Framing the usefulness of eHRM in talent management: A case study of talent identification in a professional services firm

As talent management evolves from intuitive to evidence‐based decision‐making, the role of electronic Human Resource Management (eHRM) to gather, distribute, and analyze data becomes more critical. However, surprisingly few academic studies investigate the role of technology in talent management. Drawing on a qualitative case study of talent management in a large professional services firm, this paper critically examines how eHRM information technologies are framed as useful within talent identification discourses. The findings reveal two distinct but interrelated sets of processes employed to identify talent and suggest that the perceived usefulness and centrality of eHRM are influenced by how stakeholders shape their understanding of effective talent management. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Road to Sustainability: Exploring the Process of Corporate Environmental Strategy Over Time

We explore corporate environmental strategy over time, investigating the patterns of evolving environmental investment decisions. Longitudinal case studies provide evidence that environmental strategy evolves through a feedback process, wherein outcomes of earlier decisions have an impact on subsequent decisions. Specifically, positive feedback from outcomes like innovation triggers higher goals, enhancing the undertaking of advanced investments, whereas negative feedback from outcomes, such as increased costs, decelerates the adoption of further investments. The study points to an emergent view of environmental strategy, where capabilities that are gradually developed in concomitance with environmental outcomes lead to an upgrading of environmental goals, thus triggering the feedback process. The process eventually culminates in higher levels of environmental conduct, being more and more integrated with business strategy and competitive advantage. Managers' values and environmental attitudes influence environmental decisions and actions, affecting the acceleration of the feedback process and the magnitude of responses. Managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Crowdsourcing and work: individual factors and circumstances influencing employability

The development of a fast and reliable Internet, new technologies online payment systems, and changes in work structure that enable and demand flexible working patterns have driven a move to a new form of Internet‐enabled labour exchange called crowdsourcing. Evidence from an in‐depth qualitative study is presented, focusing on selected users' interactions and experiences of working on two UK‐based crowdsourcing platforms. The paper shows that workers engaged in this form of labour exchange need to deploy existing employability skills and networks to effectively meet the challenges, and take advantage of the opportunities, that crowdsourcing presents. Individual factors and circumstances emerge as paramount for workers' continued engagement in this form of employment. Using selected components from an employability framework, the findings suggest that crowdsourcing can offer new pathways to practising skills and enhancing employability for some workers.     

《汽车理论》课程案例实施的途径及效果分析

《汽车理论》课程的实践应用性较强,因此,在教学过程中,应该更加注重案例教学。在本文的讨论中,分析了现阶段该课程在教学过程中存在的主要问题,然后探讨了案例教学实施的有效途径。结果显示,在该课程实施案例教学后,学生成绩有了一定程度的提高,该课程的实际教学价值得到了有效提升。     

On Teacher Politeness Principles in EFL Classroom

It is proved that teachers' politeness behavior can highly motivate students' learning impulse and improve teaching process. Politeness phenomenon in classroom has been broadly discussed and studied; however, there are still no systematic politeness principles that can be reasonably applied into the teaching process. On the basis of the politeness theories and a case study, this paper tries to seek a more reasonable and more efficient politeness principle in EFL classroom.     

Using ISO 14001 to promote a sustainable supply chain strategy

Formally adopted in 1996 by the International Organization of Standardization, ISO 14001 represents a voluntary international environmental standard, which will likely be adopted by a vast majority of corporations. Its major focus is on the structure, implementation and maintenance of a formal environmental management system. Despite its international acceptance, ISO 14001 is surrounded by controversy and criticism. The literature is clearly divided in its assessment of ISO 14001, which is viewed as a variant of total quality environmental management or a paper‐driven process of limited value. In this study, case‐based research is used to address the competing views of the standard to show that ISO 14001 registration can be leveraged across the supply chain into a competitive advantage. By looking at ISO 14001 registered firms, we compare different amounts of integration and sustainability in the supply chain. We then posit several research propositions to provide an empirical framework for the impacts of ISO 14001 on supply chain design and how it will evolve in the future. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

