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1 – 10 of over 4000China and the United States represent the two largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Studies on how US companies react to the natural environment are plentiful and…
Abstract
China and the United States represent the two largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Studies on how US companies react to the natural environment are plentiful and show that stakeholders are one of the key drivers for green decisions. However, we have limited understanding of the stakeholder pressure faced by firms in China. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this study builds from in-depth interviews with 32 businesses in China. We show that government, customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and community are stakeholders most mentioned. Interestingly, findings also seem to suggest that the perceived pressures of non-profit organizations (NGOs) differ by the form of ownership. Multinational firms often view NGOs as allies, while Chinese firms downplay them as powerless and unimportant. Although stakeholders are seen as both threat and opportunity, two-thirds of those surveyed in this study focused on opportunity as opposed to threat.
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H. L. Zou, S. X. Zeng, H. Lin and X. M. Xie
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how top executives’ compensation is associated with environmental performance in the Chinese context and how this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how top executives’ compensation is associated with environmental performance in the Chinese context and how this association varies with differing levels of industrial competition.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining agency and institutional theories, the empirical study is based on a sample of 698 publicly listed firms in China’s manufacturing sector.
Findings
The authors find that top executives’ cash pay has a positive association, and equity ownership a negative association, with corporate environmental performance. Furthermore, in more competitive industries, both pay and ownership are more strongly associated with environmental performance, indicating that industrial competition plays a moderating role in these relationships.
Practical implications
The findings imply that different incentive schemes can motivate executives toward environmental management in the Chinese context in opposite directions. They highlight the importance of improving regulation in order to motivate firms to engage in further environmental management.
Originality/value
Previous work on the relationship between executives’ compensation and socially responsible activities has mainly focussed on developed countries. This study is set in an emerging economy, and identifies new evidence to show that the effect of executive incentives is institutionally specific. In addition, it explores the effect of industrial competition on executives’ incentives to engage in environmental management, suggesting an explanation for the contradictory evidence found in previous research.
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Saixing Zeng, X.M. Xie, C.M. Tam and T.W. Wan
While internationalization of firms can be a source of growth in profitability, it can also result in huge losses due to the risky internationalized environment. Success…
Abstract
Purpose
While internationalization of firms can be a source of growth in profitability, it can also result in huge losses due to the risky internationalized environment. Success in the home countries does not guarantee success internationally. The objective of this study is to identify the main business factors affecting performance of firms in the process of internationalization.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten business factors have been selected to investigate their relationship with the business performance in the internationalization process of Chinese manufacturing firms. The ten business factors are transformed into four dimensions (principal factors) using the method of factor analysis. Using the categorical regression method, relationships between return on assets (ROA) and the four dimensions extracted are examined.
Findings
The findings reveal that marketing capability of firms plays the most important role in improving performance of firms that embrace internationalization.
Research limitations/implications
The study is confined to data collected from the Yangtze River Delta region via the method of survey, and it is generally agreed that China is a large market composed of distinctively different regional sectors, and there are significant differences in the level of development among the regions.
Practical implications
Performance of firms that embrace internationalization is affected by different business factors. If these factors could be identified, it would be possible to engineer the performance of firms.
Originality/value
From a political perspective, the research provides a better understanding on how to improve the internationalization performance for firms, which do not have such experience in the emerging economies.
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Benny Lianto, Muhammad Dachyar and Tresna Priyana Soemardi
The purpose of this paper is to identify and screen continuous innovation capability enablers (CICEs) in Indonesia’s manufacturing sectors, develop a relationship among…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and screen continuous innovation capability enablers (CICEs) in Indonesia’s manufacturing sectors, develop a relationship among these enablers and determine their driving power and dependence power in the sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The initial CICEs identification process is based on a literature review, while a fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) was used for the screening process of CICEs. Total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to develop contextual relationships among various CICEs. The results of the TISM are used as an input for the matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification (MICMAC) to classify the driving power and dependence powers of the CICEs.
