Adaptive practices in SMEs: leveraging dynamic capabilities for strategic adaptation

PurposeA global pandemic, broken supply chains, workforce constraints, technological advancements in artificial intelligence, etc. illustrate the continual threats that SMEs face. Extending the dynamic capability concepts of sensing, seizing and transforming, this research investigates practices by which SMEs successfully adapt over time.Design/methodology/approachA comparative case study method was employed using a purposive sample of SMEs, consisting of three American firms and one Canadian firm.FindingsThree sets of organizational practices, termed adaptive practices, that underlie dynamic capabilities for successful adaptation were identified: (1) continuous learning and process improvement, (2) leveraging reciprocal relationships and (3) communicating effectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe selected cases are from two countries in North America. Using a qualitative, inductive process, the authors are able to identify patterns of actions within various organizations; however, they are not able to establish causality.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical guidance for leaders to take action to improve their SME's dynamic capabilities for adaptation through creating coherent bundles of specified adaptive practices.Social implicationsBetter understanding of how SMEs successfully adapt to high uncertainty and business viability threats can result in multidimensional (e.g. financial, emotional) and multi-level (individual, family, community), positive outcomes for societal stakeholders.Originality/valueThe findings of this study build on the literature of dynamic capabilities and organizational practices and provide a practical foundation for effective adaptation, labeled as adaptive practices.

Are Immigrants Scapegoats? The Reciprocal Relationships Between Subjective Well-Being, Political Distrust, and Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Young Adulthood

This study examined the impact of native youth’s subjective well-being on exclusionary attitudes toward immigrants, seeking to understand the relationship between subjective well-being, political distrust, and anti-immigrant attitudes over time. Using longitudinal data, we followed three cohorts of native young adults ( N = 1352; Mage = 22.72, SD = 3.1) in Sweden over a period of 2 years. The results showed that subjective well-being did not predict an increase in anti-immigrant attitudes among native youth, but anti-immigrant attitudes had a significant impact on subjective well-being. The data also found bidirectional and mutually reinforcing relationships between subjective well-being and political distrust, and between political distrust and anti-immigrant attitudes. These results highlight that improving young adults’ subjective well-being represents an important basis for preventing the development of political distrust, which in turn could reduce native youth’s susceptibility to adopt hostile attitudes toward immigrants.

Knowing-with-snow in an outdoor kindergarten

This article highlights how reciprocal relationships between children and the environment can contribute to exploring understanding of children’s learning in the outdoor environment. We draw on data from a kindergarten in the northern part of Norway, where we have carried out fieldwork three hours a week from October to mid-May. During this period, the outdoor area was covered with snow of varying qualities. Snow and weather conditions are included as elements in a relational understanding, in which the environment is understood as open and dynamic – an interaction between past and present, between geography, materiality, people and the ‘more-than-human’. The learner and the environment are understood as an indivisible process, where different elements exercise a reciprocal influence on each other. Using Ingold’s concept of correspondence, we explore how children learn by being within and with the world. The article is a contribution to creating a nuanced understanding of children’s learning and the educator’s role within an outdoor environment in kindergarten practice.

Longitudinal pathways between emotional difficulties and school absenteeism in middle childhood: Evidence from developmental cascades

Emotional difficulties are associated with both authorized and unauthorized school absence, but there has been little longitudinal research and the temporal nature of these associations remains unclear. This study presents three-wave random-intercepts panel models of longitudinal reciprocal relationships between teacher-reported emotional difficulties and authorized and unauthorized school absence in 2,542 English children aged 6 to 9 years old at baseline, who were followed-up annually. Minor differences in the stability effects were observed between genders but only for the authorized absence model. Across all time points, children with greater emotional difficulties had more absences, and vice versa (authorized: ρ = .23–.29, p < .01; unauthorized: ρ = .28, p < .01). At the within-person level, concurrent associations showed that emotional difficulties were associated with greater authorized (β = .15–.17, p < .01) absence at Time 3 only, but with less unauthorized (β = −.08–.13, p < .05) absence at Times 1 and 2. In cross-lagged pathways, neither authorized nor unauthorized absence predicted later emotional difficulties, and emotional difficulties did not predict later authorized absence at any time point. However, greater emotional difficulties were associated with fewer unauthorized absences across time (β = −13–.22, p < .001). The implications of these findings are discussed.

