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To analyze the relationship between an organization's generic strategy and its longevity.

Companies in the USA, comic book industry were classified in the Miles and Snow generic strategic types. An ANOVA test was then used to determine the relationship between these strategic types and organizational longevity (time from market entry to exit).

Results indicate a significant link between strategic type and longevity. Organizational strategy accounts for 35 percent of the variance in longevity. Companies with a defender strategy had the greatest longevity, and prospectors had the shortest.

The study is conducted in only one industry which may limit its generalizability.

This study provides insights into the role of organizational strategy on longevity, and can be used for strategic decision‐making as well as investment decisions.

This study is the first to link the Miles and Snow typology to organizational longevity. It also provides insights into the role of strategy in creative and knowledge‐based organizations.

Despite the theoretical assumption that balancing exploration and exploitation is important for long-term performance and survival, previous studies have provided few insights into these relationships because they have focused mainly on the short-term financial performance of organizations. In addition, balancing exploration and exploitation is a critical challenge for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that lack the resources, capabilities, and experience necessary to achieving ambidexterity. In this regards, this study empirically explores the relationship between the exploration–exploitation balance and SMEs’ longevity in order to address two important questions from the ambidexterity perspective: (1) How does the balance between exploration and exploitation influence organizational survival? (2) How is the appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation influenced by an organization’s internal and external contexts?

An analysis of 1981–2012 data from the Korean SMEs in IT industry reveals an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between the extent of exploratory innovation and organizational longevity, providing support for the ambidexterity perspective. We further examine the moderating effects of financial slack and environmental dynamism on the relationship between exploratory innovation and organizational longevity. The results indicate that financial slack moderated the exploration–longevity relationship and call for a contingency approach for a better understanding of performance implications of the exploration–exploitation balance.

An examination of organizational Darwinism – survival of the fittest – via systems theory provides the foundation for a related analysis of the learning organization and the kinds of leaders necessary to pilot organizations through uncertain environments fraught with turbulence. Such environmental changes include the revolutionization of information, fast‐paced technological change, the dissolution of national boundaries and cultural barriers to communication, and changing values.

This paper seeks to suggest that the responsible management of the growth process can prevent the organization from becoming “too big to fail”. Moreover, responsibly managing growth enhances the organizational propensity to experience healthy longevity.

Four growth‐related challenges provide the basic framework that organizes the discussion and inspires the main dimensions that make up the responsible management of growth.

Responsibly managing growth comprises providing responsible responses to the growth challenges. It encompasses nurturing continued value creation; performing responsible risk management; securing value capture for the businesses (profits) and for the organization as a whole (legitimacy); performing systematic scanning of the environment; responsibly reacting to external pressures, preferably in anticipation of upcoming changes; sustaining the firm's integrity, in face of increasing diversity; and equipping the organization with the right amount and variety of skills at the right time.

Management should keep under close scrutiny the growth challenges and develop systematic procedures to check the impact of decisions and actions on the growth challenges.

The paper advances the notion that organizations exhibit a dual nature. Growing organizations can develop a potential ability to renew and self‐perpetuate; but they can also sow the seeds of their own destruction.

Whistleblowing – i.e. the employees’ decision to report illegal, immoral and/or illegitimate practices performed by peers, supervisors and/or subordinates – involves a contestation of the existing organizational power. Therefore, it challenges the whistleblower’s identification with the organization. Nevertheless, whistleblowing has been rarely related to organizational identity. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap, investigating employees’ whistleblowing intentions in the context of higher education.

A quantitative, exploratory analysis concerning the whistleblowing episodes that occurred in the whole population of Italian publicly owned universities and higher education institutions was performed (n=69). Secondary data about whistleblowing were retrieved from the annual reports arranged by the supervisor for the prevention of corruption and the promotion of transparency.

