A software-assisted qualitative content analysis of news articles: Examples and reflections

This article offers a step-by-step description of how qualitative data analysis software can be used for a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles. Using NVivo as an example, it illustrates how software tools can facilitate analytical flexibility and how they can enhance transparency and trustworthiness of the qualitative research process. Following a brief discussion of the key characteristics, advantages and limitations of qualitative data analysis software, the article describes a qualitative content analysis of 230 newspaper articles, conducted to determine international media perceptions of New Zealand's environmental performance in connection with climate change and carbon emissions. The article proposes a multi-level coding approach during the analysis of news texts that combines quantitative and qualitative elements, allowing the researcher to move back and forth in coding and between analytical levels. The article concludes that while qualitative data analysis software, such as NVivo, will not do the analysis for the researcher, it can make the analytical process more flexible, transparent and ultimately more trustworthy

Theorizing dramaturgical resistance leadership from the leadership campaigns of Jeremy Corbyn

What are the practices through which resistance leadership transitions from marginality to power? We present a framework of dramaturgical resistance leadership, paying particular attention to the relational dynamics between leaders, internal factions and external stakeholders. In doing so, we draw on an ‘expanded’ social drama analysis framework informed by the work of social anthropologist Victor Turner, incorporating insights from the resistance and critical leadership studies literatures. We develop our framework through a narrative case analysis of the British Labour Party’s 2015 and 2016 internal elections of its current leader Jeremy Corbyn where we identify a space between the phases of relational crisis and redress that offers possibilities for the enhancement and growth of resistance leadership. Within this space, we identify three practices of dramaturgical resistance leadership: ‘anti-establishment leadering’, ‘organizational redrawing’, and a ‘trifold focus’. These offer a means of rethinking the purpose and role of leaders within resistance movements alongside the co-constituted relations and generative practices that enable resisting groups to gain traction

Sustainable environmental practices in the New Zealand wine industry: An analysis of perceived institutional pressures and the role of exports

The focus of this article is to use institutional theory to provide a better understanding of environmental issues facing New Zealand wineries. Findings from a survey of New Zealand wineries indicate that institutional pressures do not fully explain the adoption of sustainable environmental practices in the New Zealand wine industry. The authors found that firms with a higher commitment to exports will adopt one of the environmental practices identified to a greater degree. The authors present explanations for these results in terms of the nature of the industry, size of the winery operations, and the higher overall export orientation of this industry

International entrepreneurship: A critical analysis of studies in the past two decades and future directions for research

International entrepreneurship (IE) is an emerging field with a rapidly growing body of knowledge. This paper examines gaps, issues and trends of the IE in the last two decades. First, it suggests an integrative framework based on international business, entrepreneurship, strategic management, social network and marketing theories. The suggested model highlights the significant role played by the entrepreneur/team, firm and network resources that act as antecedents to international opportunity development and value innovation. Second, it suggests four typologies of firms (born global, enduring global, early exporter and mature exporter) that can be studied under the IE theme. Finally, we discuss future research directions

Production outsourcing offshore in the New Zealand printing, publishing and packaging industries

