Una tesis central de este texto es que los fines de la acción y razón práctica están retornando a la Economía a través del “enfoque caqpacidades” (capability approach, CA) para el análisis de la pobreza, la igualdad y el desarrollo, propuesto por Amartya Sen. Al centrarse en las capacidades, Sen reinserta la noción de fin en la economía y la economía en el área práctica: las capacidades son ellas mismas fines. En este documento, en primer lugar, introduciré los conceptos clave del CA de Sen. En segundo lugar evaluaré sus puntos fuertes y sus debilidades. Después analizaré la raíz aristotélica del enfoque. Cuarto, me ocuparé de los problemas y las críticas al CA de Sen. Consideraré cinco cuestiones: en primer lugar la carencia de una lista concreta de capacidades;segundo, la heterogeneidad de las capacidades; tercero, si el CA puede llevarse a práctica; cuarto, las relaciones entre los diferentes tipos de capacidades en el espacio de las capacidades; y cinco, el concepto de libertad de Sen, posiblemente infra-elaborado y sobre-extendido. Voy a explicar las respuestas de Sen y en qué forma el CA podría introducir cambios para dar respuesta a estas críticas adoptando una perspectiva más profunda, inspirada en Aristóteles

Latin America's retail landscape has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. Attracted by deregulation and a sizable and growing market, modern retailers arrived looking for the next El Dorado. But signs of maturity appeared much before expected. Traditional retailers modernized their offer, while keeping their appeal to the emerging consumers. While chain retail has concentrated earlier than expected - and faster by the hand of crisis that are usual in emerging markets -, local chains have developed formats which add modernity to their understanding of their customers' base. By providing better access through convenience and credit to a broader range that even includes affordable design and quality, local chains are showing the way to the growing mass customers that form Latin America's new emerging middle class. And leveraging on this customer understanding, they are redefining concepts like convenience and crossing borders to grab the opportunity of the new emerging consumers. This article covers the evolution of retailing in Latin America over the past two decades, and provides insights on the segment that has brought the most significant growth: emerging consumers.

This study explores the Latin American retail landscape to identify key pillars upon which innovative business models rely. In a region where retail innovation has traditionally been targeted at high-income consumers, we find a new breed of retailers that cater to the large mass of emerging consumers. Using qualitative research methods, we delve into the minds of Latin American emerging consumers to uncover their needs and paradigms. We also pinpoint the avenues of innovation retailers have followed to serve this impoverished segment. We find that retailers’ efforts to innovate have resulted in at least three original retail formats: one centered on providing access to durable goods, another centered on offering a wide assortment of goods and a convenient location, and the last one centered on incorporating design and quality. Based on the wheel of retailing theory, we show how these new formats are changing the structure of the retail industry in the region.

Para que los mejores lleguen a su empresa y se queden en ella, muchas cosas tendrán que adaptarse al contexto poscrisis. El talento no sólo preocupa, sino que aterra a muchos ejecutivos que ven un contexto poscrisis que no hace más que dificultar la tarea de atraer y retener a los mejores. El autor sugiere cinco ideas a tomar en cuenta para quien quiera navegar en este nuevo entorno: Comprender lo que motiva e interesa a la Gen Y. Altas expectativas y sobre todo flexibilidad. Reformular el mapa de competencias. En este entorno la capacidad de gestionar el cambio es más importante que la iniciativa. La gestión del talento requiere una nueva forma, la que excede largamente a las atribuciones de los departamentos de Recursos Humanos. La retención de talentos debe cambiar de eje y enfocarse en la empleabilidad futura de los trabajadores. La gestión del talento requiere de una visión sistemática.

In their search for sources of global competitive advantage to succeed in the new economy, multinational companies have turned to Global Sourcing Strategies, balancing the opportunities coming from global, centralised purchases, and the need for local supply adjustment and exploitation. In this context, relationships with suppliers provide a significant opportunity for companies to develop a strategic source of efficiency and to enhance global competitive advantages, thus becoming a key decision variable in the definition of Global Sourcing Strategies. The literature shows that buyer-supplier relationships evolve from competitive to cooperative relationships, going through several stages or modes primarily to respond to key factors, such as purchasing product and market characteristics, and globalisation process evolution. This research work shows how Global Sourcing Strategy behaviour patterns related to supply source globalisation and purchasing centralisation constitute a key factor at play with Supplier Management Strategies.

Prior studies of multimarket contact have investigated 'exploitation' rather than 'exploration' activities. We contrast effects of multimarket contact on entry and exit dynamics across these two settings. Based on analyses of biopharmaceutical firms’ competitive dynamics from 1989 to 1999, we find support for our theory that, while in exploitation, firms seek to optimize multimarket contact based on mutual forbearance benefits, in exploration, firms seek to reduce uncertainties through mimetic entry and exit. We also find that multimarket contact in exploration leads to competitive entry and exit in exploitation, but not vice-versa. We discuss implications for theory and practice.

Este trabajo pretende brindar un marco para el análisis del fenómeno de la corrupción en Argentina. Para ello, nos concentramos en el estudio de la situación actual desde una perspectiva cuantitativa y cualitativa, analizando los datos de corrupción recopilados por agencias especializadas, pero también analizando el desempeño de las instituciones en la lucha contra la corrupción. A continuación, analizamos la experiencia internacional en materia de política anti corrupción, para concluir el trabajo con algunas lecciones de política para la Argentina derivadas de la evidencia aportada.

This paper will explore a possible relationship between John Maynard Keynes and Franz Brentano on logical and epistemological grounds. Brentano (1839-1917) was a German philosopher. George E. Moore – Keynes’s professor – and Keynes himself read and praised Brentano’s book The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong (1889). Has Keynes adopted any logical or epistemological ideas from Brentano? The paper suggests that although some apparent similarities between Keynes and Brentano’s ideas on logic ad truth, there are also fundamental dissimilarities.

