Most studies that investigate sustainability across the wine industry and related support industries focus on the “triple-bottom-line.” None directly consider company succession planning as a sustainability driver. What skills will leaders of successive generations need? Two qualitative field research methodologies are used for this investigation: (1) content analyses of published wine business case studies and (2) focus groups with wine business leaders. Leaders continuously develop skills and capabilities. Transactional and transformational leadership converges when it came to leading the business: (1) supporting the next generation, (2) emotional intelligence, (3) industry knowledge, and (4) active listening, also known as superior communication skills. A 2x2 matrix modeling optimal vs. sub-optimal leadership styles, propositions for further research, case vignettes, and implications for practitioners are presented.
Theoretical basisThis case should be paired with textbook chapters that cover the important roles of leadership, staffing and corporate culture in the strategy implementation effort. The case can also be used to review textbook chapters covering competitive and industry analysis, differentiation strategies, goal setting and financial analysis. In advanced courses, readings on leadership and corporate social responsibility should be assigned to inform debates regarding Vasu’s style and his commitment to creating shared value. Alternatively, instructors in retail management courses could assign readings that investigate the linkages of human resource management, service quality and other behaviors to optimal supermarket performance.Research methodologyThe authors revised this case and Teaching Noes from an MBA student case writing project in Fall 2017. The student conducted focus groups with Pacific Market’s consumers, worked with Vasu and his consultant, Tom Scott, a former CEO of a local grocery chain, supplemented with secondary industry research and demographic information about the cities of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Meetings to develop the company mission statement and long-term goals took place over Fall 2017. Tom provided the operating information and trade area analysis used in the case, and Vasu provided financial statements and background information.Case overview/synopsisAfter a career as a turnaround specialist for Silicon Valley high-tech startups, Vasudev Narayanan (Vasu) acquired Pacific Market, a two-store chain in Sonoma County, California, in 2013. By Fall 2017, rival local chains had expanded, online vendors threatened in-store shopping, the Amazon-Whole Foods combination threatened disruption, and consumers increasingly insisted on “buying local.” Vasu aimed to grow revenues 50 percent by 2020, and fund Good Karma Foundation, a charity in his native India. Strategies to achieve these objectives included infrastructure investments, employee profit sharing, changing the mix of products and amenities or finding a buyer for the operation.Complexity academic levelThe Pacific Market case is intended for undergraduate or MBA-level strategic management courses. The case pairs well with coverage of how leaders approach the strategy implementation effort, a topic typically introduced toward the end of the course. The case gives students practice in applying strategy formulation concepts and frameworks, e.g. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s industry forces, key industry drivers, strategic group mapping, SWOT analysis, corporate social responsibility and financial ratio analysis. Instructors might also use this case to cover similar material in retail management courses. The case is highly suitable as a written assignment for an examination and/or for team presentations.
This study aims at exploring the microfoundations of CSR, specifically the influence of individual-level variables on the motivations for business community involvement (BCI). Based on multiple case study methodology and on the conceptual framework of motivational mechanisms for use of social practices, an empirical investigation is conducted to uncover formative processes of the business-society connection and the role of decision makers in the birthing and evolution of this relationship. Findings indicate that (a) BCI occurs at the interface between individual and organizational levels of analysis; (b) the more personalistic the organization’s control and the longer and more stable the relationship company-community, the more BCI is motivated by caring and the less it is motivated by calculation; and (c) the prevalence of commitment and of conformance in the motivation for BCI depends on external context, organizational culture and structure of the company. A research agenda is proposed.
The objective of this study is to reach a deeper understanding of the nature of the motivations behind social practices used by firms. The motivation-mix model is a proposal that attempts to classify the different reasons that may motivate the use of each practice. The article proposes that this motivation-mix can be examined as intrafirm, indicating a particular combination for each social practice within each firm, at a given moment. The article argues that the aggregate of motivation-mixes for all social practices in use by the company at a certain point in time establishes the motivation position for the company as a whole. The author applies the concept of motivation-mix to business community involvement (BCI) practices as an illustration.
