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In this conceptual work, we describe cross-disciplinary meaning and language related to the innovation phenomenon located in a business context. Our work attempts to find common meaning and language for innovation that can be applied across all business innovation projects irrespective of the business discipline, and to synthesize these common terms into an innovation communication and planning tool. The objective of providing a common meaning and language for innovation is to give practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders a shared communication platform, and common language and meaning that assist incumbents to discuss and collaborate during innovation projects without the boundaries created by siloed, nuanced, and discipline-specific understandings. The outcome of the paper is a conceptual framework and canvas tool constructed from universal meaning and language for business innovation with the aim of providing a set of common questions that business practitioners could ask during times of innovation. Furthermore, the Business Innovation Canvas provides new directions for future study and the development of tools that take advantage of common meaning and language to aid innovation practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scandals in human rights, environmental and social issues involving powerful companies have amplified the debate about the appropriate role of business corporations in today's society. Among a myriad of NGOs that focus their attention on corporate behavior, there are the consumer protection organizations. This study aims to analyze the relationships among one multinational company and two consumerist organizations in Brazil, through the perspective of neo-institutional theory. Our key theoretical contribution was the identification of two corporate attributes—identity and intra-organization communities—that influence the company to react in distinct ways to the approaches of the organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although marketing has long been posited to be shifting from segment marketing to customer-centric marketing, there is little theoretical insight into the status of such transformation, especially in emerging African economies. Therefore, this paper develops an integrated theoretical framework for assessing (a) the extent to which firms in African economies use the segment marketing mix (4Ps) versus the customer-centric marketing mix (4As) as well as (b) their antecedents and performance outcomes. Propositions drawn from qualitative data and theoretical tenets in strategic management and in institutional theory are offered to guide systematic empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on HRD in small businesses by providing a detailed investigation of the role that owner-managers play in enabling social learning and performance in small firms. The investigation focusses particularly on the specific relationships of the social-interdependence orientation and social competence of owner-managers with their social learning behaviour, as well as with the performance of their small-businesses within the pig-production sector in the Republic of Korea. A survey was conducted amongst nearly 200 Korean owner-managers of pig farms. The results indicate that social interdependence orientations and social competencies have a significant relationship with social learning behaviour. Self-promotion and a cooperative orientation are especially important, with self-promotion taking precedence for social learning behaviour of a more 'internal' nature, and a cooperative attitude being more important social learning behaviour of a more 'external' nature. Social competence and social interdependence did not have a significant relationship with performance, but social learning behaviour did. The results further highlight the importance of individual social characteristics to social learning behaviour occurring outside highly structured educational settings, in addition to demonstrating that the competence and attitudes required are determined by the type of interaction partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of eco-design within any existing business requires change. Change is required because eco-design involves the introduction and integration of new design criteria within an existing product development system. To support meaningful change, it is important to understand the current situation, or business context. The first eco-design case study presented in this paper, illustrates a failure to recognize the importance of understanding the business context. Through a retrospective analysis of this case study, a company characterization process (CCP) has been developed. The CCP is presented in this paper, and a further case study is provided to help exemplify its application. The CCP has been developed using an action research methodology to support the development of effective and efficient eco-design projects, through a three-step process that characterizes business features for eco-design activity planning. The tool has been developed for use in any company in the early stages of eco-design implementation, and particularly for to academics and industrial eco-design practitioners who are supporting company efforts from outside the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 50 years, business professionals and some researchers have held that effective listening is a highly desirable workplace skill (Cooper, 1997; Husband, Cooper, & Monsour, 1988; Nichols & Stevens, 1957; Rogers & Rothlisberger, 1952; Sypher, 1984). However, listening as an organizational variable continues to be seen as a "soft" skill worthy of little attention in the scholarly business literature, in the business classroom, and in organizations (Flynn & Faulk, in press). This paper presents an overview of academic research on listening in the business environment and raises a number of key research questions that guided discussion of the Business Context Division of the International Forum on Listening Research. This work is designed to foster rigorous listening research among scholars in a variety of academic business fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing gap between the insights from modern economic and strategic theory, and the current judicial policy to evaluate predatory pricing cases. Marketing insights, data collection, and analysis methods can uniquely aid decision-making in the courts and lead the way for a contemporary antitrust approach. The contributions and limitations of the existing paradigm in enforcement are summarized. The courts' current decision-making paradigm is detailed in four steps: is the defendant business sacrificing current profits? Can the business recoup its strategic sacrifice? How are the business' relevant competitors affected? And ultimately, will there be injury to buyer welfare? Each step is substantiated with expanded perspectives and insights from marketing, and examples in business-to-business context to synthesize theory and practice. A managerial decision-making framework is developed. Future research perspectives are identified. A cross-disciplinary timetable of the evolution of predatory pricing in the U.S. is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of experiential learning techniques has become popular in business education. Experiential learning approaches offer major benefits for teaching contemporary management practices