Kinship and business: how entrepreneurial households facilitate business growth

Building on studies that have stressed the importance of context and the role of the family in business growth, this study explores the role of the entrepreneurial household in the process of business development and growth. We seek to understand how household strategy influences the development of new businesses, the ways in which household characteristics and dynamics influence business growth strategy decisions and how business portfolios are managed and developed by the household. To examine these questions, comparative case studies were undertaken drawing data from four entrepreneurial households located in remote rural regions of Norway and Scotland. The data reveal the role of the entrepreneurial household in the evolution of business creation and growth, examining the processual aspects of entrepreneurial growth, the interactions between business activities and entrepreneurial households and how business portfolios are developed in practice. Three analytical themes emerged from the analyses: the tightly interwoven connections between the business and the household, the use of family and kinship relations as a business resource base and how households mitigate risk and uncertainty through self-imposed growth controls. Although previous studies have viewed entrepreneurial growth largely as an outcome of personal ambition and business strategy, these results reveal the importance of the entrepreneurial household and the household strategy in determining business growth activities.     

Dichotomous‐choice contingent valuation with ‘dont know’ responses and misreporting

A new approach is presented that simultaneously deals with Misreporting and Don't Know (DK) responses within a dichotomous‐choice contingent valuation framework. Utilising a modification of the standard Bayesian Probit framework, a Gibbs with Metropolis–Hastings algorithm is used to estimate the posterior densities for the parameters of interest. Several model specifications are applied to two contingent valuation datasets: one on wolf management plans, and one on the US Fee Demonstration Program. We find that DKs are more likely to be from people who would be predicted to have positive utility for the bid. Therefore, a DK is more likely to be a YES than a NO. We also find evidence of misreporting, primarily in favour of the NO option. The inclusion of DK responses has an unpredictable impact on willingness‐to‐pay estimates, since it impacts differently on the results for the two datasets we examine. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adding ethical consideration to the decision‐making process: A leadership challenge

Stakeholder analysis offers a well‐established framework for understanding organizational context and environment. Stakeholder analysis also offers a lens through which ethical considerations can be consciously evaluated and included in organizational decision making. In this article, the author offers a brief overview of the ethics literature and then examines the decision‐making process to identify how and when opportunities arise to include ethical considerations into the decision‐making process. He concludes by offering suggestions on how leaders might improve their ethical decision‐making by using a more macro and strategic stakeholder lens.     

Age and leadership effectiveness: From the perceptions of the follower

This study analyzes age and leader effectiveness based on empirical research. The study findings support the policy of fair employment and promotional availability regardless of age. There is some evidence to suggest younger supervisors engage in more relationship-oriented activities than older supervisors, who may have less need for the relationships.     

From nation‐building to globalization: an account of the past and present in recent urban studies in Turkey

Sema Erder Istanbul'a Bir Kent Kondu, Ümraniye [A City Disembarked to Istanbul, Ümraniye]. Yildiz Sey (ed.) 75 Yilda Degisen Kent ve Mimarlik [Changing city and architecture in 75 years]. Caglar Keyder (ed.) Istanbul, between the global and the local Sibel Bozdogan Modernism and nation building: Turkish architectural culture in the early Republic Oguz Isik and Melih Pinarcioglu Nöbetlese yoksulluk, gecekondulasma ve kent yoksullari: Sultanbeyli örnegi [Poverty in turn: squatter housing and urban poor: the example of Sultanbeyli] Ayse Bugra and Caglar Keyder New poverty and the changing welfare regime of Turkey     

From Frontier to Bridgehead: Cross‐border Regions and the Experience of Yunnan,China

Drawing on recent theoretical tenets regarding cross‐border regions, this article analyzes China's state spatial policies that aim to transform Yunnan from a peripheral frontier into an economic bridgehead. The purposes of the present study are threefold: to contextualize the formation of Yunnan as China's frontier; to examine why Yunnan has been strategically selected as a bridgehead to promote China's transnational economies; and to explore the central–provincial alliance as an innovative institutional arrangement and look at how this alliance can convert Yunnan into a space of exception or new state space of development. This study finds that in order to convert regional assets into real competitiveness, the Chinese state (national, provincial and local) emphasizes transnational cooperation, endeavors to maximize Yunnan's place‐specific locational advantages and promotes the differentiation of regional developmental trajectories across China's national territory. The article contributes to studies of institutional arrangements for cross‐border cooperation in a non‐Western context and sheds light on China's regional development policies in its hinterland.     

