Diffusion of CSR in Global Business Networks: An Embeddedness Perspective

This dissertation examines the role of firm embeddedness in its global business network, relative to the adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. Global business networks refer to the nexus of inter-firm and intra-firm relationships, in which focal actors are engaged. These networks are focal firm specific, span multiple countries and involve different types of economic relationships between the focal actor and its business partners. This study argues that global business networks affect a focal organization\u27s CSR adoption decisions, since they provide access to resources and information and also channel CSR-related institutional influences from the various countries where the focal firm\u27s business partners are located. The firm is exposed to a multiplicity of institutional forces concerning CSR because of its ties to business partners located in countries with varying CSR institutional requirements. Therefore, how should the firm prioritize these influences? In order to answer this question, this dissertation considers two aspects of the environment in which the firm operates, namely its institutional and its economic embeddedness in the global business network. In the context of this study, institutional embeddedness refers to the CSR-related norms rules, beliefs and the uniformity (or lack thereof) of these. Economic embeddedness is defined as the type and quantity of economic resources that flow through a network and determine the degree of dependence of the focal firm on a specific business partner. A firm\u27s economic and institutional embeddedness are considered jointly because economic ties channel the institutional forces that are present within the global business networks. Based on their strength and nature they also contribute to shaping the intensity with which these forces are experienced by the focal actors. Therefore, an actor\u27s economic and institutional embeddedness represent the building blocks of the main constructs of interest of this study. These capture the strength of the institutional requirements concerning CSR within the global business network, their heterogeneity, and whether the firm operates in contexts with more stringent requirements for CSR than those of its home country. Results indicate that these factors are all important drivers of a firm\u27s decision to adopt CSR practices. They also show that a focal firm\u27s foreign direct investment- (FDI-) based relationships are more effective channels for the diffusion of institutional influences than trade-based relationships. This dissertation makes several theoretical contributions. First, it contributes to the international business research area by expanding the conceptualization of the global space where MNCs operate. This has traditionally been analyzed in terms of its intra-firm network (Ghoshal & Bartlett, 1990). This work extends the conceptualization of this space to also include the organization\u27s inter-firm ties. It also contributes to the emergent interest among international business scholars for considering both the constraining and enabling effects of institutional forces (e.g., Kostova, Roth & Dacin, 2008; Saka-Helmhout & Geppert, 2011). In addition, the dissertation contributes to organizational theory by narrowing the existing gap between institutional and network perspectives about organizational behavior, by making explicit the role that networks play as conduits for the diffusion of institutional practices (Owen-Smith & Powell, 2008). The second contribution to organizational theory focuses on the embeddedness research area, by answering recent calls to focus not only on the structure of network ties, but also on their content, which are here explored in terms of the firm\u27s institutional and economic embeddedness. This work also provides a nuanced investigation of the firm\u27s embeddedness, by measuring and modeling the intensity and types of economic exchanges between the focal firm and its business partners as constitutive elements of the intensity with which the focal actor perceives these institutional influences that emerge from the global business network. This dissertation also contributes to CSR research by expanding the analytical focus in order to make sense of the firm\u27s CSR adoption decisions beyond the traditional firm and national boundaries and to also consider the complex composite of institutional forces that emerge from firm\u27s embeddedness in the global business network. To conduct the study, longitudinal data was collected from a diverse range of sources. The sampling history extends from 2007 to 2011, and the number of sampled corporations is 710. In total, there are 2386 firm-year observations in the sample. The sample in this study consists of publicly traded U.S. firms listed on the Russell 3000 index, which includes the largest U.S. multinationals in terms of market capitalization, with matching information from the Kinder, Lydenberg and Domani (KLD), Port Import Export Report Service (PIERS), Corporate Affiliations and Compustat databases

