Do Literary Studies Have a Present? Five Snapshots of an Institutional Void

ABSTRACT The future of literary studies depends on the acknowledgment of its present. After the emergence of post-theoretical times, in the 1990s, the academy faces a discontinuity with the intellectual projects of the twentieth century, which results in an experience of institutional void. The created space allows idiosyncratic practices, without a characterization of a disciplinary profile. In order to think about an institutional continuation of literary studies, it is necessary to recognize this void-like quality that the present times exhibit.

Unravelling the role of guanxi in the formation and management of international joint ventures – a systematic review of the literature

Purpose The formation of international joint ventures (IJVs) is one of the prevalent approaches for Western companies to conduct business in China. Yet, doing business in China is difficult for many firms, partially because of the institutional voids that are created by weak formal institutions. The paper aims to focus on the role of guanxi (an informal institution and a company capability that fills such institutional void) in the formation and management of IJVs. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review on the role of guanxi in IJV formation and management is conducted based on papers published in top international business journals between 2005 and 2020 – in total, 47 papers are included in the review. Findings The findings of the study are presented in four themes, namely, the role of guanxi as social capital in IJV formation, the role of trust in guanxi-based IJVs, the role of control mechanisms in balancing high reliance on trust in guanxi-based IJVs and the role of guanxi in managing inconsistencies in the regulatory environment. The analysis also reveals that guanxi has a positive effect on the development of IJVs if control between the parent firms is well balanced; otherwise, guanxi can trigger opportunism and leads to failures. Practical implications The study unravels how guanxi leads to successful outcomes in IJV formation and management, which assist managers who operate IJVs with their decision-making. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous paper has critically analysed the literature on IJVs using a guanxi perspective at micro (personal), meso (business) and (macro) governmental levels. This approach allows for providing more nuanced view of the role of guanxi in the formation and management of IJVs and aligns more closely with managerial decision-making.

Institutions, Corruption and Microfinance Viability in Developing Countries: the Case of Ghana and Nigeria

This article focuses on the role corrupt institutions (microfinance institutions) play in microfinance not being accessible for business development in Africa. It specifically sheds light on the contexts of Nigeria and Ghana to tease out the challenges and opportunities for small businesses consequent upon a culture of corruption in these countries and associated challenges for small business owners and entrepreneurs as well as microbusiness development. As well-known, in many developing countries with a high level of corruption, there is potentially a high incidence of institutional void, which presents setback and challenges for businesses to thrive. Microbusiness development relies largely on effective institutions to develop, and in situations where institutions are corrupt, these challenges are rather redoubled thus posing a threat to entrepreneurship development. Therefore, these contexts enable us to understand and interrogate the challenges facing microbusiness development, where corrupt microfinance institutions exist, as well as business opportunities if these corrupt institutions were not present. Thus this paper argues that for businesses to thrive enabling and effective institutional mechanisms are crucial, which will facilitate opportunities for microbusiness development.

Institutional Clashes Beyond the Judicialization of Health: Overlapping Powers in the Case of the Cancer Pill

The 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution institutes the promotion of “universal and equal access” to health care for Brazilian citizens. In this article, we will focus on the use and distribution of medicines as one of the national health system components. The organization responsible for standardizing and regulating the production and consumption of products and services is ANVISA – National Health Surveillance Agency, which works like the FDA (Federal Drug Administration). A unique episode took place in 2015 when a “popular uprising” began to take shape in Brazil around an issue regulated by ANVISA. Cancer patients had started to file lawsuits calling for access and permission to use a drug not authorized by this agency and which, according to the askers, supposedly would cure their disease. This drug is named phosphoethanolamine (popular name, cancer pill). Apart from the efficacy or otherwise of the drug in question, it might be interesting to organizational studies why a government organization may miss legitimation to exercise its legal role due to popular pressure, which strongly diverges from court decisions, especially involving power and legal interpretation. We approach theoretical possibilities about judicialization of health discussing triggers of institutional and social conflicts (a) by surveying studies that deal with judicialization calling for supply or release of medication (b) possible connections already established in the academy with the so-called cancer pill and, finally, (c) relating such situations to the concept of institutional void.

Embates Institucionais para Além da Judicialização da Saúde: Sobreposições de Poderes no Caso da Pílula do Cancro

A Constituição Federal de 1988 sentencia a promoção do “acesso universal e igualitário” à saúde para os cidadãos brasileiros. Nesse artigo, trataremos do braço da saúde que se serve do uso e da distribuição de medicamentos como componente desse sistema. A organização responsável pela normalização e fiscalização da produção e consumo de produtos e serviços sujeitos à vigilância sanitária é a ANVISA, Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária. Um episódio ímpar deu-se em 2015, quando um “levante popular” começou a tomar forma no país em torno de uma questão muito específica e regulamentada pela ANVISA. Pacientes com cancro passaram a entrar com processos jurídicos com intuito de receber autorização para utilizar um remédio não regulamentado pela agência e que supostamente curaria a sua doença: a fosfoetanolamina. Para além da eficácia ou não do fármaco em questão, parece interessar para os estudos organizacionais como e por que instituições enraizadas no país parecem perder a sua capacidade legitimada de realizar o trabalho para o qual foram criadas, ante a pressão popular, a decisões judiciais divergentes do entendimento do Poder Executivo ou ante a interpretação legal do acesso universal à saúde. Abordamos possibilidades académicas sobre judicialização da saúde, discutindo especialmente os gatilhos de conflitos institucionais que tais ações sociais podem desencadear especialmente (a) pelo levantamento de estudos que tratem da judicialização para fornecimento ou libertação de medicamento (b) possíveis conexões já estabelecidas na academia com a chamada pílula do cancro e, por fim, (c) relacionando tais situações com o conceito de institutional void.

Marginalized Small-Scale Farmers as Actors in Just Circular-Economy Transitions: Exploring Opportunities to Circulate Crop Residue as Raw Material in India

Facing substantial sustainability challenges, sustainable transitions to circular systems are increasingly called for. The use of biomass to produce textile fibers is a niche that could contribute to a circular textile system. In this niche, farmers supplying biomass would play a crucial role. Through a literature review, we argue in this article that farmers are important actors in this context, but their agency is limited by numerous institutional factors, such as cultivation practices, labor markets, and information systems. These factors together can create an institutional void, which can hamper both the agency of farmers and their ability to participate, as well as the justness of the niche. The void’s strength depends on the institutional interface a farmer is subjected to. Before just transitions to circular systems can occur, marginalized actors’ agency and ability to participate in the niche, in a just way, must be improved, by decreasing the strength of the institutional void.