Business Group Affiliation and Corporate Sustainability Strategies of Firms: An Investigation of Firms in India

In spite of an overwhelming importance of business groups (BG) in the economic development of many countries, systematic inquiry on how the BGs and their affiliated firms approach and contribute to shared value creation and sustainable development is rare. In this paper we address this research gap by investigating two related questions—do BG-affiliated firms differ from non-BG firms in their corporate sustainability strategy (CSS) and how does BG affiliation influence the relationship between stock of fungible resources and CSS of firms? Drawing from the BG literature we theorize that BG-affiliated firms tend to adopt of both environmental and social sustainability strategies more than non-BG firms. We also argue that although according to resource-based view, the stock of fungible resources of firms positively influences CSS, BG affiliation negatively moderates the relationship between stock of fungible resources and CSS of firms. Stock of fungible resources matters less for BG-affiliated firms in undertaking CSS as they have access to resources of the BG network. We test our theoretical predictions using a proprietary data set of 163 Indian publicly listed firms, out of which 76 are BG-affiliated firms belonging to 74 BGs. The data for corporate environmental and social sustainability strategies have been obtained by administering a survey instrument among the top level executives of the participating firms. We find support for our theoretical predictions that signify that BGs and their affiliates make important contributions to shared value creation and sustainable development in emerging economies like India.     

Going Public and the Enrichment of a Supportive Network

Past research on initial public offerings suggests that the reputation of a company positively affects the success of the offering. Success is usually measured in financial terms as if the essence of the operation lay only in the short-term inflow of money. In this paper, we investigate important albeit often neglected implications of going public by combining evidence from a series of preliminary case studies taken from the results of a survey of 57 Italian initial public offerings. Evidence from our research suggests that, besides providing an important inflow of capital, going public may actually improve the reputational and social capital of a company, by increasing its visibility, prestige and perceived trustworthiness. Therefore, going public may be an important way to support entrepreneurial activity, as it may expand and reinforce the network of relationships that offer access to external resources, complementary skills and investment opportunities.     

Stakeholder Relationships,Engagement, and Sustainability Reporting

The concept of sustainability was developed in response to stakeholder demands. One of the key mechanisms for engaging stakeholders is sustainability disclosure, often in the form of a report. Yet, how reporting is used to engage stakeholders is understudied. Using resource dependence and stakeholder theories, we investigate how companies within the same industry address different dependencies on stakeholders for economic, natural environment, and social resources and thus engage stakeholders accordingly. To achieve this objective, we conducted our research using qualitative research methods. Our findings suggest that the resource dependencies on different stakeholders lead to development of different stakeholder relationships and thus appropriate resources within the company to execute engagement strategies that are informing, responding, or involving. Our research explains why diversity exists in sustainability disclosure by studying how it is used to engage stakeholders. We find that five sustainability reporting characteristics are associated with the company’s stakeholder engagement strategy: directness of communication, clarity of stakeholder identity, deliberateness of collecting feedback, broadness of stakeholder inclusiveness, and utilization of stakeholder engagement for learning. Our study develops the literature by providing insight into companies’ choices of stakeholder engagement strategy thus explaining diversity in sustainability reporting based on the characteristics and relationships with specific stakeholders.     

The commons: A model for understanding collective action and entrepreneurship in communities

The creation of commons—resources that are shared, accessible, and collectively owned and managed by communities—is increasingly being adopted by social entrepreneurs as a way of contributing to community development and putting value into economic activities. Yet, little research is evident related to the entrepreneurial processes involved in the creation and commercialization of these shared resources. Drawing on the Institutional Analysis and Development framework developed by Ostrom (2005), I explain how commons are entrepreneurially created. Based on a comparative study of five community banks in Brazil, I derive two ideological principles of collective entrepreneurship that help sustain commercialization of commons without commodification, namely ‘self-organization’ and ‘right to access’. I elucidate how these principles are enacted across venture levels through downward and upward mechanisms of social control facilitated by entrepreneurs who enhance collective action. This article contributes to the entrepreneurship theory of commons by explaining how commons are entrepreneurially created and by adding the collective entrepreneurship principles and mechanisms that commons of different types need in order to achieve and sustain wealth-creation options without incurring the downsides of commodification.     

