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abstract This article reflects upon the evolution of Brazilian management studies in light of the debate provoked by Management and Organization Review, 5(1), in a special edition on 'The Future of Chinese Management Research'. Despite an impressive growth in publications, Brazilian management and organization studies have had little conversation with mainstream international scholarship. The article offers some explanations as to why this might be so and suggests some alternatives for enhancing the international impact of Brazilian studies and advancing the country's reputation in the field. We suggest two routes through which Brazilian management studies could enhance international legitimacy: an outside-in approach, which draws upon established international contributions to theory to inform the investigation, but uses the Brazilian context to enlighten these same theories, and an inside-out approach that draws upon indigenous questions and research design to develop a theory relevant to the Brazilian context, which ultimately contributes to the enhancement of existing or to the creation of new theories. In addition, this article suggests that ambidextrous policies provide a better fit for research strategies intended to foster both approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a new insight into how organizations engage with external complexity. It applies a political action perspective that draws attention to the hitherto neglected question of how the relative power organizational leaders enjoy within their environments is significant for the actions they can take on behalf of their organizations when faced with external complexity. It identifies cognitive and relational complexity as two dimensions of the environment with which organizations have to engage. It proposes three modes whereby organizations may engage with environmental complexity that are conditioned by an organization’s power within its environment. It also considers the intention associated with each mode, as well as the implications of these modes of engagement for how an organization can learn about its environment and for the use of rationality and intuition in its strategic decision-making. The closing discussion considers how this analysis integrates complexity and political action perspectives in a way that contributes to theoretical development and provides the basis for a dynamic political co-evolutionary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the patterns of, and motives for, internationalization by prominent market-seeking Chinese firms. Case studies of these firms indicate that they are seeking technological and brand assets to create a competitive position in international markets. While mainstream theory tends to assume that firms internationalize to exploit competitive advantages, Chinese firms are generally making such investments in order to address competitive disadvantages. They are engaging in ‘inward’ internationalization by means of original equipment manufacture (OEM) and joint venture partnerships, and ‘outward’ internationalization by means of acquisition and organic expansion abroad. Each of these routes offers certain benefits coupled with its own challenges or risks. The paper concludes that the Chinese case offers an opportunity to extend present theorizing in four primary areas concerning the latecomer perspective and catch-up strategies, institutional analysis with reference to the role of government, the relations between entrepreneurs and institutions, and the liability of foreignness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of companies, other than very small ones, operates through a double agency relationship. The first agency relationship is that between owners or stakeholders, on the one hand, and corporate management, on the other. The second agency relationship is that between corporate management and the employees of a firm, including middle managers, who execute its plans and policies. This second relationship has been largely ignored in discussions of corporate governance, yet its effectiveness is essential for achieving a firm's objectives. If employees have limited trust in their companies, the ability of corporate managers to have their intentions executed will be impaired. There is considerable evidence that such trust is today at a low ebb. This paper suggests policies that may help to repair employee trust and in so doing strengthen corporate governance. Its underlying theme is that greater attention to the trust that employees have in managers would help to achieve a long overdue realignment of corporate governance theory and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlighting the under-researched interrelationship between workplace humour and resistance, this paper examines employee opposition in a Brazilian telecommunications company. Much of the literature on corporate culture and humour has emphasized the way that `having fun' can facilitate production. Functionalist in perspective, such studies treat organizational joking both as a means by which employees can `let off steam' and as a flexible tool for managers in reinforcing corporate culture. Questioning the universality of this `safety-valve' theory of humour, our empirical analysis suggests that humour may be a relatively effective means of expressing employee dissatisfaction especially where more overt forms of resistance might provoke managerial reprisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]