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The advocates of "doing well by doing good" have advised firms to invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR), but firms may get lost on how to invest their limited resources in it since CSR is a complex concept involving many activities and different types of stakeholders. In this work, we draw upon the perspective of stakeholder saliency and the stakeholder resource‐based view (SRBV) to propose that stakeholders may have different levels of expectations for CSR and contribute to firm value creation differently. Therefore, firms using different CSR to treat different stakeholders (high CSR variability) will have better financial performance. We further propose that context, in particular media coverage and state ownership, moderates the relationship between CSR variability and firm performance, as stakeholders of highly visible firms and state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) may frown upon a discriminate treatment in CSR. Findings based on a sample of 3313 publicly listed firms and 15,324 firm‐year observations in China's stock markets during the 2010–2018 period provide good support for our predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using R&D and advertising intensity to measure a firm's differentiation strategy, this study examines whether charitable giving substitutes or complements such a differentiation strategy. Evidence from a nationwide survey of private small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) across China shows that corporate charitable giving generally complements rather than substitutes differentiation strategy. In particular, the combined spending in R&D and advertising increases corporate charitable giving. In addition, the positive relationship between differentiation strategy and charitable giving is more prominent for firms located in service sector and in less developed markets. This study contributes important insights to our understanding of the relationship between corporate charitable giving and differentiation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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ABSTRACT: Canada has had a strong tradition of using state‐owned enterprises for economic development. ‘Crown corporations’, as State‐owned enterprises are known in Canada, were created with a built‐in autonomy for their commercial activities on the condition that they also fulfil policy objectives. Of late, however, policy objectives have been articulated more through regulations and governance models and are issued far more from central agencies such as the Treasury Board Secretariat than from the ‘home department’ of the agency. This article explores the evolution of the use of Crowns from the glory days of their formation to the privatization era of the 1980s and 1990s to the modern day. It examines how governance and control mechanisms have replaced policy directives. The picture given of the Canadian experience could be relevant for the coming years when these enterprises become more international and thus challenge the present arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovation suggest either a competing or a complementary relationship between CSR and spending on research and development (R&D) activities. In this study, we unravel this puzzle by theorizing an inverted U-shaped relationship between CSR in general and corporate philanthropy (CP) in particular, and R&D spending. Drawing mainly on stakeholder theory, we suggest that CP, by securing stakeholders' support differently at different levels of spending, would first increase and then reduce R&D spending. Evidence from Chinese publicly traded companies during 2006-2015 well supports our arguments. In addition, we find this inverse U-shaped non-linear relationship between CP and R&D spending to be strengthened by firm visibility and weakened by firm size. This study has important theoretical and practical implications. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores why and how firms respond to social demands through philanthropic giving in the context of a severe natural disaster. Drawing on Marquis and Qian's organizational response model to government signals, we integrate resource dependence theory and institutional theory to build a two-step model of organizational response to social needs, in situations of disaster relief. We argue that firms depending more on the government for support are more likely to donate in disaster relief, while firms who receive more scrutiny from the government and the general public and firms having more slack resources are likely to donate more. Evidence from Chinese listed companies' donations to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake largely supports our predictions. This study provides a more precise understanding of the corporate philanthropic decision process, decoupling the drivers of philanthropic giving, and those determining the amount given. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Given that organizational decisions are made by individuals and thus shaped by their subjective and objective characteristics, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of SME business owners’ characteristics on their firms’ research and development (R & D) spending in a transition economy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first build the arguments that, among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), business owners’ perceived importance of R & D-related activities, their education, related experiences, and social connections, should affect their firms’ R & D spending positively. Then the authors use a Chinese nationwide survey of private SMEs to test the arguments. Tobit regression analyses are conducted by taking Stata 12.0 as the statistic tool. Findings – The authors find that business owners’ perceived importance of R & D-related activities is positively associated with their firms’ R & D spending. In addition, better-educated owners and owners who have technology-related working experience tend to invest more in R & D activities. Finally, owners who have social connections, especially industrial connections, tend to spend more on R & D activities. Originality/value – This study improves the understanding of R & D spending determinants among SMEs. Going beyond general environmental determinants, it reveals the important agency role of SME owners, and thus contributes to a better understanding of how decisions leading to SME innovations are influenced by business owners’ perceptions and demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how firms compete with each other in philanthropic giving in the context of a natural disaster. In particular, the authors want to investigate: Which firms act faster in disaster relief giving? How do late movers react? In the end, which firms donate most at the competitive equilibrium, first