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Editorial
Journal of General Management Pub Date : 2019-06-25 , DOI: 10.1177/0306307019853052
Teck Yong Eng 1
Affiliation  

Welcome to the Summer edition of the Journal of General Management! In this edition, we put together four articles examining practical roles of general management in navigating small and medium-sized enterprises through uncertain economic conditions, commitment of microinsurers to their social mission, mechanisms for policypractice conformance in international business and chief executive officers’ (CEOs) strategic advice-seeking behaviour from executives at other organizations. Firstly, Drs Sainidis, Robson and Heron’s article investigates how the UK manufacturers of small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs) respond to the post-Great Recession in 2008. They assessed the impact of economic downturn in a business cycle characterized by uncertain rapid changes and market swings. This can be crucial for business survival of MSMEs, as it is often the case for small businesses being unable to cope with a severe economic recession. In their survey of MSMEs, they find that senior management engage in strategy review more frequently as well as other business functions within an organization to provide a greater input to decision-making in the postGreat Recession period. While their study highlights an increased intensity in the sales, marketing and finance functions during uncertain business environments, the study also shows increase in levels of senior management involvement across business functions. In practical terms, it is crucial for MSMEs’ managers to develop general management knowledge concerning cross-functional contributions to operational and strategic decisions particularly for operating in turbulent business environments. The second article by Drs Elango, Chan and Jones examines an interesting phenomenon of increasing commercialization and/or marketization of products and services of the social enterprise business. In this vein, their article examines what drives social enterprises in the bottom of the pyramid markets to drift away from their social mission. They draw insight from theoretical perspectives of institutional theory and resource dependency by collecting data from 192 micro-insurance operators in 26 emerging markets. In particular, they focus on the influence of donor involvement and state of fragility on social mission orientation. The study shows that donor involvement correlates positively with commitment to social mission. Similarly, countries with well-established governance functions demonstrate commitment to social mission. The study provides implications for general management in terms of while social enterprises may drift away from their social mission, be it, as part of their evolution or conflicting interests, a stakeholder approach to increasing participation of donors and communities could help to ground the commitment to social mission. The third article in this edition is by Drs Mandrinos, Mahdi and Liew. They explore the existence of policypractice deviations in the context of international exporting organizations. As international business involves crossborder trade and exchange, conformity to standards and regulations is not only important for consumer markets but also for a level playing field among international firms. This article reveals variations in business practice from institutional regulations based on a sample of nine export organizations in Greece. While managers may rationalize their decision in the interest of efficiency and profitability, the policy–practice decoupling raises key questions of ethical business practice and sustainability especially for disadvantaged parties in international trade. The predominant mechanism for disobedience and/or misconduct towards institutional regulatory expectations has often been associated with punitive measures. General managers and policymakers can formulate mechanisms to incentivize conformity in promoting good business ethics and transparency. Last but not the least, Drs Vestal and Guidice present a study on CEOs’ strategic advice-seeking behaviour using a large sample of non-profit agencies in Florida. Consistent with upper echelons theory, they examine the extent to which CEOs seek strategic advice from executives at other organizations. In the strategic leadership literature, CEOs who seek strategic advice from executives at other organizations tend to improve organization performance. While the increase in performance is also shown in the study, CEOs’ personal characteristics of age, organization tenure and personality trait based on the need for cognitive closure provide different managerial implications especially for non-profit sectors. For example, there is no evidence to suggest that age is positively associated with CEOs’ external advice-seeking behaviour. As suggested in an upper echelons perspective, CEOs with both a longer term tenure and a higher need for cognitive closure would be less likely to seek strategic advice from executives at other organizations. Although information and advice from external organizations may distort CEOs’ established decision-making models, the ability to achieve enhanced performance and produce innovations is consistent with CEOs seeking strategic advice from executives at other organizations.

中文翻译:

社论

欢迎阅读《综合管理杂志》夏季版!在本期中,我们将四篇文章放在一起,探讨一般管理在应对不确定的经济条件下引导中小企业的实际作用、小额保险公司对其社会使命的承诺、国际业务中政策实践一致性的机制和首席执行官(CEO) ) 从其他组织的高管那里寻求战略建议的行为。首先,Sainidis、Robson 和 Heron 博士的文章调查了英国中小型企业 (MSME) 制造商如何应对 2008 年的大衰退后。他们评估了经济衰退在以不确定的快速变化和市场为特征的商业周期中的影响波动。这对于中小微企业的商业生存至关重要,因为小企业往往无法应对严重的经济衰退。在他们对中小微企业的调查中,他们发现高级管理层更频繁地参与战略审查以及组织内的其他业务职能,以便在大萧条后为决策提供更多投入。虽然他们的研究强调了在不确定的商业环境中销售、营销和财务职能的强度增加,但该研究还表明,高级管理人员参与各个业务职能的水平有所提高。实际上,对于中小微企业的管理人员来说,发展有关跨职能对运营和战略决策的贡献的一般管理知识至关重要,尤其是在动荡的商业环境中运营。Elango 博士的第二篇文章,Chan 和 Jones 研究了一个有趣的现象,即社会企业业务的产品和服务日益商业化和/或市场化。在这方面,他们的文章研究了是什么驱使金字塔市场底部的社会企业偏离其社会使命。他们通过收集来自 26 个新兴市场的 192 家小额保险运营商的数据,从制度理论和资源依赖的理论视角获得洞察力。他们特别关注捐助者的参与和脆弱状态对社会使命导向的影响。研究表明,捐助者的参与与对社会使命的承诺呈正相关。同样,拥有完善治理职能的国家也表现出对社会使命的承诺。该研究提供了对一般管理的影响,尽管社会企业可能会偏离其社会使命,无论是作为其演变的一部分还是利益冲突的一部分,增加捐助者和社区参与的利益相关者方法可能有助于建立对以下目标的承诺社会使命。本版中的第三篇文章由 Drs Mandrinos、Mahdi 和 Liew 撰写。他们探讨了在国际出口组织的背景下政策实践偏差的存在。由于国际业务涉及跨境贸易和交换,因此遵守标准和法规不仅对消费市场很重要,而且对国际公司之间的公平竞争环境也很重要。本文以希腊九个出口组织的样本为基础,揭示了商业实践与制度法规的差异。虽然管理者可能会为了效率和盈利能力而使他们的决策合理化,但政策与实践的脱钩引发了道德商业实践和可持续性的关键问题,尤其是对于国际贸易中的弱势方。不服从和/或对机构监管期望的不当行为的主要机制通常与惩罚措施有关。总经理和政策制定者可以制定机制来激励合规性,以促进良好的商业道德和透明度。最后但并非最不重要的一点是,Vestal 博士和 Guidice 使用佛罗里达州的大量非营利机构样本,对 CEO 的战略咨询行为进行了研究。与高层理论一致,他们考察了 CEO 向其他组织的高管寻求战略建议的程度。在战略领导力文献中,从其他组织的高管那里寻求战略建议的 CEO 往往会提高组织绩效。虽然研究中也显示了绩效的提高,但 CEO 的个人年龄特征、组织任期和基于认知闭合需求的个性特征提供了不同的管理意义,尤其是对非营利部门。例如,没有证据表明年龄与 CEO 的外部咨询行为呈正相关。正如高层观点所建议的那样,任期较长且对认知封闭有更高需求的 CEO 不太可能向其他组织的高管寻求战略建议。尽管来自外部组织的信息和建议可能会扭曲 CEO 既定的决策模型,但实现更高绩效和产生创新的能力与 CEO 从其他组织的高管那里寻求战略建议是一致的。
更新日期:2019-06-25
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