Corporate Perspectives on the Development and Use of Sustainability Reports

The purpose of this paper is to explore corporate perspectives on the development and use of sustainability reports. Interviews with experts from 35 Canadian corporations were conducted. The research showed that the content of the reports was determined by following standards, conducting an internal evaluation, and other methods. Five corporations were found to develop fully integrated reports, while another 15 included some sustainability aspects in their annual reports. The extent of external stakeholder involvement in the development of the report varied widely, but the majority of the corporations considered stakeholder input. Data collection was handled by a number of different individuals and groups, with sustainability departments often taking a lead role. Twenty-five corporations relied exclusively on internal personnel to write the report, with the remaining corporations using a combination of internal and external writers. A number of key challenges in developing sustainability reports were identified, including timelines, data collection, selecting content, and striking an appropriate balance in reporting. The reports were used internally in a number of different ways, including enhancing employee awareness and engagement and as an internal reference tool. A number of potential future uses of sustainability reports were also mentioned, such as improving the ability to track real-time performance.     

Learning Sustainability? Absorptive capacities as drivers of sustainability in MNCs’ purchasing

MNCs are expected to operate in a sustainable fashion. Implementation of sustainability requires the ability to acknowledge external (sustainability-related) knowledge, and to apply it in intra-company activities such as purchasing. We focus on absorptive capacities as potential drivers of sustainability, and investigate the effect that a purchasing function’s capacity to absorb and process knowledge has on social and environmental sustainability practices, and subsequently on economic performance in purchasing. We compare MNCs and non-MNCs using a structural equation model of a large set of survey data from four European countries and find that only realized absorptive capacities impact sustainability practices in purchasing and this impact is smaller in MNCs than in other companies. We suggest that companies respond to the demand for sustainability by strengthening their implementation capabilities: the potential to acquire and transform knowledge within a purchasing function is less relevant, and what matters is its application.     

Case Study in the Evolution of Sustainability: Baxter International Inc.

Baxter International Inc. (Baxter) is a global, diversified healthcare company based in Deerfield, IL. In 2011, Baxter had sales of $13.9 billion and employed approximately 48,500 people worldwide (Baxter’s 2011 Sustainability Report). Baxter is also recognized for its efforts toward environmental/sustainability performance and reporting. The company defines sustainability as ‘a long-term approach to including our social, economic and environmental responsibilities among our business priorities. Baxter’s efforts in this area align with and support our mission of saving and sustaining lives.’ This case study attempts to analyze the progress of the company on its journey along the path toward sustainability. The formal environmental initiatives at Baxter were started in the 1970s. The acquisition of American Hospital Supply Corporation intensified the environmental challenges for the company. A new environmental course was set in the 1990s that led to the development of the State-of-the-Art (SOA) Environmental Standards. At this time, the company started measuring its efforts and began publishing an Environmental Financial Statement in its annual public Environmental Report. In 2005, an executive level Sustainability Steering Committee was proposed and subsequently created in 2006 to accelerate the integration of sustainability within all facets of the organization. This case study articulates the evolution of Sustainability at Baxter Inc. As a result of its efforts, Baxter has received numerous awards and accolades for its efforts in sustainability performance and reporting. For example, in 2011 Newsweek Magazine ranked Baxter the 4th greenest company in the United States (Newsweek Magazine, October 17, 2011, accessed online at http://www.baxter.com/press_room/features/2011/newsweek_green_rankings.html). Going forward, it would be noteworthy to see whether Baxter can keep up its momentum and continue to be a sustainability leader.     

Sustainability Issues in Transnational Education Service: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Insights

ABSTRACT

Many transnational education (TNE) services have been operating successfully to export education. However, many other TNE programs and partnerships have also been terminated. TNEs' sustainability is under-researched; specifically, its sustainability from the contexts of strategic partnership considerations, all recognized TNE activities, and its sustainability indicators. This conceptual article analyzes literature on TNE partnership issues, the standardization-adaptation (StandAdapt) concept of international business strategy and sustainability issues, with an aim to establish an initial route to develop TNE services that would sustain business viability, centered on transnational market-specific conditions. The analysis suggests that there is a consistent interrelationship between different sustainability indicators and market orientation, which has implications for incorporating sustainability issues into TNE services and transnational strategies. An initial framework is proposed to develop TNE services in order to sustain TNE businesses. Some empirical insights are developed in support of this conceptual framework. Further research areas are discussed.     

