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This chapter explores the sustainability of the workforce in the Chilean logging sector, the factors that affect the sustainability of this critical element for the Chilean forestry sector and explores the reasons for each factor.

To achieve the aim of this research, an ergonomics approach was used, specifically an ergonomics questionnaire, to identify elements in the work system that affect forestry workers.

The initial results show that elements in the Chilean forestry sector that affect the sustainability of the workforce, both in terms of occupational health (OH) problems and lack of interest in working in this sector, include organizational factors, physical elements of the environment, economic issues, and physical aspects of the work. The study also showed workers in this sector have a low perception of the benefits of working in the sector, because they recognize the sector has a high degree of risk in terms of safety and health aspects.

It is expected that the result of this research will help to refocus policies towards solving OH problems and, at the same time, potentially improve the market attractions of working in this sector.

This chapter introduces this book’s topics, purpose, and key themes. It summarizes the main objective of this book which is to examine the trends in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in developing and emerging economies.

This chapter reviews the extant literature and chapters and offers conceptual development.

Discussion on CSR and sustainability concepts is growing in developing countries, and many stakeholders including businesses, governments, and universities are working toward achieving sustainability. In addition, it is well documented that multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in developing economies contribute significantly to job creation, growth and development, and poverty alleviation. However, when compared to developed countries there is a general perception that companies, in particular MNEs, do not pay much attention to CSR and sustainability issues. The lack of sophisticated institutional developments and capability in many developing economies compound the situation. Thus, business CSR and sustainability practices play a major role in improving stakeholder relationships.

This chapter suggests that in order for developing and emerging economies to move forward and achieve the gains from globalization; businesses, governments, and other stakeholders should work together to benefit from the various initiatives on CSR and sustainability jointly put together for the betterment of the citizens and a prosperous economy.

This chapter contributes to the debate on trends in CSR and sustainability in developing/emerging economies by critically examines what the notions really mean in developing and emerging economies. It emphasizes that CSR and sustainability mean contributing to the well-being of citizens and respond positively to various stakeholder demands by improving the host countries and communities through participation in economic progress, social well-being, improvement in environmental practices, and involvement in citizens’ empowerment and institutional building.

Firms must be constantly looking for markets and business opportunities and developing new products; to do so, they must find ways to increase their competitiveness, productivity so that it is noticed in their financial statements. The purpose of this paper is to establish the influence of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in business performance (BP) of small and medium-sized enterprises of the manufacturing sector in Mexico. Likewise, it is intended to demonstrate how absorptive capacity (ACAP) allows moderating this important relation.

Analyzing important theoretical and empirical contributions as regards this topic, a survey was designed and applied to 165 manufacturing firms, and by means of partial least squares structural equation modeling resorting to SmartPLS, the research hypotheses were tried.

The obtained results indicate that indeed, EO positively influences BP; in like manner, ACAP has a moderating effect on this relation. Thereby, it can be established that the manufacturing sector carries out the right practices that aim at increasing entrepreneurial competitiveness.

The main limitation of the paper is its regional scale, not national; however, the typology of the manufacturing sector in the country is very similar, as the analyzed subsectors are the most relevant at a national level. Moreover, the existence of international value chains is also found in the rest of the country, so these chains are not exclusive to the region. Another limitation is that even if the analysis focuses on the main manufacturing subsectors, it would have been interesting to analyze if the behavior is similar in other subsectors.

This paper contributes to broadening the studies on EO, ACAP and BP in a different context. Besides, it allows contrasting the results obtained in an eminently manufacturing country with other economies less dependent on this sector. It also contributes to broadening the multidimensional analysis of the manufacturing sector in Mexico, as the authors of the present paper have also performed studies over similar lines in the same sector.

The purpose of this article is to study the moderating effect of absorptive capacity, defined as the set of organizational routines and processes through which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capacity (Zahra and George, 2002), in three strategic orientations: market orientation; technology orientation and entrepreneurial orientation and their positive relationship in the performance of the medium and large Mexican manufacturing firms. Likewise, it is determined whether these three combined SOs influence firm performance.

The data was collected from 171 medium and large-sized Mexican manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Despite the importance of knowledge for the development of firms, the results indicate that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is only present in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. That is, firms cannot take advantage of knowledge simultaneously between the three strategic orientations. For their part, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation exert a positive influence on firm performance.

