Search results

This paper aims to analyse the transnational activities of Colombian migrants in the USA; the reasons why migrants engage, or not, in these activities; and the impact of migrants’ transnational activities at the household, community and national levels.

This paper analyses data obtained from focus groups with migrant families and interviews with government officials and an expert researcher, as well as secondary data sources.

The main transnational activities in which Colombian migrants engage in are individually oriented, while participation in collective actions such as philanthropy or membership of political parties and hometown associations is limited. The impact of those activities varies when analysed at different levels. Overall, transnational activities of Colombian migrants can be seen as contributing to the perpetuation of south–north dependency, even if they help improve the socioeconomic situation of migrants and their families.

This paper contributes to the migration–development nexus debate by pointing to the significance of distinguishing the level of analysis (micro, meso and macro) when studying the impacts of transnationalism on development.

This paper aims to study the use of photos in corporate sustainability reports (CSRs) as a means to gain legitimacy concerning Colombian post-conflict representations.

From a critical perspective based on legitimacy theory and political economy theory, and using visual semiotics and critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the use of photographs in sustainability reports as a mechanism to account for corporate actions regarding peace in Colombia. This paper relies on 121 pictures from 30 CSRs.

The analysis shows that companies are gaining legitimacy by referring to post-conflict through visual forms. Nonetheless, the structural conditions that caused the Colombian conflict are still present. Sustainability reporting that includes peace action representations becomes a control and subordination mechanism to reproduce existing power relations in the Colombian social order. Indeed, the generation of opportunities for civilians and ex-combatants, victims reparation, security and reconciliation remains unresolved structural issues. Hence, the use of corporate economic resources and their strategic visual representation in reports is just one business way of representing firms as aligned with government initiatives to obtain tax incentives.

This study is centered on Colombian CSRs for the period 2016-2017; however, 2017 reports by some companies have not yet been published. This study also explored the messages contained in the images that include people. Images that do not depict persons were not examined.

This study provides evidence on visual representations of corporate peace actions aimed at gaining corporate legitimacy. Furthermore, this research examines a unique scenario that promoted more significant corporate social participation, following the signing of the peace agreements between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Ejército del Pueblo).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the transnational entrepreneurial activities of Colombian emigrants to the USA in the context of the Colombian government’s policies and initiatives aimed at encouraging and facilitating emigrants’ transnational entrepreneurship. It examines the profile of Colombian emigrants, the entrepreneurial transnational activities they pursue and the actual and potential role of the government in instigating and shaping these activities.

The paper analyzes data obtained from focus groups with migrant families and interviews with governmental officials and an expert researcher. It also evaluates secondary data sources relevant to the subject of the paper.

The impact of transnational activities of Colombian migrants upon Colombian economy and society is much lower compared with the activities of migrants in other countries and with the potential these activities could have for contributing to the economic development of Colombia. Possible causes of this include: the specific characteristics of the Colombian emigrant and entrepreneur profile, the fragmentation of transnational networks of the migrants and the lack of governmental strategies to support the development of transnational activities of migrants.

The paper contributes to the debates on emigrant–state relation through offering an analysis of migrant entrepreneurship, technology and knowledge transfer and investment activities of Colombian emigrants in the home country. It also provides recommendations for policy action and concrete government programs that might encourage greater involvement of Colombian migrants in high value-adding activities that could benefit the country’s development.

Extensive empirical evidence suggests that procedural justice (PJ) and distributive justice (DJ) are key success factors for achieving durable peace negotiations. This paper aims to investigate how complexity affects these factors and the outcomes in negotiations.

The qualitative study is based on an examination of the peace negotiations that led to the 2016 agreement between the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo and the Colombian Government. Based on document analysis, the authors examined in detail how and where in the process the principles of PJ and DJ were applied. The authors then examined the implementation progress after 2016 and placed the peace process in the overall context of the Colombian conflict.

The authors found that the principles of PJ and DJ were present in both the negotiation process and the agreement. The negotiations were successful and satisfactory solutions could be found for all issues. The complexity of the conflict is reflected in the limited coverage of the peace negotiations. Not all groups, interests and subconflicts could be included in the negotiations. This limits their contribution to a durable peace in Colombia. Conflicts that remain unresolved also have a negative effect on the implementation of the agreement.

For conflict management, this implies that the negotiations should not be viewed as “one-and-done” but rather as a progressive, ongoing process. The agreement is only the nucleus for achieving total peace. It must be actively advanced and defended.

This study offers new qualitative insights into how PJ and DJ function in negotiations. It also establishes a systematic connection between PJ and DJ and complexity, introduces the notion of coverage and, thereby, opens a new perspective on the management of conflict complexity.

This paper aims to present the Colombian Alejandro López Restrepo as a classic management thinker from the first half of the twentieth century and discuss his ideas in the light of Anglo-Saxon authors at that time and his contributions as a professor, manager and public servant.

Bibliographic material including López’s books and essays and their biography published by Mayor (2001) are reviewed to organize a new reading of López as a management thinker and practitioner.

Beyond several classical managerial thinkers, López reconceptualized scientific management with a critical discussion of classical economic theory using sociology and psychology to present a unique conception of work, enterprise and efficiency as a public service that gives sense to individual and social realization to face the future and create development.

Techniques as critical biography and interpretation of data have not been used, instead the aim to contribute to the literature of management history a Latin American’ thinker.

Including López as a classical management thinker can improve the study of management history. His life and ideas give new reflexive insight to understand the development of management in Colombia and serve to inspire administrators to seek improvements in society.

