Varieties of populism

© 2020 The Authors Global Strategy Journal published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Strategic Management Society Research Summary: The recent electoral popularity of populism suggests our understanding of global and domestic institutions and their impact and relevance to international business may require adjustment. In particular, the literature may be omitting key variables as to what the political environment entails. We propose a framework for understanding the differing varieties of populism. We examine what channels populist thought operates through and how various strains of populism concentrate on different facets of society. We articulate an operational definition for international strategy based upon prior research in economics, political science, and history. This framework is incorporated into current research on institutional theory as applied in international business, with the goal of proposing a more nuanced and foundational view of institutional environments and how they impact global strategy. Managerial Summary: The surge of populism globally—but especially in developed economies—has highlighted new perils for business strategy. Our current models of strategic thinking have not yet caught up to the reality of populism's moment, nor have they accurately captured what are increasingly important facets of a political system, such as traits of specific leaders. This paper examines the need to incorporate new perspectives on institutions into global strategy. In particular, we highlight the various varieties of populism—whether it focuses on economic, social, or political ends—and how each approach can impact a business in a different manner. In doing so, we provide some clarity and guidance for managers faced with political turbulence

Measure for measure: new ways of looking at the long-term performance of firms

The need for sustainable long-term performance is an expectation driving the actions of those at the top of organisations. Yet there are few illusions about just how difficult that is to achieve – nor is it easy to determine precisely what should be measured and how

E-Business Strategy and Firm Performance: A Latent Class Assessment of the Drivers and Impediments to Success

Among many leading organizations, in all sectors of industry, commerce and government, there is considerable evidence of e-business being deployed to achieve strategic goals. Where this deployment has been most successful, there is a strong case that the organization has taken an integrated approach that both builds on the organization\u27s strengths and pays careful attention to the process of change within the organization. However, in the literature most empirical work has either studied e-business strategy and performance from the perspective of strategy content - which highlights positioning and/or unique bundles of resources - or from the perspective of strategy process - which captures human influence and e-business implementation. In this study, we integrate these two perspectives to develop a more holistic understanding of the underlying drivers of e-business performance. Further, latent class modeling techniques are used to show that the variables in our study are heavily influenced by the unobservable heterogeneity across firms. Four distinct types of firms populate our data, and the relationship between performance and its underlying determinants varies greatly between them. The implication is that a single model cannot explain the relationship between environment, structure, feasibility, managerial beliefs and performance. This is critical to our understanding of e-business as it implies that there is far less homogeneity at the individual firm level than is normally assumed in the literature

Examining Managerial Preferences and Choices: The Role of Value Creation and Value Appropriation Drivers in Strategic Outsourcing

A significant volume of research examines value creation (total value created in a given relational transaction between two or more firms) and value appropriation (level of value the focal firm captures) as two major components managers examine when considering the outsourcing choice. However, scholars have paid far less attention to the trade-offs managers of a focal firm make when they consider the total value an outsourcing choice creates and the value they expect the firm to capture. In a study of 1,728 decisions made by 72 managers with outsourcing experience, we examine how managers distribute importance (i.e., utility) between these two important value components, and whether or not heterogeneity exists in managerial preference models. Our analysis finds that managers’ expectation about the total value an outsourcing engagement will create has a positive influence on the decision to outsource. Moreover, the level of value managers expect to appropriate strengthens this relationship when the value an outsourcing engagement creates involves shared investments in resources and capabilities. We also find significant idiosyncrasy in managerial preference models. In several cases, the characteristics of the decision maker explain a large portion of the variance in the decision to outsource