An economic crisis is an unexpected phenomenon with strong consequences for nations, institutions and people's wealth, habits, and behaviors. It departs from the ‘normal’ evolution of the affairs foreseen by economic theory. It makes the claim for new theoretical explanations. It surprises the economic agents (individuals, firms and governments) that try to ascertain what kind of phenomenon they are facing in order to decide the appropriate actions to undertake. It calls for revisions of theory, plans and expectations. Overall, a crisis calls for an explanation which clarifies its causes.

Dadas las limitaciones de la noción estándar de racionalidad económica, estamos viviendo una explosión de nuevos adjetivos de la “racionalidad” en economía. El objetivo de este trabajo es proponer la aplicación a la economía de dos formas clásicas de racionalidad, la racionalidad teórica y práctica. El trabajo presenta brevemente estas nociones, las causas de su decadencia y su actual “resurrección” y argumenta a favor de su reinserción en la economía. Sólo se pretende efectuar una introducción informal a futuros desarrollos de esta línea de investigación.

In June 2001, Empresa Editora El Comercio (EEEC) had launched a new popular newspaper, Trome, for low-income families in Lima, Peru. Although several studies had preceded this launch, sales in following months failed to reach expected levels and actually displayed a decreasing trend. Trome embodied the company’s effort to expand its news coverage to new population segments that were not served by its other newspaper, El Comercio, a market leader that had served as the foundation for the company itself. Six months after Trome’s launch and faced with dropping sales, company managers had met to discuss their options. This case describes management team members’ dilemmas at that meeting: “Should the new paper’s style and contents be changed? Should Trome focus more on sex and violence-related issues, as its competitors did? Would it be convenient to replace the silverware promotion chosen to support launching? Was the channel conflict adequately managed? Were intended readers’ needs truly and fully understood? Should the company re-launch Trome or would it be wiser to just give up on this project? This case was written in 2008 -although the information used was seven years old- to leverage its wealth of insights into base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) businesses. The delay in case elaboration was due to the extreme confidentiality surrounding these emerging markets’ scarce data. Newspaper market, innovation, new product launching, emerging markets, Latin America (LATAM).

Si nos guiáramos por las características estructurales del sector minorista, éste debería estar imposibilitado para innovar. Y mucho menos si quiere apuntar a los consumidores emergentes. Claro, los minoristas casi no tienen incidencia en los productos que venden, entonces mal podrían impulsar la innovación desde su lugar de vendedores finales de una oferta ya elaborada. Además, resulta que la innovación es costosa, y es altamente improbable que los consumidores emergentes estén dispuestos a pagar un sobreprecio por un producto innovador. ¿Se puede ser tan concluyente? En absoluto. Los autores, profesores del IAE de Buenos Aires, han adaptado el radar de la innovación (creado por los académicos de Kellogg School Sawhney, Wolcott y Arroniz) para el sector minorista, y con él han descubierto casos de empresas del sector que sí han logrado innovar para los mercados emergentes. La clave, sostienen los autores, estuvo en su capacidad de repensarse holísticamente a nivel de modelo de negocios, y a la vez encontrar las oportunidades en aquellas particularidades propias de su sector. Y sin descuidar, por cierto, las dificultades de cambio conductual que suelen surgir con las innovaciones. Tras realizar una investigación a nivel continental, los autores extraen tres lecciones a partir de igual número de parejas de empresas innovadoras de un mismo subsector: Hortifruti y Surtifruver, en los productos frescos; Casas Bahia y Magazine Luiza, en productos electrónicos y muebles para el hogar; y las cadenas de farmacias Similares y Guadalajara. Finalmente, se propone una herramienta para que usted evalúe las dimensiones de la innovación en su modelo de negocios para el sector minorista.

La hipercompetencia, la crisis económica y la incorporación de diversas generaciones a la fuerza laboral son algunos de los factores que obligan a cambiar radicalmente la forma en que se gestiona el talento. »»Hoy son los empleados talentosos los que tienen el poder de negociación, por lo que las empresas que quieran quedarse con los mejores de ellos tendrán que mirar el tema estratégicamente y ser coherentes y consistentes en sus enfoques y procesos. »»Los tres procesos clave en los que hay que hacer mejor las cosas son la atracción, privilegiando primero el talento en sí y después el puesto que ocupará; el desarrollo de sus fortalezas, con planes integrales y con énfasis en la adquisición de experiencia; y la retención de largo plazo, donde se enfatiza la importancia de la empleabilidad de las personas, el compromiso y el reconocimiento de éstas.

Every generation of managers experiments with new organizational forms—new business models and the organizational structures and management processes required to support them. Much of the current experimentation with business and organizational models is occurring in knowledge-intensive industries such as biotechnology, computers, telecommunications, and medical and scientific equipment. The principal business model emerging in these and similar industries can be called market exploration. Market exploration is a firm’s pursuit of opportunities created by intersecting technologies and markets. The market exploration process is complex, involving technology development, product development, and commercialization in collaboration with customers and other firms, as well as involving the orderly development of markets that have large but unknown potential. Firms that want to be effective at market exploration must organize specifically for innovation—they must be able to build and manage an I-form organization. This article shows how many firms are moving towards and improving the I-form organization and discusses its purpose, key features, and benefits. http://cmr.berkeley.edu/search/articleDetail.aspx?article=5524

This paper studies the trade receivables policy of distressed firms as the trade-off between the firm's willingness to gain sales and the firm's need for cash. We find that firms increase trade receivables when they have profitability problems, but reduce trade receivables when they have cash flow problems. We also find that a firm that significantly cuts its trade receivables when in financial distress will experience an additional drop of at least 13% in sales and stock returns over the previously documented 20% average drop for financially troubled firms. Moreover, the performance decline of a firm in financial distress is significantly higher if the firm cuts trade receivables than if it does not.

