Institutional changes within the European Union: How global cities and regional integration affect MNE entry decisions

This study focuses on institutional change as a determinant of entry mode. It examines the relationship between the choices of entry implemented by firms seeking cross-border corporate growth in Europe. In doing so it aims to understand how the evolution of Europe as a unified business environment and how the membership of the host country in the European Union affect this outcome. Additionally, it seeks to determine how other related aspects of economic geography, such as global cities, impact entry mode decisions. Overall, the results indicate that institutional changes in Europe, EU membership, and global cities all shape the governance choices of MNEs.     

Theorising change and stability in service ecosystems: a morphogenetic approach

Service scholars are recognising the complex, adapting, and dynamic nature of value creating service systems. There remains an opportunity to explore the dynamic properties of these multilevel systems and build explanations of how these complex systems change and stabilise providing the context for value creation. This paper builds on the continuing work and use of sociological theory in these efforts and argues for an alternative meta-theoretical approach and accompanying framework. Together this contribution provides a basis for building midrange theory to address the stabilising (morphostatic) and change inducing (morphogenetic) mechanisms in service ecosystems.     

欧洲全球化调整基金:制度演变与实施绩效

欧洲全球化调整基金是欧盟在实施欧洲就业战略进程中借鉴美国贸易调整援助制度经验于2007年建立的一项劳动力调整援助政策。作为结构基金,尤其是欧洲社会基金的重要补充,全球化调整基金具有针对问题突发性、启动条件特定性和援助措施暂时性3个基本特征。本文对该基金2007²011年运行考察的基本结论是:(1)援助主要针对2008年以来全球金融危机引致的失业;(2)援助申请的国别和产业分布集中;(3)援助金支出总水平低于预期、资助措施集中;(4)以再就业率衡量的援助绩效总体水平偏低、行业差异显著,但长期趋势乐观。     

Gender and climate change: A sustainable tourism perspective

The aim of this article is to examine whether female tourism entrepreneurs are more interested in climate change than male entrepreneurs are as part of their focus on sustainable entrepreneurial endeavors. A qualitative study of female tourism entrepreneurs is examined that focuses on three main climate change strategies: conservative, compliant, and proactive. The findings suggest that female tourism entrepreneurs are more influenced by their social circle and general interest in environmental issues that lead them to focus on climate change actions. The results of this study will help tourism providers, businesses, government, and the community better understand the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship. Climate change is a topic of immense interest in society particularly for those in the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism entrepreneurs often focus on climate change action as a way to compete in the global marketplace and to derive a competitive advantage. Less well understood is the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship particularly in terms of perceptions around climate change action.     

Corporate Social Reporting in the European Context and Human Resource Disclosures: An Analysis of Finnish Companies

This paper explores by means of content analysis the extent to which the Finnish biggest companies have adapted socially responsible reporting practices. The research focuses on Human Resource (HR) reporting and covers corporate annual reports. The criteria has been set on the basis of the analysis of the documents published at the European level in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR), paying special attention to the European Council appeal on CSR in March 2000. As CSR is a relatively new concept in Finland, the paper also contributes to the discussion on interface between HR reporting (especially as based on measurements such as Human Resource Accounting and Intellectual Capital schools) and corporate social reporting practices. The results of the content analysis indicate that social reporting practices are still at an early stage of development in Finland. The most reported theme was ‘training and staff development’. A positive sign was that the majority also disclosed themes ‘participation and staff involvement’ and ‘employee health and well-being’. Furthermore, nearly one-third made references to their work atmosphere or job satisfaction survey. However, disclosures lacked overall consistency and comparability with each other and especially quantitative indicators were disclosed by few. Further concern was lack of information related to the theme equal opportunities and going beyond a sheer disclosure of age or gender structure. The other issues rarely disclosed were those related to employee work–life balance and integration of disadvantaged groups in the labour markets.     