such as cross-functional and team-based working. However, there remains relatively little empirical data on the success of experiential pedagogies in supporting such efforts. In this paper, we investigate one exercise and the impact it has had on the student experience and learning performance. Two analyses are conducted: firstly, students were surveyed to establish their perceptions of the quality and value of the exercise related to these aims; secondly, 10 years of course marks were evaluated for changes in overall student performance after the introduction of the exercise. Findings provide strong support for experiential approaches. Implications for management education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers the education and literacy practices of Bristol merchants involved in overseas trade in the sixteenth century by focusing on their business concerns. It argues that these demanded complex literacy skills and the discussion explores why writing was so central to their work. The merchants required specific training in order to produce and handle documents relating to their mercantile activities. As well as receiving practical training under apprenticeship with a master, merchants’ manuals were available for further guidance. A manual produced by John Browne, a Bristol merchant, is examined to highlight the principles that guided merchants’ literacy practices. Business writings by other Bristol merchants are also discussed to reveal the values that governed their practices. The discussion aims to illustrate how their literacy practices were situated in the context of early modern trade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A large literature in cultural geography, history, and sociology has discussed the different, constantly shifting, and mutually defining constructions of 'Europe,' 'Eastern Europe,' and more recently the 'New Europe,' focusing mostly on examples from the media, politics, and sometimes the arts. However, the literature has done little to analyze the construction of notions of Europe, and the role they play, in the realm of business. This paper begins to explore the connection between cultural understandings of Europe and investment decisions. Specifically, it follows a group of investors from Italy, showing the 'cultural clashes' they encountered in setting up business operations in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine. The paper is developed in three steps. First, the relevant cultural and economic geographical literatures are reviewed. Second, the historical progression of Italian investment since the 1990s is discussed in relation to broader economic changes in Italy and the New Europe. Third, investors' changing perceptions of the 'New Europe' are discussed in the framework of the consolidation of Italian investments in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines leadership theory and organizational culture within a military context. Several issues that have impacted on leadership theory include flexibility, employee empowerment and the desire for greater autonomy. The concepts are contextualized to the British military which have a history of controlled risk-taking.

Market orientation has been considered a key factor in successful business operations across different markets. To test this assertion, the authors examine the influence of a firm's market orientation on small business performance in the Chilean retail environment. They go on to report empirical information about the characteristics of the market-oriented retailers in Chile. The Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar (1993) MARKOR scale is used in the study to assess the market orientation in the context of a developing country environment. Data for the study were collected from small retailers in Chile through self-administered questionnaires using a drop-off/pick-up method. The results show a significant correlation between market orientation and small business performance. Path analyses found that the best structure among the Market Orientation dimensions is: Intelligence Generation → Intelligence Dissemination → Responsiveness. Moreover, these performance measures differed significantly among the three different partitions obtained using a k-means cluster analysis. The findings indicate that the MARKOR scale is both valid and reliable in a diverse Chilean small business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides evidence for conditions under which the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty will be stronger or weaker. Factors influencing the relations between satisfaction and loyalty; Relational exchange; International business-to-business practice.

The article presents original scientific research from the area of risk management, business processes (BPM) and decision support systems. It renders business areas in which it is possible to reduce risk and improve efficiency in making more accurate business decisions (DSS). Business processes and related decisions are a key element in the operation of each institution. They set the pace of activity, determine the company's competitiveness in the case of business operations, or rationalise the basic activity of a given entity. Adaptive Case Management and workflow and information within BPM have a major impact on the pace, flexibility and quality of decision-making. When decision-makers and knowledge workers have access to increasingly accurate and up-to-date trusted source of information, along with the analytical tools to make sense of it, their organisations benefit from more informed decisions and more consistent outcomes than ever before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three strategic theoretical concepts - design, planning and positioning - are examined for their relevance to the business context of Ghana. For design, the Ghanaian culture on respect for elders and authority is argued to be partly responsible for the ‘accepting’ nature of subordinates. Formal planning by organisations is mostly found with large companies and multinationals due to the influence of parent organisations. Firms seek to position on service reliability, value for money, branding, social responsibility and others. The paper contributes to knowledge and practice in African business by developing propositions around which organisations can achieve competitive advantage in the Ghanaian business setting during the application of the strategic concepts discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the reasons that motivate Brazilian companies to implement Quality Management Systems, according to ISO 9001:2015 requirements. Based on information collected in the literature, a questionnaire was developed and answered by professionals that work with the mentioned standard in their companies. An Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted with the collected data to group the validated variables into two constructs that present the most part of information variance. These constructs were entitled "internal improvements related motives" and "market related motives". The findings of this research confirm and complement previous studies performed in Brazil and in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test how hedonic motivation impacts customers' dress choice for shopping through the mediation of perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism. The level of involvement and level of sociability of the business context are examined as moderators in this process. Based on a survey of 415 customers, a structural equation model shows that these variables are linked to preference for specific dress styles, and that sociability level, but not involvement level moderates the relationship between them. This work confirms the importance of dress as a social tool even for customers, and clarifies the processes that guide customers when dressing for shopping. