Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Value Chains: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?

We outline the drivers, main features, and conceptual underpinnings of the compliance paradigm. We then use a similar structure to investigate the drivers, main features, and conceptual underpinnings of the cooperative paradigm for working with CSR in global value chains. We argue that the measures proposed in the new cooperation paradigm are unlikely to alter power relationships in global value chains and bring about sustained improvements in workers’ conditions in developing country export industries. After that, we provide a critical appraisal of the potential and limits of the cooperative paradigm, we summarize our findings, and we outline avenues for research: purchasing practices and labor standard noncompliance, CSR capacity building among local suppliers, and improved CSR monitoring by local resources in the developing world.     

Ethical Judgments: What Do We Know, Where Do We Go?

Investigations into ethical judgments generally seem fuzzy as to the relevant research domain. We first attempted to clarify the construct and determine domain parameters. This attempt required addressing difficulties associated with pinpointing relevant literature, most notably the varied nomenclature used to refer to ethical judgments (individual evaluations of actions’ ethicality). Given this variation in construct nomenclature and the difficulties it presented in identifying pertinent focal studies, we elected to focus on research that cited papers featuring prominent and often-used measures of ethical judgments (primarily, but not exclusively, the Multidimensional Ethics Scale). Our review of these studies indicated a preponderance of inferences and conclusions unwarranted by empirical evidence (likely attributable at least partly to inconsistent nomenclature). Moreover, ethical judgments related consistently to few respondent characteristics or any other variables, emergent relationships may not always be especially meaningful, and much research seems inclined to repetition of already verified findings. Although we concluded that knowledge about ethical judgments seems not to have advanced appreciably after decades of investigation, we suggested a possible path forward that focuses on the content of what is actually being judged as reflected in the myriad of vignettes used in the literature to elicit judgments.     

Entrepreneurship,economic growth,and innovation: Are feedback effects at work?

This study aims to analyze the relationships between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth, and to show the feedback effects in these relationships. A Schumpeterian approach considering three equations linking GDP, innovation, and entrepreneurship facilitates this analysis. This paper presents empirical analysis of entrepreneurial activity in 13 developed countries. Panel data with fixed effects methodology, for the period 2002 to 2007, provides the means to estimate the equations. The analysis shows that several factors have positive impacts on innovation and entrepreneurship, including monetary policy and social climate. Additionally, a feedback effect is at work: economic activity promotes entrepreneurship and innovation activities, and the latter enhances economic activity. Therefore, policymakers must consider this effect when designing economic policies.     

(Un)Ethical Leadership and Identity: What Did We Learn and Where Do We Go from Here?

The purpose of this article is to highlight and comment on the key findings emerging from the collective efforts of the special issue on leadership, ethics, and identity. Highlights include definitional advancements, processes comprising ethical leadership, as well as outcomes and moderating factors. In addition, I attempt to synthesize work across authors by identifying common themes as well as conflicting elements in the article. I conclude with a discussion on emerging areas in need of future research investigation in the leadership and ethics arena.     

What Is the Economy Really Doing,and Where Is It Going?

China's official GDP statistics say the economy grew 8.9％ in Q4-2011,and 9.2％ for the year -pretty quick.Given widely held expectations of a slower Q4 and general scepticism on Chinas economy,some might wonder whether these numbers are accurate.At times of stress,we know that Chinas GDP numbers can appear a little weird.     

What Is the Economy Really Doing, and Where Is It Going?

China's official GDP statistics say the economy grew 8.9％ in Q4-2011,and 9.2％ for the year -pretty quick Given widely held expectations of a slower Q4 and general scepticism on Chinas economy,some might wonder whether these numbers are accurate.At times of stress,we know that China's GDP numbers can appear a little weird.In late 2008,we recommended a number of growth proxies to watch in case the GDP numbers became less reliable,including electricity production,freight traffic,and production of key industrial goods.All of these proxies suggested a deeper downturn in late 2008 and early 2009 than the official GDP numbers showed.In this note,we check in on those proxies,and they suggest that the economy is indeed continuing to expand,albeit at a more moderate pace than in 2011.     

Where Are We Going? Perceptions of French Marketing Academics

This paper examines French marketing academics' perceptions of the most pressing issues for theory, practice and academia. The context is provided by an examination of individual and institutional demographic factors; how academics spend their time and what are their teaching/research interests. An analysis of the perceptions suggests there is a need to develop some new paradigmatical thoughts and that an epistemological debate is strongly missed. One key issue of theory, practice and academia is the link between practice and theory that is strongly asked for by the French respondents.     

Political Risk Assessment and the Arab Spring: What Can We Learn?

Whether dealing with debt issues in the Eurozone, investment prospects in emerging markets, or potential disruptions in patterns of global trade, the identification, assessment, and measurement of political risk (PR) are recurring issues for businesses and governments today. In the past few years, abrupt social and political change has become the rule in international relations. A prominent instance of this is the “Arab Spring,” the massive and unexpected wave of social and political turmoil that, starting in the winter of 2010‐2011, swept across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The Arab Spring has significantly affected the business climate of the countries involved. In doing so, it has also exposed the shortcomings of the extant approaches to PR assessment. This article discusses the performance of five different approaches to PR assessment (OECD, ONDD, EIU, PRS, SACE) vis‐à‐vis the Arab Spring, providing some specific suggestions on how to improve PR assessment and analysis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Where Are the Utilities Going Next?

