From margin to center: listening to silenced subjectivities in international business

Prasad, Ajnesh; Durepos, Gabrielle

doi:10.1108/cpoib-10-2015-0048

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Interestingly, there are complex reasons why the CSR cases in developing economies are at odds with those of industrialized nations. The issue of defining what constitutes good management practices revolves around an array of deep-rooted questions of designed institutional deficiencies, socio-economic disequilibrium, environmental turbulence [10,11], historical bias, and academic hegemony [12][13][14][15]. CSR broadly refers to the organization's socio-economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary obligations toward society and the environment [16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Ahen

Amankwah‐Amoah

2018

Sustainability

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and conceptions vary across sectors and nations. However, there is a general tendency among academics and practitioners to present CSR in Africa as activities characterized by philanthropy due to the existence of institutional voids. This review of the current literature demonstrates that weak institutions lead to weaker bargaining powers designed through the historical and geopolitical institutional frameworks of international business and global governance systems. Accordingly, multinational corporations (MNCs) take advantage of such weaknesses to define CSR on their own terms by replacing the ideal responsible and sustainable innovations with ad hoc philanthropy that diverts the attention from the negative consequences of neoliberal 'structures of accumulation'. This is akin to aid that hardly contributes to structural changes, but rather leads to complacency, corruption, dependency, boutique projects, disguised exploitation, and the misuse of corporate political power to achieve corporate bottom lines. The implications of the results are vast, and they are generalizable to all weaker institutional settings. Thus, weaker institutions create the necessary regulatory, political, economic, and governance climate that perpetuates a pattern of abuses and ethical violations that are then masked with philanthropy. It is argued that the fundamental institutional and geopolitical contexts within which MNCs interact with nation states cannot be ignored in any comprehensive analysis that seeks to meaningfully shed light on the comparative differences of CSR practices. The neglect of the web of contextual, historical, and geopolitical issues in which CSR is entrenched and framed diverts attention from the origins of the socio-economic and environmental questions to philanthropy as a final solution, which has hitherto been perpetuated with undesirable outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Ahen

Amankwah‐Amoah

2018

Sustainability

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“…We note that some have suggested that the notion of "career" may be emblematic of dominant Western/Global North representations of individuals striving for professional success and may not apply to career logics in other contexts, particularly in the Global South (e.g. Prasad and Durepos, 2016). The findings from our study provide evidence to the contrary; that exploring the local workers' career trajectories-their motivations, transitions and experiences within a highly internationalized service sector-may provide important insights about the very notion of success and its subjective internalization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Local worker perspectives from Nicaraguan surf tourism: revisiting career anchors in non-standard work contexts

Mielly

Peticca‐Harris

2022

CDI

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PurposeThis qualitative study explores, through the lens of Schein's (1978) career anchor theory, the internal career perceptions (self-perceived values, challenges and capabilities) of local surf workers in the highly internationalized sector of surf tourism in Nicaragua.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were carried out with 22 local surf tourism workers. Participant experiences were analyzed using thematic analysis to distinguish their career anchor orientations.FindingsThe results indicate the sustained value and instrumentality of Schein's original career anchor theory, specifically in terms of the interconnectedness of dominant and supporting anchors and the relevance of anchor groupings for workers in non-standard working environments. The anchors of lifestyle, entrepreneurial creativity, and security and stability were closely interrelated and complementary, as participants from this context were ultimately striving for security and stability.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should consider more explicitly the role of the socio-political, environmental or economic context in shaping the internal career self-concepts and experiences of workers.Practical implicationsThis study sheds light on the internal career drivers — the unique dilemmas, challenges, passions and motives — of local workers in a resource-constrained environment. Managers, business owners and other economic actors stand to gain important insights into the realities of workers they employ, but do not intimately understand. Such insights could be generalizable to a variety of work settings in which there are high material, social or cultural constraints.Social implicationsNon-standard work contexts and local worker voices are both thematically underrepresented in the careers scholarship. Research on these topics can contribute to broader discussions of sustainability, sustainable development goals and decolonial perspectives in social science scholarship. Bringing local workers from the Global South into view means turning scholarly attention towards less-visible “others” working alongside those having received the lion's share of academic discussion, i.e. expatriate workers on a global assignment or self-initiated expatriates, most often from the Global North.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to explore the career anchors of local workers in the Global South in a non-standard, non-bureaucratic vocational setting. The study sheds light on local workers' career decisions, an often-neglected perspective within international human resource management.

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“…How do the behaviours of MNEs and local firms in response to industry declines in EEs affect by national and international political dynamics and vice versa? Research by IB scholars on declining industries in EEs from the vantage point of these perspectives can contribute to a broad discourse on IB research into marginalised subjects (Durepos et al , 2016; Prasad and Durepos, 2016). Methodological innovations, such as global ethnography (Burawoy, 2001), should be able to provide powerful tools for research in these endeavours.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining industries in emerging economies and firms’ strategies

Tan

2022

CPOIB

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Purpose International business (IB) and strategy research in the context of emerging economies (EEs) has focused traditionally on the strategies of firms in and from those markets to seize opportunities arising from their economic growth. This paper aims to demonstrate that declining industries in EEs are an important but overlooked research context for critical IB scholarship and to illuminate special considerations for strategising under those conditions. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides an overview of declining industries in EEs and includes an illustration of a sample of such industries in major EEs. This paper then critically reviews research on firms’ strategies in declining industries and extends that critical discussion to the EE context. Findings Firstly, this paper provides evidence relating to declines in industries in EEs. Secondly, this paper identifies three major strategies that firms use in response to an industry decline and critically discusses those strategies’ manifestations and special considerations in the context of EEs. Social implications Industry decline in EEs and the resultant responses of multi-national enterprises and local firms, such as business exit, market competition and firm diversification strategies, cause significant social challenges. This paper calls for further research on the phenomenon, especially regarding its distinctive ramifications compared with those in the context of developed countries. Originality/value This paper contributes to the critical IB scholarship by questioning the assumptions around high economic growth in individual EE industries and by challenging a universalistic approach that applies findings grounded in declining industries in developed countries to the distinctive context of EEs. This paper also provides forward-looking expositions concerning industry decline in EEs.

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From margin to center: listening to silenced subjectivities in international business

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Local worker perspectives from Nicaraguan surf tourism: revisiting career anchors in non-standard work contexts

Declining industries in emerging economies and firms’ strategies

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