8,488 research outputs found

    A Design Science Research Approach to Smart and Collaborative Urban Supply Networks

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    Urban supply networks are facing increasing demands and challenges and thus constitute a relevant field for research and practical development. Supply chain management holds enormous potential and relevance for society and everyday life as the flow of goods and information are important economic functions. Being a heterogeneous field, the literature base of supply chain management research is difficult to manage and navigate. Disruptive digital technologies and the implementation of cross-network information analysis and sharing drive the need for new organisational and technological approaches. Practical issues are manifold and include mega trends such as digital transformation, urbanisation, and environmental awareness. A promising approach to solving these problems is the realisation of smart and collaborative supply networks. The growth of artificial intelligence applications in recent years has led to a wide range of applications in a variety of domains. However, the potential of artificial intelligence utilisation in supply chain management has not yet been fully exploited. Similarly, value creation increasingly takes place in networked value creation cycles that have become continuously more collaborative, complex, and dynamic as interactions in business processes involving information technologies have become more intense. Following a design science research approach this cumulative thesis comprises the development and discussion of four artefacts for the analysis and advancement of smart and collaborative urban supply networks. This thesis aims to highlight the potential of artificial intelligence-based supply networks, to advance data-driven inter-organisational collaboration, and to improve last mile supply network sustainability. Based on thorough machine learning and systematic literature reviews, reference and system dynamics modelling, simulation, and qualitative empirical research, the artefacts provide a valuable contribution to research and practice

    Corporate Social Responsibility: the institutionalization of ESG

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    Understanding the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm performance as it relates to industries reliant on technological innovation is a complex and perpetually evolving challenge. To thoroughly investigate this topic, this dissertation will adopt an economics-based structure to address three primary hypotheses. This structure allows for each hypothesis to essentially be a standalone empirical paper, unified by an overall analysis of the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance. The first hypothesis explores the evolution of CSR to the modern quantified iteration of ESG has led to the institutionalization and standardization of the CSR concept. The second hypothesis fills gaps in existing literature testing the relationship between firm performance and ESG by finding that the relationship is significantly positive in long-term, strategic metrics (ROA and ROIC) and that there is no correlation in short-term metrics (ROE and ROS). Finally, the third hypothesis states that if a firm has a long-term strategic ESG plan, as proxied by the publication of CSR reports, then it is more resilience to damage from controversies. This is supported by the finding that pro-ESG firms consistently fared better than their counterparts in both financial and ESG performance, even in the event of a controversy. However, firms with consistent reporting are also held to a higher standard than their nonreporting peers, suggesting a higher risk and higher reward dynamic. These findings support the theory of good management, in that long-term strategic planning is both immediately economically beneficial and serves as a means of risk management and social impact mitigation. Overall, this contributes to the literature by fillings gaps in the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance, particularly from a management perspective

    Management controls, government regulations, customer involvement: Evidence from a Chinese family-owned business

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    This research reports on a case study of a family-owned elevator manufacturing company in China, where management control was sandwiched between the state policies and global customer production requirements. By analysing the role of government and customer, this thesis aimed to illustrate how management control operated in a family-owned business and to see how and why they do management control differently. In particular, it focused on how international production standards and existing Chinese industry policies translated into a set of the management control practices through a local network within the family-owned business I studied. Based on an ethnographic approach to research, I spent six months in the field, conducted over 30 interviews, several conservations, and reviewed relevant internal documents to understand how management control (MC) techniques with humans cooperated in the company. I also understood how two layers of pressure have shaped company behaviour, and how a company located in a developing country is connecting with global network. I also found there is considerable tension among key actors and investigated how the company responded and managed it. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), I analysed the interviews from key actors, examined the role of government regulations and customer requirements to see how management control being managed under two layers of pressure, i.e., the government regulations (e.g., labour, tax, environment control) and customer requirement (e.g., quality and production control). Management controls were an obligatory passage point (OPP), and transformation of those elements of Western production requirements and government requirements arrived at the Chinese local factory and influenced management control and budgeting. The findings suggest that management control systems are not only a set of technical procedures, but it is also about managing tensions. This understanding shows a linear perspective on MC practices rather than a social perspective. However, when we use ANT as a theoretical perspective, we see those actors who, being obliged and sandwiched, and controlled by external forces for them to follow. Consequently, human actors must work in an unavoidable OPP. This is the tension they face which constructed mundane practices of MC. Hence, MCs are managing such tensions. This study contributes to management control research by analysing management controls in terms of OPP, extends our understanding by illustrating the role of the government and customers, and our understanding of family-owned business from a management controls perspective in a developing country

