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1 – 10 of 18Peter Konijn and Rob van Tulder
This paper aims to understand the role resources-for-infrastructure (R4I) swaps play in internationalisation strategies, thereby contributing to a modern theory of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the role resources-for-infrastructure (R4I) swaps play in internationalisation strategies, thereby contributing to a modern theory of the multinational enterprises (MNEs) based on experiences of rising power firms. Since 2004, the Chinese Government; state-owned policy banks; and oil, mining and construction corporations have used a relatively unique form of internationalisation through complex, large-scale R4I swaps in Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a resource bundling perspective and political economy lens to analyse complex entry decisions and success, as well as the failure of R4I swaps. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of published case studies of R4I swaps in seven African countries complemented by field research by the first author.
Findings
The findings show that, under very specific circumstances, R4I swaps can be considered as a successful internationalisation strategy. R4I swaps enable Chinese MNEs to build and maintain relationships with non-market elites that control access to natural resources and infrastructure contracts.
Research limitations/implications
The sample of cases, although representing all relevant R4I-swaps, is too small to come for more quantitative conclusions on success/failure factors.
Practical implications
R4I swaps are a very unlikely model for Western MNEs, as they lack the necessary country-specific competitive advantages and institutional mechanisms.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study of all relevant Chinese R4I swaps in Africa and contains original data from fieldwork in Ghana and D.R. Congo.
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Nicolina Taylor, Esther L. Jean and Wayne S. Crawford
Occupational stress is common in the workplace and leads to various negative outcomes such as burnout, turnover, and medical problems. Although occupational stress is associated…
Abstract
Occupational stress is common in the workplace and leads to various negative outcomes such as burnout, turnover, and medical problems. Although occupational stress is associated with negative connotations, it also can foster workplace resiliency. Workplace resiliency involves the ability to recover quickly in the face of adversity. Emotionally laborious jobs, or jobs in which employees must modify, manage, or regulate their emotions as part of their work role, are inherently stressful. Thus, such jobs, while stress-inducing, may also offer employees opportunities to become more resilient at work. Currently, display rules, rules encouraging the suppression and expression of certain emotions, dictate workplace emotions and thus, interactions. Ultimately, display rule adherence makes it difficult for employees engaging in emotional labor to build resilience. In this chapter, the authors detail how and when emotional labor encounters lead to episodic and prolonged workplace resilience. Specifically, the authors outline instances in which employees engaging in emotional labor can create and sustain workplace resiliency by not deploying an acting strategy and instead, breaking character. The authors further discuss individual and organizational factors that may impact this process as well such as personality and organizational culture that serve as potential boundary conditions to workplace resilience capacity. The authors conclude with implications for both researchers and practitioners.
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Anita C. Keller and Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang
Research on coping at work has tended to adopt a between-person perspective, producing inconsistent findings on well-being outcomes. This focus on interindividual differences is…
Abstract
Research on coping at work has tended to adopt a between-person perspective, producing inconsistent findings on well-being outcomes. This focus on interindividual differences is in contrast to many theories that position coping as process, hence, as an intraindividual process that unfolds over time in response to job stressors and appraisals. The authors propose that focusing more on the within-person coping processes and integrating them with learning perspectives has the potential to advance our understanding. More specifically, coping behavior and well-being can be seen as an outcome of current and past learning processes. In this chapter, the authors discuss three mechanisms that explain how coping processes can produce positive versus negative effects on well-being, and how coping can be integrated into a learning framework to explain these pathways. First, the stress process entails encoding and evaluation of the situation and, as a consequence, deployment of suitable coping behavior. Over and above the efforts that have to be invested to understand the stressful situation, the coping behavior itself also requires time and energy resources. Second, coping behavior likely co-occurs with learning processes such as reflection, exploration, and exploitation. These learning processes require further time and cognitive resources. Third, although coping behaviors and their accompanying learning processes have the potential to drain resources at the within-person level, they can also build up interindividual coping resources such as a broader repertoire and coping flexibility. These between-level differences equip employees to deal with future stressors.
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Clemens Hosman, M. Claire and L. Engels
This article discusses the state of the art concerning the meaning and value of model programmes in mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention. Model programmes are…
Abstract
This article discusses the state of the art concerning the meaning and value of model programmes in mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention. Model programmes are considered an important instrument for improving the quality, social impact and cost‐effectiveness of promotion and prevention. However, there is a lack of conceptual clarity and insight in the processes and mechanisms for successful use of model programmes in this field. This article offers a further clarification of the concept of model programmes and discusses its pros and cons and current views on the process of programme development and programme use. The discussion will be based particularly on recent experiences with model programmes in Europe. Until recently, prevention research was directed mainly at the design and testing of new model programmes. However, successful use of the ‘model programme strategy’ requires more attention to the pre‐conditions for effective dissemination, adoption and implementation of model programmes. Only when this multi‐phased process is taken into account and the required pre‐conditions and quality criteria are specified can one expect that model programmes will be more effective at a community level. The consequences of this view for prevention science and prevention research policies are discussed. To implement such a multi‐phased process successfully, not only are conceptual clarity and a scientific underpinning crucial, but also collaborative organisational structures are needed at national and international level if the range of complementary tasks is to be executed effectively and efficiently.
Adam Arian, John Sands, Habib Ur Rahman and Ibrahim N. Khatatbeh
This study uses instrumental stakeholder theory to explore the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance in various market sectors. It aims…
Abstract
Purpose
This study uses instrumental stakeholder theory to explore the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance in various market sectors. It aims to show how CSP, driven by stakeholder demands in different markets, affects financial outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data analysis on data from 2007 to 2020, this research examines how stakeholder demand impacts a firm's ability to turn social performance into financial gains. The study ensures reliable results by addressing methodological and endogeneity issues related to CSP.
