Corporate Context Research Articles

Uloga korporativnog rukovođenja u održivom razvoju

For seven decades, theorists and practitioners have been exploring management that has led to confusing results and conclusions. In this study we are trying to prove that there is a need for better link between the needs and challenges of individual leaders and the practices of big corporations trying to select, support, measure, motivate and develop a very large number of leaders around the world. We are looking for a solution that would be understood through an increased workload, speed and the globalizing complexity of organizational life by placing additional requirements for researchers. Our main thought is that most researchers are interested in individuals while they completely ignore the corporate context.

Corporate Age Discrimination and Inclusion as a Mitigating Measure: A Sri Lankan Perspective

Age discrimination and its harmful effects are widespread. However, the corporate sector’s contribution in causing it has received neither due attention nor appropriate counteraction. While practising age discrimination, organisations strive to curb the same as they are challenged by an acute lack of knowledge and expertise. Discrimination/Inclusion predominantly deals with race, colour, religion, etc., ignoring age discrimination/ age inclusion. Further, the constructs of Discrimination/ Inclusion have no dedicated theories, nor have been adequately studied, tested, or measured in the corporate context. This presents a grave theoretical and empirical void which the current study aims to address. Given the study's exploratory nature, qualitative research under the Interpretivist paradigm employing in-depth one-on-one interviews of 20 employees and two focus groups of six employees each was adopted. Based on thematic analysis of data, the study found three key findings (Annexure I & II); one, organisations generate age discrimination through age-based bias, age-prototyping and institutionalisation of discriminative practices. Two, under the individual factor, work-related generational competency/ incompetency creates age discrimination. Finally, inclusion is experienced through feelings of “uniqueness and belongingness” and “conducive climate and supportive infrastructure” that supports performance and wellbeing.

The multimodal construction of corporate performance: An analysis of earnings videos

Financial communication is conducted through various genres, among which are earnings videos. The videos discursively disclose corporate performance two/four times yearly (once every three/six months), using multimodal features to convey specific social meaning about corporate performance. These features constitute discursive strategies, which may generate and maintain investor interest in corporations. A multimodal analysis of language and image features is conducted on earnings videos in English, French and Spanish of corporations in the global finance industry. The analysis posits five discursive strategies. The information in the videos (1) emphasizes corporate contribution, (2) displays their beneficial activities, and is (3) anchored to spatio-temporal location. The information (4) is humanized and (5) acknowledges the risks faced. The strategies are realized using language and image features. These features complement one another because language and image co-construct meaning about corporate performance. The discursive strategies should be understood in relation to the corporate context, which reveals institutional isomorphism. The choice of strategies is probably influenced by a mix of coercive, mimetic and normative reasons. Disclosure in earnings videos is linked to government and stock exchange regulations, models of existing texts and conventionalized practices, and comprehension for investors. The study of financial communication may enrich discursive competence and provide a systematic way to decipher and deploy multimodal features.

Democratisation of Business How More Democratic Business Structures Generate Innovation

Democratisation is a topic that is increasingly finding its way into the economic debate and is also becoming more and more of a trend within companies. The debates reveal various advantages and disadvantages of democratising companies. Within the various models of democratisation of companies, however, there seems to be a lack of coherent integration of the theoretical integration of this into the broad corporate structures – at least within business perspective. These often refer to orthodox theoretical foundations of hierarchical structures and corporate orientations, which in principle oppose and partly run counter to various forms of democratisation. In the present contribution, minimal conditions are to be worked out on the basis of democracy as cooperation and applied to the most elementary corporate structures. In such a coherent orientation and embedding, it can be shown that disadvantages of democratisation in the corporate context can be reduced and innovation and thus competitiveness can be promoted in a multidimensional way.

The influence of digitalization on the emotional knowledge within the Romanian corporate context

Abstract The goal of this article is to examine the significance and the influence of the degree of emotional knowledge for the managers in relation with variables such as the employee performance, job satisfaction, and efficiency in a work environment impacted by digitalization. The study’s research questions concentrated on analyzing the opinions of 35 respondents within a multinational beverage corporation concerning the relationships between their managers’ level of emotional knowledge and their own work engagement, job satisfaction, and efficiency within the work environment. This phenomenological study disclosed that the capabilities of a manager in relation with emotional knowledge are very important for the managers’ capability to lead people, engage them, increment job satisfaction, and increase their efficiency.

