Armand Gilinsky Jr, Julia Mallon and Adele Santana
This case should be paired with textbook chapters that cover the important roles of leadership, staffing and corporate culture in the strategy implementation effort. The case can…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
This case should be paired with textbook chapters that cover the important roles of leadership, staffing and corporate culture in the strategy implementation effort. The case can also be used to review textbook chapters covering competitive and industry analysis, differentiation strategies, goal setting and financial analysis. In advanced courses, readings on leadership and corporate social responsibility should be assigned to inform debates regarding Vasu’s style and his commitment to creating shared value. Alternatively, instructors in retail management courses could assign readings that investigate the linkages of human resource management, service quality and other behaviors to optimal supermarket performance.
Research methodology
The authors revised this case and Teaching Noes from an MBA student case writing project in Fall 2017. The student conducted focus groups with Pacific Market’s consumers, worked with Vasu and his consultant, Tom Scott, a former CEO of a local grocery chain, supplemented with secondary industry research and demographic information about the cities of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Meetings to develop the company mission statement and long-term goals took place over Fall 2017. Tom provided the operating information and trade area analysis used in the case, and Vasu provided financial statements and background information.
Case overview/synopsis
After a career as a turnaround specialist for Silicon Valley high-tech startups, Vasudev Narayanan (Vasu) acquired Pacific Market, a two-store chain in Sonoma County, California, in 2013. By Fall 2017, rival local chains had expanded, online vendors threatened in-store shopping, the Amazon-Whole Foods combination threatened disruption, and consumers increasingly insisted on “buying local.” Vasu aimed to grow revenues 50 percent by 2020, and fund Good Karma Foundation, a charity in his native India. Strategies to achieve these objectives included infrastructure investments, employee profit sharing, changing the mix of products and amenities or finding a buyer for the operation.
Complexity academic level
The Pacific Market case is intended for undergraduate or MBA-level strategic management courses. The case pairs well with coverage of how leaders approach the strategy implementation effort, a topic typically introduced toward the end of the course. The case gives students practice in applying strategy formulation concepts and frameworks, e.g. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s industry forces, key industry drivers, strategic group mapping, SWOT analysis, corporate social responsibility and financial ratio analysis. Instructors might also use this case to cover similar material in retail management courses. The case is highly suitable as a written assignment for an examination and/or for team presentations.
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The literature on precarious and insecure work rarely examines how workers with jobs in large bureaucratic firms experience insecurity. Current theories suggest two approaches…
Abstract
The literature on precarious and insecure work rarely examines how workers with jobs in large bureaucratic firms experience insecurity. Current theories suggest two approaches. First, workers might focus on their individual occupation and detach their commitment from firms that no longer reciprocate long-term commitments. Second, employees might respond with increased organizational commitment because leaving an employer creates risks of uncertainty. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 financial services professionals, this paper refines our understanding of when workers focus on intra-organizational career development. This happens when large firms offer opportunities for advancement and foster loyalty. I develop the terms spiral staircase and serial monogamy career. A spiral staircase career results when workers take entrepreneurial approaches to advancement that include lateral job changes and vertical promotions within a firm. When the local labor market has multiple firms in their sector, career advancement may take an intermediate form, in which workers spend medium-to-long-term stints with multiple organizations. I call this the serial monogamy career. My research shows how sector characteristics and geography can impact worker commitment and mobility in insecure environments.
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Noeleen Doherty, Julia Richardson and Kaye Thorn
This paper aims to move towards clarification of the self‐initiated expatriate/expatriation construct with the aim of extending and deepening theory development in the field.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to move towards clarification of the self‐initiated expatriate/expatriation construct with the aim of extending and deepening theory development in the field.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on Suddaby's think piece on construct clarity, this paper applies his proposed four elements; definitional clarity, scope conditions, relationships between constructs and coherence, in order to clarify the SIE construct.
