Embeddedness In Local Networks Research Articles

Network Embeddedness and Leadership Style: Determinants of Crisis Response Behaviour

A nine month four wave mixed methods panel study of hotels in Hungary reveals that when facing a crisis situation like the pandemic, managers show on the one hand isomorphism in sharing the same topics, themes and underlying dimensions in their search for solutions to invoke resilience. However, more detailed policies show significant differences; leadership style and specific local network embeddedness explain this idiosyncratic behaviour. Anchoring control through adaptability in employment, operations, marketing and supplier relations secures financial and mental health. Flexibility and rapid decision making are essential; decentralised decision authority proves an advantage. Smaller hotels prove more flexibility; hotel chains offer financial security, but may also lead to closure. Applying Grounded theory, in total 47 interview results were analysed using Atlas. ti

Social Embeddedness and Protest Avoidance: Evidence from China

Social capital is generally believed to facilitate protest mobilization. We examine, however, whether and how it might reduce an individual’s tendency to join a protest. Analyzing survey data of a migrant population in Beijing, China’s capital, we find that social capital operating as better embeddedness in local social networks lowers the likelihood of protest participation. We reason that, structurally, embeddedness in local networks provides access to support and assistance, reducing the attractiveness of disruptive means of problem-solving. Psychologically, such embeddedness mitigates the feeling of relative deprivation, reducing the possibility of such feelings accumulating and eventually translating into protesting actions. Regressions and structural equation models confirm our hypotheses, and we are also able to check the robustness of our findings with a different, much larger, cross-national dataset.

The Intertwined Past, Present, and Future of Local Natural History Museum and Amateur Naturalism in Tampere, Finland

AbstractThe history of natural history museums (NHMs) is closely tied with amateur naturalism, now often discussed as citizen science. This paper discusses the relations between a local NHM and amateur naturalists in Tampere, Finland, in three temporalities: the past, the present, and the future. The analysis highlights the contingencies and materialities of the relations between the museum and naturalists, showing them to be at times close, at other times distant. Local NHMs are facing the same expectations and challenges as larger museums, such as the tension between their research and education functions, and making their collections digitally available. NHMs are expected to participate in creating sustainable futures, looking far ahead. The case proposes the strength of local NHMs may be their embeddedness in local networks and their agility to react to ecosocial changes.

A Travel Writer Reconsidered: Recovering Mary Morgan’s Mary, the Osier-Peeler

Recently discovered is the singly-extant 1798 quarto chapbook, Mary, the Osier-Peeler, a Simple but True Story, written by Mary Morgan, best known for her 1795 travel narrative, A Tour to Milford Haven, in the Year 1791. The inaccessibility of the osier poem has shaped the scholarly understanding of Morgan as solely a travel writer, disregarding the intertextuality of her published oeuvre and its post-publication circulation. This essay revisits the historiography of Mary Morgan and demonstrates her embeddedness in local networks, coterie relationships with notables such as Bluestocking Elizabeth Montagu, and introduces evidence of a broader, international audience to better contextualize Morgan’s readership and circulation.

Family-managed firms and local export spillovers: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

ABSTRACT By combining arguments from regional economics and family business research, the aim of this article is to test the relationships among local export spillovers, management characteristics, and export propensity on a large sample of Spanish manufacturing firms over the 2003–2015 period. We find that family-managed firms, compared to their non-family counterparts, benefit more from being located in regions with a high density of exporters. Because of their firm-specific social capital and strong embeddedness in local networks, family-managed firms are better positioned to leverage the spatially bounded flow of knowledge and information in these regions, resulting in a higher likelihood to export than non-family firms. Additionally, our results show that the knowledge spillover effect is stronger for small and low-tech family firms’ export propensity.

An Empirical Analysis on the Determinants of Foreign Subsidiary’s Local Embeddedness: Focusing on Korean MNCs in China

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the determinants of foreign subsidiary's local embeddedness because it is critically important for the subsidiary to build a variegated local network. This paper suggests that a MNC's global capability, the degree of autonomy granted by the headquarters of the multinational corporation to its foreign subsidiary, the foreign subsidiary's absorptive capacity based on local environment, and its level of localization will affect the subsidiary's local network embeddedness. The empirical analysis confirmed that when the headquarters gives the foreign subsidiary more autonomy, this has a positive effect on the local embeddedness of the foreign subsidiary and when the foreign subsidiary has a strong absorptive capacity, this has a positive correlation with the local embeddedness of the foreign subsidiary. And this paper found that when the foreign subsidiary has achieved a high level of staff localization, this foreign subsidiary will have a higher level of local embeddedness. This study identified the preceding conditions necessary for a foreign subsidiary of a multinational corporation to effectively embed itself in the local network by analyzing factors related to the multinational corporation's headquarters and subsidiaries, and thus contributes significantly to continued research on the local embeddedness of subsidiaries.

