Segmentation of both reviewers and businesses on social media

Employing online consumer reviews, this research develops a market segmentation procedure that is feasible to businesses present on social media. Because online reviews typically encompass large numbers of both reviewers and businesses, this data structure allows for both reviewer segmentation and business segmentation. This two-side segmentation approach segments not only reviewers in the preferences expressed in their reviews, but also businesses in their business practices specified in the reviews. Whereas common existing segmentation approaches predominantly use survey and transaction data, the proposed procedure uses publicly available and detailed consumption information in such reviews. A large number of product features elicited from such reviews lead to rich and detailed profiling of both reviewer segments and business segments. Using restaurant reviews on Yelp, this research demonstrates how the proposed procedure can help businesses develop segmentation strategies on social media.     

Business practices and peace in post‐conflict zones: lessons from Cyprus

Existing literature on business and peace is in need of more examples of business practices, and at a more dissaggregated level, within conflict‐sensitive regions that promote peace. This article examines whether business practices within a conflict‐sensitive region, the island of Cyprus, are consistent with existing business and peace literature and how the specific business practices promote peace. In particular, the article examines in detail two business practices: Green Line Trade and cross‐territorial joint ventures and promotions. Our findings suggest that existing business activities in Cyprus are consistent with those proposed by the literature, but their significance in promoting peace was limited. We propose an alternative explanation for why such business practices were pursued in Cyprus at the time, drawing on studies of identity‐based conflicts. And we suggest that business has a unique role to play compared with other public institutions when addressing identity conflict. Finally, we suggest that both theoretical and empirical studies of business and peace should include consideration of how business practices might help alleviate identity‐related issues in conflict‐sensitive regions.     

Strategic decisions in turbulent times: Lessons from the energy industry

Most of the firms currently in the S&P 500 probably will not be there in 15 years. In times of great uncertainty, managers are called upon to make the right strategic choices, preserve core businesses, and prepare their organizations for the future. How can managers make these choices when the industry is under transformation? In this article, we explore how the popular VUCA framework can help to make sense of turbulent contexts and drive the decision making of managers. We study the case of the energy industry, in which traditional business models eroded quickly and dominant players lost their positions. Based on personal interviews with the CEOs of RWE (Germany) and NRG Energy (U.S.), we analyze how these executives led transformation of their organizations. We get immersed in their decision-making processes and depict how the VUCA framework helps them to identify, map, and prepare their organizations to respond to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in their industry. We propose a guide for executive managers to navigate through VUCA contexts, taking into account the necessity to introduce short- and long-term responses that prepare organizations and stakeholders for an uncertain future.     

Hybrid business models for peace and reconciliation

Despite growing interest in business for peace, there is little insight into how the organizations involved combine societal aims with economic ones in their business models. Literature has exemplified ‘hybrid organizations’ that seek to pursue both for-profit and non-profit activities and are specifically set up with this mission, usually in stable Western countries. However, already existing, traditional organizations that aim for mixed forms of economic and social value creation have been underexposed, and that applies even more for organizational forms that address peace in difficult settings. To help fill these gaps, this article sheds light on different degrees of hybridity of a range of organizations operating in a (post-)conflict region. It shows how 53 organizations in between the non-profit/for-profit extremes pursue different combinations of social and economic goals, maintain and develop relationships with stakeholders, and interact progressively with markets and institutions. We also present a hybridization continuum and classification scheme that is applicable beyond our specific context. While different degrees of hybridity in objectives, perspectives, and relationships exist, key dimensions are frequent interactions with stakeholders, awareness of development and reconciliation issues, and personal commitment. We identify hybridity aspects relevant to management and discuss implications for business scholars and practitioners.     