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ambidexterity in a business context has focused primarily on how organizations can strategically coordinate multiple, often competing tasks. Within the marketing function, ambidexterity has centered specifically on how frontline employees can best coordinate sales and service activities manifesting at the frontline. This paper systematically reviews the frontline literature to provide a framework that encompasses and reconciles the many forms of ambidexterity that arise at the frontline interface. This work identifies critical areas for future research to better unify the field, allowing for an inclusive understanding of frontline ambidexterity that encompasses any firm or firm representative involvement in the multiple routine and non-routine demands that emerge within a dynamic frontline interface. Notably, this review suggests a nuanced perspective of frontline ambidexterity, including three distinct forms that are labeled dueling, holistic, and synergistic ambidexterity. Thus, the objectives are to (1) assess the current state of the literature pertaining to a broader understanding of frontline ambidexterity, (2) identify classifications of frontline ambidexterity interactions that allow us to better understand the status of our knowledge base, and (3) critically evaluate this understanding to identify gaps and provide insights regarding extensive directions for future research in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the strategic issues in human resource management (HRM) research is the recognition of HR professionals' roles, yet how effective HR professionals are performing these roles has seldom been studied. This article conducts a two-phase study to explore the role expectations, role effectiveness and discrepancies of HR professionals in the Chinese business context. In the first phase, six roles in three domains were determined using a qualitative method. In the second phase, hypotheses were proposed and tested empirically. The results highlight that the value of role effectiveness is significantly lower than that of role expectation. In terms of perceptive discrepancies between HR and non-HR individuals, significant differences exist on the expectations of the roles in the strategic domain (i.e. facilitator and supporter), and also on the effectiveness of the roles in all three domains, except for that of facilitator in the strategic domain. The results also indicate that the effectiveness of each different role has a distinctive weighting in explaining the overall effectiveness of HRM, and that different groups hold diverse views on the relationship between role effectiveness and overall effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The influence of technology developments on the content and arrangement of work is a recurring theme in many publications. Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) are reshaping internal organizational design and necessitate new types of employee capabilities and behaviour. As will be illustrated, ICT developments create a heightened level of business and market dynamics. Arguably, these dynamics affect the required capabilities and behaviour of employees even more strongly. Similarly, the way businesses are operating, and customer, supplier and business partner relationships are formed, is also affected by the rapid ICT progress. Key drivers shaping the new business context will be addressed. This paper argues that the trends and developments illustrated necessitate revision of traditionally held beliefs and paradigms. Said revision has important implications for the strategy and management of human resources, whereby the focus on employee behaviour is crucial. Two key aspects of a human resource strategy will be discussed, identified as HR alignment and HR enablement. With the focus on employee behaviour, attention should be given to the organizational context, since this context determines employee behaviour. Said context is defined by organizational culture, management practices and various organizational structures and systems. In view of the necessary organizational change associated with the developments illustrated, the importance of consistency and coherence between the elements of the organizational context is stressed. Establishing change under conditions of consistency and coherence is therefore identified as a crucial organizational competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assembly processes play a big role in the current business context as global supply chains depend on many subcomponents to produce a single finished product. Previous studies have shown contrasting results regarding the effect that supply variability (the variability of feeding stations) has on the performance of assembly systems, as opposed to the variability of the station matching and assembling the components. This paper aims to close this gap by studying the behaviour of simple assembly systems with differing degrees of variability allocation among the stations through an experimental simulation study. Results suggest that a reduction in feeding station variability results in higher throughput, even in systems where the variability of one of the feeding stations increases while the other decreases. Furthermore, in scenarios with high total variance, the highest throughput is reached by transferring both variance and work from one of the feeding stations to any other station, whereas in low variance systems symmetrical work transfer to the feeding stations results in the highest throughput, as previously shown. Finally, reducing feeding station variability decreased the time spent in the assembly station (waiting time for component matching plus time for the assembly operation) only in experiments with high total variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticipating the value that key customers will want in future becomes a matter of survival in an increasingly dynamic environment. An essential part of predicting customers' desired value change (CDVC) involves identifying the reasons behind the phenomenon. In the present study, we examine CDVC antecedents by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model in a business- to-business context involving professional services in the field of information and communication technology OCT). Grounded on a "'top-down" view of the customer value hierarchy (Woodruff 1997), our results show that changes in customers' desired end-states are concomitant with changes in both desired consequences and desired attributes. We further observe that end-state desires shift even more as customer firms make more organizational changes and their financial performance declines. Lastly, our results show that organizational changes are a mediating variable between changes in the external environment (i.e. dynamism) and changes in desired end-states. This study is meant as further theoretical and empirical support for the outcomes of previous exploratory research on CDVC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of regional