Cyber Power in International Relations

This chapter provides a conceptual and analytical framework for the understanding of ‘cyber power’ in the theory and practice of international relations. Cyber power is the product of relationships between actors, rather than a material quantity that can be possessed and converted into strategic outcomes. This chapter identifies four forms of cyber power that arise from different configurations of state and non-state actors: compulsory, institutional, structural, and productive. Analysis of national cyber strategies shows how states develop, leverage, and exploit their relationships with the actors and structures of the international system to generate cyber power in pursuit of their strategic objectives. Cyber power should therefore be understood as a multiplicity of forms of power in and through cyberspace, not as a singular concept or practice. Moreover, cyber power should be framed within broader conceptualizations of power, rather than treated as somehow distinct and discrete.

Impact of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability on performance: future pathways for supply chain resilience post-COVID-19

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability on supply chains (SCs) performance and how the integration of such technologies and their interoperability can create pathways for SCs resilience post-COVID-19. This is of paramount importance in the context of COVID-19 as the investigation around I4.0 technologies may provide relevant insights on how SCs may better respond to unexpected situations like the current pandemic with the use of digital technologies.Design/methodology/approachA survey research method was designed based on some constructs extracted from the literature regarding the main disruptive technologies, interoperability, elements of supply chains processes (SCPs) performance such as integration, collaboration, transparency, efficiency, responsiveness and profitability. The data were collected from March to July 2020 from different regions of the world when the peak of the first wave of the pandemic had occurred. The survey resulted in 115 valid responses. The study used a combination of descriptive, correlation and multiple regression methods to analyse the data.FindingsThe study indicates that disruptive technologies significantly impact SCPs performance (integration, collaboration, responsiveness and transparency) and their resilience. The findings did not support the notion that these technologies improve the efficiency of SCs, a significant contrast to the existing literature. Our findings also refute the existing understanding that interoperability moderates the impact of disruptive technologies on SCPs performance and enhancing the resilience of SCs. However, the findings show that the integration of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability has a positive impact on SCPs profitability.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings strongly advocate that this integration plays an important role in improving SC performance, and a future pathway of SC resiliency post-COVID-19. Considering that the I4.0 trend will impact SCs in the coming years, this study brings a relevant contribution to researchers and practitioners.Originality/valueThis study makes a unique contribution by investigating a novel causal relationship between the main elements (I4.0 technologies, interoperability, processes performance and strategic outcomes) related to the SC in this new context.

Competitive Rationales: Beneath the Surface of Competitive Behavior

Competitive dynamics research has focused on studying whether rivals are able and likely to carry out competitive actions, typically by examining indirect reasons such as characteristics of the actions themselves, the firms involved, or the competitive context. We explore why rivals initiate a specific competitive action at a particular time and situation. Drawing from the philosophy of action literature, we introduce the concept of competitive rationales to examine the primary reasons that cause tactical actions. Given the rapid exchanges characterizing tactical competitive dynamics, we conducted an inductive, multicase study to explore the reasons behind over 800 discrete tactical decisions carried out by 9 professional basketball coaches during 15 basketball games. To garner insight, we develop a conceptual framework revealing their types and scope. Even during intense head-to-head rivalry, most rationales were not rivalrous but were instead organizational—to optimize resource use, strategic consistency, and reputation—or social—to manage relationships. Moreover, the three main types of rationales varied in scope, extending beyond immediate competitive situations and rivals to address longer term, strategic outcomes, and assorted stakeholders. Thus, our analysis reveals these rationales to be complex and potentially difficult for rivals to decipher. It also recasts each component of the dominant awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) model of rivalry, suggesting that awareness is challenged by subtle rationales, motivation drives not only action but also forbearance, and capability is both a requirement and product of action.