THE INFLUENCE OF DESIGN THINKING ON OPEN INNOVATION

Design thinking has gained popularity in the corporate context. It has already proven to be a valuable approach to problem-solving within an organisation, but research has neglected its impact on external partnerships. Since most researchers use qualitative research designs, there is little quantitative empirical evidence on design thinking. This study applies a multi-informant survey design that considers the project and the organisational level. Based on 212 projects in 78 companies, we examine the relationship between design thinking and the external collaboration quality and overall project success. Further, we evaluate structural, cultural, and task-related contingencies. Our results suggest that design thinking as a collaborative and empathic problem-solving approach strengthens external collaboration quality enhancing overall project success. Team continuity positively moderates this relationship. This study contributes to the existing literature in design thinking and open innovation by proposing the design thinking methodology as a valuable approach in inter-organisational relationships.

Mission Critical: Caremark, Blue Bell, and Director Responsibility for Cybersecurity Governance

If the potential for Caremark liability hangs like the sword of Damocles over corporate directors of Delaware corporations, then that sword has been considerably more secure than that of the original myth. For decades, Chancellor Allen’s description of a Caremark claim as “possibly the most difficult theory in corporation law upon which a plaintiff might hope to win a judgment” held true. Caremark claims that survived a motion to dismiss were for decades few and far between. That changed in 2019. In the space of little over a year, Delaware courts have allowed five Caremark claims to survive in the corporation context and one claim to survive in the limited partnership context. The thread holding that sword is beginning to look more like the single horse hair of myth. The scope and likelihood of Caremark liability are matters of considerable interest and concern for directors. Under most circumstances, a board simply doing its job poorly is relevant only to the directors’ duty of care and protected by the business judgment rule, exculpatory provisions under Section 102(b)(7), and advancement and indemnification. Failure to monitor under Caremark, however, is a breach of the duty of loyalty. A breach of the duty of loyalty is not protected by the business judgment rule. It cannot be exculpated. And it cannot be covered by indemnification. 2019 marked an abrupt shift in Caremark in application, if not in theory. In June of that year the Supreme Court of Delaware (“Delaware Supreme Court”) reversed a decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery (“Chancery Court”) dismissing a claim against the directors of Blue Bell Creameries, Inc. (“Blue Bell”) under Caremark. Within a little over a year, the Chancery Court would sustain Caremark claims in four cases. In Clovis, the Chancery Court sustained a Caremark claim against directors of a pharmaceutical company who allowed the company to misrepresent the clinical trial success of one of its three drugs. In Hughes, the Chancery Court sustained a Caremark claim against directors of a Chinese company incorporated in Delaware that suffered from severe and pervasive accounting issues. In Teamsters Local, the Chancery Court sustained a Caremark claim against directors of a large pharmaceutical company who allowed an indirect subsidiary to essentially operate a criminal enterprise. And in Boeing, the Chancery Court sustained a Caremark claim against directors of an airplane manufacturer who did not pay attention to safety issues. Cybersecurity has become just such a mission critical risk for large corporations. This Article makes four key arguments. Black letter Caremark doctrine has not changed, but it is newly reinvigorated and the risks of Caremark liability for directors is greater than just a few years ago. Future Caremark liability will be centered on failure to provide board-level oversight of mission critical risks. Cybersecurity is mission critical to effectively all large companies today. The risk of Caremark liability can be mitigated by taking a few simple steps to ensure that the board is addressing cybersecurity. This Article is the first to make these arguments together and the first to make the final argument.

Sustainability in Corporate Practice Certification Based on Din and Iso

The term sustainability is increasingly evolving as a buzzword and is frequently used in a manner which is different to its original meaning. Building upon the triple bottom line discussion one can however ascertain that the current social, ecological and economic challenges represent fundamental issues for the corporate context. In this manner it is a matter of business sustainability (BST)/ "Corporate Sustainability" (CS) and the significance for "Sustainable Development" (SD) in an enterprise. SD can therefore be an expression of ethical thinking and conduct within an enterprise which means that sustainability should be embedded firmly in corporate strategies and role models and must be the object of all forms of corporate/political decision-making. In this manner a company meets the requirements of so-called sustainability ethics which represents a combination of ethical thoughts and sustainable objectives. In this regard certification in the company based on the German industrial norm (DIN)/ the instructions of the International Standard Organization (ISO) can help to ensure the implementation of sustainability in the company. However, these activities cannot merely be ticking off checklists but must be implemented in the context of the corporate culture.

