Purpose – The main goal of the article is to determine the mediating role of human resources management (HRM) outcomes in the relationships between shaping employee work engagement and job satisfaction (SEWE&JS) and company performance results and to establish whether there are any identifiable regularities in this scope in the pre-pandemic and pandemic period in the headquarters (HQs) and foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs).
Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research included 200 MNCs headquartered in Central Europe. The raw data in the variables were adjusted with the efficiency index (EI) to capture the actual relations between the variables under study. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to verify the research hypotheses and assess the mediating effects.
Findings – The research findings show that the HRM outcomes positively mediate the relationships between SEWE&JS and the company performance results. HRM outcomes turned out to be a stronger mediator between SEWE&JS and company performance results in finance and quality in the HQs during the pandemic. By contrast, in the local subsidiaries, they were a stronger mediator of the relationships between the results in innovativeness and quality during the pandemic.
Originality/value – In addition to confirming the results of some other researchers, the research findings also provide new knowledge. They determine the mediating role of HRM outcomes in the relationship between SEWE&JS and the three categories of company performance results, namely finance, innovativeness and quality. In addition, they identify certain regularities in the four studied contexts, which is a novelty in this type of research. A novelty is also the use of employee key performance indicators (KPIs) in the data analysis as the efficiency index in analyzing the effect of the variables under study. The value of the research is also the fact that it covers HRM in MNCs established in Central Europe, which, compared to MNCs from the Western world, is not a frequent subject of research

Purpose – I aimed to obtain a deeper insight into the link between supplier involvement in product development (SIPD), supplier relationship resilience and company performance.
Design/methodology/approach – To collect data, a survey among 500 Polish manufacturing companies was conducted. I used quantitative methods (structural equation modeling) to test several research hypotheses referring to a single supplier–customer relationship. Thanks to the use of multi-construct measurement of SIPD and supplier relationship resilience, the study provides detailed research results on the topic.
Findings – Collaborative practices implemented during SIPD increase procurement flexibility and decrease redundancy in the relationship with the involved supplier. Communication during SIPD increases supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Increased supplier flexibility and increased procurement flexibility in the relationship with the involved supplier as well as collaborative practices during SIPD positively impact company performance. I confirmed the indirect effect between communication during SIPD and company performance when the mediators are supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Decreased redundancy in relationship with involved supplier does not impact company performance.
Practical implications – Supply chain managers need to rethink SIPD practice to effectively ensure supply chain resilience (SCRES), especially in the face of the contemporary global crisis and black swans affecting the supplier base. My article provides important managerial insights into drivers of SCRES and company performance. Originality/value – To the best of my knowledge, this research is among the first to conclude that SIPD does not have an unequivocally positive or direct impact on supplier relationship resilience. The research fills the gap by analyzing the impact of SIPD on two main SCRES elements. The study examines supplier relationship resilience, understood as flexibility and redundancy elements, in a single supplier–buyer relationship perspective. Thus, the presented considerations go beyond the traditional understanding of flexibility and redundancy in supplier relationship management, that is through the prism of double or multi sourcing and having back up-suppliers.

Purpose: This article aims to review critical thinking (CT) as a future skill in business.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employed two research methods: science mapping analysis based on bibliometric keyword co-occurrence data and systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines. The application of two distinctive research methods meant that we could obtain a broad picture thematic overview as well as a detailed, fine-grained insight into the content of CT business research.

Findings – Research in CT in business studies is dominated by themes related to education, university and learning that far outweigh CT business application, which focuses on three research axes. These are specific business functions (e.g. accounting, marketing, human resources and identifying business opportunities), certain skills used in business (e.g. decision-making and creativity) and other business-related topics (including ethics, stakeholder relations and individual employee performance).

Practical implications – The article identifies new research gaps related to the link between CT and business performance, a firm’s ability to innovate and company characteristics. Moreover, the article highlights that CT positively influences business decision-making under the influence of cognitive biases and heuristics.

Originality/value – The article provides the first literature review on CT in business research. It uses a novel method of science mapping analysis to show unbiased algorithmic-based insight into the structure of the research, followed by a systematic literature review.

Purpose: The article evaluates the associative relationship between international supervisory board experts and foreign ownership, along with the experts’ influence on the financial and operating performance of firms. The study was based on data collected for 257 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2010–2015.

Methodology: The dataset was built as a panel, and then generalized least squares regression models with a fixed or random effect were employed to test hypotheses.

Findings: The findings of the study clearly show that the presence of investigated firms in foreign markets positively affects company performance. Moreover, models with dependent variables ROA and ROS show that supervisory board members with foreign experience positively affect profitability indicators of firms that do not operate on foreign markets. The data analyses reveal that international experts are more effective advisors for companies that conduct no business activities on foreign markets. Furthermore, the results show a positive moderate association between the share of international experts in supervisory boards and the share of foreign ownership in the company.

Originality: The article contributes to the understanding of determinants and consequences of the presence of international experts in supervisory boards and company internationalization.

Objective: The objective of the article is to fill a research gap regarding the impact of psychic distance on the initiation of relationships by managers from Poland-based firms and to analyze the psychic distance’s influence on firm performance.

Research methodology: The article is based on quantitative research conducted among managers from 201 Poland-based companies operating in foreign markets. The study used a structured questionnaire consisting mainly of closed questions. The dataset contained companies representing all sizes, industries, and ownership status from all over Poland.