Suppliers’ local network embeddedness and buyers’ joint innovation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of original equipment manufacturing suppliers’ local network embeddedness on buyers’ relative attention and joint innovation through service innovation competence.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation model was analyzed using AMOS 21 with data derived from 165 buyers in the Taiwanese electronics industry.FindingsFrom the buyer perspective, suppliers with embedded network relationships in emerging markets are perceived to be service oriented and to have relative attention and joint innovation that are attractive to buyers. In addition, the findings of empirical testing conducted in this study suggest that perceived exploitative and explorative service innovation competence partially mediate the relationship between perceived network embeddedness and relative attention, while explorative service innovation competence partially mediates the influence of perceived network embeddedness on buyers’ joint innovation.Originality/valueThis study innovatively employed a buyer perspective to examine the servitization of manufacturing suppliers and the effects of this on the buyer–supplier relationship, providing new insights into the role of service innovation competence as well as important theoretical and managerial implications.

Building resilient clusters through HRM systems: a multiple mediator model

PurposeThere is a growing research interest in the relationships between networks and the firm’s assets and between networks and innovation. Studies have shown the complexity and idiosyncrasies of these relationships for firms in clusters. The way firms in clusters build certain organizational resources and capabilities, however, remains underexplored. Based on the assumption that most of these organizational assets rely on human resources, the purpose of this paper is to shed light on the mechanisms through which a set of managerial practices (the human resource management (HRM) system) enhances innovation.Design/methodology/approachMicro-level data were collected for 139 firms located in three Spanish industrial clusters. Next, the main constructs were developed. A multiple mediator model was then used to examine how HRM systems influence innovation through strategic vision, embeddedness in local networks, the implementation of enterprise systems, and cluster characteristics.FindingsThe effect of HRM systems on innovation performance was indirect rather than direct. All four mediating variables included in the model were found to be relevant mechanisms through which HRM systems affect innovation performance. The statistical significance of these variables, however, varied depending on the type of innovation (product, process, organizational, or marketing).Practical implicationsGreater attention should be paid to the structure and sophistication of HRM systems. Top-level managers should be aware of the linkages between HRM systems and mediators. Greater human resource orientation in strategic planning, enterprise system design, and networking practices reinforces the association between HRM systems and innovation.Originality/valueThis study advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between HRM systems and innovation. From an academic perspective, this study enriches the cluster literature by better integrating human resources with innovation processes. Furthermore, this study creates research opportunities by disentangling the role of different managerial practices and refining the operationalization of the mediating variables. The findings can also help managers develop human resources and innovation strategies.

Local Innovation Networking Dynamics: Evidence from South Africa

The dynamics of local innovation networking are under-researched in the global South at large. While the concept of a National Innovation System (NIS) has existed in the South African policy domain for two decades, there is little, if any, empirical evidence of innovation networking at the local level. This paper interrogates the spatiality of network linkages and the networking behaviour of innovative enterprises in rural, as well as urban settings in South Africa. This research, drawn from two unrelated studies, demonstrates that innovative enterprises rely on a broad network of actors. Although local network embeddedness has a particular function, external knowledge is significant for novel innovation. A lack of local governmental support for innovation is also observed. The research provides compelling insights from the South. It is argued the notion of multi-scalar innovation networks is valid for South Africa. This is an alternative view on innovation networking in peripheral areas.

The role of local embeddedness and non-local knowledge in entrepreneurial activity

The article investigates whether the history of individuals’ spatial relocation has an impact on their propensity to perform an entrepreneurial entry and post-entry performance of firms they start. By looking at entrepreneurs in the IT services sector in Swedish non-core regions between 1991 and 2010, the article investigates the interaction between individuals’ embeddedness in local networks and their exposure to external knowledge accumulation opportunities across different geographical settings, as well as its impact on their entrepreneurial activities. The results of the analysis suggest that individuals with broad spatial relocation histories are more likely to start IT firms in non-core regions, which, in turn, may be expected to survive longer. It is, therefore, claimed that non-local knowledge accumulated through spatial relocation is an important complement to embeddedness in local networks in non-core regions. This complementarity is further related to the evolution of the IT services sector over time.

Determinants of the level of foreign subsidiaries’ localization of Korean MNCs and performance in China

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze what effects the headquarters’ (HQ) business strategy and corporate culture, the local network embeddedness of the foreign subsidiary, and HQ-subsidiary communication have on the staff localization of foreign subsidiaries. The authors carry out empirical analysis on how localization of foreign subsidiaries ultimately affects the performance of foreign subsidiaries.Design/methodology/approachThis study is an empirical analysis on the determinants of staff localization and the relationship between staff localization and corporate performance. In this study, the five hypotheses were proposed and tested using survey data. The authors randomly selected a total of 800 companies as subjects and conducted a survey. The final 222 survey data including HQs and subsidiaries were used for empirical analysis. The statistical analyses such as reliability test, factor analysis and regression were used.FindingsThis study shows that there was a higher level of staff localization by the foreign subsidiary when the investment goal was market-oriented investment, the Korean foreign subsidiary had stronger local network embeddedness and there was better HQ-subsidiary communication. In addition, the relationship between localization and subsidiary performance shows an inverted U-shape. Such results will give various implications to companies.Originality/valueThe research that takes a multilayered consideration on factors of the HQ, subsidiaries, and the HQ-subsidiary relationship is rare. To overcome such limitations, this study carried out a survey in order to find more in-depth decision factors. Specifically, this study analyzed the effects of three large aspects of investment goals and corporate culture from the aspect of the HQ, local network embeddedness from the aspect of foreign subsidiaries, and the level of HQ-subsidiary communication from the aspect of HQ-subsidiary relations, and how they affect staff localization.

