Consumer cosmopolitanism: Review and replication of the CYMYC scale

Extant marketing literature mainly focuses on explaining why consumers might prefer domestic products and refrain from buying foreign products but, however, is weak in explaining why consumers might intentionally opt for foreign products. Against this background, consumer cosmopolitanism has gained increasing attention as a potentially relevant consumer characteristic for explaining foreign product preference and choice. However, empirical evidence on the impact of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumption behavior remains scarce. This paper identifies the absence of an appropriate measurement instrument as a main reason for this lack of empirical studies by providing (a) a review of cosmopolitanism scales used in other research fields, and (b) a replication with extensions study of the CYMYC scale, the only consumer cosmopolitanism scale currently available. The findings highlight a need for a new scale to measure the consumer cosmopolitanism construct. To stimulate further research in this direction, the paper proposes a conceptual definition of consumer cosmopolitanism along with a nomological network to guide the scale development process.     

The Impact of Product-Country Image and Marketing Efforts on Retailer-Perceived Brand Equity: An Empirical Analysis

Although both product-country images (PCI) and firm assets such as brand equity have been extensively studied in separate contexts, we know very little about the combined performance effects of these two important constructs in international research. Extant research has investigated brand equity primarily from a consumer perspective, but rarely from the point of view of a retailer. Retailers represent the ultimate participants in the value chain selling the product to consumers. They have the ability to significantly influence consumers’ evaluations and purchase decisions. Based upon existing literature documenting the contributions of PCI and marketing activities on brand equity, this study extends these findings by investigating their effects on retailer-perceived brand equity (RPBE) and ultimate brand profitability performance. Results indicate that both marketing activities and PCI affect retailer-perceived brand equity with PCI also strongly and positively influencing brand profitability performance.     

International perspectives on the profile of highly talented international business professionals

There is a global demand for talented managers and leaders. To meet this demand, higher education institutions are developing talent programs. However, international perception of talent is diffuse. In this study, our profile of highly talented international business professionals was internationally validated by 172 participants, representing East Asia and Western Europe. Results indicate consensus on three domains: communicating, achieving results, and seeing patterns and interrelationships in a global context. Strikingly, diverse country-specific interpretations of the accompanying behaviors were observed. The findings contribute to the talent literature and offer insights for educational practitioners when developing competence frameworks for talent or professionalization programs.     

The role of incubators in overcoming technology ventures’ resource gaps at different development stages

Although incubation is considered important for overcoming resource challenges in technology ventures’ early life, there is a doubt about its relevance in later development stages, when the initial idea is commercialized and the venture tries to grow. Building on the resource‐based view of the firm and on a stage‐based perspective of venture development, this study argues that the resource gaps facing technology ventures differ between different development stages, and that the support provided by incubators therefore needs to be adapted to the venture’s development stage. We study the interaction between the iMinds incubator, located in Flanders, and eight technology ventures in its portfolio. In the Conception and Development stage, we observe resource gaps in terms of technical knowledge and access to end users, which the incubator addresses by offering direct technical support and access to its research and end user network. The subsequent Commercialization stage is dominated by business knowledge gaps, which the incubator amends through direct coaching and trainings. In the Growth stage, ventures typically lack the necessary team members, market players, and follow‐up financiers to grow their firm. The incubator addresses these resource gaps by providing access to its network. In all development stages, the incubator’s internal knowledge base, networking capabilities, and matching focus/selectivity are crucial in order for ventures to benefit from the incubator’s support. Our study suggests that these underlying capabilities can either be developed organically, or through the merger of different research institutes. Moreover, it points to the importance of local embeddedness for the geographical extension of these capabilities. These findings contribute to the literature on incubation and on venture development. They have important implications for policy makers, incubation managers, and entrepreneurs seeking incubation support.     