Inter-organizational models are both a well-documented phenomena and a well-established domain in management and business ethics, which rest on collaborative capabilities. However, mainstream theories and practices aimed at developing these capabilities are based on a narrow set of assumptions and ethical principles about human nature and relationships, which constrain the very development of capabilities sought by them. This paper presents an Aristotelian approach to collaborative entrepreneurship within and across communities of firms operating in complementary markets. Adopting a scholarship of integration approach and the evaluation of six studies of communities of organizations, we contribute an inter-organizational network model based on the assumptions about human motives and choice offered by Aristotle. We argue that the sustainability of inter-organizational communities depends on how rich is the set of assumptions about human nature upon which they are based. In order to develop and sustain collaborative capabilities in inter-organizational communities, a set of assumptions that takes both self-regarding and other’ regarding preferences as ends is required in order to avoid any kind of instrumentalization of collaboration, which is an end in itself. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. http://www.springerlink.com/content/001j3l7687738078/

Some authors pointed to a realist orientation in Keynes’s thought. However, since “realism” is a wide, diffuse and sometimes equivocal term, one may ask, what kind of realism Keynes’s realism is. This paper argues that Keynes held to an ontological, logical-semantic and epistemic realism. Whereas ontological realism has metaphysical connections, logical-semantic realism involves a notion of truth and epistemological realism presupposes a theory of knowledge. The character of the subject-matter of knowledge circumscribes the scope of this last kind of realism. Epistemological realism is related to the role of intuition and convention in Keynes’s thought, the meaning and evolution of which is explained.

Reciprocity does not require exactness but only a certain equilibrium in the things reciprocated: it is often overabundant. In addition, reciprocity may be fulfilled by returning something of a different kind that may be heterogeneous and incommensurable with the thing received. The reason of this “uneven response” of reciprocity is that in these situations the exchange of means aims at manifesting some values that are ends for the persons involved. Hence, the consideration of reciprocity supposes a reinsertion of ends in economics. The paper firstly defines reciprocity. Next, it summarizes a variety of arguments for a reconsideration of ends in economics. After that, it explains the differences between the rationalities of means and ends. A key difference lies in the problem of incommensurability of ends. This problem will be then tackled and a possible way to overcome it will be proposed. It will be finally sustained that practical comparability allows for incommensurable fair reciprocation

La economía moderna se ha impuesto la presión de ser una ciencia exacta y por este motivo ha perdido realismo. Para conseguirlo ha puesto entre paréntesis los fines de la acción humana, que habían sido tenidos en cuenta desde Aristóteles a los economistas clásicos. Sin embargo, algunos economistas actuales han advertido los problemas que esto lleva consigo y han intentado recuperar la cuestión de los fines para la economía. Ahora bien, esta recuperación requiere un tratamiento metodológico adecuado de los fines. En este ámbito las comparaciones que implican cualquier decisión conllevan una serie de limitaciones. En este trabajo se expondrán estas dificultades y el modo de solucionarlas desde la filosofía de Aristóteles y de Santo Tomás de Aquino. Finalmente se apuntarán someramente algunas posibles consecuencias para la ciencia económica contemporánea. Modern Economics trying to be an exact science has lost realism. For the sake of exactness, it has put into brackets the aims of human action which had been considered from Aristotle to the classical economists. Some contemporary economists, however, have realized the problems of that isolating of aims and are trying to reconsider them. This rehabilitation of ends requires an appropriate methodology because the comparison of ends implies some difficulties. In this paper these difficulties are exposed and a way to solved them, relying on Aristotle and Aquinas, is proposed. Finally, some consequences for today Economics will be sketched.

A renewed concern with Aristotle’s thought about the economic aspects of human life and society can be observed. Aristotle dealt with the economic issues in his practical philosophy. He thus considered ‘the economic’ within an ethical and political frame. This vision is coherent with a specific ontology of ‘the economic’ according to Aristotle. In a recent paper, I analysed this ontology and left its consequences, especially for Ethics and Politics, for another paper. In this article, I firstly summarise the reasoning and conclusions of the aforementioned paper. Then, I extract the ethical and political “lessons” of the Aristotelian conception. I finally add a section with epistemological “lessons”, and consequences for the teaching of Economics.

Actualmente la clase media latinoamericana –que cuenta con un ingreso familiar mensual entre US$ 500 y US$ 2.500– constituye 67% de la población de la región, y su taza de crecimiento la está convirtiendo en un mercado con un potencial insospechado. Lamentablemente, el sector minorista no suele investigar mucho a los segmentos que componen su clientela, y tiende a aprender sobre ella apelando al viejo método del ensayo y error. El estudio realizado por los autores –provenientes del Consejo de Investigación Minorista de Coca-Cola para América Latina y de McKinsey– incluyó encuestas a 1.900 consumidores de ocho ciudades en cinco países latinoamericanos, y arrojó importantes lecciones para quienes quieran complacer a la enorme clase media de la región. La primera es la importancia de la dignidad y la confianza, pues se trata de clientes que no tienen holgura económica, pero quieren disfrutar del poder que les da la compra. Para ello es clave que sean bien tratados y que confíen en quien les vende. Esto es muy revelador para un sector que suele pasar por alto estos conceptos, al menos en nuestro continente. La otra lección importante apunta a la segmentación de este sector, el que está compuesto por cinco tipos de consumidores: los escépticos con limitaciones financieras, los compradores funcionales, los clientes de conveniencia orientados a las marcas, los clientes sociales en busca de experiencias y los amantes de las marcas. Cada uno de estos segmentos valora desigualmente los atributos presentes en el famoso “pentágono minorista”, por lo que es importante que las empresas ajusten sus ofertas a las diversas idiosincrasias de estos segmentos y les entreguen lo que éstos valoran más.

Poca atención ha recibido la gestión de los recursos humanos en el proceso de expansión regional y global de muchas empresas latinoamericanas. Pero ésta es una de las claves de su éxito.