Tun Mahathir’s administration of Malaysia’s relationship with Bangladesh: A preliminary appraisal

This study examines the pertinency and materiality of Malaysia’s affiliation with Bangladesh. It presents the picture of deep reciprocal relationships in trading and investment, workforce issues, and the societal, religious and cultural exchange between Malaysia and Bangladesh that deserve elevated research to get ideas of a further snapshot. The historiographic approach and literature-based qualitative method apply to this research and uses written primary and secondary sources to gather information. Several published texts and archival documents examine to achieve the objective. In terms of significance, the result of this study would craft a narrative of a new spear of the economic relationships, societal circumstance, and cultural contact that especially evident during Tun Mahathir administration when he served Malaysia as the fourth Prime Minister that would deserve supplementary study. Furthermore, it would serve to understand the characteristics of the subsequent engagements of Malaysia with Bangladesh.

Reciprocal Relationships Between Subjective Age and Retirement Intentions

Organizational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how subjective age—employees’ perceived age—is related to important work and career outcomes. However, the direction of the relationship between employees’ subjective age and retirement intentions remains unclear, thus preventing theoretical advances and effective interventions to potentially delay retirement. We contribute to the literature on work and aging by investigating the relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions longitudinally, using a sample of n = 337 workers who participated in a study with six measurement waves across 15 months. Results of a random intercept cross-lagged panel model show unique between-person and within-person relationships linking subjective age and retirement intentions. As expected, we found a positive relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions at the between-person level of analysis. At the within-person level of analysis, results suggest that retirement intentions positively predicted subjective age, but not vice versa. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of subjective age in the context of work and retirement.

Contextualizing Caves within an Animate Maya Landscape: Caves as Living Agents in the Past and Present

After groundbreaking work by multiple archaeologists in the latter half of the 20th century, caves in the Maya world are currently acknowledged as fundamentally ritual rather than domestic spaces. However, a more nuanced read of the anthropological literature and conversations with Indigenous collaborators in the past and present pushes us to move still farther and see caves not as passive contexts to contain ceremonies directed elsewhere but animate beings with unique identities and personalities in their own right. This article combines archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic documentation of Maya cave use in central Guatemala to build a foundation for examining caves as living beings, with particular attention played to the role they play as active agents in local politics and quotidian life. Through ritual offerings, neighboring residents and travelers maintain tight reciprocal relationships with specific caves and other geographic idiosyncrasies dotting the landscape to ensure the success of multiple important activities and the continued well-being of families and communities.

Inkulturasi Iman Kristen dalam Konteks Budaya Batak: Suatu Tinjauan Misiologis

The encounter between Christian faith and Batak culture is an important issue in mission activities. This encounter certainly faces various problems and tensions that can only be overcome by communication between cultures. This article seeks to map the experience of encounter Christian faith with Batak culture and religion. The inculturation of the Christian faith that was carried out at the beginning of the Catholic mission activities in the Batak lands was how to introduce the concept of a Christian God to the Batak people who actually have their own concept of God in their traditional religion. The process of inculturation requires the transformation of traditional Toba Batak culture through Christianity. Likewise, the transformation of Christianity through traditional culture. That is, there must be a reciprocal relationship between the Christian tradition and concrete culture in the sense of critical correlation. Reciprocal relationships will certainly bring tension. This process of inculturation is permanent and the gospel is expressed in a cultural context. The gospel is not only expressed with cultural elements, but also becomes a force capable of changing the life patterns of the Toba Batak people.Key words: inculturation, Christian faith, Toba-Batak. AbstrakPertemuan antara iman Kristen dan kebudayaan Batak merupakan isu penting dalam kegiatan misi. Pertemuan ini tentu menghadapi berbagai persoalan dan ketegangan yang hanya bisa diatasi dengan komunikasi antara budaya. Artikel ini berupaya memetakan pengalaman pertemuan iman Kristen dengan budaya dan religi Batak. Upaya inkulturasi iman Kristen yang dilakukan pada awal kegiatan misi Katolik di tanah Batak adalah bagaimana memperkenalkan konsep Allah kristiani kepada orang Batak yang sebenarnya juga telah memiliki konsep tersendiri mengenai Allah dalam agama tradisional mereka. Proses Inkulturasi membutuhkan transformasi budaya tradisional Batak Toba melalui kekristenan. Demikian juga sebaliknya transformasi kekristenan melalui budaya tradisional. Artinya, mesti ada suatu relasi timbal balik antara tradisi kekristenan dengan budaya konkrit dalam arti korelasi kritis. Relasi timbal balik tentu akan membawa ketegangan. Proses inkulturasi ini berlangsung permanen dan Injil diungkapkan dalam konteks budaya. Injil tidak hanya diungkapkan dengan elemen-elemen budaya, tapi juga menjadi kekuatan yang mampu mengubah pola kehidupan orang Batak Toba