Entrepreneurship through a qualitative lens: Insights on the construction and/or discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity

This article applies inductive analytic techniques to identify and elaborate on two recurring themes that underpin the core puzzle of entrepreneurship research — where entrepreneurial opportunities come from. The first theme is the unique role of imprinting, or the profound influence of social and historical context in constraining the perceptual apparatus of entrepreneurs and delimiting the range of opportunities for innovation available to them. Second, our analysis offers insight into the counterbalancing role of reflexivity, operating at both individual and collective levels of analysis, in generating the ability of entrepreneurs to overcome the constraints of imprinting. These insights are based on a thematic review of the nine studies that comprise this special issue on qualitative research. The nine studies, individually and each in their own way, offer key insights into how we might better understand the emergence of entrepreneurial opportunity.     

Editorial: Purchasing and innovation: Past,present and future of the field of research

This paper introduces the special topic forum (STF) on purchasing and innovation. Presenting the findings from a systematic literature review, we take stock of the current state of the field, delineating themes, theories and methods, and identifying key trends over time. Our study shows a take-off in research on purchasing and innovation during the last decade. This has predominantly focused on private sector manufacturing firms although a recent expansion into public sector research is evident. Large-scale surveys and case studies are still the dominant research methods where the unit of analysis is typically the ‘firm’ or ‘project’. The findings also show how in the past the field was driven by questions on how purchasing can facilitate different types of innovation projects, seeking to derive practical implications, and rarely making explicit statements regarding theories applied; this still characterises much of the research but we find an increasing focus on theory development. We also see a shift in the type of technological innovation being investigated: past studies tended to focus on the role of purchasing in new product development (NPD) projects, which reflected a relatively low degree of technological uncertainty, but we see a trend towards innovation projects facing technological uncertainty. Research shows how this requires new ways of sourcing innovations and therefore new ways for purchasing to facilitate innovation sourcing. On the basis of the review, we offer our guidance for future research avenues to 1) carry out more research on procurement of innovation in the public sector; 2) consider new theories and research methods, and 3) go beyond firm-level or dyadic analysis to research networks and ecosystems. We conclude by introducing the papers in the STF.     

Comparative research in industrial relations: helping the survey cross frontiers

There has been a relative dearth of comparative, cross-national research which has followed a survey-based approach. This partly reflects the difficulty that researchers encounter in collecting such information, either via primary collection or the secondary matching of existing survey material. This paper addresses these difficulties and suggests ways in which their impact can be minimized. It notes that such difficulties are much more severe in the case of secondary matching and are thereby likely to constrain the scope of this approach. They are not totally absent in primary collection and it is suggested that there are limits to what can be achieved during data collection to promote the development of like data-sets across countries. This indicates that great care must be taken in interpreting data so obtained. Despite such limits and cautions, it is nevertheless concluded that the survey approach can be an important adjunct to the process of understanding why the world of work varies across frontiers.     

The influence of activity importance and similarity on perception of recreation substitutes

Abstract

This study examines how substitutes are selected for a fly‐angling and camping recreation activity. Results show that although people choose substitutes similar to their intended activity, the degree of similarity between substitute and original is unrelated to perceived quality of substitute. Also, both the quality of a substitute and the number of available substitutes are inversely related to the importance of an activity's attributes. The lack of a relationship between activity/substitute similarity and quality of the substitute poses problems for application of the substitutability concept.     

Book Review

Following review of definitions of New Public Management (NPM), the paper assesses whether Canada has adopted the NPM, organized by Kernaghan and Charih's (1997) categories and using Loeffler's (1997) definition. Canada has reorganized the machinery of government, changed management methods and reduced the federal public sector substantially. Despite high debt, Canada's federal government reduced its expenditures and/or public service as much or more than the UK and New Zealand. Its expenditures as a proportion of GDP are now similar to those of the UK and New Zealand, the major proponents of NPM.     

一种新颖的相位检测方案

本文介绍一种以正交鉴相技术为基础,MCS—51单片微机为核心的相位检测方案。     

基于分数维随机利率的分数跳-扩散外汇期权定价

假设利率为分数维随机利率,外汇汇率服从分数跳一扩散过程,并且波动率为常数,期望收益率为时间的非随机函数,本文利用保险精算方法,得出了看涨、看跌外汇欧武期权的一般定价公式,并建立了平价公式。     

A Comparison of Bundling and Sequential Pricing in Competitive Markets: Experimental Evidence

Technological advances enable sellers to identify relationships among offered goods. Sellers can leverage this information through pricing strategies such as bundling and sequential pricing. While these strategies have primarily been studied under monopoly assumptions, the strategies are available to competitive firms as well. This paper reports on a series of laboratory experiments comparing bundling and sequential pricing while varying the underlying relationship between the goods in markets where a fraction of buyers comparison shop. The results indicate that sequential pricing is generally as profitable to the seller; however, there is evidence that sequential pricing may be more harmful to consumers than bundling when the goods have complementary values or the buyer’s values are positively correlated.     

中国新农业经营方式探究

伴随现代农业的深入发展,农业经营方式不断创新,但同时出现了制约现代农业体系顺利构建的负面因素,通过分析这些问题产生的缘由,提出了加强完善新农业经营方式的几点建议。     

多创新方法集成与融合应用的LCUE矩阵法研究及实施

在日益复杂的产品需求和生产环境下，企业面临的生产难题也更加复杂，如何科学系统地使用创新方法解决企业生产难题，是长期困扰企业的问题。研究多个创新方法集成与融合应用概念模型，构建以企业生产难题为导向的多创新方法集成与融合应用理论体系，并基于多创新方法集成与融合应用过程，提出从多个维度指导企业实施多创新方法集成与融合应用的“LCUE矩阵法”。最后，结合某空调装配企业生产实际，以价值流方法为模板，基于LCUE矩阵实施多创新方法集成与融合应用，有效解决了企业生产难题，验证了多创新方法集成与融合应用及LCUE矩阵法的可行性。