The microstructures of rhetorical strategy in social entrepreneurship: Building legitimacy through heroes and villains

For social entrepreneurs who seek to change existing community practices, the difficulties in building legitimacy may pose a challenge that compromises their ability to create sustainable institutional change. Case studies of 10 social enterprises reveal that rhetorical strategy aims to overcome this barrier. The findings suggest that the rhetorical strategy used by these enterprises casts the organization as protagonist and those that challenge the change as antagonists. The microstructures underlying this strategy include vocabulary sets that invoke socially accepted meta-narratives, and rhetorical devices that heighten the positive of the protagonist meta-narratives and the negative of the antagonist meta-narratives. The rhetorical strategy weaves together these protagonist and antagonist themes to create tension and persuade the audience of the organization's legitimacy.     

Gaining legitimacy through hiring local workforce at a premium: The case of MNEs in the United Arab Emirates

This study examines the process and outcomes of cultivating external legitimacy through the employment of host country nationals by multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) affiliates in the United Arab Emirates. It builds on the literatures of both institutional theory and legitimacy. Analysis of data obtained from 48 managers of MNE's affiliates located in the UAE shows that in sectors where the employment of host country nationals is almost taken for granted such as in banking, MNEs are driven by a sense of appropriateness and social legitimacy. In contrast, in sectors where the employment level of UAE nationals is almost nonexistent, those MNEs engaging in localization are driven by the logic of economic efficiency and tend to employ nationals in order to extract rent from the government. The authors discuss the results and their managerial and policy implications.     

The importance of importance: Its impact on decision-making in mall retail categories during an economic downturn

The study examines how, during an economic downturn, the perceived importance of the value offering of retail store categories, as identified by a major international mall operator based in Australia, influences the relationship between consumers’ shopping attitudes and likelihood of purchasing in those categories. The findings show variance in the importance pertaining to retail store categories between those that have and those that have not altered their shopping behaviour. Different mediating effects were found in the major, mini-major, leisure, apparel, and mobile phone categories, suggestive of each group having differing levels of self-interest in the value offerings of each category, thus, symptomatic of dissimilar decision-making strategies for each group. Contributions to theory and practice are discussed.     

Legitimacy of team rewards: Analyzing legitimacy as a condition for the effectiveness of team incentive designs

This article illustrates how the legitimacy of pay and evaluation processes in teams affect the effectiveness of team-based incentive designs in organizational work teams. We present a theoretical model of the development of legitimacy in team-based incentive designs and propose that the development of legitimacy for both pay dispersion in teams (i.e., difference in allocations of incentives among team members) and for the use of interdependent evaluations of performance promote team effectiveness. Our model introduces a new perspective to theorize about the conditions under which team rewards are an effective incentive design.     

Judging a business by its cover: An institutional perspective on new ventures and the business plan

Business plans are widely spread among new businesses, and they are supported by various universities, governmental assistance agencies, management consultants and a wide array of literature. Business plans are often taken for granted as highly useful tools that should be frequently updated and used. This study is based on data from six companies and their environments, over five years, using several forms of data collection such as interviews, observations, and archival data. In contrast to previous studies, we found that initial conformity to business plan norms gradually and without exception lead to loose coupling. Entrepreneurs who wrote business plans never updated or rarely referred to their plans after writing them.     

NPD speed vs. innovativeness: The contingent impact of institutional and market environments

Whereas new product development (NPD) speed and product innovativeness are two critical strategic determinants of firm performance, previous studies show inconclusive findings about their effects. Drawing on institutional and contingency perspectives, this study elucidates value appropriation issues in NPD and examines how the effects of NPD speed and technological radicalness are contingent on institutional frameworks and market conditions. Results from 244 high-tech companies in China show that dysfunctional competition enhances the effect of NPD speed, but legal inadequacy hinders the impact of technological radicalness on firm performance. Market growth strengthens the performance effect of NPD speed but restrains the effect of technological radicalness. In addition, technological radicalness demonstrates stronger effects on firm performance when demand uncertainty is high.     

