Constructing an entrepreneurial life: liminality and emotional reflexivity in identity work

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the identity work of a budding entrepreneur through a longitudinal case study based on his ongoing personal reflections as he tries to construct an entrepreneurial life. In particular, we investigate the role of emotional reflexivity and liminality, concepts that give us analytical purchase in exploring the complex dynamics of this identity work. The liminal condition of multiple identity positions enables our informant to experiment with and integrate several parallel identity narratives as he tries on socio-political constructions of ‘the entrepreneur’ for size; and it is the permanence of the liminal condition that makes emotional reflexivity necessary so he can handle the constant lack he experiences. The contribution of our work lies in exploring how the operation of the discourse of enterprise never closes on the centre of subjectivity that is imputed in that discourse, and how our subject, through emotional reflexivity, deals with this fundamental lack.     

Traders as sustainability governance actors in global food supply chains: A research agenda

Corporate actors are rapidly gaining ground as nontraditional forms of authority that shape sustainability governance efforts in global food supply chains. This paper highlights the critical, but underresearched role of traders—companies whose core business lies in the movement and exchange of agricultural commodities between producers and manufacturers—in linking corporate sustainability ambitions to on-the-ground impacts. Drawing on a systematic analysis of the major transnational corporations trading cocoa, coffee, and palm oil, we present advantages and potential pitfalls of relying on traders as implementers of sustainability governance and outline a future research agenda that focuses on producer-level impacts, changes in supply chain organization and power dynamics, and traders' interactions with state and other nonstate actors. At the intersection of supply chain management, political economy, geography, and global governance, research on traders as key sustainability governance actors also provides novel opportunities for interdisciplinary work and stakeholder engagement.     

How do firm characteristics affect the subsidies provided by the unemployment insurance system?

The experience-rated method of financing unemployment insurance in the US is incomplete because of the imposition of both maximum and minimum tax rates. The result is a pattern of cross-subsidization to those firms that generate considerable layoffs from those firms that exhibit a stable pattern of employment. Past studies have investigated this cross-subsidization by industries, but have not examined in detail whether or not the characteristics of the firm play an important role. The research presented herein examines the relationship between particular characteristics of the firm – age, size, average wage, and seasonality of employment – and their effect on whether the firm is subsidized or not. Other than the industry classification, age appears to be the most significant determinant of subsidization. It appears that both young and old firms display a higher probability of subsidizing middle-age firms.     

Physical activity advocacy in the UK: a multiple streams analysis of a hybrid policy issue

Physical activity is increasingly being defined as a major, complex, multi-sector issue. In order to understand more about how this expanded conception of physical activity is being factored into public policy, this article applies the multiple streams theory of policy change to examine the United Kingdom (UK) physical activity domain. Participant observation, policy analysis and media analysis are combined to examine the ways in which the political context, problem framing and policy solutions were brought together by a range of policy entrepreneurs. The study pays particular attention to how one lobby effort in the UK, the All Party Committee on Physical Activity (APCPA) attempted to elevate physical activity to a higher level of importance. The findings show how a hybrid form of organisation made up of traditional interest groups, corporations and government insiders, has successfully decreased ambiguity about physical activity and increased both official and public attention about the issue. The article suggests that while the multifarious benefits of physical activity and the diverse range of organisations involved have contributed to momentum towards policy change, these factors may also inhibit physical activity from remaining high on the policy agenda. Suggestions are offered for policy practices at a national level.     

Network analysis of a new export grouping scheme: The role of economic and non-economic relations

Export grouping schemes can be viewed as an attempt to manage network development. This article examines a new Australian export grouping scheme in terms of its role and impact on the industrial network of which it is a part. The role played by non-economic exchange relations as well as economic, buyer-seller, exchange relations are emphasised, including competitive and potential interfirm relations and the way informal interpersonal relations. Spawned initially by formal grouping processes, were found to play an important part in group functioning and in outcomes from group activities.     

Fast but fragile: British restructuring for foreign direct investment in a global era

In the ‘globalization’ debates of the early 1990s, the Anglo-American practices of rapid restructuring to achieve ‘attractiveness’ to foreign direct investment tended to be presented as the universal panacea for dealing with the pressures of global change. However, the East Asian economic crises of the late 1990s have precipitated a widespread questioning, both of the export-oriented ‘Asian model’ of development, and of the possible contagion spreading to the western financial market and ‘FDI attracting’ western states. This article considers the ‘fast but fragile’ nature of Anglo-Saxon style restructuring in the light of the political-economic and social crises experienced by East Asian state-societies. The discussion focuses specifically on the British approach to restructuring for FDI, arguing that this reflects and embodies both a distinctive set of state-societal relations, and a distinctive understanding of what the process of globalization implies for these relations.     

Leadership for Sustainability: An Evolution of Leadership Ability

This article examines the existing confusion over the multiple leadership styles related to successful implementation of corporate social responsibility/sustainability in organisations. The researchers find that the problem is the complex nature of sustainability itself. We posit that organisations are complex adaptive systems operating within wider complex adaptive systems, making the problem of interpreting just in what way an organisation is to be sustainable, an extraordinary demand on leaders. Hence, leadership for sustainability requires leaders of extraordinary abilities. These are leaders who can read and predict through complexity, think through complex problems, engage groups in dynamic adaptive organisational change and have the emotional intelligence to adaptively engage with their own emotions associated with complex problem solving. Leaders and leadership is a key interpreter of how sustainability of the organisation ‘links’ to the wider systems in which the organisation sits, and executing that link well requires unusual leaders and leadership systems.     

Internationalization of Small Family Firms: The Influence of Family from a Socioemotional Wealth Perspective

We explore the factors influencing the internationalization of small family firms. Based on interviews with six family firms in Singapore, we highlight the importance of (1) family harmony, (2) trust in external relationships, (3) social and business networks, and (4) organizational resources and capabilities in the internationalization process. We show how the socioemotional wealth factors of trust and harmony affect networking and resources, which in turn affect internationalization. We find that initial internationalization through exports is enabled through trust in family networks, but the typical family characteristics of a desire to maintain family harmony and distrust of outsiders have a negative impact on network creation and resource development, which constrains the extent to which the firm internationalizes beyond exporting. In order to move from the first stage (exports/similar markets) to the second stage (joint ventures/different markets) of internationalization, less emphasis on trust and family harmony accompanied by more emphasis on building external networks and resources may be necessary. We propose a new model of internationalization of family firms based on our findings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.