Behaviour of Retail Entrepreneurs

Retailers' goal attainmet is studied using a model consisting of relationships concerning the productivity of labour and floor-space. Evidence from large supermarkets shows that retailers concentrate on the maximising of the value of annual sales rather than on maximising annual profit.     

Networks and small business growth: An explanatory model

To date, there has been limited empirical research related to network theory. With this article, we have tried to fill this gap by testing an explanatory model of the impact of networks on small business growth. To analyze this causal relationship, the log-linear technique was used. The results suggest that networks have an influence on the growth of a small business, especially through contacts with national and international entrepreneurs.     

The Coevolution of Relationship Dominant Logic and Supply Risk Mitigation Strategies

How and why do risk mitigation strategies evolve? And which resources are needed for engaging in such changes? This paper contributes to the understanding of risk management in supply chains by developing theory about the interplay between supply risk mitigation strategies and the purchasing team's relationship dominant logic (RDL), which we define as the purchasing team's orientation toward and shared cognitive map of the management of its supply chain relationships. Specifically, we propose that RDL and supply risk mitigation strategies are fundamentally intertwined. Following a Straussian approach to grounded theory, this study analyzes data generated from the purchasing teams of Western green‐tech firms trying to mitigate supply risk for technically indispensable rare earth metals from China. Our findings from this context that is heavily shaped by state‐influenced supply chain members show that the firms chose their mitigation strategies in line with their RDL. Human capital, social capital, and financial capital seem to moderate the link between RDL and mitigation strategies. We link our findings with the strategic management literature in deriving theoretical propositions concerning these relationships.     

Big-box retail entry in urban and rural areas: are there productivity spillovers to incumbent retailers?

This paper empirically measures the potential spillover effects of big-box retail entry on the productivity of incumbent retailers in the entry regions, and investigates whether the effects differ depending on the size of the new establishment relative to the size of the local market. The results indicate that big-box entry increases the productivity of incumbent stores in two of three rural entry regions where the IKEA is large relative to the local retail market, while no productivity spillover effects could be found in the case of the urban IKEA entry in Gothenburg.     

Challenges and policy options in the global bio‐economy: introduction and overview

Agricultural economics is at the nexus of the major policy options surrounding the global bio‐economy. The outputs from agriculture have expanded beyond the traditional food, feed, and fiber to include fuel and other nonfood applications as well as environmental goods due to recent technological developments and changing consumer demands. Numerous policy questions have arisen within the bio‐economy. This article introduces and summarizes several invited panel sessions on issues of special importance in the global bio‐economy: new institutions of dealing with uncertainty and increased volatility related to climate change; structural transformations in agricultural production and food consumption and their effect on development; biofuel policies and development; and determinants of changes in consumer attitudes to new products and technologies.     

No Terroir in the Cold? A Note on the Geography of Geographical Indications

Geographical Indications (GIs) are increasingly important instruments of agricultural and food regulations and are growing as contentious issues in trade negotiations and disputes. GIs can improve welfare but they can also be a protectionist instrument. The EU has the most GIs in the world, but they are concentrated in the south of the EU. Even excluding wine, there are seven times more food GIs per capita in the southern EU Member States than in other EU Member States. This note discusses several factors which may explain the geographic concentration of GIs in the south of the EU.     

The owner's edge: Brand ownership influences causal maps

Understanding the coherence between the attributes of a brand is a key asset for marketers managing brand equity. This study proposes consumer causal maps as a powerful instrument to achieve this purpose. These maps shed light on how different consumer groups think about the brand. Compared to non-owners, brand owners have been able to develop more expertise regarding the specific brand, which leads them to have more extensive causal maps. An exception occurs for the category leader, for which owners and non-owners have equally extensive maps. The surprising finding of this study is that the leading brand seems to encompass the ingredients for the causal maps of the other brands in the category. The results highlight how management should address owners and non-owners differently, in particular if a brand is far from category leadership.     

The Role of Corruption,Culture, and Law in Investment Fund Manager Fees

This article considers an international sample of venture capital and private equity funds to assess the role of law, corruption, and culture in setting fund manager fees. With better legal conditions, fixed fees are lower, carried interest fees are higher, clawbacks are less likely, and share distributions are more likely. Countries with lower levels of corruption have lower fixed fees and higher performance fees, and are less likely to have clawbacks and cash-only distributions. Hofstede’s measure of power distance is negatively related to fixed fees and the use of cash-only distributions, but positively related to performance fees and clawbacks. Overall, the data strongly indicate that corruption, culture, and legal settings are much more significant in determining fees than fund manager characteristics and/or market conditions.     

Legal Protection,Corruption and Private Equity Returns in Asia

Although trustworthiness has been described as a source of competitive advantage, its value extends to organizational governance and wealth creation. We identify the importance of the commitment–compliance continuum in the decision to trust and note that trustworthiness is a subjective perception viewed through each person’s mediating lens. That lens and each person’s interpretation of the social contract impact one’s commitment to cooperate. We suggest five propositions that integrate trustworthiness, governance, and wealth creation.