When the moral tail wags the entrepreneurial dog: the historic case of Trumpet Records

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack L. Winstead ◽  
Milorad M. Novicevic ◽  
John H. Humphreys ◽  
Ifeoluwa Tobi Popoola
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Moral Dilemma ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moral Accountability ◽  
Personal Character

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the congruencies and incongruences between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry to provide insights for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Ms McMurry was the entrepreneurial force behind the founding of Trumpet Records, a unique, Mississippi Delta Blues record label in the 1950s. Design/methodology/approach – The examination of this historical case study is grounded in the theoretical examination of the tensions between Lillian McMurry’s felt moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. Using an analytical archival historical method, a narrative explanation of how these tensions influenced the success and, ultimately, the failure of Trumpet Records are developed. Findings – The accounting records highlighted a number of issues hampering the commercial profitability of Trumpet Records. Moreover, the archival and documentary sources examined also proved revealing as to conflicts between Ms McMurry’s personal character and mercantile determination as an entrepreneur. Research limitations/implications – The approach of using analytically structured historical narrative as a research strategy is but one method of explaining the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry. Practical implications – The proponents of virtue ethics suggest that this Aristotelian personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, act-oriented consequentialist teleological and deontological ethical decision-making approaches. A perspective of moral accountability exceeding the norm of the obstructionist stance is required to maintain a sound balance between entrepreneurial accountability and moral accountability. Originality/value – This paper adopts a mercantile perspective, using the accounting and related business records of Trumpet Records, to examine the leadership characteristics of Lillian McMurry. Practical lessons learned for entrepreneurs facing the moral dilemma of competing accountabilities and advance questions to spur future research in this area are drawn.

scholarly journals An evaluation of factors affecting the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed S.M Sadrul Huda ◽  
Afsana Akhtar ◽  
Segufta Dilshad ◽  
Syeeda Raisa Maliha
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Care Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Health Care Management ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

PurposeThe study aims to gain insights into the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh to identify the factors that are relevant to managing the pandemic in a developing country.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out by pursuing the archival method. The information was collected from credible newspaper reports over the previous months, as well as articles published on the subject of COVID-19.FindingsThe research revealed important and relevant dimensions of the health sector in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The major factors were doctors, nurses (health service providers), patients, (customers) and society. This is a pioneering paper, which documents the major lessons learned from the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh concerning three stakeholders of the health-care system, i.e. providers, patients and society. This paper covers the situation regarding the ongoing pandemic from three perspectives – provider, customers and society, and thus, may help to develop future research regarding the development of health-care management models for addressing the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitations of this paper is its over dependence on secondary sources for collecting the information.Practical implicationsThis paper presents the learnings from the pandemic in health-care management in different categories (e.g. social, doctor/nurse, patients), which can help the managers in understanding different dimensions of the health-care sector from different perspectives. The problems as well as the learnings stated in the paper can help the policy makers implement such strategies to ensure better delivery of the medical health-care service during a pandemic.Social implicationsThis paper clearly reveals the social dimensions of the COVID-19 by assessing the social aspects of COVID-19 management. Both social stigma and support are traced out during evaluating the situation. Thus, the social forces will be able to rethink about their role in addressing the social costs of pandemic.Originality/valueThis is a commentary piece.

Colonial governance and state incorporation of Chinese language: the case of the first Chinese language movement in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Keung Charles Fung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Symbolic Process

Purpose Despite the importance of the first Chinese language movement in the early 1970s that elevated the status of Chinese as an official language in British Hong Kong, the movement and the colonial state’s response remained under-explored. Drawing insights primarily from Bourdieu and Phillipson, this study aims to revisit the rationale and process of the colonial state’s incorporation of the Chinese language amid the 1970s. Design/methodology/approach This is a historical case study based on published news and declassified governmental documents. Findings The central tenet is that the colonial state’s cultural incorporation was the tactics that aimed to undermine the nationalistic appeal in Hong Kong society meanwhile contain the Chinese language movement from turning into political unrest. Incorporating the Chinese language into the official language regime, however, did not alter the pro-English linguistic hierarchy. Symbolic domination still prevailed as English was still considered as the more economically rewarding language comparing with Chinese, yet official recognition of Chinese language created a common linguistic ground amongst the Hong Kong Chinese and fostered a sense of local identity that based upon the use of the mother tongue, Cantonese. From the case of Hong Kong, it suggests that Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of state formation paid insufficient attention to the international context and the non-symbolic process of state-making itself could also shape the degree of the state’s symbolic power. Originality/value Extant studies on the Chinese language movement are overwhelmingly movement centred, this paper instead brings the colonial state back in so to re-examine the role of the state in the incorporative process of the Chinese language in Hong Kong.