Space Planning for Online Community

Several years of consulting with online community hosts and managers have highlighted a variety of issues that recur across many online community development efforts. We summarize those issues in eight points that have functioned as useful guidelines to working with online communities, particularly within a corporate context. These recommendations focus on the location and purpose of the community, the monitoring of social activity within the space, the provision of feedback to participants and the organization and maintenance of the space. While this collection is particularly focused on issues relevant to community organizers closely involved in starting, maintaining or growing online communities, its principles are generally applicable for analyzing and understanding the dynamics within a variety of communities.

Corporate community engagement professionals in the renewable energy industry: Dilemmas and agency at the frontline of South Africa’s energy transition

Renewable energy companies increasingly employ community engagement professionals tasked with facilitating dialogue and collaborative activities with communities in project areas. Situated at the interface between corporate renewable energy production and community needs and grievances, these practitioners occupy a potentially significant position in the everyday implementation of socially just energy transitions. In this article we contribute to the understanding of corporate community engagement professionals in the renewable energy sector, with a focus on their challenges and agency inside the companies that employ them. Through an in-depth qualitative study of community engagement professionals in the South African wind- and solar industries we identify three key dilemmas faced by the involved practitioners, namely (i) how to pursue personal ideals in a corporate context, (ii) how to make a difference from a marginalised position inside the company, and (iii) how to deliver results without practice frameworks. We further find that they actively seek to address these dilemmas through a range of measures, such as embedding personal ideals in their everyday work, mobilising their position at the interface between company and community, and creatively piecing together their own approaches to community engagement. Our findings thereby indicate that corporate community engagement professionals should be understood and analysed as actors in their own right, rather than mere extensions of the company leadership.

Loyalty program and communication effectiveness as drivers of store loyalty

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the direct effect of a loyalty program on program loyalty and store loyalty and to determine the role of communication effectiveness as a mediating variable in moving customers from program loyalty to store loyalty in the context of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).Design/methodology/approachRespondents of this study were 100 customers of the MSMEs that sell Batik products in Cirebon, Indonesia who were selected by the purposive sampling method. This study focuses on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.0 to determine the causality relationship between variables and to test the communication effectiveness as a mediating variable.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that the loyalty program has a significant effect on program loyalty; program loyalty has a significant effect on store loyalty and communication effectiveness, and communication effectiveness has a significant effect on store loyalty. Other results indicate that communication effectiveness partially mediates the relationship between program loyalty and store loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsDespite the significant implications, this study has four limitations. First, the research results cannot conclude the store in general because the sampling of this study is limited to MSMEs only. Future research is needed to explore more deeply to compare store loyalty to MSMEs and non-MSMEs. Second, this research is only aimed at MSMEs that have loyalty programs. Future research can be carried out by comparing MSMEs that have loyalty programs and MSMEs without loyalty programs. Third, this study only uses two independent variables and one mediating variable. As is well known, there are many other variables that are antecedents of store loyalty. Future research needs to be done to explore the effect of other variables (mediating and moderating) on store loyalty, such as service quality, company image and customer satisfaction. Fourth, the research sample is only 100 respondents. Future research should use a larger sample as this research is customer-based.Practical implicationsThis study has a significant impact on MSMEs management by providing strategies that can increase and retain customers who have high store loyalty. MSMEs need to design loyalty programs to influence customer perceptions of status, buying habits and relationships with companies. If a customer associates a high value with loyalty program membership, the customer is more likely to find the communication relevant and credible, leading to effective communication that can increase store loyalty.Social implicationsThis study provides real strategies and opportunities for MSMEs to develop so that they can survive or compete with similar companies. It is hoped that MSMEs will be able to absorb more labor so that it can increase the contribution of MSMEs to the national economy.Originality/valueThis study addresses the inconsistency of various results from previous studies regarding the relationship between program loyalty, loyalty programs, communication effectiveness and store loyalty, both directly and indirectly. In addition, several studies have been carried out in large corporate contexts. However, according to the authors’ knowledge, this research is for the first time being conducted in the context of MSMEs.

