Strategic purchasing and supplier partnerships—The role of a third party organization

This study explored how a credible third party facilitated the development of supplier partnerships. By identifying qualified potential suppliers, serving as a surrogate for legitimacy for supplier firms and providing a market place for the potential partners to meet, the third party organization provided key compensating mechanisms to reduce the power and social distance and overall transaction costs associated with collaborating to effect supplier relationships between the parties. The study contributes to the supply and purchasing literature by integrating the role of third parties into research on buyer–supplier relationships that have so far been viewed predominantly as dyads and by demonstrating how third parties may actually influence relationships between buyers and suppliers. Our findings also provide firms with some guidelines on building successful buyer–supplier partnerships.     

Can the government create a vibrant cluster? Understanding the impact of cluster policy on the development of a cluster

Research has debated to what extent policy measures can facilitate or contribute to the development of clusters. This article contributes to this debate by questioning how the government can create a cluster that is self-organizing and vibrant but also maintain sufficient influence to continue using the cluster as a policy instrument. Taking the perspective of cluster members, the article investigates how members perceive the ambiguous role of the government in a government-supported cluster. It analyses to what extent cluster members value a government-supported cluster and whether they perceive the government as one that facilitates or hinders them in self-organizing the cluster. Empirical evidence is derived from a case study of a French cluster established as a result of a cluster policy initiative and which has recently been required to fulfil a new set of objectives by the same government. The findings suggest that government-supported clusters can self-organize if members are given the opportunity, but with the consequence that it becomes difficult for the government to fully control such clusters. To continue steering the cluster’s development, the government would have to leverage the technology gatekeepers’ power by designing policies that allow gatekeepers to translate government objectives into meaningful objectives for themselves.     

Implications of the EU Information and Consultation Directive and the Regulations in the UK – prospects for the future of employee representation

The EU Directive on informing and consulting employees (I&C Directive) is now established on the employment relations agenda with the provisions coming into force in the UK in April 2005. The I&C Directive potentially has far reaching consequences for the way UK employers inform and consult employees over a wide range of organizational issues, with the potential to transform the UK industrial relations environment. The initiatives contained in the I&C Directive and the subsequent introduction of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations will take place in an employment relations environment in a period of significant change. Pressures of globalization have intensified competition in product and labour markets, emphasizing the need for greater efficiency and productivity. This has led to a greater focus on the link between employee participation practices and business strategy and organizational performance in search of an elusive (or illusory) fit? This paper is a commentary on the origins and rationale of this new legislation in the UK context, drawing on existing knowledge and academic debates in the area. In addition, the paper discusses the potential implications of the I&C Directive and the likely impact of the ICE Regulations on UK representative voice arrangements.     

Widening the ‘representation gap'? The implications of the ‘lobbying act’ for worker representation in the UK

The Transparency of Lobbying, Non‐Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (the ‘Lobbying Act’) imposes tight restrictions on the campaigning and lobbying activities of civil society organisations in the UK, diminishing their capacity to represent the interests of working people and thus likely compounding the ‘representation gap’ within British workplaces. Along with austerity measures and employment law reforms, the legislation exemplifies the UK government's attempts to shift the balance of power further towards employers.     

How do green knowledge management and green technology innovation impact corporate environmental performance? Understanding the role of green knowledge acquisition

Increasing regulatory obligations to adapt and execute environmentally friendly operations make it critical for businesses to pursue strategies that can strengthen their competitive edge in the market. Academics and practitioners alike have recently gravitated toward exploring how knowledge acquisition activities might improve business outcomes. To address this growing research interest, this study investigates the critical roles of green knowledge acquisition in enhancing green knowledge management and green technology innovation activities in improving corporate environmental performance, positioning resource commitment as a moderator. The research model has been assessed using structural equation modeling with survey data from 283 Indian manufacturers, demonstrating that green knowledge acquisition significantly impacts green knowledge management and green technology innovation. The statistical findings also show that green technology innovation acts catalyzes the translation of green knowledge management into improved corporate environmental performance. The results demonstrate that resource commitment moderates green knowledge acquisition's interaction with green knowledge management and green technology innovation, providing practical insights enabling managers to focus on planning, allocating, and budgeting resources for effective green practices that can contribute to improving corporate environmental performance.     

Does investor sentiment impact the returns and volatility of Islamic equities?

In this paper, we estimate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and vector autoregressive (VAR) models to examine whether investor sentiment impacts the returns and volatility of various U.S. Dow Jones Islamic equity indices. The results from GARCH estimations show that changes in investor sentiment are positively correlated with the returns of the Shari’ah-compliant market portfolio. In addition, we find similar results for the three Shari’ah-compliant firm-size portfolios (i.e., large-, medium-, and small-cap). However, this relationship is stronger for harder to arbitrage Shari’ah-compliant stocks; that is, investor sentiment has a greater influence on small-cap equities. Additionally, estimations from the vector autoregressive model confirm the aforementioned results. In terms of volatility, GARCH estimations suggest that bullish shifts in investor sentiment in the current period are accompanied by lower conditional volatility in the ensuing period. In general, our findings suggest that as noise traders create more risk the market seems to reward them with higher expected returns.     

