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The overall goal of this chapter is twofold. First, the authors aim to identify indigenous phenomena that influence employee turnover and retention in the Chinese context. Second, the authors link these phenomena to the contextualization of job embeddedness theory. To achieve the goal, the authors begin by introducing three macro-level forces (i.e., political, economic, and cultural forces) in China that help scholars analyze contextual issues in turnover studies. The authors then provide findings in the literature research on employee retention studies published in Chinese academic journals. Next, the authors discuss six indigenous phenomena (i.e., hukou, community in China, migrant workers, state-owned companies, family benefit prioritization, and guanxi) under the three macro-level forces and offer exploratory propositions illustrating how these phenomena contribute to understanding employee retention in China. Finally, the authors offer suggestions on how contextualized turnover studies shall be conducted in China.

Extending the proposition that boards of directors influence firms’ mergers and acquisitions (M&As), studies have investigated how board interlocks – network ties formed by directors — may shape M&A processes and outcomes. While board interlocks and M&As are two streams of research, each underpinned by voluminous studies, their cross-fertilization has been relatively limited. In this chapter, the authors take stock of prior research investigating the relationship between board interlocks and M&As. Specifically, emphasizing the network features of board interlocks, the authors highlight a connection aspect and a structure aspect of board interlocks in appreciating their effects during pre-acquisition and post-acquisition phases. Based on this framework, the authors then lay out a research agenda that can further bridge board interlocks with M&As. Overall, this chapter endeavors to integrate and expand our knowledge on the acquisition implications of board interlocks.

This paper points out new directions for the deepening and broadening of the institution-based view, by drawing on three streams of research with which I have been involved recently: (1) outward foreign direct investment from emerging economies, (2) bankruptcy laws and entrepreneurship development, and (3) institution-based research focusing on Africa. Such deepening has been accomplished by enhancing our institution-based understanding of foreign direct investment with a focus on emerging multinationals, while broadening has been done both substantively by probing into the impact of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurship development around the world and geographically by calling for enhanced research attention on Africa via an institution-based lens.

We take a state-stewardship view on corporate governance and executive compensation in economies with strong political involvement, where state-appointed managers act as responsible “stewards” rather than “agents” of the state.

We test this view on China and find that Chinese managers are remunerated not for maximizing equity value but for increasing the value of state-owned assets.

Managerial compensation depends on political connections and prestige, and on the firms’ contribution to political goals. These effects were attenuated since the market-oriented governance reform.

Economic reform without reforming the human resources policies at the executive level enables the autocratic state to exert political power on corporate decision making, so as to ensure that firms’ business activities fulfill the state’s political objectives.

As a powerful social elite, the state-steward managers in China have the same interests as the state (the government), namely extracting rents that should adhere to the nation (which stands for the society at large or the collective private citizens).

As China has been a communist country with a single ruling party for decades, the ideas of socialism still have a strong impact on how companies are run. The legitimacy of the elite’s privileged rights over private sectors is central to our question.

Chinese executive compensation stimulates not only the maximization of shareholder value but also the preservation of the state’s interests.

Occupational stress is common in the workplace and leads to various negative outcomes such as burnout, turnover, and medical problems. Although occupational stress is associated with negative connotations, it also can foster workplace resiliency. Workplace resiliency involves the ability to recover quickly in the face of adversity. Emotionally laborious jobs, or jobs in which employees must modify, manage, or regulate their emotions as part of their work role, are inherently stressful. Thus, such jobs, while stress-inducing, may also offer employees opportunities to become more resilient at work. Currently, display rules, rules encouraging the suppression and expression of certain emotions, dictate workplace emotions and thus, interactions. Ultimately, display rule adherence makes it difficult for employees engaging in emotional labor to build resilience. In this chapter, the authors detail how and when emotional labor encounters lead to episodic and prolonged workplace resilience. Specifically, the authors outline instances in which employees engaging in emotional labor can create and sustain workplace resiliency by not deploying an acting strategy and instead, breaking character. The authors further discuss individual and organizational factors that may impact this process as well such as personality and organizational culture that serve as potential boundary conditions to workplace resilience capacity. The authors conclude with implications for both researchers and practitioners.

