Bricolage,collaboration and mission drift in social enterprises

Abstract

Increasingly, social enterprises are relying on collaboration with partners to tackle the resource constraints that they face. In this research we focus on the strategy of bricolage to explore whether and how the different types of partner becoming involved may impact on the mission of social enterprises. Grounded in resource dependency and transaction cost theories, we explore how power asymmetry and the nature of involvement may impact on the outcomes of bricolage. Our findings demonstrate that in the more integrated relationships with high power asymmetry, more instances of mission drift might be observed compared to when social enterprises develop the more collaborative or complementary nature of partnerships with symmetrical power dependency, or when the partners’ involvements are mainly transaction-based.     

农民工的社会网络变迁

采用系统模式研究了进城农民工的社会网络重构过程,指出随着谋生方式由农业生产向非农产业的转移,进城农民工正在逐步建立起以业缘关系为基础的新的社会纽带,并使之成为其社会网络的重要组成部分.这些由进城农民工一手构建的社会关系网络正在成为他们在城市生活中赖以生存和发展的重要资本.     

Structural embeddedness and organizational social outcomes in a centrally governed mental health services network

Abstract

This article is an examination of the effects of network involvement, or structural embeddedness, on three organizationally based social outcomes. Specifically, we argue that in centralized, publicly funded networks an organization's structural embeddedness will be related to its trustworthiness, reputation and influence, as rated by other network members. Results from a network survey of a publicly funded health and human service network generally confirm our hypotheses and suggest additional work on the topic.     

How internal and external factors influence the dynamics of SME technology collaboration networks over time

This paper presents a framework to assess the effects of technology collaboration networks (TCNs) on the innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). It includes three factors that affect firm dynamics and could influence the success of the TCN: the macroeconomic cycle (macro-level), the industry life cycle (industry-level) and the age of the firm (firm-level). Previous papers have focused on factors at one specific level, mainly the firm level, but have not looked at these all together and have also failed to take into account how they evolve gradually over time. This study closes this gap using a panel of 44,885 observations for SMEs for the period 2003–2013. The findings confirm the importance of the inclusion of these factors at the macroeconomic, industry and firm level since they influence the TCN and the innovation performance relationship. The implications for managers and policy makers are discussed.     

The influence of internal and external social networks on HRM capabilities in MNC subsidiaries in China

In this study we examine the influence of involvement in internal and external social networks on HRM capabilities. We distinguish between technical and strategic HRM capabilities and focus on the capabilities of the HR department relating to four HRM practices – recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, and performance appraisal. The study is based on data from dual respondents, general managers and HR managers, in 66 European MNC subsidiaries located in China. The results indicate that contact with other MNCs in China regarding HRM issues is positively associated with both technical and strategic HRM capabilities whereas contact with local Chinese companies does not have any significant influence on either strategic or technical HRM capabilities. Contact with MNC headquarters is positively associated with strategic HRM capabilities.     

Application of collective knowledge diffusion in a social network environment

ABSTRACT

We present a group dynamics model that shows knowledge integration as a process occurring over time. As each individual in the group contact others, his own knowledge changes, and over time the collective knowledge is obtained. This allows modeling knowledge diffusion in a social network and while the models presented in this paper are not competitive in that area, they approach the problem from previously unconsidered direction. We test the behavior of the model in a multi-agent simulation and we test a simple advertisement campaign in a social network. We provide discussion of elements needed for making model more competitive.     

For the greater good: business networks and business social responsibility to communities

Business networks (co-operative arrangements between independent business organizations) may be the signature organizational form of the contemporary global economy. Many policy-makers and local leaders advocate business network membership as an alternative development strategy for regional economic vitality. The extant literature on business networks has focused on their association with business success. However, little is known about their impact on other aspects of community life. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the role of network membership on one non-economic dimension of the business community interface. We examined the relationship between business network membership and business social responsibility to communities, defined as the provision of leadership and support for community betterment projects. Data were gathered from telephone interviews with a random sample of 460 non-metro small business operators in the USA. Independent t-tests and ordinary least squares regression analyses controlling for theoretically important variables were conducted. Findings show that networked businesses provide more leadership and support for their communities than non-networked businesses. However, networked businesses were no more likely than non-networked businesses to use local suppliers of goods and services.     

