Crisis, rigidity and nonliberal governance in Japan: the cases of Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seijiro Takeshita ◽  
Soo Hee Lee ◽  
Christopher Williams ◽  
Jacqueline Jing You

PurposeThe authors examine the nature of institutional rigidity and governance problems contributing to crisis and under-performance of large corporations in Japan during a period of environmental turbulence for corporate Japan.Design/methodology/approachThrough explorative case studies of Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo over a 10-year period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s the authors see how informal norms deeply embedded in the Japanese business system prevented the adoption of more liberal forms of governance that may have helped to overcome crisis.FindingsDespite fundamental differences in formal organization between the two cases, there were similar underlying problems in terms of (1) mechanisms for capital investment that would underpin strategic resilience and rejuvenation and (2) management decision-making and strategic control during crisis.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases show how normative institutions rather than formal regulative institutions matter to strategic continuity in national business systems that are put under pressure.Originality/valueThe authors link informal norms of governance intrinsic to a country to the issues of strategic resilience and responses during crisis and warn against the retrenching to traditional governance approaches where there has been criticism of alternative governance approaches.

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Farndale

Purpose Multinational enterprises are increasingly interested in improving employee engagement across diverse geographies, signifying the importance of understanding antecedents of engagement across different national business systems. This study aims to explore the relationship between an important job resource, perceived performance appraisal fairness and employee engagement in two countries: the UK and India. Critically, the mediating role of perceived supervisor support in these contrasting cultural contexts is investigated, as well as differentiating between two types of engagement: work and organization. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a UK-based multinational enterprise operating in its home country and in India, survey data from 249 employees are analyzed. Findings The survey results indicate that there are positive relationships between elements of perceived performance appraisal fairness and engagement in both countries, and that supervisor support plays an important mediating role. There are, however, important differences between the two countries’ results. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data from a single firm are a limitation of this study, as well as using national culture as an explanatory variable although this is not measured. Future research should attempt to measure culture, especially in India, where cultural heterogeneity is high. Practical implications The study demonstrates the importance of ensuring appropriate mechanisms in different overseas operations to achieve engagement when implementing performance appraisal. Originality/value This study expands significantly our knowledge surrounding the engagement construct by including both work and organization engagement, measured simultaneously in two contrasting national contexts. Furthermore, it highlights the value of national business systems cultural theorizing to explain differences in employee workplace experiences.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Karam ◽  
May Ghanem

Purpose The #MeToo movement against sexual harassment (SH) has sparked a sense of familiarity, and collective anger among women, highlighting it as a pervasive and common experience across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to argue that despite shared experiences and such transnational movements, the ways in which SH is actually understood and combated are likely to be different in disparate National Business Systems (NBS). Through the analysis, the authors unpack these differences by paying specific attention to the multilevel power dynamics shaping how employers and their key stakeholders understand and respond to SH in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach Against the backdrop of the complex and inefficient Lebanese NBS, the authors adopt a cross-cultural feminist analytic framework and engage in an iterative qualitative analysis of over 208 pages of transcriptions from relevant multisector, multi-stakeholder interactive sessions. Based on the analysis, the authors propose a series of first- and second-order concepts and themes that help us to trace how power shapes local SH understandings and related efforts. Findings The findings highlight the simultaneous influence of power through geopolitical forces external to Lebanon (i.e. power over through North-centricism and othering; power to through comparative perspectives and SDG regulations), combined with local forces embedded within the specific NBS (i.e. power over through negative attitudes and NBS specificities; power to through positive business efforts and local multistakeholder mobilizing). Originality/value The findings demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the interaction between power, contextual embeddedness and geopolitical considerations in attempts to advance SH theorization.


2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keetie Sluyterman

The organization of economic activities differs among countries and over time. Differences between nations have been highlighted in academic discussions about national business systems and the varieties of capitalism. This group of articles about the Dutch business system contributes to these debates by offering new empirical research from the perspective of a small, open economy and highlighting changes that have occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. While they discuss developments in the Netherlands, the articles also explore general themes, including corporate governance, cartels, and the organization of multinational companies. While the articles show that business systems are in constant flux, comparisons between the Dutch and U.S. systems seem to suggest that each moves at a different pace. A particularly striking aspect of the Dutch stories is the large impact of developments abroad.


1986 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 476-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Spetzler ◽  
Neil A. Martin

✓ An important factor in making a recommendation for treatment of a patient with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is to estimate the risk of surgery for that patient. A simple, broadly applicable grading system that is designed to predict the risk of morbidity and mortality attending the operative treatment of specific AVM's is proposed. The lesion is graded on the basis of size, pattern of venous drainage, and neurological eloquence of adjacent brain. All AVM's fall into one of six grades. Grade I malformations are small, superficial, and located in non-eloquent cortex; Grade V lesions are large, deep, and situated in neurologically critical areas; and Grade VI lesions are essentially inoperable AVM's. Retrospective application of this grading scheme to a series of surgically excised AVM's has demonstrated its correlation with the incidence of postoperative neurological complications. The application of a standardized grading scheme will enable a comparison of results between various clinical series and between different treatment techniques, and will assist in the process of management decision-making.