Animal foods and climate change: shadowing eating practices

Animal farming exceeds all forms of transport in terms of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Despite the implications of the seriousness of addressing animal farming in relation to mitigating the effects of GHG emissions, to date, the relationship between consumer behaviour and climate change has tended to neglect the role of animal foods. This paper reports on a pilot study in which six UK households were ‘shadowed’ to facilitate the investigation of the relationship between animal food practices and environmental practices, as they emerge in day‐to‐day life. Results indicate that most participants make no connection between the two issues at present, in terms of awareness or practice. However, animal foods do have an ambiguous and complex status in most participants' food practices; for instance, being viewed as problematic for reasons of health or animal welfare. This finding suggests that further research is needed into the potential for raising awareness of the link between animal‐based foods and climate change. This might have a role to play in shifting food practices towards more plant‐based, less GHG intensive, foods.     

Social relationships and knowledge creation: the mediate of critical network position

The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of the two important components of intellectual capital, including social relationships and the critical network position in knowledge creation. Two regression models were used to test the hypotheses in a sample of 77 knowledge creation samples. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical development of a conceptual model for explaining the inter-relationships among the aspects of intellectual capital and knowledge creation performance. The empirical evidence of the Sobel test, in line with Baron and Kenny's procedure, supports the process-oriented view and indicates that the network position would mediate the effects of social relationships on knowledge creation performance.     

Business responses to climate change: strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam

This study identifies the climate change strategies adopted by firms in developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. First, a framework is developed to classify and assess the GHG emission strategies of companies; second, it is then improved by using data on their implementation collected from 185 companies operating in 10 energy-intensive industries in Vietnam. We find that multinational subsidiaries engage in various climate change activities and have a higher level of implementation than those of domestic firms. Further, the most active and proactive companies are large in size and from Europe, the United States and Japan.     

论应对欧盟反倾销调查之举措——以广交会中欧企业调查分析为视角

在应对欧盟反倾销调查时,中国企业具有强烈的现实诉求,而这些诉求有的被不同程度地忽略了,或者没有引起足够的重视。针对欧盟频繁的反倾销调查,需要巧妙利用外交手段、加强国内产业结构的调整、提供有效的法律服务等,从根本上化解欧盟的反倾销调查。     

Behavioral prediction of environmentally oriented anticonsumption and consumption: A multilevel study of five Eurobarometer surveys

To tackle climate change, greater public engagement is called for in actions that fall under the umbrella of environmentally oriented anticonsumption (EOA), in addition to environmentally oriented consumption (EOC) ones. This study examines potential behavioral effects on EOA and EOC actions in response to climate change, by placing attention on the EOA versus EOC distinction, as well as the behavioral domain and frequency of the selected behavioral outcomes and predictors. Multilevel analysis is conducted on a large-scale, European pooled dataset (N = 137,097 respondents) combined with secondary country data at the societal level (N = 30 countries). The findings provide overall evidence for positive behavioral effects or spillovers on EOA and EOC behaviors in response to climate change, while emphasizing also the need to account for the specificity of different proenvironmental actions. Also, the findings show that positive spillovers are more likely among actions within the same EOA/EOC path of action, pertaining to the same behavioral category (i.e., intra-domain, rather than inter-domain spillovers), and having similar behavioral frequency characteristics (e.g., among non-daily actions). The findings reported here improve understanding of the behavioral mechanisms behind environmental spillovers, for less-researched EOA (and EOC) outcomes, in response to climate change, and cross-nationally.     

Measurement and structural invariance of entrepreneurial investment climate: A cross-country scale development

Testing invariance is important in cross-cultural studies because a lack of invariance may bias empirical results and lead to improper theoretical inferences. This study introduces and validates a scale for measuring entrepreneurial investment climate, consisting of four factors: Societal stability, Labor and Regulations, Quality of Infrastructure, and Ease of Finance. The instrument was developed using World Bank Group data from 51,169 firms and 72 institutional profiles to determine investment climate. Confirmatory factor analyses reveal the validity of the scale and its robustness across country types and time. The study’s implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Fostering International Technology Transfer Through Climate Technology Networks Between European and Latin American Universities