The Liability of Disruption

Research summary. We study the internationalization-related legitimacy challenges of firms with disruptive business models by using a case comparison of leading sharing economy companies Airbnb and Uber. We show that they are insulated from many traditional legitimacy challenges to multinationals entering host markets, but exposed to others that have not been noted previously. Specifically, we identify a novel market-entry legitimacy challenge, ‘liability of disruption,’ which manifests as regulatory, incumbent business and societal pushback against firms with disruptive business models. After presenting our cross-case analysis, we theorize about the nature and impacts of these three distinct but interconnected forms of host country institutional pushback on firms’ ability to achieve and maintain legitimacy, and how they are driven by national governance characteristics. Managerial summary. Sharing economy companies Airbnb and Uber have engaged in rapid processes of global growth, but their practices and right to operate have been challenged by a variety of host country stakeholders. This study shows that their international expansion efforts have been affected by emergent regulatory scrutiny, incumbent businesses’ opposition, and other societal concerns about their impacts on employees, customers, competitors and the communities where they operate. We label these challenges as the ‘liability of disruption’ and illustrate their importance for understanding the internationalization-related complexities faced by sharing economy firms and, more generally, internationalizing ventures with disruptive business models that aim to restructure entire industry sectors

Combined RNAscope and immunohistochemistry staining on duodenal paraffin sections as a new tool to reveal cytolytic potential of intraepithelial lymphocytes

: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a consolidated technique for the identification of surface and cytoplasmic antigens in cells or tissue sections using specific antibodies, yet simultaneous detection of two markers on the same cell may be difficult to achieve. Here we develop a protocol to perform a double staining using RNAscope, a new in-situ hybridization (ISH) technology, to visualize perforin transcripts, and classical IHC to visualize either CD8 or TcRγδ positive intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) in small intestinal paraffin sections of celiac disease (CD) patients. This double assay will allow to investigate the cytotoxic properties of two subsets of IELs in different stages of CD, thus contributing to understand the events leading to tissue destruction and healing

Rethinking Corporate Power to Tackle Grand Societal Challenges: Lessons from Political Philosophy

We review three books that examine three interrelated grand challenges: climate change, abusive power in the workplace, and unfair international trading relations. The main take-away is that decision makers’ moral compass is centrally important to bring about more equitable and sustainable outcomes. Although the three books differ in structure and style, the shared wisdom that emerges from them is that we should abandon utilitarian approaches and embrace morality and self-governance at both the individual and organizational level in order to overcome the profit-making logic that dominates much of corporate action in today’s capitalist systems.Spanish Research Agency, 10.13039/501100011033 PID2019-106725GB-I0

When Are Voluntary Environmental Programs More Effective? A Meta-Analysis of the Role of Program Governance Quality

We meta-analyze 103 studies of 23 voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) to assess how their governance quality, or the rigor of their internal institutional mechanisms, drives their ability to improve their participants corporate environmental and financial performance. The goal of VEPs is to incentivize firms to reduce firms’ environmental impacts by bolstering their reputations and helping them learn practices that improve their financial performance. Research on VEP effectiveness, however, is inconclusive, in part, because most studies sampled individual programs, and were unable to analyze how difference in program characteristics drive their effectiveness. We draw on institutional theory to argue that VEP governance quality determines whether they improve participants’ environmental performance, and the natural resource-based view to argue that they improve their financial performance. Results confirm our predictions, and in doing so, help to establish a business case for VEPs with high-quality governance. </jats:p

Un ejercicio de reflexividad sobre la experiencia de investigar expectativas y trayectorias estudiantiles en el último año de escuelas secundarias bonaerenses durante la pandemia

