Multi-cultural leadership teams and organizational identification in international joint ventures

Many international joint ventures (IJVs) fare poorly. An important factor is that members of an IJV top management team (TMT), which generally comprises people from different cultures, often find it difficult to work together. In this paper we argue that social identity theory and organizational identification processes can help us understand why this is so. We propose that factionalism in a TMT is a significant hazard posed by member identification with different parents. In addition, identification with both the IJV and a parent firm can lead to significant role conflict for IJV top managers. Factionalism and role conflict in turn can result in poor intra-TMT communications and inefficient decision making. Literature in social identity theory and organizational identification suggests that the relative status and power of parents as well as successes of IJVs can affect TMT members' identification with the IJV or the parent company. Preliminary field interviews provide general support for these propositions. Our analysis suggests that organizational identity and identification can be a valuable tool to facilitate the understanding of TMT functioning and IJV performance.     

Antecedents of organizational identification in multinational corporations: fostering psychological attachment to the local subsidiary and the global organization

This article reports the results of an empirical case study of the antecedents of organizational identification among local managers in a multinational corporation (MNC). Organizational identification, which refers to an individual's psychological attachment to the organization, has gained increasing attention because of its assumed link with behaviour associated with enhanced organizational performance. Yet little work has been done on what fosters organizational identification, particularly within the context of a MNC. Moreover, there is empirical evidence showing that managerial employees of MNCs draw a distinction between their local subsidiary and the global organization as manifest in separate group identifications. This suggests that there may be differential sets of antecedents of identification with the local subsidiary and with the global organization. The results of the present study indicate that there are different sets of factors that promote identification with the local and global levels of the organization. The results further show a complementarity of causal variables; identification with the local subsidiary is fostered primarily by factors which pertain to the local company context, while identification with the global organization is fostered primarily by factors which pertain to the MNC as a global entity.     

Guest editorial: Female and ethnic minority entrepreneurship

There has been an increasing level of interest in diversity in small business enterprises. This diversity has been largely focused on female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Although there is evidence that female entrepreneurship can have a positive impact on economic prosperity, levels of earnings remain low. The articles in this special issue further our understanding of female and minority entrepreneurs. They examine important topics such as the differences between male and female entrepreneurs in terms of confidence, growth expectations, entrepreneurial orientation and social capital, developing management skills in female entrepreneurs, their management competencies and refugee entrepreneurship.     

Local development and business creation. The role of local development workers in project management

The participation of social inclusion workers in project management is to a large extent aimed at setting up businesses and mainly entails working with businessmen and women and entrepreneurs. Policies formulated to this end involve four lines of action: improving infrastructure; managing local businesses; supporting and managing the creation of micro-businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises; and carrying out socio-economic studies which aid the economic and social development of a particular local community. This study includes an analysis of the characteristics of the service provided by local development workers with regard to the development areas concerned, the nature of the work carried out and the groups involved, the characteristics of the service offered to entrepreneurs and groups of entrepreneurs and the characteristics of the projects managed. Field work was carried out during the 2004 which entailed the use of a questionnaire intended for all local development workers included in our own directory.     

Monitoring in service triads consisting of buyers, subcontractors and end customers

Organisations increasingly outsource service delivery to specialist subcontractors. These buyers, their subcontractors and their end customers operate in a triadic service relationship. In these triads, the buyer lacks direct control over service delivery and completely depends on the subcontractor for its performance towards its end customers. Subcontractors are confronted with two principals (buyer and end customer) who may have conflicting objectives.Although traditionally focusing on dyadic buyer–seller relationships rather than triads, Agency Theory provides valuable suggestions on the type of contract to be used and the type of monitoring to be employed. We adopt Agency Theory as a theoretical lens to look at the buyer–subcontractor–end customer triad and develop propositions on the design of contractual arrangements and monitoring activities. We use the results of two cases of service triads to provide some initial validation for these propositions.     

Women nascent entrepreneurs and social capital in the process of firm creation

The main objective of this research is to study gender differences in the process of firm creation, especially in the gestation stage of that process when nascent entrepreneurs carry out the promoter behaviours. A second objective is to analyse if the cognitive and structural endowments of social capital exert an influence on the promoter behaviours and on the kind of firms created by entrepreneurs of both genders. To reach the objectives, firstly, a theoretical framework will be developed and secondly, an empirical analysis starting from a sample of nascent entrepreneurs in the Seville province (southern Spain) will be carried out. Due to women entrepreneurs being considered nowadays essential for growth and development everywhere, results obtained could help to improve the efficiency of policies that lead to the promotion and consolidation of the female participation rate in entrepreneurial activity.      

