Showing papers in "California Management Review in 2011"
TL;DR: The authors examines the external (both institutional and market), organizational, and individual drivers of greenwashing and offers recommendations for managers, policymakers, and NGOs to decrease its prevalence, and suggests that greenwashing can have profound negative effects on consumer and investor confidence in green products.
Abstract: More and more firms are engaging in greenwashing, misleading consumers about their environmental performance or the environmental benefits of a product or service. The skyrocketing incidence of greenwashing can have profound negative effects on consumer and investor confidence in green products. Mitigating greenwashing is particularly challenging in a context of limited and uncertain regulation. This article examines the external (both institutional and market), organizational and individual drivers of greenwashing and offers recommendations for managers, policymakers, and NGOs to decrease its prevalence.
866 citations
TL;DR: A set of interrelated choices of organization design and senior team process determine which attempts to build ambidextrous organizations are successful, and which ones helped or hindered them in their attempts.
Abstract: Dynamic capabilities have been proposed as a useful way to understand how organizations are able to adapt to changes in technology and markets. Organizational ambidexterity the ability of senior managers to seize opportunities through the orchestration and integration of existing assets to overcome inertia and path dependence, is a core dynamic capability. While promising, research on dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity has not yet been able to specify the specific mechanisms through which senior managers are actually able to reallocate resources and reconfigure assets to simultaneously explore and exploit. Using interviews and qualitative case studies from thirteen organizations, this article explores the actions senior managers took to implement ambidextrous designs and identify which ones helped or hindered them in their attempts. A set of interrelated choices of organization design and senior team process determine which attempts to build ambidextrous organizations are successful.
537 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study and a multi-year analysis of stock price responses for S&P 500 companies following product recalls was conducted, and the authors found that firms that have high CSR ratings fare better than those that do not.
Abstract: An overlooked but important benefit of CSR is to insure a firm against a decline in reputation in the face of adverse events. Through a case study and a multi-year analysis of stock price responses for S&P 500 companies following product recalls, we find that firms that have high CSR ratings fare better than those that do not. Furthermore, a firm that is exceptional in both doing good and avoiding harm suffers virtually no reputational damage following negative media publicity. Using the results of this study, we offer a guide to managers for determining the appropriate amount and mix of CSR activities.
465 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the efforts that managers can undertake to foster and sustain customer engagement through a firm-sponsored virtual community and assess and communicate the benefits of engagement, considering three interlocking sources of engagement value, namely, participatory value, relational value and financial value.
Abstract: Getting customers engaged is one of the most significant challenges for firm-sponsored virtual communities. This article describes the efforts that managers can undertake to foster and sustain customer engagement through a firm-sponsored virtual community. A sponsor must understand consumer needs and motivations, promote member participation, and motivate members to cooperate by making them feel embedded and empowered. In assessing and communicating the benefits of engagement, managers should consider three interlocking sources of engagement value, namely, participatory value, relational value, and financial value.
182 citations
TL;DR: The idea that companies can "do well by doing good" has attracted the attention of executives, business academics, and public officials as mentioned in this paper, based on the claim that firms have a corporate social responsibility to achieve some larger social goals, and can do so without a financial sacrifice.
Abstract: The idea that companies can “do well by doing good” has caught the attention of executives, business academics, and public officials. It is based on the claim that firms have a corporate social responsibility to achieve some larger social goals, and can do so without a financial sacrifice. While this appealing proposition has convinced many people, it is fundamentally misleading. If markets are working well, there is no need to appeal to companies to fulfill some vague social responsibility. If there is a market failure, then there is a tradeoff between private profits and public interest; in that case, it is neither desirable nor effective to rely on the goodwill of managers to maximize social welfare. When markets fail, some constraints need to be imposed on them. There are four sources of constraints: corporate social responsibility, industry self-regulation, civil society activism, and government regulation. The importance of the latter is too frequently neglected by advocates of corporate social responsibility.
151 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and explores its implications for doing business there, and identifies three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory systems: priorities and incentives, bureaucratic alignment, and transparency and monitoring.