The impact of formal processes for market information acquisition and utilization on the performance of Chinese new ventures

The authors examine the performance impact of formal market information processes. Specifically, a theoretical model is developed that hypothesizes that formal processes for market information acquisition and utilization have direct and positive main effects on new venture success and is then tested using a sample of 222 new ventures located in China. Findings indicate that new venture success is positively correlated with the use of formal processes for market information acquisition and use. Moreover, the relative importance of formal processes to the acquisition and use of market information depends on whether the new venture serves an emerging or established market. In particular, the impact of formal processes for information acquisition is higher among new ventures that serve emerging markets. In contrast, the impact of formal processes for information use is higher among new ventures that serve established markets. We present managerial implications of our results. For example, a new venture with a strong market orientation can respond quickly to emerging marketplace needs, and can even seize the advantage from incumbents. If it is in an emerging market, however, the new venture management team should strive to excel at information acquisition; in an established market, it is important for the management team to excel at information utilization.     

The dramatic breakdown of the market orientation concept in the pharmaceutical industry: lessons from Vioxx

In this article we present an in-depth case study to better understand the underlying market orientation concept in relation to bringing new technologies to the marketplace. We use the case history of the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx, developed and marketed by the company Merck & Co. Inc that allegedly killed thousands of customers. The case shows how market orientation can take shape and how the key components may form an explosive cocktail prone to problematic behaviour rather than a synergistic set of orientations that creates value for customers. From the data covering 20 years, it is clear that a consumer orientation and competitor orientation, for example, are difficult to internalise and balance by employees. A competitive orientation seems to lead to tunnel vision regarding profit and market share outcomes. Implications for the fundamental market orientation concept, innovation management, together with management challenges are discussed.     

Consumer motives and impact of western media on the Moroccan luxury buyer

Despite rising income inequality, social and political instability, Morocco has witnessed an exponential growth in luxury good consumption. Increased political freedom, multiplication of international trade agreements and a somewhat liberalization the audio-visual sector combined with an ever increasing internet penetration have brought Moroccan ‘citizen under the spotlight of globalization. On the other hand, Morocco has remained deeply attached to it religious and traditional roots, with a vast majority of the population considering themselves devout and practicing Muslim. In Islam the consumption of ostentatious goods is clearly proscribed, yet consumption data clearly describe a different reality. Questionnaires were distributed by a trained pollster to potential luxury good consumers in Morocco. A total of 296 surveys were filled. Findings from this research shows a strong positive link between luxury good purchase intention and consumption of western media channels as well as social media. The research also provides an analysis of the demographics and the social and personal motives of the Moroccan luxury good consumer.     

Strategic and institutional effects on foreign IPO performance: Examining the impact of country of origin,corporate governance,and host country effects

Integrating signaling and institutional perspectives, we develop and test hypotheses relating institutions and corporate governance to foreign IPO success. Our investigation highlights the importance of three important drivers of foreign IPO success: home country legal institutions, corporate governance, and host capital market choice. This research demonstrates that board independence and country of origin effects are powerful signals. However, these factors do not have a universal impact on foreign IPO success. Instead, the value of home country institutions along with corporate governance signals are contingent upon the institutional environment in which international entrepreneurs choose to seek capital resources.     

The influence of business strategy on new product activity: The role of market orientation

In this paper, we propose that business strategy influences new product activity both directly and indirectly via its influence on market orientation. Accordingly, we develop a framework linking firms' relative emphasis on cost leadership, product differentiation and focus strategies to firms' customer and competitor orientation as well as their new product development and introduction activity. We use this framework to develop a simultaneous equations model that is tested on survey data from 175 Dutch firms of varying size and across different industries in the manufacturing sector. The surprising findings are that a greater emphasis on a focus strategy results in a decreased emphasis on customer orientation and that competitor orientation has a negative direct influence on new product activity and an indirect positive effect via customer orientation. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.     

The impact of pre-commercial break announcements on audience identification of official Olympic sponsors: a case study

Research has demonstrated the importance of media context as a situational factor in advertising effectiveness. This preliminary study investigated the impact of a previously overlooked television context factor, the pre-commercial break announcement, during televised coverage of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in the USA. Broadcast advertising is not part of the official Olympic sponsorship package and advertisers must negotiate television schedules in addition to sponsor fees. During the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the official US television network, NBC, included numerous pre-commercial break mentions spotlighting official sponsors as well as other advertisers who purchased commercial time during the event. This study investigated the impact of pre-break announcements on viewers' ability for distinguishing between official sponsors and regular programme advertisers. It was determined that these announcements do influence recall and increase the likelihood that any advertiser will be identified as a sponsor, thus compromising the value of an Olympic sponsorship.     

