Lost in translation: Exploring the ethical consumer intention–behavior gap

Ethical consumerism is a burgeoning movement, yet ethically-minded consumers rarely purchase ethically. Understanding obstacles to ethical consumption is limited. This study explores the underlying mechanics of the ethical purchase intention–behavior gap in the context of consumers' daily lives. The study employs multiple qualitative methods across multiple sites, explores the intention–behavior gap in observed modes of shopping behavior, and uses an interpretive approach. The analysis reveals four interrelated factors affecting the ethical intention–behavior gap: (1) prioritization of ethical concerns; (2) formation of plans/habits; (3) willingness to commit and sacrifice; and (4) modes of shopping behavior. Awareness of these four factors provides both strategic and tactical implications for marketing managers seeking to reach the elusive ethical consumer. Understanding and enhancing ethical consumption – closing the gap – has positive outcomes for the future sustainability of economies, societies and environments.     

Chang'an—an Open City in Ancient Times

Xi'an, called Chan'an in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was a famous open city then and a tourist attraction today. First built at the time of the Western Han (206 BC-8 AD), Chang'an was 70 kilometres from the present-day Xi'an. After Chang'an was destroyed by war, emperors of the Sui Dynasty built a new city Daxing between 582 and 681 on the site of the present-day Xi' an and made it the capital of the state. When the Tang     

China Performs an Important Role in the World Economy

By means of mutual trade and investment, China performs, a more. and more important role in the world economy.As the weekly magazine Economist said: Although the United States stock market bubble broke in 2000 to 2001,the world economy survived from depression due to the strong development of Chinese economy. Both China and the United States are depicted by UN Conference on Trade and Development as two growth engines of the world economy. China is quite different from 20 years before.     

Politeness——the Significant Factor in Life

1. From the perspective of how politeness affects communication According to Leech, communication is a goal-directed activity, during which various different types of goals interact. Therefore, the two interlocutors have to encode other’s acts in the aim of achieving their own goals during the process of a conversation. In order to communicate successfully, the speaker and the listener will observe some principles such as the Cooperative Principle (the CP) and the Politeness Principle (the…     

Born global or local? Factors influencing the internationalization of university spin-offs—the case of Halmstad University

A wealth of research in the past decades has examined born globals or international new ventures, which are firms that from inception view the whole world as a market and as a source to access resources. Many of these firms build their competitive advantage on high-tech knowledge. However, although many studies have shown how born globals can achieve success if they access resources through their relationships from actors in their networks, few studies have explored the relationship between born globals and universities. Universities are important actors in creating new technology knowledge, and many studies have shown how new firms, or so-called university spin-offs (USOs), are formed around universities. The current study explores why some USOs are successful in their international growth strategy and discusses the factors that influence and facilitate the internationalization process. The study investigates 10 USOs around the newly established Halmstad University in Sweden and finds that universities have a positive effect on firm creation and initial international growth. The regional competence base increases from the establishment of a local university, primarily by strengthening the regional human capital and by increasing university research. This study shows that researcher entrepreneurs’ ventures start as born globals, but that these firms do not continue to grow. Born global business models, per se, do not lead to competitive advantage and successful internationalization. Instead, a strategy built on customer focus and an ability to adapt to different customer demands lead to growth, and the location of growth is dependent on the size of the home market. This study also shows that student entrepreneurship can be a successful growth strategy for USOs focusing on both international and local markets.     

Modular assembly in the car industry—an analysis of organizational forms’ influence on performance

In modular assembly, car manufacturers can choose to assemble the modules internally or to outsource the units assembling the modules. These module assembly units (MAUs) can be located inside or outside the assembly plants. This paper analyzes the conditions provided for MAU performance by ownership and location, the constitutive dimensions of a MAU's organizational form. Based on a case study at Volvo and theoretical arguments, the paper shows that organizational forms provide different conditions for MAU performance. It is concluded that no organizational form is best and that different forms should be used. It is also concluded that companies must control MAUs, which influences how the conditions provided by different organizational forms can be utilized.     

Green A,the leading company in spirulina industry in China——One of the top three producers in the world

Legendary"aromatic surface water"There was a beautiful legend passing on among the residents around Chenghai Lake in Lijiang.It was said that there was a stone on the island in the middle of the lake,on which the Sea God of Chenghai seated while preaching.When comes to the end of spring     

What role does CEO vision play in the internationalization process of firms? Evidence from the banking sector in Africa

This study examines the cross‐border expansion of four major African banks from 1988 to 2014 in order to investigate the role of CEO vision in influencing their international investment decisions. The qualitative case study approach is complemented by a quantitative analysis that examines the multiple factors influencing internationalization patterns. The results from both types of analysis indicate that the vision of the CEO matters, and that it is a key factor in explaining the accelerated internationalization of three of the four banks examined in this study. These results stress the need for considering managerial decision making in international resource commitment decisions, particularly in an emerging market context, where a shared developmental vision might be shaping the behavior of the entrepreneurs.     

