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Despite the proven link between internal communication and more effective business results, only a few attempts have been made to answer the essential question of who is responsible for managing internal communication in an organisation. This paper aims to examine the presence of internal communication management (ICM) practices in companies in Latvia and launch a new discussion on who should manage internal communication in a modern company to support business strategy and development.

In the first phase of the study, a survey was conducted in three business sectors in Latvia involved in managing and implementing the internal communications function. Using the multiple case study method, the second phase of the study examined in-depth, ICM and the implementation practices in four different Latvian companies. In total, 13 in-depth interviews were conducted within 4 companies, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the material gained from the interviews.

The target companies and relevant professionals from different fields have divergent opinions about who should manage the internal communication function. From the research across four companies, it was concluded that internal communication was implemented in a fragmented manner. There was a weak understanding of the meaning and goal of internal communication. The potential of effective internal communication in reaching strategic goals has not been realised. Responsibility for ICM is often limited to the reactive performance of public relations departments, human resources or marketing specialists. The companies clearly did not have a defined scope of responsibilities for managing internal communication amongst the different parts of their organisations. It can be concluded that company managers should pay attention to how internal communication is conducted, clearly delegate this function to a manager and define the expected results that meet the company’s strategic goals. The results of this research can be used to inform recommendations for integrating the ICM function.

Only a few research papers have discussed responsibility for internal communication functions. This research particularly fills this gap and emphasises the need to assign responsibility for an organisation’s ICM function as it is the core factor in strategic implementation and input related to business goals.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effect of initial international joint ventures (IJV) structural conditions on two main equity-based instability facets: change of IJV ownership structure and acquisition of the IJV by one of the IJV partners. Drawing on the transaction cost theory, the authors examine three key initial structural conditions: IJV formation mode, number of partners and IJV’s ownership structure.

The authors apply the “Event history analysis” technique to test the hypotheses using a data set of 140 French-foreign JVs.

The findings show that the mode of an acquisitive IJV and unequal equity positions held by partners increase the likelihood of a change of IJV’s ownership structure and its eventual acquisition by one of the partners. In addition, the findings show that while an increase in the number of IJV partners is directly related to the change of IJV ownership structure, it has a statistically insignificant effect on IJV acquisition.

Drawing on “transaction costs” arguments, this study advances the literature by offering fine-grained results related to the effects of initial structural conditions on aspects of unintended instability in French-foreign JVs.

By reviewing the literature, this paper explores the current priorities and future directions of alliance post-formation dynamics research.

This paper collects and analyzes empirical studies on alliance post-formation dynamics that were published between 1990 and 2021.

Current research on alliance post-formation dynamics can be structured as antecedents and outcomes of dynamics and their moderating effects. Among these topics, antecedents of dynamics have been addressed in a large body of research encompassing diverse theoretical mechanisms and levels of analysis. However, there remain debates regarding the outcomes of alliances post-formation dynamics.

First, this paper enriches the theoretical plurality of the field by integrating the antecedents and outcomes of dynamics and their moderating effects. Second, this paper proposes a new scholarly perspective – “alliance dynamic capabilities” – to address the “disruption vs adaption” debates regarding the outcomes of alliance post-formation dynamics in current research. Third, this paper presents several promising future research directions with the aim to advancing the literature on alliance post-formation dynamics.

Since corporate real estate management (CREM) emerged in the 1990s, it has been modelled in many ways. The Delft model views the corporate real estate management function as a coordinator of four distinct accommodation perspectives. Although the model has been used in education and practice for years, there is no consensus on its interpretation and application, and various versions circulate. This paper aims to first reconstruct the history of the conceptualisation of the Delft CREM model and then seeks to develop an understanding of its nature that provides clearer interpretations of the model.

Because the developers of the Delft CREM model did not maintain archives, the reconstruction of the model’s genesis is based on the developers’ publications from 1985 to 2015 and eight semi-structured interviews conducted with these developers in 2017 and 2018. The collected information, which was by its very nature incomplete and imperfect, was triangulated, contextualised and assembled chronologically. This served as the basis for an analysis of the model’s nature, which in turn generated a list of practical implications for its future application.

The historical reconstruction revealed two parallel but distinct lines of reasoning, whose resulting models appear similar but are distinct. One line of reasoning models CRE viewpoints, while the other models CRE management activities, i.e. the first line of reasoning models CREM across the organisation, while the second models CREM within the function. These two lines of thought have converged in the research-through-design approach of the developers, which evolved against the backdrop of a growing interest in the contribution of organisational resources to organisational objectives and the emergence of the demand-supply model in management practices in general and in the built environment in particular.

The research is limited to reconstructing the genesis and analysing the nature of the Delft CREM model. It is not intended to provide a conclusive narrative, update the model or compare it to other CREM models. As is typical in oral history, it is based on imperfect documentary evidence and imperfect recollections. The reconstruction and analysis are stepping stones towards a more precise interpretation and application of the model in both research and practice, and may eventually contribute to its evolution. When using the model, it is recommended to (1) be clear about whether the model applies to the CREM department, the entire organisation or the organisation’s environment; (2) be clear about what is being modelled (activities, viewpoints or something else); and (3) use labels that reflect the selections made in (1) and (2).

