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The purpose of this study is to explore the regulatory framework in China and the extent to which Chinese multinationals have implemented and disclosed their anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) compliance practices. This is done against the backdrop of the evolving international ABC compliance standards.

This study is based on detailed reviews of the ABC compliance standards of international organizations; legislation passed by the USA, the UK and Chinese Governments; seven semi-structured interviews with leading experts in the field; and comparisons of ABC program disclosures of four Chinese with four best-in-class western multinational corporations.

A high level of convergence was found in the ABC standards published by the international organizations. Several positive features were found in the Chinese ABC regulatory frameworks but our findings indicate that there is minimal disclosure around ABC compliance program practices. This paper shows that a transparent disclosure would represent an easy win for Chinese multinational corporations and contribute to raising their reputations internationally.

While there are numerous studies in the law literature on ABC compliance standards and the extent to which they are effective in achieving their objectives, this is an emergent area in management research, to which our study makes a contribution. Future research could explore how other emerging economies are tackling this important issue.

By proactively adopting ABC compliance practices, corporations can seize the ethical high ground and build solid reputations with their stakeholders.

It is believed that this study is the first academic study that compares Chinese and international ABC standards.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the effects of perceived parental entrepreneurial rewards, or PPERs (i.e. the offspring's perception of the degree of parental success in entrepreneurship), on the corporate venturing (CV) mode of entrepreneurial entry and the interaction effects of family business involvement (FBI) and formal employment on the association between PPER and CV by the next-generation family members.

A survey was administered to a sample of 738 small business owners in Kenya; of which, 440 small business owners were selected because they grew up in a family business context. A probit model was used to examine the main and interaction effects.

PPERs significantly influenced CV. FBI improves the positive relationship whereas formal employment reduces the effects of PPER on CV.

Families in business need to improve conversations with their children to include discussions concerning the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of running a family business, which may shape not only the entrepreneurial entry path of their offspring but also the willingness to establish businesses that may grow and lead to continuity of the family business of origin.

The study investigates the effect of being embedded in a business family in shaping the CV mode of entrepreneurial entry by the next-generation family members who may not, on the one hand, find independent own founding an attractive option and for whom, on the other hand, the succession mode of entry may not be an option.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on institutional complexity by highlighting patterns of strategic behaviors of SMEs in institutional environments undergoing large scale transitions.

The paper uses five in-depth case studies of medium-sized enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region to study their behaviors over the 2000-2012 period during which the institutional landscape in China underwent major changes.

The authors find that when institutional complexity is high, i.e., when neither the planned economy nor the market economy logic dominates, the role of organizational filters is more pronounced. In this situation, firm-level characteristics – its revenues and profitability, its competitive position and future prospects – play a dominant role in determining the nature of the strategic decisions and actions the firm undertakes.

The findings provide a nuanced perspective on strategic behaviors under institutional complexity. The qualitative research design offers rich insights but limited generalizability.

The findings offer practical insights to SME leaders in terms of exercising caution in undertaking unrelated diversification during periods of transition from planned to market economies.

The authors apply the concepts of institutional complexity and organizational filters in a context of large scale institutional transitions to study the strategic behaviors of SMEs over a 12 year period.

We study three private hospital organizations in India that were set up to deliver affordable high quality, services to the poor. Their distinctive feature is that they have successfully balanced two apparently contradictory logics: financial (doing well) and social (doing good) through business model innovations. By analyzing abundant primary and secondary data, we document in detail the key features of their business models – customer identification, customer engagement, value chain and linkages, and monetization – and document how they contribute to the organizations’ ability to deliver high quality healthcare at very low prices. We analyze the impact of these organizations, both direct and indirect, on the healthcare delivery landscape in India. We show that while their direct impact is significant, their indirect impact could potentially transform healthcare delivery in India and in other developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to study the potential for management development in non‐governmental organization (NGO)‐private sector partnerships.

The paper is an in‐depth case study of a program run by the British subsidiary of a large European financial services company that had sent 60 middle and senior managers and two external consultants over a ten‐year period (1994‐2004) on capacity building assignments to nine NGO partners in southern India. Questionnaires, interviews and archives of the program were the sources of data.

The study finds that assignees described the effect of the assignments on them as profound, some as transformational. Managers completed the capacity building assignments successfully and returned with greater self‐awareness and enhanced self‐confidence, and with a greater ability to handle ambiguity and uncertainty. Based on the input provided by the NGO partners, they also benefited from the assignments. However, the benefits to the private sector company (financial services organization) are not clear from the study.

This theoretical contribution is situated in the literature on self‐awareness and proposes management development as a viable objective in NGO‐private sector partnerships. Limitations of generalizing from a single case study are acknowledged and future research avenues identified.

The ten‐year experience of a large European multi‐national organization of partnering with nine Indian NGOs highlights rich potential for management development in such partnerships, through the development of self‐awareness and self‐confidence of key managerial talent. The circumstances under which such interventions might be appropriate are suggested.

To the authors' knowledge, the potential for management development in NGO‐private sector partnerships has been under‐studied in the academic literature. The authors believe that the paper offers interesting insights and suggests further avenues for exploration.

Researchers often face challenges in locating and obtaining relevant and meaningful information during qualitative international business (IB) field research in other countries. This process constitutes an immensely critical phase, which determines the success or failure of the research endeavour. The purpose of this paper is to discuss “access” as a multidimensional and contestable concept that poses particular challenges in international and multicultural research contexts.

This paper builds on the experience as field researchers in China/Hong Kong (120 in-depth interviews) and the need to disseminate acquired field experiences, in particular concerning “access”. The multifaceted issue of “access” is rarely featured on the IB methodological agenda, and has become a silent feature of qualitative IB research.

This paper is devoted to this nexus: the lack of focus on “access” issues, and the rich sources of acquired, but mostly veiled, field experiences that feature in both IB and management research programmes. A plausible explanation for this circumstance relates to the influence of mainstream positivist and objectivist paradigms in which researchers are not recognised as having an impact on research processes, hence taking this silent feature for granted.

By viewing the multiple dimensions of “access”, we move beyond the mainstream understanding that merely relates it to the question of gaining access to a physical site and/or the time of an individual, and in which “access” is only an enterprise of securing pre-existing, tangible information. Drawing upon specific international field research experiences, this paper contributes to the methodological debate concerning “access” – beyond “technicality” and towards a concept of socio-cultural and multidimensional research practice.

This study aims to understand if and how European digital innovation hubs (DIHs) filling the role of knowledge brokers (KBs) can support the digital transformation (DX) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by triggering open innovation (OI) practices.

After presenting a conceptual model of reference, a survey and a subsequent in-depth interview were conducted to capture evidence from Italian DIHs. These structures were selected for their growing importance, as confirmed by the National Plan for Industry 4.0.

The findings highlight that Italian DIHs act not only as KBs but also as knowledge sources that give rise to a digital imprinting process that is able to shape the DX of SMEs.

Research on knowledge sharing and OI has mainly focused on large firms. The study covers the gaps identified in the literature by considering the role of KBs in enabling SMEs to embrace DX.