Abstract: This article analyzes the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and explores its implications for doing business there. It identifies three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory systems: priorities and incentives, bureaucratic alignment, and transparency and monitoring. Using these dimensions, it describes the mechanisms that characterized China’s prior period where enforcement of environmental protection was decoupled from regulation. Regulation and enforcement are becoming re-aligned. This is due to a change in national development strategy, reorganization of the bureaucracy, and increasing monitoring from both the government and general public. To address these changes, firms need to embrace environmental innovation and integrate local and global standards. They should also be more transparent and compete on reputation.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce a model for "agile innovation" that differentiates between the need for a permanent presence in a location and the ability to access knowledge from a distance, by aligning different modes of access and integration against different types of knowledge.
Abstract: To meet the demands of globalization, companies need to continually and rapidly access, absorb, and integrate ideas for innovation from around the world. Yet few innovation footprints are capable of meeting this challenge. This article introduces a model for “agile innovation” that differentiates between the need for a permanent presence in a location and the ability to access knowledge from a distance, by aligning different modes of access and integration against different types of knowledge. Adopting an agile innovation model will give companies the ability to better manage their global innovation footprint, leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness.
112 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the meaning of corporate responsibility constantly shifts and so do public expectations and the baseline of acceptable corporate practice through two mechanisms: new norms of industry-wide practices evolve in response to shifting stakeholder expectations and demands, and changes in laws are often facilitated by evolving voluntary CR norms.
Abstract: One of the reasons it has been so challenging to define corporate responsibility (CR) is that what is considered to be responsible behavior by corporations shifts over time. Not only does the meaning of CR constantly shift, but so do public expectations and the baseline of acceptable corporate practice. New CR behaviors become common practice through two mechanisms. New norms of industry-wide practices evolve in response to shifting stakeholder expectations and demands, in response to changing laws and regulations. Moreover, changes in laws are often facilitated by evolving voluntary CR norms. As either norms of behavior or laws shift over time, the “business case” for certain CR behaviors strengthens, but at the same time the very definition of CR shifts as firms find themselves pressured to adopt additional CR behaviors, whose business benefits may initially be unclear. This time dynamic thus changes what is profitable for companies and reveals that what is and is not responsible corporate practice is both time- and context-dependent rather than universal.
110 citations
TL;DR: In fact, it is often difficult to do well by doing good and few firms have been able to sustain superior social performance over the long run as discussed by the authors, and reconciling the interests of all the firm's stakeholders is often hard to achieve in practice.
Abstract: In recent years, the idea of conscious capitalism has emerged as an important alternative approach to the problems confronting American capitalism. Embraced by a number of corporations and prominent business leaders, it represents a new strategy for reconciling business and social and environmental objectives. While this movement is an inspiring one and worthy of admiration, we believe the assumptions that underlie it suffer from a number of important limitations that make it unlikely for the movement to achieve the ambitious promises of its proponents. In fact, it is often difficult to do well by doing good and few firms have been able to sustain superior social performance over the long run. Moreover, reconciling the interests of all the firm's stakeholders is often hard to achieve in practice. Most importantly, the adherents of conscious capitalism overlook the critical role that governments must play in reconciling corporate interests with broader public objectives.
92 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address two related questions: how regulatory uncertainty in the solar PV industry shapes firms' market and non-market strategies, and how firms' responses to this public-policy environment affect technological development and the locus of manufacturing.
Abstract: The solar photovoltaics (PV) industry would not exist without government policies. Governments around the world have implemented policies to support consumption of solar energy and production of solar PV products. These policies have varied across countries and across time, thus contributing to regulatory uncertainty. This article addresses two related questions. First, how does regulatory uncertainty in the solar PV industry shape firms' market and non-market strategies? Second, how might firms' responses to this public-policy environment affect technological development and the locus of manufacturing? Government policies on solar PV, and firms' strategies to overcome regulatory uncertainty, may have unintended consequences. Firms' decisions on location and technology development may result in loss of employment and national competitiveness for developed countries; and firms' market strategies may increase regulatory uncertainty if they do not involve non-market stakeholders.
79 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework to analyze regional and global innovation clusters and networks and analyzes the Israel/Silicon Valley Super-COI as a case study of situating the cluster a global context.
