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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to implement sustainable practices in the Logistics Social Responsibility field. Using the best practices (BPs) approach, the authors have answered the question about how logistics function can take on board the principles of sustainability.

A systematic literature review has been applied, with an analysis of 194 papers from relevant logistics/supply chain management (SCM)-related journals over a 20-year time frame.

The authors have identified a first set of traditional BPs that are still relevant in the sustainability context, a second set of innovative sustainable BPs and a third set that can be considered sustainable BPs evolved from the traditional cost-efficiency approach, serving as a link between the other ones. This proposed taxonomy of BPs charts a progressive path toward integration of sustainable principles in SC-logistics operations.

The methodological approaches applied entail inherent limitations. However, the authors have set out to ensure rigor by following a structured process approach.

The work contributes by filling two recurring gaps identified in the literature: the need to integrate social and environmental issues and develop more practical tools for implementing sustainable SCM. The progressive way of implementing sustainable BPs has advantages for logistics managers, especially when companies have limited resources for transforming their logistics process into a sustainable process. Additionally, future academic research topics are proposed.

This paper analyzes the links among executive compensation, a firm’s strategic orientation, and firm performance. A number of key questions relative to the relationships among these elements remain unanswered because prior research on this subject has reported mixed results, and, moreover, has been confined almost exclusively to U.S. firms. We develop a framework that draws on arguments from agency theory to identify such links. A research design with both archival and survey data is used to test hypotheses in a sample of 253 Spanish companies. We found that top managers’ compensation systems are linked with a firm’s strategic orientations, but in a different form than that of previous studies. Results show two differentiated groups of firms: (1) prospective firms that adapt their managerial compensation systems to the requirements of strategic context, consequently obtaining positive performance effects; and (2) conservative firms that design managerial compensation systems independent of strategic context, consequently not obtaining additional performance benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderated effect of family involvement on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and firm performance.

According to agency and transaction cost theories, distinctive family business characteristics provide a unique context that favours a more efficient use of ICT. The authors perform a multivariate analysis that includes the moderating effect of family involvement and considers the possible endogeneity of the ICT variable.

The results, using a large panel of Spanish manufacturing firms, confirm the importance of family involvement for explaining differences in terms of the impact of this technology in family and non-family businesses. The relationship between ICT and performance is stronger for family firms than for non-family firms.

The paper provides new evidence for the academic literature on ICT impact and family firms. It corroborates the importance of using an organizational perspective to explain differences in the effect of ICT on performance.

Family firms should understand the opportunities that family involvement offers regarding ICT impact on performance, and exploit this moderating effect to achieve competitive advantages.

No previous studies deal with the impact of family involvement on ICT-performance analysis. This study fills this gap and increases the understanding of how family business involvement moderates the ICT-performance relationship.

Este trabajo explora el efecto moderador de la participación familiar en la relación entre las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y resultados de la empresa.

De acuerdo con la teoría de Agencia y la teoría de los costes de transacción, las características distintivas de las empresas familiares proporcionan un contexto único que favorece un uso más eficiente de las TIC. Se lleva a cabo un análisis multivariante que incluye el efecto moderador de la participación de la familia y recoge la posible endogeneidad de la variable TIC.

Los resultados, obtenidos a partir de un gran panel de empresas manufactureras españolas, confirman la importancia de la participación de la familia para explicar las diferencias en términos del impacto de esta tecnología en las empresas familiares y no familiares. La relación entre las TIC y el rendimiento es más fuerte en las empresas familiares que en las no familiares.

El artículo proporciona nueva evidencia sobre el impacto de las TIC y sobre las particularidades de las empresas familiares. Se corrobora la importancia de utilizar un punto de vista organizativo para explicar las diferencias en el efecto de las TIC en el rendimiento.

Las empresas familiares deben entender las oportunidades que ofrece la participación de la familia en relación con el impacto de las TIC en el rendimiento, y explotar este efecto moderador para lograr ventajas competitivas.

No hay estudios previos sobre el efecto de la participación de la familia en el análisis del impacto de las TIC en el rendimiento. Este estudio ofrece evidencia al respecto y una mayor comprensión del papel moderador de la participación familiar en la relación TIC-rendimiento.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent different obstacles (financial, knowledge, market, and perception) affect the propensity of Mexican family firms to engage in innovation activity. Second, it examines whether the perception of these obstacles differs between two subgroups of family firms, considering levels of ownership and family management control.

Information was gathered through a CIS methodology-based questionnaire applied to 161 CEOs of Mexican family firms. Binomial logistic regressions were performed identifying obstacles that were truly relevant for the family firm subgroups in the sample.

For subgroup 1, knowledge and market factors were significant and negatively related to the propensity to engage in innovation activities; for subgroup 2, only market factors were relevant. The results also show how the tenure of the CEO, the number of generations involved, and the family involvement in management and non-management positions affect the results obtained.

Implications for family business scholars embrace the assessment criteria of different family business definitions. While the implications for managers and policy makers include the recognition of the factors that affect innovation in Mexican family firms in order to design and implement adequate strategies to overcome them.

This study addresses some of the raised demands in the literature. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first attempt to explore the factors hampering innovation in family firms in Latin America. Second, this study was undertaken in response to the call for exploring variations in innovation behavior across different family business types in regards to ownership and family management control. Moreover, this study responds to the call to analyze financial and non-financial factors separately and to expand the geographical areas, sectors, and sizes of family firms, more specifically in Latin America.

En este trabajo se explora hasta qué punto los diferentes obstáculos (financieros, de conocimiento, de mercado y de percepción) afectan a la propensión de las empresas familiares en México para participar en actividades de innovación. En segundo lugar, se examina si la percepción de estos obstáculos se diferencia entre los dos subgrupos de empresas familiares, considerando los niveles de propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar.

