Examining the positive and negative effects of <Emphasis Type="Italic">guanxi</Emphasis> practices: A multi-level analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">guanxi</Emphasis> practices and procedural justice perceptions

In this research, we compared and contrasted the effects of managers’ interpersonal level guanxi practice and group level guanxi practice on employees’ procedural justice perceptions. Results indicated that interpersonal guanxi practice was associated with increased employee fairness perceptions whereas group level guanxi practice (the sense that guanxi is used often to make human resource decisions within a management group) was negatively related to perceived fairness. Thus, while individuals may like the personal favors of managers’ interpersonal guanxi practice, their sense of justice is undermined by the broad use of guanxi. In addition, group level guanxi practice moderated the relationship between interpersonal guanxi practice and procedural justice such that this relationship was stronger in work units with high levels of group level guanxi practice. Thus, when employees see many others affected by guanxi, their sense of justice is even more strongly influenced by interpersonal guanxi practice.     

When Public Utilities <Emphasis Type="Italic">Like</Emphasis> to Talk on Facebook

As the leading social media tool, Facebook is increasingly becoming an important channel for two-sided stakeholder communication in the energy sector. Even though public utilities more and more all relying on such virtual communication, little is known regarding the communication-related factors and their interdependencies. This study aims to reduce this research gap by analysing correlations between a public utility’s specifications, communication interactivity, the resources spent and the outcome of the Facebook conversation. In 2016, an online questionnaire was sent to German, Austrian and Swiss utility companies. The empirical data of the 139 utilities that responded fully support relationships between the communication interactivity and the invested resources as well as the outcomes of a communication. In this way, the results provide new insights for scholars and practitioners into the Facebook conversations of public entities.     

A pedagogic approach to enhance creative <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ideation</Emphasis> in classroom practice

The real intent for technology education is to prepare young people so that they may fully participate and function in human society. To achieve this aim, learners are guided towards the development of attributes that include perceptive, critical, creative and informed decision making. Although effective teaching strives to inspire the creative spark in every learner, there is little guidance to inform actual classroom practice. The selection of strategies and implementation methods that engender creative responses in students, is usually left to an individual teacher’s interpretation. A working knowledge of design processing provides a most advantageous methodology to guide teaching and learning as students develop ways “of knowing through thinking and doing,” Sharma and Poole (Des Manag Inst 20(4):64–74, 2010) within classroom design and technological practice. This article looks at the broad stage of Ideation in creative design practice, where designers instigate and generate ideas within their own practice. Insight and transferable skills are observed to inform classroom practice. One event from the ideation stage of design practice processing is selected to enhance student visual communication skills. A pedagogic approach is then shared to inform the implimentation of a teaching and learning strategy that has been trialled with design (aged from 12 to 18 years) and Initial Teacher Education adult students.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Guanxi</Emphasis> circle and organizational citizenship behavior: Context of a Chinese workplace

According to leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, good vertical working relations encourage organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) that benefits organizations. But how does supervisor-subordinate guanxi influence employees’ extra-role behaviors in relation to organizational interests? To answer this question, this paper examines a particular structural phenomenon in the context of the Chinese workplace. Guanxi circles (the phenomenon under investigation) are ego-centered guanxi networks with a powerful person at the center. Although a circle leader and his or her group members exchange favors for private goals, they need to actively balance their own interests with the interests of people/groups outside the guanxi circle; so as to maintain a harmonious relationship with the larger network. For this reason, extra-role performance benefiting the larger network is encouraged in the management of a guanxi circle. By studying survey data from China, we demonstrate how a wide variety of circle roles facilitate extra-role performance, and ultimately benefit the organization as a whole. Circle bridges have higher OCB toward organizations (OCB-O) than peripheral members of a circle, who in turn have higher OCB-O than core members of the same circle.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">GTE Sylvania</Emphasis> and Interbrand Competition as the Primary Concern of Antitrust Law

Footnote 19 of the landmark U.S. antitrust decision in Continental T.V. v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. 433 U.S. 36 (1977) declares that “Interbrand competition … is the primary concern of antitrust law.” We trace the antecedents and influence of this declaration, argue that it is inappropriate, and conclude that it should be abandoned.     

Firm Growth Under Sample Selection: Conditional <Emphasis>σ</Emphasis>-Convergence in Firm Size?

This paper tests the second, widely neglected implication of Gibrat’s law stating that the variance of firm size distribution increases over time. In contrast, learning models imply conditional σ-convergence in firm size. A unique data set of Austrian firms especially suited to account for sample selection effects is used to analyze the growth/size nexus of firms. The estimation results suggest that the predicted variance in firm size decreases only for firms of age 30 or below. For older age cohorts the hypothesis of a constant variance either cannot be rejected or increasing variances are found.     

An examination into the causal logic of rent generation: contrasting Porter's competitive strategy framework and the resource‐based perspective

In this study we revisit some fundamental questions that are increasingly at the heart of current strategic management discourse regarding the relative impact of industry and firm‐specific factors on sustainable competitive advantage. We explore this issue by referring to respective assertions of two major perspectives that dominate the literature over the last two decades: the Porter framework of competitive strategy and the more recent resource‐based view of the firm. A composite model is proposed which elaborates upon both perspectives' divergent causal logic with respect to the conditions relevant for firm success. Empirical findings suggest that industry and firm specific effects are both important but explain different dimensions of performance. Where industry forces influence market performance and profitability, firm assets act upon accomplishments in the market arena (i.e., market performance), and via the latter, to profitability. The paper concludes with directions for future research that will seek to integrate both content and process aspects of firm behavior. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kohlekraftwerke mit CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Abscheidung: Strategien,Rahmenbedingungen und umweltseitige Auswirkungen

A successful implementation of CO₂-capture in power plants is mainly depending on the energy political or economical environment. The future role of lignite and hard coal power production varies widely in presumed energy scenarios. This report considers the actual projections of BDEW. Increasing demand, the replacement of old plants and the compensation of efficiency losses due to CCS-technology cause highly ambitious expansion rates, assuming a retrofit time horizon of 10 years starting in 2020. The corresponding coal demand increases strongly. Therefore, a solely concentration of CO₂-reduction potential is not sufficient. Other environmental impacts triggered through emissions are low compared to the total German impacts. Nevertheless, the compliance with national ceilings for NO_x emissions for example can only be reached by compensation measures in other sectors.