Scarcity and instability: Transforming societies through equitable distribution mechanisms

Internationalization is a strong challenge that firms have to face today. However, small and medium-sized family firms internationalize their business after consolidating their position in domestic markets. Family SMEs approach international markets usually through export activities. Considerable academic attention has been given to family SME export behaviour, however, the debate is still inconclusive. Therefore, more attention on family SME unique governance mechanisms may shed a new light on this issue. The paper analyses family SME export intensity by showing how the board of directors could provide assistance in the selection and implementation of this strategy. We explore whether, and to what extent, both formal and informal features of boards of directors (dual governance) influence family SME export intensity. This is explored in a sample of 101 Norwegian family SMEs. Export intensity is the dependent variable and hypotheses on the positive effect of independence in board behaviour (formal governance mechanism), relational norms and trust (informal governance mechanisms) are supported. The paper has substantial theoretical contributions and practical implications. The results show that formal and informal governance mechanisms can co-exist complementing and supplementing each other, thus positively influencing family SME export intensity.

“Pingado Dilemma”: Is formal contract sweet enough?

The article analyses aspects of the cross-sector partnership of NGO and business actualizing the context of the governance dimension and collaborative value creation. The theoretical part of this article revealed the formal (contractual) and informal (relational) governance mechanisms, which influence the behaviour of partners in the cross-sector partnership. Moreover, the research presented organizational and partnership perspectives of the governance in cross-sector partnerships. The case study strategy was applied to conduct empirical research in Lithuania. It was found out that value creation based on collaboration in cross-sector partnership is influenced by partnership context that consists of macro and mezzo stimulating and limiting factors, characteristics of NGO and business organization, selection of a proper partner as well as formal and informal mechanisms of partnership governance.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on evaluating relational capability regarding the configuration of a network of technological partners in Brazilian technology-based firms (TBFs).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected using an online questionnaire made available to technology-based companies resident in Brazilian Technological Parks. A total of 73 companies responded. The data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques and were processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The statistical tests included factor analysis, Cronbach’s α and multiple regression.FindingsThe paper shows that the strategic alliance portfolio is influenced by organizational learning, diversity of partners, governance structure, intensity of partnership relations and configuration. In particular, the portfolio of alliances with competence orientation is characterized by tacit knowledge exchanges and learning exploration, homogeneity of partners, informal governance mechanisms, strong bonds of trust and reciprocity with partners and low diversification of actors’ profiles, their attributions and the results obtained in the portfolio. Meanwhile, the characteristics of alliance portfolios with legitimacy orientation include explicit knowledge exchange and learning exploitation, heterogeneity of partners, formal governance mechanisms, weak bonds of trust and reciprocity with partners and high diversification of the profile of the actors, their attributions and the results obtained from the portfolio.Practical implicationsThe configuration of the alliance portfolio plays an important role in innovation. To stimulate the creation of new technological skills, the executive of a technology-based company from emerging countries such as China, Russia and India, can configure the portfolio of strategic alliances with more homogeneous partners in terms of profile and attribution. However, if this executive is challenged to seek legitimacy and complementary resources in these markets he can invest in the diversification of the strategic alliance portfolio, prioritizing partners with differentiated profiles and attributions.Originality/valueThe originality of the research lies in the adoption of a complementary and multidimensional theoretical prism, considering the relational capacity of TBFs in the configuration of alliances, both in the intra-firm and portfolio perspective. Furthermore, it was considered that the configuration of alliances can be based on both competence and legitimacy factors.

