Assembling resources when forming a new business

Every business builds on a specific set of resources. New businesses in particular have to assemble external resources that are mostly new to them. This resource assembly requires developing business relationships with other actors that control and can provide the needed resources. Adopting a resource interaction perspective, this paper examines a case of a new business venture in the automobile industry. The case study shows that when forming a new business the actors possess only partial knowledge of how to assemble the resources. Consequently, the actors must engage in extensive adaptation and interaction with others to enact workable resource interfaces and combinations. This necessity makes the new business formation process nonlinear and onerous. Further, the case demonstrates that new business formation is a collective process involving not only the emergence of a formal business organization but also reorganizing the applicable resource market. Since third parties involved in developing the necessary resource combinations can be considered part of the new business venture, setting the boundaries of the new venture becomes arbitrary. The arbitrary nature of such boundary setting has implications in entrepreneurship studies with regard to the unit of analysis and the concept of opportunity.     

Using eye-tracking to understand the impact of multitasking on memory for banner ads: the role of attention to the ad

Media multitasking is on the rise due to the adoption of new technologies such as smartphones and tablets. In this article, we study how visual attention affects the impact that media multitasking has on brand recognition. We theorize that media multitasking will have a different impact on brand recognition depending on whether consumers pay attention to the ad. We tested our hypothesis by creating a laboratory experiment that simulates consumers’ internet browsing experience. We exposed participants to two conditions – executing one task (no multitasking condition) and executing two simultaneous tasks (multitasking condition) – and identified when participants paid attention to the banner ad using an eye-tracking device. In line with our theory, our results indicate that multitasking decreases brand memory but only when participants do not pay attention to the banner ad. The implications of this finding for researchers and advertisers are discussed.     

In Search of a New Logic for Marketing—Foundations of Contemporary Theory,by Christian Gronroos

ABSTRACT

Collaborative skills that promote cross-functional dynamics, boundary spanning, and inter-firm cooperation are essential to every marketing manager. Most courses in the business curricula do not address the development of relational skills and competencies that support the ability to cooperate and reconcile diverse interests and objectives as needed in real world practice. I propose that we revise the fundamentals of our educational models to support the development of collaborative, cooperative and relational competencies in our business graduates. A “values” driven perspective is a must. It entails understanding, examining, reflecting, externalizing, discovering, accepting and challenging about our past experiences and beliefs as we refresh our perspective about things, people, situations, and options. New dimensions a business curricula that sustains a “values” driven perspective must include are: (1) Design curriculum from a systems thinking perspective, (2) Develop leadership potential and management capabilities, (3) Nurture and rehearse the use of different types of intelligences, (4) Foster deep approaches to learning when validating educational goals and academic achievement, and (5) Incorporate value driven decision-making and a sense of spirituality.     

Reviews

Social Europe. European Commission 1996: SOCIAL EUROPE: PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MEDIUM-SOCIAL ACTION PROGRAMME 1995-97 (Supplement 4/96).

SOCIAL EUROPE: WORK AND CHILDCARE -A GUIDE TO GOOD PRACTICE (Supplement 5/96). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Spatial planning. Healey, P., Khakee, A., Motte, A. and Needham, B. (eds) 1997: MAKING STRATEGIC SPATIAL PLANS: INNOVATION IN EUROPE. Basingstoke: Taylor and Francis, £14.95 paper.

Competing cities. Jensen-Butler, C., Shachar, A. and Weesep, J. (eds) 1997: EUROPEAN CITIES IN COMPETITION. Aldershot: Avebury, £55.00 cased.

Evaluating the City Challenge. Robinson, F. 1997: THE CITY CHALLENGE EXPERIENCE. Newcastle: Newcastle City Challenge West End Partnership Ltd, £15.00 paper.     

Variable annuities with a threshold fee: valuation,numerical implementation and comparative static analysis

Decisions in Economics and Finance - In this paper we deal with a variable annuity which provides guarantees at death and maturity financed through the application of a state-dependent fee...     

Tourism and degrowth: an emerging agenda for research and praxis

Abstract

This article outlines a conceptual framework and research agenda for exploring the relationship between tourism and degrowth. Rapid and uneven expansion of tourism as a response to the 2008 economic crisis has proceeded in parallel with the rise of social discontent concerning so-called “overtourism.” Despite decades of concerted global effort to achieve sustainable development, meanwhile, socioecological conflicts and inequality have rarely reversed, but in fact increased in many places. Degrowth, understood as both social theory and social movement, has emerged within the context of this global crisis. Yet thus far the vibrant degrowth discussion has yet to engage systematically with the tourism industry in particular, while by the same token tourism research has largely neglected explicit discussion of degrowth. We bring the two discussions together here to interrogate their complementarity. Identifying a growth imperative in the basic structure of the capitalist economy, we contend that mounting critique of overtourism can be understood as a structural response to the ravages of capitalist development more broadly. Debate concerning overtourism thus offers a valuable opportunity to re-politicize discussion of tourism development generally. We contribute to this discussion by exploring of the potential for degrowth to facilitate a truly sustainable tourism.