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How can digital platforms sustain and evolve their legitimacy in the eyes of users when they modify exchange rules and algorithms that form the foundation of their activities and relationships with users? This study investigates a peer-to-peer exchange platform which implemented a virtual currency for scaling and the practices it performed to maintain legitimacy throughout this change process. The empirical analysis shows how the change contradicted existing legitimacy standards, aroused controversy among old users, and attracted new users unfamiliar with existing norms, and led to diverging user evaluations and behaviours which threatened the platform's legitimacy. In response, the platform performed three practices to (re)configure the meanings and system designs which govern the relationships with and between users: experimenting with rhetoric and system designs, representing community experiences and norms, and silencing uncompromising user evaluations. We propose the concept of material-rhetorical practices to capture platform doings that enhance a perceived alignment between their evolved digital systems and community legitimacy standards. We explain how configuring and evolving rhetoric and digital materiality constitute a platform's legitimation process when undergoing change and are consequential to how it governs relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key challenge for firms in sustainable business ecosystems (SBEs) is to create and capture environmental, social, and economic value. Whilst these firms create sustainable value, they operate within contexts of sustainability transitions that are often replete with uncertainty. We conduct a longitudinal study on the ecosystem strategies of utility-scale solar developers and how they adapt their strategies to respond to uncertainty. Our findings show that successful solar firms, those that capture economic value and survive while creating environmental and social value, adopt a bottleneck strategy, which solves solar energy's variability bottleneck, mitigates technological uncertainty, and grows the SBE. Other successful firms use a component strategy by creating ecosystem links with upstream complementors to purchase solar technology, with downstream complementors to sell solar energy, and thereby avoid exposure to and mitigate technological, competitive, and market uncertainty. They continuously reallocate ecosystem resources and create ecosystem links with development banks and communities to cope with regulatory and political uncertainty and deliver social value. Successful firms develop more solar plants and avoid more carbon emissions to deliver environmental value. Unsuccessful firms, those that fail to capture economic value and go bankrupt, adopt a system strategy by taking upstream and downstream ecosystem positions in which they are negatively impacted by competitive, technological, and regulatory uncertainty. Our findings contribute to literature on SBEs by showing how firms cope with uncertainty in sustainability transitions by adapting their ecosystem strategies for greater sustainable value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global digital platforms operate across areas ranging from social media to online marketplaces and all hold dominant power in their respective areas. As governments across the globe are taking regulatory action to counter such platforms' excess power, the question arises how these platforms respond to such interventions in return. Platforms, with their 'born-global' mindset, operate in a range of different countries with contradictory, yet overlapping institutional demands. This paper analyses how platforms deal with conflicting demands from home and host-country government intervention and manage the political connections between the two parties. Taking an institutional perspective on international business, it analyses the ramifications of government intervention on digital platforms, using TikTok as empirical case. Although the US government has continuously challenged TikTok, the platform has employed various non-market strategies in response, ranging from content moderation to legal actions and measures to shake off its Chinese roots. This paper provides insight into how host country government concerns and interventions shape a dominant platform's choices for its non-market strategy. It shows that platforms use a direct or indirect non-market response, depending on the salience of the concern at hand, and that home country involvement can both help and hinder the outcome of such political bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity and uncertainty of climate change pose unique challenges to the development of corporate adaptation strategies. Climate change adaptation requires organizations to rely on sensemaking to understand climate events, the implications for their operations, and develop the required responses. In this context, organizational heuristics can support sensemaking by simplifying decisions and reducing cognitive effort but can also hinder it by creating biases and errors that lead to inefficient decisions. This paper identifies and analyzes organizational heuristics used when making decisions on climate change adaptation by empirically investigating the climate change adaptation responses of key infrastructure providers in the UK. Looking at selection, prioritization, procedural, and temporal heuristics, we examine how organizations make sense of climate change events and develop their responses accordingly. The analysis shows that while these rules-of-thumb are sensible in some instances, they can also create biases that may deflect responsibility or create a false sense of security leading to inefficient adaptation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widely-acknowledged potential of cross-sectoral partnerships to solve complex social issues, the process of cross-sectoral collaborations is saturated with conflicts and tensions. Researchers have investigated the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of cross-sectoral collaborations with different theoretical frameworks and primary foci. In this panel symposium, the panelists will present five theoretical perspectives, explore the conceptualization of theoretical boundaries, and discuss how to produce knowledge by spanning theoretical fields. The perspectives to be presented include (1) collective action theory, which helps us understand how parties with conflicting interests build collaborative institutions and governance norms to overcome collective action dilemmas; (2) the institutional logics perspective, which focuses on the value differences among partners and the associated outcomes; (3) the interactional framing perspective, which looks at how interpretations and sensemaking are constructed and deconstructed in partnerships; (4) the resource dependence perspective, which examines the resource dependencies among partners and external stakeholders; and (5) the paradox perspective, which focuses on the contradictory but interrelated elements that persistently coexist in cross-sectoral collaborations. This symposium aims to respond and contribute to diverse discourses both within the management academy and around societal challenges. This interactive session will include Q&As and discussions on strategies for developing new interactions between different fields of inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are witnessing the rise of digital sustainability where organizations advance ecological sustainability through the creative deployment of technologies that create, use, transmit, or source electronic data, such as platforms or algorithms. While some consider digital sustainability a game changer in the quest to tackle climate change, others are more skeptical whether digital technologies will truly help, pointing also to potentially adverse effects. To take stock and further advance this important debate, our symposium brings together distinguished scholars specializing in the interplay of digital technologies, organizations, and the natural environment. They will debate promises, pitfalls, and paradoxes of digital sustainability and discuss ways to move forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the greatest management challenges of the 21st century will be the environmental issue of climate change. With the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 climate change has attracted increasing business interest. It has also created much uncertainty for companies, particularly about the role of trading in realizing emission reductions. This paper investigates what drives multinational corporations to show interest in emissions trading and carbon offset projects to deal with climate change. On the basis of an analysis of data of 136 companies derived from a questionnaire, it also examines the role that country of origin, industry affiliation, and companies' environmental strategy play in this regard. Findings show that industry pressure and product and process innovations are the main determinants for MNCs to participate in the emission market. It appears that climate policy particularly induces energy-related industries to reduce emissions, which puts them ahead of other industries with regard to their interest in emissions trading. Firms that are more likely to engage in emissions trading also invest relatively more in emission-reducing technologies aimed at the production process or at products. This suggests that emissions trading does not crowd out innovation to reduce GHG emissions. An important implication for practitioners is that emissions trading should not be managed in isolation, because other initiatives to reduce emissions affect a company's position in the emissions market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational tensions are often considered intrinsically binary by nature, yet many represent complex, multipolar tensions that involve multiple stakeholder interests. Only more recently, the literature has acknowledged the complexity of organizational tensions whereby actors face sets of interwoven and nested tensions that are not dyadic. However, it is unclear through which mechanisms actors deal with this inherent complexity of organizational tensions. In this paper, we address this gap by studying the question how actors construct dyadic tensions from complex sets of interwoven tensions among multiple actors. We conduct an inductive case study of social entrepreneurs and their accounts for social impact. We find that social entrepreneurs discursively reduce the complexity of multiple interwoven and multipolar tensions through the mechanism of folding. Through folding, people temporarily align different actors and their interests with either pole of a binary tension. We identify the underlying rationale and different stages of folding (bracketing, collapsing, and releasing). As our main contribution, we identify the discursive mechanism through which actors reduce the complexity of interwoven tensions by temporarily forming distinct dyadic tensions. We also show that the mechanism of folding is an interest-based mechanism, which highlights the role of political aspects of responses to tensions, aspects that have been understudied in the literature to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sharing economy is constituted through a hybrid form of governance, combining the development of social bonding and economic transaction. Based on an understanding that enabling ideal social relations between individuals forms the core of sharing economy governance, this paper conceptually explores how the governance of sharing business models varies in terms of their dependence on developing social bonding and facilitating economic transaction, and how organizations strike a balance between the two mechanisms. A framework is presented that conceptualizes the variation between social bonding development and economic transaction facilitation. The framework offers a fine-grained explanation of the way in which sharing economy business models differ in terms of striking a balance between the relational association of sharing and the transactional association of economy. It provides a deeper understanding on the governance potential and tension of the hybrid intermediary organizations in an era of digitalization and complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies increasingly face strategic tensions due to social issues jeopardizing their core business model. For companies that produce and market processed high-fat-high-sugar food and drinks, the obesity pandemic constitutes such a strategic tension. We conduct a qualitative study of the newspaper coverage on companies' responses to obesity to analyse how these companies deal with the strategic tensions around obesity. Our findings show that while accepting the strategic tension around obesity, companies purposefully reconstruct and deconstruct the tension to protect their business model. These mechanisms of re- and deconstruction translate into defensive responses to social issues. In contrast to what the paradox literature suggests, the acceptance of strategic tensions does not necessarily trigger constructive responses. Our analysis shows that active engagement with paradox can be of a defensive nature. We offer a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms and discursive tactics of defensive responses to strategic tensions around social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although firms widely use product preannouncements as a signaling strategy to influence the target audiences' perceptions and decisions, environmental management scholars have rarely investigated this medium as a legitimation strategy. This study explores the propensity of firms to issue symbolic green product preannouncements. Building on a sample of 503 green product preannouncements from 2008 to 2012, the findings show that firms with lower environmental performance