Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management: Toward an Understanding of the Antecedents to Demand for Assurance

Recognizing the need for effective cyber risk management processes across the supply chain, the AICPA issued a new SOC in March 2020 for assuring cyber supply chain risk management (C-SCRM) processes. This study examines supply chain relationship factors and cyber risk issues to better understand the demand for C-SCRM assurance. Resource-Advantage Theory of Competition provides the conceptual foundation for assessing the dual drivers of relationship building and cyber risk management on demand for assurance. We use a field survey to collect data from 205 professionals enabling evaluation of the complex relationships in the theoretical model. Results support all hypotheses, provide satisfactory model fit, and support the underlying theory. Trust and cyber supply chain risk both positively influence demand for assurance over C-SCRM processes. This study expands the literature on cyber assurance by auditors and elaborates on overall supply chain processes that help drive value from auditors providing such assurance

European Parliament Preparatory Action: "Actual and desired state of the economic potential in regions outside the Greek capital Athens" Final Report

This is the final report of the European Parliament Preparatory Action: "Actual and desired state of the economic potential in regions outside the Greek capital Athens" (hereafter Preparatory Action or PA). It reviews the key activities of this preparatory action, its impacts, the remaining barriers to RIS3 implementation and presents a perspective on the way forward. Providing hands-on support to the refinement and implementation of the RIS3 strategy in the Greek Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (REMTh) has entailed the following activities: • Mutual learning: this has at core element of the preparatory action, and has offered a unique opportunity to all the stakeholders involved to share experiences and build a common understanding of RIS3, its potential and the real challenges to its implementation. • Optimisation of the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) – the design, implementation and adaptation of a systematic participatory methodology for the EDP, centred on thematic focus groups. These events enabled the generation and articulation of innovation ideas and initiated the first necessary steps towards concrete projects. • Capacity building - two dedicated working groups were organised: one centred on issues of human resources mobility and one on RIS3 governance. Relevant stakeholders, under the guidance of an expert, discussed and formulated plans on how to tackle the different challenges at stake. • Identification of bottlenecks and systemic failures in RIS3 implementation - the region has good potential for diversification, but faces a wide set of legal and administrative barriers, which need to be addressed to enable the allocation of structural funds and other resources to support RIS3 implementation in an optimal way. • Communication and codification of activities - with the aim of replicating or adapting the activities of the preparatory action and the emerging learning opportunities for other regions, outcomes of all the events have been published on-line, as have methodological guidelines for the EDP process. Furthermore, further publications from these activities are foreseen in the near future. • Supporting tools for internationalisation and collaboration. The preparatory action has developed a set of online resources that aim at guiding the region in increasing its international outlook to RIS3 and its collaboration between research and industry. The Preparatory Action generated some very concrete impacts on the regions, among which the main ones are: • The mobilisation of a critical mass of researchers and business people (600+ people), which actively participated to the EDP focus groups and PDL events. This bottom-up process has increased mutual trust, created a 'momentum' in initiating change and increased the understanding of what RIS3 can contribute to this change. • The appreciation of networking and research-business collaboration across stakeholders and especially between research and business. Indeed, some informal networks have been organised, for instance in the wine and marble sector. • The creation of an action plan for both RIS3 governance and mobility of human resources. • Both the Managing Authority and regional stakeholders have better access to international counterparts, both in governance of RIS3 and in performing research and innovation. • The project has also determined a shift in perception as far as the European Commission is concerned, which is now perceived more as a collaborator. • The PA has stimulated and accelerated a discussion between the EC, regional and national authorities which has help to clarify – for the whole country – several aspects of RIS3 and Structural Funds. • The preparatory action has significantly influenced the way to design and implement the development strategy for the Region by engaging all relevant stakeholders from the outset.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Lusophone-African SME internationalization: a case for born global and international joint ventures

This study investigates the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa multinational enterprises (MNEs) from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode. Information was gathered through a survey of 29 MNEs upper management respondents and subsequent face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 24 of them in their countries. The results suggest that most MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies, mainly joint venture and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as their preferred mode of entry when internationalizing. A significant group of them opted for e-commerce/e-business strategies and direct and indirect exports. A smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/international new venture (INV). Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework for use in studying the entry mode choice of enterprises from Lusophone Africa frontier markets and presents research propositions for better understanding the determinants of entry mode strategies of enterprise from Angola and Mozambique.https://doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2019.1634406Accepted manuscriptPublished versio

