Concerns over food safety in China not only direct public attention to negativeincidents, but also trigger the government's scrutiny of implicatedfirms, particularly MNCs. The question of how to repair legitimacy after mediacoverage of negative incidents has become a critical issue for MNCs. Althoughthe factors for MNCs’ public crises have been identified, how localcontexts and mechanisms shape repair approaches remain unclear. To address thisresearch gap, we conducted a study of Walmart China's approachesassociated with two negative incidents across two regions. We found that thenegative incidents can be framed differently depending on the localenvironment's unfavorability for MNCs. Specifically, the negativeframing gave rise to varying degrees of legitimacy loss and offered differentleeway for MNCs to repair their legitimacy. We also identified the variedoutcomes of different repair approaches. By revealing the linkages among localcontext, framing, legitimacy repair, and its outcomes, our study contributes toresearch on MNCs’ legitimacy management under institutionalcomplexity and underscores the China context for legitimacy maintenance. We alsooffer insights that advance the institutional approach to legitimacy repair inthis context. Last, we reflect on the techniques for conducting qualitativeresearch in China.

Social enterprises (SEs) primarily aim to create social value, that is, togenerate benefits or reduce costs for society, while maintaining financialsustainability. Owing to their unique operating conditions and organizationalcharacteristics, SEs face more severe resource challenges than their commercialcounterparts. These challenges are exacerbated for SEs operating in emergingeconomies with complex social contexts. Overcoming these resource constraintsand social challenges is vital for SEs to achieve their mission. Using aninductive multiple case-study approach, we identify a unique bricolage solutionfor achieving the dual objectives of SEs. Our findings suggest that identifyinglocally embedded village level entrepreneurs is a bricolageactivity that social entrepreneurs leverage in the resource constrainedenvironment of emerging economies, especially for the social enterprises thatare active in the villages but were founded by social entrepreneurs who are notfrom these villages. This article therefore contributes to both socialentrepreneurship literature as well as entrepreneurial bricolage literature andhas important implications for future research and practice.

Our understanding of how an organisation operates is elucidated by the hostcountry's political system. Myanmar has remained abstruse toresearchers for many decades, as do most emerging markets prior to theirtransition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy such as China.We establish how the problematising and contextualisation of the methodologiesadopted during longitudinal fieldwork in Myanmar (2008 to 2016) has influencedour research focus and question. By reflecting on our experience of conductingorganisational research in a highly institutionalised environment, we haveidentified limitations in the prevalent research methodologies used by theextant literature. Such methodologies tend to be incompatible with the Asiancontext. This process of problematisation required us to remain flexible andadaptive during the process of the generation of the research questions. Weadopted a context-informed theory-building process and reflect on the interplaybetween interviewer, interviewees, and local institutional contexts. Animportant insight from this process was the need to nullify the asymmetry ofpower between the interviewer and interviewees to obtain honest responses ratherthan superficial data that aimed to satisfy and please theinterviewer/institutional context.

Discursive voids in emerging markets present opportunities and challenges todebate meanings and taken-for granted assumptions. This article uncovers variousstrategies used by the researcher and the research participants to address thediscursive void and to negotiate shared meaning about employee empowerment inRussia. In the absence of a concept for empowerment in the languages of thestudy, the researcher and the research participants engaged in joint sensemakingto bridge discursive voids. We contribute to the discussion of qualitativecross-language research in emerging markets by identifying the strategies usednot only by the researcher, whose view has dominated previous research, but alsothose of the research participants. The researcher in our study addressed thediscursive void by taking on the dual role of researcher-translator, engaging incontextual approach to translation, consulting external interpreters, and usingiteration and flexibility in the course of the research process. Our researchparticipants resorted to proverbs to address the discursive void, make sense ofempowerment, and render it locally meaningful. Proverbs are a valuablemethodological tool for sensemaking and theorising about context-specificphenomena in IB research.

Business has been involved in cooperation with multilateral organizations through public-private partnerships (PPPs) since the late 1990s. With their adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), multilateral institutions increasingly consider partnerships as a means to achieve their goals given their own limited implementation capacity. However, the global economic order has changed significantly since the first expansion of PPPs, particularly due to growing participation by non-western states and companies. This article asks how this shift has changed the eagerness to form partnerships, as well as their qualitative content. It analyzes the 3964 partnerships in the SDG partnership registry, focusing on the subset of them that includes business partners. We divide these into five groups: local implementation, resource mobilization, advocacy, policy, and operational partnerships. We study PPPs involving companies from different varieties of capitalism—private, market based forms, and state-led forms of capitalism. We find that PPPs are still dominated by companies and other actors from Western countries. Moreover, business participate more in U.S.- and Canadian-led partnerships than others. We also find strong differences regarding what category of PPPs that companies from different backgrounds engage in, and discuss the linkages between varieties of capitalism and PPP participation.

As in other countries, textile and apparel production in Germany is considered a victim of globalization. Domestic production and employment declined dramatically after its postwar peak in the late 1950s. Research has often attributed this trajectory to the trade liberalization policy of the German governments. However, this interpretation is puzzling. German trade policy was not as liberal as is claimed, nor did the industry disappear. This article addresses the issue using statistical evidence as well as archival material. The West German textile and apparel industry was using outward processing strategies comparatively early and was supported in that by German politicians starting in the early 1960s. As a result, the industry moved up the global value chain of textile production.

Like many other American corporations, Intel was outcompeted in manufacturing by Japanese firms in the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. By 1985, it became clear that the corporation's weakness in production endangered its long-term survival. Responding to the Japanese challenge, Intel's upper management instigated a fundamental reform of manufacturing. At their behest, production engineers and managers adopted Japanese manufacturing technologies and operating procedures. They put microchip fabrication on a scientific footing. They developed new ways of transferring processes from development to production and standardized the firm's factories. This major transformation enabled Intel to reach manufacturing parity with Japanese chipmakers by the early 1990s.

Attrition modeling is a direct application of extant turnover research that can favorably impact workforce planning and action planning. However, while academic research enables practitioners insights into understanding turnover phenomena, there is no single document that comprehensively translates this work to give guidance as to the many practical decisions that must be made when modeling turnover, as well as how to apply psychological research to messier operational data. This focal article introduces and provides guidance on attrition modeling by outlining early considerations when planning a study, describing how to mesh theory with operational considerations when identifying turnover predictors within organizational settings, highlighting analytical strategies to model turnover, and considering how to appropriately share results. Collectively, this article serves as a guide to conducting attrition modeling within organizations and offers suggestions for future research to inform best practices.