Michael V. Russo

A RESOURCE-BASED PERSPECTIVE ON CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND PROFITABILITY

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we posited that environmental performance and economic performance are positively linked and that industry growth moderates the relationship, with the returns to environmental performance higher in high-growth industries. We tested these hypotheses with an analysis of 243 Finns over two years, using independently developed environmental ratings. Results indicate that “it pays to be green” and that this relationship strengthens with industry growth. We conclude by highlighting the studys academic and managerial implications, making special reference to the social issues in management literature.

Institutions, Exchange Relations, and the Emergence of New Fields: Regulatory Policies and Independent Power Production in America, 1978–1992

This paper analyzes how a new field, independent (or non-utility) power production, was created by a federal mandate that electric utilities purchase power from private generating sources and how the field was populated. Results show that key rules that state regulatory bodies adopted or rejected regulating exchange between independent power producers and utilities were influential predictors of organizational foundings. Results also show that collective action by independent power producers boosted foundings. Finally, if the preexisting relationship between utilities and regulators was one of accommodation, foundings were suppressed. The paper examines these results in view of economic and sociological perspectives on public policies, spotlighting the vital role of institutions in early population dynamics.

The Multidivisional Structure as an Enabling Device: A Longitudinal Study Of Discretionary Cash as a Strategic Resource

This studys argument is that adoption of a multidivisional, or M-form, organizational structure is linked to increases in a firms levels of discretionary cash. I developed this proposition by ass...

Deregulation and Resource Reconfiguration in the Electric Utility Industry

This paper analyzes how economic deregulation impacts resource reconfiguration in the electric utility industry. We argue that to understand strategic change in this industry, we need to understand how development and deployment of a firms resources reflects path dependencies that nonmarket actors impose on firms. We find evidence that the deregulation introduced to this historically staid industry has stimulated environmental differentiation strategies for incumbent firms. Consistent with theories that suggest differentiation is most likely to appear where its point of uniqueness is valued by customers, utilities engaged in differentiation if they served states whose populace exhibited a higher level of environmental sensitivity. The tendency for firms to differentiate is lessened if they are relatively more dependent on coal-fired generation or relatively more efficient. In both of these cases, the variables are associated with lower operating costs, in turn demonstrating that firms sort themselves into either differentiation or low cost strategies as their environments reflect more market-like segmentation in a deregulated world. This paper contributes to the resource based view of the firm by highlighting the importance of the nonmarket context in which resources are developed and leveraged.

Regulatory restructuring and strategic evolution: Lessons from the American experience

Abstract The article uses an historical analysis to explore how the American federal government, through a policy of decontrol and active restructuring, played a leading role in the transformation of the electricity and telephony industries. As a result of public policy initiatives, companies in each sector are experiencing vertical disintegration, organizational restructuring, and rapid diversification. Each of these dimensions of strategic evolution is examined by comparing and contrasting how the two industries have developed in recent years and what might happen in the future. The article concludes by drawing lessons from the American experience for managers in utilities, for policy-makers contemplating privatization of governmentally-owned companies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and for the greater population of managers in all industrial sectors.

Social Sustainability as Buying Local: Effects of Soft Policy, Meso-Level Actors, and Social Influences on Purchase Intentions

Recently issued United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for people to make extensive behavioral changes, including consuming food more sustainably. The authors explore the role that meso-level retailers play in local purchasing, an activity that the United Nations recognizes as a contributor to sustainability. In so doing, the authors promote more balance within the marketing literature, which has focused more on the environmental component of products and purchasing and less on the local dimension. This article spotlights “soft” policies, those that use persuasion and encourage voluntary action, rather than direct methods, such as subsidies and regulations. The authors develop a core hypothesis about how social norm messages and attitudes toward local food affect consumer purchase intentions. They test this hypothesis across national contexts via online surveys of 316 Italian consumers (Study 1) and 186 U.S. consumers (Study 2). The analysis reveals that in both countries, the effectiveness of social norm messages increases with unfavorable attitudes toward local buying. The study concludes with thoughts for researchers and policy makers about how meso-level actors, such as retailers, can elicit more local purchasing.

Green Gold: Japan, Germany, the United States, and the Race for Environmental Technology

The article reviews the book “Green Gold: Japan, Germany, the United States, and the Race for Environmental Technology,” by Curtis Moore and Alan Miller.