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Article
Publication date: 12 October 2015

Torsten Schmidts and Deborah Shepherd

The purpose of this paper is to use social identity theory to explore factors that contribute to the development of family social capital. Effects are investigated both for the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use social identity theory to explore factors that contribute to the development of family social capital. Effects are investigated both for the family and the business.

Design/methodology/approach

A single in-depth case study focussing on the family unit was coducted within a fourth-generation family business involved in the arts retailing.

Findings

The findings suggest that social identity theory is a useful lens to explore the development of family social capital. The six themes identified highlight that there is a normative and an affective dimension, leading to family members’ desire to uphold the status of the business. Evidence suggests that the normative factors may be both positively and negatively related to the development of family social capital, due to their potentially restrictive nature.

Originality/value

The paper’s findings imply that social identity can contribute to understanding family dynamics. Evidence highlights various factors for family members that are not involved in the family business to uphold its status. This is attributed to the emotional significance of the business to the family’s identity. Furthermore, this paper suggests that the strong focus on norms and values, which developed gradually, may have adverse effects on the identification with the business and the willingness to uphold its status. Propositions are offered to provide guidance for future research to investigate this controversial evidence regarding the impact of value orientation on family social capital.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Henry X. Shi, Deborah M. Shepherd and Torsten Schmidts

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insights to understanding trust as a relational form of social capital, and its effects on entrepreneurial processes, in small…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insights to understanding trust as a relational form of social capital, and its effects on entrepreneurial processes, in small- and medium-sized family businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a qualitative case-study approach, with data from fieldwork interviews, observations, and secondary sources analysed by using interpretative methods.

Findings

Although multiple types of trust exist concurrently in small- and medium-sized Chinese family businesses, it is interpersonal trust on the basis of goodwill and competence that prevails, while contractual trust is weak and marginal. Three patterns of trusting relationships are identified, each of which has both positive and negative effects on entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses. There is a potential “dark side” of trust, which incurs extra cost and commitment to small- and medium-sized family businesses in their entrepreneurial processes.

Research limitations/implications

Future research with larger sample sizes is suggested to generalise the insights, by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. More empirical work is needed to further clarify the antecedents of trust as a social capital and the potential “dark side” of trust in small- and medium-sized family businesses, particularly across generations.

Practical implications

Family business owner-managers should try to avoid relying on a single type of trust, which may incur extra costs to the entrepreneurial processes. They need to better understand why they trust certain actors in their business and social networks before assigning resources to specific business activities. Policy makers are suggested to recognise the “benefits” of the traditionally family-oriented values and that kinship-based trust is also a relational form of social capital and can produce entrepreneurial outcomes.

Originality/value

The paper critically reviews existing literature on social capital, trust, entrepreneurship, and family business at their point of intersection and identifies gaps and oversights. Drawing on case studies from China, the paper explores different patterns in which trust develops in second-generation small- and medium-sized Chinese family businesses and their varying effects on entrepreneurship.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2023

Jason X. Wang, Tsan-Ming Choi, Lincoln C. Wood, Karin Olesen and Torsten Reiners

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), driven by the downstream buyers' power, transfers sustainability responsibilities to the upstream supplier. In contrast to the…

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), driven by the downstream buyers' power, transfers sustainability responsibilities to the upstream supplier. In contrast to the heavily-focused buyers' perspective in the literature, the authors investigate how this buyer-driven SSCM influences suppliers' performance, using the measure of stock market reaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Grounded by the resource dependence theory (RDT), the authors empirically analyze the power effect on suppliers. Event study methodology and regression analysis are used, based on a sample of 1977 paired supplier observations from 1990 to 2016.

Findings

The result suggests that although a negative stock market reaction for suppliers in SSCM exists, the effect is less negative at a high level of buyer and supplier dependence. For the investigation of the “consolidated SSCM initiative,” where buyers acquire exogenous power by collaboratively managing SSCM with their peers, the authors uncover that the negative impact of this consolidated SSCM initiative can be mitigated by the high interdependence that generates relational norms in the dyads.