When does the internationalization process begin? Problematizing temporal boundaries in international business

Recently there has been greater interest among international business researchers in studying processes and their temporal dimensions. We examine one such dimension by problematizing when processes are deemed to commence or end. Reperiodizing the start and end points of a process under study affects the theoretical conclusions about the process itself. We develop a methodology for reperiodization and apply it to an empirical study into the internationalization process of a type of new venture: the spinoff firm. Our conclusions specify the theoretical insights gained through reperiodization, demonstrating how this research strategy can be used to study processes in international business.     

Tea Culture in the Land of Confucianism——Sightseeing in the Wuyi Mountains,Fujian province

Walking through the Wuyi Mountains,Fujian province in summer,you can smell the fragrant aroma of Shanshui Tea every- where.Within the 70 square kilometers of the park,most people are drawn to a slogan stating there have been"A Thou- sand years of Confucianism,but 10,000 years of Shanshui Tea",it also tells of a     

The antecedents of renegotiations in practice—an exploratory analysis

In order to support business negotiations with electronic tools effectively, a deep understanding of real-life business negotiations is required. Comparing the settings usually applied in negotiation experiments with the every-day experiences of business negotiators, it can be stated that the work of business negotiators is much more iterative and embedded. Renegotiations appear on a regular basis. This observation stresses the importance of flawless communication in business negotiations and raises questions regarding the reasons for renegotiations and the role of information technology in this context. This paper investigates data gathered in a 2005 survey study in order to identify the context factors that drive B2B renegotiations using a preliminary regression model. The rules of interaction, task complexity, and business relationship are found to be significant predictors of the renegotiation likelihood while media richness does not impact the likelihood of renegotiations in practice.     

What’s in a crowd? Exploring crowdsourced versus traditional customer participation in the innovation process

This study explores the emerging crowdsourcing phenomenon, that is, the outsourcing of idea generation to the product users (‘the crowd’), typically via online platforms to interact with many and diverse customers and glean valuable market insights. The study focuses on this phenomenon and the factors that determine the value of crowdsourced customer participation over more traditional market research methods. The authors present the results of an extensive, in-depth qualitative case-study analysis pertaining to the media industry. The authors find that crowdsourced customer participation is not consistently superior in enabling firms to discover how to serve their customers better. Instead, the results unearth a catalogue of seven interrelated value determinants that show where the boundaries of both crowdsourcing and traditional customer participation in innovation lie. These value determinants fall into three main categories: (1) innovation-specific value determinants, (2) firm-specific value determinants, and (3) managerial value determinants.     

Credit cards in the United Kingdom—where the power lies in the battle between the banks and the retailers

This paper looks at the development of the two types of credit card systems in the UK, the bank credit cards and the retailer credit cards. The article seeks to address the issue of who will hold the balance of power at the introduction of an EFTPOS, or direct‐debit, system into the UK. The situation in 1988 appears to be that retailers are well up the “learning curve” as regards the management and marketing of credit and so are increasingly proving to be a threat to the banks not only in the provision of credit but also in offering a wide range of financial services.     

Microcredit: an answer to the gender problem in funding?

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) target people excluded from the traditional banking system. By providing start-up capital to these under-financed individuals, they enable a greater number of women to start their own business, particularly in sectors where initial capital requirements are high. Our study follows a portfolio of 3,640 microcredit applicants in France over the 2000–2006 time period, identifying MFI client profiles and bringing to light gender differences in borrowers compared to a wider sample of entrepreneurs. This study shows that the male–female gap found amongst company creators is also maintained amongst the clienteles of MFIs. Empirical results also suggest that gender is a decisive factor regarding the amount of credit provided to borrowers when comparing with other factors in the borrower and firm profile. Thus to a certain extent, MFIs are found to reinforce gender inequalities in France.     

Opportunity recognition and international new venture creation in university spin-offs—Cases from Denmark and Ireland

Extant research suggests that the founder’s activities and interactions are considered pivotal in driving the opportunity recognition process leading to international new venture emergence. This paper aims to explore the opportunity recognition process and international new venture emergence in the context of university high-technology spin-offs that are internationally market driven from inception. University spin-offs (USOs) are defined as ‘new firms created to exploit commercially some knowledge, technology or research results developed within a university’ (Pirnay et al., Small Bus Econ 21:355–369, 2003). To address this inquiry, this study imports theory from the entrepreneurship literature on organizational emergence, opportunity recognition, effectuation and the principle of individual self-efficacy. Drawing on empirical case data from four case USOs from Denmark and Ireland, this paper finds that the inventor-founders are typically engaged in opportunity recognition processes that are characterized as creative, driven by scientific innovations. It is indicated that the process of USO emergence and continuous development involves activities and interactions similar to typical international new ventures. The scientific knowledge that created opportunities for the emergence of INV-USOs across our cases endorses the view that innovation and internationalization are strongly correlated. Insights are provided on inventor-founders’ entrepreneurial intention demonstrated through activities and interactions in the on-going processes of creating the USO. Findings further highlight that self-efficacy of the inventor-founder(s) and access to specific resources (means at hand) are salient determinants for international new ventures to materialize. The study concludes with a proposed conceptual framework for further research on the creation of INV-university spin-offs. Conclusions and implications are drawn at the end of the article.