Michael Price, Nicholas Wong, Charles Harvey and Mairi Maclean
This study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate social value at scale in new and innovative ways.
Design/methodology/approach
Six narrative case histories of innovative social enterprises were developed based on documents and semi-structured interviews with founders and long serving executives. Data were coded “chrono-processually”, which involves locating thoughts, events and actions in distinct time periods (temporal bracketing) and identifying the processes at work in establishing new social ventures.
Findings
This study presents two core findings. First, the paper demonstrates how successful social entrepreneurs draw on their lived experiences, private and professional, in driving the development and implementation of social innovations, which are realised through application of their capabilities as analysts, strategists and resources mobilisers. These capabilities are bolstered by personal legitimacy and by their abilities as storytellers and rhetoricians. Second, the study unravels the complex processes of social entrepreneurship by revealing how sensemaking, theorising, strategizing and sensegiving underpin the core processes of problem specification, the formulation of theories of change, development of new business models and the implementation of social innovations.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates how social entrepreneurs use sensemaking and sensegiving strategies to understand and address complex social problems, revealing how successful social entrepreneurs devise and disseminate social innovations that substantially add value to society and bring about beneficial social change. A novel process-outcome model of social innovation is presented illustrating the interconnections between entrepreneurial cognition and strategic action.
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The Crickhowell Innovations Forum seeks to develop the concept of the Community Office as an intelligent human interface to encourage the personal, business and domestic telematic…
Abstract
The Crickhowell Innovations Forum seeks to develop the concept of the Community Office as an intelligent human interface to encourage the personal, business and domestic telematic acumen of the individual, set against the background of the sustainable development of local communities within the context of a Local Agenda 21 project. The focus will be: to create a human interface to serve metropolitan, urban and rural locations that decreases the cognitive load of users and addresses the problem of potential information overload; and to extend existing and developing multimedia library services and systems as a new paradigm which enables information access in the widest sense.
Michael Price, Charles Harvey, Mairi Maclean and David Campbell
The purpose of this paper is to answer two main research questions. First, the authors ask the degree to which the UK corporate governance code has changed in response to both…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to answer two main research questions. First, the authors ask the degree to which the UK corporate governance code has changed in response to both systemic perturbations and the subsequent enquiries established to recommend solutions to perceived shortcomings. Second, the authors ask how the solutions proposed in these landmark governance texts might be explained.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors take a critical discourse approach to develop and apply a discourse model of corporate governance reform. The authors draw together data on popular, corporate-political and technocratic discourses on corporate governance in the UK and analyse these data using content analysis and the historical discourse approach.
Findings
The UK corporate governance code has changed little despite periodic crises and the enquiries set up to investigate and make recommendation. Institutional stasis, the authors find, is the product of discourse capture and control by elite corporate actors aided by political allies who inhabit the same elite habitus. Review group members draw intertextually on prior technocratic discourse to create new canonical texts that bear the hallmarks of their predecessors. Light touch regulation by corporate insiders thus remains the UK approach.
Originality/value
This is one of the first applications of critical discourse analysis in the accounting literature and the first to have conducted a discursive analysis of corporate governance reports in the UK. The authors present an original model of discourse transitions to explain how systemic challenges are dissipated.
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The literature concerning the subject of inflation and relative prices has been growing so fast in the last few years that a review in chronological order allows for a greater…
Abstract
The literature concerning the subject of inflation and relative prices has been growing so fast in the last few years that a review in chronological order allows for a greater understanding of the subject. This approach is taken here.
Soonhong Min, Anthony S. Roath, Patricia J. Daugherty, Stefan E. Genchev, Haozhe Chen, Aaron D. Arndt and R. Glenn Richey
Collaboration has been referred to as the driving force behind effective supply chain management and may be the ultimate core capability. However, there is a fairly widespread…
Abstract
Purpose
Collaboration has been referred to as the driving force behind effective supply chain management and may be the ultimate core capability. However, there is a fairly widespread belief that few firms have truly capitalized on its potential. A study was undertaken to assess the current level of supply chain collaboration and identify best practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Supply chain executives provided insights into collaboration. Survey data, personal interviews, and a review of the collaboration literature were used to develop a conceptual model profiling behavior, culture, and relational interactions associated with successful collaboration.
Findings
Positive collaboration‐related outcomes include enhancements to efficiency, effectiveness, and market positions for the respondents' firms.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size represents a limitation, but is balanced by the quality of the respondent base and their expertise/experience. Another limitation involves securing input from only one party to the collaborative relationships. Developing a longitudinal study would help determine how collaboration‐related factors and relationships change over time.
Practical implications
Several respondents mentioned a “blurring of lines” between organizations contrasted to an “us vs them” approach. This was expressed in a number of different ways – treating the arrangements as if they both were part of the same operation, treating them as co‐owned, and employing a new focus on the best common solution. Many of the respondents indicating rewards are not distributed evenly still admitted they get enough “out of” the collaborative arrangements to make it worthwhile.
Originality/value
Real‐world practical experiences are recounted involving many of today's top companies.
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Roberto Mora Cortez and Wesley J. Johnston
This paper aims to explore the possible scenarios after a failed reverse auction to continue a current buyer–seller relationship.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the possible scenarios after a failed reverse auction to continue a current buyer–seller relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a further understanding of reverse auctions through the examination of a longitudinal case study in the mining industry based on grounded theory.
Findings
The study indicates that losing a reverse auction is not a death sentence for the current supplier. Four factors influence the potential scenarios: buyer factors, supplier factors, buyer–seller factors and contextual factors. If the overall evaluation favors the current buyer–seller relationship, the supplier can continue the business interaction by full renegotiation or discrete step-by-step reconsideration. Conversely, the buyer–seller relationship would reach a state of dissolution.
Originality/value
This manuscript contributes to the understanding of reverse auction, an under-researched theme in organizational buying behavior theory. This paper is the first attempt to link buyer–seller relationship dissolution and reverse auctions. The authors suggest that more academic endeavors are needed to study online reverse auctions.
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George E. Cressman, Jr. is President and Founder of World Class Pricing, Inc. George spent 30 years in industry, and has been consulting in marketing strategy, competitive…
Abstract
George E. Cressman, Jr. is President and Founder of World Class Pricing, Inc. George spent 30 years in industry, and has been consulting in marketing strategy, competitive strategy, and pricing for 15 years. George provides marketing and pricing solutions for global business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms. George has been named Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association, and is a frequent speaker in management education programs.