Manajemen Risiko Wakaf di Dompet Dhuafa

Penelitian ini menganalisis peta masalah pada kegiatan manajemen wakaf tunai dan tanah/bangunan mulai dari proses manajemen penghimpunan, pengelolaan dan pengembangan, hingga penyaluran dengan pendekatan enterprise risk management (ERM) COSO. Mengidentifikasi dan mengukur setiap potensi risiko tersebut kemudian menganalis strategi mitigasi atas setiap risiko dan strategi manajemen risiko yang harus disiapkan untuk setiap kegiatan manajemen wakaf. Analisis penelitian ini menggunakan teknik pengukuran dan pemetaan mengacu pada Godfrey (1996). Tehnik pengumpulan data menggunakan empat tahap, yaitu wawancara, kuisioner, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Studi Pustaka. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa risiko manajemen wakaf tanah/banguanan teridentifikasi sebanyak 47 risiko, terdiri dari 21 risiko tinggi, 15 risiko sedang, dan 11 risiko rendah.Kata kunci: manajemen risiko, erm, wakaf tanah, wakaf uang, dompet dhuaf

Strategic Cooperation of Ukrainian Industrial Enterprises to Create Competitive Advantages in the World Market

Competitive advantages in the market can be accumulated both with the use of the mechanism of cooperation, and as a result of coordination in the interregional sphere. The relevance of the study is determined primarily by the fact that cooperation between organisations allows to increase competitiveness in the foreign market. However, this gives rise to a contradiction that determines that cooperation between companies is possible only if the conglomerate or certain entities own controlling shares. With that, companies should not only constitute holding structures, but primarily be co-operators in the production cycle. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that strategic cooperation is proposed to be considered not only as a set of practical actions on the part of the state or regulatory structures, but also of consulting bodies. It is proposed to use the mechanisms of strategic cooperation based on mutual conditionality of interests and security of budgetary mechanisms that allow for practical activities. The authors also admit the possibility of the use of public-private partnership mechanisms. The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that each of the participants in the organisation of strategic management of enterprises can use not only strategic, but financial and systemic interaction mechanisms to form

Agrifood market regulation and contractual relationships in the light of directive (eu) 633/2019

Il volume collettaneo analizza le tematiche connesse alla disciplina dei rapporti tra i diversi attori della filiera agroalimentare alla luce della Direttiva UE 2019/633 “in materia di pratiche commerciali sleali nei rapporti tra imprese nella filiera agricola e alimentare” e della sua attuazione negli Stati membri, nell’ottica della più ampia problematica della disciplina del mercato agroalimentare. In tale prospettiva, nella prima parte del volume la disciplina dei rapporti contrattuali della filiera agroalimentare viene inquadrata nell’ambito della PAC e della disciplina della concorrenza, evidenziandosi altresì le connessioni con altri profili di rilievo; nella seconda parte, l’analisi si concentra sull’attuazione della Direttiva UE 2019/633 nei diversi Stati membri, al fine di evidenziare i punti di forza e le debolezze del mutato quadro normativo europeo.The collective volume analyzes the issues related to the regulation of relations between the various parties operating within the agri-food chain in the light of EU Directive 2019/633 "on unfair commercial practices in relations between companies in the agricultural and food chain" and to its implementation in the Member States, with a view to the broader problem of agri-food market regulation. In this perspective, in the first part of the volume the discipline of contractual relations in the agri-food chain is framed in the context of the CAP and of the discipline of competition, also highlighting the connections with other relevant profiles; in the second part, the analysis focuses on the implementation of EU Directive 2019/633 in the various Member States, in order to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the changed European regulatory framework

Managing Social Business Hybrids in Global Contexts: The Case of Impact Sourcing Service Providers

This dissertation consists of three related essays that seek to understand the core contingencies and strategies of managing social-business hybrids (SBHs) in global contexts. SBHs are also known as hybrid organizations that run commercial operations with the goal of addressing a social (or environmental) problem. I focus on the empirical case of Impact Sourcing Service Providers (ISSPs) which are SBHs that operate in the global business services industry. These organizations hire and train staff from disadvantaged communities to provide services to regional and international business clients. The first essay contributes to the growing interest in how hybrid organizations manage paradoxical social-business tensions. This study identifies two major growth orientations - ‘community-focused’ and ‘client-focused’ growth - their inherent tensions and ways that hybrids manage them. The former favors slow growth and manages tensions through highly-integrated client and community relations; the latter promotes faster growth and manages client and community relations separately. Both growth orientations address social-business tensions in particular ways, but also create latent constraints that manifest when entrepreneurial aspirations conflict with the current growth path. The second essay examines the strategic potential of hybrid business models in the face of Africa’s persistent difficulties with catching up in established markets. Focusing on the global business services industry in Kenya and South Africa and the practice of impact sourcing, this study argues that while regular providers struggle to compete with global peers, hybrid model adopters manage to access underutilized labor pools through community organizations, and target less competitive niche client markets. In this context, critical industry, institutional and firm-level factors affecting hybrid model adoption are identified further. The third essay investigates the variation in business model configurations of SBHs as a function of the background and aspirations of the social entrepreneur, and the level of domestic competition and global client expectations. This study further introduces the concept of liability of embeddedness, which relates to risks and costs facing hybrids targeting business clients outside of the geographic context within which their social mission is highly valued. This study contributes to research on international social ventures and international business, in specifying antecedents and contingencies of targeting international vs. domestic business clients as a social venture