Based on experiences gained in the frame of a networking scheme that involves universities from Latin America and Europe, this article addresses international technology transfer (ITT) of climate technology through networks bridging current knowledge and technology gaps between academia, businesses, authorities, and civil society. It is argued that higher education institutions (HEIs) can make a substantial contribution to a sustainable socioeconomic development in Latin America (LA) and at the same time reduce its social vulnerability to climate change impacts. Most research and development in LA is carried out in HEIs, not in industry. Consequently, research agendas are uncoupled from business needs, and university research remains largely uncommercialized. Further, spillover effects, which may benefit businesses in the home country, remain limited. This article raises some opportunities for Latin American HEIs to drive the improvement of local adaptive capacity through ITT and creation of the corresponding capacities, especially in terms of research and development, consultancy, and qualification of human capital in the field of climate technologies. It is argued that climate change poses many challenges to all sectors of society, and the improved international transfer of knowledge and climate technology may result in reducing social and economic vulnerability to future climate impacts in LA. Finally, some recommendations are given that may support current efforts to reduce the overall vulnerability to climate impacts through fostering the social and economic development in Latin America by means of ITT.     

Interactive Mining of Strong Friends from Social Networks and Its Applications in E-Commerce

Social networks are generally made of individuals who are linked by some types of interdependencies such as friendship. Most individuals in social networks have many linkages in terms of friends, connections, and/or followers. Among these linkages, some of them are stronger than others. For instance, some friends may be acquaintances of an individual, whereas others may be friends who care about him or her (e.g., who frequently post on his or her wall). In this study, we integrate data mining with social computing to form a social network mining algorithm, which helps the individual distinguish these strong friends from a large number of friends in a specific portion of the social networks in which he or she is interested. Moreover, our mining algorithm allows the individual to interactively change his or her mining parameters. Furthermore, we discuss applications of our social mining algorithm to organizational computing and e-commerce     

Word-of-mouth marketing influence on offline and online communications: Evidence from case study research

This case study reports results from three research studies conducted over 12 weeks as part of a product seeding campaign. Partnering with a word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) agency for this research, studies 1 and 2 report agency-conducted surveys of campaign participants' online and offline word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors. Study 3 deployed an innovative web-based methodology to map and visualize WOM communication patterns, to reveal how campaign-related conversations spread within and across offline friendship networks and the role played by tie strength in that process. We find that agency reports of WOMM campaign results overstate reach and understate frequency. Our results have implications for the measurement of reach and frequency of WOMM campaigns.     

A Proposed Model for Consumer-Based Brand Equity Analysis on Social Media Using Data Mining and Social Network Analysis

Online social networks have expanded their “virtual borders,” making the Internet more like an environment of social interaction than a business tool. However, even before the emergence and expansion of social media, marketing professionals were interested in identifying consumers' perceptions about brands. Thus, operational models have been proposed to facilitate such a task. Those models, however, can be expensive and inconvenient, since the models use questionnaires for data collection. To help overcome this problem, this article proposes a model for brand equity analysis from the consumer perspective expressed in social networks using opinion mining techniques and social network analysis. The application of the proposed model on data collected from Twitter made it possible to analyze five brand equity dimensions: brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived sentiment, perceived quality, and brand associations. The results reached by the application of the model show that brand equity can be analyzed from data retrieved from virtual social networks, disclosing how consumers perceive brands in such an environment, without using questionnaires, enabling different brands in different contexts. Those data can be analyzed under both objective and replicable criteria for each of the brand equity elements that make up the model.     

The Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: United States and European Union Multinational Corporations

This study explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) by conducting a cross-cultural analysis of communication of CSR activities in a total of 16 U.S. and European corporations. Drawing on previous research contrasting two major approaches to CSR initiatives, it was proposed that U.S. companies would tend to communicate about and justify CSR using economic or bottom-line terms and arguments whereas European companies would rely more heavily on language or theories of citizenship, corporate accountability, or moral commitment. Results supported this expectation of difference, with some modification. Specifically, results indicated that EU companies do not value sustainability to the exclusion of financial elements, but instead project sustainability commitments in addition to financial commitments. Further, U.S.-based companies focused more heavily on financial justifications whereas EU-based companies incorporated both financial and sustainability elements in justifying their CSR activities. In addition, wide variance was found in both the prevalence and use of specific CSR-related terminology. Cross-cultural distinctions in this use create implications with regard to measurability and evidence of both strategic and bottom-line impact. Directions for further research are discussed. Laura P. Hartman is a Professor of Business Ethics and Legal Studies in the Management Department in the College of Commerce at DePaul University, as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University and as Research Director of DePaul’s Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. She is also an invited professor at INSEAD (France), HEC (France), the University of Melbourne, the Université Paul Cezanne Aix Marseille III and the Grenoble Graduate School of Business. She has been published in, among other journals, Business Ethics Quarterly, Business & Society Review, Business Ethics: A European Review, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Robert S. Rubin is an Assistant Professor in the Management Department at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. He received his PhD in organizational psychology from Saint Louis University. His current research interests include transformational leadership, leader cynicism, social and emotional individual differences, and management education and development. K. Kathy Dhanda is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management at DePaul University. Her areas of research include sustainable supply chains, environmental networks, marketable permit modeling, sustainable management, and public policy.     