Circles within a Circle: The Condition for the Possibility of Ethical Business Institutions Within a Market System

How can a business institution function as an ethical institution within a wider system if the context of the wider system is inherently unethical? If the primary goal of an institution, no matter how ethical it sets out to be, is to function successfully within a market system, how can it reconcile making a profit and keeping its ethical goals intact? While it has been argued that some ethical businesses do exist, e.g., Johnson and Johnson, the argument I would like to put forth is that no matter how ethical a business institution is, or how ethical its goals are, its capacity to act in an ethical manner is restricted by the wider system in which it must operate, the market system. Unless there is a fundamental change in the notion of the market system itself, the capacity for individual businesses to act in an ethical manner will always be restricted. My argument is divided into two parts. The first part is to show the inherent bias towards unethical outcomes that is inherent in the market system. The second part is to suggest how to reorient the general economic framework in order to make ethical institutions more possible. The question then becomes, how to define economic behavior in terms other than competition for profit.     

Developing E-Business Dynamic Capabilities: An Analysis of E-Commerce Innovation from I-, M-, to U-Commerce

This study uses an electronic commerce (E-commerce) innovation model to analyze the differences in technological knowledge, business model, and dynamic capability aspects used in Internet-enabled commerce (I-commerce) versus mobile commerce (M-commerce) versus ubiquitous commerce (U-commerce). The results indicate that the innovation from I-commerce to M-commerce is radical, leading to drastic changes in the business model. However, from M-commerce to U-commerce, disruptive changes occur in both technological and business model dimensions. A set of critical dynamic capabilities for each innovation is identified. These results provide great insight for practitioners and scholars for enhancing their understanding of E-commerce innovation, and provide guidelines to help practitioners adapt from one type of innovation to another.     

Elucidating trust-building sources in social shopping: A consumer cognitive and emotional trust perspective

With the popularity and growth of social commerce, scholars and practitioners are particularly interested in how the integration of social media with e-commerce practice may resolve the challenge related to developing consumer-seller trust. Adopting a cognitive-emotional trust perspective, this study investigated the process by which consumers' trust in seller builds in a social commerce setting. Specifically, perceived familiarity, situational normality, cognitive and emotional trust in platform, and social interactivity were proposed as key antecedents of consumers' cognitive and emotional trust in seller. The model was examined with two complementary data sets collected from leading social commerce platforms in China: WeChat Store (N = 430) and Xiaohongshu (N = 397). This work advances the theoretical understanding of consumer's social shopping intention through extending the cognitive-emotional trust perspective and lends insights into the contextualized sources of trust building. In addition, these findings offer practical implications that help practitioners cost-effectively build consumer trust in the social commerce setting.     

The Role of Business Schools in Ethics Education in Iceland: The Managers’ Perspective

This article explores managers’ views on various ways in which business schools can contribute to providing solid ethics education to their students, who will ultimately become the next generation of business leaders. One thousand top level managers of Icelandic firms were approached and asked a number of questions aimed at establishing their view on the relationship between ethics education and the role of business schools in forming and developing business ethics education. Icelandic businesses were badly hurt by the 2008 crisis, and therefore Iceland provides an interesting foundation for an empirical study of this sort as the aftermath of the crisis has encouraged managers to consciously reflect on the way their business was and should be conducted. Based on the results of the survey, a few main themes have developed. First, it appears that according to practicing managers, business schools should not be held responsible for employees’ unethical behavior. Nevertheless, managers believe that business schools should assist future employees in understanding ethics by including business ethics in teaching curricula. Second, managers believe that the workplace is not where ethics are learned, while also insisting that former students should already have strong ethical standards when entering the workplace. Third, managers call for business schools not only to contribute more to influencing students’ ethical standards, but also to reshape the knowledge and capabilities of practicing managers through re-training and continuous education. Based on the results of the study, the article also offers some recommendations on how to begin reformulating the approach to business ethics education in Iceland, and perhaps elsewhere.     