Abstract: Clusters of Innovation (COI) do not exist in isolation. The most successful are often those that most effectively exploit global linkages to other innovation clusters. In fact, COI demonstrate a special affinity for connections with resources and partners in like clusters. This article illustrates how the innovation patterns in a COI can be enhanced through international connections by specifically focusing on the dynamics of the relationship between clusters of innovation. It also presents a framework to analyze regional and global innovation clusters and networks and analyzes the Israel/Silicon Valley Super-COI as a case study of situating the cluster a global context.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework managers can use to deal with regulatory uncertainty and also introduce and summarize how the papers in this special issue address what managers can expect, do, and gain from regulatory uncertainty.
Abstract: This introduction presents a framework managers can use to deal with regulatory uncertainty and also introduces and summarizes how the papers in this special issue address what managers can expect, do, and gain from regulatory uncertainty.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pried off the top of an IBM laptop, and the keyboard as well as the keyboard, and then they glued a bunch of little map fags to every single technological component in the computer that they had licensed from IBM.
Abstract: “We pried off the top of an IBM laptop, and the keyboard as well, and then we glued a bunch of little map fags to every single technological component in the computer that we had licensed from othe...
TL;DR: Chesbrough's new book, Open Services Innovation: Rethinking Your Business to Grow and Compete in a New Era as mentioned in this paper, argues that firms need to think of their businesses as a services business, engage customers in the service innovation process, and employ open innovation as a means to accelerate and deepen service innovation.
Abstract: Service innovations represent an important way for firms to retain their competitive advantage as products become increasingly commoditized To do so, firms need to think of their businesses as a services business, engage customers in the service innovation process, and employ open innovation as a means to accelerate and deepen service innovation The creative application of open innovation in services provides firms with the opportunity to fundamentally change their business models This is an excerpt from Henry Chesbrough's new book, Open Services Innovation: Rethinking Your Business to Grow and Compete in a New Era
TL;DR: Using network data, this article shows how managers formulate three different kinds of strategies, namely, identifying flight risks in advance of departure, investing in key people in the network to improve retention, and improving network connectivity to enable it to be maintained in the face of turnover.
Abstract: Increased workforce mobility imposes a significant cost on many organizations because of the negative impact departing employees have on informal networks. The turnover of well-connected employees disrupts networks important to innovation, best practice transfer, and project execution. Yet while network losses can be quite costly, they are typically invisible to most organizations' financial and performance management systems. Using network data, this article shows how managers formulate three different kinds of strategies, namely, identifying flight risks in advance of departure, investing in key people in the network to improve retention, and improving network connectivity to enable it to be maintained in the face of turnover.
TL;DR: The conceptual foundations ofsuper-flexibility are described and five action principles for becoming super-flexible are presented, which are an umbrella concept that encompasses agility and versatility, as well as resilience and robustness.
Abstract: Real-time adaptation is crucial in today's unpredictable world. A plethora of revision triggers force organizations to adapt to a fluid reality. This article suggests that leaders need to develop the capacity for real-time adaptation since it is impossible to anticipate and plan for every eventuality. Super-flexibility is one way to achieve real-time adaptation. The term is an umbrella concept that encompasses agility and versatility, as well as resilience and robustness. In a practical sense, it is a dialectical capacity of withstanding turbulence, like a camel surviving in desert conditions, while transforming, like a chameleon changing its color. Based on the second edition of the book Super-Flexibility for Knowledge Enterprises (Springer, 2010) and distilling the authors' experience in Silicon Valley, this article describes the conceptual foundations of super-flexibility and presents five action principles for becoming super-flexible.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a regulatory turbulence tool that describes relevant regulatory/market configurations and prescribes contingently effective, dynamic environmental strategies for multinationals from both developed and emerging markets.
Abstract: Companies operating in multiple countries face different and often changing regimes of environmental regulation. This regulatory turbulence raises the question of what environmental strategies multinational enterprises with a portfolio of divergent regulatory regimes should develop in relation to their international business expansion strategies. Forward-looking multinationals seeking to develop an effective environmental strategy should integrate relative regulatory stringency and international market interdependence. There are four environmental strategies that match different regulatory/market configurations for multinationals from both developed and emerging markets, and which identify the factors that drive strategic changes. The article presents a “regulatory turbulence tool” that describes relevant regulatory/market configurations and prescribes contingently effective, dynamic environmental strategies.
