Sharing Out in Alliances: Trust and Ethics

Alliances are relatively new forms of relationships between businesses which allow cooperation in some areas of activity while maintaining competition in others, even in those areas where cooperation is the established procedure. Logically, this demands a mutual trust on the basis of which the cooperation can be established. The nature of this relationship is, furthermore, dynamic inasmuch as it develops over a period of time and generates new conditions which either enhance or destroy trust.This article reviews the general issues of alliances and, in particular, the special relationships between the parties. The discussion of the creation and development of trust in an alliance describes both what technical, psychological, sociological and, particularly, ethical conditions make an alliance possible and the ethical nature of the necessary step which must be taken as trust is transformed from mere possibility into the actual fact of placing trust in a partner.     

论营销渠道战略联盟中相互信任问题

营销渠道战略联盟中的相互信任问题是企业界和理论界共同关心的话题。本文从营销渠道战略联盟中相互信任问题的前置因素和后果变量两个方面 ,对现有研究成果进行分析和归纳。在此基础上提出了营销渠道战略联盟中相互信任问题的理论模型和相关命题。     

Business Ethics in Western and Northern Europe: A Search for Effective Alliances

Business ethics in Westenr and Northern Europe has acquired a certain momentum during the last fifteen years, both as an academic discipline and as a point of reference in business policies. The article reports about developments in academia in various countries, and the founding of national and Europe-wide networks and organizations bringing together representatives from business as well as from universities. It presents sources of information on the state of affairs, and proposes some parameters by which the national varieties of posssible alliances between ethical thinking and business policies can be depicted more adequately. The thesis of the report is that, in order to be operational, business ethics in Western and Northern Europe has to become part of the total configuration of economic, historical and ideological components that shape the social fabric on a national level.     

Interfirm Alliances in the Small Business: The Role of Social Networks

In light of the increasing importance of strategic alliances in shaping competition, this study explored whether the social network of small firm executives can be leveraged to facilitate the establishment of interfirm alliances. Analyses are based on a mail survey of 149 small manufacturing firms in the northeast United States. Results indicate that the social networks of senior executives account for 11–22 percent of the variance in the degree to which firms engage in alliances, depending on the type of alliance. Results also show that the number of interfirm alliances is positively related to several networking properties (propensity to network, strength of ties, and network prestige). Findings are discussed in the context of network theory, social embeddedness, and the overall implications for management researchers and practitioners.     

Managing Channel Profits: The Role of Managerial Incentives

The existing literature has examined how manufacturers can enhance profits by employing specific channel structures and channel coordination mechanisms. In this paper, we examine the implications of strategically designed managerial incentives for channel performance in a duopoly. We first analyze how equilibrium outcomes (especially manufacturer profits) are altered when the manufacturers provide their channel managers with strategically designed incentives. Following that, we examine how optimal channel structure decisions are altered when manufacturers provide their managers with strategic incentives, i.e., we examine how strategic incentives moderate optimal channel structure decisions. In contrast with the existing literature, we find that an asymmetric channel structure with one manufacturer employing a profit-maximizing retailer and the other integrated manufacturer providing strategic incentives for the channel manager in charge of pricing, is an equilibrium outcome under certain conditions. We then compare how the implications of strategic incentives differ from those of channel structure decisions and channel coordination initiatives, and discuss when and why strategic incentives yield superior outcomes from the manufacturer’s perspective. Our results shed light on the sparsely researched role of managerial incentives in the channel context.     

The Moderating Role of Context in Determining Unethical Managerial Behavior: A Case Survey

Prior negative performance and wrongdoing are difficult for applicants to overcome during their job search. The result has often been that they resort to lies and deception in order to obtain employment. The present study examines “stealing thunder” as a trust repair tactic that might be useful for overcoming prior indiscretions when it is used by applicants during the selection interview process. Stealing thunder refers to the self-disclosure of negative information that preempts allegations of wrongdoing by third parties such as hiring managers. Data were collected (n = 184) using a scenario-based 2 (accept responsibility; blame others) X 2 (low, high likelihood of discovery) experimental design in which perceptions of integrity, trust, and employability were measured. Results indicated that a stealing thunder strategy that involved accepting responsibility under a low likelihood of transgression discovery led to higher ratings of trust than blaming others when discovery of wrongdoing was imminent. The stealing thunder strategy was somewhat more effective than when a traditional, post-allegation apology was used. But stealing thunder did not lead to higher levels of an overall willingness to hire the applicant.     