From the War on farc to the War on Dissidents: a Critique of Imperial Peace in a Post-Agreement Theatre of War

In 2016, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (farc-ep) signed a peace deal (The Final Agreement to End the Conflict and Establish a Stable and Long-lasting Peace) in Havana, Cuba to end a 50-year-old civil war. This paper argues that, contrary to the conventional view, the relinquishing of weapons was a mistake, which is best understood through the context of regional power relations and politics of the Pink Tide and United States imperialism. It also argues that the peace deal has only favoured repressive political forces. It is hoped that this critical analysis of imperial peace will provoke further debate and discussion of the policies and movements which have disintegrated or survived, and can spark genuine solidarity amongst liberation struggles to achieve better strategic outcomes that are independent of any state power, however great or small.

Heterogeneity in Family Firms

This research explores in greater depth the importance of considering the heterogeneity between family businesses so as to better understand the differences in their strategic behavior, performance and business results. With this, we attempt to contribute to the theories on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management in the field of family business research. Our study identifies the different configurations that may be adopted in the ownership structures and the management and governance bodies of family firms, analyzing how these configurations are related to the firm’s strategic outcomes. Using a sample of 111 family firms, we perform a cluster analysis that allows us to determine distinct types of family businesses based on a set of dimensions regarding the characteristics of their governance bodies, both in business and in the family, as well as their ownership structure and degree of family involvement in management tasks. We then link the different types found with the profiles of managers, the repertoire of strategies used by these companies, and the differences in obtaining results in recent years.

Emergent Strategy from Spontaneous Anger: Crowd Dynamics in the First 48 Hours of the Ferguson Shooting

The fatal August 9, 2014, officer-involved shooting of a Black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked a series of local protests that culminated in a national social movement: Black Lives Matter. In this study, through a minute-by-minute analysis of crowd dynamics, I find that the eventual social movement strategy emerged from spontaneous acts of anger in protest crowds within the first 48 hours of the shooting. This finding is surprising in light of social movement scholarship, in which strategy is thought to follow from rationality and decision making within formal organizations, not emotionality and spontaneous action within informal crowds. By coupling a historical analysis of protest and policing practices with a comparison of prominent theories of crowds, emotion, and strategy, I theorize how strategy can emerge from spontaneous acts of anger as part of a distributed sensemaking process in crowds, rather than conflating strategy with rationality and deliberate planning in organizations. Taken in sum, this study challenges prevailing ideas about the wisdom of crowds and exemplifies the immanent potential for change, in which our seemingly “micro” actions are not trivial but can influence even the most “macro” of strategic outcomes.

Corporate social responsibility and access to bank loan: How much and how to give both matter

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the inverse U-shape relationship between DM and accessing loans from the banks and explore the moderating effect of donation mode diversity. Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey dataset of 1,036 private firms in China, we use a Heckman two-stage estimation model to test hypothesizes. Findings The results show an invert U-shape relationship between donation magnitude and access to bank loan. The authors also find that donation mode diversity will positively moderate donation magnitude–bank loan relationship: the positive effect of donation magnitude will be stronger for the private firms using multiple channels of philanthropic donation. Originality/value This paper extends the literatures by examining how philanthropic donation behaviors in form of donation magnitude (how much to give) and donation mode diversity (how to give) influence private firms’ loan borrowed from the bank, an important but largely ignored stakeholder. Therefore, it suggests that both the amount and the channels of philanthropic donation could have significant roles in the efficiency of achieving strategic outcomes of corporate philanthropy.

Pure structures or ambidextrous configurations? A grounded theory of knowledge-focused organizational design in innovative ventures

Extant literature remains inconclusive with regard to optimal structural designs for sustaining effective knowledge flows, boosting innovativeness, and achieving superior performance in organizations. We contribute to the ongoing debate on formal, informal, and ambidextrous configurations in the specific context of small high-tech innovators. Adopting an inductive approach to theory building, we explore the factors that account for the variation in knowledge-focused designs across sample firms. In our study, innovative ventures rely on pure formal and informal organizational designs but also attempt to mix both, suggesting that gains from ambidexterity are not ubiquitous. Our analysis unveils that the pursuit of a given structural configuration results from a set of operating contingencies and a deliberate managerial effort to align firm idiosyncrasies with desired strategic outcomes. We advance a grounded theory of knowledge-focused organizational design in small high-tech innovators and formulate propositions that may be tested in future inquiries in the field.