Diaspora entrepreneurs as institutional change agents: The case of Thamel.com

Diasporans are migrants and their descendants who maintain a relationship to their country of origin (Safran, 1991). Diasporans who establish new ventures in their countries of origin comprise a special case of international ethnic entrepreneurship.In countries of settlement, diasporans confront institutional environments that often are quite different than those that exist in their countries of origin. We refer to the exposure to and adoption of institutional roles and relationships associated with a new cultural setting as “institutional acculturation.”Most extant work in management and marketing focuses on how a migrant's acculturation affects his/her behavior in the new country of residence. We shift the analytical lens to the country of origin. Utilizing a case study from Nepal, we demonstrate how institutional acculturation can inspire a diaspora entrepreneur to transform institutional arrangements in his/her country of origin and generate dramatic change in society's role expectations of the government, suppliers, and buyers.     

股指期货对股票市场的影响分析

中国股票市场发展至今已有近18年的历史,多年来,由于缺乏有效的风险对冲工具,市场一直处于一条腿走路的尴尬局面.而股指期货的推出必将对股票市场产生重大影响,本文将就此做简要的分析.     

The impact of early imprinting on the evolution of new venture networks

Given the argued importance of networks to new ventures, this paper is intended to fill a noted gap in the literature pertaining to the factors that influence the evolution of new ventures' alliance networks. Drawing on the imprinting literature, we propose that one has to look beyond the first partner per se, and instead focus on the extant relationships the initial partner has with other firms. More specifically, we argue and find that the network size and centrality of a new venture's initial alliance partner influence the subsequent size of the new venture's network.     

The impact of adoption timing on new service usage and early disadoption

Post-adoption usage can be a crucial element in obtaining substantial revenues from new service introduction, especially when adopters display low usage levels or decide to disadopt the service altogether. Here, the authors specifically examine the effects of adoption timing on post-adoption usage and disadoption. Using a longitudinal, individual-level usage data set of 6296 adopters of a new telecom service, they show that the earliest adopters have lower initial usage levels than do later adopters. However, early adopters show increasing usage after adoption, whereas late adopters tend to decrease their usage over time. Also, disadoption rates are higher among later adopters.     

The impact of agricultural and trade policies on price transmission: The case of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

This paper examines the extent and speed of price transmission from international to local markets in two transition economies, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two countries have similar economic backgrounds, but a notable difference is that Tajikistan has adopted a more liberal agricultural trade regime than Uzbekistan. We use a vector error correction model to analyse how global agricultural prices are transmitted to domestic food prices in the two countries. We find strong cointegration between world market and domestic prices in Tajikistan for food crops but not meat, and no cointegration in Uzbekistan.     

Exploring the influence of resource environments on absorptive capacity development: The case of emerging market firms

Research recognizes that emerging market firms (EMFs) have relatively underdeveloped absorptive capacity. Yet, scarce attention has been paid to the conditions that constrain or facilitate EMFs’ absorptive capacity development. In this article, we explore how differences in home country resource environments influence EMFs’ absorptive capacity. We suggest that home country institutions and factor markets influence EMFs’ choice among three learning strategies: duplicative imitation, creative imitation, and innovation. Building on the organizational learning perspective, we then explore how learning strategies of EMFs’ from different emerging economies influence their preferences with respect to sources of new knowledge, and consequently the implications of these strategic choices for their absorptive capacity.     

Institutional and transaction cost influences on MNEs’ ownership strategies of their affiliates: Evidence from an emerging market

This paper examines the impact of institutional, and transaction cost specific variables on MNEs’ choice of equity ownership in their foreign affiliates. We consider the determinants of the choice of foreign investors between full ownership (setting up a wholly owned greenfield subsidiary or engaging in a full acquisition) and sharing ownership with a local firm (establishing a greenfield joint venture or making a partial acquisition). Drawing on both transaction cost and institutional theories, a number of hypotheses are developed. Based on a dataset of 6838 foreign affiliates in Turkey, the empirical analysis reveals that institutional variables are important in explaining the equity composition of foreign affiliates. Particularly important in determining equity ownership were found to be political risk, cultural distance, linguistic distance, agglomeration, location and the size of the affiliate. A distinguishing feature of the paper is that we examine the marginal effects of the independent variables in explaining ownership patterns of MNEs.     

The effect of new business formation on regional development over time: the case of Germany

We investigate the effects of new business formation on employment change in German regions. A special focus is on the lag-structure of this effect and on differences between regions. The different phases of the effects of new business formation on regional development are relatively pronounced in agglomerations as well as in regions with a high-level of labor productivity. In low-productivity regions, the overall employment effect of new business formation activity might be negative. The interregional differences indicate that regional factors play an important role.