Network Imitation to Deal with Sociocultural Dilemmas in Acquisitions of Young,Innovative Firms

This article expands current acquisition literature to include sociocultural challenges on inter‐organizational levels following acquisitions of young, innovative firms. Socioculture here denotes network parties' shared values, belief systems, and practices. Three acquisitions illustrate their consequences. The young, innovative firms and their acquirers are part of different networks, have dissimilar motives for pursuing business, and work within different time frames. To potentially improve knowledge transfer and integration, the acquirer can learn from the innovative firm's network interactions; choose targets among its own network parties; organize its governance into a separate business unit; practice reverse value integration from the acquired party; and carefully promote practices that foster innovativeness. The article contributes to research on acquisitions of young, innovative firms through pointing to how values and practices are interlinked in networks, and how the imitation of the acquired party's network interaction may help to sustain its innovativeness and transfer knowledge between the acquirer and acquired party. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Navigating the Complexities of Grounded Theory Research in Advertising

Grounded theory is a well-established methodology within the social sciences and more recently within the field of advertising. This article looks at how it has been used in advertising research and in particular two key areas: the consumption of advertising and the world of advertising creatives. The article concentrates on common mistakes found in grounded theory papers submitted for publication in leading journals. It offers 10 important points for consideration that should help authors improve the quality of their research by avoiding such errors. The article concludes by suggesting potential areas of advertising where grounded theory may be applied in future research.     

A Matter of Survival - Determinants of Rational Behavior in B-to-B Markets

The paper focuses on the question of whether the frequently stated industrial/consumer dichotomy with respect to the involved degree of rationality in decision making, namely that it is high in b-to-b and low in b-to-c markets, is in fact justified. We develop a universal framework to determine which factors lead to rational behavior. The framework may be used for determining if a given decision situation should be analyzed by means of an economic or rather a behavioral approach. When adapting this framework to evaluate decisions in business markets, we identify conditions under which rational behavior is unlikely. Thus, from a purely theoretical standpoint, the proposed dichotomy seems questionable. Whether or not, however, the identified conditions promoting ‘irrationality’ in both industrial and consumer markets in fact must be determined empirically. Therefore, we also suggest an empirical test for the universal framework.     

Does workplace industrial action increase trade union membership? An exchange relationship approach to union joining and leaving behaviour

This paper investigates the impact of industrial action at the workplace on union membership behaviour, in the form of joining (by non-members) and leaving (by members). It examines the issue from the perspective of exchange relationship theory. It is hypothesised that industrial action deepens the collective social and ideological aspects of exchange relationships and loosens the weaker individualist economic aspects, causing more workers to join than to leave a union. The data set comprises survey responses of random samples of individual workers continuously employed in the same workplace and collected at two points in time. Logistic regression is employed to analyse the data. The results demonstrate that workplace industrial action is associated with union joining but has no significant effect on members' leaving behaviour. Implications for union organising are discussed.     

Digitalisierungsschub in Firmen während der Corona-Pandemie

Wirtschaftsdienst - Durch die Corona-Pandemie haben digitale Technologien in Unternehmen an Bedeutung gewonnen. Auf Basis einer Betriebsbefragung des Instituts für Arbeitsmarkt- und...     

A capability perspective on indigenous autonomy

This paper argues that the capability approach can add to the concept of autonomy (as defined in international law) as a means to provide larger freedoms to indigenous peoples. We show that autonomous regimes established within nation-states – by opening up a space for self-governance – provide a means to facilitate indigenous peoples’ pursuit of their own paths of development. However, such regimes frequently face, and their effectiveness can be reduced by, various problems such as tensions between individual and collective rights, the definition of the ideal scope of autonomies, and the lack of proper implementation. This is illustrated with case studies from Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua. We argue that the capability approach, and in particular its focus on the freedom to choose a life path one has reason to value, can be used to address such problems confronting autonomous regimes.