Corporations which provide services such as water, sewage disposal and electricity in poor countries or deprived areas, face political, social and economic problems which make it difficult to simultaneously favor the interests of shareholders and other relevant stakeholders. In this paper a case study is presented in which a company, Aguas Argentinas, promoted innovative and participative multi-stakeholder involvement which produced benefits for all parties. Key factors in the model employed were the generation of credibility and trust, adaptive management to the specific situation of deprived areas, stakeholder dialogue and participation. It is argued that understanding corporate citizenship as reciprocity and common effort in solving interdependent problems were fundamental to the success of the company in this case.

Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar una síntesis elaborada sobre las premisas que hacían de Sumantra Ghoshal una fuerza para el bien, tanto a través de sus más recientes desarrollos intelectuales como a través de su influencia en la práctica de la dirección. Para ello describe las definicones y hace explícitas las premisas e ideas en proceso en el momento del fallecimiento de Ghoshtal, en marzo del 2004. Plantea posibles desafíos a encarar en investigaciones futuras para seguir desarrollando el potencial de las teorías y la práctica de la dirección de modo que sean una fuerza para el bien.

Presented is an approach to classify a brand’s buyers into groups with varying degrees of loyalty along a continuum from “hard-core loyal” to “hard-core switcher.” A taxonomy is developed based on the joint use of stated consideration set and brand-switching data. In an empirical application to the automobile industry, classic stochastic models such as Grover-Srinivasan (J Mark Res 24:139–153, 1987) and Colombo-Morrison (Mark Sci 8(1):89–99, 1989), which attempt to recover the heterogeneity existing in the switching matrix overstate the number of hard-core loyals (buyers who repurchase with probability one) by 48% and 67%, respectively. The proposed taxonomy illuminates the sources of the overestimation and provides insights into the brand health of competing automotive makes. DOI 10.1007/s11002-008-9065-y

This study analyses the value determinants of a portfolio of growth options and explores implications for strategic management. It focuses the analysis on four elements: the number of real options in the portfolio, constraints on the number of options that can be exercised, the volatility of underlying assets, and the correlation between underlying assets. These elements are articulated around a trade-off between growth options and switch options and are applied to different strategic situations of technological, market, and macroeconomic uncertainty.

This paper endeavours to summarise a variety of arguments for a reconsideration of ends in Economics. The logical structure of the rationality of ends (practical rationality) differs from the one of means (instrumental rationality). The paper sets out to explain the differences between both rationalities and some of the implications of incorporating this new emphasis on ends, given that Economics adopts the means rationality. The emergence of the topics of incommensurability and incomparability of ends is presented and a possible way to tackle it is suggested. Finally, some implications for Economics are drawn. This article emphasises the importance of incorporating practical rationality into economic analysis. The arguments of the paper are built on Aristotelian grounds.

En los últimos años, la necesidad de atraer a los consumidores emergentes se ha vuelto el foco primordial para los principales minoristas latinoamericanos. Hasta ahora, atraerlos ha sido difícil debido a la insistencia en adaptar las fórmulas del retail que han funcionado en Europa y EE.UU., pero que tienen poco que ofrecer a consumidores con ingresos más modestos. Sin embargo, una investigación conjunta de The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council–Latin America y la consultora Booz Allen Hamilton en 2006, –que combinó focus groups en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia y México con más de 200 entrevistas a consumidores en terreno y con un panel de expertos multidisciplinario– reveló que los grupos minoristas verdaderamente innovadores están logrando satisfacer a los consumidores emergentes de manera sostenida y rentable. Para ello, debieron derrotar cinco paradigmas muy arraigados en las mentes de los consumidores emergentes, que los alejaban de los productos que deseaban (por ser inalcanzables) y de los lugares que los vendían (por sentirlos inaccesibles y a veces hasta hostiles). Los minoristas exitosos latinoamericanos crearon una serie de nuevas posibilidades que pueden agruparse en tres plataformas de innovación dirigidas exclusivamente a satisfacer sus aspiraciones: brindar acceso a la compra de productos o servicios, con fórmulas de crédito más flexibles; ofrecer diseño, calidad y surtido a precios asequibles, rompiendo con el paradigma de que las tiendas bellas y bien decoradas deben ser caras; y proporcionar gran variedad y ubicación conveniente, acercando a estos consumidores los productos que necesitan. Empresas como Casas Bahia, Elektra, Casa&Ideas y Locatel, entre otras, ilustran cómo, con creatividad y flexibilidad, se puede satisfacer a este sector largamente incomprendido por las prácticas tradicionales del retail provenientes de otros entornos. Por lo mismo, lo que han hecho estas empresas merece exportarse a otras latitudes, sostienen los autores.

This paper examines the effect of control changes on efficiency and productivity in the banking industry of Argentina. This industry represents an interesting case study as banks underwent corporate changes of different types including privatization, foreign acquisition of domestic banks and mergers and acquisitions among local institutions. Bank productivity is measured and decomposed into the effects due to returns to scale, technical progress and efficiency, while bank efficiency is related to a set of variables controlling for changes in bank ownership. The evidence suggests that control changes due to privatization had a positive short-term effect on productivity in part as a result of efficiency gains, which were then gradually lost over time. Results also indicate that foreign acquisitions led to stronger productivity performance of acquired banks, though they did not have any significant effect on efficiency. Finally, mergers and acquisitions had a negative impact on productivity as a result of scale effects despite the long-term efficiency improvements.

This research examines the determinants of firm’s growth. Our findings indicate that firms willing to grow substantially and government programs designed to boost firms growth should put emphasis on investing in newer technology, diversifying from regional markets into national and international markets, and delivering adequate returns, which provide the financial means to grow since these factors proved to be the most statistically significant explaining the growth of firms analyzed. The results also indicate that the growth of the firm was not significantly related with its size, which is consistent with Gibrat’s law.

