Formalization of ethics : the issue of standardization

Beyond the presupposed cleavage between economics and ethics, the institutional dimension of economic ethics is to the emphasized. The question is : how can we define collective legal rules which concern the whole society ? The other great issue of ethics formalization is then the implementation on the level of firms. The firm can use a large scope of instruments in order to formalize economic ethics. The asset of ethical standards is that they represent a specific way of coordination. They bring positive effects such as the fall of coordination cost and the reduction of uncertainty. Ethical standards can be regarded as a way to get information. They are also a way to formalize a "common morality", or even an universal morality in a Kantian conception. The central issue, regarding ethical standards, remains its origin and its construction.Economic ethics, ethical standards, industrial economics, industrial policy.

Firm Characteristics and Country Institutional Development: Business Relationships with Foreign Firms in Transition Economies

The composition of firms' foreign business networks has been attended to in recent research but has seldom been subjected to empirical study in transition economies. In this study, we test hypotheses related to the composition of firms' foreign business relationships. First, we suggest that firms' characteristics matter for building a network of ties the foreign agents. Then, we consider the moderating effect of the degree of institutional development of the home country to assess to extent to which firms' foreign business relationships in transition economies are affected by the institutional development. We conduct a set of logistic regressions and one OLS regression to investigate the composition of firms' business relationships using firm-level data from 24 transition economies. The results indicate that firm size and membership in trade associations are good predictors of foreign business relationships ? specifically, relationships with foreign investors, customers, and suppliers - and also of the diversity of foreign relationships. The country's institutional development radically changes which firms' characteristics matter in forming business relationships.transition economies, foreign relationships, types of ties, institutional development

Coping with Problems of Understanding in Interorganizational Relationships: Using Formalization as a Means to make Sense

Research into the management of interorganizational relationships has hitherto primarily focused on problems of coordination, control and to a lesser extent, legitimacy. In this article, we assert that partners cooperating in such relationships are also confronted with ‘problems of understanding’. Such problems arise from differences between partners in terms of culture, experience, structure and industry, and from the uncertainty and ambiguity that participants in interorganizational relationships experience in early stages of collaboration. Building on Karl Weick’s theory of sensemaking, we advance that participants in interorganizational relationships use formalization as a means to make sense of their partners, the interorganizational relationships in which they are engaged and the contexts in which these are embedded so as to diminish problems of understanding. We offer a systematic overview of the mechanisms through which formalization facilitates sensemaking, including: (1) focusing participants’ attention; (2) provoking articulation, deliberation and reflection; (3) instigating and maintaining interaction; and (4) reducing judgment errors and individual biases, and diminishing incompleteness and inconsistency of cognitive representations. In this way, the article contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between formalization and sensemaking in collaborative relationships, and it carries Karl Weick’s thinking on the relationship between sensemaking and organizing forward in the context of interorganizational management.Formalization;Sensemaking;Interorganizational Cooperation;Understanding

A framework for thinking about enterprise formalization policies in developing countries

What policies encourage firms to become formal? The standard approach emphasizes reducing the costs of compliance with government regulation. This is unlikely to be sufficient. Instead we need to understand compliance as a function not only of firm-level costs and benefits but also in terms of the interaction between the firm and its competitors and between the firm and the state. This paper emphasizes the coordination and credibility issues involved in promoting formalization and discusses possible institutional solutions, among them business associations that make the benefits of membership dependent on compliance, information sharing arrangements among government agencies and improvements in the quality of public management.Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Regulation

Franchising: A literature review on management and control issues.

