Stage models of corporate ‘greening’: a critical evaluation

Corporate ‘greening’, i.e. the process by which companies can become more environmentally responsible in their operations, has attracted considerable interest lately. Largely born out of hands-on consultancy experience, various models have been proposed which describe a series of ‘stages’ by which companies become progressively more environmentally conscious and reduce their impact on the natural environment. The present article critically analyses some of these ‘stage’ models of corporate ‘greening’ from both an empirical and a management theoretical point of view. The empirical analysis is based on four case studies of the ‘greening’ efforts of companies in the UK water and electricity industries. Environmental strategy and management in these companies is found to fit poorly into the stage models of corporate ‘greening’. The article concludes that more comprehensive and interpretative explanations of organizational ‘greening’ are needed, including contextual and process oriented analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

National influences on European Works Councils in UK‐ and US‐based companies

The view that the role of European Works Councils (EWCs) is shaped predominantly by national industrial relations (IR) traditions in the company's country of origin derives largely from the experience of EWCs in companies based in continental Europe. This article argues that a more differentiated approach to the influence of national IR factors on EWCs needs to be developed to take account of the circumstances of companies headquartered in the UK and the US, whose national IR arrangements do not provide a strong institutional model for the EWC and, in the case of US‐based companies, where headquarters management has little or no direct involvement in the EWC. Findings from comparative case studies of EWCs in eight UK‐ and US‐based multinationals suggest that their character is shaped by the interplay between ‘country‐of‐origin’ factors,‘country‐of‐location’ factors and structural, company‐specific considerations.     

Environmental management and the “soft side” of organisations: Discovering the most relevant behavioural factors in green supply chains

Anchored in the resource‐based view theory, the objective of this research is to empirically analyse the behavioural factors affecting the green supply chain management (GCSM) performance in a fast‐growing emerging economy by taking an empirical data set of 101 responses from personnel in the mining sector. Behavioural factors in green supply chains are still a critical challenge—not yet a well‐explored academic subject—when the focus is on the mining industry of emerging economies like India; the lack of studies in this field could be a factor preventing the Indian mining industry becoming more green. In terms of methodology, original survey data were processed through AMOS 4.0, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the six constructs, that is, top management support, teamwork, workplace culture, resistance to change, green innovation, and green motivation. We further explore the input from the human side of GCSM by highlighting that top management support and green motivation are the most crucial behavioural factors that influence GCSM in the Indian mining sector. The study will be helpful for mining companies because it will enable them to identify the areas that require their attention for enhancing GCSM performance related to behavioural aspects.     

Resisting the 'Long‐Arm' of the State? Spheres of Capture and Opportunities for Autonomy in Community Governance

Efforts to promote community empowerment within regeneration management have been persistently critiqued. Particular concern regards the potential capture of civic organizations into the sphere of influence of more powerful governance stakeholders, leaving communities marginalized and frustrated. Although such ‘capture’ is a discernible threat, this article presents a more nuanced perspective demonstrating the scope for community‐based organizations to dissent from seemingly inexorable regimes of power. The article details a series of tensions that emerged across the evolution of a community‐led regeneration partnership. It then outlines how civil society organizations challenge ‘partnership orthodoxies’, seeking autonomy albeit nested within—and relative to—formal bureaucratic and administrative regimes. Community partners can therefore assume a hybridity of capture and autonomy—or a mutuality—that is rarely acknowledged by accounts that critique regeneration governance.     

Collective bargaining and new work regimes: ‘too important to be left to bosses’

The formal negotiations process remains perhaps the least‐studied moment of collective bargaining. Drawing on ideal types of ‘distributive’ and ‘integrative’ bargaining and the ‘formal/informal’ distinction, this article reports non‐participant observation and ethnographic research into the negotiations process that enabled a change agreement in a British multinational, hereafter anonymised as FMCG. Informal bargaining relations provided the backdrop to—and emerged within—the formal negotiations process. Formal bargaining established new employment contracts based on a simplified internal labour market and generated the joint governance processes to enable and regulate the change process. Neither management nor union strategy was wholly derived from rational, interest‐based positions. The negotiations process was essential to strategy formation and to the emergence of sufficient ‘integrative’ bargaining for all parties to devise and approve new processual institutions and norms to deliver a more flexible labour process and to restore the long‐run viability for ‘distributive’ bargaining.     