Exploring start-up event sequences

This research analyzed new venture start-up activities undertaken by 71 nascent entrepreneurs. Nascent entrepreneurs are individuals who were identified as taking steps to found a new business but who had not yet succeeded in making the transition to new business ownership. Longitudinal data for the study comes from a secondary data analysis of two representative samples, one of 683 adult residents in Wisconsin (Reynolds and White 1993) and the other of 1016 adult residents of the United States (Curtin 1982). These surveys were conducted between 1992 and 1993, and the nascent entrepreneurs were reinterviewed six to 18 months after their initial interview.Three broad questions were addressed: (1) What activities do nascent entrepreneurs initiate in attempting to establish a new business? (2) How many activities do nascent entrepreneurs initiate during the gestation of the start-up? and (3) When are particular activities initiated or completed?Between the first and second interview, 48% of the nascent entrepreneurs reported they had set up a business in operation. Over 20% had given up and were no longer actively trying to establish a business. Almost a third of the respondents reported they were still trying to establish a firm.As a way to summarize the results and as a springboard toward some insights into the implications of this research for practice and future research, we developed the following activity profiles of the three types of nascent entrepreneurs studied. These profiles are offered as a combination of both fact and some intuition about the findings.STARTED A BUSINESS. Nascent entrepreneurs who were able to start a business were more aggressive in making their businesses real. They undertook activities that made their businesses tangible to others: they looked for facilities and equipment, sought and got financial support, formed a legal entity, organized a team, bought facilities and equipment, and devoted full time to the business. Individuals who started businesses seemed to act with a greater level of intensity. They undertook more activities than those individuals who did not start a business. The pattern of activities seem to indicate that individuals who started firms put themselves into the day-to-day process of running an ongoing business as quickly as they could and that these activities resulted in starting firms that generated sales (94% of the entrepreneurs) and positive cash flow (50% of the entrepreneurs). What is not known is how successful or profitable these new firms will be over time. For example, 50% of the firms that were started had not reached positive cash flow and these firms may have been started by individuals who were foolhardy and rushed into operation of a business that would not be sustainable.GAVE UP. The pattern of activities for the group of entrepreneurs who gave up seem to indicate that these entrepreneurs discovered that their initial idea for their businesses would not lead to success. The finding that the activity of developing a model or prototype differentiated individuals who gave up from those who were still trying would suggest that those who gave up had “tested” their ideas out and found that they would not work according to their expectations. Nascent entrepreneurs who gave up seemed to be similar in their activity patterns compared with those who started their firms, that is, individuals who gave up pursued the activities of creating a business in an aggressive manner at the beginning of the process. But as the business unfolded over time, these entrepreneurs decreased their activities and then ceased start-up activities. This group of individuals might be seen as either having the wisdom to test their ideas out before jumping into something that might lead to failure or lacking the flexibility to find more creative ways to solve the problems that they were confronted with.STILL TRYING. It would seem that those who are still trying are not putting enough effort into the start-up process in order to find out whether they should start the business or give up. Those still trying had undertaken fewer activities than individuals in the other two groups. The still trying entrepreneurs were devoting their short-term efforts toward activities internal to the start-up process (e.g., saving money and preparing a plan) and less effort toward activities that would make the business real to others. The still trying entrepreneurs may be all talk and little action. Or these still trying entrepreneurs might be involved in developing businesses that take longer for these particular opportunities to unfold. (It should be noted that there was no industry effect across the three groups.)Our advice to individuals considering business start-up is that the results seem to provide evidence that nascent entrepreneurs should aggressively pursue opportunities in the short-term, because they will quickly learn that these opportunities will either reveal themselves as worthy of start-up or as poor choices that should be abandoned. Individuals who do not devote the time and effort to undertaking the activities necessary for starting a business may find themselves perennially still trying, rather than succeeding or failing.What entrepreneurs do in their day-to-day activities matters. The kinds of activities that nascent entrepreneurs undertake, the number of activities, and the sequence of these activities have a significant influence on the ability of nascent entrepreneurs to successfully create new ventures. This study suggests that the behaviors of nascent entrepreneurs who have successfully started a new venture can be identified and differentiated from the behaviors of nascent entrepreneurs who failed. We believe that future studies will more precisely identify the kinds of behaviors appropriate for certain new venture conditions. If such contingency information can be generated, entrepreneurship research is likely to have significant benefits for entrepreneurship practice, education, and public policy.     

New Technology Adoption,Business Strategy and Government Involvement: The Case of Mobile Commerce

SUMMARY

This research focuses on understanding how business organizations are likely to adopt mobile commerce (m-commerce) technology. Mobile commerce adoption represents a complex process that draws in variables external to the firm such as the environment in which the business operates and the government involvement, as well as variables internal to the company such as its business strategy and its organizational culture. A model is formulated and several research propositions are offered. They will help understand the mobile commerce applications adoption process. Implications of this model and further research avenues are discussed.     

