To challenge the world view or to flow with it? Teaching sustainable development in business schools

This paper explores the fundamental question of what ‘responsibility’ means to different sets of world views adopted implicitly by business students. The exploration adopts the stakeholder theory and three subsets of the Friedman mentality to explain how individuals may value sustainability initiatives. Subsequently, it explores whether it is better to flow with the dominant economic‐driven world view as prescribed by the business school or to challenge it in order to cultivate business students with sustainability‐driven values. The conclusion highlights implications for business and management education, as well as the role of entrepreneurship to promote sustainability values.     

An examination of the antecedents of e-customer loyalty in a confucian culture: The case of South Korea

As the Internet is posing revolutionary changes to customer service and the way customers interact and purchase from businesses, loyal e-customers are crucial for the long-term survival and profitability of a business. Driven by high connectivity, reach and richness of information in today's global business environment, the task of retaining and creating loyal e-customers calls for an appreciation of cultural factors and their impact on e-customer service and loyalty. Specifically, this study examines the impact of Confucian culture on e-customer loyalty in South Korea. Since no research has yet examined the link between Confucian values and e-customer loyalty, the study proposes a conceptual model for empirical analysis by drawing on insights from Hofstede's cultural dimensions and previous studies on e-customer loyalty in European contexts. The main results show that high power distance in Confucian culture is positively associated with affiliation. But this high power distance in Confucian culture is moderated by marketing activities that lead to lock-in. This indicates the profound influence of collectivism in Confucian culture and emphasises the importance of referral and community participation in increasing stickiness and hence loyal e-customers.     

A franchise: a resource-rich small service firm?

Internationally, the small firm community has been the focus of attention from academics and policy makers for several decades. On the other hand, franchising of services is a relative newcomer, particularly in the United Kingdom, and has not received the attention that this form of business organisation warrants. This article investigates the extent to which franchising represents the intelligent leverage of resources by ‘small firm’ owner-operator franchisees, focusing on one major ‘benchmark’ franchisor in the UK – McDonald's Restaurants Ltd. The article enables the exploration of the profile of individuals attracted to franchising and the associated resources, costs, tensions and contradictions, and moves discussion towards conclusions based on a resource scarcity/efficiency thesis from the dual perspectives of the franchisee and franchisor.     

Is Confucianism Good for Business Ethics in China?

This article examines whether and to what extent Confucianism as a resilient Chinese cultural tradition can be used as a sound basis of business practice and management model for Chinese corporations in the twenty-first century. Using the core elements of Confucianism, the article constructs a notion of a Confucian Firm with its concepts of the moral person (Junzi), core human morality (ren, yi, li) and relationships (guanxi), as well as benign social structure (harmony), articulated in corporate and organizational terms. The basic character of the Confucian Firm is described, and its philosophical and cultural foundation is critically assessed with respect to its moral legitimacy and relevant to today’s China. China’s recent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) development is a high profile response to global business ethics concerns. Efforts have been made to emulate and develop good business practice fashioned in CSR norms and visions. The so-called “human-based” and “virtue-based” business practices rooted in local cultural heritage have been touted as a Chinese response to this problem. This investigation is particularly relevant in the context of the increasingly prominence of the Chinese corporations (China Inc.) in the wake of the rise of China as a global power. How relevant is Confucianism to the building of a modern Chinese corporation that is willing and able to practice reasonable norms of business ethics? The findings of this discussion, which include the organizational implications of the Confucian familial collectivism, have implications for other Chinese communities (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) where Confucian tradition is endorsed and practiced.     

儒商精神的内生境遇探析：历史溯源、存在特质及其实践内生

儒商精神在现代管理境遇中能否内生,从其历史溯源、存在特质和实践内生等几个维度进行递进式分析。儒商（精神）的存在特质就是基于中国本土文化场,以商业文化的探讨为指向,探讨管理哲学视野下的组织文化的儒商（精神）向度。这种定位在儒家强文化势能塑造的惯习下,在管理学理论与实践导向管理精致化的管理文化时代体现的管理模式中,其存在有实践需求。它的根基是具有中国本土传统文化支撑的商业意识形态。中国古代的儒商精神内生是从广域单一儒家文化场内生出儒商精神,而面向未来的儒商精神内生是从多元商业文化备选境遇中选择儒商精神,两种内生状态、程度迥异。面向未来对儒商（精神）在商业实践中内生应保持谨慎的乐观,因为在强国家主义主导下的传统儒家的强政治文化资源若仍主导儒商精神的塑造与重构,其既可以导向积极的儒商（精神）,也可以因传统儒家文化中的消极内容使儒商（精神）在面向未来中导向一种颓废的商业意识形态。儒商（精神）面向未来实践需要重构,面向儒家原生资源挖掘其创造性、生生不息、有情有义的精气神,这可以优化并更新儒商精神内涵,为新时代全球化中的工商业文明的塑造提供更多的希冀。     

