This study examines the relationship between strategic human resource management (HRM) and organisational learning in Chinese private firms during the second-pioneering stage, which involves a process of transition from ‘opportunism’ to ‘capability building’. It specifically examines how this relationship is influenced by environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence. Using data from a face-to-face survey of 107 Chinese private firms, the findings show that strategic HRM has a positive effect on all four dimensions of organisational learning: knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation and organisational memory. In addition, task environmental uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between strategic HRM and organisational learning. However, the moderating effects of institutional environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence on this relationship are not significant. These results highlight the importance of strategic HRM for organisational learning in uncertain task environments to promote organisational transition.

Corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) scandals are frequently reported in China and have a huge impact on the enterprise and society. Aiming to understand the underlying mechanisms between CSIR and enterprise outcomes, this study uses a sample of 2618 firms from the 2018 National Survey of Private Entrepreneurs Survey and examines the corporate social irresponsibility punishments from the perspective of stakeholders by introducing transaction costs. The results indicate that although the punishments for corporate irresponsible behaviors may not be strong enough to deter enterprises from irresponsibility in China, punishments from various stakeholders are increasing in terms of transaction costs. In addition, crisis management capacity may negatively moderate the relationship between CSIR and transaction costs, while regional economic development positively moderates it. This study adds to the extant research on CSIR consequences by combining stakeholders with transaction costs and provides new insights into transaction costs.

Purpose: The paper aims to study how global pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer have managed the challenges of pharmaceutical patent expiry. Design/methodology/approach: A case study method was applied. The best-selling brand drug over the past 10 years – Lipitor – was chosen as the case target. Findings: For dealing with this, this paper describes all the details of the corresponding strategies of Pfizer before and after patent expiration of Lipitor. Before patent expiry, Pfizer undertook the activities of direct-to-consumer marketing, pricing strategy for competition, legal delay and me-too drug R&D. After patent expiry, Pfizer chose to carry out continuous marketing for brand, rebate strategy, authorized generics and change to over-the-counter. In addition, diversity and globalization strategy was applied before and after patent expiry. Research limitations/implications: This research provides strong implication for managing pharmaceutical products before and after patent expiry. Practical implications: It is strongly recommended for both brand and generic drug companies to design strategies to meet the challenges of pharmaceutical patent expiry. Social implications: For the global pharmaceutical market, a conclusion can be drawn that, nowadays, the “patent cliff” is the most significant factor influencing decision-makers to consider futuristic policies. Further, it is also a considerably effective solution for reducing health-care costs for policymakers. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the field of patent expiry management in high-tech industries such as pharmaceuticals.

Most existing studies on employee-organization relationship (EOR) are either from the employee perspective (e.g., the psychological contract approach) or from the employer perspective (e.g., the inducement and contribution approach). Drawing upon prior research, we propose in this paper an inducement-performance/commitment (I-P/C) model based on a dual perspective. Our empirical test on the model reveals that developmental inducements have stronger effects on employees’ contributions than economic inducements, and that the incongruent perception of inducements between employees and managers moderates the relationship between organizational inducements and employee contributions. We also find that employee satisfaction varies in different I-P/C combination categories.