Innovation is a complex activity in which new knowledge is applied to commercial ends. New knowledge is generated through a cumulative process in which knowledge is added, deleted, transformed, modified or simply reinterpreted. A substantial part of this knowledge reaches the firm from external sources. One of the most important changes in the organization of the innovation process within corporations in the last two decades has been the increasing awareness of the importance of external knowledge flows. Firms are gradually abandoning the idea that the generation of new knowledge is mostly an internal process. There are several different sources of external knowledge flows that the firm can try to appropriate and benefit from. One of them, the imitation process, has been depicted in the literature as an alternative to innovation; we see it more precisely represented as part of the innovation process itself. Innovation develops through imitation, and successful imitation might require a great deal of innovation as well. Most firms can be thought to innovate on some dimensions and imitate on others. When imitation implies the reinterpretation, modification and transformation of existing knowledge then the distinction between what is innovation and what is imitation tends to fade away. Understanding the process of imitation has thus very important implications for innovation strategies, for the diffusion of knowledge within industries and for economic development in general.

This paper studies the effect of financial crises on trade credit in a sample of 890 firms in six emerging economies. We find that although the provision of trade credit increases right after the crisis, it contracts in the following months and years. We observe that firms whose financial position is more vulnerable to crises, are more likely to extend less trade credit to their customers; based on this observation, we argue that the decline in aggregate trade credit ratios is driven by the reduction in the supply of trade credit that follows a bank credit crunch. Our results are consistent with the “redistribution view” of trade credit provision, according to which bank credit is redistributed via trade credit from firms with a stronger financial position to firms with a weaker financial stand.

We propose a model that links seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to eight associated disciplines and theories, specifying their corresponding units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneurship scholars are attempting to either carve out a distinctive domain for the field or build a distinctive theory of entrepreneurship. However, an obstacle for understanding entrepreneurship is the lack of integration of the assumptions implicit in different conceptualisations of entrepreneurship. We contribute a scholarship of integration approach for understanding the phenomena underlying these conceptualisations and linking entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking.

In 2002, Petrobras joined the Argentine fuel retail (gas stations) market. The venture faced several challenges. On the one hand, Argentina was undergoing one of the most severe economic and social crises in history. On the other, the local fuel market was dominated by a few players with brands that held significant consumer mindshare over many years. Additionally, personnel morale at Eg3 –the company acquired by Petrobras to enter the local market- was besieged by uncertainty and disillusionment as a result of a string of mergers and acquisitions and underlying H.R. management remoteness. Finally, the company’s Brazilian origin could jeopardize its appeal for Argentine consumers, given the cultural –and sports-based (soccer)- rivalry between these neighboring countries. The case presents this scenario and calls for decisions associated with service brand definition and strategy formulation for this company across its national borders.

A study of work interference with family (WIF) among managers is described, contrasting a cluster of Anglo countries with three clusters of five collectivist countries (Asia, East Europe and Latin America). Cluster (Anglo vs. each of the others) moderated the relation of work hours with time-based WIF, and the relation of workload with strain-based and time-based WIF. Cluster moderated the relation of both forms of WIF with both job satisfaction and turnover intentions in all but one analysis, with Anglos showing stronger relationships. These moderators could not be attributed to domestic help provided by extended family or neighbors, or by someone hired. Differences in mean WIF accounted for less than one percent of variance among clusters. Available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00092.x

Previous research has often seen alliances as a mechanism used by disadvantaged firms to seek new capabilities during environmental discontinuities. But are alliances an effective dynamic capability? In this paper, we find that less competent firms can use alliances to access new technologies, and show that alliances do indeed reduce the technological gap among competitor firms in terms of searching or accessing new technology. However, advantaged and disadvantaged firms seem to use different search routines in this process, and former are superior in internalizing new capabilities from their alliances. Thus, alliances are only partly effective as a catching-up mechanism. We discuss implications of these results for the literatures on strategic alliances, technological competition and dynamic capabilities.

Este trabajo desarrolla una justificación motivacional para la teoría de los stakeholders. La perspectiva metodológica es diferente y complementaria de las anteriores, que imponen consideraciones normativas a esta teoría. Enfocado en el proceso emprendedor, analiza los mecanismos que explican las acciones y el alineamiento de los distintos participantes. El argumento principal es que cada grupo de interés actúa motivado tanto por el resultado de sus acciones como por el aprendizaje que genera el proceso en sí mismo. A su vez, ese proceso, como motivación central, provee una identidad individual y colectiva y, en último término, explica el alineamiento de los distintos grupos. Este argumento tiene implicaciones tanto a nivel directivo como normativo.

La búsqueda de crecimiento internacional con frecuencia ha llevado a las multinacionales a ingresar a mercados emergentes, donde deben navegar a través de turbulencias económicas, políticas y sociales. Los rasgos ambientales particulares de América Latina plantean una serie de trade-offs a las multinacionales tanto a nivel estratégico como organizacional. Estos trade-offs tocan las fuentes de ventaja competitiva de las multinacionales y afectan sus recursos y capacidades clave. Al mismo tiempo, condicionan su comportamiento y sus supuestos sobre la región. Tras estudiar sistemáticamente el entorno de negocios latinoamericano, los autores han visto a los ejecutivos resolver estos trade-offs eligiendo e invirtiendo fuertemente en un extremo de la ecuación. Las multinacionales han desarrollado así capacidades valiosas en una dirección, dejando otras oportunidades inexploradas. Este enfoque, que llaman bipolar, resulta de aplicar soluciones globales prefabricadas a los entornos regionales, y la confianza excesiva en él puede dejar a las multinacionales más expuestas de lo que sospechan. Los autores proponen un enfoque sistémico basado en patrones de adaptación identificados entre multinacionales altamente exitosas en América Latina. Una de ellas es The Walt Disney Company, que los autores han elegido como ejemplo de coherencia sistémica. Considerada generalmente una de las compañías globales por excelencia, Disney ha sabido responder a los rasgos particulares de cada mercado regional que atiende. En América Latina, la empresa emprendió recientemente un revolucionario cambio para acercar la organización a las realidades del mercado, resolviendo exitosamente los trade-offs en tres procesos fundamentales: definición estratégica, alineación organizacional y estilo de liderazgo.