networks in processes of innovation within an international business context. It is hypothesized that firms participating in regional networks demonstrate a stronger innovation competence. Data are drawn from a survey among food firms in the region of Meetjesland, Belgium, and reflect the relation between the firm and a number of regional characteristics. After restructuring the data through factor analysis and cluster analysis, the important role of regional networking is revealed using discriminant analysis. The analysis marks out two factors having the strongest power to discriminate between the clusters: firms are classified as having a stronger innovation competence when networking within the region, and when orienting towards the international market. Results demonstrate that internationally operating firms benefit from regional networking. Further, it is argued that regional networking is not contradictory to an international market orientation, and that firms gain innovation competence by searching for external knowledge on different geographical scales. As these networks have the potential to enhance the innovation competence of firms, support to regional networking is promoted as a policy tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small but growing strand of literature is beginning to make the case for 'critical action learning' (CAL). Much of this interest operates on theoretical terrain, speculating on the extent to which it might differ from more conventional notions of action learning. This paper draws on insights from (CAL) to demonstrate the importance of being 'critical by design' in the formulation and implementation of interventions. It is based on a five-year inquiry involving a network of small business owners. We demonstrate the importance of explicitly questioning the rationale for interventions; assessing how the composition of the action learning set relates to power relations within its organizational context; the process of governance; and an active role for facilitators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the theoretical understanding of the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) in business environments that differ from those from where it emerged. Business systems that are less developed tend to adopt more 'sophisticated' and formal strategic initiatives. The adoption of TQM by Greek organizations is a prime example. However, less has been said about the understanding of TQM or its cultural determinants in such environments. This paper, based on the results of 73 semi-structured interviews conducted with managers working in Greek public and private organizations, argues that there are two antithetical business-cultural 'forces' - conservatism and reformism - that seem to substantially affect the awareness and application of total quality concepts. Both features create pressures in the system, either restraining or promoting TQM implementation. In this context, the tension between traditional business culture and a modernization logic is the key to understanding the development of TQM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a detailed view of key drivers for the wide-ranging economic reforms in the region during the 1990s, chiefly the Washington Consensus and the increased political stability. It highlights the key developments and results of the reforms in the areas of privatization (across industries), foreign investment and trade liberalization. It further provides insight into how the opening up of the regional economies resulted in multinationals penetrating and thereafter increasing their ownership of business across sectors, how, as a result, the public-sector share shrank during the period and how the local businesses adapted to this changed environment. The article also touches upon some key structural changes in the labour market as a result of the developments of the 1990s. This is followed by an exploration of the key themes and challenges facing the regional economies in the years ahead -- economic, social and geo-political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate risk is a pressing global concern that affects multinational enterprises in manifold ways. Yet this has received less attention in international management literature. To address the gap, this study examines the impact of climate risk on the expansion and performance of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and tests the moderating effects of industry and institutional factors on the relationships. Using a dataset comprising the international acquisitions initiated by MNEs from emerging markets in 1998–2018, we find that host-country climate risk negatively affects the firms' expansionary entries and is detrimental to firm performance. In addition, we find that firms from high-polluting industries are likely to show greater environmental awareness and increase their commitment to climate-risk countries. At the country level, our results show that home-host country political ties reduce the negative impact of climate risk on firms' expansion and performance. The findings contribute to the literature on environmental management in an international business context and offer important practical implications for managers and government agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use an inductive approach to understand what types of founders’ human capital, at individual and team levels, are necessary to recognise and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. A sample of 195 founders who teamed up in the nascent phases of Cleantech and Interned-based sectors is analysed. The results suggest a twofold moderating effect of the sectoral context. First, a more hard science-based and complex sector like Cleantech demands technically more skilled entrepreneurs, but at the same time, it still requires fairly commercially experienced and economically competent individuals. Furthermore, the business context also appears to exert an important influence on team formation dynamics: individuals are more prone to team-up with cofounders possessing complementary know-how when they are starting a new business venture in the Cleantech rather than in the Internet-based sector. Overall, these results stress the role of the specific high-tech business context at stake when analysing entrepreneurial team composition patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Achieving growth is critical to the success of many small firms. The impact of top-management teams (TMTs) has been widely studied in large-firm settings, but research that tests the applicability of TMT variables on small-firm growth is limited. This study attempted to determine whether relationships between TMT variables and growth behavior were consistent with large-firm studies in a small- firm context. Using comparative partial- correlation analysis on samples of 74 small firms and 114 large firms, this study finds that some large-firm TMT theory is also applicable to small-firm growth. However, relationships between certain TMT variables and organizational growth were moderated by firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is double. First, the research about performance measurement (PM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be analysed in order to know its evolution. Next, the research gaps in the business context of these companies will be identified. This paper presents a systematic literature review of 131 articles of PM in SMEs between 