The main practical implication for the manufacturing industry is that they must develop mechanisms to detect what kind of knowledge affects each strategic orientation, in this way it can make the absorptive capacity influence the relationships between SO and FP.

The main contribution consists of studying the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the relationship between three strategic orientations and firm performance, and not concentrating solely on the simultaneous use of these strategies as is commonly done.

This paper underscores how organizational ambidexterity and organizational innovation play differentiated roles in the subsidiary reverse knowledge transfers (RKT). The authors argue that both organizational ambidexterity and organizational innovation play a positive but differentiated role in the RKT process in that the former positively influences subsidiary knowledge creation, whereas the latter positively influences subsidiary knowledge transfers.

Data were collected from 289 foreign subsidiaries operating in Brazil. Hypotheses were developed and tested by applying partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results supported the hypotheses and showed that organizational ambidexterity promotes knowledge creation, and that organizational innovation facilitates knowledge transfers.

The paper offers implications with regard to drivers of subsidiary investments and actions of subsidiary managers vis-à-vis the subsidiary objectives of knowledge creation and/or transfers.

Showing the different roles of organizational ambidexterity and organizational innovation, this paper reveals some underlying mechanisms of the RKT process and contributes by explaining the competitive heterogeneity of subsidiaries, with impacts on subsidiary management’s evolutionary and resource dependence perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of training, applied to supervisors, to face the effects of resistance to organizational change on work motivation and organizational climate of their direct employees.

A quasi-experimental design with a control group was used. The training program was applied in a public organization, which was going through a process of organizational change. The human resources unit formed two groups according to the needs of the organization. A group of seven supervisors received training (experimental group), and another group of eight supervisors received no training (control group). The effectiveness of the training was measured in the subalterns of the supervisors who formed both groups. The training was based on positive psychology and social skills and covered a period of one month and three weeks. The outcomes variables were: work motivation and organizational climate.

There was a statistically significant increase, from the pretest to the posttest, in the dependent variables registered in the experimental group, compared to the control group. The size of the change (effect size) was moderate magnitude to high.

This research shows an effective training system, applied in supervisors, to improve the work motivation and the organizational climate of the subordinates in processes of organizational change that generate resistance to change in them.

This research aims to answer the following question: Could bricolage become a capability for companies in emerging markets to develop frugal innovations in times of crisis? Therefore, in this paper the main aim is to identify whether in times of crisis the development of frugal innovation in emerging markets depends on the bricolage capability.

The hypotheses were statistically tested using the structural equation modeling technique, with data collected through the survey method applied to 215 companies in Brazil.

The results allowed support for the hypothesis that bricolage capability has a positive impact on the development of frugal innovation. Therefore, a mediating test was verified, allowing confirmation that to develop frugal innovation in emerging markets, bricolage becomes a required capability for companies in times of crisis.

The limitation of this study lies in considering the effect of bricolage on frugal innovation only in the context of Brazil, while in developed countries this effect may be similar, as they also suffer from resource constraints caused by crises.

This research provides insights to guide managers by highlighting bricolage as a key managerial capability for the development of frugal innovation. A set of managerial recommendations are provided based on bricolage skills.

The study has contributed to the literature on bricolage and frugal innovation by addressing bricolage as an antecedent of frugal innovation in emerging markets, especially when those markets are affected by resource scarcity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of social capital on organizational ambidexterity in the context of emerging economies. Moreover, this paper aims to study the moderating influence of absorptive capacity on the relationship between social capital and organizational ambidexterity.

The authors conducted two studies using survey data collected from 97 Ecuadorian and 100 Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The authors found that social capital, the extent to which organizational members interact, collaborate and share knowledge with one another and with external actors, has a positive effect on the simultaneous implementation of exploratory and exploitative innovations (i.e. organizational ambidexterity). Moreover, the authors found that absorptive capacity positively strengthens the impact of social capital on organizational ambidexterity.

Drawing on the knowledge-based view and the innovation literature, the authors theoretically argue the importance of social capital and absorptive capacity for SMEs to develop and manage exploratory and exploitative innovations simultaneously in emerging economies of different cultures. The authors empirically test proposed hypotheses in Ecuador and China, two emerging markets with important cultural differences, and show the relevance of social capital in multiple settings.