Overcoming the liability of smallness by recruiting through networks in China: a guanxi-based social capital perspective

We investigate the role of guanxi in Chinese entrepreneurial firms’ recruitment practices in attempting to overcome the liability of smallness. Combining insights from the social capital and guanxi literature, we theorize the guanxi-based social capital perspective and use it to analysis 96 in-depth interviews with multiple members (entrepreneurs, senior managers and factory workers) from 15 die-casting entrepreneurial firms in Guangdong province, China. We find that the use of guanxi in recruitment practice can overcome the liability of smallness because it makes the hiring process more convenient, improves firms’ attractiveness to jobseekers and enhances the person-organizational fit between new hires and firms. We discuss how Chinese entrepreneurs and their senior managers use guanxi strategically to achieve these advantages. On the other hand, our findings suggest that jobseekers can also use guanxi to increase their options, improve their bargaining power and distract firms’ attention away from hiring the most appropriate candidate for the job in order to undermine the effectiveness of Chinese entrepreneurial firms’ recruitment procedures. We explore the implications of these findings for academic research and managerial practice.     

Influences on expatriate social networks in China

This study applied social network theory to investigate the factors influencing expatriate social networks and the consequences of expatriate social networks in China. Based on analysis of 171 Taiwanese expatriates in China, this study found that core self-evaluations and extraversion are significant for expatriates in developing expressive and instrumental ties with host country nationals. Moreover, job autonomy assists expatriates in developing instrumental ties with host country nationals. The expressive and instrumental ties of expatriates with host country nationals are significant for overseas adaptation. Finally, instrumental ties with host country nationals are significant for expatriate job performance.     

Identifying influential user communities on the social network

Nowadays social network services have been popularly used in electronic commerce systems. Users on the social network can develop different relationships based on their common interests and activities. In order to promote the business, it is interesting to explore hidden relationships among users developed on the social network. Such knowledge can be used to locate target users for different advertisements and to provide effective product recommendations. In this paper, we define and study a novel community detection problem that is to discover the hidden community structure in large social networks based on their common interests. We observe that the users typically pay more attention to those users who share similar interests, which enable a way to partition the users into different communities according to their common interests. We propose two algorithms to detect influential communities using common interests in large social networks efficiently and effectively. We conduct our experimental evaluation using a data set from Epinions, which demonstrates that our method achieves 4–11.8% accuracy improvement over the state-of-the-art method.     

我国科技合作模式及问题初探

随着经济全球化,科技合作也日益成为人们关注的话题,世界范围内的科技合作也越来越多和普遍,该文从科技资源集成的角度论述了我国科技合作的定义和种类,我国目前科技合作的主要形式,以及分析它们存在的一些问题,提出了相应的对策思路。     

Fostering product innovation in industry networks: the mediating role of knowledge integration

The locus of innovation has shifted from single entrepreneurial firms to groups of networked firms. Inter-organizational cooperation rather than competition to exploit the value of knowledge through new product innovation lies at the heart of the knowledge-based economy. This paper focuses on the phenomenon of network product innovation and the holistic integration of distributed knowledge across organizational boundaries to foster production innovation. A new construct, knowledge integration, is found to have a strong positive impact on new product performance. Resource complementarity, market orientation, and information sharing are three antecedents that positively affect knowledge integration across organizational boundaries. Survey data also suggest that knowledge integration serves as a mediator between the three antecedents and product innovation performance. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

A social activity and physical contact-based routing algorithm in mobile opportunistic networks for emergency response to sudden disasters

Sudden disasters such as earthquake, flood and hurricane necessitate the employment of communication networks to carry out emergency response activities. Routing has a significant impact on the functionality, performance and flexibility of communication networks. In this article, the routing problem is studied considering the delivery ratio of messages, the overhead ratio of messages and the average delay of messages in mobile opportunistic networks (MONs) for enterprise-level emergency response communications in sudden disaster scenarios. Unlike the traditional routing methods for MONS, this article presents a new two-stage spreading and forwarding dynamic routing algorithm based on the proposed social activity degree and physical contact factor for mobile customers. A new modelling method for describing a dynamic evolving process of the topology structure of a MON is first proposed. Then a multi-copy spreading strategy based on the social activity degree of nodes and a single-copy forwarding strategy based on the physical contact factor between nodes are designed. Compared with the most relevant routing algorithms such as Epidemic, Prophet, Labelled-sim, Dlife-comm and Distribute-sim, the proposed routing algorithm can significantly increase the delivery ratio of messages, and decrease the overhead ratio and average delay of messages.     

