Toward Closing the Loop between Infrastructure Investments and Societal and Economic Impacts

The long-term value proposition of transportation infrastructure investments can be significantly distorted if the short-term effects of spatial externalities on land use patterns, economic expansions, and migration patterns are not properly included in the analysis. Some of these effects occur over a short period of time and soon after the investment materializes, whereas others take longer and follow more steady patterns. In this article, we develop a novel dynamical model of a primal society with constructs that are specifically geared toward transportation infrastructure expansions and investments. The model quantifies the impact of these expansions on some key performance indicators and on the overall utility and production capacity of the society. We argue that traditional analytical models that work on the premises of stationary behavior and a static response of society to changes in infrastructure do not correctly capture these effects. The land use patterns and spatial expansion computed from the model are validated against existing theory on land use. Preliminary results on how to use the model for value proposition analysis are also presented using simple case studies.     

Envisioning a community‐centric approach to impact assessments in subsistence marketplaces

What does a community‐centric approach to impact assessment look like? That is the central question addressed in this article. Our community‐centric perspective provides an alternative to discipline‐centric approaches to impact assessment that emphasize specific methodological gold‐standards (e.g., randomized controlled trials [RCTs] in development economics). Disciplinary approaches to impact assessment owe their principal allegiance to the discipline's knowledge‐creation norms. Consequently, the concerns, interests, and voices of community members are not fully captured in the impact assessment process. In this article, we flip the conventional perspective to offer a community‐centric view of impact assessment that places the concerns, interests and voices of community members front and center. We present the case for why we need a community‐centric approach to impact assessment and clarify its axiological content, theoretical perspective, and methodological stance. Specifically, we advocate for a relational axiology, a system‐theoretic perspective, and a phenomenological methodology.     

Introduction to the special section on subsistence marketplaces

We provide an introduction to the special issue on subsistence marketplaces. We briefly describe the stream of subsistence marketplaces, and the conference series associated with the call for papers. We provide a brief overview of the diverse set of papers in the special section.     

A multi-motivational general model of entrepreneurial intention

We develop and test an overarching model of entrepreneurial intention that includes profit, social impact, and innovation as the three main drivers of entrepreneurial behavior. A holistic model is developed to identify separately the generic intention to be a self-employed entrepreneur from the associated intention to be a specific type of entrepreneur. The latter is revealed by using a conjoint experiment to reveal the individual's relative preferences for profit, social impact, and innovation outcomes. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis we provide insights into individuals' motivations for different types of entrepreneurial careers and for their multiple pathways to the same entrepreneurial type.     

Issues in the estimation and application of latent structure models of choice

Our paper provides a brief review and summary of issues and advances in the use of latent structure and other finite mixture models in the analysis of choice data. Focus is directed to three primary areas: (1) estimation and computational issues, (2) specification and interpretation issues, and (3) future research issues. We comment on what latent structure models have promised, what has been, to date, delivered, and what we should look forward to in the future.     

The politics of natural disasters in protracted conflict: the 2014 flood in Kashmir

This paper explores the politics of the 2014 floods in the contentious and conflict-prone Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The September 2014 floods were the most serious natural disaster in the state in the past 60 years, and affected some two million people in the Kashmir valley. Drawing on qualitative interview evidence from 50 flood victims in south, central and north Kashmir, the paper examines the extent to which the disaster transformed existing political narratives. In doing so, it examines the role of the state and central governments, the army, local volunteers, and the media. The paper engages with the politics of disaster literature, exploring how disasters can serve as a lens rather than as a catalyst, and stressing the relevance of understanding the social construction of disaster narratives.     

Delivering a superior customer experience in solutions delivery processes: Seven factors for success

In marketing complex solutions to customers, business-to-business firms face significant challenges in managing the customer experience effectively in solutions delivery processes—due primarily to the use of ad hoc teams. To learn more about these challenges, we interviewed executives from a Fortune 100 high-technology company. We identify seven factors ad hoc teams can employ to address this problem, focusing on delivery team composition, delivery processes, and organization-level changes that can be made to optimize the success of the team. In solutions selling, the delivery phase is particularly critical to success. The factors identified enable firms to better manage the customer experience and enhance performance.     

Revenue-sharing contracts across an extended supply chain

Revenue-sharing contracts have been heavily researched and promoted in the academic literature. However, despite some well-documented examples (e.g., the way Blockbuster and film studios were able to increase availability of the latest video releases in rental shops through a revenue-sharing contract), they seem to be much less prevalent in practice. A possible reason for this gap between theory and practice is that most academic research has focused on two-party contracts involving only one buyer and one supplier, while in reality, most supply chains consist of multiple stages. When there are several stages in the chain—as is the case for many extended, global supply chains—the traditional revenue-sharing contract is no longer optimal for the two contracting parties, as every other participant in the chain is able to leverage the revenue-sharing contract to its own advantage. Put another way, a revenue-sharing contract between only two parties is not incentive-compatible across all participants. Accordingly, we suggest that a revenue-sharing contract should involve all the supply chain partners, and propose a spanning revenue-sharing contract that accomplishes coordination and incentive-compatibility across the same.