Research note: How a small business enters the international market

As the rate of economic globalization becomes faster and faster, small businesses in the United States can no longer afford to ignore the challenge of international commerce. Small businesses are a key factor in the economies of all nations. Small businesses must develop a global culture, challenge the attitude of key decision makers, gain crucial international experience, and overcome the size barrier. This requires successful entry‐wedge strategies if the company hopes to have any chance of success. Many will need external support in finding ways to access foreign customers. This article provides information that can help small businesses with this venture. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A fresh start and the learning experience of ethnic minority entrepreneurs

This paper focuses on ethnic minority entrepreneurs whose businesses failed within the first 3 years of trading, but were starting afresh with the help of the Brent Business Venture Fresh Start in Business programme. The paper aims to identify why the entrepreneurs had previously failed; what prompted them to start again; what was different about their business approach and practices second time around; and how key lessons had been learned as a result of their previous experiences that can improve their prospects for success in the future. The resultant insight derives out of an evaluation study of the Fresh Start programme, the methodology for which included initial telephone interviews with 20 ethnic minority entrepreneurs spread across eight business sectors, during which profile data were collected. The second phase of the study involved in‐depth face‐to‐face and semi‐structured interviews with the 20 entrepreneurs. The main findings suggest that failed entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and actions embedded in the development processes and activities underpinning their first business venture attempt and are more successful second time around. The key learning processes and activities include learning from customer feedback, from interface with suppliers, from interaction with peers and from the fostering and facilitating inputs of provision such as the Fresh Start programme. The ability to learn by doing, problem‐solving and opportunity‐taking is important. The study concludes by highlighting key identified management capabilities which can improve the likelihood of new venture success, and in particular the value of giving future focus to the nature and form of effective strategic learning processes and activities that successful owner managers undertake and how these could be nurtured as part of the would‐be entrepreneurs’‘management capabilities tool box’.     

Can social awareness be increased through business school curricula?

The study was prompted by (a) Frederick and Vogel's debate concerning future research in “business and society”, (b) such recently reported managerial excesses as golden parachutes, “greenmail”, and fraud, (c) the increasing emphasis on coursework in the area. It appears that there is a need to assess how students, our future business leaders, perceive social issues and if a “business and society” course can help them define and understand the importance of these issues. Three questions provided the focal point: (1) Which issues do students perceive as most important before and after completing the course? (2) How much importance do students place on issues? (3) Does completing a “business and society” course make a significant difference in how students perceive the importance of the issues presented? Students appeared to have already clearly defined priorities before entering the course as there was very little post-course reordering of priorities. However, they did display an increased perception of the importance of social issues. The study also indicated that a “business and society” course can contribute to an increased student awareness of the importance of social issues. Therefore, it was concluded that a “business and society” course can help students define and evaluate the importance of social issues.     

Does one size fit all? exploring the relationship between attitudes towards growth,gender, and business size

To help explain the typically smaller size of businesses headed by women, this study examines a relatively unexplored dimension on which male and female entrepreneurs are expected to differ: their attitudes towards growth. An increasing number of scholars believe that the growth of a venture is at least partially determined by the entrepreneur’s motivations and intentions, yet very few have investigated whether gender differences exist. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of data collected through personal interviews with 229 small business owners in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, provide novel insights into the factors affecting an entrepreneur’s growth decision and desired pace of expansion.     

Resolving International Conflict Jordan and its Neighbours

This article puts on record the first of the 1996 Stockton Lectures at London Business School. It was delivered in February. This year, the Stockton Lectures address the issue of how the business community can help resolve international conflict. Continuously for decades, Jordan has been at the heart of an area of international conflict. Here His Majesty King Hussein, who has led his country since 1952, reflects both on the struggles of the past decades and on his grandfather's vision for peace. He then looks forward to the ways that business can help the people of Jordan to reap the peace dividend.     