Most of Italian publicly owned higher education institutions did not experience whistleblowing. Conversely, less than a quarter of the sample reported at least ones whistleblowing procedure. The homogeneity of organizational identity seemed to discourage the willingness of academic employees to report organizational wrongdoings. ICT-based and anonymized whistleblowing systems were found to support the propensity of academics to blow the whistle.

Tailored interventions are needed to address the interplay between organizational identity and academic employees’ whistleblowing intentions. The culture of silence predominating in institutions characterized by a hegemonic organizational identity should be overwhelmed. Prevention measures intended to guarantee the whistleblower’s anonymity through the use of ICT-based platforms are useful to support the academic employees’ willingness to blow the whistle in case of organizational misconduct.

This is one of the first attempts to investigate the interplay between organizational identity and whistleblowing in public sector organizations.

The financial crisis of 2007/2008 has caused many to question the basic premises of the current business system. Porter and Kramer suggest that the purpose of the corporation needs to be redefined. They posit that the corporation, rather than merely pursuing financial value creation set out to pursue shared value creation. They further declare social entrepreneurs the paragons of said shared‐value creation. The purpose of this paper is to explore that claim.

This paper critically analyzes the pathway of shared‐value creation in three leading social enterprises employing a genealogical perspective.

It is found that very innovative shared‐value creating ventures opted out of balance‐oriented, shared‐value creation strategies and embraced either financial or social‐value primacy strategies over time. The findings thus question the power of the shared‐value creation notion when viewed as balance orientation.

The paper presents a new concept, a new methodology, and interesting case studies.

Sustainability is seeking for a new approach to bolster organisational success as it is expected to be mobilised through collaborative efforts of employees and management. The present study aims to examine the moderating role of sustainability practices between self-efficacy and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB).

A total of 527 full-time executives employed in Indian public and private manufacturing industries were surveyed. Harman’s single-factor test was carried out using analysis of moment structures (AMOS 20.0) to test the bias associated because of common method variance (CMV). Moderated regression analysis was used through hierarchical models to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results indicate a positive relationship between self-efficacy and OCB. The significant moderation effect was observed in the interaction graph, as the simple slope analysis indicated relatively high level of sustainability practices and self-efficacy and they were found to be positively associated with OCB.

The cross-sectional sample of executives employed in Indian manufacturing organisations limits the generalisation of the findings. The study has not figured the temporal effects and hence longitudinal studies have also been proposed for the assessment of causality.

Organisations are expected to foster inclusiveness and open channel of communication with their employees to execute best sustainable practices. HR department need to create awareness among their employees and establish an ongoing feedback mechanism to promote such psychological drives.

The proposed model and the subsequent findings of the study extend the literature on the relationship among self-efficacy, OCB and sustainability practices. The outcome of this work can be used by HR functionaries and senior management practitioners while formulating and implementing the sustainability strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the longevity implications of exploitation and exploration. It examines the main effect of exploitation, the main effect of exploration, and the interaction effect of exploitation and exploration on organizational longevity.

This study employs Cox Proportional Hazard Model in analyzing 20-year data from the hard disk drive industry.

Exploitation, independent of exploration, has a positive impact on organizational longevity. Exploration, independent of exploitation, has a curvilinear impact on organizational longevity. Jointly, exploitation weakens the curvilinear relationship between exploration and organizational longevity.

This study challenges the dualistic view that exploitation is for “current viability” and exploration is for “future viability.” It suggests that firms need to actively engage in (instead of compromise) both exploitation and exploration in order to prolong their lifespan despite the counter force triggered by the negative dynamics between exploitation and exploration.

In order to prolong organizational longevity, firms need to fully engage in (but not compromise) their existing product-market domains, actively explore (but not over-explore) their new product-market domain, and to embrace (but not avoid) the tension between exploitation and exploration.

This study is one of the few that systematically and empirically examined the longevity implications of exploitation and exploration. It adds specificity and precision to the understanding of how exploitation and exploration, independently and jointly, affect organizational longevity.