Corporate Social Responsibility and the Social Enterprise

In this article, we contend that due to their size and emphasis upon addressing external social concerns, the corporate relationship between social enterprises, social awareness and action is more complex than whether or not these organisations engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). This includes organisations that place less emphasis on CSR as well as other organisations that may be very proficient in CSR initiatives, but are less successful in recording practices. In this context, we identify a number of internal CSR markers that may be applied to measuring the extent to which internal CSR practices are being observed. These considerations may be contrasted with the evidence that community based CSR activities is often well developed in private sector small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Observatory of European SMEs, 2002), a situation which may be replicated in social enterprises especially those that have grown from micro-enterprises embedded in local communities. We place particular emphasis upon the implications for employee management. Underpinning our position is the Aristotelian-informed capabilities approach, a theory of human development and quality of life, developed by Sen (1992; 1999) and Nussbaum (1999) which has been developed further, in an organisational context, (e.g., Cornelius, 2002); Cornelius and Gagnon, 2004; Gagnon and Cornelius, 1999; Vogt, 2005. We contend that the capabilities approach offers additional insights into CSR in social enterprises in general and internal CSR activity in particular. Our article concludes with proposals for future research initiatives and reflections upon social enterprise development from a capabilities perspective.     

Hidden Cities

Books reviewed in this article: Borden, Iain, Joe Kerr and Jane Rendell (eds.) with Alicia Pivaro The unknown city: contesting architecture and social space Coutard, Olivier (ed.) The governance of large technical systems Easterling, Keller Organization space: landscapes, highways, and houses in America Melosi, Martin V. The sanitary city: urban infrastructure in America from colonial times to the present     

Bones for Sale: 'Development', environment and food security in East Africa

Maasai pastoralism has been characterized historically by highly developed herd and rangeland management techniques and social and cultural institutions at the intra- and inter-community levels that have provided security against shocks such as drought, crop failure and epidemic disease. Key to pastoral production was that herd management and milk production were the domain of the individual domestic units--the household or the homestead--while rights to pasture and water resources were communal so as to guarantee access to both dry and wet season grazing. It is this combination of individual and communal resources and inter- and intra-community relations that enabled pastoralism to thrive for millennia. It will be argued that the failure of colonial and neocolonial 'development' policies to recognize these key features of Maasai pastoralism has been at the root of both the crisis of land degradation and the undermining of Maasai and East African food security.     

Politics,institutions, and outcomes: Electricity regulation in Argentina and Chile

Risk, whether market or political, is an important determinant of private investment decisions. One important risk, subject to control by the government, is the risk associated with the hold-up problem: governments can force utilities to shoulder burdensome taxes, to use input factors ineffectively, or to charge unprofitable rates for their service. To attract private investment governments must be able to make commitments to policies that are nonexpropriative (either to contracts that guarantee very high rates of return or to favorable regulatory policies). These commitments, of course, must be credible.

Judgments about the credibility of commitments to regulatoty policies are based upon two political factors: regulatory predictability and regime stability. Regulatory predictability implies that the regulatory process, in which prices and levels of service are set, is not arbitrary. If the condition of regulatory predictability holds, then investors can forecast their returns over time and hence can calculate the value of their investment. If there is regime stability, then there is minimal risk of wholesale changes in the way the government regulates the industry—the most extreme type of change being the denial of property rights, or expropriation. We argue that three characteristics of the regulatory process are, in turn, important determinants of regulatory predictability: agenda control, reversionary regulatory policy, and veto gates. Moreover, regime stability is also, in part, a function of these three characteristics. We examine our theory of political risk and regulatoty commitment by comparing the cases of Argentine and Chilean electricity investment and regulation.     

Human Resource Management,Employee Exchange Relationships,and Performance in Small Businesses

In this study, the authors examine the effects of commitment‐based human resource management practices on the performance of small businesses. These effects are examined through the mediators of employee involvement and quit rates. In addition, they contribute to arguments that the effect of human resource management practices on performance takes place through the establishment and support of exchange relationships with employees. Using responses from CEOs and employees of small businesses, their results indicate that human resource practices in small businesses that are based on leaders' views of employee commitment are positively related to revenue growth and perceptions of performance. Further, the authors found that employee involvement and quit rates mediate these relationships.     

Culture,employee work outcomes and performance: An empirical analysis of Indian software firms

Through a survey of Indian software organizations, we test a model of work-oriented cognitions and performance measures using structural equation modeling. The developed framework presents satisfaction at work, productivity at work, and quality of work as consequences of organizational culture. Further, satisfaction and productivity at work and quality of work are hypothesized as leading to firm profitability and growth while quality of work is presented as a contributor to organizational innovation. The results of the study provide support for the developed model and lead to a number of conclusions and implications for theory and practice.     

The Effect of Product Sampling on Product Trial,Purchase and Conversion

Although several claims have been made about the effectiveness of product sampling as a sales promotion technique, there is relatively little published research in support of these claims. A study of 433 New Zealand household grocery shoppers examined the sampling of three newly-launched brands of toothpaste, shampoo, and dishwashing liquid. The rates of sample trial measured were considerably higher than those commonly reported in the literature, but purchase and conversion rates were somewhat lower. There was little evidence that product sampling had any influence on conversion to the sampled brands, except when recipients actually used the samples or subsequently purchased the sampled brands as a result of trial. Overall, the samples were not accurately distributed to the brands' most likely prospects, although selective distribution was found to be a worthwhile objective because members of each target market tended to respond well to sampling.     

Re-examining the deployment of market orientation in the public leisure sector

Abstract

This paper examines the moderating effects of market orientation's intelligence generation and dissemination components on the response–performance relationship. We offer valuable insight into the application of, and subsequent returns to, market orientation in the public leisure sector, thereby helping to broaden the appeal, relevance, and usefulness of this important marketing theory to other contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 public leisure managers of local government leisure facilities in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed two important findings. First, intelligence generation efforts of the organisation can in part affect the performance returns to an organisation from its responsiveness to market intelligence. Second, intelligence generation coupled with organisation-wide dissemination of intelligence can have a destructive impact on the response–performance relationship, demonstrated by a negative significant moderating impact on this relationship. This paper provides an alternative explanation to the deployment of market orientation as a means to create value and an explanation that transcends its current linear portrayal in public-service delivery.