Unravelling the Subsidiary Initiative Process: A Multilevel Approach

Strategy‐making and entrepreneurial behaviour at the subsidiary level, in particular the phenomenon of subsidiary initiative, has received increasing research attention in recent years. In the fields of international business, strategy and entrepreneurship, several studies addressing aspects of this phenomenon have been conducted. They focused on different stages of the subsidiary initiative process, different theories and also different methodological levels. This puts subsidiary initiatives as a topic at the crossroads of several disciplines, so that theory‐building remains fragmented, and there is a lack of perspective capturing the complexity of the entire subsidiary initiative process. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper discusses theoretical concepts and streams of thinking that have contributed to our understanding of the subsidiary initiative process, and develops an organizing framework based on stages and levels of the subsidiary initiative process. In order to integrate theories across levels, the authors identify ‘aggregation’ theories that guide the emergence of initiatives from the individual up to the network level, and also acknowledge theories that link the micro–macro divide and may help in the development of a more holistic view of subsidiary initiatives.     

A Multidisciplinary Cognitive Behavioural Framework of Impulse Buying: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Impulse buying (IB) is one of the most fragmented concepts in the marketing and consumer literature. This has resulted in some contradictory findings and a lack of an overarching theoretical framework for understanding the IB process and its outcomes. Based on a systematic review of the literature published over the past 60 years, the authors synthesize various research perspectives into a comprehensive multidisciplinary framework of IB – linking antecedents, triggers, the buying act and post‐purchase outcomes. The paper makes four specific contributions relevant to both academic researchers and practitioners. First, it provides a comprehensive understanding of IB as a process and outcome, by systematically reviewing the existing literature. Second, it specifically recognizes and discusses the triggers of IB, by drawing on literature related to the buying process, intentions and motivations. Third, this is the first meta‐analysis review in the area. Finally, it considers the potential consequences of IB that lead to subsequent IB, and provides a framework for future investigation. This paper also addresses a problem of relevance to both academics and practitioners, proposing further research and managerial implications.     

Performance Evaluation of Foreign Subsidiaries: A Review of the Literature and a Contingency Framework

During recent years, the literature on the international dimension of business has grown. In particular, the literature on headquarters–subsidiary relationships has expanded. This paper aims to review the literature on performance evaluation and elaborate an integrative contingency framework. This contingency framework helps to clarify the concept of performance evaluation and to classify existing contributions. Furthermore, the framework serves as a tool to identify potential influencing factors on performance evaluation at corporate and at subsidiary level. By reviewing existing studies, the paper analyses the impact of these influencing factors on performance evaluation and reveals mostly contradictory results or no significant impact at all. Based on the findings, more research outside the classical tradition of contingency approaches is suggested.     

社会传染研究综述与展望——基于行为经济学视角

文章从行为经济学视角,在对行为传染概念辨析的基础上,从成因和动力学机制两个方面,对行为传染的代表性研究成果进行归纳、总结和述评,并对未来研究方向提出了建议,以期为理论研究和企业实践提供有价值的参考。     

The Aston Programme Contribution to Organizational Research: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature about the Aston Programme of organizational research, in particular, its studies of organizational structure. The intellectual commitments of the Aston Programme are explicated and contrasted with the then dominant traditions of organizational research. The methodology is explained, with its emphasis on quantitative variables, reliable scales and statistical methods. The way successive studies confirmed or challenged Weberian bureaucracy is discussed. The major structural scales and their short forms are described. The relationships among the structural variables and between them and the contextual variables of size, technology and public accountability are outlined. The generalizability of these relationships in organizational research across countries is considered. The paper offers a roughly chronological narrative in three phases: the original Aston study, the National study and then on to the many subsequent replication and extension studies and reviews of them. Some cognate organizational research studies are brought in that confirm the Aston Programme. The need to continue the Astonian Cartesian approach rather than the configurational approach is emphasized. In closing, the Aston legacy is briefly summated and a vision for a future Aston Programme is offered in an Epilogue.     

