To date, boundary spanning has primarily been conceived of as an activity relating an organization to its environment, including other organizations with which it cooperates and competes. In contrast, this study focuses on the boundary spanning practices of individuals acting as change agents to implement boundary-shaking change initiatives across intra-organizational boundaries. These boundary-shaking individuals all work for blue-chip organizations in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, consultancy and automotive. The change initiatives are equally diverse, including post-merger integration, exploitation of across-business synergies and implementing more integrative structures. Through our examination of boundary-shakers we are able to extend what we know about internal change agency and change agent skills and practices. Our starting point is that organizations are comprised of networks of people with a degree of common interest. Our research shows our research subjects to be active movers and shakers in these networks, using their knowledge of the organizational political context and the motivations of others to create new networks (or new meanings within old networks), which then enables them to pursue their change objectives.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the interactions of key stakeholders and their impact upon corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the Zambian copper mining sector. In particular, the authors examine the power dynamics that emerge in the stakeholder interactions. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyse the stakeholder interactions based on the varying degrees of stakeholder salience and critical collaboration potential, and draw on rich evidence from 43 interviews with multiple stakeholders involved in CSR in the Zambia mining sector. Findings This paper finds stark power asymmetries in the relationship between the state, the civil society and mining companies which are exacerbated by a number of factors, including divisions within these key stakeholders themselves. Apart from power imbalances within and between stakeholders, the potential for critical collaboration at the local level is further challenged by the lack of commonly accepted social and environmental frameworks, transparency and accountability of the leadership of stakeholder groups. However, despite these power asymmetries some limited agency is possible, as civil society in particular co-opts previously dormant stakeholders to increase its own salience and, more importantly, that of the state. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on the key stakeholders’ interactions shaping CSR in developing countries by exploring these issues in a critical industry, the Zambian copper mining sector, on which the state economy is so heavily dependent.

In this paper, we construct a complementary financialized business model of SME bio-pharma that reveals how the product innovation and development process conjoins with speculative forces in capital markets. To conceptualise this descriptive business model we employ three organising elements: narratives about pipeline progress that may (or may not) lead to additional funding from equity investors or other investing partners, capital market conditions that impact on the supply of funding and market valuations and the variable motivations of equity investors who are not in a development marathon but a relay race anxious to pass on ownership and extract higher returns on invested capital through realised market value. Bio-pharmas are, in effect, constituted as investment portfolios of innovations where products in pipeline and firms trade for shareholder value. In this speculative innovation, capital market liquidity business model complementary narratives and favourable capital market conditions are required to keep it all going.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper examines the erosion of autonomy among research and development (R&D) engineers in a global information technology company and the ways in which they responded. Over a 14-year period, we examine the changing regime of control as knowledge workers in this firm are increasingly subjected to increased project and portfolio management interventions. Drawing on extended interviews, we consider the propensity of such knowledge workers to challenge, subvert or else acquiesce to these enhanced control mechanisms. The idea of the project, we argue, plays a critical role in affording meaning and security and informing their responses.

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01559982 Copyright Elsevier Ltd.The financialization literature considers the impact of financial markets on corporate strategy, governance, financial performance and the distribution of resources between various stakeholder groups. Capital market demands modify strategic priorities, governance and managerial narratives about performance because this helps justify value creation and value absorption in an era of shareholder value. The literature on financialization suggests that managers have a tendency to exaggerate performance to boost valuations especially when their interests align with those of the firm's shareholders. In this exploratory study of an R&D-intensive firm ???Medco??? we consider the extent to which managerial narratives and corporate governance of this R&D-intensive firm reflect a process of financialization