scholarly journals Maintaining business relationships: resilience through institutional work

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilkka Tapani Ojansivu ◽  
Jan Hermes
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Maintenance ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Business Relationships ◽  
Business Relationship ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Codes Of Practice ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Purpose Business relationships are considered long-term and stable. Furthermore, over time, business relationships are expected to become and remain “institutionalized”. The undertone is that this process is deterministic and inevitable. While the authors do not question the long-term nature of business relationships, they argue that the process of “institutionalization” requires more construct clarity. Consequently, they ask the following: What is the source of resilience in business relationships, and how are these relationships maintained over time? Design/methodology/approach To unravel these questions, the authors conducted an historical case study of a business relationship between a government buyer and a software seller extending over two decades. Findings The authors found that while the network around the business relationship is crumbling and all odds are in favor of relationship dissolution, the active maintenance work of key individuals in the relationship prevented detrimental effects and resulted in not only its continuation but also an increased degree of institutionalization. Research limitations/implications The authors contribute to the Industrial Network approach (INA) by providing a non-deterministic approach to the typically taken-for-granted end phase of business relationships. Practical implications The findings illustrate that the process of institutionalization is manageable but requires hard work, highlighting managers as the principle vehicle of relationship maintenance. Originality/value The authors provide construct clarity around the process of “institutionalization”. In fact, they regard the process as reverse compared to the early interpretation in the INA literature in which a business relationship is assumed to start as a “clean slate” and then begins to represent the industry codes of practice over time. They found that “institutionalization” implies that a business relationship is no longer compared with nor is comparable to the institutional prescriptions; in contrast, the relationship has established its own rules and norms, which have been taken for granted by the buyer and seller organization.

scholarly journals Testing the precautionary argument after the Lucky Dragon incident

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Dörries
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Energy Argument

PurposeThis paper uses a historical case study, the controversy over the possibility of climatic extremes caused by hydrogen bomb tests on Pacific Ocean atolls during the 1950s, to show how, in a context of few scientific data and high uncertainty, political affiliations and public concerns shaped two types of argumentation, the “energy” and the “precautionary” arguments.Design/methodology/approachSystematic analysis of publications 1954–1956: scientific and semiscientific articles, publications of C.-N. Martin and contemporary newspaper articles, especially from the Asia–Pacific region.FindingsFirst, epistemological and scientific reasoning about the likelihood of extreme natural events aligned to political convictions and pressure. Second, a geographical and social distribution of arguments: the relativizing “energy argument” prevailed in English-language scientific journals, while the “precautionary argument” dominated in popular journals and newspapers published worldwide. Third, while the “energy argument” attained general scientific consensus within two years, it lost out in the long run. The proponents of the “precautionary argument” raised relevant research questions that, though first rejected in the 1950s, later exposed the fallacies of the “energy argument” (shown for the case of the climatologist William W. Kellogg).Originality/valueIn contrast to the existing secondary literature, this paper presents a balanced view of the weaknesses and strengths of two lines of arguments in the 1950s. Further, this historical study sheds light on how once-discarded scientific theories may ultimately be reconsidered in a completely different political and scientific context, thus justifying the original precautionary argument.

The main topics of research on disclosures of intangible assets: a critical review

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Castilla-Polo ◽  
Dolores GALLARDO-VÁZQUEZ
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Intangible Asset ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Journal Citation Reports ◽  
Principal Directions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – We must acknowledge the importance of intangibles in today’s economies and the controversy over the accounting and reporting of these assets. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the lessons learned from research to date and identify gaps in that research that would be useful to academics and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review was conducted after an analysis of the most important academic databases in the period of 1990-2013: ABI Inform Complete, CSIS, EconLit, ISOC, Journal Citation Reports, Scopus, Emerald, Springer, and Google Scholar. Findings – The authors offer a summary of the main gaps in the literature on intellectual capital disclosures, among which the authors perceive a need for increased qualitative or explanatory research, which would allow further analysis of such decisions. Research limitations/implications – Specifically, the main problem encountered in the research on voluntary disclosure of intangibles appears to relate to the type of methodology used, which is usually quantitative or descriptive. Practical implications – Given that the principal limitations in the field of the disclosure of intangibles have been discussed, the authors conclude by indicating the principal directions for future research. Social implications – Qualitative analysis is absent in the literature the authors reviewed, and considered it fundamental to understanding this type of disclosure. In fact, the development of future lines of research could provide better-quality intangible asset reporting. Originality/value – Although there are previous studies on this topic, the authors believe that the main contribution of this study is to offer an integrated framework of existing findings concerning decisions by companies to disclose information on intangibles, a topic on which previous literature is sparse.

What does the way crime was organised yesterday tell us about the way crime is organised today and will be tomorrow?

