Bruno F. Abrantes, Miguel Torres Preto and Nelson Antonio
Dynamic capabilities yield positive effects to firm-specific advantage formation. Paradoxically, the body of literature on capability diffusion is scarce. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Dynamic capabilities yield positive effects to firm-specific advantage formation. Paradoxically, the body of literature on capability diffusion is scarce. The purpose of this study is to focus, thus, on this dearth of literature with an emphasis on exploring the transferability function.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrative review of literature on the dynamic capabilities view covers the organizational context determining capability sharing, supported by strategic communication and business networking theories for the fashioning of global capabilities’ administration model (GCAM).
Findings
Individual motivations and formal modelling of capabilities’ transference have been overlooked in previous research. Largely with a top-down orientation, the current paradigm of their diffusion is profoundly shaped by the organizational structure and its global governance practices.
Research limitations/implications
The GCAM’s architecture, based on transnational administration and hybrid transferability, opens horizons for multinational companies to develop their own capability management systems and is at the same time a new scholarly avenue in the field.
Originality/value
This study explores an untapped research gap and the formal modelling of a GCAM, while reconciling some of the weaknesses of academic research and industry practices.
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Bruno Fernandes Abrantes, Miguel Torres Preto and Nelson António
This paper aims to explore the characteristics of capability exchange within internationalizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the Portuguese metallurgic and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the characteristics of capability exchange within internationalizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the Portuguese metallurgic and metal-mechanic sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple case research instrumentalizes a (manifest) content analysis based upon qualitative data gathered from the interviewing of the strategic apex of four multinational enterprises, codified in the light of the well-known Weber protocol.
Findings
The results uncover the existence of a multi-diffusional approach with a bi-directional regime of transferability, where reciprocal transference is non-simultaneous. Operational rigidities are asserted to be stifling the diffusion of capabilities across subsidiaries and hindering higher economies of learning.
Research limitations/implications
The current paradigm of international capabilization of the sector requires substantial enhancements in its design for the benefit of the firm’s international competitiveness, growth and wealth.
Originality/value
Organizational capabilities are a determinant of competitiveness. Hitherto, the phenomena of (capabilities) mobility and transferability are still acknowledged as a clear gap. This study opens, therefore, avenues on international capabilization in relation to the modeling and testing of global dynamic capabilities and its replicability across industries.
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Antonio Marco-Ferreira, Nelson Oliveira Stefanelli, Bruno Michel Roman Pais Seles and Reginaldo Fidelis
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the conceptual framework related to the Lean and Green practices, paradigms, future prospects and problems, indicating…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the conceptual framework related to the Lean and Green practices, paradigms, future prospects and problems, indicating points of convergence and divergence between them.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on this premise, through vast literature systematization, the authors sought to categorize studies in order to consolidate constructs, reinforcing aspects regarding the positive and negative approaches and pointing out the gaps in the current state of the art. Broad literature systematization was carried out; the authors found 107 articles published between 2014 and 2018, separated into 10 categories.
Findings
The main constructs confirmed are the positive approximation of the Lean and Green union, evidenced by studies premised on the independent variable category demonstrating that their union influences other environmental performance variables.
Research limitations/implications
The present research is a systematization of the literature, so its results have to be confirmed by other studies.
Practical implications
The study supports the Lean and Green theme, confirming converging issues between the two areas and launching new topics for future research.
Social implications
The study contributed to the environmental theme by confirming synergies of the Lean and Green union and presenting new research themes.
Originality/value
To assert that Lean and Green systems union is sustainable, with regard to the tripod of sustainability, more studies on the social category are necessary.
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Based on a decolonial perspective from Latin America, this paper aims to offer a different history of the creation of Brazil’s Consumer Defense Code (CDC), analyzing the process…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on a decolonial perspective from Latin America, this paper aims to offer a different history of the creation of Brazil’s Consumer Defense Code (CDC), analyzing the process through which Eurocentric influences, especially coming from Consumers International (CI), became present in the development of the code.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative historical research was developed using marketing amnesia and decolonialism as its theoretical backdrop. Primary and secondary data are used as source of information. Primary data were obtained through interviews with two authors of the CDC. Secondary data were collected from academic articles and books, reports, magazines and consumer organization websites, as well as journalistic articles.