    Examining the Impact of Personal Social Media Use at Work on Workplace Outcomes

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    A noticable shift is underway in today’s multi-generational workforce. As younger employees propel digital workforce transformation and embrace technology adoption in the workplace, organisations need to show they are forward-thinking in their digital transformation strategies, and the emergent integration of social media in organisations is reshaping internal communication strategies, in a bid to improve corporate reputations and foster employee engagement. However, the impact of personal social media use on psychological and behavioural workplace outcomes is still debatebale with contrasting results in the literature identifying both positive and negative effects on workplace outcomes among organisational employees. This study seeks to examine this debate through the lens of social capital theory and study personal social media use at work using distinct variables of social use, cognitive use, and hedonic use. A quantitative analysis of data from 419 organisational employees in Jordan using SEM-PLS reveals that personal social media use at work is a double-edged sword as its impact differs by usage types. First, the social use of personal social media at work reduces job burnout, turnover intention, presenteeism, and absenteeism; it also increases job involvement and organisational citizen behaviour. Second, the cognitive use of personal social media at work increases job involvement, organisational citizen behaviour, employee adaptability, and decreases presenteeism and absenteeism; it also increases job burnout and turnover intention. Finally, the hedonic use of personal social media at work carries only negative effects by increasing job burnout and turnover intention. This study contributes to managerial understanding by showing the impact of different types of personal social media usage and recommends that organisations not limit employee access to personal social media within work time, but rather focus on raising awareness of the negative effects of excessive usage on employee well-being and encourage low to moderate use of personal social media at work and other personal and work-related online interaction associated with positive workplace outcomes. It also clarifies the need for further research in regions such as the Middle East with distinct cultural and socio-economic contexts

    Stakeholder Governance: Empirical and Theoretical Developments

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    Stakeholder governance receives attention across many disciplines, resulting in fragmented knowledge. The inherent complexity of stakeholder governance requires the integration of this knowledge to develop comprehensive and inclusive theories to better conceptualize this phenomenon. In this research, we develop stakeholder governance through empirical and theoretical approaches. In the first essay, we use multiple case comparisons to empirically examine how and why organizations manage food waste to develop grounded theory through contextualized explanations. We contribute grounded theoretical and empirical evidence to show that food waste represents a significant business problem. Our data suggests that dimensions of logistics and stakeholder governance dictate how and why organizations manage food waste. These findings stimulate a deeper dive into stakeholder governance, revealing fragmentations in knowledge that require holistic, interdisciplinary review and synthesis. In the second essay, we identify definitions and terminologies, review the evolution of theories and orientations, organize mechanisms and conceptualizations, synthesize key theoretical tensions, and offer suggestions for future research to contribute theoretical developments for stakeholder governance. We contribute pluralist conceptual frameworks that integrate knowledge across disciplines to provide a comprehensive overview and recommendations. Overall, we contribute empirical and theoretical research to advance theory development for stakeholder governance

    STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN INDONESIA

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    This research aims to understand the ways the preparers of sustainability reports in Indonesia embed stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting. This research seeks to understand the perceived role of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting and examines whether the report preparers decouple their stakeholder engagement disclosures from the actual practices. The neo-institutional theory is used to illuminate the companies’ non-conformity responses to institutional influences. This research utilises mixed methods by deploying questionnaires, sustainability reports and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire survey was analysed using descriptive statistics. The interviews were conducted face-to-face and analysed using thematic analysis. Content analysis of stakeholder engagement disclosures was also undertaken on the 2007 to 2018 sustainability reports issued by the companies participating in the interviews. The findings of this research reveal that the report preparers attempt to embed stakeholder engagement in the companies’ sustainability reporting in response to coercive, normative and mimetic influences. However, stakeholder engagement is loosely embedded as a result of contextualising the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s conception of stakeholder engagement into Indonesia’s local contexts. Stakeholder engagement is perceived as having important roles in mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and materiality assessment to define the report content. External stakeholders are engaged more inclusively in the former whereas internal stakeholders take control of the latter. It is not evident that the report preparers in Indonesia decouple stakeholder engagement disclosures from practices. However, the ways in which the companies practise their stakeholder engagement (means) deviate from the goals of stakeholder engagement suggested by the GRI’s principles for defining the report content (ends), known as the means-ends decoupling. The report preparers in Indonesia accept the GRI’s concept by meeting the suggested indicators, but unintentionally overlook the GRI’s principles that are required to be implemented as a new institution, rather than intentionally avoiding them. The main contribution of this research to the literature is that it provides insights into the need to embed stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in an integral way, including by translating the GRI’s global conception into local context. This research also provides insights into the presumption that ‘companies report the practice’ of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting—as suggested by the GRI and the extant literature. Just because the companies report the practice (means) by making reference to the GRI, it does not necessarily follow that the companies have conformed to the goals of stakeholder engagement suggested by the GRI’s principles for defining the report content (ends). Taking into full consideration Indonesia’s politicoeconomic, sociocultural and legal contexts, which can be dissimilar to other local contexts, this research contributes to an understanding of decoupling, especially the means-ends decoupling, which tends to be unintentional in the companies’ non-acquiescent response to institutional influences. The decoupling indicates that the report preparers consider the GRI’s stakeholder engagement indicators as technical prescriptions leading to box-ticking activities, rather than being thoroughly understood and implemented as a new institution. Besides, this research offers a practical contribution in that the companies’ sustainability reporting consultants could shepherd their clients’ stakeholder engagement, guided by the GRI standards (previously called guidelines), to go beyond merely meeting the GRI indicators and producing ‘nice to read’ sustainability reports

    SUBSUMPTION AS DEVELOPMENT: A WORLD-ECOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE SOUTH KOREAN "MIRACLE"

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    This work offers a critical reinterpretation of South Korean "economic development" from the perspectives of Marxian form critique and Jason Moore's world-ecology. Against the "production in general" view of economic life that dominates the extant debates, it analyzes the rise, spread, and deepening of capitalism's historically specific social forms in twentieth-century (South) Korea: commodity, wage-labor, value, and capital. Eschewing the binary language of development and underdevelopment, we adopt Marx's non-stagist distinctions regarding the relative degree of labor's (and society's) subsumption under capital: hybrid, formal, and real. Examining the (South) Korean experience across three dialectically interrelated scales – regional, global, and "national" – we outline the historical-geographical contingency surrounding South Koreas emergence by c.1980 as a regime of (industrialized) real subsumption, one of the only non-Western societies ever to do so. Crucial to this was the generalization of commodification and proletarianization that betokened deep structural changes in (South) Korea's class structure, but also a host of often-mentioned issues such as land reform, foreign aid, the developmental state, and a "heaven sent" position within the US-led Cold War order. Despite agreeing on the importance of these latter factors, however, the conclusions we draw from them differ radically from those of the extant analyses. For although regimes of real subsumption are the most materially, socially, and technologically dynamic, they are also the most socio-ecologically unsustainable and alienating due to the dualistic tensions inherent to capital's "fully developed" forms, in particular the temporal grounding of value. US protestations about the generalizability of these relations aside, moreover, these regimes have always been in the extreme minority and, crucially, have depended on less developed societies for their success. Historically, this has been achieved through widening the net of capitalist value relations; however, four decades of neoliberalization has all but eliminated any further large-scale "frontier strategies" of this sort. Due to its relatively dense population vis-a-vis its geographical size, contemporary South Korea faces stark challenges that render it anything but a model of "sustainable development," but rather signal the growing anachronism of value as the basis for regulating the future of nature-society relations in the "developed world" and beyond

