The Firm as a “Community of Persons”: A Pillar of Humanistic Business Ethos

The article starts by arguing that seeing the firm as a mere nexus of contracts or as an abstract entity where different stakeholder interests concur is insufficient for a “humanistic business ethos”, which entails a complete view of the human being. It seems more appropriate to understand the firm as a human community, a concept which can be found in several sources, including managerial literature, business ethics scholars, and Catholic Social Teaching. In addition, there are also philosophical grounds that support the idea of business as a human community. Extending this concept, and drawing from some Phenomenological-Personalist philosophers, we propose that the firm should be seen as a particular “community of persons” oriented to providing goods and services efficiently and profitably. Being a “community of persons” emphasizes both individuals and the whole, and makes explicit the uniqueness, conscience, free will, dignity, and openness to human flourishing. This requires appropriate communication about and participation in matters which affect people’s life, and makes it essential to cooperate for the common good of the business firm and the society.     

The Blue Sky as a Stage

In the golden autumn, the blue-sky enthusiasm was exerted in beautiful beach city Zhuhai. During Nov 3-7, the 4th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition was held here ceremoniously. Many important leaders presented themselves on the opening ceremony & the reception party on the evening of Nov 3, including Chen Shaoji, Assistant Secretary to Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC, You Ningfeng, Vice-Governor of Guangdong Province, Gao Hongfeng, Vice Director of CAAC, Li Andong, Assistant Secretary to General Equipment Department of PLA, Zhang Hongbiao, Deputy     

The Divergent “Loyalty” Behaviors of a Captive Consumer

This research investigates situations where consumers display divergent loyalty behaviors. Study I qualitatively identifies and classifies word-of-mouth spreading behaviors of captive loyalists. The results reveal that, despite repurchase behaviors, captive loyalists spread mostly negative word-of-mouth. Study II quantitatively investigates four separate loyalty behaviors of captive loyalists. The results confirm that these consumers are likely to stay when dissatisfied, and allocate a significant share of their wallet to the provider whilst spreading negative word-of-mouth. The simultaneous existence of opposing loyalty behaviors has significant implications for erecting switching barriers and for applying customer loyalty metrics.     

The Corporation as Citoyen? Towards a New Understanding of Corporate Citizenship

Based on the extended conceptualization of corporate citizenship, as provided by Matten and Crane (Acad Manag Rev 30(1):166–179, 2005), this paper examines the new role of corporations in society. Taking the ideas of Matten and Crane one step further, we argue that the status of corporations as citizens is not solely defined by their factual engagement in the provision of citizenship rights to others. By analysing political and sociological citizenship theories, we show that such engagement is more adequately explained by a change in the self-conception of corporate citizens from corporate bourgeois to corporate citoyens. While the corporate bourgeois acts primarily for private business purposes, the corporate citoyen engages in society, performing civil and political rights and duties. As an intermediate actor in society, shaped by the principle of subsidiary task-sharing, the corporate citoyen undertakes co-responsibility for social and civic affairs and actively collaborates with fellow citizens below, beside and beyond governmental regulation.     

Homeownership as a Sign of Immigrants’ Consumer Acculturation: The Role of Region of Origin

ABSTRACT

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country's values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population during the last decade and the significantly higher homeownership rates of natives in comparison with other countries makes the Spanish scenario a relevant case study. The results obtained show homeownership is linked to features associated with highly acculturated consumers. Moreover, the analysis conducted reveals important differences in the way immigrants from different origins advance in their consumer acculturation processes and suggest distinct approaches when marketing to these groups.     

“Standards” as a Service Marketing Tool

Abstract

Standards have the potential to be a significant tool in the marketing of services, just as they have been in the marketing of products. Ranging from regulatory to voluntary, product-based to producer-based, standards can increase the competitive position of a product by reducing customer uncertainty. However, the lack of a framework for understanding and designing standards has limited their application in service industries.

