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Field emergence poses an intriguing problem for institutional theorists. New issue fields often arise at the intersection of different sectors, amidst extant structures of meanings and actors. Such nascent fields are fragmented and lack clear guides for action; making it unclear how they ever coalesce. The authors propose that provisional social structures provide actors with macrosocial presuppositions that shape ongoing field-configuration; bootstrapping the field. The authors explore this empirically in the context of social impact investing in the UK, 2000–2013, a period in which this field moved from clear fragmentation to relative alignment. The authors combine different computational text analysis methods, and data from an extensive field-level study, to uncover meaningful patterns of interaction and structuration. Our results show that across various periods, different types of actors were linked together in discourse through “actor–meaning couplets.” These emergent couplings of actors and meanings provided actors with social cues, or macrofoundations, which guided their local activities. The authors thus theorize a recursive, co-constitutive process: as punctuated moments of interaction generate provisional structures of actor–meaning couplets, which then cue actors as they navigate and constitute the emerging field. Our model re-energizes the core tenets of new structuralism and contributes to current debates about institutional emergence and change.

This paper was aimed to develop better knowledge to show how obstacles impact Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in investment business on the global competitiveness index (GCI). This study was applied to six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies to analyse and classify investment obstacles in order to improve GCI and mitigate the obstacles to doing business.

This study used the 12 pillars of the GCI to classify six GCC countries and 15 factors of SDGs using data from 2008 to 2017. The data were collected from the International Monetary Fund and GCI reports from 2008 to 2018 on all six GCC countries: the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The paper adopted equations to analyse the GCI, along with 15 obstacles to doing investment business. The paper used regression and correlation tests by two proxies: obstacles to SDGs as an independent variable and the GCI as a dependent variable.

The findings of this study focussed on the best classification of the GCI, which went to Qatar, whereas the lowest rank went to Oman. The major components of obstacles to doing investment business are restrictive labour regulations, access to financing and inefficient government bureaucracy factors. These obstacles stand in the way of achieving SDGs and delay the improvement of the competitive field. Hence, the results of the regression test show that there is a negative and statistically significant impact in Oman, Kuwait and the UAE between obstacles to doing business on the GCI at the significance levels of 1% and 5%. The Pearson correlation matrix is strong between obstacles to SDGs, as the same elements of the GCI also exist in these countries, at 55.2%, 75% and 55.5%, respectively.

There are some limitations related to the study period being from 2008 to 2017. Before 2008, the GCI consisted of nine pillars rather than 12, and there were 14 problems rather than 15 related to doing investment business. Hence, this does not match with the period of this study. Furthermore, the reports after 2017 did not mention the problems of doing business, only analysing the GCI.

The results of the study highlight the strategic and practical aspects of GCC countries diagnosing the SDGs to know how to reduce obstacles to sustainable development, which can enhance investments by improving the GCI.

The current study measured and evaluated how to mitigate the obstacles to SDGs in the GCC countries. It is the first study to explain these obstacles in the GCC countries, which are characterised by their huge wealth that contributes significantly to global economic development.

This research discusses technology, business sector, and infrastructure, reflecting government spending, consumption, net exports, economic growth, and poverty. This study uses secondary data from world banks and processed regression using the moving average autoregression method. We find that technology, infrastructure, and business sector investment encourage public consumption, increase net exports, promote economic growth, and alleviate poverty in Indonesia. The impact of poverty alleviation comes from an increase in population income and economic growth, reflecting population.

Whether they support long-term growth companies, entrepreneurial firms or turnarounds, top teams need to make bold strategic investment choices in times of boom, bust or pandemic. This paper aims to discuss firm strategies, as evidenced by their investment choices, over a 21-year period during which they led firms committed to growth through times of crisis and disruption.

The starting point for this research is Fortune magazine’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies, published in 2018 and updated in 2019. The list is based on the magazine’s ranking of the world’s top three-year performers in revenues, profits and stock returns for the four quarters preceding publication. Inclusion on the list is all about growth, not starting size (the smallest and not renown). The classification of firms by industry sector follows Fortune’s nomenclature. Comparing these firms with industry peers in the same period, the authors look at Fortune’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies of 2018 from the vantage point of their financials from 1999 to 2017, years that included the tech boom and bust, the mortgage meltdown and the Great Recession. This period also saw a relatively long expansion which was, paradoxically, punctuated by a trade war with China and recession fears that have impacted spending for growth. Only 32 of Fortune’s 2018 list made it to Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies of 2019. The authors call them the Persistent 32 and examine their investment and performance metrics from 2018 through 2020.

