We develop a resource security theory by examining the intent of acquisitions of scarce resources by multinational firms. Results suggest that owners of firms can shape the intent of resource acquisitions. Specifically, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to acquire and pay more for resources for exploration rather than exploitation. This is because SOEs' owners -governments -are most concerned with securing their country's future. We contribute to the literature by suggesting that ownership influences resource acquisitions, that resource security is of importance to multinational enterprises, and that SOEs invest abroad to safeguard both their own and their home countries' future.

Manuscript Type Empirical Research Question/Issue We utilize institutional theory to examine corporate governance in microfinance institutions (MFIs). Many MFIs operate at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP), which is usually agrarian, impoverished, and plagued with institutional voids. We investigate the link between the composition of the boards of MFIs and the ability of the MFIs to face institutional voids to ensure organizational viability. Research Findings/Insights We find that MFIs with boards that have more socio‐economic expertise and female representation are better able to lower the MFI's costs of operating at the BOP. However, this relationship weakens when the effectiveness of agrarian institutions at the BOP is low. When agrarian institutions are ineffective, the board of the MFI may have difficulty in helping the MFI reduce its costs of operating at the BOP. Agrarian crises arising from ineffective agrarian institutions tend to aggravate the various institutional voids present at the BOP, making it harder for the board to guide the MFI around the institutional voids. Theoretical/Academic Implications We extend institutional theory to understand how boards direct and control firms operating at the BOP to face institutional voids. In some cases, a firm can fill an institutional void. However, because other institutional voids exist, the board must also help the firm develop workarounds to ensure organizational viability. We extend existing literature on board composition to highlight how human capital and gender diversity of boards can help improve the viability of firms operating at the BOP. Practitioner/Policy Implications MFIs with high operating costs may benefit from electing a board with socio‐economic expertise and female representatives. Governments and policy makers can work toward building effective social, economic, and political institutions to help create contexts that are favorable to firms (such as MFIs) that often find it difficult to operate at the BOP.

We employed an instrumental case study of a multisystem hydroelectric power producer, a high-reliability organization (HRO), to explore how new knowledge is created in a context in which errors may result in destruction, catastrophic consequences, and even loss of human life. The findings indicate that knowledge creation is multilevel, nested within three levels of paradox: paradox of knowing, paradox of practice, and paradox of organizing. The combination of the lack of opportunity for errors with the dynamism of the HRO context necessitates that individuals work through multiple paradoxes to generate and formalize new knowledge. The findings contribute to the literature on knowledge creation in context by explicating the work practices associated with issue recognition, resolution, and refinement, and the formalization of knowledge in failure-intolerant organizations.

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