The paper offers a new approach toward studying Alejandro López beyond previous sociological work by Mayor (2001) with the discussion of the contributions in the lenses of managerial practices and theoretical insights at that time.

The objective of this research is to propose a framework which is apt to assess how a nation branding campaign could promote cultural identity by ultimately curbing political polarization.

By relying on a multidisciplinary approach that blends theoretical constructs from different fields the methodology is based on a mixed-method approach whereby the qualitative data stemming from a set of interviews with key-informants is coupled by a survey of Colombian citizens in order to gain in-depth insights over the impact of nation branding on political polarization.

From the findings, it emerges that a campaign based on nation branding and targeting domestic citizens could curb political polarization within Colombia, by also fostering cultural identity.

The study considers only Colombia. To fully assess the robustness of the framework it would be useful to extend the analysis to a broader range of countries and to a wider set of domestic issues.

The research not only provides in-depth insights on how nation branding can be used effectively in order to curb political polarization but also practical guidance on how a nation branding campaign can be effectively designed. The findings are relevant to policy-makers that have the opportunity to implement informed and educated nation branding campaigns not just overseas, but also to strategically address important domestic issues by engaging the domestic stakeholders.

While country branding has been extensively investigated within the context of international business, we have a relatively limited understanding of its domestic impact. In contrast to traditional country branding literature, this paper aims to theoretically advance our understanding of nation branding and its effect on political polarization, as well as gauging its impact on cultural identity.

Between 1927 and 1941 Pan American Airways (PAA) operated international flights from the USA with virtually no competition from US carriers. How PAA established and maintained its monopolistic position – by instrumentally creating a myth of “German threat” – and the implications for organizational theorizing and historiography is the proposed focus of this paper.

Drawing on a cultural theory approach to “doing history” and Barthes' 1972 notion of myth, this paper uses a critical hermeneutical exploration of the extensive PAA archive collection (at the Otto Richter Library of the University of Miami) and numerous secondary sources (e.g. various written histories). Following Barthes, the paper views myths as monolithic and authoritative historical constructions which conceal their ideological roots and instrumental conditions of creation. Through critical hermeneutics, the paper deciphers the myth of “German threat” by (re)contextualizing it and thus pluralizing history by showing how a threatening image of “foreign” and specifically “German” aviation operation in South America was instrumentally created to privilege PAA's operations and its close relationship with the US State Department.

Implications for the management theorist and historian as they pertain to a more fragile tone for “doing history” include the acknowledgement of history as multiple socially constructed interpretations of the past, an appreciation for histories that make their conditions of production transparent and the need for (re)writing histories that parade as authoritative monoliths.

The paper offers an empirical example of how an organization's instrumental use of myth facilitates manipulations of history in order to situate and secure the positioning and image of that organization.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the characteristics of the Latin American participation in the United Nations Mission in Colombia (UNMC), looking into the contributions of regional actors to the peace process in the immediate post-conflict. Testimonies from Latin American actors involved in the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration process help identify their perceptions of strengths and shortcomings of the mission. This paper analyses both the enduring relevance of their individual/institutional trajectories and the adaptations needed to implement the Peace Agreement in the Colombian context.

This is an exploratory case study. Primary data collection relied on in-depth, semi-structured interviews, allowing the authors to tap into how the trajectories of those involved help explain continuities and innovations of the UNMC regarding previous UN missions.

This paper argues that cultural factors are central to understand how Latin Americans participated in the UNMC. The design of the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism and the inclusion of a strong gender agenda make the UNMC a salient case, both for scholars studying Latin American presence in peace processes and for those looking into peace building, more generally.

The fieldwork, conducted with military/security forces, UN officials and civilians, has made available a diverse spectrum of testimonies that provide crucial insights into “lessons learned”, contributing to tracing the trajectories of these actors and providing insights for the improvement of future political and peacebuilding multilateral missions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the extent and impact of corruption on public trust and on the stability of the Colombian police. The effectiveness of public controls, civilian oversight, and overseeing bodies is evaluated to determine the degree of impunity and the level of independence from other agencies of control.

The research in this study is based on data analyses of surveys, interviews, and an observational approach. This paper considers four general surveys, namely: Latinobarómetro, Iberobarómetro, Global Corruption Barometer, Corruption Perception Indexes, and World Values Survey. The observation consisted of accompanying Bogotá police department teams for two months during the evenings between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. This study draws upon 20 interviews with police officers of all ranks. Additionally, an informal observation of police activities during the night was carried out to discover the occurrence of corruption, which was impossible to reveal by a more formal observation.

Although corruption in the Colombian police force is presumably a generalized phenomenon, it is still one of the most appreciated agencies among Colombians. However, scandals have been cleverly mitigated by rhetoric and apparent purges and the setting‐up of inoffensive mechanisms of control. Internal inspection and civilian oversight have been weakened – rendered ineffective by an increasingly powerful police leadership.

Since corruption is a concealed phenomenon, its analysis always causes problems. Police officers are reluctant to talk about the problem and there is an organizational denial of the phenomenon.

The paucity of academic research on police forces in Latin America is still apparent and the field of study lacks a real degree of specialization. Similarly, there has been no empirical examination of issues pertaining to the study of the modern Colombian force. This paper thus attempts to compensate for the lack of empirical research on the Colombian police. It contributes to the overall literature on police corruption by explaining the organizational features of bribing and police corruption on the beat.