企业集团子公司主导行为及其网络嵌入研究:以海信集团为例

本文以企业集团网络环境下的子公司主导行为为研究对象,分析了子公司主导行为与网络嵌入的关系,为企业集团网络环境中子公司主导行为的发生机制及其内在规律奠定了理论基础.本文提出企业集团的正式组织结构嵌入在作为非正式组织的关系网络之中的观点.网络环境下子公司的主导行为可以分为内部主导行为和外部主导行为,而服从理性原则的子公司不会无限制增加对企业集团网络的嵌入程度;网络嵌入为实施内部主导行为创造条件;实施外部主导行为的子公司基于理性原则要降低网络嵌入.最后,通过分析海信集团的实际运作对命题进行初步例证.     

Corporate Political Activity: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

This paper reviews the diverse literature on corporate political activity (CPA) and develops a framework that details and integrates existing research in this field. A systematic analysis of extant CPA literatures is conducted to order them into domains that have implications for organizational performance. The paper is structured into three such domain emphases, which require further research investigation: resources and capabilities focus; institutional focus; and political environment focus. The contribution of each to an understanding of CPA in pursuit or defence of corporate competitive advantage is discussed. The authors also suggest that the internationalization of business, including the more recent emergence of developing country economies and companies, presents scholars with the challenge of understanding CPA in more varied institutional settings. CPA practices continue to expand as commerce goes increasingly global and, consequently, involves a wider array of political actors and institutions. The paper contributes by increasing the clarity of CPA classification, reflecting on the implications of a multi‐polar world for CPA research and advancing future agendas for scholars in this research community.     

高层管理团队内部社会资本、团队冲突和决策效果的关系——研究综述与理论分析框架

反映在结构因素、关系因素和认知因素三个维度上的高管团队内部社会资本为决策信息的交换和共享提供了机会、意愿和能力,有利于团队内部形成建设性的冲突模式,促进决策效果的提高.本文以团队冲突为中介变量,建立了高管团队内部社会资本与决策效果的关系的理论框架,提出了研究命题,并对企业高管团队内部社会资本的培育提出建议.     

Probability Information in Risk Communication: A Review of the Research Literature

Communicating probability information about risks to the public is more difficult than might be expected. Many studies have examined this subject, so that their resulting recommendations are scattered over various publications, diverse research fields, and are about different presentation formats. An integration of empirical findings in one review would be useful therefore to describe the evidence base for communication about probability information and to present the recommendations that can be made so far. We categorized the studies in the following presentation formats: frequencies, percentages, base rates and proportions, absolute and relative risk reduction, cumulative probabilities, verbal probability information, numerical versus verbal probability information, graphs, and risk ladders. We suggest several recommendations for these formats. Based on the results of our review, we show that the effects of presentation format depend not only on the type of format, but also on the context in which the format is used. We therefore argue that the presentation format has the strongest effect when the receiver processes probability information heuristically instead of systematically. We conclude that future research and risk communication practitioners should not only concentrate on the presentation format of the probability information but also on the situation in which this message is presented, as this may predict how people process the information and how this may influence their interpretation of the risk.     

International Business and National Culture: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

This literature review analyzes leading international business and management journals from 2000 to 2012 in order to explore the role of national culture in international business research. Through the analysis of the 265 selected articles, the study thematically maps the field and identifies research challenges and opportunities. It reflects on avenues for future research related to both thematic and methodological issues, among them: research focused on the impact of the home/host national culture on internationalization processes (as existing literature mainly focuses on cultural distance); the role to be played by new theoretical frameworks; and the need to consider cultural positions and cultural friction rather than traditional cultural distance when analyzing internationalization decisions.     

Reconciling Perspectives on Clusters: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda

Although our understanding of clusters and their contribution to economic performance has improved over the last three decades, the literature has become host to a wide array of divergent empirical and theoretical claims. We systematically review cluster studies published in top journals, highlighting the lack of integration among prior work. We focus on the ways in which Porter's three cluster dimensions, namely geography, networks, and institutions, have been utilized. None of the studies reviewed fully captured their complex interrelationships, which we argue is an important cause of the key disagreements in the literature. Configurational theorizing and analysis are presented as means by which the different approaches to cluster studies could be reconciled. We discuss how the application of a configurational approach can help explore new scholarly directions that can deepen our understanding of clusters and their performance‐enhancing potential. In doing so, we can move beyond an understanding of independent effects to emphasizing combinations of attributes that can generate multiple pathways to cluster performance outcomes.     