Female Social Networks: Identifying Better Communication Platforms to Advertise Nonprofit Services in Rural Pakistan

Women’s access to nonprofit organizations providing financial and community services is an issue in remote areas of Pakistan. Weak communication of nonprofit services to potential female clientele is a significant barrier to women’s access to nonprofit services. This article examines how personal networks among women in remote areas may improve the information delivery about the women-focused nonprofit projects in Pakistan. The women’s networks also play a critical role in members’ motivating each other to join the services offered by the nonprofit organizations. The study used concepts of network and social capital and current network analysis techniques. Data from three remote locations in Pakistan were analyzed using a 2-mode network analysis, content analysis of nonprofit websites, and face-to-face interviews. UCINET software program identified network routines (centrality measures).

The study found that friends, neighbors, and local schools are significant information sources for women. Most information about income-producing projects came from their spouses. Information about social services came from friends, neighbors, or social gatherings. Husbands have high betweenness centrality indicating high power over women’s access to services. Closeness centrality measures indicate that women are not well connected for exchanging information on nonprofit services.     

Climate Negotiations,EITE Industries,and the WTO: Facing the Conflicts

Though developed countries have contributed the lion's share of greenhouse gases to date, developing countries are rapidly catching up – and seem unlikely to adopt meaningful GHG controls in the near term. This prospect concerns major developed countries, since their own GHG controls could cause carbon-intensive production to migrate to unregulated countries, a phenomenon called “carbon leakage.” This article surveys progress in international negotiations to date. It argues that, given the slow pace of efforts to create a global GHG control framework, carbon tariffs and other border measures are likely to be invoked as an alternative means of preventing carbon leakage. The article illustrates the legal and economic pitfalls of border adjustments and urges major emitting countries to suspend the imposition of border measures for a limited time while negotiating a “Code of Good Practice” to guide their trade-related climate measures going forward. The Code that we describe would constrain the scope of border measures and sharply limit their negative consequences.     

The Multinational Corporation and Global Governance: Modelling Global Public Policy Networks

Globalization has increased the economic power of the multinational corporation (MNC), engendering calls for greater corporate social responsibility (CSR) from these companies. However, the current mechanisms of global governance are inadequate to codify and enforce recognized CSR standards. One method by which companies can impact positively on global governance is through the mechanism of Global Public Policy Networks (GPPN). These networks build on the individual strength of MNCs, domestic governments, and non-governmental organizations to create expected standards of behaviour in such areas as labour rights, environmental standards, and working conditions. This article models GPPN in the issue area of CSR. The potential benefits of GPPN include better overall coordination among industry and government in establishing what social expectations the modern MNC will be expected to fill. David Detomasi is an assistant professor of international business at the School of Business, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario Canada. His research areas include corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, and business and society.     

环境信息披露网络特征及其对农业绿色全要素生产率影响

开放经济下区域互动性提高,考察一个地区环境政策对农业经济效率的影响必须置身于与其他地区的关系网络中。基于2008—2019年重点城市污染源监管信息公开指数(PITI),采用社会网络分析方法考察了中国环境信息披露网络的整体结构,从网络点出度、点入度和耦合度三方面对各省在网络中的特征进行刻画,并采用空间计量模型检验环境信息披露网络特征对农业绿色全要素生产率的影响。发现中国环境信息披露网络结构演化是一个渐变过程,网络密度逐年上升,具有较强的自稳定性。网络点出度、点入度和耦合度对农业绿色全要素生产率具有显著、稳健的提升作用。文章证实了环境信息披露网络特征对农业发展绩效的潜在影响,对从空间层面更好评估环境政策的经济效应具有重要启示。