Critical success factors in relationship management for services outsourcing

This study examines the relationship between outsourcing motives, supplier–customer relationship and perceived customer value in non-core services outsourcing. 1,757 companies were randomly selected. 234 valid questionnaires were returned (13.4 % response rate). The structural equation method was used to obtain the best fit model. The most significant contribution of this study is that ‘relationship interaction’ (communication, cooperation, coordination, collaboration, conflict resolution and integration activities) has a greater impact on customer perceived value than ‘relationship quality’ (loyalty and trust) in services outsourcing. The perceived customer value is reflected in improved services quality, reliability and agility rather than the expected cost savings.     

Creating an Ethical Work Context: A Pathway to Generate Social Capital in the Firm

There is a need for further research to understand how social capital in the workplace can be promoted. This article studies the generation of social capital from a comprehensive perspective that integrates ethics and general management. We propose the concept of “ethical work context” as an influential antecedent of the social capital in the firm. The ethical work context, which is aligned with the “humanizing culture” approach proposed by Melé (Journal of Business Ethics 45(1), 3–14, 2003a), allows a broader comprehension of the concrete management practices and organizational dynamics that generate organizational social capital. It is argued that social capital, understood as a by-product of the ethical work context, results both from organizational design and ongoing managerial activity. Creating an ethical work context brings ethics and social capital into the realm of the general manager; a figure that has remained absent from the social capital literature.     

The impact of international portfolio composition on consumption risk sharing

Recent empirical work has shown that ongoing international financial integration facilitates cross-country consumption risk sharing. These studies typically find that countries with high equity home bias exhibit relatively low international consumption risk sharing. We extend this line of research and demonstrate that it is not only a country's equity home bias that prevents consumption risk sharing. In addition, the composition of a country's foreign asset portfolio plays an important role. Using panel-data regression for a group of OECD countries over the period 1980–2007, we show that foreign investment bias has additional explanatory power for consumption risk sharing.     

Does Having an Ethical Brand Matter? The Influence of Consumer Perceived Ethicality on Trust, Affect and Loyalty

The recent rise in ethical consumerism has seen increasing numbers of corporate brands project a socially responsible and ethical image. But does having a corporate brand that is perceived to be ethical have any influence on outcome variables of interest for its product brands? This study analyzes the relationship between perceived ethicality at a corporate level, and brand trust, brand affect and brand loyalty at a product level. A theoretical framework with hypothesized relationships is developed and tested in order to answer the research question. Data have been collected for 45 product categories in the fast moving consumer goods sector using a panel of 4,027 Spanish consumers. The proposed relationships are tested using structural equations modeling. The results suggest there is a positive relationship between perceived ethicality of a brand and both brand trust and brand affect. Brand affect also positively influences brand trust. Further, brand trust and brand affect both show a positive relation with brand loyalty. The managerial and academic implications of the results are discussed.     

The impact of the financial crisis on the long-range memory of European corporate bond and stock markets

This paper investigates the presence of long memory in corporate bond and stock indices of six European Union countries from July 1998 to February 2015. We compute the Hurst exponent by means of the DFA method and using a sliding window in order to measure long range dependence. We detect that Hurst exponents behave differently in the stock and bond markets, being smoother in the stock indices than in the bond indices. We verify that the level of informational efficiency is time-varying. Moreover we find an asymmetric impact of the 2008 financial crisis in the fixed income and the stock markets, affecting the former but not the latter. Similar results are obtained using the R/S method.     

Homophily and heterophily in personal networks. From mutual acquaintance to relationship intensity

This article deals with the analysis of homophily and heterophily in ego-centred networks (personal networks). The analysis takes a dual approach. First it uses the classical definition of homophily (in this article called elementary homophily) to compare mutual ties between groups defined by employment status, age and city of residence. These analyses are then enriched by incorporating the level of affective proximity, thus forming what we have called specific homophily. The analysis of elementary homophily confirms the expected predominance of homophilous relationships over heterophilous ones. The analysis of specific homophily shows that inter-group relationships between close and intimate contacts follow similar patterns, whereas these differ substantially for relationships that are not at all close. The comparison of the two types of homophily shows a correspondence between high values in elementary homophily and high values in close and intimate relationships.     

How Foundations Exercise Power

Foundations (and philanthropy in general) have great political power in the United States and worldwide, yet this is hardly noted by political analysts or journalists. Their power is exerted in many ways, such as by funding progressive organizations and movements; sponsoring policy “think tanks” and organizations of public officials; influencing the political culture through media, academic researchers, and university programs (including public interest law in law schools); and co‐opting activists and potential rebels among the rich and poor. Because of their resources and prestige, they are powerful members of coalitions and collaborations with overt and covert government departments, U.N. agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. Foundations have been major actors in the “Cold War,” which continues as the attempt to deflect any movement towards socialism here or abroad. Globalization has amplified the power of foundations, for many of the global institutions were created by foundations and continue to be fostered by them. The sponsorship of civil society institutions worldwide by private foundations, now with additional billions from governments and international governmental institutions, supports U.S. hegemony: military, political, and economic. We cannot know what the world would have been like absent foundation activities, but the current one does not appear to have a democratic, peaceful, or sustainable future.     

Level of Coherence Among Ethics Program Components and Its Impact on Ethical Intent

Journal of Business Ethics - Three ethics program components, a code of ethics, ethics training initiatives and ethics-oriented performance appraisal content, were examined for their relationship...     

Micro-behaviors and structural properties of knowledge networks: toward a ‘one size fits one’ cluster policy

The economic returns of cluster policies have been recently called into question. Based on a “one size fits all” approach consisting in boosting R&D collaborations and reinforcing network density, cluster policies are suspected to have failed in reaching their objectives. The paper proposes to go back to the micro foundations of clusters in order to disentangle the links between the long run performance of clusters and their structural properties. We use a simple agent-based model to shed light on how individual motives to build knowledge relationships can give rise to emerging structures with different properties, which imply different innovation and renewal capacities. The simulation results are discussed in a micro-macro perspective, and motivate suggestions to reorient cluster policy guidelines towards more targeted public-funded incentives for R&D collaboration.