Findings
During the drafting of the CDC and after its promulgation, the presence of Eurocentric forces was constant, given the interests of CI and other agents in influencing Brazil’s consumer practices, subordinating them to those of the Global North. This Eurocentric presence was accepted by the Brazilian jurists that drafted the CDC, which led to the incorporation of both laws and bills from Eurocentric countries and the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection into the code.
Originality/value
Such discussions are scarce in marketing, due to the area’s amnestic state regarding the past. While selectively forgetting certain pasts, marketing fails to both acknowledge its tendency to subordinate consumerist actions to those accepted by the Eurocentric world, and to establish analyses that deal with mimetic processes, to minimize asymmetries between companies and consumers, especially in emerging economies, and, even more, dichotomies between the Global North and the Global South.
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Maria João Bettencourt Gomes de Carvalho Simas, Jorge Francisco Bertinetti Lengler and Nelson José dos Santos António
This paper seeks to integrate sustainable development, based on the application of the extended bottom line (EBL-GMS®) concept, into the implementation of organizational strategy…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to integrate sustainable development, based on the application of the extended bottom line (EBL-GMS®) concept, into the implementation of organizational strategy with the relevant stakeholders. As a result, a theoretical model is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews selected literature to propose and analyse how sustainable development can be integrated into the implementation of organizational strategy.
Findings
This paper proposes a conceptual model that deals with the relationship between sustainable development and implementation of organizational strategy with the distinct stakeholders of a company. In the proposed model, authors indicate how the concept of sustainable development could be operationalized through each of the organizational stakeholders.
Originality/value
Companies, as dynamic systems, are relevant in the implementation process of sustainable development, which requires this concept to be fairly applicable. In general, only one of the bottoms of the triple bottom line (TBL) has been considered, being essential to integrate and consolidate, through an ethical and balanced manner, the economic, social, environmental and corporate identity elements. This paper addresses a critical condition for companies operating in highly competitive contexts: sustainable development and its relationships with strategy implementation. The originality lies in the fact that no studies have analysed the relationship between the sustainable development concept and organizational strategy implementation, based on the operationalisation of the extended bottom line (EBL-GMS®) concept.
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José Martins and Nelson António
The purpose of this paper is to provide information for the companies that pretend to transfer knowledge to their subsidiaries situated in an least developed country (LDC)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide information for the companies that pretend to transfer knowledge to their subsidiaries situated in an least developed country (LDC), because of the local operative specificity which is influenced by three analytical dimensions: first, the multinational enterprise's (MNE) ability to transfer knowledge; second, the climate of cooperation between the MNE and its subsidiary; and third, the subsidiary's absorptive capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
The present case study deals with three companies with subsidiaries in Mozambique which develop activities in the industrial sector, where the procedures of the analysis of contents are applied in order to answer the research questions.
Findings
The results show that the transferred knowledge must be directed at the operational needs felt locally. It must be avoided that the receiver believes the transferred knowledge is imposed by the transmitter, in order for it to be used as an asset in the production of new products, but without reproducing the MNE headquarters' business model because of the specific local context.
Research limitations/implications
The case study method does not allow the results to be generalized, but it permits the investigation of a combination of problems of the phenomenon thus contributing to its better understanding.
Originality/value
The results obtained contribute to a better understanding and greater efficiency of the process of knowledge transfer to the subsidiaries situated in an LDC, taking into consideration the particular characteristics of the local market and the local absorptive capacity.
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The paper aims to extend research on public‐private partnerships (PPP) by exploring the path toward procedural justice and cooperation performance through contracts.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to extend research on public‐private partnerships (PPP) by exploring the path toward procedural justice and cooperation performance through contracts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses equity theory to address inter‐partner cooperation in PPPs. The paper emphasizes how procedural fairness, as perceived by partners in a PPP, influences cooperation effects. Using both social exchange theory and transaction cost theory, it hypothesizes that procedural fairness improves cooperation effects by enhancing two kinds of contracts: the control‐formal contract and the informal contract.
Findings
The regression analysis suggests that procedural fairness indirectly affects three kinds of cooperation effects – direct effects, knowledge‐created effects, and social effects – by increasing formal and informal contracts.
Research limitations/implications
Further research might address the antecedents of procedural justice.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that procedural justice is important to PPPs and that contracts mediate this relationship.
Originality/value
The paper enriches PPP research, especially with regard to procedural formalization, contracts, and cooperation performance.
