John Cabot University ScholarShip
Not a member yet
907 research outputs found
Sort by
Crisis and Resilience in the Automotive Industry: Dynamic Capabilities and Institutional Context in U.S. and East Asian Automakers during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis
No full textDuring the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, structural weaknesses were exposed in the global automotive sector.
This paper examines how dynamic capabilities are constructed and utilized when subjected to systemic financial shocks. Drawing on a qualitative comparative case study of four of the leading automakers – General Motors and Chrysler in the United States, and Toyota and Hyundai in East Asia – the study integrates Dynamic Capabilities Theory and Institutional Theory to explore how companies perceived risks and seized opportunities.
The results suggest that U.S. automakers in a liberal market economy relied on state intervention via bailouts. Their recovery was driven primarily by institutional substitution from outside, rather than local capability. Toyota and Hyundai, operating in coordinated market economies, proved capable of achieving capability-driven resilience through internal acclimatization, operational flexibility, and development without direct state reinforcement.
The findings indicate that resilience is a function of the interaction between institutional models and capabilities. Short-term stabilization or long-term renewal depends on the extent to which institutional environments facilitate or constrain adaptive behavior. The study provides an integrated view of organizational resilience by incorporating institutional and capability perspectives
Resilience of the International Entertainment Industry in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic: Strategic Responses of EPS in the Live Events Infrastructure Industry
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic generated one of the most severe disruptions in contemporary international business, exposing structural vulnerabilities across global industries.
The international live events sector, dependent on cross-border mobility and large gatherings,experienced an almost complete shutdown.
This thesis investigates how firms in this industry sustained resilience and competitiveness during and after the crisis, focusing on EPS Italia, a subsidiary of the multinational EPS Group and a leading provider of live-event infrastructure.
Using the Dynamic Capabilities Framework (sensing, seizing, and transforming), the study examines how EPS Italia interpreted the evolving situation, mobilized resources to exploit new opportunities, and reconfigured its organization for long-term renewal.
A qualitative single-case study approach was adopted, drawing on a semi-structured CEO interview, company financial statements (2019–2022), internal impact reports, and sector documentation.
The combination of qualitative insights and financial evidence provides a comprehensive view of how the firm navigated extreme environmental turbulence.
Findings show that EPS Italia developed strong sensing capabilities by monitoring international regulations, client expectations, and early signals from foreign markets.
These insights supported decisive seizing actions such as diversification into public-sector projects (e.g., vaccination hubs) and strategic investments in production capacity. Transforming capabilities emerged through organizational restructuring, enhanced cross-border collaboration, and the company’s transition into a Benefit Corporation in 2022, embedding social and environmental objectives into governance.
The study contributes to International Business literature by illustrating how dynamic capabilities function under global shocks and how resilience strategies differ across institutional contexts.
Managerially, it offers guidance for live-events firms aiming to strengthen crisis preparedness, diversify effectively, and build resilience into organizational design.