The value of this paper lies in the historical reconstruction of the intentions of the developers of the four-view scheme, including the detailed analysis of its consecutive graphical representations and the investigation of its relationship with the seminal strategic alignment model.

Drawing upon insights from knowledge-based theory and the learning perspective, this study aims to explore safeguarding strategies in open innovation. Geographic diversity and collaborative breadth can effectively protect proprietary innovations that limit knowledge leakage concerns.

Using a cross-industry sample from the Taiwanese Technological Innovation Survey III, which covered 1,519 firms, the authors investigate the conditions under which partnership portfolios affect radical innovation.

The findings suggest that the partnership portfolio has an inverted U-shaped influence on radical innovation and that this relationship is moderated by geographic diversity and collaborative breadth. This work identifies a balance in the tension between diverse partnership portfolios and knowledge leakage with regard to open innovation activities.

This study provides senior managers with an indication of the relationships between partnership portfolios and innovative knowledge protection, identifying the geographic diversity and collaborative breadth that serve as safeguards to prevent leakages of a firm’s innovative knowledge.

This study makes an original contribution to the empirical exploration of innovation knowledge protection and provides new insights into the field of open innovation. The authors, thus, balance the tension between partnership portfolios and knowledge leakage.

This research aims to focus on the strategic management by National Olympic Committees (NOCs) during the COVID-19 crisis. The authors investigate “How are strategies being developed within European NOCs to tackle the impact of the corona crisis?” and “which measures have proven to be particularly helpful?”

The research uses a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach. Five high-level representatives of European NOCs were interviewed using expert interviews to gain insights into their strategy development process. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, and a questionnaire was developed based on the results. Nineteen other European NOCs were surveyed using this questionnaire to verify the strategy development process steps on a larger sample.

The research resulted in a six-step NOC strategy development process framework, with helpful measures for each step. It can help the organizations to better cope with current or upcoming crises.

This framework can serve as a guide for NOCs to find the right steps and measures to better perform in crisis situations.

Based on the case study of an SME company in the United Kingdom (which we will call SweetStar Cloud), this paper examines the attempts of the company to achieve significant strategic change. The company is attempting to move from being a tradition managed service provider of information services towards becoming a significant influencer in the market for digital services in the UK. As part of a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP), a local UK University has been closely involved in developing this new strategic direction and it is well poised to present and analyse the story. From the use of tried and tested strategic tools, including Porter's generic strategies and segmentation and targeting, the company has also embraced digital-specific approaches for developing partnerships with clients, developing pilot projects and experimenting with its use of social media. At the heart of this research is an analysis of the move from push marketing towards models of attraction. This paper aims to explore how traditional strategic tools are still applicable in the digital era alongside new tactical approaches in the digital sector. This aim has led to an approach to business that is responsible, in terms of moving away from a traditional push-selling model to one of partnership with customers at a strategic level. Strategy in dynamic markets often highlights responsiveness as a key success factor. The ability to respond (a response-ability) requires more agile companies. As SweetStar Cloud has developed its strategy, it has focused in achieving this more effective ability to respond through a more collaborative approach. In this sense, agile response-ability converges with business responsibility, as new abilities in communication, cooperation and trust development become key.

This paper examines the limitations on monetary profit maximization assumption in Quaker businesses, historically one of England's most successful set of business people. This view challenges the central theoretical assumptions of management and strategic entrepreneurship by demonstrating the influence of religious institutional logic over the profit maximization drive in business.

Using a historical analysis of Quaker religious institutional logic, the authors demonstrate how Quakers’ religious logic of simplicity in lifestyle and equality of all people led, in turn, to actions by Quaker businesses that limited the monetary profit maximizing for their businesses. Such actions are consistent with the Quakers’ belief that linked their business activities to their religious beliefs.

The present analysis shows that English Quakers had specific beliefs, enforced by the group’s willingness to expel members that limited monetary profit maximization among Quaker businesses. Thus, the authors challenge the typical assumptions of business scholars by demonstrating that business entities can succeed economically even when they do not embrace profit maximization as their core element. This paradoxical finding has the potential to significantly expand management and strategic entrepreneurship theory.

The authors discuss how religious logic can replace profit maximization as a foundation for business. This insight enriches not only the understanding of business but also of religious institutional logic. Finally, the authors address the call for greater use of historical analysis in the management literature.

This study aims to fill a gap in the literature. The notion of giveaways/free has not been well addressed in management history literature and arguably is a valuable contribution in that it has a strategic dimension.

This paper is conceptual. It is a structured survey of ideas/opinions about the notion of “free” in commercial endeavor. The survey is organized largely from a historical perspective.

Several categories of “free” are delineated and placed into a historical and strategic context.

The work has strategic implications and lays out a new research agenda for management historians.

The purpose of this study is to show how strategic planning can play multiple roles in the context of conflict between two controlling shareholders in a new joint venture.

This study conducted a five-year qualitative case study of a large financial services joint venture co-owned by a Latin American state bank and a European financial company.

The authors found that over time, budgeting and strategic planning had intertwining use to guide strategic decisions, but unexpectedly, strategic planning eventually developed three distinct roles beyond the merely functional, as it also contributed to complex symbolic and political functions.

This study provides guidance on considering different roles taken by strategic planning, as a utilitarian practice, as a symbolic narrative and as a conflict-mediating routine.