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Ali Kanso, Richard Alan Nelson and Philip James Kitchen
This study aims to explore advertising strategies by US corporations selling consumer services overseas. Attention is extended to determining the type of standardized advertising…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore advertising strategies by US corporations selling consumer services overseas. Attention is extended to determining the type of standardized advertising (pattern vs prototype) that US headquarters tend to use in international campaigns, identifying major obstacles that impede advertising standardization and examining linkages between the use of creative approaches (standardized vs localized) and firms ' length of business and sales volume.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a descriptive approach and rigorous sample, the authors surveyed international advertising managers of US firms selling consumer services. A 57 per cent response rate provided the basis for testing two research questions and two hypotheses.
Findings
US firm headquarters tend to lean more toward the use of prototype standardization than pattern standardization. The major impediments of standardized campaigns are perceived to be cultural differences, alternatives in consumer lifestyles, language diversity, variations in worldwide market infrastructure and government regulations.
Research limitations/implications
While demonstrating correlations in some areas, the authors offer some suggestions for future investigation of this important topic. By focusing on services marketing, the study does contribute to the extant discussion concerning advertising standardization/localization from the context of US-based services businesses marketing internationally.
Practical implications
The outcomes indicate that established business firms and firms with large sales volumes, compared to younger business firms and firms with small sales volumes, are more likely to use the standardized advertising approach than the localized approach.
Originality/value
The paper offers new insights into the standardized/localized debate where advertising researchers have tended to overlook the significance of service businesses in the international context.
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Daniel Laufer, David H. Silvera, J. Brad McBride and Susan M.B. Schertzer
This paper aims to examine how different ways in which a charitable organization communicates successes (highlighting individual or collective achievement) can influence potential…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how different ways in which a charitable organization communicates successes (highlighting individual or collective achievement) can influence potential future donors, and to determine whether the effectiveness of the communication strategy is contingent on the cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
Experiments were conducted in the USA and Mexico.
Findings
The findings of the study demonstrate that the effectiveness of communications with the public regarding a charitable organization's success stories depends on the type of message used in relation to the cultural context. When the message was congruent with the cultural dimension of individualism‐collectivism, the public was more likely to consider making a contribution to the charity.
Research limitations/implications
The study examined the impact of conveying a message congruent with the cultural context in the context of charitable contributions. Further research is needed to examine whether one would expect a similar result with a different type of charitable organization (issue‐related instead of cause‐related) or a non‐student sample.
Practical implications
The authors found that the effectiveness of communications with the public regarding a charitable organization's success stories depends on the type of message used in relation to the cultural context. Standardizing the message can have adverse implications on the public's intentions to donate to the organization.
Originality/value
Very few studies examine charity advertising in a global setting, and to the authors' knowledge this study is the first to examine communicating success stories to the public. In addition, previous studies do not examine the impact of different advertising appeals on intentions to donate to the charity, an important dependent variable for both researchers and practitioners.
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Beatriz Cid, Eduardo Antonio Letelier Araya, Pablo Saravia, Julien Vanhulst, Nelson Carroza and Daniel Sandoval
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social economy discourses in four regions of Chile, characterized by their internal economic heterogeneity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social economy discourses in four regions of Chile, characterized by their internal economic heterogeneity.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an intentional sample, semi-structured interviews were applied to 45 key informants from the public sector, universities, consultant enterprises, cooperatives and civil society organizations. Through a content analysis, thematic axes were identified that allowed to characterize and to recognize the narratives that key informants held about their initiatives, experiences or ventures.
Findings
The results allow us to understand the diversity of discourses and practices about alternative economies, being able to organize them from two axes: the tension between molar and molecular subjectivities; and the tension between reform and transformation (which refers to a transformative type of institutional and socio-material change). These axes propose an interpretative framework that integrates a diversity of distinctions and/or polarities and problematizes the homogeneity of formal economic discourse.
Research limitations/implications
The discourses analyzed by this paper offers representativeness by saturation. It do not allow to ponder for sure the relative presence of each of these discourses in the field of economic diversity. The analysis of what type of actors sustain each type of discourse remains pending.
Social implications
The high discourse heterogeneity makes it possible to foresee major difficulties in terms of political articulation and the visibility of various alternative economic experiences, initiatives or ventures as part of a social transformation movement.
Originality/value
Previous studies developed in Latin America about social and solidarity economy have been focused in objective dimensions as the volume of incomes, expenditures or jobs. This is the first study aimed at characterizing the subjective field of discourse held by different actors who recognize themselves as part of an alternative economy movement.