Browsing by Author "Rajwani, Tazeeb"
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Item Open Access The antecedents of political capabilities: A study of ownership, cross-border activity and organization at legacy airlines in a deregulatory context(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2013-02-01T00:00:00Z) Lawton, Thomas; Rajwani, Tazeeb; Doh, JonathanGovernments and ownership structures can both facilitate and constrain organizational value creation. Firm-level political strategy is a frequent response to protect or promote organizational interests. When effectively configured and implemented, these political strategies can become capabilities. This inductive study examines the antecedents of political capabilities in European airlines within the context of cross-border market deregulation. Our central contribution is an understanding of how management teams from non-state and state airlines organize and develop divergent corporate political capabilities in this context. While managers' actions in response to specific public policy processes can create political capabilities, the outcome is moderated by the nature of corporate ownership and the relative influence of public and private stakeholders on capability formation. Our theoretical contribution is to extend the study of organizational capabilities into the non-market context through analyzing how European flag carrier airlines organized their political capabilities in anticipation of a changing transnational policy context.Item Open Access Corporate political activity and firm performance - a systematic review(Cranfield University, 2013-08) Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele; Rajwani, TazeebCorporate political activity (CPA) has been recognized as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Its proponents, mostly nonmarket strategy researchers, argue that political capital enables firms to influence their regulatory and policy environments, shape their competitive space, and improve their performance. Consequently, there is a widely held view that the performance of firms depends not only on the ability of managers to exploit economic markets but also on their ability to succeed in political markets. To test the value of political activism, recent scholarship has probed the relationship between CPA and firm performance. However, random mixed findings and the fragmented nature of the field raise more questions than provide answers to the nature of this relationship. This systematic review examines scholarly articles for evidence of the impact of CPA on firm value. Drawing on 56 articles contributing to the topic and applying the CIMO-logic method of synthesis, this study discusses the findings within a framework of four elements. First, it examines the contexts within which CPA has been investigated. Second, it presents findings on the strategies that are studied. Third, it investigates the performance outcomes of CPA. Fourth, it explores the mechanisms that underpin the performance outcomes of CPA. The findings suggest that CPA is positively related to firm performance, an indication that there is value in political activism. However, counter evidence is reported by a few studies. The evidence also reveals that institutional contexts impact the political strategies used by firms or studied by researchers. Even though most of the studies lack theoretical grounding, social capital, cronyism and agency relationships are the popularly cited or implied mechanisms underlying the CPA-firm performance relationship. Following from the discussion, two propositions linking contexts, interventions, and outcomes are developed. The study suggests future research directions based on the gaps/limitations identified in the literature.Item Open Access Corporate political activity: a literature review and research agenda(Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lawton, Thomas; McGuire, Steven; Rajwani, TazeebThis paper reviews the diverse literature on Corporate Political Activity (CPA) in firms and develops a framework that integrates and details the existing research in this growing field. We conduct a systematic analysis of extant CPA literatures to order them into three domains that have implications for organizational performance. The paper is structured into three domains within the CPA research community that require more investigation: resources and capabilities focus, institutional focus and political environment focus and discusses the contributions of each to our understanding of CPA in pursuit or defense of competitive advantage. We suggest that the internationalization of business, including the more recent emergence of developing country economies, presents scholars with the challenge of understanding CPA in more varied institutional settings. The paper contributes by creating more clarity in the CPA field and concludes with a discussion of future research agendas.Item Open Access Designing lobbying capabilities: Managerial choices in unpredictable environments(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z) Lawton, Thomas; Rajwani, TazeebPurpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how, in unpredictable policy environments, specific managerial choices play a vital role in designing lobbying capabilities through the choice of levels of investment in human capital, network relationships and structural modification. Methodology/approach - Using an inductive case study approach, data was collected through 42 in- depth, semi-structured interviews and documented archival data. Cross-case pattern sequencing was used to construct an interpretive model of lobbying capability design. Data was framed by the dynamic resource-based theory of