Social representations and social marketing: Effectiveness of awareness campaigns on the representation of public policies?

The research fits into the theory of the central core within the social representations theory. The approach argues the existence of two components: the core and the periphery. Each one has its own characteristics and a role to play. Within this framework, transformation of social representations can be the consequence of practices modification. However, in this study, we are interested in the effect of communication. We focus on the social representation of the public policy of the 30 kmh speed limit developed in Europe since the 1990's. And we test the impact of two awareness campaigns: the first one aims at reinforcing one aspect of the central core of the representation, the second one aims at contradicting one aspect of the core. Three groups of participants answer a questionnaire of representation related to the 30 kmh speed limit: two experimental groups (each one receiving a campaign) and one control group. Results confirm the relevance of using communication and social marketing methods in order to transform social representations. According to the type information, results are different. Discussion highlights the interest of using social representations in order to build social marketing campaigns.     

Shifting models of equality? Union Equality Reps in the public services

This article explores how far the emergence of public sector Equality Representatives represents a departure from a distinct radical model of union self‐organisation generated by the collective mobilisation of politically conscious identities, towards a more inclusive liberal model of equality based on abstract notions of ‘fairness’.     

A comparison of the effectiveness of unions and non-union works councils in Korea: can non-union employee representation substitute for trade unionism?

Using survey data from 857 employees of three unionized and three non-union establishments in Korea, this study compares the effectiveness of unions and non-union employee representation (NER). Union members appear to expect more from and to be more satisfied with unions than is the case for non-union employees regarding the activities of non-union works councils. This tendency is stronger in regard to distributive and employee advocacy issues than to mutual interest issues. Union members express stronger commitment to their unions than do non-union employees to their works councils. However, union members and works council members are not significantly different in terms of organizational commitment, job satisfaction and perceived industrial relations climate. Overall, the findings indicate that the structural weaknesses of NER are more evident than its positive attitudinal effects.     

Does entrepreneurship pay for women and immigrants? A 30 year assessment of the socio-economic impact of entrepreneurial activity in Germany

Abstract

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1984 to 2012, we explore income effects of self-employment for females and migrants. Controlling for the selection into self-employment, we differentiate the overall earnings differential between the self-employed and the wage-employed into an endowment effect (they are equipped with characteristics that positively affect earnings in either occupation) and a treatment effect (the income effect solely due to the decision for self-employment). We find that women exhibit both a lower treatment effect and a lower endowment effect than men. Migrants benefit much more from entrepreneurial activities than Germans, having a significantly higher treatment effect. Among the countries of origin, Turkish migrants benefit the most from their self-employment decision, while southern Europeans exhibit the lowest income relevant skills.     

What drives the effectiveness of industrial clusters? Exploring the impact of contextual,structural and functioning determinants

This study examines how contextual, structural and functioning characteristics of industrial clusters influence their effectiveness. We develop a conceptual framework that identifies potential influencing factors, validate the factors statistically, and estimate the factors’ impact on cluster effectiveness. Our results show that among the important determinants of cluster effectiveness are long-term planning security and procedural trust among the cooperating firms (contextual conditions), formalized rules and sustainable structures (structural elements), and clear goals and tasks (functioning characteristics). However, the results also reveal that some determinants assessed as important in the literature do not seem to have a positive impact on effectiveness. Our results not only modify general assumptions in cluster research concerning the drivers of cluster effectiveness, but also assist firms and policy-makers in conceptualizing successful new clusters.     

What's in it for us? Or: the impact of environmental legislation on competitiveness

The dispute on the impact of environmental legislation on international trade, national competitiveness, technological innovativeness and companies' profitability is as yet undecided. The predominant positions will be illustrated in the following meso/micro‐study detailing the impact (European) environmental legislation has on the competitiveness of a large chemical company. This study draws important conclusions and outlines remarkable implications by employing an instrumental distinction between short‐term costs/benefits and longer‐term innovativeness. It can be argued persuasively that environmental legislation has created a rat race among the major players at the (longer‐term) cost of smaller companies. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Is there a third way to EMU for the EU accession countries?

The actual mainstream view of academics emphasizes the so-called “two-corner solution” with either completely fixed or independently floating exchange rates. We will argue in this paper that the requirements for fixed rates are rather too restrictive to be successful. On the other hand, the advantage of an independent float is only valid for small open economies under the assumption of exchange rate movements closely related to movements in the fundamentals. We suggest as a “third way”, a strategy of flexible exchange rate targeting where central banks simultaneously manage interest rates and exchange rates in a way that guarantees both the achievement of domestic macroeconomic objectives and an equilibrium on the international financial markets.     

A Matter of Experience? Understanding the Decline in Group Lending

Group lending, often considered a key innovation driving the successful expansion of microcredit across the world, appears to be on the decline. Using MIX data on microfinance institutions (MFIs), we study this time trend, focusing on macroeconomic predictors of group lending and MFI experience. Results suggest that any movement away from group lending is better explained via MFIs gaining experience rather than a secular time trend. We also find that group lending is used more extensively in poorer and low‐growth economies. We argue that these findings can be understood within established views of group lending, and carry important implications for the historical and continuing importance of group lending.     