Findings
The discussion examines the “problem of definition” and its impact on SIE scholarship. The spatial, temporal and value‐laden constraints that must be considered by SIE scholars are expounded, and the links between SIE research and career theory are developed. From this, potential research agendas are proposed.
Research limitations/implications
This is a conceptual piece which, rather than giving precise research data, encourages further thinking in the field.
Originality/value
Although the definitional difficulties of SIEs have been identified in previous literature, this is the first attempt to clarify the boundaries of SIE and its interconnectedness with other related constructs.
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Chun Guo, Emily T. Porschitz and José Alves
Drawing on career and self‐initiated expatriation/repatriation literatures, this paper aims to examine the career experiences of Chinese self‐initiated repatriates after their…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on career and self‐initiated expatriation/repatriation literatures, this paper aims to examine the career experiences of Chinese self‐initiated repatriates after their return to China.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an exploratory, qualitative study involving in‐depth interviews with 20 Chinese individuals who returned to China after spending at least three years living, studying and/or working in a range of “host” countries.
Findings
This study shows that the career agency of Chinese returnees reflects both independent and interdependent factors. It provides specific empirical support for Tams and Arthur's argument that career agency is impacted by both individual and contextual factors.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate the central role played by individual proactivity and contextual influences during self‐initiated repatriation. The small sample size allows for rich data, but limits the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
Managerial practices that address the unique career values and expectations of self‐initiated repatriates can facilitate the application of skills and knowledge acquired abroad to the local context. Policy makers should provide more institutional support to encourage and facilitate the return of overseas Chinese.
Originality/value
This study is among only a small number to explore the experiences of self‐initiated repatriates in developing countries. Recent research has addressed the importance of recognizing and identifying the boundaries that constrain and enable global careers. This study identifies a number of such boundaries and also adds to the understanding of the challenges and difficulties of repatriation.
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To provide a theoretically grounded exploration of the family's role in the decision to expatriate independently.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a theoretically grounded exploration of the family's role in the decision to expatriate independently.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study drawing on data collected in interviews with 30 British faculty working in universities in Singapore, New Zealand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Data analysis was performed using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (NVivo).
Findings
Family played a strong role in the decision to expatriate independently, particularly spouse and children. Yet, extended family remaining in the home country were also implicated. Moreover, participants drew on previous family experiences and history to explain their decision. The concept of the “significant” other was useful in explaining these findings.
Research limitations/implications
As an exploratory study the sample size was appropriate. However, a larger study might present further themes and/or allow generalization. Alternative family forms were not well represented but they were identified as deserving further attention.
Practical implications
Given their centrality in the respective decision‐making process family should be taken into account when managing self‐directed expatriates. Moreover, rather than problematizing it as an encumbrance to be managed, families are allies who stand to gain as much from expatriation as the candidate to whom the position is offered.
Originality/value
The paper extents beyond the traditional corporate assignment model to consider self‐directed expatriate academics. It also answers call for more theoretically grounded studies of expatriation by drawing on interpretive interactionism. A further value is that it draws on contemporary career theory as a useful framework to recognise the embeddedness of the family in expatriation as a career decision.
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Noeleen Doherty, Julia Richardson and Kaye Thorn
This special issue seeks to scope the past, present and future study of those individuals who independently journey abroad for work – the self‐initiated expatriate – a topic which…
Abstract
Purpose
This special issue seeks to scope the past, present and future study of those individuals who independently journey abroad for work – the self‐initiated expatriate – a topic which is now attracting increasing attention among management scholars and practitioners alike.
Design/methodology/approach
This introductory paper takes the form of a brief commentary of the development of the field and a synthesis of the papers in this special edition.