the firm. Findings - Heterogeneous lobbying capabilities are adapted differently in private and state-owned airlines as a result of diverse ownership structures and time compositions that interplay with organizational processes. The result is a divergence between private and state-owned airlines in how they engage with governmental actors and policies. Research implications/limitations - We contribute to ongoing discourse in and between the dynamic capabilities and corporate political activity literatures, particularly on how state/non-state owned airlines design their political lobbying capabilities. The research is limited in so far as it only studies the European airline industry. Originality/ value - The paper illustrates how a specific and far-reaching unanticipated external policy stimulus (the 9/11 terrorist attacks) impacted on management choices for lobbying design in the European airline industry.Item Open Access Developing adaptive political capabilities for high political uncertainty contexts :a study of strategic responses in the international operations of food firms in Latin America(Cranfield University, 2014-02) de Villa, Maria Andrea; Rajwani, Tazeeb; Lawton, ThomasThe corporate political activity field has focused on the study of political capabilities that allow firms to influence governments and regulators. Building on previous studies, this thesis examines a set of capabilities that allow host firms to adapt to rather than influence political environments. Specifically, this set of adaptive political capabilities can be used by firms to confront host country political contexts in emerging economies that share two characteristics: authoritarian regimes and weak institutions. The findings of this thesis show that host firms can develop and use adaptive political capabilities rather than political capabilities to start and sustain their operations in this type of political contexts. This entails attuning firm processes, structures, and practices to local norms and political behaviors, rather than attempting to shape the host country political environment in its own likeness. Our results suggest host firms can develop adaptive political capabilities to enhance their strategic repertoire when starting or sustaining operations in emerging economies with such characteristics. Our contribution is that by using mixed methods, we provide and test several exploratory propositions that support the conceptualization of a framework to guide the development of adaptive political capabilities by host firms and we make explicit a taxonomy of corporate adaptive political strategies that can enable firms to envision how they can adapt to host political contexts.Item Open Access Do You Have A Survival Instinct? Leveraging genetic codes to achieve fit in hostile business environments(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lawton, Thomas; Rajwani, Tazeeb; Reinmoeller, PatrickIt is too easy to blame market turbulence or unexpected events for a company's poor performance. Yet this is frequently the response of managers to circumstances and activities beyond their immediate control. As a consequence, managers and owners often fail to develop strategies for coping with challenge or crisis the next time it occurs. The result is that many organizations are doomed to repeat the same or similar mistakes over and over again in a form of corporate déjà vu. To gain insights into how companies can better manage in hostile environments, we consider the solutions that have evolved in nature over billions of years. We trace nature's codes for adapting to hostile environments and explore the underlying characteristics of four genetic code types that can help business organizations to offset the negative implications of hostility through ensuring strategic fit. We link the four genetic codes most frequently found in nature with organizational capabilities. When correctly identified and leveraged, these capabilities can enable a company to focus attention and resource on how to manage successfully in hostile environment.Item Open Access The impact of managerial political ties on cost of debt and institutional risk exposure: evidence from Ghana(Cranfield University, 2016-06) Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele; Rajwani, TazeebThis thesis integrates social capital and institutional theories with corporate governance insights to explore the impact of managerial political ties on access to finance, cost of debt and institutional risk exposure. Drawing on an extensive and rigorous assessment of the literature, using a unique set of survey data from 179 firms operating in Ghana, and employing robust analytical techniques, this thesis comprises three interrelated empirical studies which make significant contributions to knowledge. The first empirical study examines the impact of political ties on access to finance and cost of debt. It shows that political ties are positively related to interest rates charged by commercial banks. This positive relationship is weakened by managerial financial ties, and strengthened by borrowing from privately owned banks and the appointment of Big Four audit firms. Altogether, the findings reveal that while political ties enhance access to finance, they increase the cost of debt. They suggest that institutional lapses in emerging countries increase lenders’ perceptions of corporate governance erosion in politically connected firms, hence the high interest rates these firms are charged when they borrow. The second empirical study investigates the effect of political ties on institutional risk exposure. The findings show that political ties do not reduce risk exposure. The findings also show that while industry regulation and public