Research limitations/implications

The authors focus on dyadic relationships. Future research can use the study's findings to study the SSCM diffusion to lower-tier suppliers.

Practical implications

This paper has good managerial implications for both suppliers and buyers. The authors propose dependence-based strategies for supplier managers to reduce uncertainty in SSCM. Moreover, buyer managers can use the study's findings to strengthen suppliers' commitment.

Originality/value

The novelty of examining the suppliers' perspective contributes to exploring the supply chain impact of SSCM. The authors extend RDT and show that high dependence is not necessarily detrimental to suppliers in this buyer-driven SSCM context. The interesting finding of interdependence in the context of the consolidated SSCM initiative brings new insights that relational norms constrain the leverage of power in the dyads and are beneficial to the power-disadvantageous suppliers.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 44 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2021

Sina Kiegler, Torsten Wulf, Niklas Nolzen and Philip Meissner

A large body of research has analyzed individual psychological characteristics as antecedents of strategic decision-making. However, this research has mainly focused on…

Abstract

Purpose

A large body of research has analyzed individual psychological characteristics as antecedents of strategic decision-making. However, this research has mainly focused on trait-based characteristics that explain impaired strategic decision outcomes. Recently, PsyCap has been proposed as an alternative driver of strategic decision outcomes that, in contrast to other drivers, can be influenced by management.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on research on psychological capital (PsyCap), a psychological construct conceptualized as a state-like individual strength that is malleable, the authors argue that PsyCap exerts an inverted curvilinear effect on strategic decision outcomes. The authors use a computerized strategic decision simulation involving 102 managers to empirically test our hypotheses.

Findings

The authors show that PsyCap improves strategic decision outcomes up to an inflection point, after which it negatively affects those outcomes. The authors also show that this effect is mediated by heuristic information processing.

Research limitations/implications

For the empirical study the authors relied on a sample of 102 practicing managers from the financial services industry in Germany.

Practical implications

PsyCap has been shown to be malleable through, for instance, micro-interventions and dedicated web-based trainings. Therefore, depending on managers' PsyCap levels, either further increases in PsyCap or a regulation of this characteristic might be appropriate in order to optimize strategic decision outcomes.

Social implications

As a state-like individual strength that is malleable, PsyCap might serve as a management characteristic that is particularly important in challenging situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to research on strategic decision making by introducing PsyCap as an important antecedent of strategic decision outcomes that – in contrast to other individual characteristics – is state-like and, hence, malleable.

Details

Journal of Strategy and Management, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-425X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 December 2019

Torsten Doering, Nallan C. Suresh and Dennis Krumwiede

Longitudinal investigations are often suggested but rarely used in operations and supply chain management (OSCM), mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining data. There is a silver…

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Abstract

Purpose

Longitudinal investigations are often suggested but rarely used in operations and supply chain management (OSCM), mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining data. There is a silver lining in the form of existing large-scale and planned repeated cross-sectional (RCS) data sets, an approach commonly used in sociology and political sciences. This study aims to review all relevant RCS surveys with a focus on OSCM, as well as data and methods to motivate longitudinal research and to study trends at the plant, industry and geographic levels.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparison of RCS, panel and hybrid surveys is presented. Existing RCS data sets in the OSCM discipline and their features are discussed. In total, 30 years of Global Manufacturing Research Group data are used to explore the applicability of analytical methods at the plant and aggregate level and in the form of multilevel modeling.

Findings

RCS analysis is a viable alternative to overcome the confines associated with panel data. The structure of the existing data sets restricts quantitative analysis due to survey and sampling issues. Opportunities surrounding RCS analysis are illustrated, and survey design recommendations are provided.