or late movers? Whether and how firm visibility will affect the relationships proposed based on the former three questions? Design/methodology/approach – The Chinese listed companies that donated to the May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake are taken as a sample. A negative binomial regression analysis is first conducted to identify the first movers. Then, linear regression analysis is conducted to identify the competition between first movers and late movers. Findings – The authors find that large firms and firms with a high financial performance tend to be first movers in disaster relief giving. Late movers donate amounts that are similar to those of first movers in both absolute and relative value. But first movers donate more in absolute value than late movers in the whole process of giving. Firm visibility strengthens the effect of financial performance (return on assets) on giving timing, but weakens the effect of giving timing on both first round and total giving amount. Originality/value – This study provides a dynamic theory of giving and enhances the understanding of the motives and patterns of corporate disaster relief giving. It also illustrates important insights into firms’ strategic and tactical behavior in disaster relief giving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we conduct an empirical study of administrative innovation in the Canadian public sector by examining applications to the Innovative Management Award of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). After a review of the literature on innovation in the public sector and of the history of this award, we come to the conclusion that the relationship between innovation and environment has been studied only sparingly, which explains the focus of our research and our hypotheses. Through an analysis of award applications over 21 years, and of award finalists and winners, we demonstrate that such environmental variables as strength of the economy, size of the civil service, deficits, unemployment rate, investment in R&D, and type of government have important consequences for administrative innovation in the public sector. We also suggest some implications of our findings for future research on this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates the joint effect of corporate ownership and board of directors' diversity configurations on the success of strategic merger and acquisition ( M&A) decisions. Board diversity is defined as the extent to which its demographic diversity as measured by the culture, nationality, gender and experience of its directors complements its statutory diversity. A theoretical framework linking ownership, board diversity and M&A strategic decision making is proposed and tested. Based on a sample of 289 M&A decisions undertaken by Canadian firms over the period 2000-2007, demographic diversity is found to have a clear and non-linear effect on M&A performance while statutory diversity is of limited influence. Ownership is found to influence the effect of diversity, making the relation finer and more precise. This has practical implications. First, statutory diversity is not sufficient for well-performing boards. Also, ownership is an important factor. The most advocated board diversity aimed at insuring the board's independence is not valid across all ownership configurations. From a public policy perspective, results provide support for the principles-based approach in governance. Governance regimes should encourage the search for a balance between board diversity and the need for cohesion that best serves the firm's purpose and obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of how firms change their strategic behavior is extensive, yet little research has been performed on strategic change in a transitional context. This study seeks to broaden understanding of strategic behavior by contrasting the strategic choices of firms operating in the more-developed eastern China against firms operating in the less-developed western China. In these varying institutional settings, findings suggest that changes in a firm's strategic pattern can be described using Miles and Snow's typology. Change patterns are determined by institutional characteristics and are associated with firm capabilities. The findings also show that, even though capabilities appear to be similar, east-based firms tend to make choices that are less defensive and more risky, while west-based firms select more risk-averse options. These findings are important for the design of major change, in particular, in institutionally differentiated environments, such as those in Europe. The findings also suggest that future research on strategic change should take into account environment heterogeneity and the effect of change on firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a rare study of the content and performance of political strategies in China's highly institutionalized setting. A conceptual framework based on institutional theory findings is proposed to develop a set of expected political behavior. This is then confronted to data from a convenient sample of 233 firms. The results show that there are indeed recognizable patterns of political strategy, most of which are bent by the strong institutional environment toward accommodation rather than confrontation or defiance. The strategies identified were found to be related to the nature of the firms' available resources and to the firms' ability to extract benefits or bend the government's behavior in their favor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Française de Gestion is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revue Française de Gestion is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revue Française de Gestion is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on a systematic review of the last 20 years of empirical research grounded in institutional theory, we identify some of the main norms of conducting research in this literature. The level of institutions, the formal/informal institutional pillars and the direction of effects are the foundation of these norms addressed by researchers in the last two decades. This review indicates that empirical research is well behind changes in social realities. This may be related to both the institutionalization process that takes place in any academic research and to the suggested difficulty that scholars find in moving away from widely accepted research models and practices, given the context within which they evolve. It is also concluded that local/national regulative institutions are giving up their position to more global normative and cognitive organizational field institutions. As the business environment become more global, giving more importance to transnational and informal institutions will be more crucial in institutional analysis of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]