The Persistent 32 – companies that have survived multiple recessions, including the COVID-19 recession, and continue to grow – have lessons to teach, although there is no silver bullet or secret formula, even within the same industry. It was found that in the group of 32, the average company lifespan is 28.75 years and astute, decisive leadership matters. Companies that persist make unique, strategic resource choices. They postpone expenditures on marketing and sales, fixed assets or R&D or all three depending on their needs, rather than fit with industry. They continue to invest in future growth. Their people are not expendable: employee retention during a recession has been a familiar strategy for the top growers covered in this investigation throughout the period (1999–2020). They cut cost of goods and services produced (COGS). The Persistent 32, loathing the idea of cutting COGS in the face of earlier recessions or recessionary threats, are cutting expenses other than personnel expenditures now. Amazon, Nvidia, Stamps.com, Lam Research, Supernus Pharmaceuticals all continue to rein in costs while simultaneously reinvesting in growth. They communicate their concerns and plans to their constituents. These companies retained and grew headcount while communicating their safety program as well as work-from-home and social-distancing strategies to employees, customers, shareholders and elected officials during the COVID-19 recession of 2020. They plan for supply disruptions. All have already articulated their plans for supply disruptions or alternative sources. Both the Federal Government and semiconductor companies are looking to jump-start the development of new chip factories in the USA as concern grows about reliance on Asia as a source of critical technology. They sense, seize, transform. David Teece’s dynamic capabilities framework is still the best way to turn every black swan event into an opportunity for business based on newly immediate needs. They work remotely. Businesses that are growing despite the recession are already committed to remote work. Join them and take the high anxiety out of work for both employees and customers.

The starting point for our research was Fortune magazine’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies, published in 2018 and updated in 2019. The list is based on the magazine’s ranking of the world’s top three-year performers in revenues, profits and stock returns for the four quarters preceding publication. Only 32 of Fortune’s 2018 list made it to Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies of 2019. The authors call them the Persistent 32 and examine their investment and performance metrics from 2018 through 2020. They sought answers to three questions: First, do the fastest growing firms invest heavily in their businesses during recessions? The authors looked at the 100 fastest growing companies from 1999 to 2017 and then the Persistent 32 from 2018 to 2020. Second, what happened to the investments and performance of the Persistent 32 during the pandemic and recession that began in the first quarter of 2020? Where did they invest or curtail investment, what plans did they make around COVID-19 and what headcount decisions did they make? Third, do growth-committed firms follow different investment strategies that can be categorized based on spending patterns?

Companies that can survive and grow through the hardest of times have lessons to teach, although there is no silver bullet or secret formula, even within the same industry.

Employee retention during a recession has been a familiar strategy for the top growers covered in this investigation throughout the period (1999–2020). This strategy is not generally common among US firms. Indeed, it says something about the growth prospects of these firms and their dependence on talent and need to leverage their prior investment in recruiting and training employees.

What is important about this topic? Whatever the industry, trying times call for top teams to try harder, identify priorities, spend to achieve them, manage stakeholder expectations and protect and build their access to top talent. The authors can help with the last four: they set up a structure for analyzing firm spending and performance metrics, based on Gulati and others writing for business practitioners; they comb the evidence for spending and performance shifts in good times and bad from 1999 to 2020; they categorize firm strategies by spending patterns versus industry; they examine the findings for insights; and finally, the authors identify key actions that set still growing firms apart.

Upon completion of the case study discussions, successful students will be able to: discuss the challenges of green financing and provide solutions on how to address such challenges. Explore the different dimensions for structuring a green financing fund. Analyse the risks and suggest a mechanism for de-risking an investment fund.

Kenya Climate Venture was established in 2016 as an independent subsidiary of Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, with a seed capital of $5m from European development financing institutions Danida and UKAid and the fund raised another $5m in new capital in early 2020. Its remit was to invest in commercially viable enterprises in agribusiness, water, commercial forestry, renewable energy and waste management, largely targeting small and medium-sized enterprises. The case is exploring three themes; Theme1: Challenges of climate financing, Theme 2: Structuring a climate financing fund Theme 3: De-risking an investment fund.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

This article aims to compare the average profitability by sector for companies that have invested in China during 2008-2011, with the average profitability for Spanish firms from the same sector.

Analysis done through Analysis System of Iberian Balances (SABI) database.

The results show that companies that invest in China gain economic rewards that are greater than those that do not invest in China, with the most profitable sectors comparatively being the metallurgy and the wholesale trade.

We have not found previous analysis in this way.