Purpose – The study aims to investigate the production offshore outsourcing practices of SMEs in the New Zealand printing, publishing and packaging industries. It identifies the techniques SMEs use to organise and manage their offshore outsourcing activities. The authors then develop a managerial framework to assist SMEs in their future offshore outsourcing ambitions. Design/methodology/approach – The study takes a qualitative approach; obtaining data from a sample of 22 New Zealand SMEs in the printing, publishing and packaging industries that are actively offshore outsourcing production tasks. Data was gathered in the form of semi-structured interviews with SME managers who have carried out offshore outsourcing. Findings – To mitigate offshore outsourcing costs, SMEs use the internet to locate suppliers and use short-term reliable contracts that are managed remotely or by intermediaries. Customer involvement was highly important during the entire offshore outsourcing process. Most SMEs developed long-term business relationships with reliable suppliers. These findings are integrated into the SME framework, which identifies ways SMEs can overcome resource constraints and minimise risks when offshore outsourcing. Research limitations/implications – This study is confined to a single country and reports on findings for several related industries, i.e. the printing, publishing and packaging industries in New Zealand. This limits its applicability to research in other settings and other industries. However, it identifies an area of research (offshore outsourcing activities in SMEs) that could be extended to other industries and countries by future research. Practical implications – The SME framework presents an easily understood approach that has been verified by SME managers who have successfully offshore outsourced production tasks. The research proves that SMEs can offshore outsource within the constraints of limited physical and managerial resources. Social implications – The study showed that the decision-making process to outsource is supported by the transaction costs approach. Firms have to balance out total cost considerations in making their decision to offshore (including contingency costs) to ensure that the savings from outsourcing are greater than the transaction costs. The resource-based view of the firm is also used to suggest that offshore outsourcing means that firms may be able to improve their own competences by providing (through their suppliers) access to more sophisticated and higher-quality processes. Originality/value – The research contributes to the growing area of SME offshore outsourcing research, providing detailed empirical evidence of SME offshore outsourcing activities occurring in New Zealand

What motivates manufacturing SMEs to outsource offshore in China?: Comparing the perspectives of SME manufacturers and their suppliers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the motivations for offshore outsourcing encountered by manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their suppliers in China. The paper explores the motivations and challenges encountered by SMEs choosing to outsource their manufacturing activities and why their suppliers engage with them. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study method was utilized. The authors obtained perspectives of SME managers as well as the suppliers for each of the cases, conducting in-depth interviews in order to obtain comprehensive information about their outsourcing activities. Then, cross-case analysis was carried out using content analysis techniques to identify key themes for the motivations to undertake offshore outsourcing. Findings – The results showed that the first rationale for offshore outsourcing relates to increasing efficiency and labor cost reduction while holding quality constant. The second rationale is to maintain flexibility in resource allocation providing both manufacturing SMEs and their suppliers with an opportunity to enter new markets. For both manufacturing firms and their suppliers building a relationship through networks and alliances was the key to the success (learning orientation) of the partnership. Practical implications – The managerial implications of the findings are that first, from the perspective of client firms, the most important factor for success in manufacturing offshore outsourcing was maintaining good relationships with suppliers. The benefits of having close relationships with suppliers for outsourcing firms helped them to secure the quality of their products. The second managerial implication is from the perspective of the supplier firms. Supplier firms which were also aware of the transaction cost implications of their delivery while improving their own international image by supplying international clients. The evidence supplied suggests that supplier firms can benefit from using networks to assist them to gain international exposure. Originality/value – While there are numerous studies on offshore outsourcing by multinational enterprises (MNEs) and large enterprises, there are relatively fewer studies on manufacturing offshore outsourcing by SMEs. Using the three theoretical lenses of the transaction cost approach, the core competences and the alliances, networks and internationalization approach, the paper offers insights on the reasons for and outcomes of a group of SMEs decision to undertake offshoring-manufacturing activities in China. Also, the paper examines the manufacturing offshore outsourcing issues from the perspective of the suppliers to these SMEs

Environmental practices in the wine industry: An empirical application of the theory of reasoned action and stakeholder theory in the United States and New Zealand

Industry transformation related to environmental stewardship has received significant scholarly attention over the past decade. However, limited theoretical and empirical work examines the motivations for improving environmental performance in an industry in different countries. In this paper, we develop a set of hypotheses, based in the theory of reasoned action and stakeholder theory, regarding drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in the wine industries of New Zealand and the United States. We test our hypotheses using data from survey questionnaires collected in each country. Our findings suggest that subjective norms and internal stakeholder pressures are common drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in these two countries. However, managerial attitudes and external stakeholder pressures are not significant drivers. We also find that managerial attitudes and export dependence are stronger determinants of environmental practice adoption in New Zealand compared to the U.S