TL;DR: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) discussions often fall into a logical trap as discussed by the authors, where if some socially desirable activity is profitable, then it is best described as "intelligent operation of the business" and thus CSR is irrelevant.
Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) discussions often fall prey to a logical trap. If some socially desirable activity is profitable, then it is best described as “intelligent operation of the business” and thus CSR is irrelevant. If the socially desirable activity is not profitable, then companies will not voluntarily undertake it unless required to do so by law or regulation, and thus CSR will be ineffective. The concept of CSR is “intensely confused” because in both the above cases it is not a useful construct. Rivoli and Waddock propose to get out of this logical trap by analyzing CSR “in a more dynamic, time- and context-dependent manner.” Unfortunately, the presumed escape route turns out to be a dead end. CSR is best defined as: a company has a corporate social responsibility to voluntarily undertake socially desirable behavior that decreases the firm's profits. Laws and regulation are much more effective than CSR at inducing firms to implement socially desirable behavior that reduces firm profits.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present two integrated strategies managers can use in the face of environmental regulatory uncertainty to adapt to coming regulation at their own pace while leveraging market competencies, and highlight four case studies that highlight how some firms have implemented these strategies, and why some have been successful at mitigating regulatory uncertainty and some have not.
Abstract: This article offers two integrated strategies managers can use in the face of environmental regulatory uncertainty. As integrated strategies, they both recognize non-market forces while taking into account market realities. Advocating for pragmatic, progressive policies enables firms to shape future policy around existing environmental strengths; this strategy raises competitors’ costs when competitors have yet to develop identical competencies. Systematically embracing advancing regulation enables firms to satisfy activists who are pressuring policymakers to force firms to conform to higher environmental standards in other jurisdictions; this strategy allows managers to adapt to coming regulation at their own pace while leveraging market competencies. This article presents four case studies that highlight how some firms have implemented these strategies, and why some have been successful at mitigating regulatory uncertainty and some have not.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore business opportunities that have emerged for different types of companies, including utilities, banks, project development & carbon offset companies, brokers, exchanges, consultants, auditors and legal services providers with respect to clean development projects and the related carbon market.
Abstract: Regulatory uncertainty has been inherent in climate change policy due to the absence of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Many companies have called for more certainty and a stable policy framework. However, besides having clear disadvantages, regulatory uncertainty may also benefit some companies if they recognize the opportunities of flux and move early. This article explores business opportunities that have emerged for different types of companies, including utilities, banks, project development & carbon offset companies, brokers, exchanges, consultants, auditors and legal services providers with respect to clean development projects and the related carbon market.
TL;DR: Rajendra S. Sisodia as mentioned in this paper is a Professor of Marketing at Bentley University and co-founder and Chairman of the Conscious Capitalism Institute, which is based in New York City.
Abstract: Rajendra S. Sisodia is a Professor of Marketing at Bentley University and co-founder and Chairman of the Conscious Capitalism Institute.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at airlines' flexibility responses to regulatory uncertainty associated with their inclusion in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EETS) and demonstrate that each type of response requires a specific bundle of capabilities.
Abstract: Coping with uncertainty is a fundamental challenge for firms. One way they can respond is by building up strategic flexibility. By looking at airlines' flexibility responses to regulatory uncertainty associated with their inclusion in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, this article shows that firms can respond to regulatory uncertainty by developing such flexibility in two ways: they can either anticipate the potential consequences of changing regulatory conditions and try to prepare for them; or they can adapt quickly and efficiently to them once the regulatory situation has become clear. By examining evidence from nine case studies, the article identifies the organizational capabilities required to pursue an anticipatory or adaptive strategy and demonstrates that each type of response requires a specific bundle of capabilities.
TL;DR: Karnani's article makes a number of misleading assumptions as mentioned in this paper, such as the assumption that the only purpose of a firm is maximizing profits for investors, which is not the case.
