Business Ethics in Canada: Distinctiveness and Directions

This article examines the pressures and players that have shaped business ethics in Canadian corporations, and reports on the status of Canadian corporate social performance in 1995. Business in Canada has not been subject, up to 1996, to a powerful national institutional framework such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Consequently, business ethics in Canada have developed primarily in response to broader socio-political and socio-economic factors than in the US, and will probably continue to do so. Interestingly, the issues, policies and practices developed in Canada may provide insights for US corporations as they respond to broadened pressures. Business ethics in Canada, on the other hand, will benefit increasingly from the US experience as pressures grow for national regulation and statutes governing corruption.     

Individual responses to competing institutional logics in emerging markets

In this paper, we study individual responses to competing institutional market and community logics. We argue that when individuals experience strong pressures both from market and community logics in hybrid contexts, they are unlikely to choose one logic over another. Instead, they combine both logics act as hybridizers. We identified three roles of local (Kazakhstani and Turkish) managers as hybridizers: bridging between competing logics, boundary spanning and cultural buffering.     

外资主导下的产业集群演化分析

从动态看,外资主导下的产业集群一般经历"形成"、"成熟"和"分化"阶段。广东东莞加工贸易集群在经历了上世纪90年代形成、本世纪初前6年的成熟后,目前正遭遇发展的困境。其原因主要有:国家宏观政策调整、资源约束与成本压力加大;集群内企业自主技术、自有品牌缺乏,产品处在国际分工的价值链低端;集群地域植根性差;企业孵化和创新能力较弱等。产业集群部分企业外迁、倒闭,可能也是其向较高端转型升级的机遇。产业集群应考虑选择具有持续动力的内源性资本扩张策略,政府应为其转型升级设计方向并提供政策支持,实现市场战略从"二头在外"向"一头在外"转变。     

See What We Want to See? The Effects of Managerial Experience on Corporate Green Investments

How impartial are managerial decisions? This question is particularly concerning when it comes to making green investment decisions in the face of stakeholder pressures. When managers respond to stakeholder pressures, their personal cognition, judgment, and past experiences play a role in determining their responses. The salience of particular stakeholder claims may be determined by deeply rooted individual preferences. This research investigates how a manager’s past experiences can influence green investments. Data are gathered from 247 managers about their past experience and their employer’s performance data. These data are combined with managerial responses to a vignette-based experiment, which required managers to make green investments based on a decision scenario where they are exposed to different types and strength of stakeholder pressure (from consumers and the community). Results suggest that managers’ years of experience, their employers’ financial performance, and their employers’ market performance influence investment decisions even when making decisions under new and different set of circumstances. While the employers’ financial performance influences managers to invest more, the employers’ market performance only influences managers’ investment in the presence of either high consumer or high community pressure. Compared to less-experienced managers, experienced managers invest more in response to consumer pressure but less in response to community pressure. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings in green management are explored.     

The abject single: exploring the gendered experience of singleness in Britain

Abstract

This paper explores the gendered experience of singleness in Britain through a theoretical and empirical understanding of the abject. Drawing on the writings of Judith Butler, we argue that singleness is culturally pathologised as an abject ‘other’, a liminal state which renders the legitimation of the single subject unintelligible. Through 14 active interviews with British singles, we demonstrate how our participants negotiate their marginal status vis-à-vis the marketplace and the broader society that continue to uphold heterosexual partnership as a normative form of intimacy. Our data uncovers persistent and powerful gender stereotypes of how singles ought to organise their lives and conform both to social, as well as market-driven pressures. We therefore highlight research gaps in the experience of singleness and critique the heteronormative framework that remains dominant, yet concealed, in gender research.     