Extrinsic motivation as a determinant of knowledge exchange in sales teams: A social network approach

This paper investigates extrinsic motivation as a determinant of knowledge exchange among employees in sales teams. Applying a social network approach, we study different forms of knowledge-exchange behaviors from the perspective of a focal employee and from the perspective of the dyad. From the focal employees' perspective, we disentangle knowledge seeking from knowledge providing, and argue that these two behaviors are affected differently by employees' extrinsic motivation. From the dyad perspective, we take similarity in motivation of tied-to employees and reciprocity of exchange ties into account. To test our hypotheses, we apply exponential random graph models to data gathered from 138 employees in five different sales teams distributed across three companies in Central Europe. The results of our analysis from the focal employees' perspective show that extrinsically motivated employees generally engage in less knowledge exchange. The dyad perspective further highlights that sales employees proceed purposefully when they exchange knowledge with coworkers. For instance, two employees' relative levels of extrinsic motivation determine their willingness to engage in reciprocal knowledge exchange. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on the microfoundations of organizational knowledge management and draw conclusions concerning HRM practices used to foster extrinsic motivation, thereby affecting knowledge exchange.     

Alignment,integration, and consistency in HRM across multi‐employer networks

Most studies of human resource management (HRM) have been conducted within the context of the single employing organization, which is strange given the recent growth in multi‐employer networks. In this study, the authors examine whether alignment, integration, and consistency—concepts central to or implicit in most analyses of HRM—has meaning and relevance in the multi‐employer context. They focus specifically on networks in which collaboration is intended to deliver high levels of product quality or customer service, precisely where one might expect employers would be attracted to “strong” HRM systems. Data was collected via interviews and document analysis in four networks, spanning both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom. Despite a set of potentially favorable conditions within these networks to promote alignment, integration, and consistency, implementation was impeded by other equally powerful forces, including differences in employer goals within networks, especially between public and private sector organizations; intraorganizational tensions within internal labor markets for organizations involved in networks; using divergent HR policies between organizations within multi‐employer networks; and contradictions between the pursuit of “among employee” or “temporal” consistency for workers. Rather than prescribing a one‐size‐fits‐all solution for these problems, it is argued that detailed analysis of each network is necessary. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Statistical analysis of change in networks

A survey is given of random graphs and random graph processes which can be used to describe and analyze networks that are changing with time. Marko-vian change over time, log-linear models for change, and conditionally uniform models for change are described. It is noted that estimation is usually complex if the random graph involves dependent dyads. Models with deterministic change over time may be a way to avoid the difficulties implied by dependent dyads. Logit regression methods are described that can be used to estimate such models.     

物流对经济增长影响的实证分析

采用eviews统计软件,使用动态计量经济学建模方法建立中国物流业与经济增长的模型,得出物流业与经济增长影响的定量关系,并针对模型提出整合物流市场、加大对物流的建设等建议。     

论我国会计科学研究方法的专门研究

会计学是一门具有自身专属研究对象与研究内容的科学,它是社会科学体系中管理科学的一个重要组成部分,其理论的发展与创新离不开科学的研究方法,故会计科学研究方法也应作为会计科学理论体系中的一个专门问题进行研究。本文以对我国会计科学研究方法研究现状的评析为基础,提出会计科学研究方法研究成果的运用应当以推动其学术规范建设作为重点。     

Overcoming equivocality on projects in the fuzzy front end: Bringing social networks back in

The management of the fuzzy front end (FFE) phase of innovation is crucial to the ultimate success of new product and process initiatives. A critical challenge that teams face at this stage is dealing with equivocality – the extent to which project participants grapple with multiple, and plausibly conflicting, meanings and interpretations of the information available to them (Daft and Lengel, 1986; Weick, 1979). While initially, a certain level of equivocality is beneficial for enhancing teams’ creativity and preventing early closure, at some point it must be resolved in order for an idea to become a viable New Product Development (NPD) project. This study employs a social networks perspective to understand how different types of informal work-based relations and their structural properties affect equivocality on project teams in the FFE. In particular, it examines the structural effects of two types of social relations and their associated networks—those of technical-advice and friendship ties. The findings suggest that while high density in projects’ technical-advice network is likely to reduce equivocality, high density in projects’ friendship network is likely to increase it. More interestingly, having multiple members on projects who are highly central in the lab's technical-advice network tends to increase equivocality unless it is balanced with members who occupy positions of high centrality in the lab's friendship network. In addition to contributing to the scholarship on NPD, FFE, and social networks, the results offer managerial insights for deploying social networks in order to assemble NPD teams and structure the flows of communication on projects so as to resolve equivocality in the FFE.     

Holism versus Reductionism in Modern Social Science Research

Quality &; Quantity - Since an early stage in most of thetechnical sciences, and during the last fewdecades in many of the social sciences,reductionistic research has become a mainstream typeof...