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This study aims to explore how firms can design their government affairs (GAs) units in ways that improve their ability to monitor and influence legislative developments in their firms’ corporate political environments.

This conceptual work is informed by existing research into organizational design, brought to life with illustrative examples of firms’ political actions derived from interviews conducted with practitioners in the field.

In line with organizational design thinking, the authors find that high-performing GA units need to be designed and built using a blend of mutually reinforcing organizational mechanisms. GA units should be staffed by autonomous managers with mixed skills-sets. Moreover, they should not be constrained by formal rules, but instead given autonomy and support to create lateral relations with other business units.

This study provides a “recipe” that managers can follow to create opportunities for the exchange of political information within their firms and enable and motivate GAs practitioners to monitor and influence political developments more effectively.

This research exposes important, organizational antecedents of firms’ political strategies, which have not been systematically explored in the existing literature.

This study aims to explore how firms can configure their organisational architectures in ways that limit ethical transgressions of their corporate political activities (CPAs).

This conceptual work is informed by existing research into organisational architecture and ethical decision-making, combined with illustrative examples of firms’ political actions derived from secondary and primary data sources.

Findings suggest that the ways that firms assign decision-making authority and design performance management systems can, depending on their combined configuration, either help or hinder the promotion of ethical CPA practice.

The study provides practitioners with a useful tool for reflecting on the organisational levers they can pull to shield their firms from the financial and reputation damage associated with objectionable conduct in their political activities.

Whilst previous research studies emphasise the importance of statutory guidelines, self-regulation or corporate codes for promoting ethical CPA, this study argues that organisational design is an important yet overlooked antecedent of a firm’s ability to practice CPA ethically and responsibly.

Focusing on the internationalization decisions of firms, this paper aims to investigate how managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interpret and respond to exogenous shocks in their international sales markets. The authors specifically explore the effects of cognitive factors on French SME managers’ strategic decisions in response to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

The research applies insights gleaned from the field of behavioral strategy, brought to life with illustrative examples of SME managers’ perceptions of Brexit derived from secondary and primary data sources.

The authors find that a combination of decision-makers’ previous experience and emotions can help account for their interpretations and strategic responses to Brexit.

The research highlights the need for managers to be more aware of how their personal characteristics can influence their mindsets and shape how they choose to respond to uncertain and ambiguous developments in foreign markets.

The research exposes important, behavioral dimensions of decision-making, which remain under-explored in the existing international business literature.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the fluid lag phenomena and its influence in the hydraulic fracturing process, including all stages of fluid-lag evolution, the transition between different stages and their coupling with dynamic fracture propagation under common conditions.

A plane 2D model is developed to simulate the complex evolution of fluid lag during the propagation of a hydraulic fracture driven by an impressible Newtonian fluid. Based on the finite element method, a fully implicit solution scheme is proposed to solve the strongly coupled rock deformation, fluid flow and fracture propagation. Using the proposed model, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to examine the evolution of fluid lag in various geological and operational conditions.

The numerical simulations predict that the lag ratio is around 5% or even lower at the beginning stage of hydraulic fracture under practical geological conditions. With the fracture propagation, the lag ratio keeps decreasing and can be ignored in the late stage of hydraulic fracturing for typical parameter combinations. On the numerical aspect, whether the fluid lag can be ignored depends not only on the lag ratio but also on the minimum mesh size used for fluid flow. In addition, an overall mixed-mode fracture propagation factor is proposed to describe the relationship between diverse parameters and fracture curvature.

In this study, relatively simple physical models such as linear elasticity for solid, Newtonian model for fluid and linear elasticity fracture mechanics for fracture are used. The current model does not account for such effects like leak off, poroelasticity and softening of rock formations, which may also visibly affect the fluid lag depending on specific reservoir conditions.

This study helps to understand the effect of fluid lag during hydraulic fracturing processes and provides numerical experience in dealing with the fluid lag with finite element simulation.

This study is a response to the paucity of research into early internationalising firms based in India. We seek to explore the internationalisation of small and new Indian firms and the decision-making process of their entrepreneurs/managers.

The study uses original, primary data gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with the managers of six such firms to explore the factors that might facilitate, motivate, or impede the efforts undertaken by young Indian firms to embark upon a process of early internationalisation.

Our findings suggest that, in line with their counterparts from other countries, the early internationalisation of small firms from India is driven primarily by the search for more favourable demand conditions overseas and is facilitated by new technologies. However, we find no evidence suggesting that the emergence of early internationalising firms from India is driven by the search for more favourable production conditions or by the direct international experience and exposure of their founders. In line with prior scholarly work, our research suggests that government support is an important facilitator of early internationalisation of small firms.

The study provides insights into the internationalisation process of INVs from India and contributes to broadening our understanding of the behaviour of firms under a set of specific institutional conditions. Based on our findings, we develop a conceptual framework which can be useful for further empirical testing. Our study is also one of the few to be conducted on a sample of INVs from India.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural dimensions of corporate political activity (CPA).

The study uses a qualitative research design. Data collected from interviews conducted with the Brussels‐based Government Affairs Managers of French and British firms are analysed to examine the impact of national culture on their objectives and preferred political strategies.

The findings suggest possible relationships between the cultural dimensions elaborated by Hofstede and the different components of corporate political action: uncertainty avoidance can help explain managers' objectives when becoming politically active; the long‐term vs short‐term dimension can account for their general approaches to political activity; their level of participation in the political process can be explained by the individualism vs collectivism dimension; and their choices of specific lobbying tactics and techniques can be explained in terms of power distance.

As firms increasingly interact with foreign rivals when seeking to influence policy outcomes, knowing that corporate political strategies are in part culturally grounded can help Government Affairs Managers to anticipate, respond to and act on the strategies pursued by firms socialised in other national cultures.

While previous mainstream research into CPA is based largely on universal theories, the primary contribution of the paper is to introduce national culture as a variable to explain cross‐country differences in the types and processes of firms' political activities.

State and national standards compel teachers to introduce historical topics through multiple diverse texts, emphasizing the use of informational texts. Trade books allow teachers to meet these standards while also meeting the needs of diverse students. Primary sources serve as an additional curricular resource filling the gaps in information not covered by textbooks and trade books and allowing students to gain a more complete and accurate understanding of historical figures and events. Standards leave the selection and implementation of appropriate trade books, primary sources, and other curricular resources to the classroom teacher. In this research, I qualify and quantify how President Andrew Jackson, a very controversial historical figure, is portrayed in trade books. Misrepresentations within trade books concerning Jackson are reported and analyzed. Suggestions and a rationale for trade book and primary source selection and implementation in elementary, middle, and secondary school are addressed.