Although based on a single case, the research highlights mechanisms through which internationally active firms can emerge from crises not only restored but strategically renewed
Social Enterprises as Chameleons: The Rise of Social Enterprises as Innovative Solutions to Complex Challenges in Italy
No full textWe draw from historical institutionalism to investigate how historical contingencies shape the influence of multiple institutional logics on the emergence and institutionalization of a social innovation situated at the intersection of different institutional domains. Relying on a vast database of more than 500 archival sources, we show that the social enterprise organizational form emerged in Italy in the early 1980s as an innovative response to societal problems left unaddressed by the State. Initially, the social enterprise organizational form was mainly influenced by the cooperative logic. Over time, elements borrowed from the social welfare and commercial logics complemented the cooperative logic, resulting in greater heterogeneity in terms of characteristics of the social enterprises organizational model. This heterogeneity reflected the growing complexity and interplay of pressures from the cooperative, welfare, and market domains. Building on this evidence, we advance a multilevel, historically grounded understanding of the complex interplay between social innovations and the institutional orders in which they are embedded. In this way, we contribute to research on social innovations, historical institutionalism, and social enterprises
The Persuasive Power of Signals: How Narratives, Fundraising Model, and Number of Borrowers Drive Success in Lending-Based Prosocial Crowdfunding
No full textCrowdfunding has emerged as a significant alternative financing source, drawing the attention of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. This study examines the success factors in lending-based prosocial crowdfunding (LBPSC), a model that integrates economic objectives with social impact. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine how the interplay of multiple signals, narrative framing, fundraising models, and borrower counts influences the success of campaigns. Our analysis of the Kiva platform provides empirical support for our theoretical claims and deepens understanding of the LBPSC phenomenon. Our findings also provide practical guidance for entrepreneurs and policymakers to design more effective crowdfunding campaigns
Empowering Innovation: The Role of Female Transformational Leadership and Intellectual Capital
No full textThis study examines the complex relationships between female transformational leadership, intellectual capital, and innovation. It addresses a gap in the existing literature by focusing on the specific contributions of female leaders to intellectual capital and innovative outcomes. A structured questionnaire was distributed to participants via Prolific’s online platform over four weeks in April and May 2023. Out of 878 submissions, 492 were from participants with female supervisors and 354 from those with male supervisors. The conceptual model was evaluated using the SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 4 – simple mediation model). The findings reveal that while female transformational leadership indirectly boosts incremental innovation through intellectual capital, it has both direct and indirect effects on radical innovation. Intellectual capital acts as a central mediator, translating leadership qualities into innovative practices and organizational value creation. Overall, the study offers new insights into the strategic importance of gender diversity in leadership roles. By highlighting the distinctive abilities of female leaders to foster inclusive, trust-based, and collaborative environments, the research provides meaningful theoretical contributions and practical implications for organizations aiming to enhance innovation through effective leadership and sustained intellectual capital development. These results inform policy makers and support ongoing debates on equitable leadership representation worldwide today
When Innovation Becomes Crisis: Organizational Inertia, National Culture, and the Challenge of Disruptive Change. The Case of Volkswagen and the EV Market
No full textThe global shift toward electric mobility represents one of the most significant technological disruptions in the automotive industry. While emerging EV firms adapted rapidly, several incumbents—most notably Volkswagen—responded more slowly despite having the scale, capabilities, and early awareness to lead the transition. This thesis investigates why Volkswagen delayed its strategic commitment to electrification and how organizational and cultural factors shaped this trajectory.
The study adopts a qualitative single-case design with embedded comparative elements, drawing on secondary data to analyse Volkswagen’s
strategic, operational, structural, and cultural dynamics in relation to the EV transition. Findings reveal that Volkswagen’s delay resulted from a multi-layered system of organizational inertia, including path-dependent strategic reasoning, temporal hesitation prior to Dieselgate, operational bottlenecks in software and platform development, and structural constraints associated with its dual-board governance system.
The analysis also shows that German national cultural characteristics—particularly high uncertainty avoidance, expertdriven consensus, and long-term orientation—reinforced stability-oriented behaviour and conditioned organizational responsiveness. Comparative contrasts with Chinese EV firms further highlight how different cultural–institutional environments influence adaptation speed.
