Business Commons^™

Understanding The Attitude-Behavior Gap For Renewable Energy Systems Using Behavioral Reasoning Theory, Aidan O'Driscoll, Marius Claudy, Mark Peterson

Articles

Consumer adoption of renewable energies is an important step towards less carbon-intensive and more sustainable energy systems. But despite growing ecological awareness and articulated preferences for green products, renewable energies face slow rates of diffusion in consumer markets. This has been hard to explain given consumers’ favorability to the concept of products that lower one’s impact on the natural environment. This study uses data from 254 homeowners in Ireland to investigate the psychological process of adopting a renewable energy system – solar energy panels. Applying Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT), this research examines a proposed model in which reasons both for …

Market Orientation, Embeddedness And The Autonomy And Performance Of Multinational Subsidiaries In An Emerging Economy, Xiaoying Li, Xiaming Liu, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper develops a conceptual framework for market orientation, embeddedness, autonomy and performance of multinational subsidiaries in an emerging economy. We argue that internal and external embeddedness has different performance implications for export- and local market-oriented multinational subsidiaries. Our results, based on a sample of 233 multinational subsidiaries from China, indicate that while external embeddedness has a positive impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary, such resources only positively affect the performance of local market-oriented subsidiaries. By contrast, internal embeddedness has a negative impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary. Managerial and policy implications are discussed.

Contrasting Perspectives On China's Rare Earths Policies: Reframing The Debate Through A Stakeholder Lens, Leslie Hayes-Labruto, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Mark Workman, Nilay Shah

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article critically compares China's rare earth policy with perspectives upheld in the rest of the world (ROW). We introduce rare earth elements and their importance for energy and present how China and the ROW are framing the policy debate. We find strongly dissonant views with regards to motives for foreign direct investment, China's two-tiered pricing structure and its questionable innovation potential. Using the metaphor of "China Inc.", we compare the Chinese government to a socially responsible corporation that aims to balance the needs of its internal stakeholders with the demands from a resource-dependent world. We find that China's internal …

Going Beyond Research On Goal Setting: A Proposed Role For Organizational Psychological Capital Of Family Firms, Esra Memili, Dianne H.B. Welsh, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Kotlar and De Massis found that membership assortment and the number of organizational members, as well as the imminence of succession, influence goal diversity in family firms. They also showed that goal diversity can be managed and family-centered goals can be stabilized through professional and familial social interactions, driving the formation of collective commitment to family- centered goals (CCFG). Using this research as a point of departure, we propose that CCFG may impact family firm economic and noneconomic performance. Furthermore, we introduce to the family firm literature the organizational psychological capital (OPC), consisting of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism. We …

The Effects Of Ceo Trustworthiness On Directors' Monitoring And Resource Provision, Esther B. Del Brio, Toru Yoshikawa, Catherine E. Connelly, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Because of the importance of board members’ resource provision and monitoring, a substantial body of research has been devoted to ascertaining how directors can be incented to perform their responsibilities. We use social exchange theory to empirically examine how board members’ resource provision and monitoring are affected by their perceptions of the CEOs’ trustworthiness. Our findings suggest that board members’ perceptions of the CEO’s ability, benevolence, and integrity have different effects on the board members’ resource provision and monitoring. Our results further suggest that board members’ governance behaviors are moderated by the board’s performance evaluation practices.

Ethical Implications Of Friendly Takeovers: A Financial Manager’S Story, Barbara Tarasovich

WCBT Faculty Publications

Case study in which Bernadette was heading the corporate acquisitions team. It was important for Bernadette to be certain that there was no unethical behavior on the part of the project and management team responsible for the acquisition and integration of these companies. The pressures to achieve synergies can often result in people problems, cultural value, and ethical differences that impede the smooth integration of companies. For each acquisition, Bernadette needed to ensure that the newly acquired assets were secure. In addition, she had to ensure that the acquired companies were not employing inappropriate accounting practices in order to inflate …

What Role Does Government Procurement Play In Manufacturing In The Uk And Internationally And How Might This Change In The Future, Barbara Morton, Gregg Paget, Carlos Mena

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report, commissioned by the Government Office for Science, has the general aim of reviewing the available evidence concerning the impact and role of public sector procurement on UK manufacturing. Specifically the report addresses the following questions:

1. What is the current framework for Government procurement in the UK?
2. How does Government procurement directly and indirectly impact on manufacturing activities?
3. How do UK procurement frameworks compare to other competitor nation procurement in terms of supporting manufacturing?
4. In what ways could co-ordinated procurement (procurement that meets multiple Government departmental goals) catalyse and support UK Manufacturing?

