The bright side and dark side of trust: The mediating effect of franchisor trust on performance

Previous literature has not examined the dual role of trust in franchise relationships. We extend the franchise and relational governance literature by showing that trust has both a “bright side” and a “dark side” in franchisor–franchisee relationships. Based on transaction cost and knowledge-based reasoning, we argue that intangible knowledge assets and environmental uncertainty have an indirect effect on performance via trust, due to its relational risk and knowledge exchange effect. Using data from the franchise sector in Germany, we show that trust positively mediates the impact of intangible knowledge assets and negatively mediates the impact of environmental uncertainty on franchisor performance. The first effect refers to the “bright side” of trust showing that intangible brand name assets increase trust which, in turn, has a positive effect on performance. Conversely, the second effect refers to the “dark side” of trust highlighting that environmental uncertainty diminishes trust resulting in a negative effect on performance.     

The dark side of buyer-supplier relationships: A social capital perspective

The literature on supply chain management (SCM) has consistently promoted the “bright side” of collaborative buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs). Based on the social capital argument, SCM scholars have investigated how a buyer can gain access to and leverage resources through its collaborative BSRs. Our study extends this research stream by considering the “dark side” of social capital in BSRs. It evaluates how social capital in its cognitive, relational, and structural forms contributes to or impedes value creation within BSRs. Both primary survey measures and secondary objective measures have been used in data analysis. The results show the presence of both the bright side, confirming the existing literature, and the dark side, extending the literature. There is an inverted curvilinear relationship between social capital and performance: Either too little or too much social capital can hurt performance. This study confirms that building social capital in a collaborative BSR positively affects buyer performance, but that if taken to an extreme it can reduce the buyer's ability to be objective and make effective decisions as well as increase the supplier's opportunistic behavior. Our study also examines how a buyer can delay the emergence of the dark side. It opens up new research avenues in the collaborative BSR context and suggests directions for future research and practice.     

On the dark side of codes: Domination not enlightenment

In this paper, we show how a middle manager interprets the action of two employees as problematic and how he solves it by using the company's code of ethics as the basis for firing them. Our telling of the story unmasks a darker side of codes and we conceptualize it in terms of power and domination. The paper contributes to the literature on corporate codes of ethics (CCEs) and corporate ethics programs by showing that such codes need not necessarily play an enabling role in organizations. Rather than being instruments of enlightenment and self-regulation, they may be used as instruments to further domination.     

Towards an open innovation ecosystem in the cultural industry: The bright side of trust and the dark side of measurement

The concept of open innovation ecosystems is receiving increasing attention in academic literature, but its application to the cultural industries and, more specifically, to philanthropically-funded cultural initiatives, remains a largely unexplored domain. This study, leveraging on in-depth interviews with stakeholders, observation and immersion in the field, employs primary qualitative data from a philanthropically-funded cultural initiative and applies the ecosystem-as-structure conceptual framework to study the factors that have enabled a nascent open innovation ecosystem in the cultural industries to emerge. Findings point to a number of essential components and characteristics of the emergent ecosystem that are crucial elements of success in the view of key stakeholders. The findings consequently shed light on the managerial practices and strategy that facilitate the success of a philanthropically-funded artistic initiative which fosters the creation of a new open innovation arts ecosystem.     

The dark side of solidarity: social norms and social relations in the aftermath of strikes

This paper studies how employees anticipate change in social relations after a strike in their organisation. We hypothesise that two group norms affect employees' fear that a strike deteriorates the social relations with their colleagues. We distinguish between two different norms associated with a collective action problem such as a strike. A ‘solidarity norm’ prescribes that workers should participate in collective protest when called for. A ‘free rider punishment norm’ describes whether and how violators of the solidarity norm should be treated. While the former itself theoretically does not impact intra‐group social relations, the latter one does. We test our hypotheses on a data set of 468 Dutch union members. Adherence to the free rider punishment norm significantly increases a fear for deterioration of social relations with colleagues after a strike, while adherence to the solidarity norm does not. We also find a moderating effect of expected proportion of strikers. The results are discussed with reference to industrial relations theory and mobilisation theory, further probing into mechanisms that relate social norms to the (anticipated) costs of participation and the quality of social relations after a strike.     

The dark side of knowledge transfer: Exploring knowledge leakage in joint R&D projects

Knowledge leakage refers to loss of technological knowledge intended to stay within a firm׳s boundaries and may cause a “weakened state” in which a focal firm loses its competitive advantage and industry position. Based on multiple case studies of knowledge leakage in joint research and development (R&D) projects in large firms in Sweden, this paper makes two contributions. First, in contrast to the uni-dimensional dyadic leakage process assumed in the literature, we find that the knowledge leakage process is multi-dimensional and exists in three varieties: i) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from a focal firm, ii) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from another external party, and iii) a process whereby the focal firm uses knowledge already shared with an external party in such a way that it becomes sensitive. Second, where the prior literature suggests that core knowledge must be protected from leakage, we find that some core knowledge can leak without negative effects, whereas some knowledge, being non-core to a focal firm, can have severe negative effects. These insights provide novel theoretical implications and new insights into how firms can manage knowledge leakage in practice.     