Using English as Economic Capital in a Chinese–Australian Workplace: Implications for Teaching Business English in China

With China’s economic growth over the past 30 years, a large number of Chinese enterprises are facing the challenge of developing their businesses internationally. Thus, it has become necessary to improve the effectiveness of transnational and intercultural business communication for these enterprises. In this article, through narrating the first author’s ethnographic observations in a Chinese–Australian company, the researchers explore the challenges of transnational and intercultural business in terms of English communication and services. They suggest how these challenges can be met from the perspective of future employees in globalizing enterprises and practitioners of Business English education in Chinese universities. This study contributes to developing effective practices for transnational and intercultural communication and services in globalizing enterprises and the pedagogy of Business English in Chinese universities, with the aim of enabling future university graduates to develop language as economic capital in a globalized business context.     

Managing threats in the global era: The impact and response to SARS

In early 2003, the SARS virus brought disruption of public and business activities in many areas of the world, particularly Asia. As a result of its impact, SARS quickly established itself as a new kind of global uncertainty and posed challenges for traditional methods of risk management. This article examines the impact that SARS has had through means of a case study and builds on this to provide recommendations for how uncertainty may be managed in an increasingly globalized world. Reconsideration of strategic and risk‐management approaches have become necessary. Supply‐chain management and corporate strategy require a fundamental rethink to balance the pursuit of efficiency with increased responsiveness and flexibility. Unpredictability and turbulence in the international business environment suggest that traditional planning approaches that assume linear growth may give way to more scenario‐based planning. This will encourage firms to contemplate a variety of possible futures and better prepare them for unanticipated events. Similarly, contingent‐based continuity plans help businesses continue running even during a crisis. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Disaster planning and response by tourist business executives

The tourist industry represents a disaster vulnerability of catastrophic potential. Disaster evacuation planning is one strategy for mitigating this vulnerability. Based on intensive interviews with executives responsible for 185 tourist businesses, this article reports the first empirical data base for answering five questions: (1) What factors stimulated their disaster evacuation planning? (2) What model patterns described the planning processes used? (3) How much planning had been done? (4) What modal patterns described their disaster evacuation decision-making process? (5) What are the lessons? The key conclusion is that the tourist industry must respond proactively to a rapidly expanding vulnerability through both internal firm-specific disaster planning initiatives and partnerships to ensure adequate levels of community response capacity. Failure to do so will keep an expanding tourist population at risk. This, in turn, threatens future customer relations that may place such businesses in jeopardy.     

Transforming business education to produce global managers

In recent years, globalization of businesses has occurred faster than the internationalization of business schools—in terms of faculty, students, and curriculum. Indeed, there is now a disconnect between global economic realities and the ability of business schools to produce global managers. This article discusses mission-based strategies for international business education and proposes opportunities that increase global awareness, global understanding, and global competence through student and faculty engagement and development. These changes will advance business schools’ mission of producing global managers.     

The Exaggerated Moral Claims of Evolutionary Psychologists

This article explores and examines some of the findings from the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology. How important are these results to our understanding of morality and ethics? In addition, more specifically, how important are theses results to our understanding of business ethics? I believe that the jury is still out on these questions. This article: (1) summarizes some of the strengths of evolutionary psychology (of which there are several); (2) identifies specific findings and suggests that many of these findings are overstated and exaggerated; and (3) points out several methodological limitations and weaknesses. The article does not, in the end, recommend jettisoning evolutionary psychology. To the contrary, its point is that evolutionary psychology is a potentially useful method among many others to help us to better understand our “moral universe.” However, evolutionary psychology will never allow us to pierce through “the illusions that evolution and culture have saddled us with” as the psychologist Steven Pinker over-promises. This is true for the simple reason that science itself is both a product of evolution and a cultural practice. The aspiration of some evolutionary psychologists to transcend evolution (nature) and culture (nurture) through science is itself a dangerous illusion. Nevertheless, evolutionary psychology’s modest findings to date are a welcome contribution to anyone interested in making better and wiser ethical decisions, business or otherwise. The more knowledge we gain about our own brains and how they functions the better. These findings, however, should be subject to the same systematic scrutiny and healthy skepticism one would apply to any moral or ethical claim regardless of its origins. That is the purpose of this article.