Integrated market and nonmarket strategies: Political campaign contributions around merger and acquisition events in the energy sector

We examine how firms use political strategies to protect economic rents created by mergers and acquisitions against dissipation by regulators. In regulated industries, regulators can impose costly merger conditions, for instance consumer rate reductions in the utilities sector, thereby reducing shareholder gains. We investigate empirically whether and how firms use election campaign contributions to politicians as a method of influencing regulatory merger approvals. In a statistical analysis of campaign contributions by all electric utilities from 1998 to 2006, we find that utilities increased their contributions in the year before they announced a merger and that merging utilities increased their contributions more in states with greater political party competition. Our findings contribute to political strategy research by providing novel evidence that firms integrate market and nonmarket strategies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethical and Moral Dilemmas Associated with Strategic Relationships between Business-to-Business Buyers and Sellers

While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers and very␣large customers. SAM approaches have been widely␣adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managing␣relationships and partnerships with dominant customers␣– characterized by high levels of buyer–seller inter-dependence and forms of collaborative partnership. Observation suggests that the perceived moral intensity of␣these relationships is commonly low, notwithstanding the underlying principles of benefiting the few (large, strategic customers) at the expense of the many (smaller customers and other stakeholders), and the magnitude of the consequences of concessions made to large customers, even though some such consequences may be unintended. Dilemmas exist also for executives implementing strategic account relationships regarding such issues as information sharing, trust, and hidden incentives for unethical behaviour. We propose the need for greater transparency and senior management questioning of the ethical and moral issues implicit in strategic account management. Nigel F. Piercy (Nigel.Piercy@wbs.ac.uk) is Professor in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales and a higher doctorate (DLitt) from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His current research interests focus on strategic sales and account management. His work has been published in many journals including Organizational Dynamics, the Journal of World Business, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Nikala Lane (Nikala.Lane@wbs.ac.uk) is Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. She holds a PhD from the University of Wales and was previously Senior Research Associate at Cardiff University. Her research interests are focused on gender and ethics issues in sales and marketing management. Her work has been published widely in the international literature, and includes articles in the Journal of Management Studies, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.     

Principal Component Selection for Neural Network Classification of Active Ingredients from Near Infrared Spectra

This paper presents results from an investigation into the capability of reflectance Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in the classification of pharmaceutical tablets based on their active ingredients. The part of the process selected for this study is the packaging step in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals because in older processing lines the product was classified after tablet coating and before blister packaging using visual automatic inspection techniques. However, for 100% conformance, a more discriminating technique is required. In this investigation, NIR spectra (with wavelengths between 400nm and 1100nm) were obtained for samples relating to 3 different types of pharmaceuticals: Quetiapine, Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. The dimensionality of the dataset was reduced using Principal Components and then different combinations of Principal Components were fed into a Neural Network that was configured to classify the tablets based on their active ingredients. The recognition rates achieved in this study were high enough to suggest that NIR spectroscopy is a viable method of ensuring 100% identification of pharmaceutical tablet type prior to packaging for the pharmaceuticals tested.     

Exploring the potential of SMEs to build individual,organizational, and community resilience through sustainability-oriented business practices

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can have significant resources, capacities, and influence in their communities, suggesting they have the potential to be agents for transformative sustainability. However, SMEs will need to move beyond firm-centered sustainable business practices towards strategic approaches that encompass and contribute to resilience-building processes. Amid the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, we explored what types of sustainable business practices of SMEs can contribute to individual, organizational, and community resilience. We identified six clusters of practice that are important in this regard. The clusters are not solely technical or “environmental” but rather illustrative of deeper sustainable values shaped by organizational structure, culture, and behavior. This paper suggests that SMEs can pursue transformative approaches to sustainability that are more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable and better able to withstand shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and can be significant contributors to community resilience. We conclude with a series of future research priorities critical to examine a largely unexplored nexus in the private sector, the linkages and dynamics between sustainability practice, resilience building, and broader community pathways.