Social identity in MNCs based on language and nationality

The existence of multiple languages in a multinational corporation (MNC) causes tensions in the firm both by causing problems in communicating and by creating social groups. MNCs that adopt a common corporate language that is not their home language will find a problem of competing languages. Nationality is another cultural feature that leads to perceived biases that favor home‐country nationals. We explore both of these influences using social identity theory. Our research was conducted in a Spanish MNC that has subsidiaries in 42 countries and has adopted English as its corporate language. We used a mixed‐method approach with a mailed survey of 216 managers across 42 subsidiaries in the MNC and personal interviews of headquarters executives. We found that Spanish speakers enjoyed advantages in terms of access to resources for themselves and their subsidiaries, relative to non‐Spanish speakers. This access was greater when the Spanish speakers were Spanish nationals and was moderated by geographic proximity of the subsidiary to the headquarters and age of the subsidiary.     

新农村建设中社区社会资本的开发与利用——以尔德井村为例

社区社会资本有利于新农村建设五大目标的顺利实现。尔德井村在新农村建设中,通过村庄外部网络的链接、内部关系的整合及规范秩序的重建,既获得了社会资源,又增强了发展能力。从中国社会发展的现状来看,新农村建设战略的实施、社会关系网络的重要作用以及社会组织结构和经济体制的分化与转型,都为村落社区开发、利用社会资本奠定了一定的基础。     

Exploring the impact of mobile money services on marketing interactions in relation to consumer well-being in subsistence marketplaces – lessons from rural Cambodia

Abstract

The mobile phone has increasingly become a channel for providing access to formal financial services. There is a need to understand how financial service offerings, increasingly accessed through mobile phones, impact marketing interactions, specifically marketing exchange activities and social network relationships, to enhance consumer well-being (CWB) in subsistence marketplaces. Through interviews and contextualised observational research in rural Cambodia, findings reveal that the impacts of mobile money services on marketing interactions in relation to CWB can be categorised at two distinct levels. The first-level impact is the actual physical money transfer transactions as part of the marketing exchange activities which leads to the second-level impact on the social network relationships at interpersonal, social group and cultural levels. Drawing from these insights, policy-makers and industry stakeholders can formulate strategies and develop innovative service offerings through mobile phone technology to enhance CWB in subsistence marketplaces.     

The sustainability of ISO 9001 in a legal service organisation

This paper examines the sustainability and the changes experienced by a legal service organisation in the implementation of ISO 9001 in terms of reasons, benefits, and key success factors over an 8-year time interval. This exploratory study employs qualitative methods using a single case study approach. Data were collected through two phases of interviews, 1996 and 2004, with the same quality manager in the legal service organisation. Both interviews were based on a similar set of structured questions derived from the previous studies. Pattern matching was used to analyse and compare the 1996 and the 2004 findings. Three major findings are identified in this study. First, the internal reasons for implementing ISO 9001 are sustained, whereas the external reasons are diminished. Second, the benefits are mainly internal rather than external, and these are sustainable over time. Third, top management commitment and staff involvement are shown to be the critical factors of both the implementation and the maintenance of ISO 9001. The results contribute to a better understanding of the benefits of ISO 9001 as well as the level of commitment required to sustain these benefits. The results also show the learning process taken up by firms in better understanding the value of ISO 9001 implementation over time.     

社会资本、社会网络与企业家集群——基于宁波和温州的比较研究

基于社会网络理论,文章通过研究温州和宁波两地企业家集群产生的过程,分析社会资本如何促进大规模的企业家集群产生。研究表明,企业家个人的社会资本在区域文化、共同价值观和群体信任的发酵下结成社会网络,社会网络促使更多企业家产生从而形成企业家集群。研究显示,温州企业家社会网络具有强联系、同质性和自组织的特点,创业倾向集体行动,依赖本地资源,产业升级代际锁定;宁波企业家社会网络具有弱联系、异质性和他组织的特点,外部资源掌控力强,容易引发产业升级。     

Firms' use of organizational,personal, and intermediary networks to gain access to resources for internationalization

This study explores which networks are beneficial for gaining resources for firms' internationalization. Little is known about firms' use of organizational, personal, and intermediary networks to gain access to resources for internationalization. Firms are seeking resources through their organization's relationships (organizational networks) and individuals' personal contacts (personal networks). Governmental and industry actors are implementing networks to promote international growth and act as an intermediary between business actors (intermediary networks). We conduct in‐depth interviews with firms and representatives for intermediary networks complemented with a survey. The findings reveal which resources are accessed through the different networks. We find organizational networks provide considerable access to most resources (except financial resources) that are beneficial for internationalization, whereas intermediary networks provide access to reputational, human, and market resources. Personal networks primarily provide access to human resources. This study contributes to theory by giving a more fine‐grained understanding of how different types of networks give access to different resources valuable for internationalization.     