This study presents an empirical investigation of the effects of size and ownership structure of the firm on the motivations for use of business community involvement practices. The “motivation‐mix” conceptual framework composed by commitment, calculation, conformance and caring motivational mechanisms is used for the conduction of eight comparative case studies. Results indicate that (1) size and ownership structure, per se, do not affect the motivations, and (2) high levels of calculation and low levels of caring are observed in one particular combination of size‐ownership structure: large, publicly held firms.
The objective of this study is to reach a deeper understanding of the nature of the motivations behind social practices used by firms. The motivation-mix model is a proposal that attempts to classify the different reasons that may motivate the use of each practice. The article proposes that this motivation-mix can be examined as intrafirm, indicating a particular combination for each social practice within each firm, at a given moment. The article argues that the aggregate of motivation-mixes for all social practices in use by the company at a certain point in time establishes the motivation position for the company as a whole. The author applies the concept of motivation-mix to business community involvement (BCI) practices as an illustration.
This paper focuses attention on the stakeholder attribute of legitimacy. Drawing upon institutional and stakeholder theories, I develop a framework of stakeholder legitimacy based on its three aspects-legitimacy of the stakeholder as an entity, legitimacy of the stakeholder's claim, and legitimacy of the stakeholder's behavior. I assume that stakeholder legitimacy is socially constructed by management and that each of its three aspects exists in degree in the manager's perception. I discuss how these aspects interact and change over time, and propose an agenda for future research on stakeholder legitimacy.
Pushing through a logical continuum of closed- to open-system views of organizations necessarily changes the conceptualization of a firm from a strongly bounded entity to a configuration of networks and sub-networks, which exists and operates in a larger systemic network configuration. We unfold a classification of management processes corresponding to views of the firm along the closed/open-systems continuum. We examine ethical issues that are likely to devolve from these classes of management processes, and we suggest typical means by which managers will attempt to control their firms’ exposure to such issues. The final class of management processes examined focuses on the achievement of outcomes that are mutually satisfactory in the set of networks and sub-networks that constitute the focal firm, and that support the sustainability of the whole system. The article contributes to organizational theory, business ethics, and computer and information ethics by providing a comprehensive analysis of the impact of managerial views of the firm and of networks – virtual, social, informational – on managerial processes and on our understanding of how business ethics issues are linked to perceptions of what a firm is, does, and can do.
This book on network ethics offers 15 scholarly chapters from a variety of disciplines and fields of study, all aimed at exploring some important aspect of how networks develop, enact, and enforce ethical norms. The chapters are ordered according to the levels of analysis each deals with, ranging from the cognitive/intrapersonal to the systemic/societal. Taken together, these chapter provide a fresh look at how networks are changing the way business is done and the way we think about ethics. Earlier versions of some chapters in this book were presented at the Conference Network Ethics:The New Challenge in Business, ICT and Education, hosted by the Center for Ethics, Business and Economics of the School of Business and Economics of the Catholic University of Portugal, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Northern Iowa.Previously Published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 90 Supplement 4, 2009
This special issue on network ethics offers 15 scholarly articles from a variety of disciplines and fields of study, all aimed at exploring some important aspect of how networks develop, enact, and enforce ethical norms. The articles are ordered according to the levels of analysis each deals with, ranging from the cognitive/intra-personal to the systemic/societal. Taken together, these articles provide a fresh look at how networks are changing the way business is done and the way we think about ethics.
Wikipedia is known as a free online encyclopedia. Wikipedia uses largely transparent writing and editing processes, which aim at providing the user with quality information through a democratic collaborative system. However, one aspect of these processes is not transparent--the identity of contributors, editors, and administrators. We argue that this particular lack of transparency jeopardizes the validity of the information being produced by Wikipedia. We analyze the social and ethical consequences of this lack of transparency in Wikipedia for all users, but especially students; we assess the corporate social performance issues involved, and we propose courses of action to compensate for the potential problems. We show that Wikipedia has the appearance, but not the reality, of responsible, transparent information production.
