Policy‐related implementational fluidity in subsistence marketplaces

This paper sheds light on policy‐related implementational fluidity—a context‐dependent adaptation of policies—adopted by policy implementers to address heterogeneous needs of subsistence consumer‐merchants (SCMs). In subsistence research, despite the emphasis on bottom‐up policymaking, implementational fluidity persists because of institutional and sociocultural factors that hinder policy implementers’ from effectively and accurately implementing the policies. To enrich the current bottom‐up policy process, this paper shares insights from an ethnographic study of Fijian market traders and marketplace personnel (policy implementers) and shares insights on how implementational fluidity manifests in subsistence marketplaces. Analysis reveals the interplay amongst sociohistorical context, marketplace relational dynamics and policies leading to policy adjustments and re‐negotiation by marketplace personnel and perceived injustices amongst the SCMs. The paper provides policy recommendations and practice ideas for subsistence researchers and policy practitioners to examine policy implementation gaps and the role of policy implementers in subsistence marketplaces.     

Retailer selection compulsion in the subsistence markets

Although enduring relationships between buyers and sellers encourage subsistence market consumers to shop at a particular retailer, these relationships have a negative side. This study focuses on the issue of ‘retailer selection compulsion’ existing in the subsistence market, which refers to the negative side of these relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors driving the retailer selection compulsion in the subsistence market. This study adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach. Sixty interviews were conducted with subsistence consumers in two areas: Kolkata and Kharagpur, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The findings have demonstrated that subsistence consumers are compelled to stick to their neighbourhood retailers due to convenience, social capital, and obligations, as well as social identities resulting from a sense of social compulsion, and the value-added services provided by retailers that help overcome the consumers' financial and cognitive constraints. This study contributes to the literature on customer behaviour and retailing. These findings deepen the current understanding of the social capital theory, social identity theory, and bounded rationality theory in the context of subsistence marketplaces. Practically, the findings of this study will contribute to the practice of marketers who target subsistence markets. The findings will also help further entrepreneurial activities in subsistence areas, improve the retailing operations of subsistence retailers, and address exploitative practices of subsistence retailers on poor customers.     

Partnering with universities: a good choice for nanotechnology start-up firms?

The role of universities in supporting economic development has been explored in studies emphasizing the mechanisms of technology transfer and knowledge spillover. However, in addition to these forms of intellectual capital, university scientists bring other resources into research collaboration and contribute to firm partnerships in both direct and indirect ways. This paper develops the concept of resource spillover, which captures the various ways in which firms can benefit from collaborations with university scientists. The study categorizes the resources possessed by university scientists into intellectual capital, social capital, and positional capital, and tests the impact of each on the performance of firms. Using a sample of new nanotechnology-based firms in the USA, the study finds that the benefits to firms from university scientist research collaboration include enhancements to perceived research capacity and technology potential, which in turn may increase chances of securing external funding.     

Technology ventures' engagement of external actors in the search for viable market applications: On the relevance of Technology Broadcasting and Systematic Validation

In order to succeed, technology ventures need to find a profitable market application for their technology. Although external market actors may provide important information for the identification and validation of potential technology-market combinations, it remains largely unclear how technology ventures can involve them in this process. Building on insights from organizational search literature, this study follows five university spin-offs trying to commercialize early-stage technologies. We find that ventures are cognitively constrained in proactively identifying and approaching external market actors. Interestingly, the better performing ventures in our sample engage in a previously undocumented market search process we label Technology Broadcasting. They communicate their technological competencies to a broad range of market actors and react to these actors' assessment and spontaneous expressions of interest, thereby overcoming their own cognitive constraints. Resource constraints require filtering these expressions of interest through Systematic Validation with additional market players. These results complement the existing insights on market search by entrepreneurial ventures and advance the literature on organizational search.     

Improvement of Operational Performance of Internationalized Companies through Collaboration in Distribution Networks

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical insights on the impact of supply chain collaboration on the operational performance of firms and collaborative advantage as an intermediate variable in the context of the supply networks of internationalized firms. The research is based on a case study of a distribution network constituting Russian and international firms. The obtained results indicate that supply chain collaboration improves operational performance of internationalized firms and firms in domestic market. Moreover, the study advocates that collaboration in distribution networks can be considered as driving factor for international firms to enter the emerging markets through supply networks.     