The health care sector’s experience of blockchain:a cross-disciplinary investigation of its real transformative potential

Background:Academic literature highlights blockchain’s potential to transform health care, particularly by seamlessly and securely integrating existing data silos while enabling patients to exercise automated, fine-grained control over access to their electronic health records. However, no serious scholarly attempt has been made to assess how these technologies have in fact been applied to real-world health care contexts.Objective:The primary aim of this paper is to assess whether blockchain’s theoretical potential to deliver transformative benefits to health care is likely to become a reality by undertaking a critical investigation of the health care sector’s actual experience of blockchain technologies to date.Methods:This mixed methods study entailed a series of iterative, in-depth, theoretically oriented, desk-based investigations and 2 focus group investigations. It builds on the findings of a companion research study documenting real-world engagement with blockchain technologies in health care. Data were sourced from academic and gray literature from multiple disciplinary perspectives concerned with the configuration, design, and functionality of blockchain technologies. The analysis proceeded in 3 stages. First, it undertook a qualitative investigation of observed patterns of blockchain for health care engagement to identify the application domains, data-sharing problems, and the challenges encountered to date. Second, it critically compared these experiences with claims about blockchain’s potential benefits in health care. Third, it developed a theoretical account of challenges that arise in implementing blockchain in health care contexts, thus providing a firmer foundation for appraising its future prospects in health care.Results:Health care organizations have actively experimented with blockchain technologies since 2016 and have demonstrated proof of concept for several applications (use cases) primarily concerned with administrative data and to facilitate medical research by enabling algorithmic models to be trained on multiple disparately located sets of patient data in a secure, privacy-preserving manner. However, blockchain technology is yet to be implemented at scale in health care, remaining largely in its infancy. These early experiences have demonstrated blockchain’s potential to generate meaningful value to health care by facilitating data sharing between organizations in circumstances where computational trust can overcome a lack of social trust that might otherwise prevent valuable cooperation. Although there are genuine prospects of using blockchain to bring about positive transformations in health care, the successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces a number of very significant, multidimensional, and highly complex challenges. Early experience suggests that blockchain is unlikely to rapidly and radically revolutionize health care.Conclusions:The successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces numerous significant, multidimensional, and complex challenges that will not be easily overcome, suggesting that blockchain technologies are unlikely to revolutionize health care in the near future

Lusophone-African multinational enterprises internationalization mode: a case analysis of Angolan and Mozambican enterprises

Several internationalization theories have been developed over the past few decades that have made significant contributions in explaining the enterprise internationalization and their mode of entry strategy. It has been suggested that the determinants of entry mode choice of enterprises from emerging and frontier markets differ from those of comparable enterprises from advanced economies. A literature review appears to indicate that there is a need to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to accommodate the expansion issues enterprises from emerging and frontier countries face in the global marketplace. Nevertheless, not much information and an acceptable conclusion have been made on how MNEs from frontier markets internationalize and what factors influence their choice of entry into those markets. This study investigated the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically, their entry mode. Information was gathered through a survey of 29 MNE’s upper management respondents and subsequent face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 24 of them in their countries. The results of this study suggest that most MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies, mainly joint ventures and M&E as their preferred mode of entry when internationalizing. A significant group of them opted for eCommerce/ e-business strategies and direct and indirect exports. A smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV. Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework for use in studying the entry mode choice of enterprises from Lusophone Africa frontier markets and offers research propositions for better understanding the determinants of entry mode strategies of enterprise from Angola and Mozambique.Accepted manuscrip

