“Propaganda for peace”: a Gramscian reading of Irish and Spanish Civil War photography

At the outset of the Spanish Civil War, Ireland’s ruling party were faced with the challenge of maintaining political hegemony. Revealing the old fault lines of the Irish Civil War, the opposition cast the government’s Non-intervention policy as pro-Communist and anti-Catholic; a refusal to support Spanish insurgents in what was perceived by the majority as their defence of the Catholic faith. Following McNally, this paper utilises Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to explore political equilibrium in the contexts of the Irish and Spanish conflicts. The notion of the “organic intellectual” enables a Gramscian reading of war photography, finding common visual language in the works of Robert Capa and W.D. Hogan as they contributed to national and transnational projects of hegemony. Through such a reading, the author finds cultural compatibility between the conflicts and casts the Irish revolutionary period in new international light.

The effects of inter-organizational compatibility on knowledge transfer in cross-border M&As

PurposeThe study adopts congruence theory to explore the structure of inter-organizational compatibility and its structural effects on knowledge transfer in cross-border merger and acquisitions (M&As).Design/methodology/approachThis paper built a moderated-mediation model that presented the relationship between inter-organizational compatibility and knowledge transfer. Regression analysis was conducted with 182 samples from China to examine the model and hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that inter-organizational compatibility is a four-dimensional construct comprising culture, strategy, routine and knowledge. Additionally, inter-organizational compatibility has structural effects on knowledge transfer. Specifically, routine compatibility mediates the relationships between cultural compatibility and knowledge transfer and between strategic compatibility and knowledge transfer. Moreover, the mediating roles are moderated by knowledge compatibility.Originality/valueThis study updates the construct and provides a comprehensive and fresh understanding of inter-organizational compatibility. Additionally, it presents the structural effects of inter-organizational compatibility on knowledge transfer.

Understanding Chinese consumers’ and Chinese immigrants’ purchase intentions toward global brands with Chinese elements

Purpose This study aims to investigate how consumers respond to global brands adapting to local elements. Specifically, this study identified three factors (i.e., cultural compatibility, cultural elements authenticity and cultural pride) affecting the purchase intentions (PIs) toward global brands using Chinese elements among Chinese consumers in China and Chinese immigrants in North America. Another aim is to examine the moderating role of acculturation in the relationship between cultural pride and PIs among Chinese immigrants. Design/methodology/approach Three studies were conducted to test the hypotheses in China and North America. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the factor structure. Hierarchical regression was used to test the main effects and moderated regression analysis was used to test the moderation effect. Findings Results show that cultural compatibility, cultural elements authenticity (CEA) and cultural pride positively affect the PIs toward global brands with Chinese elements for both Chinese consumers and Chinese immigrants. Further, among Chinese immigrants, acculturation moderates the relationship between cultural pride and PIs. Originality/value This study explored the factors influencing the PIs toward global brands using Chinese elements, filling a research gap. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine how perceived CEA affects consumers’ PIs toward global brands with Chinese elements. Further, the findings have implications for global brands that want to target Chinese consumers and Chinese immigrants in overseas markets.

Supply chain communication and cultural compatibility: performance implications in the global manufacturing industry

PurposeResearch has extensively focused on the cultural differences in supply chain collaboration while neglecting the importance of cultural similarities and compatible goals among supply chain members. With the rise of global supply chain network, the choice of supply chain orientation is critical. This study argues that performance differences between these configurations highlight managerial implications for sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from uncertainty reduction and cognitive social capital theories, this study developed a taxonomy of manufacturing firms based on process alignment between cultural compatibility and supply chain communication. The empirical data used in this study were drawn from the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) survey project, with data collected from 680 manufacturing companies, across various industry sectors and countries.FindingsThere appeared to be consistent three major configurations: the Proactive, the Initiative and the Reactive. Manufacturers distanced themselves based mainly on communication with customers on events and proprietary information. Communication-cultural compatibility taxonomies influence differently on operations and financial performance. The Initiative, who excelled in communication practices gained significant improvement in efficiency and delivery measures. While Reactive lagged, Proactive aligned in both capabilities to experience higher payoffs in operational and financial measures. The findings offer a step-by-step approach where manufacturers intensify communication with partners for better efficiency and delivery measures, then align cultural practices to obtain financial, quality and innovation performance.Research limitations/implicationsIt will be fruitful for future research to examine the evolution of longitudinally. A comparison between developed and developing economies will be of interest.Practical implicationsThe findings provide a step-by-step decision-making process for supply chain communication and offer guidance especially for global supply chain managers.Originality/valueThis study adds greater comprehensiveness and richness to the information exchange literature on performance by process aligning to enhance cultural compatibility.