Markups,import competition and exporting

This paper analyses the relationship between markups and international trade at the firm level using a large sample of French manufacturing firms for the period 1995–2007. In particular, the paper investigates the effect of increasing import competition from China on firms' price–cost margins and the way in which exporting interacts with this effect. The results show robust evidence that firms in more direct competition with Chinese imports decrease their markups. However, firms that become exporters experience a smaller reduction in their price–cost margins. Consistent with these findings, the results also show that firms facing tougher competition from China are more likely to start exporting to avoid such competitive pressures.     

INTRA-INDUSTRY SPECIALIZATION AND THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

This article provides a detailed examination of changes in indicators of intra-industry specialization in manufactured goods in trade between the United States and Mexico over the first five years of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The analysis is conducted at the three-digit SITC level of industry aggregation. Many industries experienced large increases in intraindustry trade (IIT). Only nine industries experience declines in IIT. Changes in various indicators of intra-industry specialization suggest few U.S. industries are candidates for significant adjustment problems. Industries facing potential adjustment pressures account for less than one-fourth of total U.S. imports from Mexico. These findings should lessen opposition to greater regional economic integration in the Western Hemisphere by easing fears that entire industries and jobs will disappear.     

Transformation of Metrics and Analytics in Retailing: The Way Forward

The retail industry is undergoing tremendous changes that are driven by technology, changing consumer tastes, economic pressures, competition, stakeholder relationships, environmental concerns, and governmental regulations. Our article explores analytics as a capability that helps retailers excel in this dynamic environment. We identify the reasons behind the trends in the retail industry and provide guidance for retail managers on how to improve customer relationship management using appropriate metrics and effective analytics. Our guidance to retail managers emphasizes the importance of brand recognition, explores tactics for enhancing customer experience, recommends establishing superior customer engagement, forging social connections among consumers, and rendering service and support to customers, and highlights a data-oriented approach to retailing. We conclude with suggestions for future research in this domain.     

From Resistance to Opportunity-Seeking: Strategic Responses to Institutional Pressures for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Nordic Fashion Industry

Using survey responses from 400 fashion companies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, we examine the diversity of strategic responses to institutional pressures for corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the Nordic fashion industry. We also develop and test a new model of strategic responses to institutional pressures that encompasses both resistance and opportunity-seeking behaviour. Our results suggest that it is inconsistent pressures within, rather than between, stakeholder groups that shape strategic responses to CSR pressures and that increasing pressures stimulates opportunity-seeking at the expense of compliance.     

The impact of organizational pressures on environmental performance of firms

The role of various organizational pressures in influencing performance of firms has been an interesting research topic in a variety of fields and has received the attention of researchers working in the field of environmental strategy. Although there are previous studies that have looked at the influence of various pressures in influencing firms’ environmental strategies, our study provides a more holistic analysis considering a variety of such pressures in a single framework. We discuss a research study to analyze how pressures from internal and external stakeholders of a firm, economic pressures, environmental regulations, and pressures of environmental compliance have affected environmental performance of firms using data collected from manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom. We have found that internal stakeholders provide the greatest impact in shaping environmental performance of firms, closely followed by economic pressures, environmental regulations, and external stakeholders in that order. Fears of penalties due to environmental compliance have the least impact, although this pressure also has a positive and significant impact on environmental performance.     

Stakeholder pressures,EMS implementation,and green innovation in MNC overseas subsidiaries

In this paper, we address the issue of green innovation by the overseas subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing upon stakeholder theory and institutional theory, we propose a conceptual model to explain how stakeholder pressures in host countries prompt MNC subsidiaries to undertake green product and process innovations. Our findings indicate that MNC subsidiaries need to meet market stakeholders’ pressures in order to achieve social legitimacy in host countries, and that the implementation of formal environmental management systems (EMS) is an important mechanism translating these pressures into green innovation initiatives. Furthermore, we find that the positive relationship between market stakeholder pressures and EMS implementation is reinforced by global ‘green’ institutional pressures in the different host countries.     

