Business Commons^™

Examining The Effect Of Change In Ceo Gender, Functional And Educational Background On Firm Performance And Risk, Eahab Elsaid

Odette School of Business Publications

The purpose of this paper is to examine, within a succession framework, the impact of the change in CEO gender from female to male on firm performance and probability of bankruptcy. We also examine the impact of change in CEO functional and educational background on firm performance and probability of bankruptcy. We use paired sample t-tests and ordinary least squares regression analysis on 46 CEO successions where the outgoing CEO is a female and the incoming CEO is a male. The results show that a change in CEO gender from female to male is associated with an increase in firm …

Approaches To Improving Consistency Of Interval Fuzzy Preference Relations, Wu-Yong Qian, Kevin Li, Zhou-Jing Wang

Odette School of Business Publications

This article introduces a consistency index for measuring the consistency level of an interval fuzzy preference relation (IFPR). An approach is then proposed to construct an additive consistent IFPR from a given inconsistent IFPR. By using a weighted averaging method combining the original IFPR and the constructed consistent IFPR, a formula is put forward to repair an inconsistent IFPR to generate an IFPR with acceptable consistency. An iterative algorithm is subsequently developed to rectify an inconsistent IFPR and derive one with acceptable consistency and weak transitivity. The proposed approaches can not only improve consistency of IFPRs but also preserve the …

Consistency Test And Weight Generation For Additive Interval Fuzzy Preference Relations, Yejun Xu, Kevin Li, Huimin Wang

Odette School of Business Publications

Some simple yet pragmatic methods of consistency test are developed to check whether an interval fuzzy preference relation is consistent. Based on the definition of additive consistent fuzzy preference relations proposed by Tanino (Fuzzy Sets Syst 12:117–131, 1984), a study is carried out to examine the correspondence between the element and weight vector of a fuzzy preference relation. Then, a revised approach is proposed to obtain priority weights from a fuzzy preference relation. A revised definition is put forward for additive consistent interval fuzzy preference relations. Subsequently, linear programming models are established to generate interval priority weights for additive …

Coalition Analysis With Preference Uncertainty In Group Decision Support, Kevin Li, Takehiro Inohara, Haiyan Xu

Odette School of Business Publications

Coalition analysis is extended to incorporate uncertain preference into three stability concepts, general metarationality (GMR), symmetric metarationality (SMR), and sequential stability (SEQ) under the paradigm of the graph model for conflict resolution. As a follow-up analysis in the graph model, coalition analysis aims to assess whether equilibriums under individual calculations are vulnerable to coalition moves and countermoves and, hence, become unstable under coalition stabilities. Coalition analysis has been considered for transitive graph models with simple preference under four stabilities, Nash, GMR, SMR, and SEQ, as well as general graph models with uncertain preference for the Nash stability. This paper introduces …

Organizational Ingenuity And The Paradox Of Embedded Agency: The Case Of The Embryonic Ontario Solar Energy Industry, Kent Walker Dr., Francine Schlosser Dr., David Deephouse Dr.

Odette School of Business Publications

We examine organizational ingenuity within the paradox of embedded agency where organizational stakeholders are constrained in their behaviors by institutions, yet also influence and change these institutions. In this study organizational ingenuity represents the agency component and institutional constraints the embedded component. We build theory about ingenuity from a four-year case study of the embryonic Ontario solar industry. There were two major institutional constraints, limited grid access and political uncertainty. These led to four ingenuity strategies that emerged at different times and levels of analysis that challenged, complied with, or escaped the constraints. We combine these findings to develop a …

Is The Red Dragon Green? An Examination Of The Antecedents And Consequences Of Environmental Proactivity In China, Kent Walker Dr., Na Ni Dr., Weidong Huo

Odette School of Business Publications

China is the world’s second largest economy and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, yet we know little about environmental proactivity in the most populated country in the world. We address this gap through a survey of 161 Chinese companies with two respondents per firm (N = 322) where we seek to identify the antecedents and consequences of environmental proactivity. We identify two categorizations of environmental proactivity: Environmental operational improvements and environmental reporting. We find that ecological motivations and regulatory stakeholder pressure are positively related to both types of environmental proactivity, and external stakeholder pressure is negatively related to environmental …

Shortcomings Of Investior-Based Ratings Of Corporate Reputation: An Exploratory Empirical Study That Shows A Variety Of Stakeholder Groups Place Greater Emphasis On Corporate Ethics Than Profits., Kent Walker Dr., Bruno Dyck Dr.

Odette School of Business Publications

We examine three assumptions commonly held in the corporate reputation literature: i) reputation ratings of owners and investors are generally representative of all stakeholders; ii) stakeholders will generally provide a higher reputation rating to firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility versus firms that do not; and iii) profitability is the primary criterion of importance to all stakeholders when rating a firm’s reputation. Using an exploratory in-class exercise our findings suggest that: i) there are significant differences among stakeholder groups in their reputation ratings; ii) firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility are not rated more highly across all stakeholder groups, and …

Empirical Archetypes For Strong Corporate Environmental Performance, Kent Walker Dr., Na Ni, Bruno Dyck Dr.

Odette School of Business Publications

We examine 45 existing case studies of firms with strong corporate environmental performance (CEP) to empirically identify four organizational configurations for successful sustainability. These four configurations represent different combinations of variables describing a firm’s external environment, organizational structure, and its strategy-related activities. More specifically, these configurations vary in having a benign or challenging external environment, a mechanistic or organic structure, a low-cost or differentiation strategy, hands-on or hands-off participation by the top-management-team, high or low consideration given to stakeholders, and a short or long-term time orientation. Taken together the four organizational configurations introduce an understanding of equifinality for achieving CEP. …

Sustainability Fellowships: The Potential For Collective Stakeholder Influence, Kent Walker Dr., Andre Laplume

Odette School of Business Publications

Purpose –Given the current ecological state of the planet organizations now need to develop their sustainability to a significantly greater extent and at a faster pace. This paper proposes stakeholder collectives as a means for rapid and comprehensive sustainability, while also examining the moderating influence of firm size and change potential.

Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical analysis leads to the development of multiple propositions. The work concentrates on one research question: How can we bring about rapid and comprehensive organizational sustainability?

Findings – Arguments for the inability of individual stakeholders to drive the level of sustainability now required are presented. Propositions …

Incomplete Interval Fuzzy Preference Relations And Their Applications, Yejun Xu, Kevin Li, Huimin Wang

Odette School of Business Publications

This paper investigates incomplete interval fuzzy preference relations. A characterization, which is proposed by Herrera-Viedma et al. (2004), of the additive consistency property of the fuzzy preference relations is extended to a more general case. This property is further generalized to interval fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs) based on additive transitivity. Subsequently, we examine how to characterize IFPR. Using these new characterizations, we propose a method to construct an additive consistent IFPR from a set of n − 1 preference data and an estimation algorithm for acceptable incomplete IFPRs with more known elements. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness …