Lost in delegation? (Dis)organizing for sustainability

Using actor-networks as our conceptual lens for appreciating complex sociomaterial interdependencies, we explore how a vision to “do things differently” for sustainability becomes enacted and significantly diluted at a major brownfield development project in the UK. We show how visions for sustainability can become substantially delegated into a range of specialised and functionally differentiated practices, with nonhuman mediators producing significant agency. Additionally, extending actor-network approaches, we develop the concept of localised hybridity to consider how the possibilities for progressive sustainability practices are interdependent with mediators in other ‘locals’ across times and spaces. We suggest that greater reflexive attention and inquiry to the types of relational work required to form alliances with nonhuman mediators is crucial to realise visions for sustainability.     

Institutional logics and social enterprises: Entry mode choices of foreign hospitals in China

When social enterprises, being defined by their social mission and profitability, internationalize, they need to respond to institutional logics in the host country. By juxtaposing institutional logic and entry mode choice literature, this paper shows how social enterprises accommodate different institutional logics when they enter foreign markets. We collected data on Chinese healthcare reform, governmental policies and their changes, and conducted 36 in-depth interviews and three expert group meetings. By analyzing five non-Chinese hospitals entering China, we show how social enterprises, as hybrid organizations, respond to governmental, commercial, and social institutional logics, when entering a foreign market.     

Optimizing a bi-objective inventory model of a three-echelon supply chain using a tuned hybrid bat algorithm

This paper presents a bi-objective VMI problem in a single manufacturer-single vendor multi-retailer (SM-SV-MR) supply chain, which a redundancy allocation problem is incorporated. In the hybridized problem, a manufacturer produces a single item using several machines that work in series, and stores it in a warehouse to replenish one vendor who delivers it to several retailers using the shortest possible route. A novel meta-heuristic, called hybrid bat algorithm (HBA), with calibrated parameters is utilized to find a near-optimum solution. To show the efficiency of HBA, the results are compared to the ones using the traditional BA and a genetic algorithm.     

Variable annuities in a Lévy-based hybrid model with surrender risk

This paper proposes a market consistent valuation framework for variable annuities (VAs) with guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit, death benefit and surrender benefit features. The setup is based on a hybrid model for the financial market and uses time-inhomogeneous Lévy processes as risk drivers. Further, we allow for dependence between financial and surrender risks. Our model leads to explicit analytical formulas for the quantities of interest, and practical and efficient numerical procedures for the evaluation of these formulas. We illustrate the tractability of this approach by means of a detailed sensitivity analysis of the fair value of the VA and its components with respect to the model parameters. The results highlight the role played by the surrender behaviour and the importance of its appropriate modelling.     

Organizational hybrids as biological hybrids: Insights for research on the relationship between social enterprise and the entrepreneurial ecosystem

Using the study of hybridization in evolutionary biology as metaphorical inspiration, I offer a thought experiment about the emergence and proliferation of social enterprise and the influence of hybrid organizing on the entrepreneurial ecosystem. After establishing a number of analogues between biological and organizational hybrids, I analyze the degree to which social enterprise may be indicative of hybrid speciation – i.e., a new organizational form – versus introgressive hybridization – i.e., a variant of a more traditional organizational form. I then use the metaphor to examine whether social enterprise: (1) possesses distinct rules and features, (2) is shaped by or shaping the entrepreneurial ecosystem, (3) still remains a hybrid organization, and (4) might even be considered an invasive species.     

A real options reasoning approach to hybrid vehicle investments

Long term increases of petrol prices and the threat of a global climate change have created in the automotive industry a new competitive environment based on the development of more sustainable technologies. Using the real option reasoning lens we provide a theoretical framework to better account for the technological and market uncertainties and irreversibilities that impact the investment and innovation decisions of automotive firms supporting the development of more sustainable vehicle technologies. We investigate the case of hybrid vehicles in a transitional perspective by insisting on their potential to influence the dynamic shaping of investment decisions of firms in the car industry. We consider the hybridization strategy as intra-project and inter-project compound growth options to manage the flexibilities and irreversibilities of investment decisions during the transition process. We provide four different-sometimes conflicting-strategic rationales structuring the investment efforts of firms in hybrid vehicles and illustrate them with numerous examples from the automotive industry.     