En este trabajo nos proponemos presentar algunas reflexiones emergentes a partir de la experiencia de investigar durante la pandemia en el marco de un proyecto en curso en torno a la articulación entre el nivel secundario y el superior[1], más específicamente sobre las expectativas y trayectorias estudiantiles en el último año de escuelas secundarias entre los años 2021- 2023. Siguiendo la definición de Rosana Guber (2004), este escrito propone un ejercicio de “reflexividad”; es decir, cómo la conciencia de quien investiga sobre su persona y sus condicionamientos sociales y políticos, en- tendidos como género, edad, pertenencia étnica, clase social, afiliación política (Dallaglio y Di Piero, 2018) influyen sobre la práctica de investigación. A los factores antes menciona- dos se suman, en el momento histórico que atravesamos, las condiciones epidemiológicas como un nuevo condicionante de la producción de conocimiento. Para ello, en primer lugar presentaremos sintéticamente el proyecto y luego, las decisiones que se tomaron para investigar en contexto de pandemia. Finalmente, exponemos algunas reflexiones sobre la práctica de investigación y su contextualización.Fil: Di Piero, María Emilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Causa, Matias Daniel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; ArgentinaFil: Elias, Valentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; ArgentinaFil: Garriga Olmo, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Marano, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Marchel, Ana Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; ArgentinaFil: Scalcini, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; ArgentinaFil: Torti, Bárbara. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentin

Polyglutamine expansion affects huntingtin conformation in multiple Huntington's disease models

Conformational changes in disease-associated or mutant proteins represent a key pathological aspect of Huntington's disease (HD) and other protein misfolding diseases. Using immunoassays and biophysical approaches, we and others have recently reported that polyglutamine expansion in purified or recombinantly expressed huntingtin (HTT) proteins affects their conformational properties in a manner dependent on both polyglutamine repeat length and temperature but independent of HTT protein fragment length. These findings are consistent with the HD mutation affecting structural aspects of the amino-terminal region of the protein, and support the concept that modulating mutant HTT conformation might provide novel therapeutic and diagnostic opportunities. We now report that the same conformational TR-FRET based immunoassay detects polyglutamine-and temperaturedependent changes on the endogenously expressed HTT protein in peripheral tissues and post-mortem HD brain tissue, as well as in tissues from HD animal models. We also find that these temperatureand polyglutamine-dependent conformational changes are sensitive to bona-fide phosphorylation on S13 and S16 within the N17 domain of HTT. These findings provide key clinical and preclinical relevance to the conformational immunoassay, and provide supportive evidence for its application in the development of therapeutics aimed at correcting the conformation of polyglutamine-expanded proteins as well as the pharmacodynamics readouts to monitor their efficacy in preclinical models and in HD patients

TheShinISS-Vax. Vaccini a mRNA Covid-19 e miocardite/pericardite in soggetti con malattia reumatica in Italia