“I have to go the extra mile”. How fat female employees manage their stigmatized identity at work

This study explores how fat female employees engage in identity work to manage stigmatizing expectations grounded in healthism and obesity discourse that construct fat people as unhealthy, stupid, unprofessional, and lazy. We interviewed 22 women who self-identified as fat, full-figured or obese. Our analysis reveals how our participants engaged in identity work strategies in order to project a professional appearance and highlight their work performances. Many strategies reproduced dominant notions about fatness such as ‘smartening up’, ‘distracting’, ‘hiding’, ‘concealing’, ‘humour’, ‘compensating’, ‘explaining’ and ‘defensive Othering’. Yet at times some participants also used strategies that challenged dominant discourses about size, such as ‘flaunting’, ‘irony’ and ‘self-acceptance’. The identity work strategies our participants engaged in were not just narrative; many involved what they did with their bodies. We therefore argue the need for further theorizing embodied identity work, specifically with regards to how size matters in the context of employment.     

Corporate elite characteristics and firm's internationalization: CEO-level and TMT-level roles

This study attempts resolution of certain ambiguities of the corporate elite – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Top Management Team (TMT) – effect on corporate internationalization strategy. This work hypothesized that curvilinear relationship exists between CEO position tenure, TMT size, and TMT tenure heterogeneity and a firm's internationalization, by combining previous upper echelon theory and processing international business school perspective. Our detailed empirical findings indicate that CEO and TMT characteristics show a nonlinear relationship, based on 165 samples of Taiwanese firms operating in a technologically intensive industry. An inverted U-shaped relationship exists between CEO position tenure and TMT size regarding a firm's internationalization. These associations are an inverted U-shape, when internationalization level facing TMT tenure heterogeneity is accounted for.     

Networks and leadership development: Building linkages for capacity acquisition and capital accrual

Social networks can aid the leadership development process through facilitating access to important developmental assignments and the acquisition of capabilities to handle associated challenges. Although much of the traditional focus of leadership development has been on building intrapersonal capabilities, functioning effectively as a leader necessitates the development of interpersonal capabilities associated with dyadic ties and relational capabilities associated with patterns of ties within networks. Such capabilities allow aspiring managers to accrue not only human capital, but social and system capital as well. Aspiring managers can tap task, career, and friendship/support networks to aid developmental and career success. Structure factors, including strategic choices, network characteristics, and the technological interface moderate the ability of managers to convert potential network contacts into significant leadership development and capital accrual. Personal factors also influence leadership development prospects. Overall, there are many ways in which network concepts associated with dyadic and relational levels of analysis can facilitate addressing the challenges that are key to leadership development.     

THE ECONOMICS OF NETWORKS: A SURVEY OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE

Abstract.  Network effects, the increase in value of consuming a product if many other consumers use the same product, are a feature of many markets and in particular of many high-technology products. This paper surveys the burgeoning empirical literature that has developed especially during the last years. After theoretical work dominated the earlier years of research in this area, newer research has combined theoretical models with empirical studies and applied work with direct implications for public policy, marketing and company strategies. Furthermore, insights from the study of social networks have been applied to analyse how consumers interact with each other. The paper argues that a closer analysis of the network structure of consumer interaction promises fruitful future research avenues and advances in our understanding of how network effects operate.     

Variable pricing business solutions in a decomposed business environment

Evolving business models and technology advances have facilitated the creation of innovative pricing strategies. Variable pricing represents the ability to configure a pricing schedule from a set of pricing options such as fixed cost, usage, shared benefit, and performance. The objective of variable pricing is to improve a pricing schedule for the mutual benefits of the provider and consumer, based on an evaluation of criteria that results in the setting of a price as a function of the expected value to be derived, as well as the time and materials used. In this paper, we focus on the variable pricing of ‘business solutions’, which is abstractly defined as the capabilities that enable or add value to the purposes of an enterprise. In a decomposed business environment, the structure of a business is partitioned into discrete business components that are assigned specific purposes and are endowed with resources to meet them. Business components interact to achieve business goals, and do so by exposing their capabilities through business services they offer. Business services have suitable levels of granularity offering constituent units of function, which, when selectively chosen and composed, form business solutions. We assert that business services are also suitable units for variable pricing, the implication being that pricing for a given business solution is an evaluation of the variable pricing of its assemblage of business services. The benefits of this ‘variable price composition’ approach offer greater accuracy for the pricing plan, coupled with increased flexibility to compose, modify, calculate and articulate pricing for business solutions.