    ‘We the People: Supporting Food SMEs towards a Circular Food Economy’

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    This single Case Study locates SME (small and medium-size enterprise) hospitality and food services (HaFS) within a complex food waste system. It examines collaborative support for business change from linear resource wastage (‘take, use, dump), towards a circular food economy (CfE)- where ‘designing out’ food waste may reap savings. The objective is to support SME uptake of waste aversion practices so that they may thrive. The qualitative research centers on a London-based project promoting food waste valorization and healthy nutrition, in 15 boroughs. That project’s outreach for broad-based, collective impact included HaFS that are SMEs. Cross-sector liaison was the research focus for this Case Study which utilizes a hybrid philosophy and meta-framework, based on Critical Realism and Systemic Thinking. Some reference to Interpretivism highlights stewardship values for transforming individual behaviour. The Study also uses a multi-method design, borrowing soft systems from Management Science and Operational Research. Its blended approach includes: participant observation, mapping and rich picture techniques, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The main research questions align concepts such as: circular economy, cross-sector collaboration and food waste management- with HaFS that are SMEs. A framework method and Leximancer software supported coding and qualitative thematic analysis. Primary findings include interesting categories of analytical, NGO and policy literature. Although conversations flagged up pivotal roles for our health and education sectors, the food SME element still seems peripheral in this transition to regenerative business. A ‘people vibe’ is enabling some HaFS’ kitchen waste action and food redistribution and, academia is a potential contributor to this information resource flow among stakeholders. The Study’s unique onto-epistemological framework enhances philosophical and theoretical knowledge about promoting SME resource stewardship. It spans Systemic Thinking (overt connections and acute complexities) and Critical Realism (deep mechanisms and institutional power differentials, impacting change). As an interpretive lens, the framework’s contribution to praxis was tested by shadowing the London TRiFOCAL project. This research could inform a business policy shift from traditional supply chain thinking, towards active UK food citizenship

    Cooperatives in the social and solidarity economy: Sustainable development and decent work in Africa’s informal economy

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    How can the contribution of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) to global development frameworks (the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Decent Work Agenda (DWA) be made more effective, impactful and visible, in particular with regard the informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa? This thesis seeks to provide an answer to this question through the journey of my professional practice, bridging the gap to academic theory. The thesis critically analyses and builds upon the contributions to knowledge of my portfolio of seven ‘professional practice’ papers published between 1993 and 2020. The papers were written upon request or invitation by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, the Plunkett Foundation, and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation. The thesis starts with a contextual overview of the state of the field from both practice and theory. This is followed by a literature review which examines academic theory in relation to, and interaction between, the five focus areas of my thesis (cooperatives, SSE, DWA, SDGs, informal economy) within the context of neoliberal policies in Africa. I then critically reflect on the methodological, theoretical and political aspects of my seven publications. Finally, I pin-point directions for future research. I conclude that the SSE’s potential to contribute to sustainable development and decent work in Africa is far from being fully harnessed, for the reason that most policy-makers, researchers and practitioners lack cognizance of the existence and agency of member-based organizations that constitute the SSE. Through the journey of writing the theses I have developed a conceptual model and an accompanying tool to systematically identify and evaluate the synergies and complementarities between the four dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social, environmental and institutional), the four pillars of decent work (jobs, protection, dialogue, rights), and the four functions of the SSE (economic opportunities, social security, societal empowerment, environmental protection). This then helps to identify SSE-pertinent SDG targets, and to determine which types of organizations in the SSE are best suited to contribute to specific SDG targets. I consider this conceptual model and its accompanying tool as an original contribution to knowledge of theoretical and practical applicability
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