Our two-stage framework predicts that during impression formation, individuals who hold ambivalent attitudes toward an issue are influenced by other sources regardless of their perceived reliability on the target issue. Less ambivalent individuals are presumed likely to check the reliability of the message’s source before accepting it. Experiment 1 finds that highly ambivalent participants do not differentiate between a more vs. less reliable source when forming impressions of a political candidate whereas less ambivalent participants do. Experiments 2 and 3 show that less ambivalent individuals’ attitudes can be influenced by less reliable sources if participants are unaware of this influence or if participants’ cognitive resources are curtailed.

In the past few decades, the strong competition and globalisation featured by world markets have led companies to pursue internationalisation strategies for their supply management in order to effectively support their globalisation process. The literature reveal a strong link between two key dimensions in global supply strategy (GSS) development: international sourcing – i.e., the level of supply globalisation - and purchasing location – i.e., the level of centralisation in relevant purchasing decisions. All the same, other variables are discussed as relevant for supporting GSS deployment. This research, based on the study of seven Italian MNCs that have expanded their operations to the MERCOSUR area, intends to explore the process of GSS definition and development, focusing on the key dimensions and identifying the driver criteria used in each of them, as well as their impact on decision-making processes.

Titulo este proyecto "Las racionalidades de la economía", usando el número plural del sustantivo racionalidad, por dos motivos. El primero, porque argumentaré a favor de un doble tipo de racionalidad aplicable a la economía:la instrumental y la práctica.El segundo motivo es porque hoy día se postulan varias propuestas en torno a la racionalidad en economía que procuran ir más allá de las diversas versiones de la racionalidad tradicionales. En general estas nuevas propuestas tienden a buscar una ampliación el concepto de racionalidad. A esto parecen abocarse también diversos programas. La aspiración de estos proyectos es encontrar un concepto que supere la forma de racionlidad denominada instrumental. No siempre lo logran. Este trabajo consta de dos partes: en la primera expongo el marco de las racionalidades de la economía en el primer sentido: las racionalidades que rigen la realidad económica y la ciencia que las estudia. Será un camino algo largo. En la segunda, más breve, expondré sucintamente algunas de las mencionadas propuestas.

Tony Lawson's and Uskali Mäki's respective realist projects rely on an ontology of the economy. This paper will not focus on these research projects but will instead try to shed light on them by introducing an ontology of the economy according to Aristotle. Oikonomiké, the seminal term used by him, is not a noun but an adjective. For Aristotle, nouns express entities or beings, both self-sufficient beings and accidental properties. Adjectives almost always express accidents. What kind of being is ‘the economic’? This analysis will suggest some conclusions about the constraints of economic science and the need for institutions according to the peculiar ontological condition of ‘the economic’ as conceived by Aristotle.

Only two out of the five levers –prices and assortment-, are consistently and broadly relevant accounting for nearly 75% of the price perception. Consumers’ diversity was apparent and so their attitudes towards promotions. We identified five major segments with different price attitudes and reactions to promotions, that were present in all the five cities covered, though their proportion varied. Consumers considered a limited set of SKU’s to form this price perception, and promotions had a minor role, except for those segments more interested in them. Promotions may cloud price perception accuracy among consumers, and drive the existence of bigger “bargain hunting” segments. Value of paper How OSPI is built is a relevant issue for retailers. Promotions are frequently used to build traffic, but its role in the OSPI is not so clear. They may strengthen the bonds with customers, but may also have a negative impact. Retailers may benefit from these insights when defining their promotional strategies, especially when considering EDLP strategies. As the study is based on five capital cities in Latin America, its results may also be of interest to retailers working in other emerging regions.

Findings Rather than emphasizing their limited income, emerging consumers as a group represent a sizable market for consumer products. But they should not be addressed as a single group: peculiarities among them underline the need for further segmentation, as in higher –income segments. Their needs should be better defined as basic instead of just simple, and they don’t just go for the lowest prices or second brands, as they have marked preferences that characterize them. This also reflects in their shopping habits, which partly explains the resilience of the traditional/small format retailers. Our findings underline these segments relevance for consumer products, their rational behaviour as they try to reconcile their preferences with their economic reality, and how this explains their distinct set of products and format requirements. Practical Implications Marketers and retailers interested in catering to lower-income segments will find clues to understanding the preferences, habits and needs of these segments that represent a significant portion of emerging markets. Originality / Value of the paper Conclusions are presented here in the form of 6 common myths on emerging consumers that are contradicted by our findings. The relevance of this study comes not only from the significant size of this market but also from the possibility of marketers to emphasize the social contribution of business.

Findings In spite of being “poor,” emerging consumers have a substantial purchasing power as a group. They work with a very specific set of products, categories and store format needs that distinguish them from other consumers. These distinct needs imply that it is not “just a matter of money and time” for them to change their purchasing patterns over to the “modern trade”. In fact, the evidence shows that smaller scale retailers fit the needs of emerging consumers quite well. Despite perceptions that the small retail sector draws its resilience from informality, we conclude that that the sector can be surprisingly efficient. Furthermore, they retailers exhibit a sustainable business model. Value of paper Although a wide variety of studies have been developed around small-scale retailers, less effort has been devoted to learn about local storekeepers that are actually conducting successful business, especially in reference to less developed countries.

Economic systems are undergoing a generalized effort to improve corporate governance structures and processes. Waves of scandals and increasing public scrutiny push institutional regulators and corporate boards of directors to establish and adopt new practices. Codes of good governance have emerged as a primary tool to increase the effectiveness of corporate governance systems. Building on extant views of institutional change, the authors study the process of the institutionalization of codes of governance and the role of the different actors involved in issuing the codes. They define four groups of actors: law-makers, model makers, market makers, and governance enactors. They analyze a sample of 150 codes of governance introduced in 78 countries from 1978 to 2004 to describe the following stages of institutionalization: precipitating jolts, theorization, diffusion, and reinstitutionalization. This description invites thorough investigation of the content of codes of governance and the likelihood adopting such codes in a given country.