The project world is plagued with the interest and influence of diverse stakeholders shaping major project policy strategies. From deception, strategic manipulation to illusions of control, stakeholders using power and any other means to influence project strategies to achieve their desired ends: the tribalism and Machiavellianism of the project world. Governing tribalism or Machiavellianism especially at the front-end of projects is absolutely essential for project policy success. But how does a project manager shape a major project policy into success? The purpose of this research is to investigate tribalism and Machiavellianism and implement the necessary governance mechanisms to shape the implementation of project policies to optimize its success. This requires a deep understanding of human relational behavior. A case study approach was adopted that investigated Australia’s largest infrastructure program in history, the AUD $16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, which was plagued with power and politics and Machiavellianism of the project world. Factors such as collective institutional leadership with formal and informal governance mechanisms in rationalizing decisions were identified as essential aspects from the case study. It was also revealed that if the factors are implemented at the front-end of project policies and managed appropriately it could significantly limit the potentness of the tribal or Machiavelli plague and optimize the chances of project policy success.

Despite the benefits of ecological complexity, tidy and ecologically simple landscapes are the hegemonic aesthetic norm in many rural and urban settings. In rural agriculture, tidy landscapes of perfectly spaced, weed-free rows are often taken as an indication of farmer skill. Meanwhile, suburban yard owners face cultural pressures to maintain immaculate lawns through intensive lawn care regimens. In both contexts, an aesthetic of tidiness can contribute to dire ecological outcomes. Community gardens have potential to break the mold of tidiness. They are influenced by both agricultural and suburban aesthetic lineages but also by alternative agri-food movements, which place a higher value on sustainable practices, opening possibilities for alternative aesthetic outcomes that support greater ecosystem health. Drawing on a photovoice project and semi-structured interviews with community gardeners in the California central coast, we investigate the values that drive community garden aesthetics. We find that tidiness remains the hegemonic aesthetic, upheld by formal and informal governance mechanisms as well as personal taste. However, an alternative aesthetic, which we term “wildness,” provides a counterpoint to tidiness that can contribute valuable ecological resources to community gardens. Ultimately, however, we find that garden tidiness is not necessarily mutually exclusive with a sustainability orientation and wildness was not always the product of sustainability values.

European cooperation on internal security is usually seen through the lens of highly salient normative debates, such as the appropriate balance between freedom and security. This paper provides an alternative and long-term perspective on this policy area. The first theoretical part condenses four alternative theoretical perspectives on European internal security governance that relate to the wider relationship between informal and formal governance mechanisms. The second part presents a matching empirical overview of more than 180 European governance networks on police and criminal cooperation, counterterrorism, border security, migration policy, cybersecurity and disaster prevention. Expertise-driven and policy field-specific dynamics appear significant to account for the breadth and variety of policy networks. In contrast, executive empowerment, venue-shopping or deliberate side-stepping of formal decision-making forums do not appear as dominant trends, although there are severe structural shortcomings with regard to the transparency and legal basis of the mapped policy networks.

COUNTERPOINT: Is Considering Social Determinants of Health Ethically Permissible for Fair Allocation of Critical Care Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic? No

Age, “Life-Cycles,” and the Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources

Purpose This study aims to investigate the factors influencing successful and unsuccessful succession in Pakistani family-owned businesses (FOBs), with a focus on the interplay between formal governance practices and socio-cultural dynamics. By examining key elements in succession planning and leadership transition, the study offers insights tailored to the unique challenges faced by FOBs in emerging markets such as Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Employing a multiple case study approach, this research examines generational transitions across ten Pakistani FOBs. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key family members involved in the succession process, with thematic analysis applied to identify patterns. Findings The findings indicate that proactive succession planning, formal governance mechanisms and thorough successor training are critical for achieving smooth leadership transitions in Pakistani FOBs. Companies that implement structured governance and clear succession processes experience fewer internal conflicts and greater business continuity. However, socio-cultural factors, such as seniority-based preferences and gender biases, present significant obstacles, often complicating the transition process. Additional challenges include resistance to modernized strategies, and sibling rivalry strongly influence succession outcomes in the Pakistani context and highlight the need for culturally sensitive governance approaches to improve business continuity. Practical implications Practical implications for family-owned businesses include early succession planning, structured governance mechanisms and comprehensive training for successors. Establishing family councils can minimize conflicts and align family goals. Addressing cultural biases, such as gender and seniority preferences, encourages merit-based succession, ensuring smoother transitions. These strategies enhance continuity, reduce disruptions and support sustained growth, particularly in culturally influenced contexts like Pakistani family-owned businesses. Originality/value By examining succession dynamics within the context of an emerging economy such as Pakistan, this study provides valuable insights into the unique cultural and organizational challenges facing FOBs. The findings enrich the understanding of succession in family enterprises and extend current knowledge on the influence of socio-cultural factors in business continuity.