Platform market competition with endogenous side decisions

This paper develops a framework to analyze platform competition in two‐sided markets in which agents endogenously decide on which side of a platform to join. We characterize the equilibrium pricing structure and perform a comparative statics analysis on how the distribution of agents’ preferences affects the platforms’ profits. We also show that the market equilibrium under profit‐maximizing platforms leads to the first best social surplus, which illustrates the importance of the price mechanism to induce more balanced participation across the two sides. This framework can be applied to analyze market competition for “rental” or “sharing” platforms. In addition, we extend our analysis to consider an initial investment stage, which makes participants the owner of some durable goods to rent out.     

The dark side of stock market liberalization: Perspectives from corporate R&D activities in China

This study explores how stock market liberalization impacts corporate research and development (R&D) activities and examines the impact channels. Based on a quasi-natural experiment on the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, we report a significantly negative relationship between stock market liberalization and R&D activities in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) using a difference-in-difference approach. For one thing, a decrease in analyst coverage will reduce the supervision of R&D activities; for another, the alleviation of financing constraints will heighten corporate financialization, resulting in a greater crowding-out effect on R&D activities. Furthermore, R&D activities in SOEs, which are guided by government policies, are not significantly affected by stock market liberalization.     

An axiomatization of the core of cooperative games without side payments

Let M be a set of m players, m≧3, and let Γ be the set of all (finite) games (without side payments) that have a non-empty core. When M is finite, the following four (independent) axioms fully characterize the core on Γ: (i) non-emptiness, (ii) individual rationality, (iii) the reduced game property, and (iv) the converse reduced game property. If M is infinite, then the converse reduced game property is redundant.     

Turning to the dark side: Challenging the hegemonic positivity of the creativity discourse

Using a Laclauian discourse approach this paper challenges the hegemony of articulations framing creativity as good, necessary, and as a source of valuable outcomes for organizations and individuals. Instead, this paper argues that creativity has a ‘dark side’, referring to that which is harmful and may result in pain, loss or suffering. We analyze and expose the hegemonic positivity of the creativity discourse within organization studies and discuss the implications of this hegemony. We conclude that the dark side of creativity has been subverted in the discourse and requires further scholarly exploration. To promote a greyer research agenda of creativity in organizations, we offer three theorizations of the dark side of creativity as antagonisms to the hegemony – the individual, collective, and critical. By challenging the hegemonic positivity of creativity and by providing a number of research imaginaries, this paper invites scholars to broaden the discourse and to embrace a more greyer understanding of creativity in organization studies.     

European Works Councils and the dark side of managing worker voice

Drawing from case study research, the article explores managerial strategies in a UK‐based European Works Council (EWC), but from the perspective of workers' representatives. This methodological approach offers an alternative set of lens through which to view managerial strategy from the standpoint of those it is meant to affect. The evidence suggests that employers' representatives in central management appear to be proactively fragmenting worker voice, arguably in order to convert the EWC into a business‐friendly instrument and to assert managerial control. However, there is no empirical basis for arguing that such tactics yield organisational benefits. The employers' perceived strategies reflect the traditional cultural antagonisms that are historically played out between workers and managers in the particular sector in which the firm is embedded. The article has practical implications for HR managers who are viewed, rightly or wrongly, with suspicion and distrust by employee representatives.     

On games without side payments arising from a general class of markets

The class of games without side payments obtainable from finite trader markets having possibly infinite dimensional commodity spaces, individual compact, convex consumption and production sets, and concave upper-semicontinuous utility functions is considered. It is shown that these market games are precisely the totally balanced games. In fact, each totally balanced game is shown to have both a finite commodity representation and an infinite commodity ‘simple’ representation.     

我国网络游戏产业发展现状初探

文章从分析我国网络游戏产业的现状入手,重点剖析了网络游戏产业的盈利模式,同时对网络游戏引发的问题进行了探讨。     

More than just a special case: The value of double bind theory for bringing light into the dark side of organizational paradoxes

In their recently published article, Berti and Simpson introduced a comprehensive framework for the systematic analysis of the dark side of organizational paradoxes. While I follow the authors in connecting the analysis of this dark side to types of organizational power, I am concerned with the narrow view on double binds as an expression of coercions only. This narrow view not only runs counter to the basic idea of double bind theory, but also neglects or even denies transition dynamics between different types of organizational double binds. To address these issues, I develop an alternative framework for the analysis of the dark side of organizational power that considers double binds in a broader and more fruitful way. This framework not only facilitates the analysis of transition dynamics between types of double binds, but also reveals practical strategies for mitigating paradoxes and disentangling them from implicit structures that are in the blind spot of Berti and Simpson's framework.     

Modeling the price side of econometric models: An analysis of the underlying hypotheses

Using a non-linear vector autoregression, this paper investigates the dynamic interactions between a set of disaggregated price series. A hypothesis, positing that all sectoral prices are a function of a ‘major price index’, is tested and the way this hypothesis is used in econometric models is discussed. The model is based upon the theory of covariance stationary time series. Non-linear estimation procedures are used.     

电子商务之网游

截止2006年,中国网民的数量已经达到13700万人。虽然网民总数多,增长快,但是互联网普及程度还很低。未来的发展空氓粱很大。而网游的力量是不可忽视的,所以将电子商务和网游结合起来是企业拓展盈利的一个新的方向。文中从中国网民现状。中国网游现状,中国电子商务现状及电子商务与网游的结合进行了讨论。