Selecting the governance mode when offshoring knowledge-intensive activities

The offshoring phenomenon has evolved in recent years, and can be understood from a threefold perspective: first, the evolution in the type of activity being offshored; second, the learning curve involving both the companies implementing offshoring and service providers; and third, the reasons for offshoring. This study proposes an empirical framework that will allow us to explore the interaction between the type of activity (specifically knowledge-intensive) and the drivers of the decision to select the most appropriate governance mode. Specifically, our results show that market-seeking drivers become the primary determinants prompting firms to offshore knowledge-intensive activities through a captive center. In contrast, the motivation to reduce costs moderates the decision to offshore knowledge-intensive activities by nurturing a preference for offshore outsourcing. The empirical evidence is supported by multi-country data from the Offshoring Research Network.     

Corporate Social Responsibility That “Pays”: A Strategic Approach to CSR for SMEs

This study adopts a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR), puts forward a model of CSR activities that enhance small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growth, and argues that by aligning CSR activities with the competitive strategy of the firm, SMEs enhance firm growth. We test this model using multinomial logistic analysis and data from a survey with 211 U.K.‐based SMEs. We find that CSR activities related to the community enhance firm growth for all SMEs, but especially for firms adopting a cost leadership strategy, and that CSR activities related to the workforce are crucial to avoid sales decline, especially for SMEs adopting a differentiation or a quality‐driven strategy. We also find that environment‐related CSR activities are not beneficial for SMEs' growth and that human rights–related CSR activities slow growth for firms adopting a differentiation or a quality‐driven strategy. Finally, we put forward managerial and policy recommendations.     

Hotels’ corporate social responsibility practices,organizational culture,firm reputation,and performance

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are considered one of the key success factors influencing firm performance. However, how CSR practices should be integrated into an organization’s business practices has not been investigated empirically. The present research proposes an integrated model incorporating the interrelationships among CSR practices, organizational culture, and corporate reputation to improve firm performance in the hotel industry. The proposed model is developed using stakeholder theory and the perceptions of the general managers. According to the study’s results, organizational culture influences different dimensions of CSR. The results further indicate that hotels using CSR practices related to employees and customers strengthen their reputation. Through improved reputation, CSR practices positively influence firm performance. Furthermore, hotel managers perceive that CSR activities in the local community and related to the environment do not significantly affect a hotel’s reputation. Theoretical and practical implications are provided, and the limitations of the study and future lines of research are discussed.     

Efecto de las estrategias competitivas y los recursos y capacidades orientados al mercado sobre el crecimiento de las organizaciones

This study analyzes the relationships between market forces, competitive strategies, market orientation, innovation, technological resources and capabilities, and organizational performance. The study was made in small firms (SMEs) in the industrial sector in the State of Queretaro with a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. A structural model was designed to test the variable relationships, using Amos software. The sample size was 116 and interviews were applied to collect data. To measure market forces, competitive strategies and market orientation Kohli and Jaworsky (1990), Segev (1987) and Narver and Slater (1990) scales were used. The items to measure technological and innovation capabilities and organizational performance were designed. The results of the study show that market forces have a significant impact on the competitive strategy, a non-significant impact on resources and capabilities and a negative one on performance, this last one being measured by organizational growth. The effect of competitive strategy is significant on market orientation, technological and innovation resources and capabilities and non-significant on organizational performance. These resources and capabilities have a significant influence on organizational performance. The results of this research emphasize the implementation of prospecting and analyzing strategies that create resources and capabilities which give value such as market orientation, technology and innovation, with economical benefits for organizations.     

E-WoM and 2.0 Opinion Leaders

The arrival of the World Wide Web has intensified word-of-mouth communication. Thanks to consumers, information flows without geographical or temporal boundaries. The influence of the mass media has receded and that of the Web 2.0 has emerged with force. Opinion leaders are individuals who have become points of reference in these social networks. They exert influence and disseminate information, and they are a source of new ideas. This article presents a methodological procedure that combines the research of opinion leader 2.0 features with advances in social network analysis. In addition, some findings, further research, and managerial implications are discussed.     

Students’ perception of CSR and its influence on business performance. A multiple mediation analysis

Firm managers play an important role in the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. Education is emerging as the key factor in developing a sense of moral responsibility amongst the business students who will eventually become company managers and decision makers. The aim of this research is, thus, twofold. First, to analyze the existence of a direct positive correlation between university students’ perception of CSR and its impact on business performance; and second, to examine the extent to which two factors (advantages brought by CSR and responsibilities toward stakeholders) act as mediation variables in the aforementioned correlation. The analysis was performed with a sample of 390 business‐related university students. Amongst the potential contributions made by this study we can highlight the possibility of knowing future managers’ way of thinking and of knowing the aspects where educational centers might improve their CSR teaching.     

Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: the moderating role of technological intensity and performance

This paper examines how socio-emotional factors can influence family firms’ commitment to entrepreneurially- oriented activities, and how their level of commitment is moderated by the technological intensity of the sector and firm performance. We find that, while family firms are less entrepreneurially-oriented than non-family firms, this gap closes with increasing technological intensity of the sector. We find no evidence, however, to suggest any change in entrepreneurial orientation in family firms resulting from a drop in firm performance.     

Viewing Responsible Consumption as a Personal Project

Previous research on “responsible consumption” (RC) has focused on the inconsistencies of responsible consumers and has used the term “gap” to refer to these inconsistencies. Observable difficulties, such as a lack of available responsible products and their higher associated costs, have been given as explanations for this gap. A much more complex explanation emerges when RC is seen holistically, a long‐term perspective is adopted, when consumers are studied in their daily life, and consumption is seen as a social activity. The argument developed in this paper draws fundamentally on psychology, in particular on the literature on personal projects. By using an inductive methodology (grounded theory), a case is made for treating responsible consumption as one of many personal projects that an individual may undertake. Since consumers have a project network and projects are not always aligned with one another, there is frequently a clash between projects. This clash can be interpersonal (with other projects of the same individual) or intrapersonal (with the projects, beliefs, norms of his/her significant others). The main contribution of this paper is that it puts forward a holistic, dynamic, and socially embedded view of RC which leads to questioning the notion of “gap.”