Cross-sector social partnerships: value creation and capabilities

Aquesta tesi s’organitza en un compendi de tres articles individuals, tot i que estan interrelacionats, que se centren en diversos aspectes de les relacions interorganitzatives (RIO) entre sectors, en les quals es formen aliances entre empreses i organitzacions de la societat civil per tractar problemàtiques socials complexes. L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és contribuir a les obres de referència sobre aliances intersectorials a partir de l’anàlisi d’especificitats de les habilitats que es requereixen per involucrar-se, de manera eficaç, en RIO en què els objectius dels partners i els de l’aliança difereixen enormement de les aliances entre empreses. El primer article, “Through Indigenous Lenses: Cross-sector collaborations with fringe stakeholders” (Murphy i Arenas, 2010), il•lustrat a partir de tres casos d’estudi, proposa un marc per a la construcció d’un pont intercultural i un model per a la creació de valor en les col•laboracions intersectorials entre empreses i parts interessades de la perifèria. El segon article, “Value Creation in Cross-Sector Collaborations: Increasing influence for competitive advantage” (Murphy, Arenas i Batista), que es basa en una enquesta duta a terme entre 362 directius espanyols de múltiples sectors, analitza els efectes i la interacció de les experiències de gestió anteriors a l’aliança i l’alineació de les missions, les estratègies i els valors dels partners en l’èxit de les col•laboracions intersectorials. Finalment, l’article “A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation in Cross-Sector Collaborations” (Murphy, Perrot i Rivera-Santos, 2012), recolzat per dos casos d’estudi, presenta el concepte de capacitat relacional per a la innovació social, un model relacionat amb la capacitat d’absorció, però més adequat al context de l’aprenentatge i la innovació en les col•laboracions entre sectors en mercats de subsistència.Esta tesis se organiza en un compendio de tres artículos individuales, aunque interrelacionados, que se centran en distintos aspectos de las relaciones interorganizacionales (RIO) entre sectores, en las que se forman alianzas entre empresas y organizaciones de la sociedad civil para tratar problemáticas sociales complejas. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a las obras de referencia sobre alianzas intersectoriales a partir del análisis de especificidades de las habilidades que se requieren para involucrarse, de forma eficaz, en RIO en las que los objetivos de los partners y los de la alianza difieren enormemente de las alianzas entre empresas. El primer artículo, “Through Indigenous Lenses: Cross-sector collaborations with fringe stakeholders” (Murphy y Arenas, 2010), ilustrado a partir de tres casos de estudio, propone un marco para la construcción de un puente intercultural y un modelo para la creación de valor en las colaboraciones intersectoriales entre empresas y partes interesadas de la periferia. El segundo artículo, “Value Creation in Cross-Sector Collaborations: Increasing influence for competitive advantage” (Murphy, Arenas y Batista), basado en una encuesta llevada a cabo entre 362 directivos españoles de múltiples sectores, analiza los efectos y la interacción de las experiencias de gestión anteriores a la alianza y la alineación de las misiones, las estrategias y los valores de los partners en el éxito de las colaboraciones intersectoriales. Finalmente, el artículo “A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation in Cross-Sector Collaborations” (Murphy, Perrot y Rivera-Santos, 2012), respaldado por dos casos de estudio, presenta el concepto de capacidad relacional para la innovación social, un modelo relacionado con la capacidad de absorción, pero más adecuado al contexto del aprendizaje y la innovación en las colaboraciones entre sectores en mercados de subsistencia.This thesis is organized in a compendium of three individual, though interrelated, articles that focus on various aspects of cross-sector inter-organizational relationships (IORs), where alliances between firms and civil-society organizations are formed to address complex societal dilemmas. The overall goal of this work is to contribute to the literature on cross-sector alliances by exploring the specificities of capabilities required to engage effectively in IORs where partners and alliance goals differ greatly from business-to-business alliances. The first article, “Through Indigenous Lenses: Cross-sector collaborations with fringe stakeholders” (Murphy and Arenas, 2010), illustrated through three case studies, proposes a framework for cross-cultural bridge building and a model for value creation in cross-sector collaborations between businesses and fringe stakeholders. The second article, “Value Creation in Cross-Sector Collaborations: Increasing Influence for Competitive Advantage” (Murphy, Arenas and Batista), based on a survey conducted among 362 Spanish managers across multiple sectors, analyzes the effects and interaction of prior alliance management experience and the alignment of partners’ missions, strategies and values on the success of cross-sector collaborations. Finally, the article “A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation in Cross-Sector Collaborations” (Murphy, Perrot and Rivera-Santos, 2012), supported by two case studies, introduces the concept of Relational Capacity for Social Innovation, a model related to Absorptive Capacity, but better suited to the context of learning and innovation in cross-sector collaborations in subsistence marketplaces