Poonam Arora

Social Media as a Strategic Tool: Going Beyond the Obvious

Abstract Purpose This chapter demonstrates the strategic use of social media by firms interacting with stakeholders, not just customers. Corporations have seen how consumers can share their experiences with products and services. Smart companies find ways to leverage these conversations to engage current and potential customers and other stakeholders. Design/methodological approach Our approach is theoretical, based on an examination of how the communication channel of social media can be used as a strategic tool throughout the organization, going well beyond marketing. Findings This chapter looks at four advantages of social media. Social media provides a mechanism for firms to not just find customers, but also allow customers to find firms. Social media can engage customers, industry influencers, and thought pundits in cost-effective ways that benefit both the firm and stakeholders. The largest contribution of social media is the information from big data on customer needs and wants as well as on the processes underlying consumer decisions. The greatest opportunity lies in how a firm converts data into actionable intelligence in real time. Practical applications We discuss how the words, social and media, need to be de-coupled: The concept of social can be practically applied very effectively to areas of strategy and internal learning, and product development. Taking advantage of the opportunities presented by social media requires a social enterprise to be effective. Originality This chapter presents an original theoretical framework of social media that can be used by a company to examine the social aspects and implications of every element in the value chain.

Land use as possible strategy for managing water table depth in flat basins with shallow groundwater

ABSTRACT In flat plains groundwater affects agricultural production outcomes and risks. Agricultural land use decisions, however, may strongly impact groundwater levels available for production. This paper explores the scope for managing groundwater levels through land use decisions in a sub-basin of the Salado River in the Argentine Pampas, a very flat area that plays a key role in world agricultural production. A spatially distributed hydrological model implemented with MIKE SHE software was used to establish the impacts of different land uses on groundwater dynamics, and to assess the interdependencies among spatially close decision-makers sharing a water table (WT). Additionally, groundwater level changes in response to climate variability were quantified. We found land use has strong effects on WT levels both for oneself (e.g. pastures can lead to significant decreases (up to 4.5 m) in WT levels) and others, in the form of strong interdependencies that exist between farmers sharing a WT where land use decisions of one farmer effect groundwater level of neighbouring farms and vice versa. However, the effectiveness to control groundwater levels through land use decisions is subject to the rather unpredictable effects of rainfall variability. The results presented in this paper provide key insights in relation to physical and social aspects that should be considered for managing groundwater levels through land use decisions, in order to avoid negative and/or maximize positive effects on agricultural production.

Managing the Triple Bottom Line for Sustainability: A Case Study of Argentine Agribusinesses

Abstract Using surveys and interviews with Argentine agribusiness owners and managers, we examine the relative importance of economic, environmental, and social goals in their planning processes. While in one survey, respondents rate these three objectives as equally important, they also prioritize economic goals over environmental and social targets when assigning points based on the importance of decisions made for various sub-categories. Discussions of specific scenarios illuminate goal importance, but also demonstrate that perceived losses can be valuable for understanding how managers think about sustainability in terms of comparative economic gains, social relationships, and different social and economic outcomes. Subsequent analyses suggest that the three categories of the “triple bottom line” are overly rigid and cannot capture the integration among environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability. Given these findings, we suggest future directions for research on losses, time scales, and sustainability.

Role of Status in Strategic Choices and Outcomes in Negotiations

In negotiation settings, individuals’ perception of their position or status can strongly influence strategic choices and outcomes. Although some sources of status (such as race, gender, expertise, and power) have been studied in the context of negotiations, other subtler sources that are more ubiquitous and as strong (such as being part of a large corporation and having community support) have been overlooked. The two studies in this paper examine two situational determinants of status (the presence vs. absence of corporate backing, and the presence vs. absence of social support), and find that both sources increase participant perceptions of being in a strong position, result in the strategic adoption of a maximal goal focus, and in the second study, lead to better outcomes. A maximal goal focus, and not a positive expectancy, was the mechanism linking higher status to better-negotiated outcomes.

A linked modelling framework to explore interactions among climate, soil water, and land use decisions in the Argentine Pampas

Abstract In flat environments, groundwater is relatively shallow, tightly associated with surface water and climate, and can have either positive and negative impacts on natural and human systems depending on its depth. A linked modelling and analysis framework that seeks to capture linkages across multiple scales at the climate/water/crop nexus in the Argentine Pampas is presented. This region shows a strong coupling between climate, soil water, and land use due to its extremely flat topography and poorly developed drainage networks. The work describes the components of the framework and, subsequently, presents results from simulations performed with the twin goals of (i) validating the framework as a whole and (ii) demonstrating its usefulness to explore interesting contexts such as unexperienced climate scenarios (wet/dry periods), hypothetical policies (e.g., differential grains export taxes), and adoption of non-structural technologies (e.g., cover crops) to manage water table depth.

Role Effects in Coordination: Collaborators and Competitors Vary in Focal Point Choice and Outcomes Obtained in Coordination

Coordination problems can arise from previously established dyadic roles. In four studies, we examine the impact on the extent and outcomes of coordination (for problems with multiple Nash equilibria) from previously established competitor versus teammate relationships. Individuals randomly assigned to dyads played a game where earnings were either determined jointly (teammates) or the winner took all (competitors). Study 1 found that the role or teammate or competitor influences choice of focal points and expectations of the partner’s behavior: teammates are task-focused, while competitors are focused on the hierarchical difference. Study 2 extended these findings to situations where the payoffs present strategic focal points: teammates choose collective maximization while competitors continue to be focused on the inherent hierarchy in the relationship. In Study 3, communication raises coordination rates close to 100% but does not attenuate competitor focus on the relational hierarchy. Finally, in Study 4, the presence of an external threat and thus a super-ordinate goal motivates competitors to make more task-based choices, similar to teammates.