BAWB Working Paper Series

Introduction to Special Issue: The Global Forum

Jaime — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:01:32 +0000

David S. Bright and Lindsey Godwin

We are pleased to feature papers from the 2006 BAWB Global Forum in this Special Issue of the BAWB Interactive Working Paper series. Convened by the Academy of Management, the United Nations Global Compact and Case Weatherhead School of Management, the Global Forum was held on October 22nd-25th, 2006 at Case Western Reserve University, to bring together top business leaders and educators to focus on ways of doing, researching, and teaching business that is both profitable and successful in addressing the world’s most pressing social needs. For more details about this landmark event, please visit: http://worldbenefit.case.edu/forum2006/default.cfm. The papers in this special issue represent the myriad of over 100 papers presented at the Global Forum and cover a range of topics. These papers exemplify the aims and mission of the Interactive Working Paper Series in their in-depth and innovative explorations of the potential for business to be agents of world benefit. We are confident that they will stimulate your thinking just as they have our own. As you review these provocative manuscripts, we invite you to add your own comments and reflections on each by logging into the site and using the interactive comment box available after each manuscript. We look forward to seeing the dialogue around each of these articles evolve as we continue to push forward our understanding of the role of business in society. David & Lindsey
BAWB Interactive Working Paper Series
Co-Editors

Beyond a Better Mousetrap: A Cultural Analysis of the Adoption of Bio-Fuels in Brazil

David — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:00:39 +0000

Kathryn Aten and Luciara Nardon

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Abstract:

Technology development has traditionally been viewed as an efficient, linear process. However, recent conceptions of technology development contradict this view, suggesting that a particular technology results from many possible paths, which are the object of political maneuverings and conflict. From this perspective, complex technologies develop within technological systems, which include organizations such as manufacturing firms and investment banks; scientific elements, such as teaching and research programs; and legislative elements, such as regulations. The tangible aspects technologies do not alone determine their end configuration or success. Rather, social and cultural practices, expectations, and relationships influence the development of technologies just as technologies influence these factors. Building on prior research on technological systems, technology adoption, and national culture we examine the role of culture in shaping the adoption of ethanol in Brazil. Our findings suggest that national culture influences the adoption of technological systems through national discourse and institutions.

Citation:

BAWB Interactive Working Paper Series . http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/

Community-Based Enterprise As An Strategy for Poverty Alleviation

David — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:59:41 +0000

Ana Maria Peredo and James J. ChrismanAna Ana Maria Peredo is affiliated with the University of Victoria and James J. Chrisman is affiliated with the University of Alberta

Please note that the latest version of this paper has been published in the Academy of Management Review.

Link to this article in Academy of Management Review through EBSCO at Ohio Link

Link to this citation on the Academy of Management Review website.

Abstract:

Theoretical models that separate social, political and environmental factors from the economics dimensions of entrepreneurship cannot account for the failed experiences in business development among very poor populations. In this article, we develop the concept of Community-Based Enterprise (CBE) and argue that it provides a potential strategy for sustainable local development. We maintain that in this emerging form of entrepreneurship, typically rooted in community culture, natural and social capital are integral and inseparable from economic considerations, transforming the community into an entrepreneur and an enterprise. Drawing on interdisciplinary and multilevel approaches, we propose a theoretical model of the determinants, characteristics, and consequences of CBEs.

Citation:

Peredo, A.M. & Chrisman, J.J. (2006). Toward a Theory of Community-Based Enterprise. Academy of Management Review 31 (2), pp. 309-328.

Conceptualising Organizations: Building Collaborative Network Organizations for Development

David — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:58:52 +0000

Jonathan E. Sibley, Central Queensland University (New Zealand)

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Abstract:

Using a case analysis of an innovative and successful collaboration between a multinational bank, a major development actor, a regulator, several local providers and local community leaders, we demonstrate that, by structuring relationships to create a collaborative network organization, the seemingly incompatible goals and behaviours of for-profit organizations and social actors can be harnessed to achieve significant social and commercial outcomes without compromising participants’ strategic intent. We analyse organizational factors that have facilitated the success of the collaboration and examine the potential for replication in other contexts, along with implications for commercial organizations, public providers and regulators.

