Prelims
Adapting to Environmental Challenges: New Research in Strategy and International Business
ISBN: 978-1-83982-477-7, eISBN: 978-1-83982-476-0
Publication date: 21 July 2020
Citation
(2020), "Prelims", Andersen, T.J. and Torp, S.S. (Ed.) Adapting to Environmental Challenges: New Research in Strategy and International Business (Emerald Studies in Global Strategic Responsiveness), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xii. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-476-020200012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited
Half Title
Adapting to Environmental Challenges
series-page
Emerald Studies in Global Strategic Responsiveness
Series Editor: Torben Juul Andersen
Recent Books in Series:
The Responsive Global Organization: New Insights from Global Strategy and International Business. Edited by Torben Juul Andersen
Strategic Responsiveness and Adaptive Organizations: New Research Frontiers in International Strategic Management. Edited by Torben Juul Andersen, Simon Torp and Stefan Linder
Title Page
Adapting to Environmental Challenges: New Research in Strategy and International Business
Edited by
Torben Juul Andersen
Global Strategic Responsiveness Initiative Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Simon Sunn Torp
Department of Business Development and Technology
Aarhus University, Denmark
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
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First edition 2020
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-83982-477-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-83982-476-0 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83982-478-4 (Epub)
Dedication
In Memoriam
Simon Sunn Torp
† February 22, 1971 – November 3, 2019 †
“Genuine, giving and a good friend – always accessible, helpful, reliable and a true contributor.
Thanks for everything – you are (and will be) missed.”
Torben Juul Andersen
Contents
List of Contributors | ix |
Foreword | xi |
Chapter 1 Managing in Dynamic, Complex and Unpredictable Business Contexts | |
Torben Juul Andersen | 1 |
Chapter 2 Nothing Endures but Change: Studying Changes in Industry Choice and Determinism | |
Jerry Paul Sheppard and Shamsud D. Chowdhury | 19 |
Chapter 3 Fostering Strategic Responsiveness: The Role of Middle Manager Involvement and Strategic Planning | |
Stefan Linder and Johanna Sax | 35 |
Chapter 4 The Influence of Autonomous Strategy-making and Interactive Controls on Adaptive Corporate Performance | |
Torben Juul Andersen and Simon Sunn Torp | 65 |
Chapter 5 Corruption and Adaptive Responses: The Case of Institutionalized Deviant Practices in Corporations | |
Armando Castro | 87 |
Chapter 6 The Importance of Firm Size and Development Strategies for CSR Formalisation | |
José-Luis Godos-Díez, Laura Cabeza-García, Almudena Martínez-Campillo and Roberto Fernández-Gago | 107 |
Chapter 7 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Firm and Institutional Determinants of Value Creation Related to CSR Information Disclosure | |
Marco Visentin and Stafano Mengoli | 133 |
Chapter 8 On How to Leverage Green Technologies for Sustainability Performance in the Tourism Sector | |
Beatriz Forés, Alba Puig-Denia and José Maria Fernández-Yáñez | 163 |
Chapter 9 The Need for a Phenomenological Perspective in International Business Studies: Different Philosophies of Science and Their Consequences | |
Michael Jakobsen and Verner Worm | 189 |
Chapter 10 How Resource-poor Firms Survive and Thrive: The Story of Successful Chinese Multinationals | |
Xin Li | 215 |
Index | 229 |
List of Contributors
Torben Juul Andersen | Global Strategic Responsiveness Initiative, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
Armando Castro | The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London (UCL), UK |
Shamsud D. Chowdhury | Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University, Canada |
José Maria Fernández-Yáñez | Business Management Department, Universitat Jaume I, Spain |
Beatriz Forěs | Business Management Department, Universitat Jaume I, Spain |
Jose-Luis de Godos-Diez | Campus de Vegazana, Universidad de León, Spain |
Michael Jakobsen | Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
Xin Li | Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
Stefan Linder | Department of Accounting & Control, ESSEC Business School, France |
Stafano Mengoli | Department of Management, University of Bologna, Italy |
Alba Puig-Denia | Business Management Department, Universitat Jaume I, Spain |
Johanna Sax | Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
Jerry Paul Sheppard | Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Canada |
Simon Sunn Torp | Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, Denmark |
Marco Visentin | Department of Management, University of Bologna, Italy |
Verner Worm | Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
Foreword
The global business environment is as turbulent as ever and organizations must adapt to the changing conditions to survive and persevere. The way we conduct business and manage our societies leads to developments that are beyond our immediate control and create significant exposures with uncertain outcomes possibly in the form of extreme unpredictable events. The mounting complexity of the global business environment creates uncertain and unpredictable conditions with wicked problems to resolve. The conventional control-based management practices fall short in these disruptive contexts that call for more environmentally conscious management approaches to deal effectively with the consequences of current developments.