Religion and Resistance to Extraction in Rural Peru: Is the Catholic Church Following the People?

This article analyzes the Catholic Church’s involvement in social conflicts resulting from resource extraction activities in Peru. The nature and degree of the Catholic Church’s involvement vary greatly according to the type of conflict and the diversity of standpoints of the Church at the local level. The article focuses on three distinctive, widely known conflicts against the expansion of extractive activities. It shows that the importance conventionally given to the role of particular religious figures, their adherence to progressive ideologies, and the defense of the Church’s strategic interests do not fully encompass the complexity of local processes. In contrast, the article contends that the Church’s institutional embeddedness in local networks is the most influential factor in the involvement of Catholic organizations in anti-mining conflicts. Embeddedness coincides with a spirituality that prioritizes local people’s agency, whereby the priests and Church organizations accompany and follow the initiatives of local communities instead of taking a leading role. This does not mean that the Church takes a passive stance in these conflicts. Priests and other pastoral agents have incorporated environmental and human rights discourses into an explicit religious framework that amplifies the social space of the Church and provides legitimacy for mobilizations. In parallel, locally generated doctrinal frameworks permeate the official discourse of the Catholic Church, reinforcing the position of those committed to the defense of local demands.

Successful learning in the global economy: the third dimension of knowledge creation

This article aims to subject some of the hypotheses concerning the potential of knowledge upgrading for firms engaged in various vertical and horizontal networks to a critical examination. The theories are applied to a Thai context and use the case of the auto parts industry to evaluate the process of knowledge upgrading in local firms. The article concludes that neither embeddedness in local networks nor linkages with transnational corporations are sufficient for Thai firms to upgrade their knowledge base to become successful actors in the global economy. Instead it points to the importance of focusing more on the capacity to learn and apply new knowledge to the existing knowledge base and on the barriers to diffusion and further development of knowledge embedded in the pre-existing organisational practices of firms.

Regional location of multinational corporation subsidiaries and economic development contribution: Evidence from the UK

The regional location of multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries in their host country and their associated entrepreneurial output and networking activities are likely to affect their economic development contribution, measured in terms of technology and management know-how transfers; enhancement of innovativeness of other firms; and company spinoffs. This theme has considerable research and public policy value. We investigate the issue drawing from a large-scale study of 264 MNC subsidiaries based in the UK. The findings show that activities in developed regions are associated with higher economic development contribution than those in less developed regions. Moreover, entrepreneurial output and networking with partners external to the MNC system positively affect economic development contribution. Key implications of this study are that entrepreneurship critically influences economic development contribution, underlying the importance of the MNC subsidiary research stream; and that the policy practice of supply-side measures fostering entrepreneurial output and embeddedness in local networks seems to be appropriate to pursue.

Managing subsidiary knowledge creation: The effect of control mechanisms on subsidiary local embeddedness

Given the importance of local (external) network embeddedness for an MNC subsidiary's ability to create new knowledge, a crucial question is what factors affect this local embeddedness. Despite its obvious relevance, few efforts have been made in the MNC literature to deal with this issue. In this paper, we hypothesize that a subsidiary's local embeddedness is influenced by headquarters' use of different control mechanisms, and that local embeddedness, in turn, is an important antecedent to a subsidiary's level of knowledge creation. The model is tested on a dataset of MNC subsidiaries in Finland and China. The results indicate that MNC headquarters can indeed influence subsidiary local network embeddedness, which in turn enhances subsidiary knowledge creation.

Unions on the Rebound: Social Embeddedness and the Transformation of Building Trades Locals

This paper seeks to understand how US labor unions - once key institutions in American political and economic life - can re-emerge as important and viable organizations. Building on the extensive literature on the social of economic activity as well as on union revitalization, we hypothesize that where local unions are able to rebuild linkages to other local groups, they should be successful at revitalizing themselves organizationally. Where unions fail to embed themselves in their broader communities - notwithstanding genuine efforts at launching new strategies and rebuilding their own organizations - they are likely to stagnate. The paper reports the results of two matched pair case studies of building trade locals in Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Oregon. One set of cases focuses on Pipetrades in the two cities. The other set of cases focuses on the cities' Carpenters unions. To gain more objective information on the unions' embeddedness in local networks we employed a survey that identified approximately 100 industry stakeholder organizations including builders, architects, engineers, major property owners, neighborhood and environmental groups, local and state governments, and banks and lenders. We received responses from 46% of the organizations we contacted from which we were able to conduct a series of network analyses that complement our qualitative research.