A Multicultural Joint Venture Under the Post-Developmental State in Singapore

As a multi-cultural country with a British colonial past hosting many different ethnic groups including Westerners, Singapore juggles with the often conflicting forces of Westernization (holding the promise of economic prosperity) and Asianization (holding the promise of a distinct cultural identity). Although the endorsement of ‘Asian values’ by Singapore political leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew may be seen as a mere rhetoric device to either explain ethnic Chinese business success or the Asian crisis, the question needs to be raised as to the ways in which the Asian Values discourse affects both Western and Asian MNCs operating in Singapore. In order to address this question, this article investigates the participation of a European–Japanese joint venture in a large government-sponsored reclamation project in Singapore. It is a rather unique situation in which the state as paymaster has the upper hand over the partners. The investigation shows that reference to ‘Asian values’ is a significant boundary-marking strategy used by both the Singapore government and the joint venture partners to manipulate the power balances in this triangular relationship. The outcome is more often than not advantageous for the Singapore state.     

British Business History: A Review of the Periodical Literature for 1998

Japanese economic success has been built upon the establishment and development of key manufacturing sectors, and the perspectives of business history can especially reveal that complex interaction of companies, markets, business networks, and state which has over time created a globally competitive industrial system. Long-term economic growth was capped in the 1950s and 1960s by growth rates that were unprecedented in their scale and duration. Similarly, the process of industrial transformation accelerated in the years between 1918 and 1950, important developments finally coalescing during the post-war period into the so-termed ‘Japanese industrial system’. Debates over the timing of economic development in Japan are intertwined with debates on the contribution of a pre-industrial national culture to business success. The historical record suggests that the acquisition of organisational capabilities within Japanese manufacturers has been shaped by the timing of the country's industrialisation and by its consequent development needs. The nature of Japanese management and Japan's industrial system, although influenced by cultural attributes, was shaped by organisational and economic objectives attuned to the circumstances of the country's industrialisation, and competitive advantage followed from the unavoidably nationally specific process by which potential was ultimately matched by capability.     

跨国公司竞争优势及其相关理论的演进探讨

基于跨国经营活支的时间顺序,探讨跨国公司竞争优势及其相关理论的演进逻辑,即其关注焦点从企业内部"特定优势"到企业外部产业结构,再到企业内部的资源和能力,其研究的出发点是从跨国公司对外直接投资必须具有什么样的竞争优势到如何获取可持续的竞争优势,并对未来进行展望。     

Affective and Normative Motives to Work Overtime in Asian Organizations: Four Cultural Orientations from Confucian Ethics

Asian workplaces are often characterized by cultures that require more overtime than other cultures. Although predictors for overtime work have been rigorously studied, it is still meaningful to investigate specific aspects of Eastern cultural values that stem from Confucian ethics and may influence overtime work among Asian employees. We suggest that four major Confucian orientations are positively associated with employees’ affective and normative motives, which in turn affect working overtime. This article extends management literature on the subjects of cultural ethics and workaholism. It also suggests how Eastern cultural values lead to working overtime. We hope that our research effort on Confucian cultural value and its associations with other managerial outcomes and theories is a small cornerstone that allows management researchers to explore interesting and meaningful ways to apply Confucian culture and orientations in the workplace.     

The relationship between organizational culture and market orientation in the Greek telecommunication companies

The modern business environment is characterized by intense competition, which has led telecommunication companies to a continuous race towards gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage. In order to succeed, telecommunication companies “cultivate” market orientation and market oriented cultures as non-imitable characteristics, capable to ensure long–term corporate viability and growth. This paper provides an insight into the Greek telecommunication industry by: a) revealing the coordination between market orientation strategies with corresponding culture, b) the relationship between extrovert-type cultures with performance and c) how special traits of telecommunication providers (size and age) influence the degree of market orientation and the dominant culture type (introvert or extrovert). The paper contributes: a) to the creation of national cultural profile in the telecommunication industry, which can become a starting point in a wider trial to create a European industry profile, b) to the empirical testing of the correlation between culture and market orientation and c) to the examination of the extent to which background factors (such as firms’ age and size) should be taken into account during the implementation of a business strategy.     

