The role of cultural capital towards the development of a sustainable business model for design firm internationalization

This paper reports the results of three case studies of firms involved with design for the built environment who have been working in international markets for more than two decades. The first two firms are architectural practices and the third is a construction firm which designs and constructs. Their markets are diverse and their strategies have evolved over the two decades. There are numerous differences between countries including cultural, social, project governance structures, regulatory, procurement strategies, terminology, codes, etc. What is it that makes these firms able to develop sustainable business models in internationalisation? A grounded theory approach was used to examine the three case studies and develop a reflexive capability model drawing from the sociological theory of reflexivity to interpret the characteristics of the firms' ability to be able to adapt different international conditions. Twenty-two interviews were conducted across the three firms. Results indicated that sustainable business models rely upon the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. The strategic management of capital leads to the development of increasing reflexive capability within the processes related to internationalisation. Reflexive capability is a characteristic of the three successful case study firms internationalising and working within global models of practice. This paper focuses on the role of cultural capital in a reflexive capability model for sustainable internationalisation.

The role of reflexive capability in relation to intellectual capital on multi international partnerships

This paper reports the results of an analysis of five Malaysian firms who have worked successfully on multi international partnerships and/or megaprojects. A case study methodology was employed to examine the barriers and successful strategies the firms used in decision making in various international markets. A common characteristic across the firms was the ability to self reflect and adapt their practices to different international conditions despite numerous differences between countries including cultural, social, project governance structures, regulatory, terminology and codes. A reflexive capability model developed from the social sciences theory of individual agent reflexivity was developed to explain the way in which firms as an entity can develop awareness, responsiveness and adaptability for long term success in diverse international markets. This paper builds upon an initial Australian study which developed the model grounded in empirical observations of internationalising design construction firms by presenting the results of a second study of Malaysian firms. Results indicate that the model of reflexivity capability is a useful way to interpret practices that are undertaken in multi partner relationships on larger more complex projects. Successful Malaysian firms within joint venture relationships display an ability to self reflect and adapt. This transformation process is critiqued in relation to the relationships between social, cultural and intellectual capital. Reflexive capability is a characteristic of the successful case study firms working within global models of practice. The reflexive capability model is explained in relation to common themes identified in relation to the management of intellectual capital in successful multi international partnerships and megaprojects.

A network analysis of IT governance practices : a case study of an IT centralisation project

Information technology governance (ITG) practices rely on both human and nonhuman actors to support the creation of business value in organisations. The role of nonhuman actors in shaping the ITG practices has been given limited attention within the ITG literature. In proposing a model of ITG, this paper highlights the interplay of human and technological artefacts in shaping the ITG practices. Using a case study approach, this paper explores the relationship and interaction between ITG arrangements and IT infrastructure in an IT centralisation project conducted over a number of years in a university. The analysis from this study highlights how problems in aligning actors’ interests and lack of appropriate strategies lead to a failure in establishing a stable ITG network.

Good global governance : custom, the cosmopolitan and international law

International law has both less and more to offer to the cosmopolitan project than one might think. As currently understood, international law presages a global system of obligations comprising the convergent systems of universal customary international laws and near-universal conventional instruments (treaties), both of which legal forms are characterised by natural law tendencies. From the point of view of a pluralistic cosmopolitanism, this is a dead end. Thinking beyond these formulae requires that international law be treated as a species of general law rather than state-centred law.

Poor governance sickens the Arts : we have the cure, Kenneth Myer Lecture for the George Fairfax Fellowship

We need to know more about governance in cultural nonprofit organisations (NPOs). Can good governance prevent financial crises in arts organisations? A vast research project has helped find the answers. Lack of artistic success is not the main cause of financial distress. NPOs in financial distress often have weak governing processes. Their board members need to know more about the problems leading to the crisis. We propose a governance framework to better monitor NPOs’ external and internal environments. Then we present the reactions to this governance framework from interviews with NPO managers. Finally, we report results from arts organisation consultancy and reconcile these findings with the ones collected through interviews.

Europe and its (tragic) statelessness fantasy: the lure of European private law, post-national governance and political order

This book presents the first comparative and multi-disciplinary investigation into what is the process to Create a supra-national entity in which it is the classic forms of law and politics. In arguing that the post-modern phase of the 'Europeanization of Europe' is the continental paradigm of the doctrine, the concept of the "depoliticization" and "dejuridification" of the world, Siliquini Cinelli explains why its statelessness is profoundly linked to the Global '(a-) spatial turn' that is legal and sociopolitical theories are undergoing. (Noun, masculine) (Auch: the European Union, the European Union, the European Union, the European Union, the European Union) A banking union. Later, Siliquini Cinelli's comparative and inter-disciplinary approach for a thorough reconsideration of this project through an inquiry into (1) the lure of European private law as a particular type of 'stateless law'; (2) the several pluralist channels of soft-networked post-national governance. And (3) the challenges of the political order within the EU's boundaries.

Japan and the liberal global-order project: a time to stop and stare

Authority and sovereignty disappeared in the West long ago, when power absorbed them both. The effects of this artifice have become particularly noticeable since the fall of the “bipolar” system. The post-political strategy pursued by universalized liberalism has indeed voided local government through an emphasis on global governance, in so endorsing the substitution of politics with administration. This paper argues that Japan is not affected by this totalizing phenomenon notwithstanding the official transplanting of libero-juridical policies and doctrines within its polity. Through a neorealist contextualization of the Japanese “authority-power” dichotomy and comparison between Western and Japanese “output” schemes of legitimation and accountability that will transcend the boundaries of purely cultural or socio-legal accounts, I contend that the reason why Japan is not part of the liberal scheme is that it is politically governed rather than managerially administered.