Wag the Dog: How Embattled Corporate Leaders use Diversionary Tactics against Shareholder Activism

This paper examines how initiating a corporate restructuring process could help corporate leaders address threats to their power. Hypotheses are developed based on applying diversionary war theory—a theory advanced in political science—to the corporate context. Specifically, we theorize that when an activist shareholder submits a proposal to reduce corporate leaders’ power, those leaders will undertake corporate restructuring. This, we claim, will increase the perception among the shareholders that a strong and powerful leadership is necessary, resulting in less voting in support of reducing the leaders’ power. We test our theory using a sample of 978 proposals aimed at reducing corporate leaders’ power voted on at 305 firms between 2000 and 2016 and find support for both our hypotheses: First, shareholder proposals threatening leaders’ power receive less voting support in firms that just announced a process of corporate restructuring and second, corporate leaders are more likely to announce a process of corporate strategy restructuring right after a proposal to reduce their protection has been submitted. We discuss implications for the literature on shareholder activism, corporate leaders’ responses to shareholder pressures, and corporate governance in general.

One China: When Do Multinational Corporations Concede to Nationalistic Activism

We extend King’s (2008) corporate-context perspective that explains corporations’ concessions to social movement activists into the international context in order to explain multinational corporations’ concessions to nationalistic activists in their host countries. While King argues that both the market and nonmarket pressures in the corporate context make corporations more willing to concede to activists’ requests, we suggest that the influence of nonmarket pressure can be divergent from that of market pressure because the former develops from a specific geopolitical context while the latter is universal. Conceding to nationalistic activism from an authoritarian country can be a liability to corporate reputation, and thus multinational corporations with good reputation or those facing non-market pressures from democratic countries are less likely to concede. We find support for our theory in a 2018 quasi-field experiment of the Global Fortune 500 firms that were targeted by Chinese nationalists for violating the “One China” principal in the regional indications on their websites. While targeted corporations that experience market performance declines are more likely to change their websites according to activists’ requests, those with better reputation and those facing activism challenges from more democratic countries are less likely to do so.

Designing diversity training program for business executives

PurposeIn today’s corporate world, effective management of diversity is a critical business and social imperative. This paper aims to identify relevant issues connected to diversity training and suggest course content that can be useful in corporate and academia while offering diversity training.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have conducted a literature review on primary aspects connected to diversity training. Specifically, papers published in recent times are given focus to come up with relevant diversity training content and other connected concerns.FindingsIn this paper, the authors focus on how academicians and practitioners can develop an effective diversity training initiative, based on some of the critical nuances discussed in the literature. Suggested training content includes sensitivity, awareness, behavioral approach, policy guidelines and diversity impact analysis. This training content can further be customized based on the corporate context where the training is to be delivered.Originality/valueBased on the literature review, the paper suggests a holistic diversity training program that is hopefully going to be useful for both practitioners and academicians.

Content Analysis of Language-Sensitive Recruitment Influenced by Corporate Language Policy Using Topic Modeling

Language-sensitive recruitment is a language management tool frequently used by corporate organizations. However, its relationship with corporate policy is lacking; hence, this study aims to consider language-sensitive job advertisements from a computational text analysis perspective and explore the match (or mismatch) between language-sensitive recruitment (English, Japanese, or bilingual) and corporate language policy. This study uses corpus methods combined with topic modeling and text analysis to investigate the influence of corporate language policy on the textual practice of language-sensitive recruitment in a Japanese multinational corporation (MNC). This study finds a considerable discrepancy between recruitment needs and corporate language policy. It also finds that bilinguals still play a key role in crossing language boundaries 10 years post-mandate of the English language policy in this Japanese MNC. The study contributes to business language by exploring an additional scenario for linking language competency with actual recruitment needs. Thus, this study sheds light on the implementation of language-sensitive recruitment in a multilingual corporate context, affecting the communication patterns and recruitment tactics.

