Ethical entrepreneurship has become a global concern. Its promotion presents meaningful implications for entrepreneurs in both developed and underdeveloped countries. This article explores the supportive approach to ethical entrepreneurship in the Third World with a case study of one of the older NGOs in Zimbabwe that implements support programs for enhancing ethics-driven entrepreneurship. We give attention to the influence of context in the understanding of ethical entrepreneurship and provide guidance in its interpretation via the notion of embeddedness, which helps to clarify how the meaning and the measures to promote ethical entrepreneurship are shaped by the culture and values people share in contexts characterized by extreme poverty. Based on narrative interviews, informal conversations, direct observation, and secondary sources, findings show that the general success of support programs depends on the integration of the measures into local people's expectations of what ethical means in the context of entrepreneurship.
Political ties are often considered a critical resource for firms to succeed in China. The way companies build political ties receives noticeably less attention. Academic research traditionally uses the prior government work experience of firms'top management, in addition to executive membership in the National People's Congress (NPC) and/or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as surrogates to quantify political ties. However, such measurements only expose the tip of the iceberg and do not sufficiently answer questions about how these connections are organized and controlled. Drawing insights from institutional theory, in this article we introduce a multidimensional framework to shed light on the study of political ties in China. Specifically, by using the framework of regulative, normative, and cognitive institutional pillars, we identify government work experience, political membership, family connections, shared social identity, and instrumental exchange as effective ways of building political ties in China. We also discuss theoretical and managerial implications, as well as limitations to our research.
This article explores the potential impact of short-term global business immersion courses designed for undergraduate students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. As part of the Global Foundations Core curriculum, the school offers students a unique opportunity to study a country or region in depth in the classroom and then participate in an accompanying short-term study program abroad. In this article, multiple Kelley faculty who teach global immersion courses offer context-specific strategies and insights into classroom teaching and observed outcomes for student learning. Research shows that short-term study-abroad programs can offer transformative opportunities for students when intentionally designed as part of curriculum, affecting attitudes toward environmental citizenship and shaping global careers. The Chronicle of Education reports that even short study-abroad programs can have a lasting effect. To date, the Kelley School has not measured for standardized learning outcomes across its 14 existing global immersion courses, so this article does not offer commentary on program-wide student learning. However, through analyses of their on-campus course design and respective overseas program activities, Global Business Immersion program faculty share insights into student learning as observed in their individual programs. Our intent is to capture the impact of the courses through the lens of faculty program directors and student participants in three programs across three continents. In addition, we contribute to future research on similar global academic initiatives and add to the expanding body of knowledge on the impacts of short-term study abroad.
In the context of business education, International Service Learning (ISL) programs introduce students to social responsibility and help them develop a sense of solidarity with individuals living in a different context from their own. But even ISL programs that strive for reciprocity and co-create projects with community partners still reinforce a microcosm of the power asymmetries present in the global economy. As an alternative to traditional ISL models involving direct service, I propose a model of ISL that eliminates the direct service component and instead emphasizes listening and learning abroad. In this model, local knowledge is the expert, allowing students to develop a sense of solidarity with those from a context different from their own and then engage in advocacy in their home country. In this article, I present a current course-Marketing for Social Change: The Uganda Project-as an example of the alternative ISL model designed to address the structural inequalities and wealth disparities brought by globalization.
Most publicly traded companies issue sustainability reports that contain an extraordinary amount of multidimensional (e.g., environment, human rights, labor practices and decent work, product responsibility, society) longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data that is available to the public. Unfortunately, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is vastly underutilized due to its perceived complexity. This article explains the Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) System, a teaching and mentoring tool for assessing CSR report information. Students reported a deeper understanding of sustainability as an overall concept, sustainability from a business perspective, and multifaceted sustainability performance information presented in CSR reports. The real world research-focused SPA tool transforms sustainability from a philosophical and abstract concept to something of tangible value in everyday life for consumers, employees, and international stakeholders.
Multigenerational poverty is common in developing countries. Illiteracy, poor health, and unemployment compound a person's ability to break the cycle of poverty. In this article, we break down the process of designing, testing, and implementing a microfinance model to help end multigenerational poverty in an impoverished refugee village in Uganda. We describe key decisions in developing the model and assess its effectiveness as an instrument in achieving this service objective. We believe our grassroots primary research can benefit many NGOs that might be contemplating lending programs in developing nations, as well as other collegiate institutions interested in implementing sustainable programs that allow students the opportunity to work on global issues in developing nations.