2006 and 2019. A conceptual framework is proposed to characterize the studies according to three factors: (1) purpose of the approach; (2) scope of PM; and (3) business context in which the studies are articulated. The reviewed papers were selected from Scopus and Web of Science databases. For this study, we considered the works conducted in the manufacturing sector, and excluded those that focused on the services sector. The results show that most of the studies are concentrated in the context of individual company, on the other hand networks, clusters, and supply chains have received less attention. The information collected herein identifies research gaps that have not been dealt with in detail and are transformed into guidelines to be dealt with by new future specific works in the domain of PM in SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architectural restoration projects have many peculiarities that differentiate them from other construction projects. Despite the universal guidelines, standards and bylaws, a specialized approach on the management of architectural restoration projects is yet a knowledge gap. Inadequate use of project management knowledge in the field results in time and budget overruns, quality problems, insufficient research, incorrect scope definition, lack of interdisciplinary coordination, disconnection between phases, inefficiency in change management, and further ambiguities. Following an exploratory sequential research process consisting of qualitative and quantitative data from a focus group meeting, a questionnaire survey, and a 48-h on-site training; the authors focus on the peculiar nature of architectural restoration projects from project management perspective. The study aims to explore the extent to which the conventional project management knowledge, tools and techniques can be applied to architectural restoration projects, investigate if more adaptive and contemporary approaches can fit better to them, and propose a practically applicable management model tailored for such projects. The results show that a hybrid model combining agile and waterfall project management approaches with an appropriate business context targeting the unique requirements of architectural restoration projects can be instrumental to cope with the complexities of such projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fishbein and Ajzen attitude model was applied to an analysis of expert decisions made by accounting professionals in the course of their work. Attitudes towards disclosing to the general public whether a company had continuity problems which could result in bankruptcy were elicited via semantic differential and expectancy/valence procedures from audit partners of international accounting firms. Data for the subjective norm were also obtained. The relevance of the attitude and normative variables were tested with the use of a single response and multiple response intention or decision measure. The analysis revealed that an association did exist between the intention measures and the determining variables, extending the applicability of the attitude model to expert decision-making contexts. However, the variable weightings of the attitude and subjective norm were reversed depending upon the decision measure used. The subjective norm was more closely related to the general intent measure (single response), while the attitude was associated with the number of times continuity problems were mentioned for 40 firms (multiple response). In addition, the single response was not indicative of the multiple response decision measure bringing into question the use of the single response when the psychological model is extrapolated to accounting settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing risk from natural hazards and other types of critical risks is fundamental to the viability, sustainability, and resilience of organizations of all types and sizes. It is, crucially, an important part of demonstrating their purpose and commitment to society and the broader environment, which incorporates what they do to help tackle climate change. Counterfactual thought is the process of reimagining the past, for example, for a particular event that has occurred, as being different than what actually transpired. In this study, we investigate how this process and mindset of counterfactual thinking can have specific value in helping people in organizations to have a more robust way of analyzing and managing risk. The role and potential impact of counterfactual-based practices on risk mitigation and management, and an increased focus on purposeful resilience in a business context, has not previously been widely studied. We have conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with people in senior positions in various organizations, global contexts, scales, covering a range of industries and sectors including construction and property, engineering, mining, nonprofit, and consulting. Through these interviews we identify: (1) existing challenges of current risk management systems; (2) types of risks of concern in the organizations interviewed; (3) the current and potential use of counterfactual practices in these organizations; and (4) the perceived value of counterfactual practices within the business setting for risk mitigation and resilience. We share best practices that emerged from the study, especially the role of leadership, diversity, and inclusion as a necessary foundation for successful implementation of counterfactual risk practices. The findings from this project can be used to inform businesses interested in adopting emerging downward counterfactual risk and resilience practices to improve their preparedness to manage critical and evolving risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the importance of small businesses for society, and the significance of managers' wellbeing for employee health, leadership, and business performance, more knowledge is needed on the sources of managers' wellbeing. This study explored factors within the small business context that were perceived by managers to hinder or enable their wellbeing. Methods: Data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with 20 managers from 12 small companies, and analysed with content analysis. Results: The factors that these managers in small businesses experienced as enhancing or hindering their personal wellbeing covered five categories: demands and resources in the daily managerial work, achievement of results, social factors, organizational factors, and individual factors. Conclusions: The specific context of managerial work in small companies encompasses unique factors. For instance, the small company managers' wellbeing was affected by vulnerability due to the smallness of the business and the absence of available resources. Simultaneously, a small company context provided a strong social climate and close relationships with employees and customers that strengthened the managers' wellbeing. The findings suggest that the availability of financial, personnel, and organizational resources varies between small companies of different size, which may have implications for small business managers' work and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has shown that HRM can contribute to innovation, only limited scholarly attention has been given to the bottom-up emergence of innovation based on an employees' ideas. Furthermore, while scholars have accumulated knowledge about innovative behavior in business contexts where innovation is nurtured, to fully understand 'innovation by employees' we need to also address business contexts where innovation by employees is not overtly expected. For these reasons, the aim of this paper is to explore the bottom-up emergence of so-called employee-driven innovation (EDI) in a formalized business context and study how HRM support mechanisms contribute to this. We conducted an explorative single case study in a highly formalized company – a medical laboratory in the Netherlands. The data analysis was based on 40 interviews, documents, and observations. We found that a highly formalized business context does support innovation by employees, but that this has specific employee-driven innovation routes through which employees innovate. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the content and process of EDI emergence should be studied using a multilevel perspective. We offer recommendations on how EDI routes should be modelled and reflect on what this contributes to the HRM – innovation literature. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1913625. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation studies advanced practitioners of maintenance management and seeks to uncover the related impacts and contributions of best practice maintenance toward sustainable manufacturing operations. This exploratory research conducted a novel empirical analysis focused on maintenance functions in nine manufacturing companies from diverse sectors. The analysis uncovered insights related to the economic, environmental, and social benefits of deeper involvement of maintenance function in plant operations and decision-making. We observed links of maintenance function with product competitiveness and with energy management activities that were unexpected. We confirmed benefits from keeping machinery in good working conditions and restoring promptly good working conditions when an issue happens. The depth of maintenance contribution on each area identified in this study will depend on the operational and business context of the manufacturing company; thus, companies need to reflect on these based on their specific processes, business needs and goals. Ultimately, this work can inspire managers in manufacturing companies to organise maintenance functions strategically toward fostering long-term competitive, responsible and sustainable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and sustainability are recent buzzwords in manufacturing environments. However, the connection between these two concepts is less explored in the literature. In the current business context, the future generation of manufacturing systems is greatly influenced by the rapid advancement of information technology. Therefore, this study aims to examine the drivers of I4.0 to diffuse sustainability in Supply Chains (SCs). This research identifies the most relevant drivers through the literature and discusses them with area experts. Afterwards, an empirical analysis is conducted to validate the key drivers. Finally, the Grey based DEMATEL method is employed to examine the influential strength of the identified drivers and to build an interrelationship diagram. 'Government supportive policies' and 'Collaboration and transparency among supply chain members' were reported as highly significant drivers of I4.0. This study is an initial effort that investigates the key drivers of I4.0 to achieve high triple bottom line (ecological-economic-social) gains in SCs by taking an example from an emerging economy, i.e. India. This study may help managers, practitioners and policy makers interested in I4.0 applications to diffuse sustainability in SCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeMethodologyFindingsImplicationsLivestreaming commerce is becoming increasingly frequent, and this rapid development has benefited from ever-increasing numbers of influencers joining businesses. Given this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the nonlinear effect of influencers’ beauty on viewer purchases.Based on the unstructured data of 2,597 livestreaming clips from TikTok, we first leverage a computer vision-based API interface, Face++, to calculate influencer beauty. Economic models are used to investigate this relationship. Second, the Sobel test is used to test the mediating effects of LSTM-based influencer trustworthiness. Finally, two moderators, product category and influencer type, are verified to clarify the boundary conditions.First, there is an inverted U-shaped relation between influencer beauty and sales rate. Second, influencer trustworthiness mediates the impact of influencer beauty on sales rate. Finally, we find that compared with newcomer influencer selling experience products, veteran influencer beauty has a greater impact on sales when selling search products.First, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the few empirical studies evaluating influencer beauty through video data. More broadly, our research contributes to the rich influencer marketing literature by taking advantage of the abundant visual information provided by the new business context of livestreaming. The second is the new method of computer vision and multimodal machine learning. The combination of these new methods provides a scalable toolkit for unstructured data mining for academia and a realistic reference for livestreaming commerce for industry. The third contribution is content validity. We depend on hard archival data, which reflect changes in influencer beauty and viewers’ purchases in real time. This study extends the external validity of past studies and has greater reference value for real livestreaming businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the implications of quality for the survival and performance of business and non-business organizations, research on its operationalization and measurement especially as it relates to services have continued to increase over the years. There is, however, a glaring dearth of research on the measurement of service quality in the non-business context, especially in the religious setting though it is a thriving segment of the market for services. Building on the Push–Pull–Mooring framework and following a multistage procedure involving both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA), this paper described the procedure employed in developing and validating the P-P-Relqual scale for measuring the quality of services offered by Christian religious service providers in the Nigerian context. The final version of the validated scale is made up of 11 items, measured on a five-point Likert scale, which were categorized into four dimensions (Conflict, Appeal of pastor, Appeal of Church, and Opportunity for Development). Based on the result obtained, the paper concluded that adherents will perceive the religious service they receive as being of a high quality, if their providers can strategize to effectively minimize intra-church “conflict” while enhancing “Appeal of pastor,” “Appeal of Church,” and “Opportunity for Development.