Forging a collective entrepreneurial identity within existing organizations through corporate venturing

PurposeThis study unpacks how organizational members construct a collective entrepreneurial identity within an organization and attempt to instill entrepreneurial features in the organization's existing identity.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on the cases of two venturing units, perceived as entrepreneurial groups within their respective parent companies. Semi-structured interviews and secondary data were collected and analyzed inductively and abductively.FindingsThe data revealed that organizational members co-constructed a “corporate entrepreneur” role identity to form a collective shared belief and communities of practice around what it meant to act as an entrepreneurial group within their local corporate context and how it differentiated them from others. Members also clustered around the emergent collective entrepreneurial identity through sensegiving efforts to instill entrepreneurial features in the organization's identity, despite the tensions this caused.Originality/valuePrevious studies in corporate entrepreneurship have theorized on the top-down dynamics instilling entrepreneurial features in an organization's identity, but have neglected the role of bottom-up dynamics. This study reveals two bottom-up dynamics that involve organizational members' agentic role in co-constructing and clustering around a collective entrepreneurial identity. This study contributes to the middle-management literature, uncovering champions' identity work in constructing a “corporate entrepreneur” role identity, with implications for followers' engagement in constructing a collective entrepreneurial identity. This study also contributes to the organizational identity literature, showing how tensions around the entrepreneurial group's distinctiveness may hinder the process of instilling entrepreneurial features in an organization's identity.

Experts by Experience as Contributors to Research and Development in a Corporate Context.

This paper presents the findings of a user study conducted at a company, a global leader in its industry, in order to engage experts by experience in the research and development of the company's future products. People who have life-changing experiences such as being ill or having a disability, and who are trained to consider their environment in terms of those experiences, can be called experts by experience. They can be inventive in creating solutions to the challenges of an inaccessible environment. Currently, their expertise is primarily used by the public sector, mainly in welfare and health-related initiatives. The corporate sector seems to have not yet actively engaged them. This study adopted a design research approach and applied a case study method to a research and development project conducted at a company. The user study comprised experts by experience testing a physical prototype that had digital content, by thinking aloud, interacting and participating in a design game. The aim was to understand the strengths, opportunities and development needs of the prototype, as well as to gain the experts' insights into future requirements and how to meet them with similar products. The study resulted in usability-, appearance- and feel-related product qualities, as well as ideas regarding the product's potential applications and digital content. The findings suggest that trained experts by experience can provide a company with information that could act as design drivers that benefit strategic development. Due to the inclusion and empowerment of users, as well as fostering their equality, engaging experts by experience in research and development could also be considered to be an example of corporate social sustainability and responsibility.

Reflections on the use of leadership assessments and inventories in a corporate context.

Developing leaders in the corporate environment relies on many factors including the use of assessments and inventories in coaching and hiring. ProfilesXT, Lominger 360, Lominger Leadership Architect, Watson-Glaser, and CPI 260 will all be reviewed. This article explores how these instruments can be successfully integrated into a company's development and hiring practices, along with direct linkages for using them to enhance student leadership development.

Becoming after College: Agency and Structure in Transitions to Engineering Work

Engineering education and engineering studies research has clearly articulated a need for educational reform to help new engineers understand social dimensions of their work and act as change agents. At the same time, while some practicing engineers may be committed to systemic change and service to society, they must also contend with work responsibilities which serve corporate interests and constrain change. To highlight tensions between calls for socially just engineering education and the corporate contexts constraining engineering work, this study examines the transition to work for one early career engineer. Drawing on the concept of figured worlds, we examine the under-explored relationship between the agency of individual engineers and the structure of engineering workplace culture. This structure-agency approach guides our narrative analysis of the participant’s early work experience based on five interviews across her first two years of work. Our findings illustrate the need to extend representations of both educational preparation and engineering work by unpacking the complex identity negotiations that individuals experience. In doing so, we also demonstrate the value of both the structure-agency framework and narrative methods for identity researchers in both engineering studies and engineering education.

The Passive as an Impersonalisation Strategy in Afrikaans and Dutch: A Corpus Investigation

ABSTRACT Although a lot of research has been done on the use of pronouns to express impersonal meaning in West Germanic languages, relatively little is known about the use of other possible impersonalization strategies. This article therefore examines the agentless passive as a possible impersonalizing strategy in Afrikaans and Dutch. On the basis of corpus data, we show that the agentless passive is a productive strategy for impersonalization in both Afrikaans and Dutch –in that it is used in the entire range of impersonal contexts. However, it is more typically employed for corporate contexts and existential contexts where the subject is vague and number-neutral. Some variation in the use of the agentless passive in different genres are also seen. On the whole, however, the agentless passives behave very similarly in the two languages as an impersonalizing strategy.