The study contributes to innovation and organizational theory by
illustrating how internal rigidities and cultural contexts interact during technological paradigm shifts. Practically, it offers insights for managers and policymakers seeking to enhance strategic agility in industries undergoing rapid transformation
Building Usable Management Knowledge: A Framework of Bridging Mechanisms Between Research and Practice
No full textThis article develops a conceptual framework for how management research becomes usable knowledge for practitioners. While the theory–practice gap has been widely acknowledged, existing discussions have focused primarily on diagnosing the divide rather than explaining the organizational and intellectual mechanisms through which research gains relevance. Integrating insights from organizational theory, knowledge management and institutional analysis, this narrative review identifies three categories of bridging mechanisms—interface mechanisms, interpretive mechanisms and institutional mechanisms—that shape the translation of scholarly insights into actionable managerial understanding. Interface mechanisms structure interaction between researchers and practitioners; interpretive mechanisms facilitate meaning-making across epistemic communities; and institutional mechanisms create the conditions for long-term knowledge integration. Together, these mechanisms provide a structured account of how management knowledge becomes usable without sacrificing conceptual rigor. The framework contributes to ongoing debates on research impact by reframing knowledge relevance as an outcome of organizational design and knowledge governance rather than as a trade-off with rigor. Implications highlight how intentionally structured interfaces and interpretive processes can enhance the strategic value of management research and support evidence-informed decision-making in organizations
Doctrine, Industry, and Technology: Assessing the Inefficiencies of the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.This thesis analyses the internal dynamics, strategic objectives and institutional dynamics which shape the function of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of the United States. It argues that it is not influenced so much by real world strategic imperatives, as well as financial and material constraints, as by the preferences of entrenched, political, bureaucratic, military and corporate entities that privilege technologically sophisticated weapons systems at the expense of other products. Drawing on an Actor-Network Theory analysis of these incentives and the path dependencies they generate, the study traces the relationship between military structures, congressional constituencies, foreign policy planners and doctrinal frameworks to determine the effect of their linkages. Through an analysis of four weapons platforms—the F-35 Lightning fighter jet, the MQ-9 Reaper drone, the Switchblade-300 drone, and the 155mm ammunition round—the thesis demonstrates the mismatch between strategic preferences for technologically developed systems and the practical necessity demanded of attritional, high-intensity warfare. A comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese procurement structures adds to the findings that detail the lack of institutional coherence and industrial depth. The results indicate that the existing MIC structure erodes US adaptability and resilience in an era of great-power competition, requiring significant reform to the institutional networks which produce current procurement results
Autonomy Refigured: Kantian and Feminist Perspectives on Personal Relations
No full textThesis (B.A. in Humanistic Studies, Minors in Philosophy and Classical Studies)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.As it stands today, contemporary moral philosophy seeks to revise past ethical systems in order to account for previously overlooked moral values. In particular, the value of personal relations is purported to be the most significant. As I argue, Immanuel Kant, often criticized for neglecting personal relations in his ethics, remains a key figure in these debates. Feminist philosophers, particularly through the concept of relational autonomy, challenge Kant’s exclusion of these relations. However, I turn to two paradigmatic interpreters of Kant’s ethics, Christine Korsgaard and J. David Velleman, as a means of responding to, and perhaps even resolving, this tension. I begin by detailing further the charges feminist philosophers make against Kant, as well as their positive alternative proposal which they maintain resolves these worries. I then turn to Christine Korsgaard and her account which asserts that the personal relation is indeed permissible in a Kantian system of ethics, and review how she addresses the feminist worries. I take a similar approach in my review of J. David Velleman’s Kantian account of love, which attempts to resolve the tension between love as partial and Kantian morality as impartial. I then conclude by offering a synthesis of these three chapters, in which I argue that Kantian ethics is indispensable for resolving the worries raised by relational autonomy theorists
Dressing up Modernism: Fashion, Self Perception, and Urbanization in Virginia Woolf’s The New Dress, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando: A Biography
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Language and Literature, Minor in Creative Writing)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.This thesis explores the significance of fashion and urbanization in the literary works The New Dress, Mrs.Dalloway, and Orlando: A Biography written by the modernist author Virginia Woolf. The thesis aims at concentrating on two theoretical approaches: Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, to argue how the role of fashion is crucial in the construction of identity and Georg Simmel’s essay Fashion to explore the ways fashion reflects the characters’ identity and urban modernity. Both perspectives reveal how Woolf’s characters fulfill personal and societal expectations through clothes within the changing metropolis of early 20th-century of London. In The New Dress, Woolf portrays Mabel’s deep self doubts and struggle to belong in the high society. In Mrs.Dalloway, clothing illustrates Clarissa’s desire to maintain a relevant appearance in the society and in Orlando a Biography, Woolf investigates gender dynamics and transformation through the fluid relationship between fashion and self identity