La información se obtuvo a través de un cuestionario basado en la metodología CIS aplicado a 161 CEOs de empresas familiares mexicanas. Se llevaron a cabo regresiones logísticas binomiales para la identificación de los obstáculos verdaderamente relevantes para los subgrupos de empresas familiares en la muestra.

Para el subgrupo 1, los factores de conocimiento y de mercado fueron significativos y negativamente relacionados con la propensión a participar en actividades de innovación; para el subgrupo 2, sólo los factores de mercado fueron relevantes. Los resultados también muestran como la permanencia del director general, el número de generaciones que participan, y la participación de la familia en puestos directivos y no directivos afectan los resultados obtenidos.

Implicaciones para los investigadores en empresas familiares incluyen los criterios de evaluación de diferentes definiciones de empresa familiar. Mientras que las implicaciones para gerentes y responsables políticos incluyen el reconocimiento de los factores que afectan a la innovación en las empresas familiares mexicanas con el fin de diseñar e implementar estrategias adecuadas para superarlas.

Este estudio aborda algunas de las demandas planteadas en la literatura. En primer lugar, en la medida del conocimiento de los autores, se trata del primer intento por explorar los factores que dificultan la innovación en empresas familiares en Latinoamérica. En segundo lugar, este estudio se llevó a cabo en respuesta a la llamada para explorar variaciones en el comportamiento innovador entre diferentes tipos de empresas familiares considerando los niveles propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar. Por otra parte, este estudio responde al llamado para analizar los factores financieros y no financieros por separado y para expandir a otras áreas, sectores geográficos y tamaños de empresas familiares, más específicamente en América Latina.

Most countries often have public companies with large controlling owners, typically a family. This empirical evidence aims to contrast with the classical view of the largest dispersed firm presented by Berle and Means and challenge the findings by Bhattacharya and Ravikumar, who predict that the shares held by families will decrease if an efficient financial market is put in place. Therefore, family firms represent an important group in the stock market today. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the family as a controlling owner on firms' performance, valuation and capital structure.

The paper reviews the current literature related to how family (taking into account specific governance characteristics such as family ownership, family control and family management) affects firms' performance and value.

The literature review showed that founder family control and professional (outside) management increase performance, whereas excess control via control enhancing mechanisms (such as dual class shares and pyramidal structures) and descendent management produce both lower valuation and performance. This evidence suggests that families have the incentives and the power to systematically expropriate wealth from minority shareholders.

Previous research shows that family firms on average perform better than non‐family firms. But this is a non‐linear relation due the fact that the relationship between family ownership and performance cannot be identified without distinguishing between control and cash‐flow rights. Thus, the literature review as a whole emphasizes that the incentives for the controlling shareholder to engage in expropriation are a function of the institutional framework in which the firm operates. So, for further research, it is important to investigate how family firms perform in different corporate governance systems. A policy implication is the necessity to improve minority shareholders' protection from the risk of expropriation by large shareholders.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the factors that influence small to medium-sized family enterprises (SMFEs) innovation decision.

This paper utilises an original data set of 73 SMFEs employing 5-249 people to run binomial logistic regression model which considers the joint effect of both internal and external factors.

The results confirm, on the one hand, a significant and positive relationship between the long chief executive officer (CEO) tenure, the prospector and analyser strategic orientation, and the innovation decision in the Spanish family firms. On the other hand, the results confirm a significant and negative relationship between the risk taking, the cost of innovation, the lack of qualified personnel, a customer indifference towards innovation, and the innovation decision in the Spanish SMFEs.

The results contribute to the development of theoretical and knowledge bases, as well as offering results that will be of interest to research and policy communities. The results are limited to a small sample size, single survey, using cross-sectional data.

The findings have a bearing on business innovation strategy for policy makers. The results suggest that policy measures that promote long CEO tenures, and the prospector and analyser strategic orientation may have the greatest impact in terms of helping to facilitate innovation decision.

A novel feature of the model is the consideration of the joint effect of both internal and external factors in SMFEs.

The aim of this chapter is to examine appearance-based discrimination in the workplace. Modern society is exalting beautification and good looking, which affect not merely social relations but also the process of employment. It is argued that employees who have ‘good looking’ are recruited, paid more and promoted rapidly, while those who have ‘wrong looking’ discriminated against. Therefore, the chapter explores how individuals encounter discrimination in the workplace due to their appearance during the decision-making process of employers. It emerges from the literature that discriminating based on appearance is not illegal in almost all countries. However, it is publicised by lawsuits against employers. There are several measures that need to be taken at different levels in order to forestall discriminatory practices. At the individual level, an embracing attitude should be internalised. A merit-based recruitment strategy should be adopted by employers. Finally, new anti-discrimination laws and regulations must be passed by authorities to tackle with ugly discriminatory practices.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze public relations management in a group of Ecuadorian organizations to propose recommendations that contribute to the advancement of their sustainability processes. This study is based on the contemporary theories of corporate social responsibility by Garriga and Melé (2004), the public relations models by Grunig and Hunt (2000), and the evolutionary vision of the collaboration continuum for sustainability by Austin (2005). Based on these approaches, the authors proposed four evolutionary contexts through which the organizations move based on their sustainability and communications endeavors. A questionnaire was created to identify the theoretical orientation of an organization’s sustainability processes and public relations model. The questionnaire was applied in 16 large-sized Ecuadorian organizations involved in different economic activities. It was observed that in some cases, sustainability and public relations activities converge in the same evolutionary context while in others they do not. Thus, four possible scenarios and recommendations are presented. The questionnaire can be applied in future research to propose new conclusions or recommendations. Communications professionals can access an instrument to diagnose the communications function within their organizations and receive guidance on how they can contribute to the advancement of the sustainability process.