Unraveling the impact of cultural distance on IT outsourcing success – insights from three major sourcing reconfigurations

PurposeIT outsourcing (ITO) has developed into an established practice for organizations but the interorganizational and oftentimes international collaboration it involves comes at a price: Reports from academia and practice suggest that more than 25% of all ITO projects fail, many because of cultural differences between client and provider organizations. Against this background, this paper analyzes the complex nature of cultural distance and its multi-faceted effect on ITO success.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds upon extant literature on culture on the national, organizational and team level, conceptualizes its effect on relationship quality and ITO success, and hypothesizes a model on potential moderators and management techniques to offset culture-induced challenges. It then evaluates and refines the model by means of an interpretive qualitative research design for an in-depth single-case study of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (P7S1), a leading European media company that reconfigured its IT sourcing model three times in 10 years.FindingsThe results from interviews with top managers from client and provider organizations represent one of the first integrated views on the critical importance of cultural compatibility on multiple levels, provide manifold examples for its complex effect on ITO success, as well as moderators and potential management techniques to promote ITO success.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes relevant empirical insights to the growing body of literature on culture and its underestimated role in ITO success. It builds on tentative theory that is confirmed and refined.Practical implicationsThe paper helps in substantiating the complex and intangible nature of culture and demonstrates means for its effective management.Originality/valueThe results from interviews with top managers from client and provider organizations represent one of the first integrated views on the critical importance of cultural compatibility on multiple levels, provide manifold examples for its complex effect on ITO success, as well as moderators and potential management techniques to promote ITO success.

SYNERGITY BETWEEN THE VILLAGE GOVERNMENT AND PADJADJARAN UNIVERSITY IN ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURS IN JATIMUKTI VILLAGE

Objective: This study is aimed to examine the development of entrepreneurship to improve welfare in Jatimukti village, Sumedang Regency, is one form of activity in the economic field by empowering rural communities. Efforts to encourage the development of entrepreneurship in the village can be done by synergizing the existence and role of the stakeholders, including the village government with universities. Methodology: In the research process, the method used is qualitative, where data research is obtained from interviews and observations. The collected data is then classified based on its type, after that the verification and validation process is carried out through triangulation techniques. Main Findings: The results of this study indicate that the synergy between institutions in encouraging the development of entrepreneurship in Jatimukti village community, especially between the village government and universities, is important. Implications: In its implementation, the Padjadjaran University with the Government of Jatimukti Village has conducted a synergy with a series of activities and coordination to advance community entrepreneurship. Novelty/Originality of the Study: To achieve good results from the synergy process, effective communication, fast feedback, trust and creativity are needed. The value of such relationships, such as loyalty to partners, maintaining interdependence, adaptation to partners (cultural compatibility), integrity and intensity of relationships, and institutionalization (means acting on behalf of institutions and in the interests of shared institutions).

Analysis of migration processes in the EU and the theory of multiculturalism: current state and prospects

The article deals with the problem of the migration crisis that has hit the EU. Since 2015, there has been a sharp increase in the number of refugees from the region, to which European countries were not ready. By the end of 2019, Europe has already exhausted its economic capacity to receive and accommodate refugees, but their flow is continuing. Over the last 5 years, more than 4 million refugees from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia have come to Europe. In 2015, the flow of migrants was over 1.5 million people, in 2016 - 900 000, in 2017 - 650 000, in 2018 - 600 000, in 2019 - almost 550 000.The main causes of large-scale movement of migrants to Europe have been identified. Among them are wars and conflicts that destabilize the situation in their native countries; demographic outbreak in Africa and the Middle East, deteriorating funding for refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, exacerbation of the 2018-2019 Syrian crisis; the availability of high social guarantees and diaspora relatives in many EU countries.The political, social, cultural consequences of the migration crisis for individual countries and the EU are analyzed. The increasing flow of refugees has exacerbated in European societies the problems of terrorism, the increase in crime rates, the poor cultural compatibility of the local population with refugees, the increased right-wing sentiment and the high social costs of migrant adaptation.The importance of the ideology of multiculturalism for the current migration crisis in the EU is substantiated. The phenomenon of multiculturalism is compared with the phenomena of globalization and shows the impact on the situation in society, which lead to conflict. Multiculturalism has recently been perceived as a means that can mitigate the negative (primarily for traditional cultures, ethnic and religious groups) consequences of globalization, but narrowing the philosophical view of the phenomenon of multiculturalism to the institutional level, modern representatives of the humanities and practices in Europe (political scientists, sociologists, politicians) faced with the fact that the interaction of cultures has not been adequately reflected in theory and held in practice.

Factoring in Societal Culture in Policy Transfer Design: the Proliferation of Private Sponsorship of Refugees

The Canadian model of private sponsorship schemes (PSS) for refugees is becoming an increasingly popular target for policy transfer in the field of migration. This article argues that the influence of societal culture on this transplanting process has played an underexplored role in the literature. We seek to provide original guidance for factoring in cultural elements into the policy transfer framework by demonstrating how specific design choices in PSS transfer display clear cultural associations. A tentative study of nine countries that have adopted different models of PSS corroborates this hypothesis empirically. Our preliminary findings suggest that cultural compatibility may indeed increase the effectiveness of a policy transfer in some instances, while culturally preferred choices being adopted in other cases may result in suboptimal design. This converse interplay indicates that cultural awareness constitutes a crucial element of successful transfer processes and stresses the need to adopt a culturally sensitive perspective more frequently and more explicitly.