The algorithm may find applications in distributed robotics.
Originality/value
The model offers a powerful minimal algorithmic framework, and also sheds further light on the nature of attraction‐repulsion algorithms and underlying natural processes.
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Given the uncertain and often disruptive business environment, understanding how employees, teams, and organizations can recover from stress, build long-lasting resilience, and…
Abstract
Given the uncertain and often disruptive business environment, understanding how employees, teams, and organizations can recover from stress, build long-lasting resilience, and exploit failures as learning opportunities is key for employees’ well-being and organizational success. The book has been organized in three sections, each representing a major domain of inquiry: recovery, resilience, and learning. The chapters within each section elaborate on these domains, and each provides novel ideas and insights. The goal of this chapter is to summarize and integrate some themes and insights offered by the chapters in this book. Based on this summary and integration, the author will illuminate some exciting paths opened up by these chapters, which might be worth exploring further by other scholars in the future. Specifically, future research could benefit from (1) stronger integration of research on recovery, resilience, and learning from failure, (2) better understanding of the role of setbacks, failure, and adversity for recovery, resilience, and learning, and (3) investigations of the role of context for recovery, resilience, and learning from failure.
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This paper aims to provide a novel explorative perspective on fund managers’ decisions under uncertainty. The current COVID pandemic is used as a unique reference frame to study…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a novel explorative perspective on fund managers’ decisions under uncertainty. The current COVID pandemic is used as a unique reference frame to study how heuristics are used in institutional financial practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows a grounded theory approach. A total of 282 diverse publications between October 2019 and October 2020 for 20 German mutual funds are qualitatively analyzed. A theory of adaptive heuristics for fund managers is developed.
Findings
Fund managers adapt their heuristics during a crisis and this adaptive process flows through three stages. Increasing complexity in the environment leads to the adaption of simplest heuristics around investment decisions. Three distinct stages of adaption: precrisis, uncertainty and stabilization emerge from the data.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s data is based on publicly available information. There might be a discrepancy between publicly stated and internal reasoning.
Practical implications
Money managers can use the provided framework to assess their decision-making in crises. The developed adaptive processes of heuristics can assist capital allocators who choose and rate fund managers. Policymakers and regulators can learn about the aspects of investor decisions that their actions and communication address. Teaching can use this study to exemplify the nature of financial markets as adaptive systems rather than static structures.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s/authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically explore the heuristics of professional money managers because they navigate a large-scale exogenous crisis.
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Julia Backmann, Matthias Weiss and Gisa Todt
Setbacks and failures are part of organizational life. While a recent body of literature pointed to the importance of recovery, resilience, and learning from failure in responding…
Abstract
Setbacks and failures are part of organizational life. While a recent body of literature pointed to the importance of recovery, resilience, and learning from failure in responding to and dealing with setback events, the setback itself and its underlying dimensions remain underexplored. However, how severe employees perceive a setback to be plays an integral role in how successfully they handle these events. Taking an event-oriented perspective on work-related setbacks, this study defines setback severity as the setback event’s novelty, disruptiveness, and criticality. Based on the current literature and prior operationalizations, the authors introduce and validate a three-dimensional measure of setback severity. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provide support for the proposed three-dimensional model. Further analyses show that disruptiveness and criticality are significantly related to identity threat, emotional exhaustion, trauma, turnover intention, and thriving, while novelty is only related to turnover intention and thriving. The implications of the setback severity measure are discussed along with recommendations for future research.
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Julia V. Bondeli, Malena Ingemansson Havenvid and Hans Solli-Sæther
This paper aims to refine conceptual treatment of the social facet in business relationships and reinforce its significance in the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to refine conceptual treatment of the social facet in business relationships and reinforce its significance in the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) research tradition by integrating the concept of social capital in its original interpretation into the actor-resource-activity (ARA) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins by indicating some typical conceptual challenges associated with application of social capital in IMP. This is followed by a conceptual clarification that explores the origin and the essence of social capital in economic sociology. Finally, the paper proposes integrating social capital in its original interpretation into IMP’s ARA model and presents four propositions on how social capital is created in interaction between business actors.
Findings
The paper shows how bridging Bourdieu’s theory of social capital with the IMP approach may solve the identified conceptual challenges. This paper’s main contribution is a cyclical model depicting how social capital is created in business networks. It is integrated into the ARA model and designed specifically for studying the social facet of business relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is expected to aid IMP researchers in empirical contexts where the social component in business relationships is particularly prominent. As such, the novel approach presented could be used to further understand how social exchange processes are related to relationship governance, relationship initiation and development.
Originality/value
The proposed model shows how social capital is generated through the dynamic interplay in the social facets of actor, activity and resource dimensions, emphasising its creation dynamics. The model integrates insights from the classic works in economic sociology to strengthen the social side of IMP’s socioeconomic interface and is intended to be used as a tool for empirical application.