tend to issue more symbolic green preannouncements. We also found that a higher level of industry concentration amplifies the relationship between environmental performance and symbolic green preannouncements. The study contributes to the environmental management literature by unraveling the conforming behaviors of firms through green product preannouncements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable technologies tend to be seen as technologically inferior compared to unsustainable, incumbent technologies, because they underperform on product attributes that are currently considered as the key attributes of mainstream products. In view of this technological inferiority, scholars have argued that sustainable technologies require new business models to increase customer appeal. A key issue in improving customer appeal is a reconfiguration of the value proposition, as it is the main mechanism firms use to engage customers. Yet, there is still limited understanding whether and how firms reconfigure their business model's value proposition as a way to overcome the technological inferiority of sustainable alternatives. To address this issue, this paper focuses on the case of electric vehicles by exploring the tactics car firms use to reconfigure their main value proposition to increase market acceptance from mainstream customers. Conducting a qualitative analysis of recent value propositions of electric vehicles offered in two lead markets, the US and the Netherlands, the paper identifies key patterns in the tactics car firms adopt to redesign electric vehicle value propositions. Based on the analysis, the paper derives three generic tactics that these firms applied to reconfigure product attributes - risk reduction, value extension, and system integration - and discusses the degree of reconfiguration that is involved with each of these tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, clusters have become a popular policy tool to increase the competitiveness of regions and to stimulate job creation. The underlying assumption of cluster policy is that the government can either facilitate the development of a cluster or create one 'from scratch'. So far, limited attention has been given to how the members of clusters reflect on the ways in which the government may influence the running of the cluster. This paper further contributes to this debate by addressing two issues. First, it examines to what extent a cluster that is highly affected by governmental cluster policy is being appropriated by the members. Second, the paper investigates whether the cluster is functioning according to the government's intent. Empirical material is derived from a case study of a French cluster. Besides resulting from a cluster policy initiative, this cluster was recently required by the government to meet a new set of objectives. Our findings confirm that it is difficult for members of a government-influenced cluster to fully appropriate it. We show that new political objectives can destabilise the cluster by putting the current power distribution into question and that it can create incentives from the cluster to renew itself. We also question the cluster's capacity to change its development path. More generally, we reflect on the government's ability to influence the development path of clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business case for social responsibility (BCSR) is one of the most widely studied topics in the business and society literature. A large number of studies have previously examined whether and how there was a business case underlying social responsibility, yet have omitted a fundamental question: to what extent does a perceived business case actually drive a firm's social engagement. The primary purpose of this paper is to seek an answer to that question. We recognize, at the outset, that a BCSR may only provide a firm necessary motivation for social engagement; but the firm also requires internal capacity in order to act upon this motivation. Therefore, we simultaneously consider the effect of a firm's excess resources and thus develop a motivation-capacity lens to have a finer understanding of the role of perceived business case on a firm's social engagement. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 478 small firms in the US, we found that perceptions about potential tangible benefits of social engagement did not have any effect on a firm's social engagement, whereas perceptions about potential intangible benefits had a significant yet mild effect. Firm financial performance was found to be a major predictor of social engagement, but there was no interaction between potential benefits and financial performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long stream of research has unraveled numerous underpinnings of the relationship between a firm's financial and social performance, yet has not adequately addressed how the changes in a firm's financial situation affects its ongoing community and environmental initiatives. We sought to address this topic by examining the changes in small manufacturing firms' community and environmental initiatives during the recent economic downturn. We developed a theoretical framework by drawing on emerging perspectives in the fields of strategy and cost behavior. Using data gathered from 478 small firms representing multiple manufacturing sectors in the US, we found that a decline in a firm's financial performance is associated with a higher decline in its ongoing community initiatives than in its environmental initiatives. The decline in community initiatives was even greater when a firm operated amidst a highly dynamic organizational context, while the decline in environmental initiatives was not contingent upon the level of dynamism. Potential theoretical and practical implications of these findings are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While business tends to be seen a substantial factor in causing climate change, climate-induced physical changes can also pose major challenges to firms in return. This paper examines how the way firms make sense of climate stimuli in terms of awareness and vulnerability informs strategic measures to adapt and become more resilient to climate-induced physical change. In the exploratory analysis, the paper derives four main types of adaptation behaviour - pre-emptive, reactive, continuous and deferred adaptation - that correspond with different degrees of awareness and vulnerability. It also explores the relevant firm and context-specific features that affect awareness, vulnerability assessment, and subsequent adaptation measures. The findings suggest that the type of physical change, the sources of information used, the ecological embeddedness, and the potential financial implications have the most distinctive influence on the measures firms take to cope with physical impacts. The paper concludes with implications for research, management practice, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]