Alliances and Networks: Creating Success in the UK Fair Trade Market

Data from a longitudinal study into the key management success factors in the fair trade industry provide insights into the essential nature of inter-organizational alliances and networks in creating the profitable and growing fair trade market in the UK. Drawing on three case studies and extensive industry interviews, we provide an interpretive perspective on the organizational relationships and business networks and the way in which these have engendered success for UK fair trade companies. Three types of benefit are derived from the networks: competitive developments through virtual integration in which the organizations remain flexible and small while projecting size to the market; intellectual developments through the sharing of intellectual capital with a diverse network of organizations in many fields; and ideological developments through an ideological network of like-minded individuals by which the companies can prevent the co-opting of the original purpose of fair trade. However, relative success at leveraging these benefits is influenced by three managerial factors: partner choice, partner use and partner management.     

Charity Retailing in the United Kingdom: A Managerial Capabilities Perspective

Nonprofit organizations are venturing into commercial activities due to the intense competition for the limited government funds and declining availability of donor funds for third‐sector organizations that address social problems. Charity retailing, a popular choice of commercial activity for nonprofit organization, has filled vacant premises in the high streets of the small towns and suburbs of large cities in the United Kingdom. Successful charity retail operation requires distinctive capabilities necessary to manage organizations' resources in commercial environment. Using 60 in‐depth elite interviews, we introduce the concept of managerial capabilities for charity retailing. Research propositions and management implications are discussed.     

Governance and Performance of Strategic Alliances in Africa: The Role of Institutions

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to the institutional perspective of the governance of strategic intercompany alliances in Africa, through examination and analysis of a typology of informal African institutions. We support the view that interactions in African institutions determine the pertinent choice of governance mechanisms for intercompany alliances. In African institutional environments, the success of strategic alliances is subject to differentiated interactions among the contract, institutional confidence, interpersonal confidence and inter-organizational confidence. In the area of strategic management, this article provides theoretical and managerial contributions to our understanding of the institutional approach to the governance of strategic business alliances in Africa.     

David Fritzsche: Business Ethics: A Global and Managerial Perspective

Teaching Business Ethics -     

The Role of Consumers' Trust in Online-Shopping

Many consumers are sceptical or suspicious about the functional mechanisms of electronic commerce, its intransparent processes and effects, and the quality of many products that are offered online. This paper analyses the role of consumer trust as a foundation for the diffusion and acceptance of electronic commerce. Starting from a functional perspective trust is seen as distinct but potentially coexisting mechanism for reducing the uncertainty and complexity of transactions and relationships in electronic markets. The analysis focuses on conditions of e-commerce transactions that are relevant for the formation of trust problems. Drawing on the theory of information two types of uncertainty are described: system-dependent and transaction-specific uncertainty. Finally different activities and instruments are described and categorized that Internet firms can use to establish and maintain trust.     

品牌联合主效应研究:产品介入度视角

品牌联合战略作为推广新产品、提升品牌资产的有效方式,近年来在商业实践中得到了广泛的应用。本研究基于消费者学习理论和认知一致性理论,从产品介入度视角出发,运用实验设计、问卷调查和SEM模型,对品牌联合主效应模型和产品介入度的影响在中国商业文化环境下进行了实证检验。结果显示,联合匹配度对品牌联合主效应存在显著的正向影响,但产品匹配度对消费者联合品牌的购买意图影响并不显著;产品介入度对品牌联合主效应模型中各变量之间的关系强度有调节性的影响,这与消费者学习理论观点是一致的。     

Organizational Trust and Interfirm Cooperation: An Examination of Horizontal Versus Vertical Alliances

Over the past decade, trust has emerged as the central means of achieving cooperation in interorganizational relationships. Past empirical inquiries have largely focused on the role of trust within the context of vertical relations between channel members or service providers and their clients. Thus, little is known about the nature or the role of trust in horizontal relations. A number of interorganizational scholars suggest that the nature and the effect of behavioral norms such as trust may be widely different in horizontal versus vertical relationships. This study examines the effect of relationship form on organizational trust using data from a survey of 106 U.S. firms who have recently participated in either horizontal or vertical R&D alliances. The results of this survey indicate that participants in vertical alliances display higher levels of organizational trust than participants in horizontal alliances. In addition, while organizational trust enhances cooperation in vertical alliances, trust is unrelated to cooperation in horizontal alliances.     

