Resisting the Tide: The Roles of Ideology in Sustaining Alternative Organizing at a Self-managed Cooperative

This paper examines how organizational ideology can be collectively mobilized to sustain an alternative organizational form—a self-managed cooperative—in resistance to institutional prescriptions perceived as hostile. Based on an ethnographic study of the Venezuelan cooperative Cecosesola, we identify three roles through which ideology enables the reproduction of the alternative form over time: ideology as a mobilizing normative framework to justify resistance; as a cultural-cognitive framework to engage members and integrate them into the resistance project; and as a regulatory framework ensuring member compliance. However, we find that in parallel with sustaining self-management as an alternative form, mobilizing ideology may also paradoxically entail costs in terms of individual sacrifices, exclusion of members and reduction of group heterogeneity, leading to the creation of an authoritarian system. These findings shed light on the ideological drivers of institutional resistance and bring new insights to understand the challenge of sustaining self-management and other alternative organizational forms within a hostile institutional context.

The Current Situation of Social Work Activities in Hospitals in Vietnam

Since the Prime Minister signed the decision approving the project 32/2010 on March, 25, 2010 “Development of Social Work Profession in Vietnam in the period of 2010 – 2020”, social work has strongly developed in many different areas including the medical field. Specifically, the Ministry of Health approved the project “Development of the Social Work profession in the health sector from 2011 through 2020” and the Circular 43/2015 on “The social work activities in the hospitals and the organizational form to perform the social work activities in hospitals”. These documents are fundamental to carry out social work activities in hospitals. However, this is a new field so the implementation of these activities is still difficult and lacks detailed supporting guidelines. This study was conducted to assess the status of the five main activities of social workers in hospitals regulated under Circular 43/2015, thereby providing solutions to improve the effectiveness of social work activities.

The evolutionary and ecological perspectives on organizational form, strategy and performance: evidence from privatized firms in China

Purpose This study aims to examine how evolutionary and ecological forces shape the market strategy and performance of firms after their organizational form was changed by exogenous shock. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are developed based on both evolutionary and ecological perspectives and tested using fixed effect logistics models and a sample of 3,110 firms that were privatized during 1998–2007. Findings I find that once the organizational form of firms is changed, the market strategy of organizations is shaped by the population density of their old and new organizational forms in their existing market. Moreover, such a market strategy enhances the survival chance of firms. Originality/value This study contributes to organizational evolution literature by unpacking the evolution process when exogeneous shock to organizational form takes place. It advances both evolutionary economics and organization ecology theory through integrating them to understand the evolution process of organizations. This study also contributes to the privatization literature through examining the ecological forces that shape the restructuring strategy of firms after privatization and the performance implications of such restructuring.

FROM HYBRID INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS TO SOLIDARITY CAPITAL

The aim of the paper is to analyse the process of the creation of the hybrid organizational form and the mechanisms of its action. The paper is theory oriented and is based on new institutionalism and hybridity. The research question is how a hybrid organization efficiently functions while simultaneously drawing on three different and partially contradictory institutional logics: commercial (profit-oriented activities), social (non-profit activities), and public (focused on the provision of high-quality social services). We argue that the core mechanism of action of the new organizational form is the solidarity capital.

Levers of family firms’ resilience in times of crisis

Although the academic literature argues that family firms are more resilient than non-family firms, the reasons for this presumed superiority are still not clearly identified. In addition, while family firms are a significant component of the economic landscape, research has evidenced variations in this organizational form such that some family firms seem to be more resilient than others. The following reflection will seek to provide some elements of analysis of the resilience of these companies in times of crisis.

Analytical assessment of sunflower production in ukraine

The article considers the current state of sunflower production in Ukraine. The main indicators of the industry, the dynamics of changes in the area of sunflower crops, yield and profitability are analyzed. The main factors influencing the production of sunflower using index analysis have been studied. The regional structure of sunflower production is considered with the separation of groups of enterprises by organizational form. Ukrainian enterprises are provided with proposals to increase the level of industry development and production.

Thinking Outside the Circle: The Geistkreis and the Viennese “Kreis Culture” in America

Besides their ideas and social networks, émigré intellectuals bring with them practices for engagement with intellectual work. This article focuses on one such practice: the intellectual Kreis [circle]. It focuses on the Geistkreis, an interwar Viennese interdisciplinary intellectual circle. Based on archival research, the article uses a number of case studies to show that the Kreis was employed by the Viennese émigrés as a mental scheme and as a recipe for action. It argues that the émigrés’ adherence to the Kreis structure explains the friction between them and their hosts. By following the attempts of former Geistkreis members to create Kreis-like institutions in America, the article shows that the Kreis was more than mere organizational form. It represented an epistemical commitment to knowledge making as a collective effort, and the preference of general theoretical knowledge over specialized research. It also entailed an intermingling of “work” and “life” that did not conform to American norms.

Epistemic Activism in the United States: Examining Meetings Across the Silos of Civil Society

The realm of civic action is far from unified; studies of civil society have often been likewise divided by discipline, organizational form, and orientation to dominant institutions. In this article, I suggest the critical concept of epistemic activism, which involves both making truth(s) and making them matter, as a way to think across these divides. I argue that researchers may be able to engage with a much broader range of civic projects by using ethnographic methods to examine the knowledge practices of these projects, specifically through attention to the meetings where project actors come together in time and space. In this article, I demonstrate this approach through ethnographic attention to the meeting practices of two quite different projects: a large civic reform coalition whose meetings reveal a politics of epistemic unity, and a place-based immigrant-led justice movement whose meetings enact a politics of listening.

Cost stickiness and the firm’s organizational form: evidence from the property-liability insurance sector

We examine the existence of cost stickiness in the German property-liability insurance sector by analyzing if the percentage increase in administrative costs for a rise in premiums is larger than the percentage decrease in administrative costs for an equivalent drop in premiums. In addition, we analyze if sticky cost behavior depends on insurance firms’ organizational form. Using company-level data from German property-liability insurance firms for the years 2001–2017 and regression analyses, we find that administrative costs are sticky in the insurance sector, as administrative costs increase on average 0.82% per 1% increase in premiums but decrease only 0.6% per 1% decrease in premium income. Moreover, we find that stock insurers exhibit lower levels of cost stickiness, indicating better monitoring mechanisms.

Organizing work and activities to cope with age – the role of entrepreneurship for individuals aged 50+

PurposeThe aim of this article is to discuss how age and entrepreneurship interact in the specific case of older (50+) entrepreneurs. Building on theories on entrepreneurship and theories on age and aging, the authors’ focus is on how such entrepreneurs relate to the building and running of a business organization. The authors discuss how entrepreneurship among the elderly plays out and how older entrepreneurs relate to the narratives on both age and entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThis research comprises quantitative as well as qualitative studies. The authors show that qualitative methods that unfold the process over time are necessary and essential to fully understand how and why entrepreneurs start their own business and/or continue to run it at older ages.FindingsThe authors find that the choice to become an entrepreneur at the age of 50+ (or to stay as one) is not a goal in itself, becoming an entrepreneur is a means to stay active in the labor market.Originality/valueThe study findings add to entrepreneurship theory by insights on the link between entrepreneurship and the labor market where the authors argue that becoming an entrepreneur at ages 50+ might be more a question of choice of organizational form than a question on a way of living or occupation. The authors also contribute to theories on age by showing that entrepreneurs aged 50+ choose entrepreneurship as a means to be able to stay in the labor market.