基于社会资本的企业家群体研究

本文基于社会网络理论,通过研究温州和宁波两地企业家集群产生的过程,分析社会资本如何促进大规模的企业家集群产生。研究表明:企业家个人的社会资本在区域文化、共同价值观和群体信任的发酵下结成社会网络,并促使更多企业家产生且形成企业家集群;温州企业家社会网络具有强联系、同质性和自组织的特点,创业倾向集体行动,依赖本地资源,产业升级代际锁定;宁波企业家社会网络具有弱联系、异质性和他组织的特点,外部资源掌控力强,容易引发产业升级。     

Bridging the gap: How sustainable development can help companies create shareholder value and improve financial performance

This study examines the effect of integrating sustainability into corporate strategy on various aspects of shareholder value creation and financial performance in the British capital market. The employed method is based on the content analysis of corporate disclosures and a new technique for assessing the adoption of the corporate sustainability concept (embracing the environmental, social, and financial aspects of a company's policies at the same time). Using extensive data of FTSE 350 firms covering the years 2006–2012, 65 companies were selected as meeting corporate sustainability criteria. For the above period, we find that these firms were characterized by higher financial risk exposure, lower asset growth rates, lower BV/MV ratios, lower EVA ratios, and higher MVA ratios. Such relations were generally present among different size and industry groupings. The results support the thesis that firms that incorporate sustainability issues into their business operations are better able to leverage their resources toward stronger financial performance and shareholder value creation than other companies. The paper contributes to the literature by offering a more holistic approach to corporate sustainable performance measurement and shedding additional light on its relation to financial performance in the context of the recent global financial crisis and its direct aftermath.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Blogosphere

This paper uses social network analysis to examine the interaction between corporate blogs devoted to sustainability issues and the blogosphere, a clustered online network of collaborative actors. By analyzing the structural embeddedness of a prototypical blog in a virtual community, we show the potential of online platforms to document corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and to engage with an increasingly socially and ecologically aware stakeholder base. The results of this study show that stakeholder involvement via sustainability blogs is a valuable new practice for CSR communications and stakeholder engagement. It also opens new horizons for communicating CSR issues to key constituencies online.     

Supply Chain Specific? Understanding the Patchy Success of Ethical Sourcing Initiatives

As a number of high profile companies have found to their cost, corporate reputations can be significantly affected by firms' management of sustainability issue, including those that are outside their direct control, such as the environmental and social impacts of their supply networks. This paper begins by examining the relationship between corporate social responsibility, reputation, and supply network conditions. It then looks at the effectiveness of one tool for managing supply network sustainability issues, ethical sourcing codes of conduct, by examining how the characteristics of three supply networks branded clothes, DIY wood products and branded confectionary affects the implementation ethical sourcing codes of conduct. It ends by setting out conclusions on why implementation of such codes has been so much more successful in some sectors than others and recommendations on effective approaches to managing sustainability issues in supply networks.     

TMT社会网络、公司创业与企业绩效关系研究

拥有大量内外部信息资源的高管团队(TMT),其社会网络不但可以提供公司创业的机会来源,也是企业现在绩效和未来绩效的影响因素。TMT的社会网络只有通过公司创业机制才能转化为企业绩效的价值创造过程。中国背景下的实证研究显示:TMT社会网络、公司创业都与企业绩效正相关,对于企业而言,要高度重视通过管理手段激励整个高管团队的所有成员去构建有效的内外部社会网络;公司创业的价值增值中介作用也得到证实,公司创业发挥着重要的资源整合作用,有价值的TMT内外部社会网络只有充分融入企业的产品或服务创新,以及深层次的战略更新过程中,为企业的价值增值服务,才能转变为企业绩效。