Jacqueline Fendt

Grounded Theory Method in Management Research: Users' Perspectives

The authors discuss the determination of quality in studies using grounded theory method (GTM). They concretely describe some misunderstandings associated with GTM and some malaises experienced with its orthodox application, drawing primarily on their own research experience and supporting their discussion with evidence from other researchers. They then confront their experience with current critical GTM literature and offer some observations of their own. The authors describe how the very strengths of GTM run the risk of being undermined—and thus the quality of such research impaired—by an overly orthodox application of its rigorous objectification procedures. Therefore, they offer some pragmatic remedial suggestions. The authors conclude by calling for the continuing use of GTM in some of its newer forms and by reflecting on the importance of the process surrounding the use of the method, particularly in doctoral research.

Entrepreneurship in the Informal Economy: Why it Matters:

The informal economy is generating 10–20% of GDP in developed countries. It takes many forms and is difficult to measure, but has nevertheless a permanent and widely acknowledged characteristic: strong entrepreneurial dynamism. However, research seldom focuses on this aspect. This paper addresses this gap by offering a conceptual framework for entrepreneurial activities within the informal economy. The authors also discuss how crossing canonical entrepreneurship models and theories with atypical empirical contexts – such as, for instance, deprived neighbourhoods – can help consolidate existing evidence and/or, on the contrary, unveil myths and even generate new hypotheses and innovative and stimulating management methods.

Producing and socializing relevant management knowledge: re‐turn to pragmatism

Purpose – Management practice is progressing at unprecedented pace and often academia is lagging behind, if not totally irrelevant, both in management research and in education. This paper strives to show how principles of pragmatism and action research are likely to increase the relevance of management research and education.Design/methodology/approach – A reflection based on a broad review of ontological and epistemological issues leads to a call for philosophical re‐foundation of management academia.Findings – Pragmatism defines truth seeking as reducing doubt, and therefore necessarily includes the notion of a client for the research effort. Action research is a practical embodiment of this approach and deserves a more prominent role.Research limitations/implications – The research limitations and implications are inherent in the chosen methodology/approach: a viewpoint that hopefully stimulates others.Practical implications – This paper makes concrete suggestions as to how to bring research and educa...

CEO Discourse in Mergers and Acquisitions: Toward a Theory of the Promise–Realities Gap

This study explores the nature and role of CEO discourse in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and especially during the highly complex post-merger integration process. Abstraction from two extensive empirical data sources suggests that executive discourse in M&A can be seen as fitting a taxonomy involving four categories: dubbed the cartel, aesthetic, videogame and holistic communicator. It is furthermore purported that executive sense-making through discourse may need to be monitored around an ideal and permanently oscillating distance between the executive promise and the many different realities that stakeholders experience in the post-merger process: too little distance prevents change from happening, too much distance erodes the belief in the promised possibilities. This distance, named the promise–realities gap, is different for each (type of) stakeholder, as stakeholders perceive both the discoursed promise as also their everyday corporate realities in different manners. This individual perception of discourse and of the multitude of perceived realities and the volatility of their influencing variables exacerbate the successful management of the promise–realities gap.

HR Leader - Staff and Department

Personalvorstande — im Sinne von Human Resource Leaders — werden von fast allen mittleren und grosen Unternehmen eingesetzt. Ihre besondere Aufgabe besteht dahin, die Personalpolitik mit der Unternehmenspolitik zu verknupfen. Hierdurch werden Produktivitat, Arbeitsqualitat und Wettbewerbsvorteile geschaffen.

Lost in Translation? On Mind and Matter in Management Research

Again and again scholars evoke a seriously dysfunctional relationship between management research and education on the one hand, and the practice of management on the other. We share this viewpoint, and with this appraisal intend to (re-)open the debate. We expose some views on the intellectual and sociological roots of the malaise, advocating a philosophical stance rooted in pragmatism and particularly in John Dewey’s pragmatic stance. We outline a number of essentially workable, albeit for debate’s sake provocative and unpolished proposals for the redesign of academic institutions and of their publishing process. We sketch out radical redesign of academia—with, inter alia, (a) permeable academic and practical careers, so that executives and scholars could move between and act within each others’ realities; (b) a focus of management education on post-experience graduate level; and (c) an academic publishing process worthy of the real-time era of the Internet.

