The impact of technical characteristics on export activity: a study of small and medium-sized UK electronics firms

Abstract: A study of eighty-eight small and medium sized electronics firms in the UK was undertaken in an attempt to investigate the impact of technical characteristics on their export involvement. The results show that high exporting firms in the sample were distinguished from the low exporters by certain key technical characteristics. Among these, the presence of in-house R&D capability emerged as the strongest feature. But the results also show that high exporting is associated with more than strong technical capability, and in particular a positive orientation towards export market, especially during the project selection and R&D stages, needs to be present.     

Exploring store format development and its influence on store image and store clientele – the case of IKEA’s development of an inner-city store format

Abstract

A changed technological landscape and radically changed consumer behavior are forcing retailers to rethink their business models, retail formats, and retail offerings. The global retailer IKEA is no exception in this development. Recently, the traditional IKEA format, which has been so successfully duplicated across the world over the years, has been complemented with other formats that are new and innovative for IKEA. Based on an empirical investigation of consumer perceptions of the store format development in Hamburg-Altona, Germany, the present study explores format development and its influence on store image and clientele, considering also the purpose of visiting IKEA and how this seems to have changed with the introduction of the new format. We also discuss the core aspects of the IKEA formats, and the fact that although some things have changed, others have stayed the same to preserve the IKEA image.     

Networks in family business: a multi-rational approach

Current research on networks in family businesses has approached the topic from a mono-rational perspective where the family, business and social networks are each considered in relative isolation. This paper argues that multi-rational approaches, which accept that the three groups of networks interact and overlap, offer a useful alternative perspective. In proposing the case for multiple rationalities as a framework within which family business networking can be viewed – and in putting forward an initial model – the paper allows the interaction of the different networks within the family business to be more fully acknowledged. Evidence from the literature is presented as a basis for further exploration using empirical approaches and it is emphasised that further and empirical approaches are required.     

Quick and easy choice sets: Constructing optimal and nearly optimal stated choice experiments

In this paper we compare a number of common strategies for constructing discrete choice experiments. Two of the strategies, including one based on theoretical constructions for optimal discrete choice experiments, produce designs that are better than those that come about from random grouping and from using the L^MA construction. A simple account of this theoretical construction is given.     

The Relevance of Ancient Greeks to Modern Business? A Dialogue on Business and Ethics

What follows is a dialogue, in the Platonic sense, concerning the justifications for "business ethics" as a vehicle for asking questions about the values of modern business organisations. The protagonists are the authors, Gordon Pearson – a pragmatist and sceptic where business ethics is concerned – and Martin Parker – a sociologist and idealist who wishes to be able to ask ethical questions of business. By the end of the dialogue we come to no agreement on the necessity or justification for business ethics, but on the way discuss the uses of philosophy, the meanings of integrity and trust, McDonald's, a hypothetical torture manufacturer and various other matters.     

Capitalism and its Regulation: A Dialogue on Business and Ethics

This dialogue engages with the ethics of politics of capitalism, and enacts a debate between two participants who have divergent views on these matters. Beginning with a discussion concerning definitions of capitalism, it moves on to cover issues concerning our different understandings of the costs and benefits of global capitalist systems. This then leads into a debate about the nature and purposes of regulation, in terms of whether regulation is intended to make competition work better for consumers, or to prevent negative outcomes for citizens. The conclusion speculates about the usefulness or otherwise of this Socratic method of dialogue.Martin Parker is Professor of Organisation and Culture at the University of Leicester Management Centre, having previously held positions at Staffordshire and Keele Universities. His research and writing is concerned with the ethics, politics and culture of organisation. Together with Campbell Jones and Rene ten Bos, he has just finished a textbook titled For Business Ethics which will be published by Routledge in 2005.Gordon Pearson is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Management, Keele University, having previously spent some fifteen years in academia teaching and writing mainly on strategy. Prior to that he spent thirty years in industrial general and strategic management.