This provocative article suggests that the utilities in countries where restructuring has been succesfully completed are poised to steal a march on many companies in more glamorous industries. Partly for historical reasons, utilities are exceptionally strong in particular competencies. With successful competitive strategy increasingly based on competencies, and because privatisation and liberalisation were such a baptism of fire,the author argues that utilities are \"way ahead of their time\".     

What Do We Really Need? Goals and Values,Security, and the Perception of Consumer Necessity

There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.     

Entrepreneurship and failure: two sides of the same coin?

Small Business Economics - This paper attempts to shed light on the nexus of relationships existing between failure, bankruptcy, institutional context, and local characteristics on one hand and...     

Elitism in Higher Education and Inequality: Why Are the Nordic Countries So Special?

Countries in which there are two channels of education may have a separating equilibrium in which individuals with high abilities learn in elite universities and individuals with low ability learn in standard ones. Elite universities have higher budgets, better scholars, better labs and a better student network, resulting in the human capital of these students having a higher productivity in the more competitive tradable sector.     

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Data Collection Design and Implementation 1998–2003

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research program was designed as a comprehensive assessment of the role of entrepreneurship in national economic growth. The conceptual model reflected in a wide range of factors associated with national variations in entrepreneurial activity and the major contextual features. Empirical tests of the many relationships in the model required four major data collection activities: adult population surveys, unstructured interviews with national experts, self-administered questionnaires completed by national experts, and assembly of relevant standardized measures from existing cross-national data sets. Adult population surveys were implemented to identify those entrepreneurially active, which required a set of precise criteria and careful processing to ensure harmonized counts and prevalence rates across 41 countries. Existing evidence on measures of reliability indicates that the measures met contemporary standards and the project was cost-effective.     

What Do We Conclude from the Success and Failure of Mergers?

Tichy's review of the evidence presents at best a very mixed picture of the success of mergers as a corporate strategy. However, care should be taken not to interpret this as a case for crudely prohibitive competition policy. A simple framework is developed to show that mergers anticipating market changes might not be inappropriate, even when ex post results will appear disappointing. We argue that the competition authorities should protect consumers, and not provide management consultancy on behalf of shareholders. We suggest a more limited reform of the EC Merger Regulation than that proposed by Tichy.     

Burst Bubbles or Build Steam? Entrepreneurship Education,Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy,and Entrepreneurial Intentions

This paper contextualizes the relationship between student's self‐efficacy beliefs and entrepreneurial intentions in the content and pedagogy of the entrepreneurship course. Using the logic of regulatory focus theory, we argue that the nature of the entrepreneurship course—whether theoretically or practically oriented—creates a distinct motivational frame for entrepreneurship in promotion or prevention terms. When coupled with students' self‐efficacy beliefs, this frame can strengthen or weaken their intentions for future entrepreneurial efforts. We test this hypothesis through a survey of 114 students enrolled in different entrepreneurship courses at a major British university. Our results show that higher self‐efficacy is associated with lower entrepreneurial intentions in the theoretically oriented courses and higher entrepreneurial intentions in the practically oriented courses. We draw a number of implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship education.     

Where Are We Going? Perceptions of U.S. Marketing Academics

This paper examines US marketing academics' perceptions of the most pressing issues for theory, practice and academia. The context is provided by an examination of individual and institutional demographic factors; how academics spend their time and what are their teaching/research interests. An analysis of the perceptions suggests there is a need to develop a more comprehensive marketing theory, as well as better integrate theory and practice. These outcomes appear to be limited by increased work pressures including the necessity of maintaining academic standards.     

Globalization and Poverty: Oxymoron or New Possibilities?

We examine the occurrence of ethics- related terms in 10-K annual reports over 1994–2006 and offer empirical observations on the conceptual framework of Erhard et al. (Integrity: A Positive Model that Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics, and Legality (Harvard Business School, Harvard) 2007). We use a pre-Sarbanes-Oxley sample subset to compare the occurrence of ethics-related terms in our 10-K data with samples from other studies that consider virtue-related phenomena. We find that firms using ethics-related terms are more likely to be “sin” stocks, are more likely to be the object of class action lawsuits, and are more likely to score poorly on measures of corporate governance. The consistency of our results across these alternative measures of ethical behavior suggests that managers who portray their firm as “ethical” in 10-K reports are more likely to be systematically misleading the public. These results are consistent with the integrity-performance paradox.     

International Entrepreneurship Research: What Scope for International Business Theories?

International entrepreneurship (IE) research has commonly neglected significant perspectives applied by international business scholars. Explanations for the emergence and growth of international entrepreneurial firms largely focus on the resource-based view and the network perspective. While these approaches are useful, we suggest that IE would benefit significantly from a greater emphasis on its international nature. Therefore, theories of international business should be employed in conjunction with other approaches in order to appropriately emphasize the international character, holistically study the IE notion, and considerably broaden the scope of IE examination. Suggestions for relevant research directions are discussed.     

What Are the Prospects for Live Streaming?

On January 16,New Culture,a listed company that had just announced cooperation with live streamer Li Jiaqi,saw its stock price hit up to the limit when the market opened.Early trading hours saw the trading of over 1.15 million transactions,and at the closing hour there were also over 700,000 transactions waiting to be executed.