Conventional economic and management theories explain that business groups facing market liberalization policy reforms (i.e., competitive shocks) would have incentives to reduce corporate portfolios and increase internationalization. We empirically examine the strategic responses of Argentine business groups and, through an inductive theory building process, propose refinements to this theory. We argue that such a strategy process is moderated not only by differences in market forces set out by policy reforms across different economic segments but also by the path dependency of resources and capabilities as well as management decision-making style of individual business groups. We discuss implications for theory and practice.

Drawing from our current original research on cultural trends in Latin America-based multinational firms, this article challenges the stereotypical perception of Latin America as a homogeneous region and explores the cultural distances among groups of multinational employees. After collecting surveys from 733 employees across 8 multinationals in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, we establish that much like it happens in other lumped together regions of the globe such as “East Asia”, and “Africa”, Latin American countries present significant differences in the way firm employees respond to situations where cultural traits are at stake. By researching these countries, we recorded significant variation in aspects such as the treatment and place of women in the workplace, attachment or detachment to formal rules, formal organizational hierarchies and structured business planning, in addition to varying levels of tolerance to invasion of privacy. Implications of the study include the need to develop methodologies which adequately capture cultural differences within large geographical blocks and business practices which prepare the expatriate, the international manager and the policy maker for the different realities they are bound to encounter in different countries.

Organisational studies have often omitted the importance of national differences as shapers of the organisational action of firms. This study aims to address the particular national features that distinguish the Argentinian national context from others. To do so, we introduce a multidimensional framework that includes both institutional and cultural elements. In so doing we were able to begin to answer the following questions: To what extent have the unique characteristics of the national context shaped indigenous businesses in Argentina? And, how have the national business characteristics impacted on the way indigenous businesses organise themselves, transform and respond under competitive pressures? The result of our analysis shows the importance of three major aspects in understanding organisational action: the role of the state, the role of financial institutions and the role of national culture and shapers of organisational action.

This paper examines the processes of organizational adaptation and competitiveness of firms in an emerging economy. The study is set in the Argentine context of the 1990s when a combination of economic and political change triggered a massive change in the competitive context of indigenous firms. Two highly flexible firms and two less flexible firms are studied from the pharmaceutical and edible oil industries and longitudinal data are supplied to explore the determinants of organizational flexibility in those organizations.

Un ejecutivo extranjero que se apresta a vivir y trabajar a un país latinoamericano tiene que estar preparado para recibir advertencias del tipo “los latinoamericanos son muy informales” o “su comida es muy condimentada”. Los latinoamericanos sabemos que esta mirada estereotípica de nuestra región bien puede estar en el centro de los problemas de adaptación que suelen enfrentar los ejecutivos de grandes multinacionales norteamericanas o europeas. Pero ¿qué ocurre cuando quienes caen presa de los estereotipos son los propios ejecutivos latinoamericanos? Los autores estudiaron los casos de 40 filiales de ocho compañías multinacionales en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia y México, para descubrir hasta qué punto tales estereotipos impiden que la riqueza y la complejidad afloren en los patrones organizacionales. Aquí no hay antropología esencial: las preguntas abordaron, en su mayoría, situaciones estrictamente de negocios que podían ser afectadas por consideraciones culturales. El estudio establece siete dimensiones culturales que impactan la práctica empresarial, donde es posible apreciar diferencias y derribar algunos mitos. Se indaga sobre la organización jerárquica, el logro personal e institucional, el apego a normas y regulaciones, la privacidad y relaciones personales, el rol de la mujer en el lugar de trabajo, la estructura de planificación estratégica y percepciones de poder y estatus. Una verdadera profecía autocumplida es la mala gestión que resulta de implementar sistemas y prácticas importados desde las casas matrices, sin adecuaciones específicas al país o guiadas por supuestos equivocados. El estudio desenmascara los malos supuestos basados en estereotipos de una región heterogénea.

We revisit the self-interest view on human behavior and its critique, and propose a framework, called self-love view, that integrates self-interest and unselfishness and provides different explanations of the relationship between preferences, behavior, and outcomes. Proponents of self-interest as the only valid behavioral assumption argue for simplified assumptions and clear models in order to propose precise prescriptions, while critics to this self-interest view argue for realistic assumptions and rich descriptions in order to reach better explanations. This debate inhibits theoretical development because it faces the problem of incommensurability of standards for choosing among paradigms. We propose the concept of self-love, or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection, to remove the assumption self-interest vs. unselfishness. Self-love distinguishes between the object and the subject of motivation and therefore creates a bi-dimensional motivational space. This framework replaces the uni- dimensional continuum self-interest - unselfishness, specifies eight interrelated motives, and provides different expected relationships between preferences, behavior, and outcomes. We show that a better understanding of motivational assumptions, their embodiment in theories, and their influence on the very behaviors these theories assume provides managers and policymakers more alternatives for the designing of motivational contexts than in the case of assuming either self-interest or a permanent conflict between self-interest and unselfishness.

In the past few decades, the strong competition and globalization featured by world markets have led companies to develop international purchasing strategies involving dramatic price reductions, quality and delivery enhancements, improved cycle times, increased responsiveness to customers and better financial conditions. As a result, companies have been forced to pursue internationalization strategies for their purchase management in order to effectively support their globalization process. The literature studies, focusing on Multinational Companies’ (MNC) corporate purchasing strategy influence on affiliates’ global supply strategy (GSS) development, reveal a strong link between two key dimensions: supply source – i.e., the level of supply globalization as related to MNC’ s worldwide operating needs - and purchasing location – i.e., the level of centralization in relevant purchasing decisions. This research, based on the study of a sample of seven Italian MNCs that have expanded their operations to the MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) area, intends to explore the purchasing strategy definition and development process, focusing on the relationship between its two key dimensions and identifying the definition criteria used in each of them, as well as their impact on decision-making processes.

