Miguel Angel Rodríguez

Using Stakeholder Dialogue as a Source for New Ideas - A Dynamic Capability Underlying Sustainable Innovation

This paper attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the firms ability to integrate stakeholder insights into the process of organisational innovation within the context of sustainable development. Given the early stage of empirical research on the topic, we used an exploratory case study of two Spanish companies that have successfully learned from stakeholder dialogue and have generated innovations that are beneficial both to the company and to sustainable development in general. The evidence from the two case studies suggests that there are two simple capabilities - stakeholder dialogue and stakeholder knowledge integration for generating innovations in accordance with stakeholder needs. Whereas stakeholder dialogue leverages organisational resources that promote two-way communication, transparency and appropriate feedback to stakeholders, stakeholder knowledge integration relies on non-hierarchical structures, flexibility and openness to change. The paper sheds some light on the under-researched issue of linking stakeholder dialogue and sustainable innovation, and contributes to opening the black box of dynamic capabilities and advancing in the understanding of this fundamental organisational concept.

Sustainable Development and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: A Dynamic and Sustainable View of the Firm

Does the need for sustainable development hinder businesses’ ability to create value? Is a firm’s competitiveness negatively affected by considering that need? After quickly reviewing the main literature contributions on the relationship between business and society, and drawing from resource-based view of the firm and sustainable development literature, this paper presents a proposal for a dynamic and sustainable view of the firm. It shows how considering the changes introduced into the competitive landscape by sustainable development influences the way in which companies develop their resources, capabilities and activities, fostering the persistence of competitive advantages based on knowledge and innovation.

Sustainability in the boardroom

Purpose – Although an extensive body of research treats the fields of corporate governance and sustainable development separately, less attention has been paid to the interaction between both fields. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by examining how corporate governance systems are evolving in order to integrate sustainable development thinking into them.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from corporate governance, sustainable development, and stakeholder theory literature, an analysis is performed of the governance systems of the 18 corporations that are leading the market sectors considered by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.Findings – The results of our in‐depth analysis of the 18 cases are presented and the sustainable corporate governance model that emerges from that analysis is proposed.Research limitations/implications – This model does not attempt to question or replace the previous recommendation and frameworks suggested in the literature on corporate governance and codes of gov...

Maximizing Stakeholders' Interests: An Empirical Analysis of the Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Governance

The purpose of this paper is to build on the emerging stakeholder model of corporate governance by analyzing the CSR function at board level, board diversity, and stakeholder engagement, and how it relates to financial performance. Based on an empirical study of an international sample of large companies, we find board responsibility for CSR to be a key factor in promoting engagement with primary and secondary stakeholders of the firm. Depending on the legal tradition of the country in which the company is based, we find evidence that board diversity and stakeholder engagement are positively correlated with firm financial performance.

Maximizing Stakeholders’ Interests

This article makes two related contributions to stakeholder theory and corporate governance theory. First, the authors seek to advance firm-level characterization of the emerging stakeholder model of corporate governance by analyzing two relevant dimensions of this model: the corporate social responsibility (CSR) function at the board level and stakeholder engagement. Second, the authors intend to examine the relationship between conformance to the stakeholder model of corporate governance and firm financial performance, taking into account the differences between countries, by using an international sample of large companies. The findings suggest that the traditional distinction between shareholder-centered and stakeholder-centered corporate governance systems also has importance for the CSR strategy.

A Cross-National Study of Corporate Governance and Employment Contracts

Corporate governance (CG) can be seen to operate through a double agency relationship: one between the shareholders and corporate management, and another between the corporate management and the firms employees. The CG and labour management of firms are closely related. A particularly productive way to study how CG affects and is affected by the employment relationship has been to compare CG across countries. The contributions of this paper to that literature are threefold. (1) An integration of aspects of the labour management literature in the CG debate. (2) Based on a sample of about 1000 firms from 31 countries, we find evidence of complementarities between the CG and the labour management of firms. Extreme cases, in general, outperform mixed cases. (3) Firm differences within countries are more important than scholars have assumed so far. We present the results of the study and implications for future research and for practice.

Social Embeddedness in Low-Income Markets: Influential Factors and Positive Outcomes

Strategy in low-income markets is a new but emerging field of international strategy research. Because low-income markets remain largely unexplored and unknown to most companies, it has been argued that developing embedded ties and alliances with traditional and non-traditional partners is critical in order to better understand customer needs and market characteristics. Following this logic, the purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents and consequences of developing a capability in social embeddedness in low-income markets. Using a multiple-case inductive analysis of business ventures and their embedded ties and partnerships in this context, we propose an emergent theoretical framework to explain the factors that influence the development of such a capability and its positive outcomes. Our findings suggest that a firm has a greater incentive to build embedded ties and partnerships under three conditions: when the market-oriented ecosystem is underdeveloped; when the firms psychic distance with respect to low-income markets is high; and when the firm offers a large number of product complementarities. A capability in social embeddedness can be beneficial for obtaining fine-grained information, increasing operational efficiency, gaining trust and legitimacy, and having prior access to new markets. At the same time, the social network in which a firm is embedded gives access to network resources that can provide competitive advantage.