Practical implications

The longitudinal aspect of RCS surveys can answer new and untested research questions through repeated random sampling in focused topic areas. Planned RCS surveys can benefit from the provided recommendations.

Originality/value

RCS research designs are generally overlooked in OSCM. This study provides an analysis of RCS data sets and future survey recommendations.

Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Oren Pizmony-Levy, James Harvey, William H. Schmidt, Richard Noonan, Laura Engel, Michael J. Feuer, Henry Braun, Carla Santorno, Iris C. Rotberg, Paul Ash, Madhabi Chatterji and Judith Torney-Purta

This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results could be more appropriately interpreted and used in public policy contexts in the USA and elsewhere in the world.

Design/methodology/approach

To bring key issues, points-of-view and recommendations on the theme to light, the method used is a “moderated policy discussion”. Nine commentaries were invited to represent voices of leading ILSA scholars/researchers and measurement experts, juxtaposed against views of prominent leaders of education systems in the USA that participate in ILSA programs. The discussion is excerpted from a recent blog published by Education Week. It is moderated with introductory remarks from the guest editor and concluding recommendations from an ILSA researcher who did not participate in the original blog. References and author biographies are presented at the end of the article.

Findings

Together, the commentaries address historical, methodological, socio-political and policy issues surrounding ILSA programs vis-à-vis the major goals of education and larger societal concerns. Authors offer recommendations for improving the international studies themselves and for making reports more transparent for educators and the public to facilitate greater understanding of their purposes, meanings and policy implications.

Originality/value

When assessment policies are implemented from the top down, as is often the case with ILSA program participation, educators and leaders in school systems tend to be left out of the conversation. This article is intended to foster a productive two-way dialogue among key ILSA actors that can serve as a stepping-stone to more concerted policy actions within and across national education systems.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2016

Torsten J. Gerpott and Ilknur Bicak

This paper aims to empirically analyze the extent to which advertising reception among consumers with a migration background (German-Turks) is influenced by a person’s strength of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to empirically analyze the extent to which advertising reception among consumers with a migration background (German-Turks) is influenced by a person’s strength of national identifications with his/her country-of-origin (COO) and with his/her country-of-residence (COR). The focus is on Turkey-sensitive advertisements (ads) of telecommunication service suppliers in Germany because such communication measures are quite common and about three million German-Turks constitute an economically important group.

Design/methodology/approach

Measures of COO and COR identification as well as of three ad reception criteria were obtained in a survey of 291 German-Turks and analyzed via moderated regression models.

Findings

Strength of COO identification was a significantly positive predictor of the frequency with which participants remembered Turkey-sensitive ads for telecommunication services. Additionally, COO identification related significantly to two criteria that capture facets of attitudes toward such ads. By contrast, COR identification acted partly as a moderator which attenuated links between respondents’ COO identification and two ad reception measures. Nevertheless, German-Turks with a strong COR identification (i.e. “accultured” consumers) were still receptive to Turkey-sensitive telecommunication services ads even if their self-image was simultaneously strongly dependent on their COO. “Alienated” German-Turks who identify neither with their COO nor with their COR were least responsive to ethnic ads.

Practical implications

The research indicates that marketing practitioners should not use uniform communication measures to address migrant consumers with a specific COO but segment this target group further by simultaneously considering their members’ COO and COR identifications.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper results from the simultaneous inclusion of both COO and COR identifications as factors explaining differences in reactions to communication measures among migrant consumers which share the same COO. Furthermore, the scarcity of empirical work on reactions of German-Turks to ethnomarketing is reduced.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Michael Funke

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Swedish Advertisers’ Association's role in the institutional development of Swedish international advertising during 1955–1972.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Swedish Advertisers’ Association's role in the institutional development of Swedish international advertising during 1955–1972.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative analysis of business association sources is used to explore the institutional development of international advertising.