Findings
Beginning in the late 1990s with a slow trickle of papers exploring the experiences of individuals who had initiated their own expatriation, our understanding of self‐initiated expatriates (SIEs) and self‐initiated expatriation (SIE) has developed exponentially. This development has given rise to a growing awareness of this form of mobility as a potentially powerful force in the increasingly varied global labour market. Yet, as this special issue will argue, there is still a range of conceptual, theoretical and empirical challenges in the study of SIEs, not least of which is a lack of clarity in how the term is used and understood. Despite the expansion of the field, it has hitherto focused primarily on the experiences of professional SIEs moving from and between developed countries. The papers in this issue therefore, address the need for both greater conceptual clarity and for greater empirical diversity.
Originality/value
The papers included in this special issue each address fundamental issues in the study of the SIE population and offer perspectives that further our understanding of this group and their experiences.
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Julia Richardson and Jelena Zikic
This paper aims to examine the “darker side” of what it means to engage in an international academic career. Extending beyond well‐documented themes relating to the difficulties…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the “darker side” of what it means to engage in an international academic career. Extending beyond well‐documented themes relating to the difficulties of cross‐cultural adjustment and unfulfilled expectations/opportunities for promotion, this paper seeks to introduce “transience and risk” as two important dimensions of this very specific career choice. The paper draws especially on the contemporary “new” careers literature, including conceptions of career exploration as a framework to understand the research findings.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on semi‐structured interviews conducted in situ with 30 expatriate academics in four different countries.
Findings
Transience and risk were identified as two important dimensions of the “darker side” of pursuing an international academic career. However, these two dimensions also had further positive aspects, thus signalling the complex and often contradictory nature of this specific career form.
Research limitations/implications
Introduces a more cautionary note to the contemporary literature on international careers and career exploration more generally.
Practical implications
Careers that evolve across international boundaries require support that extends beyond cross‐cultural training.
Originality/value
The paper contends that in as much as an international academic career offers a broad range of opportunities for fulfilment it also presents significant challenges that should be acknowledged.
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The purpose of this paper is to add to knowledge on the environment of self‐initiated expatriates and their perception of justice in their host country, to identify whether the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to add to knowledge on the environment of self‐initiated expatriates and their perception of justice in their host country, to identify whether the concept of perceived host country justice applies to, or is relevant to, self‐initiated expatriates.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 33 interviews were conducted in two host countries and responses were clustered to identify emerging themes.
Findings
Self‐initiated expatriates perceive justice and support from their host country in a similar way to how employees perceive organizational justice, though the consequences may not follow negative perception as quickly as they do in the organizational context.
Originality/value
This paper builds on a new subject perspective, there is no previous literature aiming to transfer perception of justice models from an organizational perspective to a national level.
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Julia Richardson, Ken McBey and Steve McKenna
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of realistic job previews (RJPs) and realistic living conditions previews (RLCPs) during the recruitment of a group of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of realistic job previews (RJPs) and realistic living conditions previews (RLCPs) during the recruitment of a group of internationally mobile knowledge workers who elect to go overseas independently rather than as part of an overseas assignment. It also aims to explore individual perceptions of the value of RJPs and RLCPs in contributing to work and general living adjustment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a qualitative study of international faculty in six Canadian universities using in‐depth interviews to examine their experiences of recruitment and focusing specifically on the extent to which RJPs and RLCP were provided.
Findings
The findings reflect the need for realistic recruitment that includes information about position specifications and responsibilities as well as non‐organizational factors such as opportunities for spousal employment. Thus, respondents did not conceptualize the recruitment process in terms of two separate components of “job” (RJP) and “living conditions” (RLCP). Instead realistic recruitment emerged as a holistic process, with each individual having his/her own differential weighting of the relative importance of different factors.
Research limitations/implications
The sample comprises mostly white‐western faculty, thus ethnic minority faculty are underrepresented. Further research might also explore the perceptions and experiences of international recruiters.
Originality/value
The paper extends the current literature on RJPs and RLCPs to consider internationally mobile knowledge workers who elect to go overseas independently. Located within an interpretive perspective it also enhances our understanding of individual experiences and the need for a more holistic approach to international recruitment.