As Ovid said, “There is nothing in the whole world which is permanent.” It is this very premise that frames the discoveries in this chapter and the compelling paradox it has raised. What began as a question of how performance is sustained, unveiled a collection of core organizational paradoxes. The findings ultimately suggest that sustained high performance is not a permanent state an organization achieves, but rather it is through perpetual movement and dynamic balance that sustainability occurs.

The idea of sustainability as movement is predicated on the ability of organizational members to move beyond the experience of paradox as an impediment to progress. Through holding three critical “movements” – agile/consistency, collective/individualism, and informative/inquiry – not as paradoxical, but as active polarities, the organizations in the study were able to transcend paradox, and take active steps to continuous achievement in outperforming their peers. The study, focused on a collection of hospitals across the Unites States, reveals powerful stories of care and service, of the profound grace of human capacity, and of clear actions taken to create significant results. All of this was achieved in an environment of great volatility, in essence an unbalanced system. It was the discovery of movement and ultimately of dynamic balancing that allowed the organizations to in this study to move beyond stasis to the continuous “state” of sustaining high performance.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the theoretical work conducted in the fields of management of small businesses in the UK and control measures taken by them to cope with challenges that emerged due to complexities of the present uncertain environment. Brexit is one such event which brought in drastic changes in the undertaking of business and the management of small enterprises. The study upon which this chapter is based identifies knowledge in terms of economics, political events and human resource management (HRM), considering the impact and consequences of Brexit on small businesses. Much of the content developed will help establish a strong link as to what happened after the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

A structured work was applied to synthesise the theoretical understanding. A search of the existing literature was done to select the databases and keywords of the primary search. Then, a backward search was implemented to examine the references of the selected papers, and finally, a forward search examined the citations of the selected papers. The selected papers were then classified according to their content. A thorough search of the existing literature was done in Scopus, and Google Scholar using a combination of keywords such as Brexit, UK and EU, consequences and drawbacks of Brexit, and small businesses in the UK.

The findings of this study show that small businesses started opting for newer and innovative technologies to facilitate the generation of more revenues. Aspects of E-commerce, however, turned out to be the foundation of developing industrial organisations, bringing more adequate capabilities to effectively facilitate activities such as strategic planning. Whilst governments frequently fund non-profit organisations, increased concerted support for more able and growth-capable small businesses which make significant economic and social contribution would seem appropriate in the current Brexit change climate.

The small businesses sector will need to undertake a cohesive input to government decision-making since a key pre-requisite will be the maintaining of balance between survival, maintenance of existing business, as well as the availability of semi-skilled and unskilled workers and other vital underpinning resources. Moreover, this underlying study has limitations in terms of practice orientation since it is theoretical and sectional in approach, providing a static picture of the Brexit event and its impacts on small businesses in the UK.

Thus, this chapter offers researchers a broader and more comprehensive view of the impact and consequences of Brexit on UK small businesses. Educators, researchers and practitioners will benefit. Scholars in years to come will retrospectively address whether independence from the EU has nudged or nurtured small business development of appropriate entrepreneurial skills and new technology to enable adaptation to and co-creation of the change which Brexit has triggered.

The current Industry 4.0 era is considered not only as a process that dominates technological developments but also as a process that influences the leadership styles. Management 4.0 is essential for businesses to find and apply the appropriate technologies in the age of Industry 4.0. The leadership styles that business managers will adopt in order to be successful in this process and to survive in an intensely competitive environment can play an important role. At this point, a significant problem arises: identifying leadership styles that will bring success. In this context, the primary purpose of this chapter is to explain the modern leadership styles that business managers can adopt or follow in the age of Industry 4.0. In line with this purpose, the chapter first describes the historical development of leadership, leadership theories and modern leadership styles, such as transactional, transformational, technological, strategic, visionary and agile leadership, and all these concepts are discussed based on the Industry 4.0 perspective.

The author explores the variety of ways in which sports brands have risen to prominence and how the development of particular activities and relationships, with athletes, fans, media and regulators, are designed to present them as authentic. This status is crucial given the cultural and emotional significance of sport alongside its ability to underpin forms of collective belonging. A range of examples, including Red Bull, Nike, Patagonia, Olympic skateboarding and Manchester United Football Club, are used to highlight these processes as well as the complexity of the contemporary social, cultural and political landscapes that such brands now operate in.