Franchising; Literature review; Management control;

Informal Entrepreneurship: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda

Informal entrepreneurship (IE) has received increased recognition because of its theoreticaldistinctiveness and practical relevance. However, the burgeoning literature on IE is difficult tonavigate, due to its rapid growth across different disciplines. Through an integrative review, weintroduce a novel typology of informal entrepreneurs that captures their heterogeneity acrossvarious contexts. We point out a dynamic perspective of IE, consisting of three pathways—thereactive formalizing, theproactive formalizing, and theinformalizing pathways—along which informalentrepreneurs move, acquiring or foregoing regulative legitimacy. Our review extends the theoryon IE, outlines promising research avenues, and suggests relevant practical implications

Factors influencing environmental management accounting adoption in oil and manufacturing firms in Libya

This study was conducted to examine the factors that influenced Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) adoption. Specifically, it investigated the influence of the dominant factors in the organizational, environmental and technological contexts on firms’ intentions to adopt EMA. To achieve this objective, eight hypotheses were formulated, with information from previous research and the TOE framework, the TAM model, the contingency theory, the institutional theory, the legitimacy theory, the stakeholder theory and diffusion of the innovation theory. In order to examine these hypotheses, data were collected from financial directors and environmental managers in the oil and the manufacturing firms in Libya, who constituted the sample of this research, by using a researcher-administered questionnaire. A total of 202 usable questionnaires were collected and the data were subjected to tests of variances, factor analysis, correlations and multiple regression. The results revealed that age, education level and tenure in position were among the influential factors on firms’ intention to adopt EMA. The results also showed that Libyan firms in the selected industries were dominated by defender strategy and hierarchy culture, which favoured a centralized management style. However, these practices had a negative influence on firms’ intention to adopt EMA. Furthermore, the results also revealed that organizational, environmental and technological variables significantly influenced firms’ intention to adopt EMA. This study has made useful contributions to current knowledge by providing more explanations on EMA adoption in an unexplored context, and providing further insights into factors that facilitate and impede the adoption of EMA practices. The present study has also filled the gap in the EMA literature by developing a theoretical framework to assess the relationships between the factors within the organizational, environmental, and technological contexts and the intention to adopt EMA. To conclude, this study has provided important insights into the factors that influence the acceptance and adoption of EMA in general, and specifically in Libya. More importantly, this study has opened up possibilities for further research into EMA adoption in Libya and other developing countries, and worldwid

Elevating design in the organization

Following evidence of its positive contribution to innovation and company performance, many firms are seeking to elevate design to a strategic level. However, little is known as to how this can be achieved. This study draws on the literatures concerned with elevating organizational functions and with organizational legitimacy, and aims to unravel and detail critical practices and potential tensions influencing the elevation of design’s status in firms. To do so, 53 in-depth interviews were undertaken with key informants, representing a range of functional specialisms, in 12 companies, including large multinational companies as well as SMEs. Findings show how six practices – top management support, leadership of the design function, generating awareness of design’s role and contribution, inter-functional coordination, evaluation of design, and formalization of product and service development processes – affect the design elevation process. In contrast with previous studies on raising the status of organizational functions, this research reveals that the same practive can play both positive and negative roles, and that there are fundamental tensions, which should be reconciled if design’s status is to be elevated. Drawing on the concept of organizational legitimacy, we also examine how design moves beyond being seen as pragmatically useful, to being identified as a relevant, alternative way of operating, to being regarded as essential for success. The article concludes by articulating contributions to design and innovation management theory and practice, and to the body of scholarly work seeking to understand how to elevate the status of a function

Toward A Model of International Compensation and Rewards: Learning From how Managers Respond to Variations in Local Host Contexts

Managers and researchers recognize that the tensions created by the interplay of globalization and national environments influence the behaviors of multinational enterprises (MNEs). In order to develop a model that is useful for understanding the effects of the global and local host environments on managerial compensation, we undertook a grounded theory building study of managers in several multinationals. We use the information gained to extend two contemporary perspectives of IHRM: national culture, and strategic alignment. We develop the idea that it is the relative degree of variation (flexibility) within the local host context that is critical to understanding managers\u27 ICRS decisions. We present a different, pragmatic experimentation view of managers\u27 ICRS decision making, which we believe offers insights into the effects of the interplay of the MNE pressures to create integrated global systems and the pressures generated within the local host environments