Although formal and informal control mechanisms are often simultaneously used to govern systems development projects, considerable disagreement exists about whether the use of one strengthens or diminishes the benefits of the other. In other words, are they complements or substitutes? Competing theoretical perspectives favor both sides of the argument, and neither the information systems (IS) controls literature nor the information technology (IT) outsourcing literature has addressed this issue. This study theoretically develops the idea that these competing perspectives are mutually compatible rather than contradictory because informal and formal control mechanisms can simultaneously be complements and substitutes. Using data from 120 outsourced systems development projects, it is shown that informal control mechanisms strengthen the influence of formal behavior control mechanisms on systems development ambidexterity (complementary effects) but weaken the influence of formal outcome control mechanisms (substitutive effects). The key contribution of the paper therefore lies in exploring interactions among control mechanisms in a project's control portfolio to reconcile the competing theoretical perspectives on whether formal and informal controls are complements or substitutes. The findings provide managers guidance on how to carefully combine formal and informal control mechanisms in a project. Combining informal with formal process-based control mechanisms can simultaneously enhance the fulfillment of project goals and development flexibility. However, combining informal with formal outcome-based control mechanisms can instead impair these objectives.

Drawing from focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews, this paper examines how street traders in Harare (Zimbabwe) negotiate and regulate access to trading spaces among themselves. While most studies on street trading focus on state – trader conflicts and traders’ resistance to exclusionary practices, this study shifts attention to the often-overlooked role of informal governance mechanisms that traders employ to regulate access to space. The findings reveal that access to vending space by street traders is negotiated through a range of informal mechanisms, including social control practices, personal networks, and, in some cases, heritability. The ability to negotiate and secure space is highly differentiated, often shaped by gender, experience, traders’ status and social influence within the vending community. The study therefore calls for a more nuanced understanding of intra-informal dynamics and everyday forms of governance that structure life in informal urban economies.

