Word from the editor

This new issue of Management international is comprised of 13 articles and one book review. Contributions take an original look at several of the main themes preoccupying international management today, including the strategies that multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries pursue, the importance of cultural differences, new forms of public management in international business, digital platforms’ role in international collaborative arrangements, etc. We would like to thank and congratulate all the authors for their excellent underlying research – along with our 40 or so reviewers whose input has greatly enhanced this journal issue. Christopher Williams and Maya Kumar’s article - “Diffusing MNE subsidiary initiatives across national cultural distance: The role of organizational values sharing and knowledge sharing” - mobilises management control and knowledge-based theories to investigate how the internal sharing of values and knowledge within a MNE influences the relationship between external national cultural distance and the extent to which group headquarters adopts subsidiary initiatives. Based on a sample of 111 subsidiaries representing a diverse range of cultures and industries, the study finds that national cultural distance has a negative impact on the dissemination of subsidiary initiatives, whereas the effects are positive when both organisational values and knowledge are shared. The internal sharing of values does little to overcome the negative impact of national cultural distance, whereas the internal sharing of knowledge attenuates this effect. The analysis section discusses implications for MNE managers and for further research. Gregor Bouville, Stéphane Le Lay and Dominique Mahut’s article - “Forms of work commitment witnessed in dustmen’s ‘dirty job’. An approach rooted in the sociology of activity” - seeks to understand the various forms that commitment to work can assume in an undervalued profession such as refuse collection. The study broaches this topic by referring to previous research undertaken by Alexandra Bidet. The authors use a mixed methodology to explore how garbage collectors’ relationship to their activity is affected by the different internal and external valuation sources that they develop. A typological analysis elucidates a wide range of work commitment modes by referring to the sociological dimensions thereof. These include cooperation; the appropriation of autonomy; corporal engagement; technicity; and forms of adherence to professional standards. It is an original approach to the topic of work commitment and one that criticises the way in which management studies usually frame the topic, which is often apprehended through an employer’s idealised view of workers rather than from the perspective of real workers themselves. Laetitia Dari and Gilles Guieu’s article - “Third parties’ crucial role in sectoral regeneration” – tries to explain how the fortunes of a sector that has collapsed might be revived. The problem is that strategic regeneration literature largely focuses on individual efforts in this domain, despite the fact that companies generally operate in environments comprised of other firms. Hence the authors’ suggestion that the concept of regeneration be studied at more of a collective level, all the more so because third parties’ orchestration of sectoral regeneration facilitates understanding thereof. Analysis involving the French Aquitaine region’s cork industry highlights: (1) the presence of collective regeneration of the kind needed to revitalise this sector; and (2) the fact that third parties do have a role to play in the orchestration of inter-organisational relationships. Mehdi Nekhili, Amira Lajmi, Haithem Nagati, and Gilles Paché’s article –“CSR quality insurance’s contribution to market valuations of voluntary CSR reports: Evidence from France” - studies quality’s moderating role in insurance services’ performance. Highlighting the importance of the scope and level of quality’s application (as well as the involvement of external auditors), this econometric analysis uses Tobin’s q to assess the relationship between a …