Understanding graduate recruitment,development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent

Graduates are deemed to be a key source of talent within many organisations and thus recruiting, developing and retaining them is viewed as a logical talent management (TM) strategy. However, there has been little attention paid to university graduates as part of an organisation’s TM strategy. Such a specific focus addresses the need for further research into the segmentation of talent pools and the specific challenges different talent pools are likely to create. This research, which utilised a qualitative data collection strategy, examined the experiences and practices of six large UK organisations in relation to graduate TM. Drawing from Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries and González-Cruz’s (2013. What is the meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work? Human Resource Management Review, 23, 290–300.) framework for the conceptualisation of talent, the findings from this research indicate and explain why graduate employers are frequently compelled to use the object approach (talent as characteristics of people) due to the unique characteristics that recent graduates possess, even though other studies have found that a subject approach (talent as people and what they do) is preferred by most employers. Ultimately, employers conceptualise graduate talent by what they describe as ‘the edge’ which needs to be ‘sharpened’ to fully realise the potential that graduates offer.     

How do small businesses pursue sustainability? The role of collective agency for integrating planned and emergent strategy making

Research on sustainability strategy in large corporations has shown that carefully planned strategies can address environmental and social concerns. However, we still lack clarity on how small businesses form sustainability strategies. Assuming that small businesses can—or should—carefully plan strategies is inappropriate considering that such organizations often lack the needed resources, foresight, and formalized decision-making structures. Building on the study of two craft breweries in Canada and Germany, we detail how a combination of planned and emergent actions enables owners, employees, and external stakeholders to jointly form strategic sustainability orientation. Developing these findings into an integrated activity-based model, we show the need to move beyond the dichotomy between planned and emergent strategizing. We contribute a human-centered perspective to the sustainability strategy literature and suggest that research should take the role of people in small businesses more seriously as here interpersonal relationships and collective agency are central in forming strategic sustainability orientation.     

A “quota silo” or positive equality reach? The equality impact of gender quotas on corporate boards in Norway

10 years after its implementation, we explore the equality reach of the 40% Norwegian gender quota regulation for boards of public limited companies (PLCs) using a multi‐strategy approach (administrative data and interviews with women directors) to capture interrelated macro and meso changes. We employ Acker's (2006) inequality regimes as our analytical framework, augmented by the “equality reach” concept. We found strong compliance with the 40% Quota. However, there was little evidence of voluntary spillover to limited companies as envisaged by Quota proponents; instead Quota coverage reduced as some PLCs changed status to avoid the Quota requirement. We reveal that positive equality reach in one of the most equal countries in the world is confined to a PLC “quota silo,” which has shrunk over the life of the Quota. Moreover, we suggest that PLC high levels of compliance may be a defensive strategy seen as necessary in the regulatory/high sanction context of the Quota. We demonstrate the need for further political and organisational interventions to improve equality reach beyond the quota silo. We also show the value of the equality reach concept for research on equality interventions and warn of the dangers of an intervention leading to an equality silo.     

Access denied? Exploring the causes of the low representation of women in senior executive positions within procurement

Recent surveys report the representation of women in senior executive positions within procurement as both very low and lower than in other professions. In this paper, the authors explored the causes of this. The authors interviewed 41 female and male procurement professionals from a range of sectors and seniority levels. Different views were encountered, but overall the findings suggested that female advancement within procurement is affected by both generic organisational and procurement-specific impediments, including inadequate work design, male-dominated cultures, negative stereotypes, high levels of travel and an aggressive ethos that characterises many procurement functions. The latter was said to be greater where procurement functions lacked ‘cultural maturity’. The findings suggested that both the procurement literature and procurement profession need to do more to address these impediments to female advancement. Ways forward are suggested.     

Depletion or expansion? Understanding the effects of support policy use on employee work and family outcomes

Past research on the effects of employees' use of work–family support policies tends to draw on a depletion perspective suggesting that using these policies may reduce work–family conflict. The emphasis on depletion fails to consider the expansion perspective that assumes that using work resources may enrich family functioning. Using a sample of 113 matched employee–supervisor pairs and a 1‐month separation between predictor and criterion measurement, we found support for the expansion rather than the depletion perspective. Specifically, the relationships between support policy use and employee job satisfaction and family efficacy (but not organisational citizenship behaviour) were mediated by work‐to‐family enrichment; these effects were realised only for employees with high levels of family identity. In contrast, no support was found for family‐to‐work conflict as a mediator of the model.     

To merge or not to merge? The impact of union merger decisions on workers' representation in Germany

Union mergers have been widely studied in a variety of countries; however, little is known about their impact on union effectiveness. This article draws on in‐depth interviews with officials and works councillors from four German unions, as well as on a representative survey of German works councils, to analyse how a union's merger status shapes its effectiveness in three spheres of activity: political lobbying, collective bargaining and establishment‐level interest representation. We compare two cases of merger with two cases of continued organisational independence, finding that merger outcomes for individual unions vary considerably across our three union functions.