Mindfulness as a strategy for sustainable competitive advantage

This conceptual article explores how mindfulness can be successfully integrated in the strategy tool kit of organizations. The likely global reconstruction in the aftermath of COVID-19 can be effective if organizations reexamine their existing philosophies and business practices. Against this backdrop, mindfulness is a time-tested practice that has the potential to transcend all functions in a company’s value chain and to create a sustainable competitive advantage. This article uses a strategy lens to examine mindfulness in organizations, which has implications for researchers and practitioners. First, I discuss the theoretical frameworks of mindfulness, the performance improvements that individuals can expect from consistent practice, and how these improvements translate to organization-level performance. Next, I summarize the methods and tools for workplace application and the steps for implementing mindfulness strategies in organizations. Finally, I describe implementation challenges and offer assessment tools for mindfulness.     

Australian businesses in China: searching for synergy

This article reports on an empirical, interpretive study conducted in 2001-2002 in the Beijing region of China. The case of the ‘Australians managing in Northern China’ is reported here. This research explores two major areas. First, it investigates the imilarities similarities and differences between Australian and Chinese cultures both at the national and corporate levels as the actors – the Australian managers and their Chinese colleagues – see them. Secondly, it studies how the actors are interacting to manage cultural issues in their organizations and whether synergies are emergent from their interactions. The article attempts to help managers and researchers gain a deeper understanding of the questions: what major cultural similarities and differences do Australian and Chinese managers perceive both inside and outside of their organizations; how do managers interact to effectively manage cultural issues in Australian businesses in China and how is synergy possible?     

Revisiting the role of cultural distance in MNC's foreign ownership mode choice: the moderating effect of experience attributes

This study investigates potential moderating effects of firm's experience levels in the relationship between cultural distance and foreign ownership mode choice. Using the well established Japanese FDI data base, it is found that higher levels of experience, particularly decision-specific experience (prior experience with a particular ownership structure mode), mitigates potential impacts of uncertainty and costs caused by the high level of cultural distance, thus uncovering one possible answer to the ‘national cultural distance paradox’ reported in the literature. These findings reinforce similar findings of interaction effects between key variables and cultural distance in studies involving other important strategic decisions of the MNC. The ‘decision-specific experience-moderated cultural distance’ variable, and not the ‘absolute cultural distance’ variable, is found to be an important determinant of a firm's foreign ownership mode choice. Furthermore, this variable dominates the other experience-moderated cultural distance variables (international business experience and host county experience-moderated cultural distance variables) in the ability to discriminate between full ownership and shared ownership modes. Based on this moderated cultural distance measure, we find strong evidence that cultural distance is positively associated with full ownership of Japanese foreign manufacturing entities.     

Born global or local? Factors influencing the internationalization of university spin-offs—the case of Halmstad University

A wealth of research in the past decades has examined born globals or international new ventures, which are firms that from inception view the whole world as a market and as a source to access resources. Many of these firms build their competitive advantage on high-tech knowledge. However, although many studies have shown how born globals can achieve success if they access resources through their relationships from actors in their networks, few studies have explored the relationship between born globals and universities. Universities are important actors in creating new technology knowledge, and many studies have shown how new firms, or so-called university spin-offs (USOs), are formed around universities. The current study explores why some USOs are successful in their international growth strategy and discusses the factors that influence and facilitate the internationalization process. The study investigates 10 USOs around the newly established Halmstad University in Sweden and finds that universities have a positive effect on firm creation and initial international growth. The regional competence base increases from the establishment of a local university, primarily by strengthening the regional human capital and by increasing university research. This study shows that researcher entrepreneurs’ ventures start as born globals, but that these firms do not continue to grow. Born global business models, per se, do not lead to competitive advantage and successful internationalization. Instead, a strategy built on customer focus and an ability to adapt to different customer demands lead to growth, and the location of growth is dependent on the size of the home market. This study also shows that student entrepreneurship can be a successful growth strategy for USOs focusing on both international and local markets.     

Ethics-focused dynamic capabilities: a small business perspective

Our analysis of survey data of US small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) explores (1) whether firms have ‘dynamic’ capabilities that change their ethics-focused operational capabilities; (2) what effects those dynamic capabilities have on both ethical and competitive performance; and, (3) whether those effects are contingent on a firm’s entrepreneurial characteristics. Our survey reveals that about a quarter of SMEs self-report high levels of these ethics-focused dynamic capabilities. We use hierarchical OLS to analyze the survey data to find that the general effect of these capabilities is positive on an SME’s ethical performance, and that the performance effects are contingent on an SME’s degree of entrepreneurial orientation and sensitivity to changes in the business context. The main implication is that the extent of heterogeneity in types, roles, and performance effects of ‘higher-than-operations-level’ capabilities is likely underestimated in current dynamic capabilities theory and application.     

Getting to No. A Matter of English Ethics or Culture?

