The process of entrepreneurial action at the base of the pyramid in developing countries: a case of vegetable farmers in Benin

The assumption that entrepreneurship is a critical factor in expanding employment, creating wealth and contributing to poverty alleviation at the base of the pyramid (BoP) in developing countries has led to the development of many initiatives to strengthen the entrepreneurial activities of poor people. Despite the fact that entrepreneurship is seen as a strategy in combatting poverty, the process that leads to entrepreneurial action in a BoP context is still unclear. In this paper, we illustrate the possibilities a multi-layered perspective offers to understand the complexity of entrepreneurship in poverty settings. Based on five focus group discussions and 36 in-depth interviews with vegetable farmers in Benin, we examined the entrepreneurship of poor people. We learned that entrepreneurial action is the nexus of individual and exogenous factors in complex relationships. Based on this, we elaborate on the characteristics of the process model of entrepreneurial action. We provide a process-based view of entrepreneurship at the BoP, suggesting a need for consistency between individual, behavioural strategies and contextual elements. We discuss the implications of our findings for BoP practice and provide a framing perspective that we hope will encourage a greater focus on the complexity of entrepreneurship phenomenon.     

A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation algorithm for analyzing electronic word-of-mouth

This study evaluates tourism experiences shared through electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) across four Chinese attractions. The objective is to develop a framework for evaluating eWOM by constructing an indicator system and implementing an analytic hierarchy process with the use of a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation algorithm. This framework is achieved by mapping more than 6000 websites related to Chinese tourism attractions and filtering over 200,000 useful reviews to measure service performance. Results indicate that ecological–biological attractions failed to make tourists feel “very satisfied” in various aspects, such as overall evaluation, infrastructure, traffic, natural environment, and social environment. Overall, the study contributes by presenting a framework that can be adopted by tourism researchers and industry practitioners to understand tourist preferences and evaluate service performance to improve service quality.     

The effects of customers’ perceptions of brand personality in casual theme restaurants

Although existing studies recommend that restaurant chains develop and communicate salient brand personalities, no research to date provides empirical evidence that perceptions of unique brand personality by consumers lead to positive outcomes in the restaurant business. Therefore, using a sample of 336 adults, this research models the causal relationships between brand personality perceptions, brand preference, attitudinal loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth (W-O-M) behavior for the Olive Garden and Chili's restaurant chains. It was found that for both chains, brand personality perceptions have a positive effect on brand preference and attitudinal loyalty, brand preference has a positive impact on attitudinal loyalty, and attitudinal loyalty has a positive influence on positive word-of-mouth (W-O-M) communication. In addition, for the Olive Garden and Chili's brands, it was also found that there is a direct link between brand preference and word-of-mouth behavior.     

Trade,conflict, and political integration: Explaining the heterogeneity of regional trade agreements

Many historians argue that the main goal of European trade integration was the preservation of peace. This paper investigates whether this reasoning is relevant for the EU and other regional trade agreements (RTAs). I provide empirical evidence that customs unions and common markets (deep RTAs) do reduce the probability of war between members. Partial scope and free trade agreements (shallow RTAs) however have no effect on war probabilities. Accordingly, international insecurity has a differential impact on incentives to create RTAs. Deep RTAs are signed between countries that are involved in many interstate disputes and that have low trade costs with the rest of the world, whereas the opposite is true for shallow RTAs.     

What's in a broken promissory obligation? Developing and testing a multiple component form measure of psychological contract breach

While the literature has suggested the possibility of breach being composed of multiple facets, no previous study has investigated this possibility empirically. This study examined the factor structure of typical component forms in order to develop a multiple component form measure of breach. Two studies were conducted. In study 1 (N = 420) multi-item measures based on causal indicators representing promissory obligations were developed for the five potential component forms (delay, magnitude, type/form, inequity and reciprocal imbalance). Exploratory factor analysis showed that the five components loaded onto one higher order factor, namely psychological contract breach suggesting that breach is composed of different aspects rather than types of breach. Confirmatory factor analysis provided further evidence for the proposed model. In addition, the model achieved high construct reliability and showed good construct, convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. Study 2 data (N = 189), used to validate study 1 results, compared the multiple-component measure with an established multiple item measure of breach (rather than a single item as in study 1) and also tested for discriminant validity with an established multiple item measure of violation. Findings replicated those in study 1. The findings have important implications for considering alternative, more comprehensive and elaborate ways of assessing breach.     

Sustainability： Corporate Responsibility for the Future Classroom

The machinery, equipment, inventory, and other assets of the 21 st century company without people to work them. Corporations, by leave of the accounting profession, have no real economic value continue to omit the value of human. And yet, there is a growing realization that people represent the largest proportion of corporate productive capacity relative to the current assets and fixed assets shown in corporate financial statements. This paper provides research on the top 50 of the Fortune 500 companies which confirm this material deficiency. There is a need to provide stakeholders with a ＂fair＂ knowledge of the value of corporate human capital to provide a higher standard of transparency and accountability in international financial reporting and to provide the basis for research into the sustainability and potential expansion of growth in the world economy. An appropriate standard for the valuation of human capital will provide the knowledge base for effective and efficient investment in human capital. Effective and efficient investment will be particularly valuable for governments and service industries and for those who wish to promote growth in Europe. Indeed, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development （OECD） is questioning the veracity of financial statements which fail to include ＂the most valuable＂ of corporate assets in their financial statements. Recently, the OECD has noted that human capital may be measurable ＂by the output potential of specific competencies＂; ＂the fruits of （corporate） investment＂; the objective measurement of the market ＂rental＂ price of human capital; and lastly, perhaps self-evident when it comes to physical capital, the output potential of corporate investment in their human capital inventory. This paper considers the conditions in the context of literature which reassesses theory and assumptions which have been made on the valuation of human capital. Human capital is a pre-requisite for tangible assets to be productive. The valuation of human capital will trigger the same sort of activity-based analysis of people power as computers brought to cost accounting. The knowledge century analysis of people power will take off when human capital is at last included in the list of assets on the corporate balance sheet.     

Why strategists shun technologists

A model of computer-integrated manufacturing as the integration of strategy, implementation and innovation is presented. Strategy emphasizes a clear understanding of the objectives and goals of the organization. Strategy can be understood in terms of the interaction between product and process strategies, critial success factors and product life-cycle. Implementation stresses an iterative incremental process based on strategy, user involvement and tolerance. Innovation is the result of a successfully implemented strategy. It is both organizational learning and change.     

Ethnic Identity in Advertising: A Review and Meta-Analysis

The corpus of research on ethnic identity in advertising indicates that (1) ethnic identity influences commonly examined attitudinal and purchase-intention outcomes, and (2) attitudes toward both the actor(s)/model(s) and the ad moderate attitudes toward brands depicted in ethnically resonant ads. Individual studies often differ by measurement type (i.e., single-item measure versus multi-item scale), study design (i.e., experiment versus survey), and diversity of respondent sample. Seemingly, ethnic-identity effects are greater for studies that relied on single-item measures, experimental designs, and more diverse samples. Implications and future research directions are suggested.