Institutional pressures and international market orientation in SMEs: Insights from the French wine industry

In this research, we examine how external institutional pressures influence international market orientation (IMO) in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We use institutional theory and insights from the international entrepreneurship literature to predict how different formal regulative pressures (from national and international sources) as well as different informal normative pressures (from distributors and end-consumers) influence IMO in SMEs. We test our hypotheses using survey data from 107 small wineries across all of the main wine-producing regions in France. The results provide support to the central assertion that it is outside pressures on decision-making – rather than an endowment of internal resources and capabilities – that influence IMO in SMEs. External regulative sources have the strongest effects with pressures on decision-making from national laws having a negative impact on IMO and those from international laws having a positive impact on IMO. We find partial support for the effect of normative pressures from distributors and end-consumers. Implications for theory and management of internationalization in small firms are discussed.     

Having less: A personal project taxonomy of consumers' decluttering orientations,motives and emotions

This study examines consumers' orientations toward decluttering and what differentiates consumers' engagement with decluttering as a routine social practice. An internet survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 172 adult consumers who recently engaged in home decluttering projects. Cluster analysis used appraisals of personal project dimensions to create a taxonomy in which we identified three orientations toward decluttering: disengaged, enthusiastic, and challenged. Subsequent analyses compared appraisals of success and affective and motivational differences across the three orientations. Findings reveal that decluttering is enjoyable, easy, and most successful for consumers with an enthusiastic orientation who intrinsically value decluttering and link it to self-identify. Those who lack time or adequate control experience more stress and less success. Circumstances, and especially normative pressures, seemed to drive these orientations. All orientations experienced relatively high positive emotions after decluttering, which substantiates the positive influence of decluttering on emotional well-being.     

Stakeholder Pressures as Determinants of CSR Strategic Choice: Why do Firms Choose Symbolic Versus Substantive Self-Regulatory Codes of Conduct?

To encourage corporations to contribute positively to the environment in which they operate, voluntary self-regulatory codes (SRC) have been enacted and refined over the past 15?years. Two of the most prominent are the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative. In this paper, we explore the impact of different stakeholders?? pressures on the selection of strategic choices to join SRCs. Our results show that corporations react differently to different sets of stakeholder pressures and that the SRC selection depends on the type and intensiveness of the stakeholder pressures as well as the resources at hand to respond to those pressures. Our contribution offers a more specific and finely variegated analysis of firm-stakeholder interactions.     

Partner or supplier: An examination of client/agency relationships in an IMC context

There is growing evidence from practitioners that the advertising industry is in a state of crisis. As campaigns become more integrated and multi-disciplinary, the relationship between advertising agencies and clients is being tested to its limits and is presently considered to be at an all-time low. Agencies feel less valued and are being excluded from C-suite discussion. Clients feel that agencies do not appreciate the changing landscape and how the customer experience is now key. Both sides recognise the need for more trust and collaboration. This study applies the agency theory and the social power theory to understand the pressures that the relationship is under. It looks for evidence that IMC is creating a movement away from a business alliance relationship by comparing qualitative data collected from both agencies and clients, using NVivo to identify themes. The findings identify four themes which illustrate this shift towards a supplier relationship: the client ownership of the customer journey, the lack of a strategic role of agencies, the challenges of agency collaboration and difficulties of agency specialisation.     

Corruption and Its Effects on FDI: Analysing the Interaction Between the Corruption Levels of the Home and Host Countries and Its Effects at the Decision-Making Level

This study furthers our understanding of how corruption affects the decision-making process of allocating foreign direct investment. Drawing on the responses of 28 managers in charge of establishing operations in a highly corrupt host country, we argue that those firms based in home countries with low levels of corruption are more proactive in preparing to face corruption abroad than those based in countries with high corruption levels. This means that firms from less corrupt home countries have strategies in place to deal with high corruption abroad. This finding is based on the fact that these firms have stronger pressures to not engage in corruption from their home stakeholders. Also, these firms might not have the experience of dealing with corruption at home, which hinders their potential to deal with corruption abroad. On the other hand, those firms based in highly corrupt home countries do not have clear strategies to deal with corruption abroad. This assertion is based on the fact that these firms might have familiarity in dealing with corruption and thus, might not see it as an obstacle to operating abroad.     

