La Rochelle Business School

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working capital management (WCM) efficiency of resilient and nonresilient firms listed on India’s BSE 500 index. It focuses on key WCM components such as cash conversion cycles (CCC), accounts receivable periods, inventory conversion periods and accounts payable periods. Design/methodology/approach Panel data from 2012 to 2023 is analyzed using the System Generalized Method of Moments model. This study differentiates between resilient and nonresilient firms based on liquidity stress tests and cash flow performance before and during the pandemic. Findings Resilient firms demonstrated superior WCM efficiency, maintaining shorter CCCs, effective receivables and inventory management and stable payables. Nonresilient firms faced significant inefficiencies, including extended CCCs and slower receivables and inventory turnover, exposing gaps in their WCM practices. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the pandemic period. Future research could explore broader timeframes to understand the long-term effects on WCM. Practical implications Managers should enhance WCM strategies, focusing on cash flow optimization to strengthen firm resilience during crises. Social implications Efficient WCM supports job retention, preserves supplier relationships and stabilizes local economies, contributing to broader community resilience during crises. Originality/value This study extends the resource-based view by emphasizing WCM as a critical internal resource that supports firm resilience during economic crises. It contributes new insights into how Indian firms adapted their WCM strategies in response to COVID-19.

Ambidextrous leadership (AL) is a game-changer for entrepreneurial success, empowering leaders to balance exploration and exploitation expertly-two powerful forces that drive innovation and business growth. Yet, despite its evident importance, research into the factors that shape AL in entrepreneurial settings remains surprisingly sparse. This study fills this gap by exploring how emotional intelligence, adaptive and flexible leadership, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership influence AL behaviors among entrepreneurial leaders. Drawing on data collected via structured questionnaires from entrepreneurs who lead high-tech businesses in the UK, this research reveals how each leadership dimension contributes to AL. The results, based on multiple linear regression analysis, indicate that while all four leadership styles influence AL, they do so in distinct ways. Transformational and transactional leadership help shape a leader's opening and closing behaviors, while adaptive or flexible leadership determines the strategic timing for their deployment. Additionally, emotional intelligence fosters the emotional climate that helps leaders navigate the tensions inherent in leading innovation. The study demonstrates that emotional intelligence and adaptive/flexible leadership are individual capabilities that empower leaders to act ambidextrously. In contrast, transformational and transactional leadership are behavioral modes that enable leaders to lead ambidextrously. This study not only enriches entrepreneurial leadership theory but also provides actionable insights for cultivating the leadership skills necessary to build ambidextrous capacity at the individual level, thereby fueling innovation and driving scalable success in entrepreneurial ventures.

The issue of moral trade-offs is widely discussed in the literatures on sustainable development and stakeholder theory. Sustainability efforts often require corporate managers to balance economic, social, and environmental concerns, which frequently translate into trade-offs between legitimate stakeholder interests. We investigate how the nature of these trade-offs is illuminated by Luhmannian systems theory, particularly its vision of the polycontextural nature of the functionally differentiated society. We argue that managerial perceptions of trade-offs frequently arise from difficulties in fully grasping this polycontexturality. By applying the traditional Indian concept of tetralemma, we offer a framework that assists managers in navigating these trade-offs by emphasising the various observational perspectives associated with different function systems. Our analysis reveals that the traditional three-pillar model of sustainability is a reductionist framework that does not adequately address the incommensurability of function systems, thereby perpetuating the very issues it seeks to resolve. The adoption of the tetralemmatisation strategy we promote in this paper encourages the development of alternative corporate performance metrics that recognise the complexity of functional differentiation in evaluating corporate contributions to society.

Purpose This study examines herding behavior in French equity markets, focusing on whether heightened volatility and uncertainty affect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) more than large-cap firms during COVID-19. It investigates whether SMEs’ pronounced information asymmetries and lower liquidity exacerbate herding trends. Design/methodology/approach The analysis uses daily stock data from January 2017 to April 2021. By employing the Cross-Sectional Absolute Deviation (CSAD) model, the study isolates herding tendencies before and after the onset of COVID-19. Additional sub-sample tests compare up versus down markets in various liquidity conditions, while a rolling-window estimation shows how herding evolves over time. Findings Results indicate that herding intensifies during the pandemic period, with SMEs exhibiting stronger mimicry than large-cap firms. Factors such as limited liquidity, opacity and negative market sentiment amplify collective trading behaviors in SMEs. The data further show asymmetrical herding on down-market days, suggesting a flight-to-safety mentality among investors under crisis conditions. Originality/value By contrasting SMEs and large-cap firms operating within the same national market during a global crisis. It emphasizes that the vulnerabilities inherent in SMEs can exacerbate systemic risks, thereby offering valuable insights for policymakers and market participants aiming to mitigate the detrimental effects of collective trading.

This study investigates the motivations driving teacher-researchers (TRs) to develop digital strategies using professional social networks (PSNs) within the evolving landscape of higher education. While previous research emphasizes PSNs as tools for scholarly communication and networking, there is limited understanding of how TRs leverage these platforms to navigate career challenges, enhance visibility, and mitigate dissatisfaction with institutional environments. Addressing this gap, this study adopts a quantitative approach, analyzing survey responses from 170 TRs across French universities, business schools, and engineering schools. Using logistic regression analysis, the study examines the interplay between organizational factors, career plateauing, and digital engagement. Findings reveal that digital strategies serve dual purposes: as tools for professional advancement and as coping mechanisms for institutional shortcomings, such as lack of recognition and career stagnation. The study contributes to the literature on digital strategies in academia and offers recommendations for higher education institutions to enhance faculty support, career development, and organizational fairness.