INFORMATION GAMING IN DEMAND COLLABORATION AND SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE

Demand collaboration has recently been promoted by industry leaders as an important tool for supply chain management. Its greatest significance beyond the sharing of point‐of‐sale and forecast information stems from its potential to allow supply chain partners to extract private market information from each other for more effective planning and better supply chain performance. A simulation framework based on actual business processes is developed to investigate the underlying drivers of demand collaboration and the inherent risks and benefits of such collaboration.     

Fuel-efficient stoves for Darfur: The social construction of subsistence marketplaces in post-conflict settings

This paper explores the development of market roles and transactions in fuel-efficient stoves in Darfur from 1997 to 2008 as a grounded example of how subsistence markets are socially constructed in post-conflict settings. Using a combination of archival texts, interviews, and real-time discourses by protagonists, this study explains the who, what, why and how of emergent marketplaces by showing how development interventions come to imbue market participants and transactions with socially (re)constructed meanings. The fitful emergence of subsistence marketplaces for fuel-efficient in Darfur is punctuated by development interventions which at times under- or misrepresent market participants and by successes and failures in bringing together trainers, producers, sellers, consumers and users of fuel-efficient stoves. Subsidies and handouts delay and distort the emergence of grassroots demand, choices, and prices; a plurality of competing development interventions re-shape the supply. By the end of 2008, the subsistence market for fuel-efficient stoves catches momentum, engaging over 52% of the Darfuri communities in market transactions for the product. As market participants gain voice and influence they reshape the market to favour mud stoves over metal stoves. Reports by several development organizations suggest that among fuel-efficient stove users, 90% use mud models, and 49% of women who own both mud and metal stoves prefer mud stoves.     

The impact of Enterprise 2.0 in organizations

Many organizations have embarked on Enterprise 2.0. However, not many have successfully implemented it. Availability of inexpensive tools does not guarantee their usage by organizations and their employees. To have Enterprise 2.0 implemented widely and effectively by organizations, it is important that both managers and employees benefit from using it. It is expected that the level of congruence of management–employees perceived benefits would affect the level of adoption of Enterprise 2.0 in organizations. Testing this is the purpose of this research. Using the case study of two large global organizations, this study analyzed the use of Enterprise 2.0 by both employees and managers. The results showed that even though both employees and managers believe that Enterprise 2.0 usage does have a positive impact on communication, collaboration, community building, and employee engagement, the level of belief is different: managers’ perception of Enterprise 2.0 benefits is less than that of employees. There was a greater degree of congruence though between both the groups on the perceived benefits of Enterprise 2.0 on knowledge management and organizational outcomes. The size and the type (not-for-profit) of organization was a disadvantage in adopting such tools. The not-for-profit organization was more at loss when applying Enterprise 2.0 as its employees are less aware of the type of tools and of their benefits, and there is less managerial support.     

The institutional work of a social enterprise operating in a subsistence marketplace: Using the business model as a market‐shaping tool

The void between formal and informal institutionalized practices that coexist in subsistence marketplaces can render them inaccessible to subsistence consumer–merchants. We conducted an in‐depth auto‐ethnographic study of Novo Dia Developments, a social enterprise in Maputo, Mozambique, seeking to make the housing market accessible. Our study extends the extant understanding of the transformation of subsistence marketplaces in two ways. First, our study characterizes the institutional work done by a social enterprise to open up a subsistence marketplace. Second, our study theorizes the business models in use as a mechanism through which institutional work can be organized and performed, by (a) transforming an idea for market change into new market offerings and practices that begin to fill the void, (b) materializing and making visible other institutional voids that need to be filled, and (c) serving as a juncture at which formal and informal institutionalized practices can connect.     

Collaboration,motivation, and the size of organizations

We present an analytical model of an organization that offers operational drivers of limits on team size. The model trades off benefits from collaborative problem solving against the disadvantages of diminishing motivation when groups get large. Collaboration is represented as parallel employee activity combined with frequent sharing of partial information, with a resulting superlinear performance increase over team size. Motivation is modeled by team members periodically setting an effort level either to contribute to the best of their ability or to “cruise”; at the minimum level not recognizable as shirking. Each individual decision is limited by bounded rationality based on team rewards, the time horizon of team interaction, and individual expectations about colleagues’ behavior. The decision collapses to a simple “barrier rule”;. Work hard when a certain “barrier percentage”; of team members work hard, and otherwise shirk. The influence of team size on this barrier percentage depends on the extent of benefits from collaboration: As long as performance increases quadratically with team size, the increased benefits resulting from collaboration exactly balance the temptation to shirk, with the barrier percentage approaching a fixed limit for large team sizes. As soon as the performance increase slows to anything less than quadratic, shirking eventually sets in and limits the possible size of the team. This implies that cooperation is sustainable in large organizational units, provided the problem‐solving processes used are powerful enough to ensure sufficient performance increases. Thus, effective problem‐solving methods are of double value, improving direct productivity and mitigating the social dilemma from team production. A manager should enlarge his or her organization up to the minimum of the limit set by the cooperation barrier and the exogenous performance limit.     

