External knowledge sourcing for R&D activities: antecedents and implications of governance mode choice

This paper investigates how internal and external factors affect the choice between alliances and joint ventures (A&;JVs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&;As) for the external sourcing of research and development (R&;D) activities, and whether or not such a choice is really contingent, that is, is it the best choice in terms of its impact on firms' innovative performance under those circumstances? We build a set of hypotheses based on both the transaction-cost theory and the resource-based view, and test them through a secondary data source analysis. We found that companies adopt either R&;D M&;A or A&;JV depending on internal (e.g. resources and capabilities, innovation experience) and external (e.g. degree of industry specialisation) factors. Surprisingly, this contingent choice turns to be effective on innovative performance only for the internal factors, rather than the external. This paper contributes to inter-firm relationships literature by presenting the real advantages of using integrated and contingency theoretical models to understand contingent decisions.     

A phenomenological study of corporate social responsibility in the Niger delta,Nigeria

Over the past half‐century, organization‐centric approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) dominated management practice. Though scholars and practitioners have embraced integrative CSR models, there are insufficient data about rural community constructs of corporate social behavior. Drawing largely from primary research conducted in the Niger Delta region, this article explores the meanings communities ascribe to corporate social responsibility. Through open‐ended interviews, this article examines the subtle underlying meanings of the narratives provided by the indigenes to identify clues potentially useful for developing effective CSR programs in the Niger Delta. The findings show that the Niger Delta people frame their views about CSR through the experience of poverty, loss of the traditional economy, erosion of traditional values, and degradation of the environment. Thus, CSR is associated with the restoration of control over land, alleviation of poverty, and community development.     

Managerial Sensemaking and Occupational Identities in Britain and Italy: The Role of Management Magazines in the Process of Discursive Construction

Processes of discursive construction in a British and an Italian personnel management magazine are analysed to show the ways in which the magazines, both as genre forms and providers of narratives and discursive resources, provide ‘story boards’ for their readers which are helpful to them when it comes to making sense of the tensions and dilemmas associated with their managerial roles. Tensions and occupational dilemmas generally associated with personnel management work are identified and variations found in the discursive constructions associated with the two magazines are related, with reservations, to cultural and institutional differences between British and Italian human resource management     

Urban rail systems investments: an analysis of the impacts on property values and residents’ location

Light rail, metro and other urban rail transit systems can play a significant role in improving the attractiveness and quality of urban public transport. They can influence the attractiveness of locations near the stations and improve accessibility for these locations. Furthermore urban rail can improve a location’s attractiveness by its image effect: it makes a station appear modern and dynamic, and thus raises the status of this location.This paper summarises findings on the land-use and economic impacts of the urban rail system of the city of Naples over time and space. It examines changes in residential and non-residential (offices and retail) property prices around the newly built stations between 2001 and 2008 as well as the changes in the number of residents for the same station catchment areas. Ad hoc station control areas have been specified in order to compare the results of these changes. Results show that values in station control areas are lower than those of those of the stations catchment areas.     

Linking Knowledge to Productivity: A Germany-Italy Comparison Using the CIS Database

This paper employs micro-aggregated data from the FirstCommunity Innovation Survey for assessing the contribution of the level and type of R & D spending, the purchase of new machinerywith embodied technological change, economies of scale, and information sharing with client and suppliers to productivity(total sales per employee) in German and Italian firms in 20 manufacturing industries. The regression analysis confirms theresults of previous studies that R & D and technological change embodied in new machinery and capital equipment aremajor factors affecting productivity at the firm level. However, the elasticity of productivity to both R & D and embodiedtechnological change is higher in Germany than in Italy. Conversely, information sharing with clients and suppliersrelated to innovation projects does not result in higher productivity, with the exception of a few industries (inparticular those producing traditional consumer goods) in Germany.     

Alternative paths for the growth of e-commerce

Electronic commerce promises to be the drive behind a new wave of economic growth. Yet, the actual achievement of the prospected benefits and their allocation will depend on the features of the business models driving the diffusion of the new sales channel. The paper rejects the existence of a deterministic relation between e-commerce technological features and the structure of future electronic markets. Accordingly, alternative growth paths are explored and different scenarios are sketched depending upon the prevailing nature of the economic relations among the involved actors. For each scenario, the paper discusses the implications in terms of e-commerce diffusion speed and benefits allocation. The analysis of possible growth paths reveal that public intervention plays a non-negligible role in shaping the business model(s) that will eventually emerge, hence the impact of e-commerce on social welfare.     

Endogenous incompleteness of financial markets: The role of ambiguity and ambiguity aversion

Incompleteness of financial markets has been widely questioned in the literature, but traditional research has been mainly focused on the role of transaction costs and asymmetric information in determining such incompleteness. This paper, instead, focuses on agents’ preferences, showing that the introduction of ambiguity and ambiguity aversion may induce investors to restrict their trading to a simpler set of assets, relative to which they are less likely to make errors.     

Does the professionalism of management practices in nonprofits and for-profits affect job satisfaction?

This paper examines workers' satisfaction related to the level of professionalism of managerial practices in the French services sector. The data used are from the original survey conducted by the French Institute for Demographic Research and include both workers' responses on their satisfaction level, individual characteristics, job conditions, etc. and employers' responses on managerial practices implemented. We construct an index of workers' overall satisfaction and an index of ‘managerial professionalism’. In our model of workers' overall job satisfaction, the index of managerial practices is treated as an endogenous variable using two-stage least squares regressions. We show that the index of managerial practices is strongly and positively associated with workers' overall workplace satisfaction. Overall workplace satisfaction is found to be strongly associated with wages and individuals' perceptions about work environment. Finally, working in nonprofits is positively associated with greater overall job satisfaction.