Abstract: Karnani's article makes a number of misleading assumptions. First, it assumes that the only purpose of the firm is maximizing profits for investors. It is not. Firms also need to manage their relationships with stakeholders who contribute to them. Second, it assumes that markets are efficient, but there is considerable evidence that even financial markets, never mind the oligopolistic, marketing-driven “real” goods markets, are not efficient. Third, the “business case” is not the only reason for CR, though CR can provide a firm with business benefits. Fourth, there is a great deal of evidence that falsifies the claim that managers who manage their firms responsibly will penalize their shareholders. Finally, while regulation is clearly needed, it is often difficult to achieve.
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of different strategies have been employed to deal with external uncertainty in automotive assemblers and suppliers, such as changes in the locus of innovation from OEMs to suppliers, changing market conditions and future regulations of greenhouse gases.
Abstract: Automotive assemblers and suppliers have employed a number of different strategies to deal with external uncertainty. These strategies have evolved relatively rapidly of late in part because of changes in the locus of innovation from OEMs to suppliers, changing market conditions, and the future regulations of greenhouse gases. This presents a unique challenge for the industry. Some auto firms have been more effective in dealing with market and regulatory uncertainty due to technology resource integration across platforms and integration between functions on the value added chain from suppliers to retailers.
TL;DR: Kirk O. Hanson as mentioned in this paper is the Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and a John Courtney Murray, S. J. University Professor of Social Ethics.
Abstract: Kirk O. Hanson is the Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and a John Courtney Murray, S. J. University Professor of Social Ethics. He taught Business Ethics at Stanford Graduate School of Business for twenty-three years.
TL;DR: Rauch is a Senior Fellow in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, working on a project to bring high-quality, excess food (food waste) to the hungry in urban areas of America as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Doug Rauch is the Former President (retired) of Trader Joe's Company. He is currently a Senior Fellow in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, working on a project to bring high-quality, excess food (“food waste”) to the hungry in urban areas of America.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors defined strategic agility as resulting from the constructive interplay between three metacapabilities: strategic sensitivity combines early and keen awareness of incipient trends and converging forces with intense real time sense-making in strategic situations as they emerge and evolve.
Abstract: Three years ago we published an article in California Management Review making extensive use of the Nokia example to illustrate concepts of strategic agility.1 In that article, we took a historical perspective covering the period from 1990 to 2008, reviewing both Nokia's outstanding success in the 1990s and the challenges it faced in the 2000s. That article concluded on a hopeful note that Nokia was fast on its way to regaining strategic agility after some rough years in the early 2000s, and doing it in the face of the industry transition to smart phones and service-driven business models.
In that article we defined strategic agility as resulting from the constructive interplay between three metacapabilities. First, strategic sensitivity combines early and keen awareness of incipient trends and converging forces with intense real time sense-making in strategic situations as they emerge and evolve. A second metacapability, leadership unity, is for the management team to make bold decision fast, without being bogged down in “win-lose” politics. Third, resource fluidity involves the internal capability to reconfigure business systems and redeploy resources fast, based on business processes for operations and resource allocation, people management approaches, as well as mechanisms and incentives for collaboration.
In our article, we argued that Nokia had suffered from a gradual erosion of strategic sensitivity and leadership unity in the late 1990s, the natural result—or toxic side effect—of success. In 2006, a new CEO, …
TL;DR: Clark as mentioned in this paper discusses the importance of good recruitment practices, setting expectations, constant performance feedback, managing conflict, and having a shared definition of leadership as keys factors to a successful team.
Abstract: This article describes the leadership style of Coach Jack Clark, under whose leadership Cal Rugby has won 21 national championships during the last 25 years. The article examines his leadership philosophy and strategies to create a high performance team culture. It discusses how his experiences as an athlete and businessman helped shape his approach to leading and developing teams. He cites the importance of good recruitment practices, setting expectations, constant performance feedback, managing conflict, and having a shared definition of leadership as keys factors to a successful team. In 2010, Clark faced a series of unprecedented challenges, including having his team downgraded from varsity to dub status because of budget cuts. This article describes how he addressed these challenges.