Citation:

Sibley, J.E. (2007). Conceptualising Organizations: Building Collaborative Network Organizations for Development, B.A.W.B. Interactive Working Paper Series 1 (5), pp. 28- 55. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

The Primacy of Fiduciary Duties and Their Implications for Corporate Governance, Management Values, and Allocation of Business-Developed Wealth among Stakeholders

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:58:21 +0000

David E. Dudek, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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Abstract:

This paper develops an analysis-based, yet optimistic, view of the potential of corporate leadership to respond to the social issues as identified at this Global Forum. The paper accomplishes this be analyzing the major developments of fiduciary duty in the United States and identifying three principles of fiduciary duties that increasingly allow corporate boards and officers to take non-shareholder interests into account, and even prioritize them, when making decisions. The paper also identifies three business strategy theories whose underlying principles complement the three legal principles identified. The paper helps the reader understand these principles and their application by discussing them in the context of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Global Compact.

Citation:

Dudek, D.E. (2007). The Primacy of Fiduciary Duties and Their Implications for Corporate Governance, Management Values, and Allocation of Business-Developed Wealth Among Stakeholders. B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1 (5) pp. 56-76. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

The Primacy of Fiduciary Duties and Their Implications for Corporate Governance, Management Values, and Allocation of Business-Developed Wealth Among Stakeholders

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:50:22 +0000

Maureen A. Kilgour, Collège universitaire de St-Boniface (Canada) and Warwick Business School, Coventry (England)

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Abstract:

According to the World Bank, the achievement of women’s equality is a crucial component in addressing the broader challenges of poverty and development. In support of this goal, this paper attempts to bring together dialogues on the Global Compact, the Millennium Development Goals and gender equality in order to deepen our understanding of the commitment made by the almost 3000 businesses which have joined the Global Compact since its inception in 1999. We will also assess the potential of the Global Compact for contributing to the MDGs, and suggest what needs to be done in order for the GC signatories to begin to live up to that potential. In doing so, we will reframe the GC as a potential tool to address a defining feature of poverty – gender inequality, with the hope that this discussion contributes to the broader goal of the BAWB conference, which is to ‘galvanize change’.

Citation:

Kilgour, M.A. (2007). The U.N. Global Compact, the Millennium Development Goals and Women’s Equality: A call for Commitment, Dialogue and Action. B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1, (5), pp. 77-97. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

Ignorance Management: Business and the Precautionary Principle

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:45:30 +0000

Steve Maquire, McGill University

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Abstract:

For business to be or to become an agent of world benefit, it must have knowledge of its impacts on the world – are these, overall, beneficial or not and are they improving or deteriorating? This appears straightforward yet is often highly problematic. Some problems stem from values and the inevitability of conflict over how the world “ought” to be. In other words, from whose perspective are benefits to be decided? But more fundamental is the possibility that there will be disagreement over how the world “is”. What is business to do when its impacts on the world are uncertain or contested? This is not a trivial nor, unfortunately, rare question; it is increasingly posed in fields ranging from fishing and forestry to chemicals, biotechnology and, most recently, nanotechnology. What is business – and the society in which it is embedded and seeking to benefit – to do in the face of scientific uncertainty as to the impact of its technologies on human health and the environment? In other words, how are societies and firms to manage the unavoidable yet relevant ignorance about unintended consequences of their technological choices? This paper addresses this question by introducing and discussing the implications for business of the “precautionary principle”, which is most commonly articulated as in the 1992 Rio Declaration: “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”. Not much more than the common sense “better safe than sorry”, the precautionary principle has nonetheless provoked much controversy. We review these debates and discuss the implications of the precautionary principle for business around several themes: innovation; international trade; risk management; and stakeholder management.

Citation:

Maguire, S. (2007) Ignorance Management: Business and the Precautionary Principle. B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1, (5), pp. 98-138. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

Global Changes and Challenges For Firms in the Future: Can the Generation of Alternative Scenarios Be a Useful Coping Mechanism?

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:40:46 +0000

Alfred Marcus, University of Minnesota

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Abstract:

This paper analyzes the interaction among four daunting challenges that businesses face: terror, energy prices, population movements, and climate change. Focusing mostly on the former two, it assesses how these challenges may affect the global economy and examines the roles that governments and technological advances may play in mitigating these challenges. The paper asks whether scenarios can be a useful tool to help businesses cope with these challenges. The scenarios developed by Shell and the National Intelligence Council are reviewed and six suggestions are made to improve scenario construction. These are to: 1) carefully select a problem; (2) develop multiple stories; (3) draw on historical analogies; (4) choose a time period; (5) have propositions that sketch systematically the relations among elements; and (6) focus on intersecting stories.

