Search results

The purpose of this paper is to look at the role played by three archetypal constructs pertaining to the individual sustainability-oriented entrepreneur, namely prior knowledge, sustainability orientation and sustainability intention, in legitimation behavior and explores their strategic utility.

The author studies legitimacy-seeking behavior in the case of ten sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs. A qualitative case study approach is used, capturing evidence of legitimation behavior in the startup phase through interviews, participant observation and documentation analysis.

Prior knowledge and sustainability orientation appear to offer little value beyond their role as necessary factors in maintaining legitimacy. Both appear to have limited strategic value for legitimation in comparison to sustainability intention. Intention as a construct embodies the “paradox” of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship, and learning to successfully overcome this paradox to strategically utilize intention in legitimation is crucial for these entrepreneurs.

Knowledge of these factors could assist sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs in strategically utilizing these factors as agency when dealing with diverse stakeholder expectations to achieve their enterprising goals. Strengthening knowledge on factors important for legitimacy is pertinent in supporting this shared value approach to entrepreneurship.

Little theoretical or empirical attention has been paid to the complexity of strategic legitimation behavior of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs. This paper provides novel empirical insight into what role these archetypal factors play in legitimation behavior and how they can be strategically utilized.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development process of dynamic capabilities.

The paper adopts a qualitative, longitudinal participant-observation research design. A single case study firm was observed over a ten-year period of active researcher engagement allowing for the collection of rich data on the development and deployment of dynamic capabilities as they evolved.

Dynamic capabilities can be identified as sensing, seizing and transforming. They are capable of intentional development by managers through strategic decision making and deliberative learning, within a path-dependent evolution.

A longitudinal single case study allowed for a close look at the development of dynamic capabilities, exploring the context and conditions that facilitated change and tracing the evolution of the organization’s processes. However, this study remains subject to the limits of a single case approach. Future cross-sectional research would be able to test the conceptual model and allow for generalization of the findings to other populations of firms.

The dynamic capability concept has been criticized for being of little practical use to managers. This research shows the process of intentional dynamic capability development, offering insights to practicing managers.

This research adds to the relatively scant base of empirical work on dynamic capabilities and offers a conceptual model of dynamic capability development. The paper contributes to the neglected area of dynamic capabilities in SME’s, showing that the dynamic capability concept is relevant to this sector. The paper provides insight for practitioners by showing that intentional dynamic capability development is achievable.

Homelessness in Greater Boston has been a recurring issue since the 1980s. Massachusetts is the only right to shelter state in the nation, which theoretically guarantees that families with children under the age of 21 must be offered a place to sleep every night. However, research shows that among the various obstacles case managers encounter when trying to assist the homeless, the fragmentation of services and initiatives is one of the most persistent limitations to their actions. At the state and local levels, coordination between service providers has repeatedly proved uncertain. These providers point to an ongoing, unhealthy competition to get funding for their shelters or service centers, which has devastating repercussions on the people they serve. Boston officials hold a difficult position, as the state capital city draws many homeless families and individuals hoping for better support, thus putting pressure on local shelters to provide more beds every night. Unsurprisingly, the onset of the pandemic worsened an already strained homeless assistance network, by forcing clients to seek shelter elsewhere due to reduced capacity and creating a new type of fragmentation. In the context of limited space, where zoning laws have relentlessly favored single-family homes in wealthy neighborhoods, Greater Boston is now facing a dire shortage of housing, while migrants from abroad continue to be drawn to its progressive social policies, hoping to find shelter from poverty and war.

Film provides an alternative medium for assessing our interpretations of cultural icons. This selective list looks at the film and video sources for information on and interpretations of the life of Woody Guthrie.

ARNOLD BENNETT was a man of two worlds. In the terms of Max Beerbohm's cartoon “Old Self” was plump, wealthy, self‐assured, a landmark of the London scene, a familiar of press magnates, the owner of a yacht; “Young Self” was thin, ambitious, far‐sighted, industrious, secretly terribly anxious to justify himself to himself and decidedly provincial.