Small Firms and the Growth Stage: Can Entrepreneurship Education Programmes Be Supportive?.

Whilst entrepreneurship education is booming, it focuses largely on nascent entrepreneurs and company creation. In contrast, a major challenge in small business entrepreneurship is growth. The authors first position growth and its barriers in small firms in the context of current theory and practice in entrepreneurship education: from this analysis, they identify prerequisites and drivers for growth-related entrepreneurship training for small businesses. A pedagogical experiment focused on growth, targeted at a mixed audience of small firm entrepreneurs and graduate students enrolled in an entrepreneurship major in a business school, is then described. The experiment is presented as an integrated process model. The authors suggest that such programmes could be developed in three main directions: (a) changing the culture of business schools so that they become less individual-centred and more open and value-creating for their students and the external community; (b) strongly and regularly involving entrepreneurship students in the realities of business beyond start-up; and (c) making systematic and sophisticated use of the Internet for enhancing growth through e-learning and community-building.

Convincing Qualitative Research: What Constitutes Persuasive Writing?

We review ontological, epistemological, and methodological concerns in writing up research, distilled from selected inductive studies published in leading academic journals. From this analysis of practices emerges the following categorization, (a) rhetoric, (b) craftsmanship, (c) authenticity, (d) reflexivity, and (e) imagination, which informs the writing up of appealing and convincing qualitative research. We give examples and propose actionable writing heuristics. We offer reflections and recommendations on how qualitative research writing could be improved and its diffusion accelerated.

Follow-on financing through syndication in the VC industry – a signaling perspective of VC human capital and fund characteristics

ABSTRACT Follow-on equity fundraising for young ventures is a key issue for venture capital (VC) performance and entrepreneurial success. VC managers’ antecedents and fund characteristics might play a role here, through a signaling perspective, in securing additional financing for their portfolio ventures. However, the entrepreneurial finance literature has not yet investigated the importance of the lead VC managers’ profiles for syndication in subsequent VC financing rounds. In this mixed-methods study, we examine these antecedents and determinants of follow-on fundraising through syndication. Using a hand-collected dataset of first-round VC deals and their subsequent financing rounds in France we demonstrate the importance of prior innovation and VC experience for successful follow-on fundraising. We find that general, business and consulting experiences of first investors have a negative signaling effect on outside VC investors for follow-on fundraising. Also, we disprove previous beliefs that banking and finance professionals attract follow-on financing through their rich VC and private equity networks. We show the contrary: that homogenous finance experience sends negative signals to outside investors about portfolio quality and value-adding ability. We triangulate, refine and frame our findings with a qualitative research loop grounded in 12 in-depth interviews with leading French VCs.

Pre- and Post-Enron Learnings on Leadership in M&A Environments

In einer von Konvergenz, Konsolidierung, Aktionarsdruck, Rennen um die besten Talente, um Kundenbindung und um das Wissen charakterisierten globaler werdenden Welt wird das Eingehen von Allianzen, Fusionen und Akquisitionen (M&A) als eine schnelle, effiziente und spektakulare Form der Innovation betrachtet. M&A scheitern aber oft wegen mangelndem Leadership. M&A erfordert besondere Leadership und Managementkompetenzen, die von der Management Andragogik, die selbstbestimmte, anreiz-motivierte, interkulturelle und —disziplinare, auf der Erfahrung der lernenden Fuhrungskraft aufbauende Management-Weiterbildung nachhaltig entwickelt wird. Diese qualitative Studie erforscht, welches die Grunde fur Erfolg und Scheitern in M&A Situationen sind, welche Management und Leadership Kompetenzen fur den Erfolg erforderlich sind und wie diese entwickelt werden konnen. Diese Studie wurde durchgefuhrt, bevor die Geschaftswelt durch die Enron und Worldcom Zusammenbruche und die Rolle von Arthur Andersen aufgeruttelt wurde. Daher hat die Autorin den befragten Fuhrungskraften nach Enron et al. die selben Fragen ein zweites Mal gestellt.