The Role of Age and Gender in Educational Expansion: The South Asian Experience in the Global Context

I calculate education Gini coefficients and decompose the overall degree of educational inequality into age, sex, and within‐group components for 171 countries from 1970 to 2010. Doing so enables me to analyze the distributional outcomes of educational expansion. I use South Asia as a case study, as the education distribution in the region is among the most unequal in the world. Generally, educational inequality is decreasing over the observed sample period around the globe. Yet, as improvements are initiated by enhancing the educational opportunities of the young, the gap between cohorts widens in transition phases but vanishes thereafter. Gaps between the sexes are reduced substantially, but widen if either males or females are the first to enter higher education levels. Also, gaps within population subgroups follow a similar trajectory. Instead of a Kuznets‐curve relation, I thus find evidence for educational inequality to evolve in waves as education expands.     

Front End Transfers of Digital Innovations in a Hybrid Agile-Stage-Gate Setting

Digital innovations often follow a more fluid innovation process and, therefore, require different ways of managing the front end of innovation. Agile as alternative to established front end management practices is often suggested, potentially combined with Stage-Gate, in what is called a hybrid Agile-Stage-Gate model, to reap the benefits from both. Implementing the hybrid model in the front end is however not sufficient for firms with separate Research and Development departments to succeed. In such organizations digital innovations still need to be transferred from Research, where the front end work on digital innovations takes place, to the Development department, where formal development actually starts. Yet, such front end transfers have been described as inefficient and ineffective. Realizing digital innovation front end transfers is likely even more challenging because of their fluid definition. In the absence of extant theory on front end transfers in such a setting, this research uses a case study approach to analyze the front end transfer experiences of the Research department of a firm in the lighting industry that is undergoing a transformation from traditional to digital lighting. The in-depth analysis of triangulated data on eight front end projects shows that Research struggles to transfer digital innovations to Development, because transfer practices in terms of management, scope, and synchronization, turn out to be inherently challenging in a hybrid Agile-Stage-Gate setting. Specifically, the results reveal that each transfer practice plays an intricate role in either facilitating (i.e., transfer management) or inhibiting (i.e., transfer scope and synchronization) front end transfers of digital innovations. The discovery of these opposing forces has important implications for novel theorizing on the use of Agile in the front end of digital innovation, transfer practices from Research to Development in a hybrid setting, as well as for theorizing about digital innovation management.     

Retraction Note: Prediction of economic growth by extreme learning approach based on science and technology transfer

Quality & Quantity - The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article (Karaniki? et al. 2016) because validity of the content of this article cannot be verified. This article showed evidence...     

Perceptions and outcomes of a managerial coaching certificate program: Educational leaders vs. business leaders

Educational leaders face unprecedented changes in developing new strategies and processes that improve teacher effectiveness, student performance, and administrators' professional development. Coaching is a way to improve and increase performance. Educators are in a position to take advantage of coaching as used by business leaders all over the world. This study examined the effectiveness of a coaching model designed for managers in a college of business. The study included both educational (n = 5) and business leaders (n = 30). It examined their perceptions and outcomes of their participation. The results strongly support the efficacy of this coaching model.     

Social and family load of Alzheimer’s disease

As the World Health Organization reports, mental illnesses have a serious impact on more than 25% of all population people worldwide at some time during their lives. Mental illnesses are universal; they affect people of any age, both women and men, the rich and the poor, no matter from which urban and rural environment they come from. Mental illnesses have an enormous economic effect on societies and on the quality of people’s life, including their families. The purpose of this study is to describe social and economic aspects of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with respect to the early diagnosis. The authors provide an analysis of costs of treatment and care in the selected countries where the data from the available studies are recalculated into comparable quantities. Furthermore, the authors analyse aspects and possibilities of care for patients with AD in the informal (home) environment in compliance with individual phases of this disease. In the article, the method of research of available sources focusing on social and economic issues of AD is used. In order to compare costs of treatment and care of the AD patients, the Qualitative Comparative Analysis Method is exploited. The analyses have shown that the metric systems for monitoring the direct and indirect costs for the individual phases of AD are different.