Web 2.0 Social Networks: The Role of Trust

Online social networks (OSNs) have gained enormous popularity in recent years. Hundreds of millions of social network users reveal great amounts of personal information in the Web 2.0 environment that is largely devoid of security standards and practices. The central question in this article is why so many social network users are being so trusting. The focus is on theory-building on trust as a critical issue in OSNs. A theoretical framework is developed, which facilitates a multi-level and multi-dimensional analysis of research problems related to trust in OSNs. First, the structural and relational underpinnings of trust in OSNs are investigated from a governance perspective that integrates concepts of social network theory, social capital and the role of value in relational exchanges. Subsequently, the focus moves to the individual’s decision to trust and to processes through which trust actually emerges. Different types and sources of trust from the trust literature and their importance for trust-related decisions and behaviours in OSNs are discussed. Several research propositions are presented, which contribute to a better understanding of the role of trust and the relevance of facets of trust and social capital in OSNs.     

信托公司如何服务低碳经济发展

<正>对于低碳经济发展所需要的支持,有人曾形象地将其比喻为一个三条腿的板凳:政策的培育、技术以及资本的支持,三方面缺少任何一个,都将出现问题,而三个要素中最重要的莫过于金融支持。作为金融体系中最灵活、最具有创新动力的信托业,介入碳金融无疑会起到事半功倍的效果。如何将行业和公司业务发展融入到为低碳     

Trust,but Verify: MD&;A Language and the Role of Trust in Corporate Culture

Recent scholarship in philosophy, law, and information systems suggests that respecting privacy entails understanding the implicit privacy norms about what, why, and to whom information is shared within specific relationships. These social contracts are important to understand if firms are to adequately manage the privacy expectations of stakeholders. This paper explores a social contract approach to developing, acknowledging, and protecting privacy norms within specific contexts. While privacy as a social contract—a mutually beneficial agreement within a community about sharing and using information—has been introduced theoretically and empirically, the full impact on firms of an alternative framework to respecting the privacy expectations of stakeholders has not been examined. The goal of this paper is to examine how privacy norms develop through social contract’s narrative, to redescribe privacy violations given the social contract approach, and to critically examine the role of business as a contractor in developing privacy norms. A social contract narrative dealing specifically with issues of privacy is an important next step in exploring a social contract approach to privacy. Here, the narrative is used to explain to analyze the dynamic process of privacy norm generation within particular communities. Based on this narrative, individuals within a given community discriminately share information with a particular set of obligations in mind as to who has access to the information and how it will be used. Rather than giving away privacy, individuals discriminately share information within a particular community and with norms governing the use of their information. Similar to contractual business ethics’ impact on global commerce in explaining how and why norms vary across global contexts, the social contract approach to privacy explains how and why norms vary across communities of actors. Focusing on agreements around privacy expectations shifts the responsibility of firms from adequate notification to the responsibility of firms as contractors to maintain a mutually beneficial and sustainable solution.     

The Decision to Use Alliances as Corporate Entrepreneurship: The Role of Resources and Skills

This aim of this research is to analyse the role of firm resources and skills in the decision to cooperate as a method for developing entrepreneurial activity. We use a sample of 967 entrepreneurial operations undertaken between 2000 and 2004 by 323 EU-15 companies. Results suggest that skills are more important than resources when choosing how to undertake an entrepreneurial activity. While experience in cooperation and possession of technological resources make the choice of an alliance more probable, experience in entrepreneurial activities and possession of physical resources may lead the company to opt for other alternatives.     

The Dual Role of Communication in Franchise Relationships: A Franchisee Perspective

Although the role of communication in franchise relationships is well recognized, it is not well understood. This paper proposes two higher‐order latent constructs—relationship positivity and relationship negativity—each of which is reflected in four first‐order constructs. The paper investigates the influence of communication on both positivity and negativity simultaneously. Authors collected data from 300 franchisees of a franchise system in Korea, and estimated a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. Results demonstrate the dual influence of communication—it enhances positivity and reduces negativity. More importantly, and somewhat surprisingly, communication is more effective at enhancing positivity in a relationship than at reducing negativity.     

On Effective Interdisciplinary Alliances in European Business Ethics Research: Discussion and Illustration

Cooperation in business ethics research is important across disciplines, to help strengthen the base of a field which is still new in Europe. A study on recruitment interviewing in Germany, U.K. and the Netherlands is used to demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary business ethics research, particularly across cultures.