Introduzione. Diversi studi osservazionali analitici hanno evidenziato un aumentato rischio di miocardite/pericardite nella popolazione generale. Per quanto riguarda le persone con malattie reumatiche, le informazioni sul profilo di sicurezza dei vaccini Covid-19 sono ad oggi scarse. In particolare, non si dispone, per questa popolazione, di ampi studi epidemiologici con disegno metodologicamente robusto che analizzano il rischio di miocardite/pericardite associato ai vaccini a mRNA. Obiettivo dello studio è valutare l’associazione tra vaccini mRNA Covid-19 e rischio di miocarditi/pericarditi in soggetti di età ≥12 anni con malattie reumatiche in Italia. Questa analisi è un approfondimento dello studio multiregionale TheShinISS-Vax condotto dall’Istituto Superiore di Sanità per valutare l’associazione tra vaccini mRNA Covid-19 e l’insorgenza di miocarditi/pericarditi nella popolazione generale in Italia. Metodi. È stato utilizzato un disegno di studio Self-Controlled Case Series (SCCS) con dati provenienti da archivi sanitari correnti di cinque regioni italiane (Lombardia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Lazio ed Emilia-Romagna). Utilizzando un approccio di analisi distribuite con record linkage a livello regionale, è stata identificata la popolazione di vaccinati con prima e seconda dose di vaccini mRNA Covid-19 (BN162b2, mRNA-1273) tra il 27/12/2020 e il 30/09/2021 di età ≥12 anni. Il sottogruppo della popolazione con malattia reumatica ha incluso tutti i soggetti presenti in almeno uno dei seguenti archivi: archivio dei ricoveri ospedalieri (ICD-9-CM 446.5, 710, 714, 720, 725, 696), archivio delle esenzioni per patologia (codici 006, 028, 030, 045, 054, 067), archivio delle prescrizioni farmaceutiche (ATC L04, H02A) negli anni precedenti la vaccinazione. A partire da questa popolazione sono stati selezionati, attraverso gli accessi al pronto soccorso e/o i ricoveri ospedalieri, tutti i casi incidenti di miocardite/pericardite insorti nel periodo di studio (ICD-9-CM 391.2, 398.0, 422, 429.0, 420, 391.0, 393, 423.1, 423.2, 423.9). L’esposizione è stata definita come la prima o la seconda dose dei vaccini in studio; il periodo di rischio è stato identificato come 21 giorni dalla prima o seconda dose di vaccino e suddiviso in sotto-periodi di rischio prespecificati di 7 giorni; il tempo di osservazione al di fuori del periodo di rischio è stato definito come il periodo di non esposizione. Attraverso il metodo SCCS “modificato per 23 esposizioni evento-dipendenti” sono state stimate le Incidenze Relative (IR) e i rispettivi Intervalli di Confidenza al 95% (IC95%). Nel modello è stata inclusa come covariata tempo-dipendente la componente stagionale. Risultati. Nel periodo in studio, tra i 12.540.263 di vaccinati a mRNA sono stati identificati 289.623 (2,3%) soggetti affetti da malattia reumatica, di cui 30.667 di età inferiore ai 40 anni. Nei soggetti reumatici si sono osservati 230 (0,08%) casi di miocardite/pericardite, 27 nel periodo di rischio e 203 nel periodo di non esposizione. Non è stato riscontrato alcun incremento di rischio sia nei 21 giorni successivi alla vaccinazione (prima dose IR=0,65; IC95% 0,36-1,18; seconda dose IR=0,82; IC95% 0,45-1,48) sia nella sotto-finestra di rischio di 7 giorni (prima dose IR=0,89; IC95% 0,39-2,07; seconda dose IR=0,87; IC95% 0,35-2,15). Nel sottogruppo dei soggetti reumatici al di sotto dei 40 anni sono stati osservati 27 casi di miocardite/pericardite (0,09%), di cui solo 2 nella finestra di rischio di 21 giorni. Da notare che nella popolazione generale dei vaccinati sono stati osservati 3.065 (0,02%) casi di miocardite/pericardite, di cui 510 nella finestra di rischio [0- 21) e 2.555 nel periodo di riferimento. In tale popolazione, il modello SCCS evidenzia un aumento del rischio di miocarditi/pericarditi in seguito alla seconda dose nell’analisi dei vaccini a mRNA (IR=1,51; IC95% 1,24-1,84). Conclusioni. Dai risultati di questo studio non emerge un aumentato rischio di miocardite/pericardite associato ai vaccini a mRNA nei soggetti con malattia reumatica di età ≥12 anni, come invece osservato nella popolazione generale. Secondo le nostre conoscenze, si tratta del primo studio di popolazione che analizza il rischio di miocarditi/pericarditi dei vaccini a mRNA in un’ampia coorte di soggetti con malattia reumatica in cinque Regioni italiane e che utilizza il SCCS quale metodologia di riferimento nella valutazione della sicurezza delle vaccinazioni. Per questo tipo di studi, che analizzano eventi rari in sottogruppi di popolazione, si sottolinea l’importanza di condurre studi multiregionali con un’ampia adesione delle Regioni per avere la possibilità di produrre evidenze robuste a supporto di decisioni nella clinica e nella sanità pubblica anche per patologie, come le reumatiche, scarsamente rappresentate e analizzate