affairs functions affect the strength of the relationship between political ties and institutional risk exposure, corporate social responsibility (CSR) does not. In sum, the findings suggest that the conjectured efficacy of political ties in risk reduction is illusive. The third empirical study explores mediation in the political ties-cost of debt relationship. The findings reveal a negative impact of political ties on corporate governance, and show that political ties increase cost of debt by reducing financial reporting quality and increasing the risk exposure of firms. Through the three empirical studies, this thesis contributes to Corporate Political Activity (CPA) literature, social capital theory and institutional theory. It accentuates the contingent value of political ties and addresses the salient and overlooked “how” question in CPA research. It also fills the lack of insight into the complementarity between CPA and CSR. On the social capital and institutional fronts, this thesis deepens insight into the interactive effects of different types of social capital and highlights how institutional development and organizational legitimacy moderate the value of network ties in emerging countries.Item Open Access Institutional effects on developing political capabilities: the case of European airlines on the aftermarth of 9/11(2012-10-08T00:00:00Z) Rajwani, Tazeeb; Paroutis, SGovernments and their agents can both facilitate and constrain organizational wealth creation. Whilst heterogeneously distributed valuable political resources allow a firm to develop capabilities to gain competitive advantage, less attention has been devoted to the conditions that impact the development of political capabilities in varying institutional contexts. This qualitative, inductive study examines the development and application of political capabilities in five European national airline carriers within an institutional context requiring reactive political strategies to influence policy makers, i.e. avoiding security costs from 9/11. We contribute to capability theory and practice studies by showing how senior management teams develop political capabilities in institutional contexts exhibiting increased uncertainty. We argue that while the senior management's attention to specific political processes can create valuable political capabilities, this value creation is moderated by the nature of the institutional environment and its barriers.Item Open Access The power of social technologies(2010-03-01T00:00:00Z) Rajwani, TazeebItem Metadata only Solutions to the exploration/exploitation dilemma: Networks as a new level of analysis(Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2014-04-01T00:00:00Z) Stadler, C; Rajwani, Tazeeb; Karaba, FThis paper reviews the extant literature on the exploration/exploitation dilemma. Based on a systematic analysis of structural, behavioural, systemic and temporal solutions, the authors are able to show that the learning literature continues to struggle with the question of how exactly an organization can separate exploration and exploitation and at the same time enable necessary knowledge exchange and cooperation between these two notions. Paying closer attention to networks might enable future research to answer this question. In particular, a combination of structural aspects of networks and social ties has the potential to explain how the solutions currently on offer can be implemented successfully, how organizations can combine several of them, and how they can shift between them.Item Open Access Strategic reorientation and business turnaround: The case of global legacy airlines(Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., 2011-09-01T00:00:00Z) Lawton, Thomas; Rajwani, Tazeeb; O’Kane, ConorAbstract Purpose - We illustrate how legacy airlines can reorientate to achieve sharp recoveries in performance following prolonged periods of stagnation, decline and eroding competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use a qualitative analysis of five longitudinal case studies of legacy airlines that embarked on strategic change between 1997 and 2006. Data collection spanned ten years and included archival data, public documents, news clippings, accounts in specialist books and internal company documentation. Findings - The paper identifies two distinct approaches for reorientation in the legacy airline industry. Companies that have fallen behind and are in risk of failure focus on regaining customer trust and loyalty, and restructuring route networks, business processes and costs in an ‘improvement and innovation' reorienting approach. Underperforming airlines, for whom growth has declined in traditional markets and who note that opportunities exist elsewhere, focus on product and service development and geographical growth in an ‘extension and expansion' reorienting approach. Practical Implications - The paper develops a framework for successful reorientation in the legacy airline industry. This framework encourages executives to focus on and leverage profit maximization, quality, leadership, alliance networks, regional consolidation and staff development during periods of strategy formulation and reorientation. Originality/value - This research addresses the dearth of understanding and attention afforded to the concept of reorientation in the literature on strategic turnaround. The research also serves to emphasize the presence and importance of reorientation as a strategy of change within the legacy airline industry. Furthermore, in demonstrating how this strategy can be implemented in a sharpbending or performance improvement context, this study illustrates how reorientation is intertwined with the broader turnaround process.