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeMethodologyFindingsResearch and practical implicationsOriginalityThe study seeks to address the influence of different facets of business-to-business (B2B) relationship marketing on internationalization effectiveness, by taking into account the turbulent environment generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus falls on the factors that generate, frame, catalyze, sustain and strengthen international business relationships between managers from organizations with converging interests.B2B relationship marketing in the international arena is analyzed by means of various angles such as business convergence, business context, interpersonal compatibility, business credibility and network interconnections as availed by the “new normal” triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire-based survey with 158 business owners and managers from European industrial companies was carried out during November 2023 to investigate the configuration and dynamics of B2B relationship marketing in the unprecedented and systemic COVID-19 crisis. Data was analyzed via structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 4.The findings showed that while business convergence remains a strong influencer of all the other relational dimensions, the restrictions and limitations engendered by the pandemic have also altered international B2B relationship marketing to such an extent that the only significant factor for internationalization effectiveness relies on business networking.The study has both theoretical and practical implications, bringing forward a topical perspective on international B2B relationships during COVID-19 disruptions and their impact on the effectiveness of international operations.The study advances a phenomenological view of the unprecedented changes and their influences on the overseas operations of SMEs in a particular field. It complements and adds to the literature by stressing a more articulated relationship-centric architecture, which probed relevance during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we seek to understand the role of relationship marketing in achieving customer loyalty in Ghana's informal economy. The study further investigated the role of customer perceived value as a pass-through mechanism for the relationship between relationship marketing and customer loyalty. We collected primary data from 229 customers of informal economy operators in Accra. The data was then analyzed using structural equation modeling utilizing the STATA 15 Package. Our findings indicate that commitment is the only fundamental relationship marketing factor investigated that has a direct influence on customer loyalty in the informal business context. Trust and conflict handling on the other hand benefit significantly from the presence of customer perceived value whereas communication seems to have negligible effects. Consequently, scholars and marketing practitioners seeking to deploy the relationship marketing concept in the informal economy need to be aware of these contextual interplays and how they shape further discussions of the relationship marketing theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitisation has opened up powerful new ways for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to connect with global markets, resources and partners and to pursue innovation in foreign markets. While the unique characteristics of digital technologies and digital assets embody an expansive and promising global landscape for innovation, MNEs' success in pursuing such digital innovation will also be shaped by the nature and extent of localization forces prevalent in different foreign markets, an issue that has received limited attention in both digital innovation and international business literatures. In this short essay, I highlight this gap and call for the study of digital innovation in the international business context by bringing together ideas, theories and concepts from both areas. I draw on and combine two perspectives—one drawn from the innovation literature (digital innovation as recombinant innovation involving digital assets) and the other from the international business literature (the international business context as being defined by national policies and regulations, infrastructure and culture) and suggest several promising themes and questions for future research in this area, specifically relating to how globalization/localization forces facilitate/hinder MNEs' global digital innovation efforts. I hope the call made here will be answered by scholars from both fields and lead to insights that enrich both theory and practice related to MNE innovation in today's rapidly growing digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by conflicting arguments/claims in the AI literature on its implementation, motivations, and practical impact, we combine interview data from a case company with questionnaire data from eighty-five Japanese manufacturing firms to examine seven AI technologies at firm, function, and technology levels. We find that one-third of the sample firms did not employ any of the seven AI technologies. Over 50% of the remaining firms implemented one or two technologies only. Visual recognition, machine learning and natural written language processing were the most commonly implemented technologies. AI implementation was the highest in production and research and development compared to other functions. The main motivations for implementing AI were to enhance operational efficiency, improve defects detection and prediction, automate processes, and reduce labour hours/costs. Among the firms that implemented AI, improvements in operational efficiency were more frequently reported, followed by reductions in labour hours/costs and enhancements in product/process quality. Lack of business needs, suitability to the business, expertise in implementation, and confidence in generating significant benefits were the main reasons for not experimenting with AI technologies. Our detailed analysis improves our understanding of the current state of AI adoption in manufacturing firms, its practical impact and highlights avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sales representatives (reps) frequently exhibit a lack of lead management effort and sales managers need to determine why so that they can address the problem. Scant insights exist into which leadership behaviors might increase sales reps' lead management efforts, depending on sales reps' individual feelings of responsibility for lead management activities. To address and empirically investigate this research void, this article reports on a qualitative, preliminary study of 11 sales managers and 10 sales reps, along with a large-scale, cross-sectional quantitative study of 410 sales reps. The mixed-method studies reveal contingent effects of sales managers' goal and process control behaviors on sales reps' lead management efforts dependent on sales reps' feelings of responsibility for lead management. Whereas sales reps' feelings of responsibility weaken the effect of goal control, they strengthen the effect of process control on lead management efforts. The simultaneous use of goal and process control reveals circumstances in which both control behaviors can have a combined, positive effect on sales reps' efforts. In addition to extending the literature on leadership behaviors for lead management, this study provides sales managers with clear guidance on how to deal with sales reps' unreliable lead management efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional selling has been transformed over the last decade and is in constant flux. Fundamental changes have occurred in how best to achieve salesperson performance and how to measure it. In this article, we present a meta-analysis of the determinants of salesperson performance using 150 