Accelerating the Innovation Process: A Systematic Review and Realist Synthesis of the Research Literature

There is continued interest among academics, practitioners and policy‐makers in methods to achieve accelerated innovation. Academic studies of this complex phenomenon have succeeded in reaching a high degree of consensus on the antecedents of innovation speed. The aim in this review is to elucidate further the mechanisms underlying management interventions to promote speed. The review adopts a theory‐led, realist synthesis of innovation speed research – the first example of this methodology in management studies. The authors develop a new time‐based framework for categorizing the innovation‐speed literature. The framework has a CIMO logic, and is built by invoking the organizational studies literature on time. The authors contextualize the innovation‐speed literature in relation to the three generic temporal challenges faced by all organizations: reducing temporal uncertainty; resolving temporal conflicts over activities; and allocating resources amid conditions of temporal scarcity. They problematize extant explanations of innovation speed as not taking account of different temporal orientations (temporal dichotomies) within innovation work, and thereby neglecting a potential barrier to achieving accelerated innovation outcomes. They further draw on the literature on time in organizations to suggest new avenues of research, and methodological approaches new to the study of innovation speed. The principal contribution of this review is to offer a new conceptual perspective on the complex empirical research examining how innovation projects may be accelerated from original idea to launch.     

国外参与式管理研究述评

本文对参与式管理的相关研究文献进行回顾,首先分别从过程观和实践形式等角度界定参与式管理的概念,明确其操作性定义;基于四维结构模型分类,基于五维结构模型开发研究工具。其次,分别从个人和组织角度分析参与式管理的主要影响因素及可能的影响效应;最后,从管理效能、跨文化比较、作用机制、研究方法等角度对参与式管理的未来研究方向提出建议。     

Strategic Flexibility: A Review of the Literature

Previous literature reviews of strategic flexibility have a number of shortcomings: they lack a specific focus in the field, provide an excessive definitional focus or lack a clear empirical overview of research in the field. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper aims to systematically analyse the literature on strategic flexibility by identifying its main characteristics, linking the different aspects together in a new conceptual framework, and considering the means to measure it. This comprehensive analytical model analyses various aspects of strategic flexibility in the relevant literature (156 contributions). Thus, the systematic and critical approach of this paper offers a novel perspective in understanding strategic flexibility, and contributes to the field by providing a consolidation of the literature and indicating future research avenues.     

Organizational Improvisation: A Consolidating Review and Framework

Organizational improvisation is increasingly recognized as a relevant area of management research. However, the cumulativeness of research on improvisation in organizations remains low. This paper organizes existing contributions on organizational improvisation within a new consolidating framework combining degrees (minor, bounded and structural) and levels (individual, interpersonal and organizational) of improvisation. The proposed degree/level framework allows for reviewing the existing literature on organizational improvisation in the management disciplines of strategy, organizational behaviour, organizational theory, innovation and marketing in a systematic manner. It also exposes potential areas for future research across management disciplines, research areas, organizational settings and industries, and beyond existing metaphors, most notably of jazz and improvisational theatre.     

