Strategic responses to crisis: a review and synthesis of promising research directions

Purpose A strategic response to crisis research is a critical and growing area of study in management and business literature. Consequently, the sudden rise of COVID-19, that has a substantial adverse impact on the global economy in a relatively short period of time, brings into sharp focus on the possible and most effective types of strategic responses adopted by firms. In this context, this study aims to shed light on the types of strategic responses adopted by firms and the possible outcomes. Design/methodology/approach To contribute to the advancement of knowledge around strategic responses in general for business, this study conducted a keyword bibliometric analysis reviewing 66 articles from highly ranked journals according to ABS list of journals published between the period 2006–2020 and synthesize the existing research on strategic responses. Findings This research enabled the identification of the novel typology of strategic responses to the crisis, such as revived stakeholders’ relationships, revived pricing mechanisms and revived organizational compliance, and their outcomes. Additionally, the analysis established many research areas for scholars who will deal with this topic in the future. Originality/value The literature review contributes to the management and business literature by providing a novel and comprehensive classification of crisis responses and synthesizing all new knowledge gained within a new conceptual framework.

The handicap of lists, QROM and the future

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the contribution that this journal has made to the development of qualitative research over the ten years of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management’s (QROM’s) lifetime and its potential to contribute further in the future. Design/methodology/approach – Reflections are made from the author’s standpoint as a longstanding associate editor of QROM and a UK academic in the field of accounting. Findings – Concern is expressed about the way in which the use of a particular journal list in UK institutions – namely, the ABS list – has skewed development away from qualitative research during the hitherto lifetime of QROM but how, despite that handicap, QROM has made a notable contribution. Originality/value – A reflection informed by both the disciplinary and geographical context as well as ten years’ service as an Associate Editor of this journal.

Socially responsible sourcing: reviewing the literature and its use of theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the state-of-the-art in socially responsible sourcing (SRS) research, leading to an agenda for further work; and to evaluate the use of theory in this context. SRS is defined as the upstream social issues within the sustainability literature, where social issues include human rights, community development and ethical issues but exclude environmental concerns. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review of 157 papers that include SRS published in ABS listed journals. The papers have been analysed according to their research content, with a particular focus on the use of pre-existing theories. Findings – Key findings for researchers and managers alike include an analytical discussion of strategies developed to date to embed SRS in an organisation; and key research gaps include a particular need to consider the supplier perspective in developing countries. In terms of the use of theory, a typology is proposed, which (in ascending order of effectiveness) is as follows: theory dressing, theory matching, theory suggesting/explaining and theory expansion. Research limitations/implications – The review is limited to papers published in the ABS list; and the analysis of the use of theory is limited to the SRS literature. The findings suggest that insightful papers can be written without any use of theory but that as a field develops, a greater depth of application of theory is needed to aid understanding. Originality/value – This is the only review that focuses exclusively on social issues SRS, excluding environmental issues, thus allowing for a greater depth of discussion on social issues; and is unique in its detailed critical analysis of the use of theory.

What is integrability of discrete variational systems?

We propose a notion of a pluri-Lagrangian problem, which should be understood as an analogue of multi-dimensional consistency for variational systems. This is a development along the line of research of discrete integrable Lagrangian systems initiated in 2009 by Lobb and Nijhoff, however, having its more remote roots in the theory of pluriharmonic functions, in the Z -invariant models of statistical mechanics and their quasiclassical limit, as well as in the theory of variational symmetries going back to Noether. A d -dimensional pluri-Lagrangian problem can be described as follows: given a d -form on an m -dimensional space (called multi-time, m > d ), whose coefficients depend on a sought-after function x of m independent variables (called field), find those fields x which deliver critical points to the action functionals for any d -dimensional manifold Σ in the multi-time. We derive the main building blocks of the multi-time Euler–Lagrange equations for a discrete pluri-Lagrangian problem with d =2, the so-called corner equations, and discuss the notion of consistency of the system of corner equations. We analyse the system of corner equations for a special class of three-point two-forms, corresponding to integrable quad-equations of the ABS list. This allows us to close a conceptual gap of the work by Lobb and Nijhoff by showing that the corresponding two-forms are closed not only on solutions of (non-variational) quad-equations, but also on general solutions of the corresponding corner equations. We also find an example of a pluri-Lagrangian system not coming from a multi-dimensionally consistent system of quad-equations.

On the Lagrangian formulation of multidimensionally consistent systems

Multidimensional consistency has emerged as a key integrability property for partial difference equations (PΔEs) defined on the ‘space–time’ lattice. It has led, among other major insights, to a classification of scalar affine-linear quadrilateral PΔEs possessing this property, leading to the so-called Adler–Bobenko–Suris (ABS) list. Recently, a new variational principle has been proposed that describes the multidimensional consistency in terms of discrete Lagrangian multi-forms. This description is based on a fundamental and highly non-trivial property of Lagrangians for those integrable lattice equations, namely the fact that on the solutions of the corresponding PΔE the Lagrange forms are closed, i.e. they obey a closure relation . Here, we extend those results to the continuous case: it is known that associated with the integrable PΔEs there exist systems of partial differential equations (PDEs), in fact differential equations with regard to the parameters of the lattice as independent variables, which equally possess the property of multidimensional consistency. In this paper, we establish a universal Lagrange structure for affine-linear quad-lattices alongside a universal Lagrange multi-form structure for the corresponding continuous PDEs, and we show that the Lagrange forms possess the closure property.