La vida y las circunstancias de las personas inciden de algún modo en su pensamiento. En este trabajo se presenta la figura del economista inglés, seleccionando algunos rasgos de su personalidad y hechos de su vida y época, tomados especialmente de las biografías recientes. No se establecen las posibles conexiones con sus ideas, pero se presume que éstas surgirán naturalmente en los lectores que las conocen. Así se deja un amplio margen para que la "intentio lectoris" complete o suplante la "intentio auctoris".

Los tradicionales tres estratos socioeconómicos ya no sirven para explicar las decisiones de compra de los consumidores. Los perfiles del comprador latinoamericano son cinco, y derriban varios mitos acerca de cómo construyen su percepción de precios. Las empresas que adapten sus estrategias podrán fortalecer sus propuestas y llegar a esos bolsillos.

El entorno hiper-competitivo de hoy, las empresas tienen dos alternativas: adaptarse o desaparecer. Aquellas que sepan incorporar la flexibilidad en sus estrategias, estructuras ejecutivas y procesos de toma de decisiones serán las que dominen el escenario competitivo, como lo demuestra la experiencia latinoamericana.

We believe that structural changes in a knowledge economy mean that managers will increasingly seek to make cooperative relationships the norm in their organizations. However, they are hampered in their attempts to do so by organization designs that institutionalize the dominant assumption about human intentionality, which sees people and their relationships as motivated by self-interest. We argue that the self-interest assumption runs counter to the types of cooperation required to leverage fully the potential of the knowledge-based firm since it provides for relatively restricted forms of social exchange. We propose that the assumption of excellence, as set out by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics, provides a valuable alternative. We discuss four tenets of this assumption and find that they suggest important differences in organisation design that are more likely to encourage and institutionalize cooperative relationships. We explore these differences, considering their implications for practice and research.

This paper is about the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship at the regional level. Defining entrepreneurship as the creation of new organizations and clusters as a geographically proximate group of interconnected firms and associated institutions in related industries, this paper aims to answer three research questions: first, do clusters matter to entrepreneurship at the regional level? Second, if clusters are associated with different levels of entrepreneurship, what explains those differences? Third, what do the answers to the previous questions imply for academics and policy makers? To answer these questions, this paper distinguishes between clusters and industrial agglomerations and advances a theoretical model and empirical research to explain the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship at the regional level. This paper uses the 97 German planning regions as units of analysis to test the hypotheses. Using hypotheses testing and OLS fixed-effects model, this paper finds that clusters do have an impact on entrepreneurship at the regional level, but industrial agglomerations do not. Implications for academics and policy makers and suggestions for future research are given in the concluding section.

This study analyzes the trade-off between strategic flexibility and commitment for cases of simultaneous and related strategic investments under high levels of uncertainty. It develops a model that, using a Cournot game and real options theory, demonstrates that (1) a correlated strategic investment adds value to a portfolio of ongoing strategic investments in a decreasing marginal fashion, and (2) the new investment delays the development of the other investments. Managers who fail to recognize these properties may make strategic commitments that destroy value, even in the presence of options with individual positive values. An important feature of the model is that competitive advantages may flow from market power or from the capability of managing the portfolio.

This research investigates the effects of social capital in nascent entrepreneurial projects carried out by entrepreneurial teams. By surveying 33 nascent entrepreneurial teams, this paper explores how 1) the internal social structure of the team, which reflects the communication patterns and the feelings between the members; and 2) the team's external social structure, which is based on the diversity of ties that the members of the team have with outside parties, impact the advancement of a business idea. It was found that teams with high external social capital have a higher performance, while the empirical results failed to support that high internal social capital was better for team performance.

Si nos guiáramos por las características estructurales del sector minorista, éste debería estar imposibilitado para innovar. Y mucho menos si quiere apuntar a los consumidores emergentes. Claro, los minoristas casi no tienen incidencia en los productos que venden, entonces mal podrían impulsar la innovación desde su lugar de vendedores finales de una oferta ya elaborada. Además, resulta que la innovación es costosa, y es altamente improbable que los consumidores emergentes estén dispuestos a pagar un sobreprecio por un producto innovador. ¿Se puede ser tan concluyente? En absoluto. Los autores, profesores del IAE de Buenos Aires, han adaptado el radar de la innovación (creado por los académicos de Kellogg School Sawhney, Wolcott y Arroniz) para el sector minorista, y con él han descubierto casos de empresas del sector que sí han logrado innovar para los mercados emergentes. La clave, sostienen los autores, estuvo en su capacidad de repensarse holísticamente a nivel de modelo de negocios, y a la vez encontrar las oportunidades en aquellas particularidades propias de su sector. Y sin descuidar, por cierto, las dificultades de cambio conductual que suelen surgir con las innovaciones. Tras realizar una investigación a nivel continental, los autores extraen tres lecciones a partir de igual número de parejas de empresas innovadoras de un mismo subsector: Hortifruti y Surtifruver, en los productos frescos; Casas Bahia y Magazine Luiza, en productos electrónicos y muebles para el hogar; y las cadenas de farmacias Similares y Guadalajara. Finalmente, se propone una herramienta para que usted evalúe las dimensiones de la innovación en su modelo de negocios para el sector minorista.

This study describes the process of value chain quality improvement carried out by a leading steel company in Latin America. The longitudinal study explains how the company developed quality improvement initiatives based on cooperation with customers and suppliers. The importance of the case is due mainly to the original approach taken by the company, on turning its business around through quality improvement initiatives in the external value chain, especially towards direct customers. Data were collected during nine years, from the 1992 privatisation until early 2001. Data included interviews with managers, observations, and documents. The case provides empirical support for ideas underlying quality initiatives across the value chain, customer response strategies, and the use of knowledge as a source of competitive advantage.