Previous research has shown that public procurement …

Shoot For The Stars? Predicting The Recruitment Of Prestigious Directors At Newly Public Firms, Abhijith G. Acharya, Timothy G. Pollock

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study explores how CEOs' and outside directors' desires for the benefits of signaling and homophily intertwine with their concerns over maintaining power and preserving local status hierarchies to affect the likelihood a firm recruits prestigious outside directors to its board. Using pooled cross-sectional data on the five years following the IPOs of 210 firms that went public between 2001 and 2004, we found that prestigious CEOs and directors viewed the recruitment of prestigious new directors differently, and that these perceptions were moderated by factors that increase the salience of risk of the potential losses to the CEO and existing …

Cui Bono? The Selective Revealing Of Knowledge And Its Implications For Innovative Activity, Oliver Alexy, Gerard George, Ammon J. Salter

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Current theories of how organizations harness knowledge for innovative activity cannot convincingly explain emergent practices whereby firms selectively reveal knowledge to their advantage. We conceive of selective revealing as a strategic mechanism to reshape the collaborative behavior of other actors in a firm's innovation ecosystem. We propose that selective revealing may provide an effective alternative to known collaboration mechanisms, particularly under conditions of high partner uncertainty, high coordination costs, and unwilling potential collaborators. We specify conditions when firms are more likely to reveal knowledge and highlight some boundary conditions for competitor reciprocity. We elaborate on strategies that allow firms to …

The Infected Organization: “Corpz” Exposure, Bobby G. Martin

Publications

Max Brooks’ 2006 novel, World War Z: An oral history of the zombie war presents an account of life in a post-apocalyptic world, from the perspective of those who lived through the experience. In the world [earth] of which Brooks speaks, there are people who, whether by personal preparedness, or pure chance, survived the apocalypse unscathed, and there are also those less fortunate, who were infected. The infected are in effect, reanimated corpses; referred to as Zed Heads (Zed, British for the letter Z), or, perhaps more familiar, ZOMBIES! The term zombie according to Brooks (2003) is “an animated corpse …

Anticipating, Preventing, And Surviving Secondary Boycotts, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

Even the best stakeholder-managed firms can suffer when they become the targets of a secondary boycott, as recent headlines attest. A secondary boycott is a group’s refusal to engage a target firm with which the group has no direct dispute in an attempt to sway public opinion, draw attention to an issue, or influence the actions of a disputant. This article provides a new perspective and tools for both scholars and managers concerned with this phenomenon. Building on a stakeholder theory foundation, we examine possible actions managers can take to avoid being surprised by a secondary boycott, propose conditions that …

What Do Accelerators Do? Insights From Incubators And Angels, Susan L. Cohen

Management Faculty Publications

What do accelerators do? Broadly speaking, they help ventures define and build their initial products, identify promising customer segments, and secure resources, including capital and employees. More specifically, accelerator programs are programs of limited-duration—lasting about three months—that help cohorts of startups with the new venture process. They usually provide a small amount of seed capital, plus working space. They also offer a plethora of networking opportunities, with both peer ventures and mentors, who might be successful entrepreneurs, program graduates, venture capitalists, angel investors, or even corporate executives. Finally, most programs end with a grand event, a “demo day” where ventures …

Exploring Family Features In Non-Family Organizations: The Family Metaphor And Its Behavioral Manifestations, Nava Michael-Tsabari, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, we explore the possibility of reproducing family business characteristics in the professional context of a non-family organization and analyze the behavioral manifestations of this application. Drawing upon discussions in the family therapy, organizational behavior and family business literatures, we identify cohesion and flexibility as the two primary dimensions of the family metaphor. We build on illustrative cases of three sports teams to explore these dimensions in a non-family business setting. Our exploratory analysis of these cases reveals the existence of family features and extends our understanding of these features beyond family businesses.