International pharmaceutical supply prices: Definitions — problems — policy implications

In cases where the buyer and the seller of goods and services are companies belonging to the same group the prices charged for goods and services are called ‘international delivery prices’ or ‘international transfer prices’. The peculiarities of research-based companies are such that attempts to ascertain in practice what constitutes an ‘appropriate’ international delivery price are beset by a number of problems. Any scheme that is devised to solve the problems of international transfer prices should feature general ‘rules’ on how the various countries ought to share in central costs. As international transfer prices are a prerequisite for an efficient world economy based on the division of labour an agreement should be reached on the design and content of suitable delivery price systems for a research-intensive industry.     

Labour scarcity and the survival of small firms: a resource‐based view of the road haulage industry

This article is concerned with the problem of labour scarcity in the road haulage industry and how it affects small firms. The recruitment and retention of lorry drivers is critically important for the industry because driving is no longer seen as an attractive occupation, and there are worries that there is an insufficient supply of new recruits to replace the experienced drivers who are leaving the industry. In order to investigate this issue, we make use of a modified version of the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm, focusing on the notion that a minimum set of ‘table stakes’(HR practices) is necessary for the continued survival of small firms. Drawing on longitudinal data from seven small road haulage companies, we argue that owner‐managers have developed an astute combination of path‐dependent and socially complex networking abilities, embedded within an extensive understanding of both product and local labour markets. We conclude that the RBV needs extending to make greater allowance for different ownership goals and diversity in markets, and to consider the forces that promote similarity rather than difference among firms within an industry.     

Training and development deficiencies in ‘high skill’ sectors

Policy debates across advanced industrial economies are stressing the centrality of skills and training to compete in the new ‘knowledge economy’. In the UK increasing importance is being placed on improving workplace learning, yet policy has so far failed to confront the issue of employers' lack of investment in training and development. This article examines whether the high skill sectors that exist within the UK can provide a model of workplace learning for other such sectors to emulate. By using case study research from the aerospace and pharmaceutical industries, training and development practices are examined in relation to the requirements of the business and individual employees. The article will argue that the companies in question, despite their favourable product market position, remain constrained by the broader institutional environment.     

Ecology and competitiveness in Swiss industries

This article investigates ecological problems and their influence on competitiveness in two selected Swiss industries: food and transportation. Ecological problems defined at a bio-physical level and the ecological stakes defined at a socio-economic level will be analysed. The ‘matrix of ecological problems’ and the ‘matrix of ecological stakes’ are useful and powerful instruments for analysing these two levels. It will be shown that ecological problems and ecological stakes vary from industry to industry. Ecological problems lead to ecological stakes. The ecological stakes lead to ecological changes within the two industries. The central forces of competition are influenced due to ecological issues. In order to be prepared for these changes, companies have to develop strategies which meet both economic and ecological requirements. Examples for such strategies are given in the text.     

Strategic decisions regarding the vertical integration of human resource organizations: evidence for an integrated HR model for the financial services and non-financial services industry in Germany,Austria and Switzerland

We examine the drivers of vertical integration for an integrated and unified HR-process model for 42 large companies from the financial services (13 companies) and the non-financial services sector (29 companies). The basis of this paper is formed by the results of a survey analysing the structures, processes and sourcing activities of human resource organizations. We sent the survey to 500 companies in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The survey is based on an integrated process model that uses an employee life-cycle approach and differentiates between eight HR activities.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to gain insights into the current status of HR outsourcing and understand the differences between the financial services and the non-financial services industry. Second, to develop a theory-based framework (transaction-cost, resource-based, principal agent) enabling us to derive and test eight hypotheses using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)-regression analysis in order to examine the determinants of the vertical integration of HR processes. Third, to analyse the impact of the vertical integration of HR departments on company performance and characteristics. We find significant differences in the level of vertical integration between the HR subprocesses analysed. Even the processes with increased outsourcing activities (i.e. a lower degree of vertical integration) still show a relatively high proportion of in-house production.