Lisbon After the Crisis: From Credit‐fuelled Suburbanization to Tourist‐driven Gentrification

This article examines Lisbon's post‐crisis transition from a once dominant process of suburban expansion enabled by abundant credit to one of ongoing gentrification of its historic centre. In my research, I draw on quantitative and qualitative data to illustrate the remarkable growth of the metropolitan area's population and dwelling stock until the global financial crisis—which affected the Portuguese economy in the course of a process of financialization that relied heavily on the housing industry—and the intensity of urban rehabilitation in subsequent years. However, there is evidence that the latter has not halted nor reduced the loss of long‐term residents in the historic centre, as tourists and other international gentrifiers occupy the upgraded dwelling stock amid an escalation of house prices and rents. The specific contribution of this research lies in the link that it establishes between Lisbon's ongoing process of inner‐city gentrification and the lack of suburban expansion after 2007. By showing that the credit crunch triggered a shift in the geographic location of real‐estate capital that materialized in a new urban development model, this research adds an empirical layer to the study of the spatial effects of the crisis and contributes to the literature on the subsequent restructuring of southern European housing markets.     

‘It's more than who you know’– networks and trade unions in the audio‐visual industries

Many commentators have argued that a shift towards post‐industrial modes of production and employment has progressively undermined the conditions for collective labour organisation and regulation. The capacity of trade unions to respond to these changes and represent the interests of contingent workers has become a key issue in many industries in which employment has become increasingly fragmented. This article examines patterns of interest representation pursued by freelance workers in the UK audio‐visual sector. In particular, it examines three critical cases to explore the potential of networks of freelance workers for representing their interests and to consider the implications for trade unions as traditional collective actors. We conclude that networks can provide forums through which interests can be articulated, but their limitations in representing freelance workers offer trade unions a crucial opportunity to extend collective regulation.     

Non‐competes,business dynamism,and concentration: Evidence from a Florida case study

Most research on non‐competes has focused on employees; here we study how non‐competes affect firm location choice, growth, and consequent regional concentration, using Florida's 1996 legislative change that eased restrictions on their enforcement. Difference‐in‐differences models show that following the change, establishments of large firms were more likely to enter Florida; they also created a greater proportion of jobs and increased their share of employment in the state. Entrepreneurs or establishments of small firms, in contrast, were less likely to enter Florida following the law change; they also created a smaller proportion of new jobs and decreased their share of employment. Consistent with these location and job creation dynamics, regional business concentration increased following the law change in Florida. Nationwide cross‐sections demonstrate consistent correlations between state‐level non‐compete enforcement and the location, employment, and concentration dynamics illustrated in Florida.     

Servant leadership,organizational identification,and work‐to‐family enrichment: The moderating role of work climate for sharing family concerns

The present study investigates the impact of servant leadership as perceived by followers on their work‐to‐family enrichment (WFE) by focusing on the mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating role of work climate for sharing family concerns. The results from a field survey of 230 married managers in China provide full support for our hypotheses, indicating that perceived servant leadership is positively related to WFE; this relationship is also mediated by organizational identification. In addition, work climate for sharing family concerns attenuates the effects of servant leadership on organizational identification and WFE. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Differences in principals' leadership behavior in high‐ and low‐performing schools

This study was based on data from the 2008 Take20: Alabama Teaching and Learning Conditions Survey and focused on a comparison of teachers' perceptions of how school principals exercise their role in both high‐ and low‐performing elementary and middle schools that serve high‐poverty student populations. Teachers in the high‐performing schools consistently viewed their principals' behavior more positively than did their counterparts in the lower‐performing schools. Teachers reported less difference in regard to engaging the community to create shared responsibility for student and school success. Very little difference existed in the principal's involvement of teachers in key school decisions; neither population of principals scored high in this area.     

Psychological barriers to adjustment and how they affect coping strategies: Western business expatriates in China

Business expatriates currently assigned to the Chinese mainland, mainly from the USA, France, Germany, Australia and Great Britain participated in a survey examining two sets of psychological barriers to adjustment and their association with problem-focused and symptom-focused coping strategies. As presumed, there is a negative relationship between expatriates' perceived inability to adjust and problem-focused coping, while this psychological barrier had no significant association with symptom-focused coping. Unwillingness to adjust has a negative relationship with only one of the problem-focused coping variables, social involvement with host country nationals, whereas the same psychological barrier correlated only negatively with parent-country escapism of the symptom-focused strategies. Implications for Western business expatriates on the Chinese mainland and for their assigning companies are discussed as well as possible avenues for further research.     