Citation:

Marcus , A. (2007) Global Changes and Challenges For Firms in the Future: Can the Generation of Alternative Scenarios Be a Useful Coping Mechanism? B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1, (5), pp. 139-170. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

Institutional Transformation in an Emerging Economy: Mexican Business from 1995 through 1998

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:35:55 +0000

Sandra M. Martinez, U.S. Army War College

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Abstract:

This study presents findings interpreting ethnographic and archival data gathered during the period of crisis, adjustment, and institutional transformation in Mexico extending from 1995 through 1998, following the peso devaluation of December 1994. During this time Mexican entrepreneurs and managers were forced to reconsider their managerial ideas and practices to articulate and enact strategies in order to negotiate successfully the challenges they faced.
The findings illustrate how elite Mexican entrepreneurs and managers, rather than simply imitating or borrowing ideas and practices, selectively translated U.S. business and management ideas and practices. Recognizing that effective change would involve a synthesis of U.S. ideas and practices with indigenous patterns of organizing and values that was meaningful to their constituents, they crafted and articulated translations that expanded and modified the existing structure of meaning. Some informants consciously accepted roles as leaders to articulate solutions that reconciled seemingly contradictory organizing principles from the two countries, reaching beyond their organizational boundaries to mobilize others within the Mexican business community.
I present a model illustrating a translation and structuration process which shows the relationship among the following influential factors: 1) native patterns of organizing revolving around the structure and values of the family and networks of trusted friends; 2) the scope, intensity, and frequency of cross-cultural interactions between organizations and agencies of the U.S. and Mexico, 3) the national identity of the Mexican entrepreneurs and managers, 4) the influence of the Mexican managerial elite; and 5) attitudes about technology. Mexican identity shared by entrepreneurs and managers, as well as native patterns of organized were found to both constrain choices and enhance the possibilities for change.
The interpretation of data draws from several conceptual frameworks, including neo-institutionalism, Scandinavian institutionalism, and structuration theory, especially building on concept of the translation of ideas traveling between countries as a mechanism for institutional change in the context of the economic development of emerging and developing nations.

Citation:

Martinez, S.M. (2007). Institutional Transformation in an Emerging Economy: Mexican Business from 1995 through 1998. B.A.W.B. Interactive Working Paper Series, 1 (5), pp. 171-229. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/

CEO Profile of Bruce Borup, Cape Fox Corporation: The Expansion of an Indigenously Owned Business beyond Timber and Tourism

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:30:52 +0000

Tracy M. Stewart and Kristina S. Lawton
Tracy M. Stewart is an Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategy and the Director of the MBA Program at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Alaska. Kristina S. Lawton is a Business Consultant, with offices in Sydney, Australia and New York City, New York.

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Abstract:

Cape Fox Corporation is a Native owned corporation created as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. For the better part of three decades it was defined by timber, and more recently by tourism. The development of CFC, particularly under CEO Bruce Borup’s direction, gets to the very essence of the potential for businesses to be agents of global benefit while meeting the reasonable expectations of financial performance. As corporations like CFC flourish the models for indigenous businesses broaden, shareholders benefit, and local needs such as preservation of cultural heritage, education, employment, and housing can be addressed. Yet, there are many challenges when utilizing aggressive business models in communities where the cultural and socio-economic history does not always include the profit driven values of those models. The recent growth of CFC demonstrates how committing to respect and understanding can bring significant business success which honors the unique cultural goals of the community.

Citation:

Steward, T.M. & Lawton, K.S. (2007). CEO Profile of Bruce Borup, Cape Fox Corporation: The Expansion of an Indigenously Owned Business beyond Timber and Tourism. B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1, (5), pp. 230-251. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.

Sustainable Business Policy and Practice in Gold Mining: A Case Study of Collaboration betweeen Newmont Mining and the Daniels College of Business

David — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:25:35 +0000

Dennis Wittmer, Bruce Hutton, Darla Caudle, and Abby Curnow-Chavez

Dennis Wittmer and Bruce Huttton are affiliated with the University of Denver
Darla Caudle and Abby Curnow-Chavez are affiliated with Newmont Mining

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Abstract:	The Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and Newmont Mining, one of the largest gold mining companies in the world and a member of the UN Global Compact, have partnered for the past two years in an unprecedented leadership training program for senior management.
Citation:	Wittmer, D.; Hutton, B.; Caudle, D.; and Curnow-Chavez, A. (2007) Sustainable Business Policy and Practice in Gold Mining: A Case Study of Collaboration betweeen Newmont Mining and the Daniels College of Business. B.A.W.B Interactive Working Paper Series 1, (5), pp 252-279. http://worldbenefit.case.edu/research/paperseries/.