Regression analysis reveals a significant negative interrelationship between the relative size of the HR department compared to company size and vertical integration. This finding holds for the HR subprocesses ‘Personnel Administration’, ‘Payroll and Benefits’, and ‘Off Boarding’. Second, we find a significant negative correlation between financial performance in terms of Return-on-Equity and vertical integration of ‘HR-IT’. We also find support for the theoretical framework for the subprocess ‘HR-Top Management’. Six hypotheses (out of eight) are supported by the analyses; two of these are highly significant.

Three major findings are noteworthy when analysing company performance and the vertical integration of HR departments. First, we find that large companies (in terms of total staff and total assets) display significantly high levels of vertical integration for subprocesses which include a large amount of manual work and crucial managerial, controlling and reporting tasks (‘HR-Top Management’ and ‘HR-Controlling and Reporting’). Second, large companies (in terms of total company staff) show lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’. Third, companies that show superior financial performance in terms of Return on Equity (RoE) display lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’.     

Using the fuzzy associative memory (FAM) computation to explore the R&;D project performance

This study found out there were nonlinear relationships between the R&D project performance and its determinants—R&D project manager’s skills, quality of project environment, and teamwork effectiveness—by using the Fuzzy Associative Memory (FAM) technique in the IC design industry of Taiwan. The results showed that R&D project manager’s skills and quality of project environment had significantly inverse U-shaped effects on the R&D project performance, while teamwork effectiveness had almost monotonic positive influence upon it. Therefore, there were optimal values for R&D project manager’s skills and quality of project environment for the R&D project performance in the Taiwanese IC design companies, although they can raise teamwork effectiveness as much as possible.     

PURCHASING AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: INTERACTIONS,POLICIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The mechanisms are examined by which environmentally informed business practices and technologies may diffuse through industry as a result of the ‘greening’ of purchasing and supply. The efforts of official bodies in the UK to raise environmental awareness among industrial purchasers are reviewed. It is then argued that the supply chain model is an important way of interpreting the industrial landscape from a green perspective and that it is in some ways a more hopeful and positive starting point for achieving industrial transformation. The results of an analysis of some UK companies practices in using their purchasing policies to ‘green’ their supply chains are presented and opportunities for further research indicated.     

Strategic compensation in South Korea's publicly traded firms

This strategic compensation model based on contingency theory of organizations proposes that a fit between the organization's business environment and compensation system will affect the firm's performance (Rockmore, 1991; Rockmore and Scarpello, 1994). This proposition was tested with a set of Korean sample data of seventy-five publicly traded companies within thirty-four three-digit Standard Industrial Classification codes.

The cluster analysis applied to the 7-item task environment uncertainty components resulted in two group classifications that face relatively ‘more certain’ and ‘more uncertain’ environments. Principal component factor analysis of the 8-item compensation system components resulted in three compensation system factors and subsequent cluster analysis classified firm pay plans into two clusters, which we labelled ‘more traditional’ and ‘more innovative’. Discriminant analysis confirmed the resulting classifications of both task environment and compensation system types. With both ROA and EPS measures, significantly more ‘fits’ (firms in stable environment that use traditional compensation system or firms in uncertain environment that use innovative compensation system) showed financial gains compared with ‘nonfits’. This financial impact of the contingency was more salient for those firms that face uncertain environment. The same results were obtained when ANOVA was performed.     

The Impact of Company Resources and Capabilities on Global New Product Program Performance

Product innovation and the trend to globalization are two important and interrelated dimensions driving business today. In this article, the results of five published research articles on the topic of global new product development (NPD) are summarized to provide an integrated overview of the factors that impact global NPD program performance. The overall conceptual framework is based on three types of literature—NPD, globalization, and organization. The main theoretical approach for establishing relationships between factors is the dynamic capability/resource‐based view. Accordingly, factors linked to outcome are seen as operating on different organizational levels, with more actionable initiatives or ‘capabilities’ largely mediating the softer and longer term background ‘resources’ of the firm. The analyses are based on a broad cross‐industry sample of 467 firms (North America, Europe, B2B, goods/services). Three global NPD‐related background resources (global innovation culture, resource commitment, and senior management involvement), labeled the ‘behavioral environment’ of the firm, are identified and shown to be linked to global NPD program performance via the mediated effect of four specific NPD capabilities (NPD process, strategy, team, and IT/communication). A qualitative synthesis of the findings is provided, along with recommended management initiatives with which firms can enhance their performance in the global NPD effort. Both sets of factors are found to be essential and highly interrelated, but it is the strength of the behavioral environment resources that distinguish the best performing firms, setting the stage for success in global NPD.     