Findings

A new postwar paradigm that focused on a consumer-oriented brand ideology enabled marketing executives in the Swedish Advertisers’ Association to develop a new discourse on international advertising in Sweden, which then was institutionalized within a national network on export promotion. The institutionalization process was supported by a corporatist system typical of smaller export dependent postwar European economies.

Research limitations/implications

While based on a national case, this study points to the importance of understanding how advertising concepts are embedded within other economic, political and cultural systems than in those they originated in and how this contributes to a heterogenous implementation of similar ideas and practices. This study also illustrates how members can use their association to institutionalize a new discourse on marketing and network with other actors to enhance the use and reputation of its ideas and practices.

Practical implications

By highlighting the importance of analyzing both internal and external organizational relations, this study contributes to the research on history of marketing by making salient the importance of an institutional perspective to understand key processes in marketing. In practice neither the institutional perspective nor the explanatory power of discourse has received much attention, therefore the study results should be both interesting and valid for practitioners as well.

Originality/value

The study of the historical development of international advertising is limited and often descriptive. This study contributes to the literature by using a theoretical and methodological approach to make salient how the interaction between discourse, marketing associations and other collective actors propelled the institutionalization of international advertising within a specific national context.

Article
Publication date: 10 November 2014

Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Christian Figge and Eva Lutz

The purpose of this paper is to identify specific drivers of value creation in secondary buyouts. While this type of private equity deal has risen in importance in recent years…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify specific drivers of value creation in secondary buyouts. While this type of private equity deal has risen in importance in recent years, it is not yet well understood. Through an in-depth analysis of the acquisition of Brenntag by BC Partners, we develop propositions on the value creation profile of secondary buyouts.

Design/methodology/approach

We use a single case study design to explore the information-rich context of a secondary buyout. The Brenntag case epitomizes the development of a company from forming part of a large conglomerate to being private-equity owned after the primary and secondary buyout, to its final disposition of public listing. Our analysis is based on ten semi-structured interviews with key protagonists and observers, as well as analysis of primary company data and additional secondary data sources.

Findings

We propose that even if the investment management and monitoring skills of the primary and secondary private equity group are similar, there is still potential to realize operational improvements in a secondary buyout, due to either early exit of the primary private equity group or measures that further enhance management incentives. In addition, the Brenntag case shows that low information asymmetries can lead to higher leverage and that opportunities for multiple expansions are limited in secondary buyouts.

Originality/value

While a secondary buyout has become a common exit route in recent years, we are the first to undertake an in-depth case analysis of a secondary buyout. Our study helps researchers and practitioners enhance their understanding of drivers behind the value creation profile of secondary buyouts.

Details

Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4179

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2010

Torsten Biemann and Maike Andresen

This paper aims to analyze the differences between assigned expatriates (AEs) and self‐initiated expatriates (SEs) in management and executive positions. The basic research…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the differences between assigned expatriates (AEs) and self‐initiated expatriates (SEs) in management and executive positions. The basic research question is how far SEs and AEs differ with respect to their reasons for working internationally and regarding their career aspirations and orientations, and in what way their individual career management differs.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 159 expatriate managers completed an online questionnaire in German. The questionnaire covered psychological constructs and the participating managers' career histories.

Findings

It is shown that SEs start their international careers at a younger age, have a higher organizational mobility, and expect higher benefits from international experiences for their future careers. Moreover, career orientation remains relatively stable in SEs over different age groups, whereas it declines for AEs with increasing age.

Research limitations/implications

The study design is cross‐sectional and based on self‐reports, which makes causal explanations of the results difficult and increases the risk of common method bias.

Practical implications

Specific personnel management requirements regarding SEs in contrast to AEs are pointed out especially in the fields of recruitment, retention and career management, which can help support companies in building up a pool of global managers.

Originality/value

The paper adds valuable new insights to the literature on expatriate work and gives further evidence that SEs form a group that has been overlooked for a long time, even though it differs significantly from traditional expatriates who are sent abroad by their employing companies to return some years later.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 25 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

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