studies, 936 raw effects, and ten moderating variables captured from 2009 to 2020. Our findings enable us to identify 19 key determinants of performance and to classify these within a sales determinant continuum, ranging from universal, to context-specific to necessary but insufficient predictors of performance. Our results show the significant influence the operationalization of salesperson performance has on the relationship between sales determinants and performance outcomes. Our study offers more nuanced guidelines for sales management practice than previous studies and suggests a greater alignment between research sampling and performance measurement methods to further our understanding of sales performance going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain has gained momentum as a disruptive technology in supply chain management against its introduction as a finance-related instrument. Nevertheless, the developing academic understanding and the limited practical implications lead to insufficient insights into the use of blockchain technology, particularly in the supply chain finance (SCF) domain. Thus, the expected potential of blockchain technology remains underexplored. Accordingly, this study explicates this situation by examining the extant literature findings and web-based big data that can provide evidence about the real needs in supply chains, and investigating how blockchain emerges as a disruptive SCF-oriented technology. The study employs a web analytics method, Search Engine Results Page (SERP) analysis which considers the trends in blockchain technology use and the interactions between blockchain, supply chain and finance appearing in Google searches. The SERP method examined real-time clicks, web traffics and most commonly asked questions about blockchain. The SERP findings revealed that the interest in blockchain technology neither focused on finance nor data privacy as emphasised in the literature but mainly on the benefits of increasing digitalisation and efficiency in supply chains. The results offered practical implications for capturing recent blockchain- and supply chain-related trends and designing more digital and efficient supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a systematic literature review to understand the applications, benefits, and challenges of digital assistants (DAs) in production and logistics tasks. Our conceptual framework covers three dimensions: information management, collaborative operations, and knowledge transfer. We evaluate human-DA collaborative tasks in the areas of product design, production, maintenance, quality management, and logistics. This allows us to expand upon different types of DAs, and reveal how they improve the speed and ease of production and logistic work, which was ignored in previous studies. Our results demonstrate that DAs improve the speed and ease of workers' interaction with machines/information systems in searching, processing, and demonstrating. Extant studies describe DAs with different levels of autonomy in decision-making; however, most DAs perform tasks as instructed or with workers' consent. Additionally, we observe that workers find it more intuitive to perform tasks and acquire knowledge when they receive multiple sensorial cues (e.g. auditory and visual cues). Consequently, future research can explore how DAs can be integrated with other technologies for robust multi-modal assistance such as eye tracking and augmented reality. This can provide customised DA support to workers with disabilities or conditions to facilitate more inclusive production and logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current era of turbulence, demand uncertainty and significant supply delays have become recurrent challenges for every global supply chain, which are accentuated by geopolitical issues, regional conflicts, natural disasters, etc. Companies are keen to decide when and where nearshoring and offshoring their supply locations and to adapt their inventory control policies to cope with significant perturbations. To deal with these challenges, we investigate the integration of inventory planning at the strategic level through a novel setting of the location-inventory problem under uncertainty. This problem is characterised by inbound multi-sourcing, order splitting among multiple suppliers, and optimised inventory decisions from sourcing to customers under uncertain demand and lead time. A two-stage stochastic optimisation model is proposed and solved using a Benders decomposition algorithm, supported by a sample average approximation approach. The results show that both lead time and demand uncertainties impact strategic and tactical decisions of the global supply network. Specifically, multi-sourcing and inbound order splitting policies have proven beneficial when the network faces a high lead time uncertainty. Based on an illustrative case of a global automobile spare parts supply network under different supply-side scenarios, managerial insights are gained on the benefit of onshore, nearshore, and offshore decisions. When facing a high lead time uncertainty, as in the pandemic case or any geopolitical episode, our findings suggest the necessity to rely on nearshoring for the supply side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Followers' implicit leadership theories (ILTs) are core to understanding how leaders are described and as how effective they are perceived. While much is understood about ILTs in the business context, we know little about professorial leaders although effective leadership is key for performance and success in academia. To explore ILTs in academia, we asked pre- and postdoctoral researchers in Germany to specify the characteristics of the typical professorial leader and to rate these characteristics in terms of effectiveness. Based on an inductive content analysis of 2048 characteristics, 18 categories emerged. We found that the typical professorial leader is primarily described as caring, competent, and ambitious. Thus, ILTs in academia differ notably from ILTs in the business context. This implies that the academic context deserves particular attention of leadership researchers. These findings have implications for leadership effectiveness in academia as well as academic leader selection and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current uncertain and volatile business context is challenging firms worldwide, leading to the need to be responsive at a competitive cost. This trend is so substantial that it even affects industries traditionally competing in rather stable contexts, such as the process industry. Although the process industry includes multiple sectors with different technologies and processes, these share several aspects that make the industry as a whole distinctive to the discrete manufacturing industry. Based on a literature review, this study identifies and describes trends leading the process industry to the need for responsiveness, corresponding solutions to accommodate the need, and related challenges hindering the industrialization and diffusion of solutions in this industry. This study shows that trends, such as the uncertainty and volatility of market requirements, are challenging the process industry to develop reconfigurability solutions across multiple production levels. The development of reconfigurability solutions is hindered by modularity, integrability, co-ordination and collaboration challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]