When Is a Disruptive Innovation Disruptive?*

A disruptive innovation (i.e., one that dramatically disrupts the current market) is not necessarily a disruptive innovation (as Clayton Christensen defines this term). To aid in understanding why some innovations are more (or less) disruptive to the long‐term health of incumbents, this article offers terminology and a framework complementary to Christensen's work, focusing on the diffusion pattern of the new product. The framework and model presented herein suggest that when an innovation diffuses from the low end upward toward the high end, a pattern called low‐end encroachment, the incumbent may be tempted to overlook its potential impact. Three possible types of low‐end encroachment are illustrated: the fringe‐market, detached‐market, and immediate scenarios. Conversely, when the pattern is one of high‐end encroachment, the impact on the current market is immediate and striking. A three‐step framework is identified to assess the potential diffusion pattern and impact of an innovation, thereby helping a firm determine the threat or opportunity that an innovation represents.     

Endangered Visitors: A Phenomenological Study of Eco-Resort Development

With the growing awareness of eco-tourism and the development of infrastructure at attractions, it has become necessary to use best practices to reduce the impact of increased visitor numbers. It has been noted that many of the past and current developments of eco-tourism infrastructures have been made in an improvised manner resulting in unsustainable practices. This study highlights the current planning trends in the ad hoc development of eco-resorts through a phenomenological approach. The methodology applied qualitative research methods to examine university students' understanding of eco-resort development and best practice. The use of an eco-resort development exercise on a fictional Peruvian site was the basis of analysis. The content of planned developments by the respondents and their experience of eco-tourism formed significant results. Results showed a difference between a theoretical definition and the application in practice, which could lead to eco-tourism being defined out of existence.     

The Effects of Government Regulations on the Supply of Pawn Loans: Evidence from 51 Jurisdictions in the U.S.

We contribute to the modest amount of existing empirical research on the fringe banking industry by examining the effects of two jurisdiction-specific restrictive regulations on the supply of pawn loans. Controlling for poverty levels, education levels, and population density, state-by-state data presented in this paper from the 51 political jurisdictions in the United States suggests considerable effects in expected ways on five aspects of supply from the two regulations. More specifically, the study provides support for the suggestion that interest rate ceilings and a requirement to return excess proceeds from the sale of collateral items tend to reduce the number of store hours, loan/value ratios, the number of very small loans made, and the number of existing pawnshops. An erratum to this article is available at .     

An analysis of intermarket sales inflows/outflows within a shift-share framework

This article describes a method to analyse retail trade flows among competing retail centres. A case study of three nearby communities in the Southeastern United States is used to demonstrate the application of the technique. Results of the case study and their implications are discussed.     

Accounting for the Apple Inc business model: Corporate value capture and dysfunctional economic and social consequences

In this special issue the authors account for the Apple Inc innovative business model in terms of its capacity to create and capture value from its global supply chain. The authors argue that there are a number of reasons why the Apple business model may not be sustainable and more broadly explore the dysfunctional social and economic aspects of corporate behavior that seeks to fragment and elongate global value chains to capture value within the firms financial reporting boundary whilst displacing cost and risk.     

Structural analysis of international trade: Environmental impacts of Norway

Final demand purchases initiate production processes that ultimately lead to environmental impacts. With the increase in international trade, many production processes occur outside of the country of final consumption. Whilst several studies have evaluated the pollution embodied in consumption and trade flows, few studies have investigated the structural linkages between domestic consumption and production in foreign regions. In this article we apply three complementary approaches to study the production network leading from the Norwegian economy to domestic and international environmental impacts: (1) the consumption perspective identifies final demand purchases that produce environmental impacts; (2) the production perspective identifies the production processes generating the pollution for a given demand; and (3) structural path analysis is used to provide the linkages between the global production networks linking consumption and production. We find that the three approaches provide different, but complementary information. For policy to focus on both sustainable consumption and production, all three approaches are required to fully identify environmentally important sectors in an economy.     

Duration of share repurchase programs and firm performance

It is widely known that under asymmetric information, share repurchasss can be used by firms to signal firm quality. In this paper, it is shown that the duration of share repurchase programs can signal the degree of firm quality. The model predicts that the highest quality firms repurchase a fraction of their shares outstanding over a short duration, medium quality firms repurchase the same fraction over a longer duration, and low quality firms do not repurchase shares at all. An empirical investigation of firms that engage in repurchase activity supports the model.