Systemic small-player market exclusion in an east African context

ABSTRACT

Producer–consumers in Kenya and Uganda face challenges in meeting their subsistence goals. They face a paradoxical inclusion and exclusion from the contemporary market system that the solutions proposed in the agriculture development, subsistence markets and BOP perspectives cannot address because of faults in the pervasive marketing ecosystem perspective. In this article, we go beyond the traditional discussion of producer–consumers’ market access, to include upstream as well as downstream challenges. We introduce the concept of integration gaps to markets as a counterpoint to typical measures of market access. We show the integration gap is a systematic neocolonialist exclusion of producer–consumers that international aid agencies exhorting greater market engagement may worsen. We offer suggestions for improvement from a marketing ecosystem perspective.     

相似还是不同？伙伴相似性在横向运输协同的中介效应研究

互为竞争者的运输企业在运输业务上的横向协同能有效促进物流业降本增效,健康发展,但“不合适”的伙伴常会造成协同的高失败率,“伙伴相似性”被用于衡量这种合适程度。文章对地处我国西部的运输企业进行研究,结果表明,横向运输协同能够提升企业绩效,并受到运输企业所处的地理位置和企业规模的显著调节。此外,在三个维度上的“伙伴相似性”完全中介了横向运输协同对企业绩效提升的主效应,协同伙伴之间的能力和文化相似性作用显著,市场相似性却不显著。     

Electronic Marketplace: A Distinct Platform for Business-to-Business (B-to-B) Procurement

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether buyers perceive different electronic marketplaces (EMs) as distinct types of procurement platforms. More specifically, it empirically investigates to what extent professional buyers expect different benefits from different EM types and perceive different barriers associated with their usage.

Methodology: A Web-based survey of purchasing professionals in the United States was conducted with 359 responses received. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to determine if there are significant differences between EM types with respect to expected benefits (market aggregation and inter-firm collaboration) and perceived barriers (financial risks and trust barriers).

Findings: The results show buyers' expectations of benefits differ significantly between public EMs (i.e., third-party exchanges and industry-sponsored marketplaces) and private EMs (i.e., private trading networks), and between neutral EMs (i.e., third-party exchanges) and biased EMs (i.e., private trading networks and industry-sponsored marketplaces). Likewise, their perception of barriers differs significantly between public and private EMs.

Research limitations/implications: The research confirmed empirically that EMs are a distinct platform for business-to-business procurement. Nevertheless, by examining EMs from business buyers' perspective, this study necessarily limits itself to purchasing-related issues.

Practical implications: By providing insights into buyers' perceptions, our findings can help managers focus their promotional efforts aimed at potential firms that would like to use EM for procurement by emphasizing specific benefits or addressing specific perceived barriers based on the type of EM they manage.

Originality/value: This study fills a void in academic literature on EMs that currently contains few empirical studies with respect to EM types. Its main contribution is in establishing empirically that EMs do not constitute a single, homogeneous marketspace but are instead comprised of distinct types that offer users specific benefits and expose them to certain risks.     

基于多Agent的协同供应链模型

供应链通过获取原材料,转换成最终产品,交付最终用户等一系列过程将供应商、制造商、仓储、分销中心以及零售商等形成一个巨大的网络体系。当前,随着企业经营模式的变化,协同与伙伴管理成为供应链变革的推动力量。而协同供应链能够对市场变化和用户需求形成快速响应。将Agent理论应用于协同供应链管理,分析协同供应链的主要特征,并提出基于多Agent的协同供应链模型。     

大学文化塑造与大学形象设计

塑造大学文化和大学形象是社会主义市场经济条件下大学实现教育管理现代化和增强核心竞争力的最佳选择。大学进行文化塑造和形象设计必须以先进文化为统领,并结合本校特点,整合价值理念系统,建立大学精神文化;完善组织制度系统,规范大学行为文化;运用识别系统战略,创造大学形象文化。     