How Capital Structure Influences Diversification Performance: A Transaction Cost Perspective, Jonathan O'Brien, Parthiban David, Toru Yoshikawa, Andrew Delios

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Extant theories agree that debt should inhibit diversification, but predict opposing performance consequences. While agency theory predicts that debt should lead to higher performance for diversifying firms, transaction cost economics (TCE) predicts that more debt will lead to lower performance for firms expanding into new markets. Our empirical tests on a large sample of Japanese firms support TCE by showing that firms accrue higher returns from leveraging their resources and capabilities into new markets when managers are shielded from the rigors of the market governance of debt, particularly bond debt. Furthermore, we find that the detrimental effects of debt are …

Corporate Elite Networks And Their Effects On Board Performance, Daniel Braun, Jana Oehmichen, Michael Wolff, Toru Yoshikawa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Foreign-Born Ceos, Country-Specific Skills, Selection, And Strategic Consequences, Yannick Thams

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I first suggest an extension of the managerial rents model and more specifically the managerial skills typology that it offers. Building on research in international business, I propose adding country-specific skills (CSS) to this typology in addition to firm-specific, industry-specific, and generic skills. I define CSS as managers’ abilities that are applicable and specific to a particular national institutional context. Such skills are distinct from the other three types identified and are likely to influence managers’ performance and the performance of their firms.

So if CSS are distinct skills, what are the implications for strategy and international …

Regional Diversification And Performance: Conceptualization And Competing Strategic Objectives, Keith James Kelley

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprised of three essays provides justification for the need to pursue research on multinationality and performance with a more fine-grained approach. Essay one is a conceptual response to an article written by Jean-Francois Hennart in 2011 which questions the need and approach toward future research in this domain. I argue that internalization theory does not render multinationality and performance research meaningless and identify key areas where methodological enhancements can be made to strengthen our research findings with regard to Hennart’s call for more content validity. Essay two responds to the need for more-fine grained research on the consequences …

The Strategic Planning Process In Complex Settings: The Case Of Construction Professional Service Firms, Roisin Murphy, Iain Henderson

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Which Board Interlocks Matter? The Impact Of Managerial Power, Legitimacy, And Family Power On The Adoption Of Stock Option Pay, Toru Yoshikawa, Jung Wook Shim, A. Tuschke

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Inter-organizational relationships and the networks they create are an important mechanism for the transfer of knowledge and learning. Network ties enable the transfer of experiential knowledge – for instance of vicarious information through board interlocks. While we know that organizational learning occurs and is influenced by factors like the strength of ties and a firm’s position in the network, it is still unclear what causes the firm to act on the information gained through network ties. We build on prior studies on the impact of interlocking board ties ion the adoption of new practices and analyze the effects of different …

Design Capital And Design Moves: The Logic Of Digital Business Strategy, C. Jason Woodard, Narayan Ramasubbu, F. Ted Tschang, V. Sambamurthy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As information technology becomes integral to the products and services in a growing range of industries, there has been a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how firms can effectively formulate and execute digital business strategies. This fusion of IT within the business environment gives rise to a strategic tension between investing in digital artifacts for long-term value creation and exploiting them for short-term value appropriation. Further, relentless innovation and competitive pressures dictate that firms continually adapt these artifacts to changing market and technological conditions, but sustained profitability requires scalable architectures that can serve a large customer base and stable …

Collaborative Benefits And Coordination Costs: Learning And Capability Development In Science, M. Onal Vural, Linus Dahlander, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the effects of team structure and experience on the impact of inventions produced by scientific teams. Whereas multidisciplinary, collaborative teams have become the norm in scientific production, there are coordination costs commensurate with managing such teams. We use patent citation analysis to examine the effect of prior collaboration and patenting experience on invention impact of 282 patents granted in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research from 1998 to 2010. Our results reveal that team experience outside the domain may be detrimental to project performance in a setting where the underlying knowledge changes. In stem cell science, we show …

The Mediating Effect Of Innovation On The Relationship Between Corporate Reputation And Performance In U.S. Firms, Marcelo J. Alvarado-Vargas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, corporate reputation has gained the attention of many scholars in the strategic management and related fields. There is a general consensus that higher corporate reputation is positively related to firm success or performance. However, the link is not always straightforward; as a result, it calls for researchers to dedicate their efforts to investigate the causes and effects of firm reputation and how it is related to performance. In this doctoral dissertation, innovation is suggested as a mediating variable in this relationship. Innovation is a critical factor for firm success and survival. Highly reputed firms are in a …

Social-Cognitive Antecedents Of Ambidextrous Orientation In Family-Owned Startups: The Role Of Family Ties, Achievement Motivation, And Internal Locus Of Control, Patricio R. Mori

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regulatory Focus Theory predicts that the motivation to self-regulate goal-directed thought and behavior depends on two distinct regulation strategies: a promotion focus based on attaining gains and a prevention focus based on avoiding losses.

This study took a social-cognitive approach predicting that regulatory focus has an impact on how family startups (several family related founders) explore “new ideas”, exploit “old certainties” and achieve the balance of both (ambidexterity), compared to lone founder startups (only one founder present).

