Embedded Networks and Suboptimal Resource Matching in Alliance Formations

174

143

While academic research has made remarkable progress in understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR), we have scant understanding of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). This paper adopts a stakeholder‐agency perspective towards CSiR to ask two related questions: (1) What board‐level structures can monitor management to reduce CSiR? and (2) What are the conditions that render board monitoring more effective? Employing a unique objective measure of CSiR and a sophisticated system generalized method of moments with dynamic panel model on a sample of publicly listed firms in the USA between 2002 and 2015, this paper demonstrates how firms with a specific board‐level governance bundle (i.e. a large, more independent board, with a board CSR committee, a higher proportion of women within boards with frequent director activity) are better equipped to reduce irresponsible behaviours, both in terms of number of irresponsible incidents as well as in terms of their economic costs to the firm. Moreover, the effectiveness of this governance bundle sustains under conditions of high institutional ownership and high board remuneration. This paper has implications for CSR and corporate governance literatures, as well as for managers and policymakers.

\begin{matrix} true \\ right normalCSi R_{normalad j_{normali, normalt}} & = & left α + β_{1} {false(normalCSi R_{adj} false)}_{normali, normalt - 1} + δ_{n} normalX s_{normali, normalt} \\ left + γ_{n} normalZ s_{normali, normalt} + ε_{normali, normalt} \end{matrix}

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Boards Matter: The Case of Corporate Social Irresponsibility

Jain

Zaman

2019

174

143

“…Here we see promise in comparing different inter‐organizational networks, including different governance types (Provan and Kenis, ), and how they manage coordination in light of differing organizational size. For example, coordinating less embedded networks and alliances may pose particular challenges as partners try to match resources, not least in terms of size and its multifaceted implications (see Mitsuhashi and Min, ). In particular, we see promise in comparing our findings with research settings involving an inter‐organizational network composed of many large organizations, which is then joined by a single SME.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Many Davids Collaborate with One Goliath: How Inter‐organizational Networks (Fail to) Manage Size Differentials

Fortwengel

Sydow

2018

How do organizations of vastly different size collaborate in order to achieve a common goal? While this poses less of a problem when the network is orchestrated by a classic lead firm, in networks exhibiting a shared governance mode, where leadership responsibilities are more or less equally distributed, size differentials present a critical management challenge. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on coordination in and of interorganizational arrangements by emphasizing the so far largely neglected role of size for managing close collaborative relationships. We study the case of Apprenticeship Network, a network that originally consisted of seven small and medium-sized enterprises, but which then accepted a very large multinational firm as a new member. By unpacking how the network coordinated its endeavour over time to achieve accountability, predictability and a common understanding as critical conditions for effective coordination, we explore how coordination effectiveness may deteriorate and result in the failure of the collaborative effort. We pay special attention to the role of size in these processes, and we theorize how the strategic front and back-staging of agreed-upon rules and norms facilitates the formation, maintenance and deletion of a tie, thus producing important network dynamics.

“…The social capital perspective provides an interesting theoretical framework from which to explain the actual and potential resources embedded in the networks of relationships (Mitsuhashi and Min, ; Nahapiet and Ghoshal, ; Subramaniam and Youndt, ). Moran (, p. 1129) points out that ‘the social capital is a valuable asset and that its value stems from the access to resources that it engenders through an actor's social relationships’.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network Embeddedness in Exploration and Exploitation of Joint R&D Projects: A Structural Approach

Arranz

Arroyabe

Arróyabe

2018

This paper analyses how network embeddedness affects the exploration and exploitation of R&D project performance. By developing joint projects, partners and projects are linked to one another and form a network that generates social capital. We examine how the location, which determines the access to information and knowledge within a network of relationships, affects the performance of projects. We consider this question in the setup of exploration and exploitation projects, using a database built from an EU framework. We find that each of the structural embeddedness dimensions (degree, betweenness and eigenvector centrality) have a different impact on the exploration and exploitation project performance. Our empirical analysis extends to project management literature and social capital theory, by including the effect that the acquisition of external knowledge has on the performance of the project.