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Tupman
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Material ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Way

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess what an overview of theoretical literature and case study material can tell us about the different ways crime has been organised in the past in different cultures and whether this has any impact on the ways in which crime may be organised in the present and the future. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on an examination of Mcintyre’s work on how crime is organised and later political, economic and civil society views of criminality. Brief discussion of case studies involving the UK, The Netherlands, the Arab world, Ethiopia and Russia is used to see how crime was organised there in the past. Findings – There is a greater variety of variables in the way crime was organised historically than McIntyre suggests, and an examination of civil society might pay greater dividends than even looking at politics or economic aspects of organised crime. Research limitations/implications – The study is preliminary. More historical case study material needs to be accessed. Originality/value – There are many research case studies, particularly at PhD level and in subjects other than criminology, such as history, language studies and cultural studies generally, which have not been brought together to present an overall picture. This paper is a first step in that direction.

scholarly journals The role of career shocks in contemporary career development: key challenges and ways forward

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-466
Author(s):  
Jos Akkermans ◽  
Ricardo Rodrigues ◽  
Stefan T. Mol ◽  
Scott E. Seibert ◽  
Svetlana N. Khapova
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Current State ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis article aims to introduce the special issue entitled “the role of career shocks in contemporary career development,” synthesize key contributions and formulate a future research agenda.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide an introduction of the current state-of-the-art in career shocks research, offer an overview of the key lessons learned from the special issue and present several important avenues for future research.FindingsThe authors discuss how the special issue articles contribute to a better understanding of career shocks' role in contemporary career development, focusing on (1) conceptual clarity of the notion of career shocks, (2) career outcomes of career shocks, (3) mechanisms that can explain the impact of career shocks and (4) interdisciplinary connectivity.Originality/valueThis article offers a synthesis of the critical contributions made within this special issue, thereby formulating key ways to bring the field of career shocks research forward. It also provides new avenues for research.

How the Sans Everything and Ely inquiries put reform of psychiatric hospitals onto the United Kingdom government agenda

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Powell ◽  
Claire Hilton
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Focusing Events ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Media ◽  
United Kingdom Government ◽  
The 1960S

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to draw on multiple streams analysis (MSA) and to investigate how policy change emerged from two inquiries into allegations of abusive hospital care in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in the United Kingdom (UK) in the 1960s.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this study is regarding a historical case study of two inquiries.FindingsThe Sans Everything and Ely inquiries had the same legal standing and terms of reference, but the second put psychiatric hospital reform on the agenda, while the first did not. The main factor making Ely rather than Sans Everything the turning point seems to have been concerned with “agency”, linked with a few key individuals.Research limitations/implicationsA study of 1960s event necessarily relies heavily on documentary and archival sources, and cannot draw on interviews which are an important ingredient of many case studies.Originality/valueThe originality of the study is to examines inquiries, which have been largely neglected in MSA, despite their obvious potential role in placing issues on the agenda. Previous studies of MSA have devoted little attention to the ability of the media to provide the focus on “focusing events”.

Theoretical and methodological milestones in international accounting research: the contributions of Jill L. McKinnon

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Patel ◽  
Graeme Harrison
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Future Research ◽  
International Accounting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Time Space

PurposeThis paper chronicles Jill McKinnon's theoretical and methodological contributions to international accounting research generally and socio-cultural research specifically over a 25-year period, 1981–2006. The purposes are: (1) to apprise contemporary and future researchers in international accounting, working with a socio-cultural lens, of a major contributor and contribution to the historical origin and development of that lens; and (2) to revisit and reappraise McKinnon's identification of critical theoretical and methodological cautions to guide future research in international accounting.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a historical narrative and contemporary appraisal of: (1) McKinnon's seminal doctoral research into the Japanese system of corporate reporting regulation using a holistic and dynamic socio-cultural model of social systems change; and (2) her contribution to the advancement of cross-cultural international accounting research including her critique of that research leading to the identification of cautions, the recognition and observance of which are critical to the development of contemporary and future research. The narrative is informed by historical context of time and space, and imbued and interwoven with the personal story of McKinnon both as human and humane.FindingsMcKinnon's research invoking holistic theoretical and methodological perspectives provides a continuing template and pathway to guide contemporary and future international accounting researchers and to shape the development of international accounting research. Her career, research and humanity leave a legacy distilled into four themes that serve as counsels for accounting research and researchers; eclecticism of world-view and method choice, rigour, holism and the importance of collegiality with and to the accounting research community.Originality/valueThe paper provides original insights into the personality, career development and research of an important contributor to international accounting research specifically and interdisciplinary research in accounting generally. The paper demonstrates empirically the importance of historical analysis, contextualized by time, space and person, in understanding and informing the present state of international accounting research and, hence, linking past, present and future.

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