STRATEGY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND IT IN FINANCIAL SERVICES*

This article subjects the organizational theory literature on corporate strategy to critical scrutiny, arguing that both the ‘rational’and ‘processual’approaches to strategy generate analyses that are ahistorical and theoretically undeveloped. In their place, but focusing specifically on the financial services, we offer an alternative genealogically informed analysis. This indicates how the historical development of strategy discourses and practices are discontinuous and uneven across countries, sectors, companies and specialist spheres. In addition it suggests that corporate strategy has considerable impact on inter-organizational relations and both ‘internal’(i.e. management and employees) and ‘external’(i.e. consumers) members of the organization. the article seeks to illustrate its arguments both at the sectoral level by examining the development of strategic discourse in banks and insurance companies and at the organizational level by providing some case study material on IT strategy in a life insurance company.     

What governs firm-level R&D: Internal or external factors?

Two parallel streams of research investigating the determinants of corporate R&D exist: one from economics and the other from management. The economists’ variables tend to reflect the firm’s external environment while the explanatory variables used by management scientists are commonly internal to the firm. This paper combines both approaches to test for the relative importance of each type of factor using firm-level data on large Australian companies from 1990 to 2005. Our evidence suggests that most of a firm’s R&D activity can be explained by time-invariant factors which we believe relate to internal and specific characteristics such as the firm’s managerial dimensions, competitive strategy and how it communicates with employees. Of the remaining time-varying portion, we find that past profits, the rate of growth of the industry and the level of R&D activity over the firm’s industry is pertinent. These results are suggestive since we cannot clearly identify the extent to which the firm’s internal behaviour is conditioned by its external environment.     

Can business‐oriented managers be effective leaders for corporate sustainability? A study of integrative and instrumental logics

This qualitative study investigates whether the views of managers need to be congruent with the corporate sustainability (CS) logics—either integrative or instrumental—of their employing organization. We assessed the CS performance of 25 organizations within the Australian forestry and wood products industry and analyzed the CS orientations of 32 senior managers within these companies to explore whether their individual CS views were consistent with organizational CS logics. The findings indicate that, in general, better performing organizations are led by managers that hold the integrative view, whereas poorer performing organizations are more likely to have managers with an instrumental view of CS. Nonetheless, there were noteworthy exceptions to this conclusion. The findings indicate that, under certain industry conditions, managers who hold an instrumental view may be able to generate ecological and social organizational outcomes that are at least equal to those produced by integrative managers.     

Food Deserts and Real‐Estate‐Led Social Policy

Since the early 2000s in the United States, food deserts—neighborhoods in which households have limited geographic access to full‐service supermarkets or grocery stores— have become conceptually central in public policy research on food security. Analyzing this phenomenon from a ‘policy mobility’ perspective, this article traces the food desert's emergence in policy discourse, locating it within an entrepreneurial social policy paradigm that privileges real estate development over direct economic relief. In the context of property‐led anti‐poverty efforts, the identification and mapping of food deserts catalyzes a logic that leads to subsidy to grocery store development in low‐income areas (or ‘fresh food financing’), while at the same time officials are cutting programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), which directly supplements household food budgets. The article contributes to widening critical discussion of the food desert paradigm and the policy interventions with which it is associated. It calls on urban researchers and practitioners to reframe discussions of food access and nutrition around the shortage of basic income and a need for higher wage floors.     

Antecedents of vertical integration: Transaction cost economics and resource-based explanations

This article focuses on antecedents of vertical integration. A model of vertical integration derived from transaction cost economics and the resource-based view is tested empirically with data from the mechanical maintenance services market in the hydroelectricity industry. The results show that asset specificity and closeness to present competence are positively related to vertical integration, while tacit knowledge is negatively related to vertical integration. The positive interaction effect between asset specificity and closeness to present competence on vertical integration is also supported, indicating that the decisions on insourcing and outsourcing can benefit from using transaction cost economics and the resource-based view in tandem.