SMEs and CSR: An Approach to CSR in their Own Words

The academic literature reveals the need to undertake more in-depth field studies in order to discover the organisational culture, the difficulties and the perceptions surrounding CSR in SMEs. This study presents the results of analysis of four case studies on Catalan companies that stand out for their social and environmental practices. The conclusions of this paper are the result of dialogue with the main actors – four medium-sized companies – focusing on their actions, understandings and resistance with regard to CSR. The methodological perspective used was Grounded Theory, with the aim of the study being to contribute towards formalising CSR in SMEs, in their daily practices, by analysing some primary data. The results obtained show how difficult it is for SMEs to understand CSR, beyond the explanation of the specific practices carried out by the companies. They highlight the role played by the values of the founding director in the implementation of CSR programmes; they reveal that SMEs still have a long way to go towards learning how to inform both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices, and; finally, they show the interesting links that SMEs establish between responsible practices, improved competitiveness and economic results. Finally, the text points out the implications that the results of this analysis may have on creating ways of promoting CSR in SMEs. We believe that, in light of the opinions expressed by the companies, public organisations should try to concentrate on creating a favourable framework for responsible competitiveness, as a way to deal with CSR when addressing SMEs.David Murillo is a Researcher at the Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES), ESADE Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull and Academic Assistant at the same institution. He is the current coordinator of the SMEs and CSR research field at IPES. He holds a degree in Business Administration, a degree in Human Studies and a diploma in Sociology. He is currently pursuing his PhD in SME CSR.Josep M. Lozano is currently a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull and Director of the school’s Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES). Co-founder of ética, Economía y Dirección (Spanish branch of the European Business Ethics Network), member of the international Editorial Board of ‘Ethical Perspectives’ and member of the Business Ethics Inter-faculty group of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). He has been a highly commended runner-up in the European division of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Award. Author of Ethics and Organizations. Understanding Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.     

Environmental Management Accounting: A Case Study Research on Innovative Strategy

The aim of this paper is to conduct an in-depth study on environmental management systems developed in the ceramic tiles sector. This study is conceived as an improvement on a previous survey related to an environmental diagnosis of the ceramic tiles sector where some incongruities between environmental explicit speeches and environmental actions were detected. Such incongruities revealed that firms assumed to be highly environmental committed while from facts this commitment was not so high proved. So, it was necessary to introduce case study research methodology to clarify and to understand the reasons of these inconsistencies. The main objectives of our case study research are two. The first one consists in determining the relationship between firms and environment, analysing environmental positions in companies assumed in their environmental strategy and their environmental behaviour reflected in facts, while the second one attempts to establish the role played by the accounting information system in the environmental management systems of the companies in the sector. Our case study research reveals the elaboration of a larger amount of environmental accounting information for internal use than for external one. This fact is due not only to the inexistence of regulations about environmental disclosures in Spain, at that time, but also to the importance of environmental internal accounting information for management which supports the prevalence of decision-usefulness theory in the implementation of environmental management systems.Lecturer of Management Accounting in the Department of Finance and Accounting of the University Jaume I of Castellon (Spain). PhD in Business Management, with a focus on Environmental Management Accounting. Participant in several research funding programmes related to Environmental Management in Spain, Scotland and Guatemala.     

Case Studies of Ethics Scandals: Effects on Ethical Perceptions of Finance Students

Ethics instructors often use cases to help students understand ethics within a corporate context, but we need to know more about the impact a case-based pedagogy has on students’ ability to make ethical decisions. We used a pre- and post-test methodology to assess the effect of using cases to teach ethics in a finance course. We also wanted to determine whether recent corporate ethics scandals might have impacted students’ perceptions of the importance and prevalence of ethics in business, so we used in-depth case studies of several of the major scandals (e.g., Enron, Tyco, Adelphia). Our results are somewhat surprising since studying ethics scandals positively impacts students’ ethical decision making and their perceptions of the ethics of businesspeople.     

The Born-Global Phenomenon: A Comparative Case Study Research

This qualitative, case-based research investigates the most relevant traits shown by several new, export-involved born-global firms and their entrepreneurs-managers versus other more traditional and also recently-established exporting SMEs in a specific geographic region inside Spain. More concretely, we aim to shed light on the type of factors and specific conditions underlying the emergence and further expansion of born-global exporters, as compared to other counterparts, which do not share their rapid internationalising character from inception. From our cross-comparison of four firm cases investigated in this setting against a number of factors generally associated with the born-global or gradual internationalisation paths, our results indicate that both constitute two consistent and distinctive patterns of international development. Another relevant finding in this research is that born globals seem indeed to be more entrepreneurial regarding their export entry behaviour into foreign markets than gradual exporters. Relevant academic, managerial, and policy-making implications are also outlined from these results.