Digital Commons Network^™

Are Social Networks A Double-Edged Sword? A Case Study Of Defense Contractors, Xiaobing Shuai, Christine Chmura

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Utilizing a survey of defense contractors in the New England region, this study explores the effect of social networks on business performance—measured by annual employment growth and market diversification—during a time when defense spending in the United States was contracting. In contrast to prevailing literature focusing on entrepreneurial firms, this study offers insights on how social networks function in defense contractors, which tend to be mature firms. The main conclusion is that having more network connections is associated with faster short-term employment growth (from 2014 to 2015) for defense contractors, but there is a limit to that benefit. The analysis …

How Consumers’ Use Of Brand Vs. Attribute Information, Randle D. Raggio, Robert P. Leone, William C. Black

Marketing Faculty Publications

Prior research has identified that brands have a differential impact on consumer evaluations across various brand benefits. But no work has considered whether these effects are stable over time, or evolve in a consistent way. We address this question by decomposing consumer evaluations of brand benefits into overall brand and detailed attribute-specific sources in order to understand whether brand effects remain stable or evolve over time. With two unique datasets, the first containing cross-sectional data from Kodak across four different consumer goods categories, and another longitudinal dataset from the U.S. and Canada in the surface-cleaning category, covering seven brands over …

The Search For Externally Sourced Knowledge: Clusters And Alliances, Stephen Tallman

Management Faculty Publications

External sources of knowledge have become more important to firms as they have dispersed their value-adding operations around the globe and outsourced them to alliances. The global network firm has access to a rich store of external knowledge – but what do we know about accessing this treasure trove? The purpose of this paper is to summarize key ideas behind the research on alliance networks with clusters to better understand when, how, and why firms would use one or the other, or both, approaches to accessing external sources of knowledge, and to suggest new directions for both practice and scholarship.

Knowledge Accumulation And Dissemination In Mnes: A Practice-Based Framework, Stephen Tallman, Aya S. Chacar

Management Faculty Publications

Much has been written on the importance of knowledge accumulation and transfer within the network firm but two questions remain. First, what are the specifics of this process, particularly for high tacit content knowledge? Second, how can firms create a sustainable competitive advantage from knowledge acquired from outside the firm? We address the first question by proposing that the mechanisms of external knowledge capture and internal knowledge transfer can best be understood and studied not at the level of networked subsidiary firms, but at the micro-organizational level of Communities of Practice (CoPs). We then offer a model of the dynamics …

The Impact Of Corporate Social Disclosure On Investment Behavior: A Cross-National Study, Joyce Van Der Van Der Laan Smith, Ajay Adhikari, Rasoul H. Tondkar, Robert L. Andrews

Accounting Faculty Publications

We examine the impact of corporate social disclosure (CSD) on investment behavior in the US, Japan, France, and Sweden using stakeholder theory as the underlying framework for our analysis. We find that there is a significant difference in investors’ reactions to CSD across countries. Using a unique stakeholder scale we also find that these reactions are related to the investors’ stakeholder orientation. These findings provide insight into cross-national dif- ferences in the perceived relevance of CSD to investors.

[Introduction To] Stakeholders, Robert A. Phillips, R. Edward Freeman

Bookshelf

This landmark book takes a retrospective look at the most important and influential works in the study of stakeholders since Freeman’s 1984 publication, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. 2009 marked the 25th anniversary of this watershed in organizational scholarship, so now is an excellent time for Phillips and Freeman to revisit this topical and exciting subject.

From the tremendous upsurge in the literature, the editors have carefully selected ground-breaking works on topics including corporate governance, stakeholder-agency theory, management models, ethical theory and stakeholder orientation. This invaluable volume will shape the thinking of scholars and academics for the next 25 years.

Summary -- Entrepreneurial Uncertainty: What Do Stakeholders Look For?, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

This paper proposes that in the early stages of a venture entrepreneurs can reduce uncertainty for stakeholders -- and raise the probability of attracting desirable stakeholders -- by exhibiting behaviors associated with fairness and justice. Actors base their reciprocal behaviors -- both positive and negative -- on their subjective perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Thus, entrepreneurs can influence perceptions of fairness in early interactions with stakeholders. This paper extends the logic of reciprocity and fairness to the setting in which entrepreneurial firms are seeking to attract desirable stakeholders in order to commercialize innovations.

Brink's Entry Into China 2007, Roger R. Schnorbus, Littleton M. Maxwell

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This case was prepared from various referenced sources and was developed solely for classroom discussion; the case is not intended to serve as an endorsement, source of primary data or an illustration of either effective or ineffective handling of a business situation.

Ron Rokosz, the President of Brink's International was both pleased and distressed as he reviewed the financial results of International operations for fiscal 2006. Revenue had increased by 14% to $1,568.6M, driven by strong gains in both EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and LA (Latin America). In addition, operating profit in International was up by 68%. (Exhibit 1) …

Leveraging Knowledge Across Geographic Boundaries, Stephen Tallman, Anupama Phene

Management Faculty Publications

This paper examines knowledge flows within and across geographic boundaries of clusters and nations in the biotechnology industry. We hypothesize that these flows are characterized by various factors relating to the knowledge itself and by firm innovativeness and the presence of prior knowledge flows at the firm level. Surprisingly, our findings suggest that geographic proximity does not matter in some instances, while in others it has a decidedly nonlinear effect opposite to that hypothesized. The pattern of findings points to the greatest contrast in the comparison of between-cluster and between-country flows and presents an opportunity to reevaluate the role of …

Are Cover Stories Effective Contrarian Indicators?, Tom Arnold, John H. Earl, David S. North

Finance Faculty Publications

Headlines from cover stories are collected over a twenty year period from Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes to determine if positive stories are associated with superior future performance and if negative stories are associated with inferior future performance for the featured firm (when compared to an index or to another firm within the same industry and of the same size). Statistical testing implies that positive stories generally indicate the end of superior performance and negative news generally indicates the end of poor performance.

Internal Business Communications: A Three Dimensional Problem, Stuart Ray Long

Master's Theses

Communications is a dynamic field -- a company cannot afford to allow its communications program to become static. As an accomplished musician must practice to maintain his skill, so must a company sharpen and refine its communications. Conditions change and the communications program must change to meet the new needs. This will require continuing application of ingenuity and imagination in devising more effective ways of assembling, summarizing and disseminating information to coordinate the functions and activities of the organization.