We talked to 91 women (and some men) activists, civil society representatives, journalists, legal experts and academics in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil, Kirkuk, Najaf and Nineveh. We listened to what they had to say about peace and justice, existing challenges to achieving these, and how the challenges can and should be overcome. We adopted a lens that focuses on women and gender and through this lens we looked at the processes of formal and informal peacebuilding and transitional justice. As expected, the research showed that Iraqi activists have valuable insights to offer when it comes to issues of peace and justice in Iraq. It also showed that Iraqi peace activists work hard, indeed harder than the government, and make real change and impact on the ground. However, despite the impressiveness and value of this work, it remains small-scale and unnoticed as it is surrounded by a large web of ‘continuum of violence’,[i] legal and institutional obstacles, long-term gendered structural context, social gender norms and a political establishment that adheres to a conservative and patriarchal interpretation of religious and tribal norms. The obstacles and limitations to women’s participation in peacebuilding are immense and manifold, but these have not stopped Iraqi women in the past and will not stop them today or in the future either. Several important insights and lessons emerged from our conversations. It is impossible to do justice to all that rich and incredible knowledge, experience, and wisdom. However, here is an attempt to summarise the most important messages to emerge out of these: First, this research showed that there is a rich plethora of definitions of peace in Iraq. Peace activities are defined in a comprehensive way by women and men in Iraq, which goes well beyond the narrow, formal conceptions of peace and justice.. Second, Iraqi activists define and understand peace and its relationship to justice in different ways and these depend on the line of work they pursue, the circumstances of the province, and the specific community, group or people and issue under discussion. Women peace activists and feminists call for a proper implementation of CEDAW and other international human rights principles that affect women and girls. However, this does not mean that they endorse the political agendas pursued by foreign states. Women peace and rights activities are stuck in a complicated place defined by the intersection of foreign funding and international/regional politics and this creates significant potential risks for them. Third, so much existing peace work is going unnoticed in Iraq in which women and men of all ages, but especially the young, are working relentlessly. Despite difficult circumstances, these individuals and groups carry out impressive voluntary work often in collaboration with local civil society organisations. Fourth, formal peacebuilding mechanisms, on the other hand, such as the Committee for Coexistence and Community Peace, had less positive attributes compared to their informal counterparts. Some of the local peace committees have carried out important work and have been more inclusive than the other formal mechanisms such as the Martyrs Foundation. Still, formal mechanisms are less inclusive and informal mechanisms, and only a small number of women take part in them. Fifth, opinion is divided about the Iraqi National Plan regarding resolution 1325, which was seen by respondents as another form of formal peacebuilding. The Plan is considered to be a huge achievement in bringing the issue of women’s participation in peace processes to the political agenda. However, the Plan has not made a real impact and has not changed the status of women’s participation in formal peacebuilding and negotiations in Iraq. Some of the respondents, including women civil society representatives, had not even heard of the Plan while others had heard of it in name only but not witnessed any of its work. Most of the work and discussion in relation to INAP takes place in Baghdad and Erbil. However, the Plan mostly remains unimplemented due to a lack of political will and a limited budget to fund its activities. Sixth, there is huge discrepancy between existing transitional justice mechanisms used by the Iraqi government and what respondents called ‘real justice’, as well as legal discrimination against women, a lack of legal protection for women, and the lack of punishment for perpetrators of violence against women. Respondents provided a much wider scope of issues and activities in relation to peace and transitional justice, issues that go beyond the formal justice procedures offered by the government. Seventh, customary rules have a significant impact on women’s participation in peacebuilding by limiting women’s participation in public life [i]Cockburn, Cynthia, 2004. ‘The Continuum of Violence: A Gender Perspective on War and Peace’. In Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones, eds. W. Giles and J. Hyndman. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 24-44.

This article explains and demonstrates how formal (contracts) and relational governance mechanisms influence the relationship between resource complementarity and absorptive capacity to enhance the performance of R&D international cooperation projects. We proposed a theoretical model regarding the moderating effects of customized contracts and relational mechanisms of governance (trust, shared objectives, and communication) on the relationships between resource complementarity (human, organizational, physical, and financial resources) and absorptive capacity (potential and achieved). The model was tested empirically through structural equation modeling, by using the maximum likelihood method for estimating the parameters. The sample consisted of 231 R&D projects of international cooperation in agricultural sciences, involving Brazilian and international institutions. In the presence of less customized contracts, the exchange of complementary resources extends the teams' absorptive capacity. We also found that there is a need of well-established relational mechanisms for resource complementarity to affect the absorptive capacity. In the joint action of governance mechanisms, less customized contracts of R&D projects increase the exchange of complementary resources, besides enhancing trust, aligning the goals of team members, and fostering progress in the communication with external partners. The results provide important information for managers and leaders of research programs and projects, regarding the use of governance mechanisms to enhance teams’ absorptive capacity through complementary resources. The study increases knowledge on the interaction of formal and relational mechanisms to enhance absorptive capacity, which has been little explored in previous research.

and Key Results • This study explores the impact that formal and relational governance mechanisms have in inducing local suppliers to make transaction-specific investments in foreign and local manufacturers, respectively. • Analyses, in this regard, were based on a sample comprised of 77 local supplier/foreign manufacturer relationships and 57 local supplier/local manufacturer relationships in China. • The efficacy of different governance mechanisms, as shaped by local and foreign manufacturers, exerts varying degrees of impact on suppliers’ transaction-specific investments.