A Decision Model for E-commerce-enabled Partial Market Exit

Struggling retail chains often try to recover profitability by closing some of their stores. The challenge in this strategy lies in determining how many stores to close, as store exit has implications for both the customers and the supply chain. After a store closes, its customers are lost forever to the competition, unless there is a surviving open store nearby or an electronic alternative such as an e-store. From the supply chain perspective, after a store closes, its supporting regional distribution center is left with less business, and thus reduced viability. This paper develops a decision support model to study the profitability of alternative retail network structures by varying the proportion of stores that are closed, the average price sensitivity of demand, the price difference between the online store and the traditional retailers, and customer retention rates.     

Hybrid business models for peace and reconciliation

Despite growing interest in business for peace, there is little insight into how the organizations involved combine societal aims with economic ones in their business models. Literature has exemplified ‘hybrid organizations’ that seek to pursue both for-profit and non-profit activities and are specifically set up with this mission, usually in stable Western countries. However, already existing, traditional organizations that aim for mixed forms of economic and social value creation have been underexposed, and that applies even more for organizational forms that address peace in difficult settings. To help fill these gaps, this article sheds light on different degrees of hybridity of a range of organizations operating in a (post-)conflict region. It shows how 53 organizations in between the non-profit/for-profit extremes pursue different combinations of social and economic goals, maintain and develop relationships with stakeholders, and interact progressively with markets and institutions. We also present a hybridization continuum and classification scheme that is applicable beyond our specific context. While different degrees of hybridity in objectives, perspectives, and relationships exist, key dimensions are frequent interactions with stakeholders, awareness of development and reconciliation issues, and personal commitment. We identify hybridity aspects relevant to management and discuss implications for business scholars and practitioners.     

产业结构调整与中国通货膨胀缺口持久性

转轨时期作为中国经济结构最重要内容的产业结构调整可能诱发通货膨胀缺口持久性的变化。本文将通货膨胀缺口作为通货膨胀持久性的替代变量,采用新凯恩斯混合菲利普斯曲线模型对1996～2010年期间中国通货膨胀的持久性特征进行了考察,并运用Blanchard-Quah结构分解方法分析了产业结构调整对通货膨胀缺口持久性的影响。结果表明,与现有研究的结果相比,单变量和多变量模型评估的中国通货膨胀缺口持久性都显著较低。通货膨胀缺口受第一、二、三产业结构冲击减弱至0的时期分别为3、3、2个季度;第一产业的发展对通胀缺口持久性的短期冲击为正,第二、三产业的冲击为负;总体而言,第一和第二产业的发展弱化了通货膨胀缺口持久性,第一产业的作用更为显著,而第三产业则强化了通货膨胀缺口持久性。各产业结构变化对通货膨胀缺口持久性的冲击力度大小分别为第一、三、二产业。因此,治理通货膨胀必须考虑产业结构调整因素的影响。     

组织吸收能力、服务流程创新与服务创新绩效

顾客主导逻辑和组织吸收能力是企业在不断变化的商业环境中寻求竞争优势的新概念。基于顾客主导逻辑相关知识,探讨企业吸收能力对企业服务创新绩效的影响机制,以长三角地区现代服务型企业为调研对象,运用Mplus对构建的混合模型进行中介调节效应检验。实证结果表明,服务流程创新在组织吸收能力和企业服务创新绩效间具有部分中介作用,顾客导向在组织吸收能力通过服务流程创新影响企业服务创新绩效中发挥调节作用。鉴于此,建议现代服务型企业围绕顾客需求优化服务流程,注重对技术与高知人力资本的投资。