The current study contributes to filling the gap in studies that discuss the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth and employment in Saudi Arabia. Although the study found that FDI inflows contribute to the government effort to reduce or at least control the high unemployment rate, the study found no relationship between FDI inflows and economic growth in Saudi Arabia. However, we must be careful in interpreting the result of the positive influence of FDIs on employment since almost half of the Saudi workforce is employed by the public sector. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Data regarding FDI inflow to Saudi Arabia were collected from the World Bank database and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), while GDP per capita (economic growth) used data from the World Bank database only. Unemployment rate data were collected from the SAMA annual book. This study covered the period from 1999 through 2012. The study used the time series analysis methodology to study the impact of FDI inflow on economic growth and employment in Saudi Arabia.

Although the current study found that FDI inflows contribute to the government’s effort by reducing or at least controlling the country’s high unemployment rate, it also found no relationship between FDI inflows and economic growth in Saudi Arabia. However, we must be careful in interpreting the result of the positive influence of FDI on employment since almost half of the Saudi workforce is employed by the public sector.

In recent years, the government of Saudi Arabia has issued a number of initiatives to achieve diversification of income sources, create jobs for Saudi workers, and transfer advanced administrative techniques and technology to the Saudi economy; one of these initiatives involves attracting foreign investors to the Saudi market. This study contributes to fill the gap in studies that discuss the impact of FDI inflows on economic growth and employment in Saudi Arabia.

Drawn from the push–pull perspective, this research aims to identify the determinants of Chinese technology's outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) into the Eurasian region.

The authors argue that contrary to the extant literature, technology-driven OFDI from emerging-market multinationals (EMNEs) do not always seek developed countries, and EMNEs' technology investments in emerging economies are rising indicating that there are factors in these economies that can prove attractive. The authors recognize the influence of the macroeconomic environment and the interaction of home and host-country institutional contexts that influence the location choice of EMNEs technology-driven OFDI into other emerging economies, mediated by the industry sector and firm's ownership structure. The authors test our hypotheses using a sample of 1,656 observations of Chinese MNEs' tech-investments in the Eurasian region from 2005 to 2019.

The study results indicate that bilateral diplomatic relations pave the way of the host-country institutional environment for Chinese MNEs uncovering the role of the Chinese government as an OFDI facilitator. This study also unveils a lower technology level of the Chinese MNEs' investments in the Eurasian region connoting an interest in market opportunities exploitation through their existing technologies – through its comparative advantage in the global markets – rather than strategic assets acquisition aiming at augmenting their technological capabilities. This trend is similar to that of other major foreign direct investment (FDI) source countries.

This research contributes to a better understanding of the characteristics and the location choice of technology investments from EMNEs into other emerging economies that have received scant attention in the literature. In addition, it extends the institutional theory by analyzing how home-country institutions, through bilateral diplomatic relations, may smooth the host country institutional environment for home-country MNEs' foreign investments and contributes as well to the debate on the applicability of the existing theoretical framework in the case of emerging-market MNEs.

In this chapter we describe the development of venture capital and new stock markets in Europe. We argue that markets for high-growth stocks offer venture capitalists a valuable exit opportunity for their investments. This allows them to re-invest their money in other start-up companies and may spur the rate of new business creation and technological innovation. The private equity market in Europe today is as large as it was just before the advent of new stock markets in 1997–1999. As such, the need for stock markets that allow private equity investors to divest their equity stakes in growth companies did not disappear.

There are several studies on various aspects of the disclosure of companies but there is little research on elements related to the disclosure of innovation in particular. The work aims to fill this important gap by examining to what extent the companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, which prepare the sustainability report (non-financial declaration – NFS), disseminate information relating to innovative activities.

The methodology used to achieve the research goal has used multiple linear regression models (OLS), to study the factors that influence disclosure. The data were collected through the content analysis. The sample is made up of 171 companies listed on the Italian stock exchange which prepared a sustainability report for the period of four years 2016–2019 (Sustainability Reports and Integrated Documentation) and which contain information on innovative activity.

The research confirms a positive relationship between information on innovation and the economic variables of corporate investment. In addition, an important relationship emerges linked to the disclosure of innovative information and the business sector, innovation investments and R&D activity.

The work suffers from some limitations: the short period of observation subject to analysis, the lack of sustainability report 2020, the extension of the variables taken into consideration for the implementation of the regression models; it is desirable to consider a wider pool of variables in the future in order to implement further specific tests.

On a practical level, the research suggests the adoption of a framework on the dissemination of innovative activity that allows easy reading of information (regardless of the sector and company size), built starting from the most representative keywords of the activities innovative, to be included in a specific section of the Sustainability Report. This work contributes to filling a cognitive gap connected to the disclosure of the innovative activity. There is much research on disclosure related to business activities, but no specific research regarding the communication of innovation.

The study conducted contributes to fill a gap in the literature related to the disclosure of the innovative activity. The latter is a strategic element for effective and clear communication with stakeholders.