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Editorial Announcement

Duane Windsor

Reviewing a Decade of Research on the "Base/Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) Concept

Ans Kolk, Miguel Rivera-Santos, and Carlos Rufín

In 1998-1999, Prahalad and colleagues introduced the base/bottom of the pyramid (BOP) concept in an article and a working paper. This article's goal is to answer the following question: What has become of the concept over the decade following its first systematic exposition in 1999? To answer this question, the authors conducted a systematic review of articles on the BOP, identifying 104 articles published in journals or proceedings over a 10-year period (2000-2009). This count excludes books, chapters, and teaching cases. The review shows that the BOP concept evolved dramatically following Prahalad's original call to multinational enterprises (MNEs). Deemphasizing the role of MNEs over time, published BOP articles portray a more complex picture, with wide variations in terms of BOP contexts, of BOP initiatives, and of impacts of the BOP approach. A simple framework for organizing the reviewed articles helps discuss findings, identify the gaps that still exist in the literature, and suggest directions for future research.

Global Business, Global Responsibilities: Corporate Social Responsibility Orientations Within a Multinational Bank

Gijs van den Heuvel, Joseph Soeters, and Tobias Gössling

This study examines the effects of culture, gender, and function on orientation toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) among 416 employees of an international financial service organization. The main objective of the study is to investigate the variation of corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO) across national cultures. The authors draw on a theory of cultural value orientations to identify three culturally distinct transnational clusters: West Europe, the English speaking countries, and <st1:place w:st="on">South Asia</st1:place>. These clusters coincide with the business units (BUs) and markets of the organization under investigation. By employing a framework of CSRO, the study reveals substantial differences across clusters within one single internationally operating organization. The English-speaking and the <st1:place w:st="on">South Asia</st1:place> clusters were found to be most concerned with legal regulations and economic performance. In contrast, the <st1:place w:st="on">West Europe</st1:place> continental cluster was found to be more concerned about business conforming to ethical norms than achieving high levels of economic performance or conforming to legal regulations. Furthermore, the study reveals gender differences in CSRO and differences among random employees and employees who are professionally active in the area of CSR. This article concludes by discussing implications of these findings for internationally operating organizations in the light of the recent global financial crisis.

Maximizing Stakeholders' Interests: An Empirical Analysis of the Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Governance

Silvia Ayuso, Miguel A. Rodríguez, Roberto García-Castro, and Miguel A. Ariño

This article makes two related contributions to stakeholder theory and corporate governance theory. First, the authors seek to advance firm-level characterization of the emerging stakeholder model of corporate governance by analyzing two relevant dimensions of this model: the corporate social responsibility (CSR) function at the board level and stakeholder engagement. Second, the authors intend to examine the relationship between conformance to the stakeholder model of corporate governance and firm financial performance, taking into account the differences between countries, by using an international sample of large companies. The findings suggest that the traditional distinction between shareholder-centered and stakeholder-centered corporate governance systems also has importance for the CSR strategy.

Conflict in Roles: Lying to the In-Group Versus the Out-Group in Negotiations

Katherina Glac, Danielle E. Warren, and Chao C. Chen

This empirical study examines how group membership affects the likelihood of lies occurring in a two-person negotiation setting involving an experimental design with a repeated ultimatum bargaining. To better understand the reasoning of the negotiator in in-group and out-group bargaining exercises, the authors also examined perceptions of fairness in relation to offers for the in-group and out-group. The authors find that when negotiating, individuals tell lies of greater magnitude to out-group members than to in-group members. In both situations, the magnitude of the initial lie predicts the likelihood that a concealment lie (i.e., another lie to conceal the initial lie) will be told. The study also finds that in negotiations with in-group members, the relationship between the initial lie and the concealment lie is moderated by the negotiator's perceptions of unfair treatment toward the in-group bargaining partner. The authors assert that concealment lies with in-group members allow the individual to appear to maintain both the roles of a self-interested negotiator and a fair group member. The authors tested three hypotheses using a natural group of 42 undergraduate students who belonged to a sports team at a large Northeastern university. Implications for stakeholder research are addressed.