Findings
This paper selected 16 CICEs classified in seven dimensions. TISM results and MICMAC analysis show that leadership, as well as climate and culture, are enablers with the highest driving power and lowest dependence powers; followed by information technology. The results of this study indicate that efforts to continuously develop innovation capabilities in the Indonesian manufacturing industries are strongly influenced by their leadership capability, climate and culture, also information technology-related capability.
Practical implications
The framework assessed in this study provides business managers and policymakers to obtain a bigger picture in developing policies with evidence-based strategy and priority in regard to continuous innovation capability.
Originality/value
The results will be useful for business managers and policymakers to understand the relationship between CICEs and identify key CICEs in Indonesia’s manufacturing sectors, which were previously non-existent.
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Xuemei Xie, Saixing Zeng, Zhipeng Zang and Hailiang Zou
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors determining collaborative innovation effect of manufacturing firms in emerging economies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors determining collaborative innovation effect of manufacturing firms in emerging economies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 1,206 Chinese manufacturing firms and using structural equation modelling, this study explores the factors determining the effect of collaborative innovation among manufacturing firms (namely, internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks) and examines the relationship between collaborative innovation effect and innovation performance.
Findings
The study finds that there are significantly positive relationships between firms’ internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks and collaborative innovation effect among firms.
Practical implications
These findings reveal that policymakers should create an effective institutional culture and market environment to facilitate firms’ collaborative innovation.
Originality/value
This paper draws on the resource-based view of firms and contributes to understanding of how the development of factors determining firms’ collaborative innovation effect can improve innovation performance. This study extends established frameworks on collaborative innovation in relation to four dimensions, namely, firms’ internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks, uniquely identifying the limits of specific dimensions. Moreover, this study addresses government policies and “Guanxi culture” specific to China that provide new insights into how firms’ collaborative innovation is improved from the perspectives of business–governmental relations and social networks.
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Zheming Liu, Saixing Zeng, Xiaodong Xu, Han Lin and Hanyang Ma
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how revelations of corporate misconduct are associated with trade credit. Specifically, it investigates how this association…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how revelations of corporate misconduct are associated with trade credit. Specifically, it investigates how this association varies in different regions, in different types of industries and in response to companies’ subsequent charitable donations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically tested various hypotheses using a sample of 2,725 Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2014 based on signaling theory. Fixed effect models underpinned the methods used.
Findings
The authors found that corporate misconduct has a significant negative impact on an irresponsible company’s trade credit received and granted, and the negative impact is heterogeneous for different regions and industries. There is no evidence that charitable donations mitigate the effect on the trade credit of irresponsible companies following revelations of corporate misconduct.
Practical implications
The results suggest that listed companies in China should obey national and local laws and regulations if they wish to avoid the risk of significant trade credit loss. If a company’s violation of these laws and regulations is disclosed, making charitable donations is not an effective strategy for safeguarding trade credit.
Originality/value
This study enriches understanding on the consequences of corporate misconduct and extends the literature on trade credit. It fills a research gap by identifying the impact of corporate misconduct on trade credit.
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Shakoor Ahmed, Larelle (Ellie) Chapple, Katherine Christ and Sarah Osborne
This research develops a set of specific modern slavery disclosure principles for organisations. It critically evaluates seven legislative Acts from five different…
Abstract
This research develops a set of specific modern slavery disclosure principles for organisations. It critically evaluates seven legislative Acts from five different countries and 16 guidelines and directives from international organisations. By undertaking an in-depth content analysis, the research derives an index comprising nine principles and 49 disclosure items to promote best-practice disclosure in tackling modern slavery. We promote nine active principles for organisations to implement and disclose: recognising modern slavery practices, identifying risks, publishing a modern slavery risk prevention policy, proactive in assessing and addressing risks, assessing efficacy of actions, garnering internal and external oversight, externally communicating modern slavery risk mitigation, implementing a suppliers' assessment and code of conduct to ensure transparency and specifying consequences for non-compliance. The research is motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8, which focusses on economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work. The research findings will assist practitioners seeking to discover and disclose evidence of modern slavery practices and their mitigation to minimise and encourage the elimination of this unethical and illegal practice in domestic and global supply chains and operations.