Examination of existing standards suggests a framework of five key dimensions. Through the example of chemical management services (CMS) we show how this can be done, resulting in three options for the CMS industry. Using this framework as a guide, other service industries can determine if a standard would provide significant competitive advantage and, if so, design the optimal standard for their market conditions.     

International new ventures as “small multinationals”: The importance of marketing capabilities

This paper explores how marketing capabilities contribute to the international expansion of international new ventures, and influence their choice of entry mode. The study examines how marketing capabilities help international new ventures to use entry modes involving higher resource commitment in international markets. The proposed model was tested on country-level data from Spain. The results show that marketing capabilities contribute to a firm's decision to choose entry modes involving higher resource commitment in foreign markets. The paper also includes insights on antecedents of international new ventures’ choice of entry modes in foreign markets.     

The Construction of Tourist Space by Public Administration and Institutional Communication: The Image of the Brand Andalucía as a Tourist Destination

The public administration in Spain is using service public advertising to promote the brand image of one destination: Andalucía. The purpose of campaigns to promote tourism is: to increase the gross domestic product; to devise, create, and execute law-abiding messages within the public space; and to create and reinforce the values being constructed around a certain location and around its brand as a distinctive sign of that location. In this article the goal is to analyze how the public administration creates the brand image of Andalucía through the campaigns “Andalucía te quiere” (Andalucía loves you) and “Smile! You are in Andalucía.”     

The Environment as a Stakeholder? A Fairness-Based Approach

Stakeholder theory is often unable to distinguish those individuals and groups that are stakeholders from those that are not. This problem of stakeholder identity has recently been addressed by linking stakeholder theory to a Rawlsian principle of fairness. To illustrate, the question of stakeholder status for the non-human environment is discussed. This essay criticizes a past attempt to ascribe stakeholder status to the non-human environment, which utilized a broad definition of the term "stakeholder." This paper then demonstrates how, despite the denial of stakeholder status, the environment is nonetheless accounted for on a fairness-based approach through legitimate organizational stakeholders. In addition, since stakeholder theory has never claimed to be a comprehensive ethical scheme, it is argued that sound reasons might exist for managers to consider their organization's impact on the environment that are not stakeholder-related.     

Institutional background as a determinant of boards of directors’ internal and external roles: The case of Russia

This conceptual paper analyses why some companies in Russia give strong weight to the external roles and some to the internal roles of the boards of directors. The institutional background of Russian corporate governance is reviewed, concentrating on the contextual variables of time of founding, ownership type and governmental dependency, which are seen to explain the varying weight given to internal and external board roles. After arriving at several propositions, the paper finishes with suggestions for an empirical evaluation of the proposed relationships and addresses several managerial implications that stem from the discussion. This paper addresses the under-researched field of contingencies in board roles, focusing on Russia and emphasizing the importance of the prevailing institutional framework in transition economies.     

Just‐in‐time as a competitive weapon: The significance of functional integration

The Just‐in‐Time (JIT) concept has often been considered a preserve of manufacturing and distribution. However, the philosophy has evolved to a strategic level where the concept can be applied throughout an organization. In particular, the cross‐functional integration of JIT in production, purchasing and marketing can provide continuous improvement and sustain a source of differential advantage for a firm.

This paper explores this philosophy and presents research data to demonstrate that the functional integration needed to implement JIT can improve a company's efficiency, quality, flexibility and innovativeness. and lead potentially to the acquisition of competitive advantage and, perhaps, to world‐class status.     

The ‘Smee Report’ as a Contribution to The Tobacco Advertising Debate

The UK Department of Health's consultative document on tobacco advertising (informally known as the ‘Smee Report’) occupies a curious position with respect to debates on public policy about advertising. While its conclusions have not been accepted by the UK government, they continue to be used, uncritically, elsewhere in the world as part of the ‘justification’ for bans on tobacco advertising. This article examines the basis of the Smee Report's key conclusions concerning the UK, Canada, Norway, and Finland, and argues that its claims with respect to the effectiveness of advertising bans are untrue.