Sustainability is an important goal of management education, but it has not been integrated properly into all the functional courses. One option for management schools attempting to fix this misalignment is to offer a course that provides an integrated approach to sustainability. This article attempts to structure the contents of a capstone course on sustainability that touches on all the dimensions of sustainability in different management functions. I present the key topics in sustainability and, based on a thorough literature review, identify the categories that constitute the content for a proposed course on business sustainability. The proposed topics pertain to conceptual tools for understanding the issues, different stakeholders, and functional areas. This course will fill the sustainability gap in the current curriculum in management education.
In January 2017, the senior leadership team at Edwards Lifesciences were preparing for the quarterly earnings call that would cover the fourth quarter of 2016. They faced questions about what types of information they should disclose on the call, as well as during other key investor relation events that take place throughout the year.
Kobbina Awuah (MBA 2014) became intrigued with the possibility of adapting Entrepreneurship through Acquisition in Ghana, where he grew up and where his family still lived. While he knew he could work for a multi-national enterprise located in Ghana, he was confident that buying a small business to run provided an opportunity to have more of an impact. He formed Peak Investment Capital (PIC) at the beginning of 2014 with the goal of finding a business to buy in Ghana that he could grow as its CEO.
In 2017, the French film producer and distributor EuropaCorp S.A. (EuropaCorp) announced a historical record loss of €119.9 million. The company had almost doubled its revenues between 2001 and 2010 by using an integrated studio model, but the recent losses had been substantial. After entering into a number of international joint production and marketing ventures, the company reported its highest revenues to date in 2015, only to announce in July 2016 that the company had incurred significant losses and that its revenues were the lowest since 2008. Once again, the company tried to turn itself around, strengthening its position by focusing on the founder’s core business and making some financial adjustments. A capital increase resulted in a positive shift in EuropaCorp’s shareholding structure; however, the company was still experiencing losses and was anticipating a continuing loss into the next year. Was there anything more EuropaCorp could do to change its position?
Fluorescent Group (Fluorescent) was an Indian company specializing in manufacturing filament products that were used in incandescent light bulbs. It had been a market leader for over 30 years, and by 2017, it had seven group companies and over 400 employees. Its filament products were exported to 15 countries and sold in the domestic market. However, the group’s chief managing director had begun to embrace the concept of wellness and believed that the wellness industry might be an attractive future business option, since it offered ideal remedies for people leading hectic and stressful lives in the large cities of India.<br><br>Changes in the lighting industry meant the market for Fluorescent’s filament products was in decline and was no longer generating profits. Should Fluorescent simply adapt to the changes in the lighting industry and manufacture LED-related products? Or should it support only a few custom orders for the lighting industry while venturing into the manufacturing of blue water equipment? Alternatively, should it consider exiting the lighting industry entirely and manufacturing only wellness products like blue water equipment or rejuvenation centres?
In June 2015, Vasant Farm Fresh (VFF) was creating a supply chain in Ahmedabad, India, to integrate farmers with retailers and provide fresh produce to customers. Fruits and vegetables have a short shelf life, harvesting operations tend to be labour intensive, and produce quantity is unlikely to grow substantially. To increase the shelf life of fresh produce, farmers need storage facilities, such as refrigerators or cold-water vessels, to store freshly harvested produce. VFF established a collection centre to aid farmers in selling their produce and in receiving higher returns. The collection centre was close to the farms so that the produce could be distributed to the agricultural produce market committee market and to VFF’s new retail venture, Vasant Veggies. However, wastage was still considerable even after the centre was established. The founder of Vasant Veggies must identify the optimal procurement quantity for fresh produce.
Fluorescent Group (Fluorescent) was an Indian company specializing in manufacturing filament products that were used in incandescent light bulbs. It had been a market leader for over 30 years, and by 2017, it had seven group companies and over 400 employees. Its filament products were exported to 15 countries and sold in the domestic market. However, the group's chief managing director had begun to embrace the concept of wellness and believed that the wellness industry might be an attractive future business option, since it offered ideal remedies for people leading hectic and stressful lives in the large cities of India.<br><br>Changes in the lighting industry meant the market for Fluorescent's filament products was in decline and was no longer generating profits. Should Fluorescent simply adapt to the changes in the lighting industry and manufacture LED-related products? Or should it support only a few custom orders for the lighting industry while venturing into the manufacturing of blue water equipment? Alternatively, should it consider exiting the lighting industry entirely and manufacturing only wellness products like blue water equipment or rejuvenation centres?