It was proposed that the social context of family ties among founders leads them to a prevention focus concerned with avoiding the loss …

Inclusive Business: Using For-Profit Business Models To Address Global Poverty, Samuel James Conner

Senior Honors Theses

Due to the rise of globalization, modernization, and the Internet revolution, awareness of global poverty has expanded, making its eradication a chief goal of the global development community for the twenty-first century. Though corporations are often expected to participate in social and community development initiatives without regard for profits, this paper presents inclusive business as a way for businesses to profitably engage impoverished segments of society. Inclusive businesses seek to expand their consumer bases or strengthen their supply chains by moving into new markets among the poor that have limited access to global markets and remain largely untapped. The research …

Corporate Social Responsibility, Daniel H. Brown

Senior Honors Theses

This paper will address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its far-reaching implications. Initially, the term CSR will be introduced and defined to provide the backbone for the following discussions. The paper will address the theoretical constructs of CSR, managerial strategies for implementing CSR and the application of stakeholder theory. The thesis is built upon Dr. Archie Carroll’s four-part CSR construct. In addition, international standards of CSR, with a focus on Nike, Inc.’s actions, will be evaluated.

Added Complexity Of Social Entrepreneurship: A Knowledge-Based Approach, Ugur Uygur, Alexei M. Marcoux

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Social entrepreneurship evades easy definition and conceptualization. In this paper we attempt to advance social entrepreneurship theoretically by examining it conceptually, from a theory of the firm perspective. If social entrepreneurship entails pursuit of a double bottom line (Dees 1998), the added complexity of the social entrepreneurial venture identified by Tracey and Phillips (2007) should be discoverable from a theory of the firm perspective. Applying the knowledge-based theory of the firm to social entrepreneurship, we aver that social entrepreneurship’s added complexity is manifest when social entrepreneurs make decisions about their knowledge. In contrast to ordinary entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs have to …

The Influence Of Enterprise Systems On Business And Information Technology, D. Lance Revenaugh, Ph.D., Myles M. Muretta

Business & Information Technology

Business strategy is important to all organizations. Nearly all Fortune 500 firms are implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to improve the execution of their business strategy and to improve integration with its information technology (IT) strategy. Successful implementation of these multi-million dollar software systems are requiring new emphasis on change management and on Business and IT strategic alignment. This paper examines business and IT strategic alignment and seeks to explore whether an ERP implementation can drive business process reengineering and business and IT strategic alignment. An overview of business strategy and strategic alignment are followed by an analysis of …

Bridging The Mutual Knowledge Gap: Coordination And The Commercialization Of University Science, Reddi Kotha, Gerard George, Kannan Srikanth

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine why commercialization of interdisciplinary research, especially from distant scientific domains, is different from commercialization of inventions from specialized or proximate domains. We argue that anticipated coordination costs arising from the need to transfer technology to licensee firms and from the need for an inventor team's members to work together to further develop a technology significantly impact commercialization outcomes. We use a sample of 3,776 university invention disclosures to test whether variation in the types of experience of the scientists on a team influences the likelihood that an invention will be licensed. We proffer evidence to support our hypotheses …

Team Innovation Processes: An Examination Of Activity Cycles In Creative Project Teams, Kenneth T. Goh, Paul S. Goodman, Laurie R. Weingart

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study investigates cycles of planning, enacting, and reviewing activities over time in teams engaged in creative projects. Drawing on longitudinal case studies of two interactive media development teams, two distinct cycles of planning, enacting, and reviewing activities are identified: experimentation cycles and validation cycles. Experimentation cycles are discovery-oriented processes where teams gather insights into project requirements, constraints, and design specifications through trial-and-error. Validation cycles are correction-oriented processes where teams align their output with project requirements through incremental modifications. These findings are then built on to develop testable propositions about the relationship between the duration of planning, enacting, and reviewing …

Getting What You Need: How Reputation And Status Affect Team Performance, Hiring, And Salaries In The Nba, Gokhan Ertug, Fabrizio Castellucci

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study how the reputation and status of resource providers affect the two organizational outcomes of product quality and revenues, hiring decisions, and prices paid to resource providers. We argue that reputation and status have different effects on outcomes: reputation has a stronger effect on product quality, and status has a stronger effect on revenues. Building on this, we argue that actual quality mediates the effect of reputation on revenues more than the effect of status on revenues. Moreover, reputation and status have different effects on how organizations acquire resources: when their product quality is low relative to their aspiration …