This collection of chapters outlines these contemporary challenges and suggests that business managers can make a (significant) difference by exercising discretionary choices within their specific industry contexts to circumvent the effects of environmental developments that are beyond their immediate control. It suggests that the adverse circumstances can be overcome through proper managerial actions. One way to induce such strategic responsiveness arguably is to engage middle and lower level managers in the organizational strategy-making processes to reduce adverse effects of environmental turbulence and exploit their upside potential by engaging their practical insights in the generation of responsive solutions. Adopting interactive control systems can be one effective mechanism to achieve this kind of interaction between practical local insights and coordinating efforts at the corporate center that generate an adaptive performance dynamic.
While this is easier said than done due to a variety of inhibiting factors, we note that some environments have institutionalized corruption in “immoral” non-market strategies that circumvent the aims for effective adaptation. We should obviously understand these mechanisms to enable proper countermeasures to their adverse impacts on business adaptation.
A predominant response to the mounting environmental challenges is the pursuit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a way to engage businesses in more adaptive behaviors that can circumvent the potential adverse consequences of environmental degradation. The empirical evidence suggests that adherence to more formalized CSR approaches is a function of firm size. Yet, the disclosure of CSR information is found to have a positive effect on the market-valuation of firms indicating that the market ascribes positive value to the CSR practices. Furthermore, it is found that application of green technologies with a strategic commitment to environmental and social concerns can be associated with more sustainable performance outcomes.
Finally, we realize that organizations operating across a multiplicity of cultural contexts are challenged in their ability to manage responsible corporate behaviors that typically are interpreted differently in the local contexts as opposed to the headquarter context they derived from. This points to a need for a phenomenological perspective that can help multinational managers understand cultural differences and disentangle the managerial challenges in a changing global business environment. It also uncovers a global competitive dynamic where resource-poor (Chinese) firms were able to thrive by introducing advantageous value-to-price offers to the market and gradually build more knowledge-based strategic advantages partially induced by supportive cultural values.
We believe that these chapters provide new interesting perspectives and insights on organizational adaptation, corporate responsible behavior, and the need for cultural sensitivity when operating with agility across global markets aiming to form a resilient organization.
We hope you will enjoy reading them.
Torben Juul Andersen, Frederiksberg, October 15, 2019
Simon Sunn Torp, Herning, October 15, 2019
- Prelims
- Chapter 1: Managing in Dynamic, Complex and Unpredictable Business Contexts
- Chapter 2: Nothing Endures but Change: Studying Changes in Industry Choice and Determinism
- Chapter 3: Fostering Strategic Responsiveness: The Role of Middle Manager Involvement and Strategic Planning
- Chapter 4: The Influence of Autonomous Strategy-making and Interactive Controls on Adaptive Corporate Performance
- Chapter 5: Corruption and Adaptive Responses: The Case of Institutionalized Deviant Practices in Corporations
- Chapter 6: The Importance of Firm Size and Development Strategies for CSR Formalisation
- Chapter 7: Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Firm and Institutional Determinants of Value Creation Related to CSR Information Disclosure
- Chapter 8: On How to Leverage Green Technologies for Sustainability Performance in the Tourism Sector
- Chapter 9: The Need for a Phenomenological Perspective in International Business Studies: Different Philosophies of Science and Their Consequences
- Chapter 10: How Resource-poor Firms Survive and Thrive: The Story of Successful Chinese Multinationals
- Index