Our Board, Our Rules: Nonconformity to Global Corporate Governance Norms

What drives organizational nonconformity to global corporate governance norms? Despite the prevalence of such norms and attendant conformity pressures, many firms do not adhere to them. We build on a political view of corporate governance to explore how different national institutional contexts and organizational conditions combine to produce over- and underconformity to global board independence norms. Using configurational analyses and data from banks in OECD countries, we identify multiple equifinal combinations of conditions associated with over- and underconformity. We also find that over- and underconformity have different drivers. We conjecture that while overconformity is associated with a shareholder–management coalition in liberal market economies, underconformity results from multiple complex combinations of national and organizational conditions that often include dominant blockholders, strong labor rights, and small organizational size. We leverage these findings to abduct theoretical insights on nonconformity to global corporate governance norms. Doing so sheds light on the role of power in conditioning the adoption of global practices and contributes to research on international corporate governance by informing discourse surrounding the globalization of markets.

The Changing Role of CEOs in Dutch Listed Companies, 1957–2007

This paper looks at the position of CEOs in Dutch listed companies in the context of institutional change. Following up on discussions on Varieties of Capitalism and the contrasts between coordinated and liberal market economies, we explore the position of the CEO in the Netherlands in the second half of the twentieth century. On the basis of our database of Dutch CEOs, as well as an analysis of articles and published interviews, we show that the move toward a more liberal market economy had a clear impact on the position of CEOs and on the way their role was perceived. This paper highlights the importance of studying leaders in their historical context, with implications for the selection of future CEOs as they face increasing pressure on issues such as inequality and climate change.

Exploring the explicitness, salience of ethics and transparency of messages in social reports: a cross-national longitudinal content analysis from an institutional perspective

PurposeThis study analyzed the explicitness, the salience of ethics and the transparency of messages in firms' social reports based on their significance to strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on institutional theory, this content analysis investigated 750 social reports from 125 firms for a ten-year period in liberal market economies (LMEs: US, UK), coordinated market economies (CMEs: Germany, Japan) and state-led market economies (SLMEs: France, South Korea).FindingsFirst, firms in CMEs showed the highest level of transparency, and in all market economies, an overall trend of increase in the level of transparency was found. Second, firms in SLMEs communicated their CSR activities least explicitly. Third, firms in CMEs showed the lowest salience of ethics.Originality/valueUseful theoretical as well as practical implications are provided in relation to the institutional perspective to CSR, and cross-national CSR communication.

The Effect of Varieties of Capitalism on the Relationship of Institutional Gearing and Economic Growth

The ways the firm solves coordination problems with the different stakeholders (or the varieties of capitalism of nations) affect economic performance. Institutional gearing is one of the main determinants of economic growth. Nevertheless, there are no studies that analyse the effect of varieties of capitalism on the relationship of institutional gearing and economic growth. The objective of the paper is to estimate the effect of the variety of capitalism on the relationship between the institutional gearing index and other macroeconomic control variables on the GDP per capita in a group of developed and developing countries. To do that 3 panel data models were estimated: one with fixed effects and two with random effects, for 31 countries for the period 2011-2015. We used 16 Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies and 15 Hierarchical Market Economies. The results showed the varieties of capitalism affect the relationship between institutional gearing and economic growth. In the Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies this effect is higher than in Hierarchical Market Economies. Governments of Hierarchical Market Economies should not only apply public policies to build functional institutions, but also encourage the positive complementarities among them.

What Attracts Foreign Direct Investments in Asian Economies?

This chapter focuses on institutional configurations in host economies and examines the configurations that had a high propensity for foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Asian economies. While many previous studies on the relationship between FDI and growth focus on institutions in host economies, they are apt to search for one and/or best institutions. They do not perceive heterogeneous sets of linked institutions. This chapter contributes to the existing literature in a twofold manner. First, this analysis, based on multiple factor analysis, demonstrates a substantial variation in institutional configurations across Asian economies in attracting FDI. These Asian economies can be categorized into three clusters. Second, the fuzzy-set quality comparative analysis shows that two of the institutional configurations have a high propensity for FDI. The one found in Singapore relies on institutional complementarities similar to liberal market economies, while the other one, which is characteristic to Thailand, focuses on human capital formation in Asian welfare capitalism.

The Same but Different: Regulating Zero Hours Work in Two Liberal Market Economies

The rise in zero hours contracts in liberal market economies (LMEs) has recently received much attention with calls for regulation to protect workers. LMEs typically adopt flexible labour market policies that are less regulated than coordinated market economies (CMEs) as a competitive advantage. In this paper we examine nuanced differences in the nature and regulation of zero hours work in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland. With an increased diffusion of zero hours work in both countries, we examine the different responses taken by these similar LMEs to this contemporary employment issue. We examine whether, as expected in an LME context, there is weak regulation in both countries and the factors influencing this. We find subtle but important differences between regulations of zero hours contracts. We conclude by discussing the possible implications of the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) (Brexit) for the regulation of precarious work.

Regime de Formação Profissional Coletivo em Economias de Mercado Liberais? A Política de Reformas na Qualificação na Austrália, Irlanda e Reino Unido

Resenha do Livro:VOSSIEK, Janis. Collective skill formation in liberal market economies? the politics of training reforms in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Bern Berlin Bruxelles New York Oxford Warszawa Wien: Peter Lang, 2018. (Studies in vocational and continuing education, vol. 16). ISBN 978-3-0343-2969-9 (brochura), ISBN 978-3-0343-2971-2 (e-book)

Industry evolution in Varieties of Capitalism: a comparison of the Danish and US wind turbine industries

In this study, we combine Klepper’s framework on the evolution of industries with the Varieties of Capitalism approach to argue that industry evolution is mediated by institutional differences. We expect that new industries will evolve with a stronger connection to established industries in coordinated marked economies than in liberal market economies. Our assumptions are supported by a survival analysis of USA and Danish wind turbine manufacturers from 1974 to 2014. Yet, the emergence of a dominant design biases the results.