The double-edged sword of purpose-driven behavior in sustainable venturing

This paper examines the relationship between purpose and purposeful organizing and how such arrangements influence the entrepreneurial journey as sustainable ventures move from idea to markets. We leverage an iterative multi-stage process-tracing design to understand the mechanisms whereby 14 different B Corp certified organizations embed purpose before, during and after the certification process. Our analyses reveal three types of venture paths for purpose-driven entrepreneurs, which are shaped by distinct imprinting sequences with three critical sensitive windows playing a pivotal role: the definition of scope of purpose, timing of purpose formalization through B Corp Certification and shifts in the source of feedback. Different imprinters occurring within the critical sensitive windows shape particular imprinting sequences triggering situations of both productive and counterproductive path development. Our results challenge the assumed linear relationship between purpose and purposeful organizing and more specifically the belief that seeking (purposeful) B Corp certification at firm foundation is necessarily productive for society and for the ventures themselves regardless of when the certification is achieved.     

Correction to: Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

Marketing Letters - The article Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory, written by Cathy Nguyen, Jenni Romaniuk, Margaret...     

New Perspectives on Real Estate Valuation

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics -     

What retailers need to understand about website inaccessibility and disabled consumers: Challenges and opportunities

This research uniquely contributes to the marketing policy literature by illuminating the widespread yet seldom studied problem of online inaccessibility of retail websites affecting approximately 30 million disabled Americans. When a website is not designed to be navigated easily or is not compatible with assistive technology such as a screen-reader, these potential customers are not able to independently search for information and conduct transactions. Blind and low vision participants in an empirical study provide their opinions regarding accessibility policy issues and reveal that their frustrations with inaccessible retail websites may result, not only in avoidance of the retailer in its different sales channels but also in antifirm behaviors driven by negative attitudes toward perceived retailer accessibility/disability policy that spur feelings of online marketplace discrimination. Using two different evaluation tools, the top 100 retailers in the United States were evaluated on the accessibility of their websites over the past 4 years (2015–2018). Results show that most websites contain many design errors making navigation very difficult or even impossible for vision impaired consumers. The argument is made that online retailers who proactively address these inaccessibility issues on their websites may significantly increase their customer base and profitability.     

Contradictions of the Climate-Friendly City: New Perspectives on Eco-Gentrification and Housing Justice

As local governments and corporations promote ‘climate friendliness’, and a low-carbon lifestyle becomes increasingly desirable, more middle- and upper-income urban residents are choosing to live near public transit, on bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets, and in higher-density mixed-use areas. This rejection of classical forms of suburbanization has, in part, increased property values in neighborhoods offering these amenities, displacing lower-income, often non-white, residents. Increased prevalence of creative and technology workers appears to accelerate this trend. We argue that a significant and understudied socio-environmental contradiction also occurs where the actual environmental outcomes of neighborhood transformation may not be what we expect. New research on greenhouse gas emissions shows that more affluent residents have much larger carbon footprints because of their consumption, even when reductions in transportation or building energy emissions are included. We describe an area in Seattle, Washington, the location of Amazon's headquarters, experiencing this contradiction and show a distinct convergence of city investments in low-carbon infrastructure, significant rises in housing prices and decreases in lower-income and non-white residents. We conclude with a discussion of a range of issues that require more attention by scholars interested in housing justice and/or urban sustainability.     

Industrial Policies in France: The Old and the New

Industrial policy is mainly sector based in France, moulding industrial specialization and often promoting “grand projects.” It intended to make use of economies of scale, specifically in technologically sophisticated sectors and has been labelled as High Tech Colbertism. The European unification and the Single Market Programme has to some extent converted European industrial policy to the horizontal approach, banning sectoral activities, promoting framework policies, and a sound macro economic policy. The Lisbon strategy then designed a new agenda for growth which acknowledged a gap in competitiveness relative to the USA. In France new initiatives were launched in the past decade, which to some extent are echoing the French type of industrial policy. Regional cluster programs (“poles de competitivité”) were introduced, an industrial innovation agency and a national research agency were founded and the Oseo program promotes small and medium firms. The history, preconditions and chances of the new initiatives are analysed.     

Ethics and corporate governance: The issues raised by the Cadbury report in the United Kingdom

In the late 1980s there was a series of sensational business scandals in the United Kingdom. There was particular public outrage at the plundering of pension funds by Robert Maxwell, at the failure of auditors to expose the impending bankruptcy of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, and at the apparently undeserved high pay raises received by senior business executives. The City of London responded by creating a special committee to examine the financial aspects of corporate governance. This paper describes the resulting Code of Best Practice produced by the Cadbury Committee. To reduce the power of executive directors in the boardroom the Code recommends a greater role for non-executive directors, changes in board operations, and a more active role for auditors. The paper reviews the various published reactions to the Cadbury Report, and concludes that the Code is unlikely to halt the incidence of business scandals in the United Kingdom.Colin Boyd teaches at the College of Commerce, University of Saskatchewan. His study of the Zeebrugge Car Ferry Disaster is published in a number of strategy and ethics case-books. In 1993/94 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia, which provided financial support for the production of this paper.