The Multilevel Nature of Customer Experience Research: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda

Over the last three decades, customer experience (CE) has developed from a burgeoning concept to a widely recognized phenomenon in terms of both research and practice. To account for the complexity of consumption decisions, the CE literature encompasses both the rational information processing approach to consumer decision‐making and the experiential approach, which includes emotions, feelings and sub‐consciousness. The authors classify and examine CE research on two levels. Studies on static CE analyze experiences during touchpoints at one point in time, while studies on dynamic CE assess how experiences evolve over time. Furthermore, both static and dynamic CE research take place from two distinct theoretical perspectives: the organization and the consumer. As both theoretical perspectives essentially deal with the same phenomenon – the organizational perspective with the creation of CEs and the consumer perspective with the perception of customer experiences – there is potential for a productive symbiosis between them. The authors propose that connecting insights from both perspectives can contribute to a better understanding of what constitutes a CE for consumers and how firms can effectively manage it. First, the authors discuss the development of CE and argue that it has evolved into a broad and fragmented ‘umbrella construct’. Second, after distinguishing and defining static and dynamic CE, they systematically evaluate the state of knowledge in both the organizational and consumer perspectives. Finally, they develop an agenda for future research that integrates the consumer perspective into organizational CE research.     

Boards of Directors in Family Businesses: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

This paper offers a review of the theoretical and empirical literature addressing boards of directors within the unique organizational setting of family businesses. By reviewing and structuring past research, this paper aims to improve the understanding of how family involvement in firms affects the roles and behaviours of boards. The review of the literature is structured according to the family business board's two primary tasks as an internal administrative body, namely the exercise of control and the provision of advice. For both board tasks, theoretical perspectives and the match between theory and empirical findings will be discussed. The review concludes by offering an integrative discussion of the relevant theories and by highlighting the need for multi‐theoretic, process and contextualized approaches in future research on boards of directors in family businesses.     

Leadership in Interorganizational Networks: A Literature Review and Suggestions for Future Research

The present review is an investigation of the ways in which interorganizational networks coordinate their activities for the benefit of all parties. In this context ‘interorganizational networks’ consist of three or more separate, collaborating entities, and the question of their leadership has been well researched in a number of disciplines. Its interest to economic actors is growing. However, the findings of studies that have focused on leadership in such networks are somewhat incoherent. As demonstrated in the present review, this incoherence largely results from the consideration of different forms of network (e.g. hierarchical vs heterarchical), levels of analysis (e.g. organizational vs network), and terms used to describe the phenomena (e.g. governance or orchestration, quite apart from leadership). Against this background, the present review contributes to the body of knowledge on this topic in two main areas. First, the literature is reviewed in order to provide an overview of the key characteristics of forms of network and levels of analysis. Moreover, the view that leadership in such networks influences all members in order to ‘make things happen’ is suggested. Secondly, future avenues of research are identified in order to stimulate progress in this important area of study.     

SMEs and Marketing: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper presents a systematic review of recent academic literature analysing the role, organization and management of marketing activities in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, 310 articles published between 2006 and 2015 in 69 main journals devoted to small firms/entrepreneurship and management/marketing fields were analysed. This review shows that SMEs’ marketing has received great attention in both management and marketing literature in recent years. Findings reveal, on the one hand, the emerging role of networks and information and communication technologies in marketing behaviour by SMEs, and on the other hand a research gap in terms of specific marketing practices. Entrepreneurial marketing has been used as the main conceptual framework in reviewed studies, even if findings overall still point out a distance between the theoretical bases of reviewed contributions and the study of SMEs’ marketing behaviour and practices. Therefore, future research on the role of resources, relationships and networks could benefit from the combination of theories developed within the field of entrepreneurship with other approaches such as the resource‐based view, the dynamic capabilities theory and the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) framework.     

跨国公司在华子公司战略演变的动因与路径

跨国公司如何制定其在华子公司战略以及战略如何演变已经成为跨国公司研究领域的重要问题.以当地化、一体化为框架,分别对跨国公司战略、跨国公司海外子公司战略及其演变进行研究,以此为基础展开对世界500强在华子公司的问卷调查,研究发现,跨国公司在华子公司可以分为积极型、自主型、接受型和静止型4种类型,同时存在稳定型、成长型、退化型和波动型4种演变路径,76.7%的跨国公司在华子公司具有稳定型或成长型的演变路径.跨国公司在华子公司战略角色演变受子公司选择、母公司决策和环境驱动三方面因素的影响,母公司决策使母子公司一体化程度提高,子公司选择使子公司当地化程度提高,而环境变动对子公司战略角色的影响方向不确定.