Findings: Two types of companies were identified following managers’ (un)willingness to initiate relationships with actors located in psychically distant markets. The study conclusions reveal that psychic distance matters for Polish managers and that business activities conducted in psychically distant markets are often perceived as more complex than in close markets. These activities involve additional risk, but they bring companies better performance.

Limitations: The limitation of the study is that the measurements are based on the subjective perceptions of psychic distance. The research was conducted in Poland only.

Originality: The article is a pioneer work on the psychic distance paradox among Polish managers from a diversified group of companies (from small to multinational). The article seeks to identify to what extent Polish managers perceive psychic distance as an important factor in the decision-making process concerning the initiation of relationships with foreign partners.

Purpose: This study identifies and analyzes the factors that impact the financial performance of companies after a merger and acquisition transaction.
Methodology: As many as 130 Polish market observations were analyzed with an OLS regression model to verify the research hypotheses.
Results: The results reveal that the company’s size, performance before the transaction, and its international nature translated into improvement of post-transaction financial performance. Moreover, industry diversification transactions and CEO changes in acquiring a company had a negative impact on the company’s financial performance after the transaction.
Originality: This investigation is the first study devoted to the Polish market in the research field of M&A determinants with the use of such a large sample.

Purpose: This study is aimed at analyzing the influence of the size of the board of directors, audit committee, institutional ownership and managerial ownership on the fnancial performance of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.

Methodology: The study analyses 156 Indonesia frms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange using linear regression analysis.

Findings: The results indicated that the size of the board of directors has a positive effect on fnancial performance, while the size of the audit committee, institutional ownership and managerial ownership has no effect on the fnancial performance. While on the simultaneously testing, it showed that the size of the board of directors, audit committee size, institutional ownership and managerial ownership influence the fnancial performance.

Research limitations/implications: The research has been limited to the manufacturing sector of Indonesian companies and the internal mechanism of corporate governance. The study suggests considering an external mechanism of corporate governance as predictor variables.

Originality: The study adds to the literature of corporate government and frm performance in emerging countries. The study implies that corporate governance mechanism for audit committee, managerial ownership and institutional ownership do not enhance company performance. The average size of an audit committee just to fulfll the regulation. Corporate governance mechanism that improve fnancial performance is size board director. Improvement in board performance as board size increase has positive impact that enhance fnancial performance of company.

Purpose: This paper investigates the relationship between the internal governance structure and fnancial performance of Polish companies. Ensuring diversity of corporate boards has been on the agenda of various regulators on a national and international level as it is generally expected corporate boards that are more diverse will be more competent and more effective monitoring managerial actions, and therefore positively impact company performance.

Methodology: This paper uses a sample of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and examines the two main compositional features of company supervisory boards (independence and experience) and their practices by companies. We also investigate the effect of diversity on company performance. As our empirical methodology, we use linear regression analysis.

Findings: Our fndings support the proposal that diversity matters, especially in terms of the presence of experienced members on supervisory boards, and that such diversity positively affects fnancial results. In addition to the main fnding, the results of the study indicate also the importance of the ownership structure. Family frms and companies with a higher level of gearing are more likely to perform less effectively.

Originality: To date, research on the association between supervisory board diversity and fnancial performance in either the Polish or Central and Eastern European capital markets has been limited. The paper also points to the importance of having experienced members on a company’s supervisory board. Independent members on supervisory boards do not seem to have a similar association.

Purpose: Despite the importance of innovation, the full innovation potential of companies operating in the industrial sector of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) seems not to have been unlocked yet. Thus, the primary purpose of the study was to explore the key elements of company innovation policies applied on the way to successful innovation.

Methodology: The article presents results of an empirical quantitative analysis. The data has been collected through an anonymous online and postal survey. The analysis focuses on 345 companies active on foreign markets and involves a Mann-Whitney U test and a regression analysis.

Findings: The conducted analysis points to the importance of the degree of interorganizational network embeddedness for the performance of companies active on foreign markets. It shows that the higher the degree of the overall network embeddedness (measured with adaptations, trust and mutuality), the higher the company’s perceived performance relative to its competitors.

Research limitations: The research was burdened with such limitations as respondents experiencing time pressure and the use of only one source of information (the interviewees).

Originality: Despite much general evidence, the study attempts to complement the rare qualitative studies on innovation in CEE. It was carried out as a response to the lack of an in-depth study covering such recurrent challenges in the feld of company innovation policies as disruption, portfolio balancing, integration, intangibilities’ management, and play.

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to develop a framework describing the mechanisms which explain how and when CSR engagement affects company’s bottom line, based on a review of the business case for CSR literature.

Approach: This article is conceptual and based on literature review. By using a CSR stage development model, behavioral and stakeholder perspectives, it offers a descriptive multi­dimensional integrative framework of the business case for CSR.

Findings: The fndings show that the relationship between engagement in CSR activities and corporate performance (CP) depends on a CSR development stage, managerial interpretation of CSR issues, stakeholder management model and moderating factors.

Originality: This article integrates disconnected models and conceptualizations in the subject literature and contributes to the theoretical discussion by arguing that type and scale of benefts from CSR activity progress along the stages of organizational CSR development. Moreover, it also shows that the CSR­CP relationship depends on internal and external factors (mediators and moderators). It therefore supports the contingency argument.