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Siti Aisjah and Sri Palupi Prabandari
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are expected to be more creative and innovative to survive in the business competition and to make their businesses environmentally…
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are expected to be more creative and innovative to survive in the business competition and to make their businesses environmentally friendly, to develop global supply chain strategies, and to make innovations in products and business processes to become indispensable. This study discusses the effect of green supply chain integration (GSCI) and environmental uncertainty on performance through the moderation of green innovation. Structural equation modeling and maximum likelihood estimation were used to analyze a sample of 130 SMEs in East Java, Indonesia. The result shows that GSCI and environmental uncertainty significantly affect performance, and green innovation significantly moderates the effect. This research found that SME’s performance is influenced by GSCI concept and green innovation application as well as SME’s understanding about recent and future environmental uncertainties; this fits the market demand.
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Palitha Konara, Zita Stone and Alex Mohr
The authors combine options logic with transaction cost economics to explain why firms maintain, divest or buy out their international joint ventures (IJVs). It is…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors combine options logic with transaction cost economics to explain why firms maintain, divest or buy out their international joint ventures (IJVs). It is suggested that a decline in environmental risk and higher partner-related risk makes a firm more likely to acquire an IJV but less likely to divest an IJV. The study also investigates how IJV age moderates the effects of a decline in environmental risk and higher partner-related risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs competing risks analyses to examine the drivers of different termination outcomes using a dataset consisting of 459 IJVs in the People's Republic of China, of which 110 were either acquired or divested by their foreign parent.
Findings
The study finds that changes in environmental risk and partner-related risk affect how firms terminate their IJVs in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, the authors find that the effect of exogenous and endogenous risk are more pronounced for the acquisition of IJVs than for the divestment of IJVs.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to international marketing research by complementing options logic with transaction cost economics to provide a theoretical explanation of the different ways in which IJVs in the People's Republic of China are terminated.
Practical implications
IJVs continue to be an important yet often unstable method to serve international markets. Our findings increase managers' awareness of the effect that two important sources of risk may have on the termination of IJVs in the People's Republic of China.
Originality/value
The study provides novel insights into the effect that changes in exogenous and endogenous risk have on a firm's choice of termination mode drawing on novel data on the different ways in which foreign firms have terminated their IJVs in the Peoples' Republic of China.
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Gabriel Sam Ahinful and Venancio Tauringana
The chapter investigates the relationship between environmental management practices (EMPs) and financial performance (FP).
Abstract
Purpose
The chapter investigates the relationship between environmental management practices (EMPs) and financial performance (FP).
Design/Methodology/Approach
The study is based on a sample of 187 SMEs and uses data on six EMPs (energy, water, waste, material, emissions, and biodiversity) collected through a self-administered questionnaire from owner-managers of SMEs. Ordinary least squares regression is employed to model the hypothesized paths.
Findings
The results suggest a positive and significant relationship between EMPs (energy, water, and material) and FP. There is also a significant positive relationship between an aggregate EMP measure and FP. However, other EMPs (waste, emissions, and biodiversity) are not significantly associated with FP. Overall, these results provide empirical support to the mostly normative suggestion that the conflicting results on the environmental management and financial performance relationship are partly due to the EMP measure used.
Research Limitations/Implications
The study is based on cross-sectional data, and therefore, it is impossible to determine any changes over time. Longitudinal studies could help confirm the relationship between EMP and FP over a longer period. From a policy perspective, this results mean that the Ghanaian EPA must monitor more closely for violations of laws and regulations relating to waste, emissions, and biodiversity since SMEs do not have incentives to manage these impacts without commensurate return.
Originality/Value
The study contributes by documenting evidence of the relationship between multiple measures of EMP and FP. This unlike most existing studies has enabled us to report evidence of how each EMP measure affects FP differently and where win–win opportunities are for SMEs. Thus, the win–win opportunities are associated with some EMP measures but not all.
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