When does an English businessman's ‘yes’really mean ‘no’, ‘maybe’, ‘later’, or perhaps ‘probably not’? And how much of this is unethical stringing along or part of a puzzling English business culture? Why can't they say what they mean? Dr Djursaa is Associate Professor with responsibility for British political and social studies at the Business Language Faculty of Copenhagen Business School, Dalgas Have 15, DK-2000 Copenhagen F, Denmark. She gained her doctorate at the University of Essex and spent a period as visiting fellow at Cranfield School of Management. Her major field of research, on which she here reflects, is cultural factors in Anglo-Danish business relations.     

Arm's length and captive transactions: Patent-based view of control in internationalization

This conceptual paper responds to the need for examining the role of patent control over internationalization. It proposes the patent-based strategy of control, in other words, how 3Cs – complementarity, competitiveness, and conditions – impact the strategic decision on corporate control over the patent; thereby the option of commercialization between arm's length and captive transactions. It demonstrates the multiple theoretical natures of business strategies; emphasizes how strategic fit can impact the decision on control; addresses patents as intangible assets that form a comparative and competitive advantage rather than only as a legal right and that have bearing on strategic decision making. The paper proposes that the intention of high control over a patent drives the owner to opt for captive transactions; low control arm's length transactions. Nonetheless, the challenge lies before the decision is made; managers need to assess the ‘strategic fit’ elements that directly impact on the extent of control.     

Questioning boundedly rational frameworks in practice: The case of women entrepreneurs in Kumasi,Ghana

Management research has a foundation in bounded rationality, wherein individuals seek to make the best choice to satisfy preferences within limits posed by informational incompleteness. This work addresses how the notion of rationality that models Western, male centric business concerns is not universal. Gender has been left out of the assumptions of boundedly rational models and the use of these models often advantage men at the expense of women. The work in this paper explores the absence of gender in the assumptions of bounded rationality and how this theory is applied in emerging contexts. The paper explores the structural obstacles based on bounded rationality that are imposed on women's businesses and their decision-making and how these obstacles constrain the potential of female entrepreneurs. The paper examines these issues through 220 interviews with stakeholders in the Kumasi Central Market social system in Kumasi, Ghana. The evidence shows that when considering business registration, what is most salient to entrepreneurs is the prevailing cultural expectations for men and women, despite female economic and social prowess as entrepreneurs that predated this business registration laws by centuries. This tension between expectations for female entrepreneurial competency and the simultaneous marginalization of female entrepreneurs using frameworks based on bounded rationality is explored.     

US small retail businesses’ perception of competition: Looking through a lens of fear,confidence, or cooperation

The U.S. retail industry has undergone dramatic changes, leading to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores on a large scale. Understanding perceived market competition among small retail businesses may help explain why certain businesses survive or fail in the altered retail environment. This study investigates small retail businesses' perceptions of competition within/outside the community, underlying reasons for their perceptions, and variations in perceptions by different business characteristics. Contrary to common expectations, we found that more than half of businesses interviewed were optimistic in the face of competition. Our data reveal two salient underlying reasons for pessimism and five for optimism. These perceptions tended to differ by operational locality (urban clusters vs. urban areas), business revenues, and innovativeness. Based on the findings, we developed propositions and a framework of small businesses' perceived competition and sustainable competitive advantage. We discussed theoretical and practical implications for small retail businesses’ sustainable growth in the challenging retail environment.     

Facing the inevitable? The public telecom monopoly’s way of coping with deregulation

The telecommunications industry has gone through a total restructure since the late 1970s, as state-owned national monopolies have given way to listed enterprises and competitive international markets. Scholars have explained wide-ranging privatisation and deregulation at a general level, but what happened to the former state-owned monopolies and how they adapted to the emerging business-oriented environment, has had with less scrutiny. It has been assumed that external factors caused these institutions to adapt a business approach, but did these organisations themselves have any significant power of decision in these processes? This article explains how one of these former state organisations, the Finnish Post and Telecommunications Department (PTL) was turned into the business enterprise ‘Sonera’. The analysis focuses on the management’s point of view. As the national telecommunications operator encountered international developments as a compelling external force, which turned it from a local office-holder into a recipient of international influences, PTL’s management came to the conclusion that the organisation, in order to survive, had no other choice but to change. It virtually took a strategic decision to transform the department to meet new expectations. However, the state-owner’s support was crucial. The change, although dependent on external factors, was to a large extent an endogenous, time-consuming but accelerating process. Failure might have resulted in the PTL’s defeat. Eventually the change became a self-fulfilling, ‘inevitable’ process which for one’s part strengthened the international trend.