Findings
The results show that a firm's success in converting social performance into financial benefits depends on stakeholder demands in different markets. While better CSP generally leads to improved financial performance, the extent of this benefit varies based on stakeholder expectations. This highlights the importance of managers strategically addressing stakeholder demands to maximize financial returns from social initiatives.
Originality/value
By examining the CSP–financial performance link through the lens of market and stakeholder demands, this research provides new insights into how firms can strategically gain stakeholder support for financial benefits. It shows the long-term value of CSP as an investment that gains stakeholder support over time. This approach broadens the understanding of CSP by considering diverse stakeholder influences across industries, filling a gap in long-term CSP research.
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This paper is focused on my search over nearly 60 years for an understanding of marketing – not just as a management technology, but as a social discipline which gives meaning and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is focused on my search over nearly 60 years for an understanding of marketing – not just as a management technology, but as a social discipline which gives meaning and purpose to the technology.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper illustrates my life as an academic in context, which began with a strong focus on marketing in contemporary management and went on to conclude that marketing is much more than management. It was my travels across the world to widely differing markets and marketplaces that led me to this conclusion. I saw individuals, groups and organizations linking with each other in the voluntary exchange of economic and social value, self-organizing into increasingly complex networks that in the end become the institutions that frame marketing action.
Findings
I gradually came to see marketing in a much wider, intensely human setting, and to realize some of the complexities of the networks that marketing activities generate.
Practical implications
My story may be of assistance to younger scholars beginning a career in marketing.
Social implications
Marketing is much more than management and if re-framed should/could stand alongside other social sciences in considering social and economic policy.
Originality/value
To build on my recollections of an unplanned life spent in search of marketing to highlight the need for younger scholars to think about marketing in a dynamic ever-changing systems setting.
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Sustainability investors are in need of updated standards, indexes and in general better tools and instruments to facilitate company information on its impacts on people, planet…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability investors are in need of updated standards, indexes and in general better tools and instruments to facilitate company information on its impacts on people, planet and profit. Such instruments to reveal reliable, independent metrics and indicators to evaluate companies’ performances on sustainability exist, however, in research fields that previously have not been used extensively, for instance, life cycle assessments (LCAs). ISO 14001:2015 has implemented life cycle perspective, however, without being explicitly clear on which methodology is preferred. This paper aims to investigate LCA as to improve companies’ transparency towards sustainability investors through a literature review on sustainable investment evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review is conducted through the search engine Google Scholar, which to date hosts the most comprehensive academic database across other databases such as Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, etc. Search words such as “Sustainable finance”, “Sustainable Investments”, “Performance metrics”, “Life cycle assessment”, “LCA”, “Environmental Management Systems”, “EMS” and “Environmental Profit and Loss Account” were used. Special journals that publish research on LCA such as International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Cleaner Production and Journal of Industrial Ecology were also investigated in-depth.
Findings
The combination of using LCA in, for instance, environmental profit and loss accounts studied in this paper shows a comprehensive and reliable tool for sustainability investors, as well as for social responsibility standards such as ISO 14001, ISO 26000, UN Global Compact, GIIN, IRIS and GRI to incorporate. With a LCA-based hybrid input-output account, both upstream and downstream’s impact on the environment and society can be assessed by companies to attract more funding from sustainability investors such as shareholders, governments and intergovernmental bodies.
Research limitations/implications
The literature review is based on publicly disclosed academic papers as well as five displayed company Environmental Profit and Loss accounts from the Kering Group, PUMA, Stella McCartney company, Novo Nordisk and Arla Group. Other company experiences with integration of LCA as a reporting tool have not been found, yet it is not to conclude that these five companies are the only ones to work extensively with LCA.
Practical implications
The paper may contribute to the clarification of LCA-thinking and perspective implementation in both ISO 14001 and ISO 26000, as well as in other social responsibility standards such as the UN Global Compact, the Global Impact Investing Networks, IRIS performance metrics, the Global Reporting Initiative and others.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first that evaluates LCA and environmental profit and loss accounts for sustainability investors, as well as for consideration of implementation in social responsibility standards such as the ISO 14001 and ISO 26000, as well as in other social responsibility standards such as the UN Global Compact, the Global Impact Investing Networks, IRIS performance metrics and the Global Reporting Initiative.
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Marcel Bastiaansen, Xander Dennis Lub, Ondrej Mitas, Timothy Hyungsoo Jung, Mário Passos Ascenção, Dai-In Han, Teemu Moilanen, Bert Smit and Wim Strijbosch
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack the experience construct into its core constituent elements, namely, emotions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience that define experiences as a fine-grained temporal succession of emotions that occur during an experiential episode. Limitations of current methods for measuring experiences are discussed, after which biometric and neuroscientific methods are reviewed that are optimally geared toward measuring emotions, as they occur during an experience with fine temporal detail.
Findings
An overview is presented of the available studies within the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure that use these methodologies. These studies show that using these methodologies provides a fruitful methodological approach to measuring experiences in real time.
Practical implications
Companies are constantly seeking to create memorable experiences for their customers. The proposed research methodologies allow companies to get a more fine-grained image of what impacts customers over the course of their experience and to actively integrate the use of emotions into creating experiences, as emotions are key to making them memorable.
Originality/value
The paper sketches the contours of a rapidly emerging framework that unpacks memorable experiences into their constituent element – emotions. It is proposed that this will contribute to a deeper understanding of how consumers experience offerings in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry.
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