A conscious‐authentic leadership approach in the workplace: Leading from within

This study combines components of the relatively nascent concepts of conscious leadership and authentic leadership. It is a synopsis of a recent empirical study comparing two groups of companies and their respective CEOs. Each group is comprised of three companies. Group I is led by CEOs who use a conscious‐authentic leadership approach in the workplace. They infuse their personal values, beliefs, and relational leadership behavior into the policies, practices, and employee programs within their respective organizations to achieve specific organizational outcomes. Group II CEOs do not use this leadership approach. The companies selected for study were categorized by disinterested third parties in the business community. This study explores the perceptions of the employees of both groups and the impact of the conscious‐authentic leadership model on organizational behavior and specific organizational outcomes in the workplace. The organizational outcomes tested in this study are voluntary employee‐withdrawal behavior and absenteeism during the period 2003–2005. An employee questionnaire was administered to the employees of both groups to measure organizational behavior. The same questionnaire was administered to the CEOs to determine their level of self‐awareness and their sense of the reality of the human condition within their respective organization. A separate leadership questionnaire was administered to the CEOs for a self‐assessment of personal attributes and leadership style. The findings provide a working definition of conscious‐authentic leadership behavior and a working model of the components of this approach as implemented by Group I CEOs in the workplace.     

建筑施工企业如何积极应对“营改增”

文章通过分析营改增政策对建筑施工企业的影响,针对性地提出了建筑施工企业应对营改增的措施和策略,以期提供借鉴参考。。     

Organizational achievement values,high‐involvement work practices,and business unit performance

This study examines the relationships among organizational achievement values, high‐involvement work practices (HIWP), and business unit performance. Specifically, we examine whether HIWP mediate or moderate the effect of achievement values on retail store performance. Using data collected at three points in time from more than 1,000 employees, we found support for the mediation model. The article concludes with directions for future research and implications for management practice. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

From patchwork to theory development: mapping and advancing research about business portfolio restructuring

While research on corporate or business portfolio restructuring has become an independent part of corporate restructuring research, the respective scholarly literature is in need of a systematic review that identifies the substantiated state of knowledge and reveals future research opportunities in this field of strategic management. The objective of our study is to fill this gap. Combining several literature retrieval methods 73 studies are identified and analyzed. As a result, current shortcomings in theory-building and empirical portfolio restructuring research are highlighted applying a framework that distinguishes between antecedents, processes, and outcomes of portfolio restructuring activities. The contribution of this paper goes beyond listing past achievements and disregarded issues as it proposes several directions for future research. Specifically, there is an urgent need for studying restructuring processes and the corresponding development or use of appropriate research methods.     

HR business partner competency models: re‐contextualising effectiveness

The rise of ‘HR business partnering’ over the last decade has led to an enormous growth in HR competency models. Competencies are believed to provide a mechanism for reinventing traditional HR roles and improving the effectiveness of HR professionals as business partners. But are they effective? The survey and interview evidence presented here suggest that the effectiveness of competency models is disappointing, and they appear to be particularly weak at predicting performance in a business partner role. There are also significant contextual variations in effectiveness based on the degree of change experienced by the HR function, how consistently business partnering is implemented, overall levels of reduction in transactional HR, and the patterns of centralisation–decentralisation of the HR function. The findings highlight the intrinsic limitations of competency models, as well as the powerful influence of contextual factors, and they raise important questions about the future direction of HR business partnering.     

Explaining organizational responsiveness to work‐life balance issues: The role of business strategy and high‐performance work systems

This article applies new insights into business strategies and high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) to examine why organizations adopt work‐life balance programs (WLBPs). Results indicate that a product leadership business strategy is positively related to the likelihood of adopting WLBPs, whereas a cost leadership business strategy is negatively related to the adoption of these programs. Moreover, our analyses establish a mediating role of HPWSs in the relationship between business strategies and the adoption of WLBPs. Our results also demonstrate that different industries vary in adoption of work‐life balance programs. This supports the institutional theory of organizational responsiveness to work‐life balance issues. We tested our hypotheses with two waves of the nationally representative Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey. Implications and specific suggestions for human resource practitioners are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.