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This paper aims to analyze the evolution and interaction over time of the functions of a technological innovation system (TIS) based on the concept of an innovation motor.

It is a case study of the innovation system associated with the technology for producing cage-free pullets for laying eggs in Pelotas/Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

The motors proposed by the TIS approach evolve sequentially and are associated with cumulative causality mechanisms. The study's results identified two functionalities: analysis of the chain as a whole and coordination of the actors involved in the system. The study's results also identified the presence of inflection points at the beginning of each of the motors.

The absence of a more accurate detailing of the market motor in discussions of the evolution of the motors and functions of TIS cage free Pelotas.

Innovation Motors as a new guiding approach for participatory innovation initiatives in rural areas.

Application of the TIS approach in agribusiness and proposition of two new functions for motor analysis, in addition to including inflection points as activation triggers in the evolution between motors.

Although the governance and management of networks are deeply intertwined, there is a lack of empirical studies on how strategic networks (SNs) configure both realities for higher performance. This paper aims to analyze the array of governance and management sets adopted by high-performing SNs.

The authors bridge the research gap by using qualitative comparative analysis on the governance (decision-making process, formalization, specialization, incentives and control) and management (strategy, structure, processes and leadership) dimensions of 73 Brazilian SNs.

The authors found that high-performing SNs adopt one of two governance/management configurations. “Piloted SNs” rely on specialized working teams, have structured decision-making processes and avoid using incentives. Conversely, “atomized SNs” run on incentives and control while eschewing specialization and rigid decision-making procedures. The authors also found that both configurations adopt formal procedures and leverage all four management dimensions.

The study’s results offer pathways for SNs to increase their performance and attract new members, as well as insights into the theory of SN governance.

Literature on eco-innovation brings insights that help to understand which factors trigger innovation focused on sustainability in companies. However, when analyzing the studies that comprise such drivers, it appears that most of them were focused only on describing them in isolation. Therefore, this study aims to understand which are the combinations of drivers that favor the adoption of eco-innovation in slaughterhouses located in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

This study has used the crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) as the data analysis technique, in addition to the previous application of Most Similar Different Outcome/Most Different Same Outcome (MSDO/MDSO).

This study identified eight internal and external drivers that explain the differences in performance of eco-innovative and non-innovative slaughterhouses. These drivers generate 13 combinations of factors capable of favoring the adoption of five types of eco-innovation.

A limitation identified was the difficulty to obtain information held by companies on environmental issues. In addition, in each company the authors only approached one respondent.

The use of combinations is identified by companies and governmental and non-governmental organizations to promote eco-innovation in slaughterhouses.

This study may be considered original for its contribution to the improvement of eco-innovation literature by describing how the drivers identified combine to favor the adoption of certain types of eco-innovation. In addition, the authors also made an original use of csQCA, linked with MSDO/MDSO, in the field of eco-innovation.

Purpose – Agribusiness is crucial for the Brazilian trade balance surplus. Innovation, not only that focused on technology or productivity, is a basic condition for its development. The context of the agribusiness activities in a developing country is dynamic and requires a multilevel and multifaceted view. This suggests that these features need to be incorporated both in the theories and methods. Therefore, we propose a method, from within the perspective of Configurations Theory, of capturing this dynamic multidimensionality. The method was applied in the context of the rice-farming business in Southern Brazil.

Methodology/approach – The proposed method, which we refer to as a Case Study Method with Multiple Units of Analysis and Mixed Methods, was applied in a research organization in an attempt to identify the evolution of innovation while considering a theoretical perspective based on multilevel rules.

Findings – Six different configurations in the temporal organization of research were identified. These six configurations describe the evolution of four emphases given to innovation, the drivers associated with the evolution of these emphases, and the changes that have occurred over time.

Social implications – The results may provide support for new public policies for rice farming and lead to improvements in the organization's strategies for innovation.

Originality/value of chapter – The combination of methods used (Case Study, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Social Network Analysis, Path Dependence, and Patterns of Decision Making) to study configurations, together with the dynamic approach to innovation based on multilevel rule, is unique.

Welcome to the seventh volume of Research Methodology in Strategy and Management. The mission of this book series is to provide a forum for critique, commentary, and discussion about key methodology issues in the strategic management field. Strategic management relies on an array of complex methods to understand how firms can attain and sustain competitive advantage. How researchers employ different methods to conduct their research in different research contexts and understand the implications associated with their research choices is fundamental to the methodological rigour and the advancement of strategic management theory.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

Adopting the research concept of socioemotional wealth (SEW) as applied to family firm leaders, this study aims to analyse the literature on succession and corporate governance processes in family firms in keeping with this still developing concept and thereby not only contributing to advancing knowledge on this field but also proposing a conceptual model of analysis and a future research agenda.

The authors carried out a review and systematisation of the literature according to its different thematic groups through recourse to VOSviewer software and content analysis to establish a systematised and integrated structure of the reference literature based on a sample of 218 studies published and indexed on the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases between 2010 and 2021.

The results portray five leading clusters, specifically, (1) SEW and family firm performance; (2) SEW and the focus on leadership as a precursor to succession; (3) family firms, SEW and corporate social governance; (4) family firm innovation and performance; and (5) family ownership and management. The authors then put forward a conceptual model of analysis both to better integrate these topics and as a proposition for application in future research projects.

The study provides a new and solid systematisation of the literature and supports the argument that family firms concentrating on developing the leader's SEW increase the probability of structuring a successful succession process as well as the likelihood of achieving higher quality corporate governance.

Although the influential group located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have argued that “teamwork” is at the heart of the lean factory; more recent works have identified “innovation” as the major driver “of growth in free market economies”. Others have gone further in suggesting that the global business environment has so fundamentally changed that it is the demands of the knowledge economy that are the crucial challenge to global organisations. They identify “tomorrow's winners” as those organisations able to “search out and mobilize untapped pockets of technology and market intelligence” to add significant value to their operations. In this paper two of these “global practices” are analyzed in terms of the management of their introduction at the Curitiba plant of Volvo do Brazil. First, the development of team‐based forms of work organization is analyzed within the context of the changing nature of patterns of global human resource development. Secondly, the increasing utilization of lean production techniques is located within the context of the development of a global production strategy within the Volvo Truck Company. This paper attempts an understanding of the nature of the relationship between team‐based forms of work and lean production within a framework which recognizes the increasing importance of organisations attached to innovation – in the sense of a hybrid system of learning from the best practice of other organisations. In doing so it will assess how far we can claim the presence of a new production paradigm being developed within the plant.