Entrepreneurial sons, patriarchy and the Colonels' experiment in Thessaly, rural Greece

Existing studies within the field of institutional entrepreneurship explore how entrepreneurs influence change in economic institutions. This paper turns the attention of scholarly inquiry on the antecedents of deinstitutionalization and more specifically, the influence of entrepreneurship in shaping social institutions such as patriarchy. The paper draws from the findings of ethnographic work in two Greek lowland village communities during the military Dictatorship (1967–1974). Paradoxically this era associated with the spread of mechanization, cheap credit, revaluation of labour and clear means-ends relations, signalled entrepreneurial sons’ individuated dissent and activism who were now able to question the Patriarch’s authority, recognize opportunities and act as unintentional agents of deinstitutionalization. A ‘different’ model of institutional change is presented here, where politics intersects with entrepreneurs, in changing social institutions. This model discusses the external drivers of institutional atrophy and how handling dissensus (and its varieties over historical time) is instrumental in enabling institutional entrepreneurship

Attitudes and perceptions regarding entrepreneurship around the world : a cluster analysis approach

Nowadays it is believed that entrepreneurship could be a driving force in growth and development. For the achievement of a relevant national entrepreneurship rate the social and economic business environment can be crucial. However, despite the international attention given to entrepreneurship, it is not known if it is a global phenomenon or if there are particular regions where the entrepreneurial activity is specially recognized by society. Applying cluster analysis statistical techniques to a dataset gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and that includes, in 2010, 59 countries this paper intends to identify groups of countries with the same population attitude and perception regarding entrepreneurship

Attitudes and perceptions regarding entrepreneurship around the world : a cluster analysis approach

Nowadays it is believed that entrepreneurship could be a driving force in growth and develop-ment. For the achievement of a relevant national entrepreneurship rate the social and economic business environment can be crucial. However, despite the international attention given to entrepreneurship, it is not known if it is a global phenomenon or if there are particular regions where the entrepreneurial activity is specially recognized by society. Applying cluster analysis statistical techniques to a dataset gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and that includes, in 2010, 59 countries this paper intends to identify groups of countries with the same population attitude and perception regarding entrepreneurship

Edging toward ‘reasonably’ good corporate governance

Over four decades, research and policy have created layers of understandings in the quest for “good” corporate governance. The corporate excesses of the 1970s sparked a search for market mechanisms and disclosure to empower shareholders. The UK-focused problems of the 1990s prompted board-centric, structural approaches, while the fall of Enron and many other companies in the early 2000s heightened emphasis on director independence and professionalism. With the financial crisis of 2007-09, however, came a turn in some policy approaches and in academic literature seeking a different way forward. This paper explores those four phases and the discourse each develops and then links each to assumptions about accountability and cognition. After the financial crisis came pointers n policy and practice away from narrow, rationalist prescriptions and toward what the philosopher Stephen Toulmin calls “reasonableness”. Acknowledging that heightens awareness of complexity and interdependence in corporate governance practice. The paper then articulates a research agenda concerning what “reasonable” corporate governance might entail

Eyes wide open: perceived exploitation and its consequences

Drawing on the array of literature on exploitation from several social science disciplines, we propose a new way of seeing employer-employee relationships by introducing the concept of perceived exploitative employee-organization relationships, distinguish it from related concepts, and conduct five studies to develop a scale and test our theoretical model of the effects of such employee perceptions. Contributing to the Employee-Organization Relationships and workplace emotions literatures, perceived exploitation is defined as employees’ perceptions that they have been purposefully taken advantage of in their relationship with the organization, to the benefit of the organization itself. We propose and find that such perceptions are associated with both outward-focused emotions of anger and hostility toward the organization and inward-focused ones of shame and guilt at remaining in an exploitative job. In two studies including construction workers and a time-lagged study of medical residents, we find that the emotions of anger and hostility partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee engagement, revenge against the organization, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions, whereas the emotions of shame and guilt partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee burnout, silence, and psychological withdrawal

Application of different methods of multicriteria analysis for railway route selection

Decision making is the study of identifying and choosing alternatives to find the best solution based on different factors and considering the decision makers expectations. Every decision is made within a decision environment, which is defined as the collection of informations, alternatives, values and preferences available at the time when the decision must be made. The difficult point in decision - making is the multiplicity of the criteria set for judging the alternatives. The objectives are usually conflicting and, in most of the cases, different groups of decision - makers are involved in the process. To facilitate this type of analysis, a family of tools referred to as Multi - criteria decision - making methods gained ground due to the need to have a formalized method to assist decision - making in situations involving multiple criteria. This paper presents a methodology for route selecting in the planning and designing of railways based on the multiple criteria decision making. The need for applying multi criteria analysis in the decision making process for studying and designing a transport infrastructure project is also conditioned by the characteristics of the infrastructure that has the title of the public good (many interested subjects for it) and in order to minimize the problems and risks which are related to the elaboration of such projects. The proposed methodology provides a complete and systematic solution to this problem. Result of the methodology is the most suitable route in accordance with the adopted criteria and existing constraints. The developed methodology is based on three different methods for multiple criteria decision making, Weighted Sum Model - WSM, AHP method (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and VIKOR method. Evaluation is performed in section of railway route of two alternatives on the Corridor 10, on the section from station Dracevo (Skopje) and station Veles. The results confirm validity and usefulness of this methodology. Alternative I is new corridor on the left side of the Vardar Valley, with a minimal radius R = 1.500m. the route passes through the villages Oreshani, Taor and Katlanovo. The track is designed for speed of 160km/h. Alternative II is a new corridor near variant I, except for the section between the chainage km16 to km29, with a minimum radius R = 800m, in order to minimize earthworks as well as the length of the objects (bridges, viaducts, tunnels) wherever possible. The track is designed according to the speed of 120km / h