A strategic framework for technological innovations in support of the customer experience: A focus on luxury retailers

Luxury organizations have traditionally resisted technology, as they perceived it to be antithetical to the values of luxury. Recently, however, competitive and market pressures, compounded by the global pandemic, have prompted luxury organizations to utilize significant technological innovations to enhance their customer experience, mostly on an ad hoc basis. Across four case studies in the luxury fashion retail sector, we conduct 12 interviews with managers. This paper advances a framework that encourages luxury organizations to consider technological innovation in retailing from a strategic point of view. Such a view involves contemplating questions regarding what technology type to adopt (radical vs. incremental) and when the best timing is to adopt the technology (pioneering vs. following technological leaps). The framework identifies four retailer roles that emerge from the innovation process: facilitator, enabler, explorer, and initiator. Each role comprises a different set of risks, resource implications, and expected returns.     

Managing Impressions in the Face of Rising Stakeholder Pressures: Examining Oil Companies’ Shifting Stances in the Climate Change Debate

In this paper, we examine how organizations’ impression management (IM) evolves in response to rising stakeholder pressures regarding organizations’ corporate responsibility initiatives. We conducted a comparative case study analysis over a period of 13 years (1997–2009) for two organizations—Exxon and BP—that took extreme (but different) initial stances on climate change. We found that as stakeholder pressures rose, their IM tactics unfolded in four phases: (i) advocating the initial stance, (ii) sensegiving to clarify the initial stance, (iii) image repairing, and (iv) adjusting the stance. Taken together, our analysis of IM over these four phases provides three key insights about the evolution of IM in the face of rising pressures. First, when faced with stakeholder pressures, it seems that organizations do not immediately resort to conforming but tend to give in gradually when pressures increase and start to come from relatively powerful stakeholders. Second, evolution of IM seems to be characterized by path dependence, i.e., even as organizations’ positions evolve, they continue to show their conviction in their initial positions and try to convey that their subsequent positions flow logically from the previous ones. Finally, IM involves navigation between symbolism and substance, and companies tend to strive toward harmonizing their symbolic and substantive actions as stakeholder pressure increases.     

Intra-Industry Specialization in United States–China Trade

Frictions in U.S.–China bilateral trade relations have intensified in recent years. Changes in intra-industry specialization indicators are used to assess factor adjustment pressures that may have been experienced by U.S. and Chinese industries from recent growth in bilateral trade. Many industries experienced large increases in intra-industry trade over the 2000–10 period. Only 14 of 62 U.S. industries may have experienced factor adjustment pressures. Most U.S. industries gained from growth in U.S.–China trade. Nine Chinese industries may have faced factor adjustment pressures. The United States should refrain from using trade remedy measures to address bilateral trade frictions and focus instead on improving trade relations.     

Applying the Institutional Theory at the Level of Halal Consumers: The Case of Cape Town in South Africa

The institutional theory, especially at an individual level, has not been conducted on halal consumers in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which halal consumers who have higher institutional pressures are more expected to purchase halal food products. This study draws upon institutional theory to present empirical evidence that institutional factors may show a significant effect on halal consumer’s purchase intention and buying behavior toward purchasing halal food products. A sample of 298 halal consumers in South Africa was selected. Data samples were collected via self-administrated questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test study hypotheses. The study showed that all institutional factors have a direct effect on halal consumer’s intention and indirect effect on buying behavior. Based on the results, normative pressures had a high significant effect among institutional pressures, followed by other factors such as mimetic and coercive pressures, respectively. This study is first of the uncommon studies examining halal consumers’ purchase intention and buying behavior in a non-Muslim country, employing the institutional theory in the context of halal food consumption.