2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abe de Jong ◽  
Ailsa Röell ◽  
Gerarda Westerhuis

This study traces the evolution of corporate governance and financing structures in the Netherlands during the second half of the twentieth century. A description of Dutch shareholder rights, fi nancing structures, and networks of directors reveals the changes that have occurred in many aspects of the Dutch corporate system over the course of six decades. The case of Royal Ahold illustrates some of the developments that have taken place. Most indicate a transition from a coordinated market economy to a more liberal system. The internationalization of the Dutch economy, which has played an important role in the transition of the system, is reflected in the expansion of Dutch firms beyond the national borders and in the growing number of foreign investors in Dutch fi rms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 643-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Galvagno ◽  
Daniele Dalli

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize and classify extant research and to better understand the past, present, and future state of the theory of value co-creation. Its main objectives are: to identify the different theoretical perspectives and research streams that characterize and define the co-creation literature, and to highlight the connections between them; to look for emerging trends and gaps in the literature by comparing the most recent papers with those representing the field's core. Design/methodology/approach – The paper relies on bibliometric data: co-citation techniques were employed to select, analyze, and interpret citation patterns within the co-creation literature. Findings – The paper identified two main clusters, as well as specific research streams and common themes, representing scholarly journals’ publications on co-creation over the past years. These research streams and themes apply three different theoretical perspectives: service science, innovation and technology management, and marketing and consumer research. Data from the most recent publications has been used to verify if and how the original streams and themes are reflected in the contemporary debate. Research limitations/implications – Inevitably, the findings of the analysis have limitations related to the research design, the databases, and the applied bibliometric methods. Practical implications – From a practical perspective, the research impacts on theory building, management decision making, and teaching. Originality/value – This study depicts the remarkable development of the literature on co-creation and shows the latent structure underlying its different research streams. To the best knowledge, this study is the first to determine co-citation frequencies from both the SSCI and Scopus databases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Egan ◽  
Natalie Claire Haynes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions that managers have of the value and reliability of using big data to make hotel revenue management and pricing decisions.Design/methodology/approachA three-stage iterative thematic analysis technique based on the approaches of Braun and Clarke (2006) and Nowell et al. (2017) and using different research instruments to collect and analyse qualitative data at each stage was used to develop an explanatory framework.FindingsWhilst big data-driven automated revenue systems are technically capable of making pricing and inventory decisions without user input, the findings here show that the reality is that managers still interact with every stage of the revenue and pricing process from data collection to the implementation of price changes. They believe that their personal insights are as valid as big data in increasing the reliability of the decision-making process. This is driven primarily by a lack of trust on the behalf of managers in the ability of the big data systems to understand and interpret local market and customer dynamics.Practical implicationsThe less a manager believes in the ability of those systems to interpret these data, the more they perceive gut instinct to increase the reliability of their decision making and the less they conduct an analysis of the statistical data provided by the systems. This provides a clear message that there appears to be a need for automated revenue systems to be flexible enough for managers to import the local data, information and knowledge that they believe leads to revenue growth.Originality/valueThere is currently little research explicitly investigating the role of big data in decision making within hotel revenue management and certainly even less focussing on decision making at property level and the perceptions of managers of the value of big data in increasing the reliability of revenue and pricing decision making.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 2052-2068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Rialti ◽  
Giacomo Marzi ◽  
Cristiano Ciappei ◽  
Donatella Busso

Purpose Recently, several manuscripts about the effects of big data on organizations used dynamic capabilities as their main theoretical approach. However, these manuscripts still lack systematization. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to systematize the literature on big data and dynamic capabilities. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis was performed on 170 manuscripts extracted from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Core Collection database. The bibliometric analysis was integrated with a literature review. Findings The bibliometric analysis revealed four clusters of papers on big data and dynamic capabilities: big data and supply chain management, knowledge management, decision making, business process management and big data analytics. The systematic literature review helped to clarify each clusters’ content. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, minimal attention has been paid to systematizing the literature on big data and dynamic capabilities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 467-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karise Hutchinson ◽  
Lisa Victoria Donnell ◽  
Audrey Gilmore ◽  
Andrea Reid

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) retailers adopt and implement a loyalty card programme as a marketing management decision-making tool. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative and longitudinal case study research design is adopted. Data were collected from multiple sources, incorporating semi-structured interviews and analysis of company documents and observation within a retail SME. Findings – The findings presented focus on the loyalty card adoption process to reflect both the organisational issues and impact upon marketing management decision-making. Research limitations/implications – This research is restricted to one region within the UK, investigating loyalty card adoption within a specific industry sector. Practical implications – SME retailers operate in an industry environment whereby there is a competitive demand for loyalty card programmes. SME retailers need to carefully consider how to match the firm’s characteristics with customer relationship management (CRM) operational requirements as highlighted in this case. Originality/value – The evidence presented extends current knowledge of retail loyalty card programmes beyond the context of large organisations to encompass SMEs. The study also illustrates the value of a structured, formal CRM system to help SME retailers compete in a complex, competitive and omni-channel marketplace, adding new insights into the retail literature.


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