Trade and the (dis)incentive to reform labor markets: The case of reform in the European Union

We study the relation between international trade and the gains to reform labor markets by removing firing restrictions. We find that trade linkages imply substantially smaller benefits to reform than those calculated in the closed economy general equilibrium model of Hopenhayn and Rogerson [Hopenhayn, Hugo, Rogerson, Richard, 1993. Job Turnover and policy evaluations: a general equilibrium analysis. Journal of Political Economy 101 (5), 915–938 October]. When economies trade, labor market policies in one country spill over to other countries through their effect on the terms of trade. A key finding in the open economy is that the share of the welfare gains from domestic labor market reform exported substantially exceeds the share of goods exported. Thus, with international trade, a country retains little to no benefit from unilaterally reforming its labor market. A coordinated elimination of firing taxes yields considerable benefits. We also find that the U.K. benefits from labor market reform by its continental trading partners. These insights provide some explanation for recent efforts toward labor market reform in the European Union.     

Strategic motivations and choice in subsistence markets

This paper examines the different motivations behind strategic choice in base of the pyramid or subsistence markets. Two strategies are examined through comparative analysis: market extension and strategic intent. Using two commercial bank's micro-lending business strategies in Sri Lanka, a comparative case study suggests that strategic intent is motivated by building capabilities over time that results in successful poverty alleviation, whereas market expansion is motivated by an immediate desire to expand overall sales revenue. This conclusion may help reframe subsistence market or BoP arguments away from such false choices as appropriate size (e.g., multinational corporations versus small and medium size enterprises) toward more useful discussion on understanding why firms participate in subsistence markets and what is the motivation behind their strategic choice. By considering more than just size and scope and studying the motivations behind long-term solutions to poverty alleviation, firm success can be better understood and achieved.     

Consumer transformation through volunteer service experiences

A growing number of consumers are seeking to make a difference through experiences involving interaction and collaboration with organizations that offer charitable service opportunities. These experiences are noteworthy in not only their catalyzing influence on the organization and the beneficiary customer, but also the personal transformation in the volunteer. The authors introduce a phenomenon called transformative charity experiences (TCEs), a triadic framework highlighting an avenue of personal consumer well-being through the transformative effect of service interactions with key stakeholders. Building upon conceptual models proposed in Transformative Services Research and insights from their own embedded charity experiences, the authors introduce how service co-creation from three entities (charity, volunteer, and community) can lead to a transformative effect for the volunteer. An exploratory field study in an international setting provides insights into how the proposed framework accounts for TCEs. Implications and future directions for charitable services research are presented.     

The hidden problem of Facebook and social media at work: What if employees start searching for other jobs?

Companies are increasingly encouraging employees to use Facebook and other social media to interact with coworkers in order to empower collaboration and knowledge sharing. Yet, there is a hidden problem that has been neglected by managers. The more employees interact with coworkers through social media to facilitate their work in the organization, the more likely they are to learn about and become interested in other companies via social media, form new work connections outside the organization, and engage in job search behaviors. The use of social media to facilitate work and benefit organizations could paradoxically risk fostering withdrawal intentions and turnover, which damage organizations. This article provides evidence of this paradox from an empirical study. After having identified the problem, the article proposes both the solutions to avoid and the solutions to adopt, illustrating best practices from successful companies, comparing their benefits and costs, and indicating the situations in which each solution is best implemented. To conclude, I offer 10 recommendations to turn the problem into an opportunity and use social media as an innovative recruitment tool.     

Value Creation and Category Management through Retailer–Supplier Relationships

Abstract

This article discusses category management interactions in supplier–retailer relationships based on conceptual insights about value in business markets. Much category management literature has studied supplier–retailer relationships, but despite value creation being central to category management the conceptual approach is often the power-trust controversy. Based on value concept, category management and supplier–retailer relationship literature this study develops a model and hypotheses of retailer perceived benefits and sacrifices from category management collaboration. The article proposes that closer supplier-retailer interactions through the category management process hold the potential for increased value creation through application of complementary information resources, an improved coordination of tactical efforts, and an alignment of category aims and strategies explicitly linked to retailers' value systems. Further, the perceived necessity of trust in these relationships meshes with retailers' perceived sacrifices regarding negotiation power and full control of category marketing variables, thus establishing a trade-off for retailers between benefits and sacrifices.