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This chapter argues for looking into alternative domains, beyond the narrow confines of the base of the pyramid narrative, to develop a comprehensive and meaningful understanding of marginalised consumers and markets. In gaining deep and nuanced understanding of these markets and consumption behaviour, scholar may draw theoretical resources from varied disciplines such as economics, political theory, literary theory, sociology and anthropology. This chapter reviews three such scholarly perspectives on consumption and markets under poverty.

Emerging Market Multinationals (EMNCs) are often seen as firms with singular identity. While they may share certain characteristics, EMNCs are seldom orchestrated and managed in the same manner. Through a cluster analysis of outward foreign direct investment data of EMNCs from India, we propose taxonomy of EMNCs based on their mode of operation, industry in which they operate, region where they invest and the amount invested. We use a dataset spread over 2007–2013, constituting investment data of 4,824 Indian firms into 7,238 foreign entities. Based on a two-step clustering approach, we propose three strategic archetypes of EMNCs: Global Service Providers, Integrated Manufacturers, and Established Internationalizers. The Global Service Providers mainly consists of firms operating in developed markets with an intention to serve their client needs through wholly owned subsidiaries. Integrated Manufacturers are firms that are primarily operating in other developing markets to sell their products through joint ventures and also present in developed markets through wholly owned subsidiaries – to acquire technology and other resources. The Established Internationalizers are large EMNCs with highest levels of investments, and relatively similar to the Western multinationals. We analyze the characteristics of these three groups of EMNCs based on their strategy and investment behavior, to derive insights into the heterogeneity across EMNCs. We discuss our findings and lay out future directions for research in the area.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and entrepreneurial intentions (EI) both are prominent factors in the entrepreneurship domain to predict entrepreneurial behavior. Despite the fact, association between the EO sub-aspects and EI, as well as the indirect influence of the personality characteristic (Openness), has not been extensively investigated. The focus of this research study is to examine the association between sub-dimensions of EO, proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness, and EI incorporating personality trait openness to experience (OTE) as mediating variable. Data is gathered from 164 professional course students. For the data analysis purpose, mediation analysis, multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have been performed. Findings imply that all the sub-aspects of EO are significantly correlated with EI and personality trait OTE acted as mediating construct in link amidst EO and EI. Practical and theoretical contribution have been discussed in this study.

Firm’s operating contexts and asymmetric perspectives of success versus failure outcomes are two essential features typically absent in research on firms’ implemented strategies. The study here describes and provides examples of formal case-based models (i.e., constructing algorithms) of firms implemented strategies within several of 81 potential context (task environments) configurations – large vs small, service vs production orientation, low vs high competitive intensity, low vs high technological turbulence, and ambiguous settings for each. The study applies the tenets of complexity theory (e.g., equifinality, causal asymmetry, and single causal insufficiency). The study proposes a meso-theory and empirical testing position for solving “the crucial problem in strategic management” (Powell, Lovallo, & Fox, 2011, p. 1370) – firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. A workable solution is to identify/describe implemented executive capability strategies that identify firms in alternative specific task environments which are consistently accurate in predicting success (or failure) of all firms for specific implemented capabilities/context configuration. The study shows how researchers can perform “statistical sameness testing” and avoid the telling weaknesses and “corrupt practices” of symmetric tests such as multiple regression analysis (Hubbard, 2015) including null hypothesis significance testing. The study includes testing the research issues using survey responses of 405 CEO and chief marketing officers in 405 Hungarian firms. The study describes algorithms indicating success cases (firms) as well as failure cases via deductive, inductive, and abductive fuzzy-set logic of capabilities in context solutions.

Technology has disrupted many industries from the start of Industrialization era to the Industry 4.0 era. There has been an exponential growth in the technological front and people are talking about Industry 5.0. Digital transformation is a critical direction in which organizations will have to move toward in order to succeed in this competitive world. To make a smooth transition, firms must understand the basic building blocks of the digital transformation process and the key areas it touches upon namely customer experience, operational process and dynamic business models. Organizations will also have to identify the enablers of digital transformation which they can work on to smoothen the transformative process. Firms will also need the framework of digital transformation spelling out the roadmap for effective digital transformation. Firms on the urge to go for digital transformation will face numerous challenges in all the stages of implementation namely the initiation phase, the execution phase and the governance phase. A clear understanding of these challenges will help the firms to overcome or mitigate these challenges and be successful in their digital transformation process.

In the present study, we examined how effectively online travel agencies (OTAs) handle negative e-word-of-mouth on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We collected data from 497 participants using survey method. To test the hypotheses formulated from the existing literature, structural equation modeling was adopted in this study. The results from structural equation modeling indicate effective handling of the negative e-word of mouth (e-WOM) on social media websites significantly affects customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. The current research work provides insight into social media recovery efforts and service fairness when handling negative e-WOM. The study recommends that customers can distinguish the differences between general efforts and adaptive complaint-handling efforts, and dissimilarities may influence satisfaction, repurchase intentions, etc. Although empathy, apology, responsiveness, and paraphrasing are considered pioneer strategies in complaint handling, customers' negative e-WOM, and firms' recovery management, but the current study is among a few to categorize OTAs' handling of negative e-WOM and complaint handling efforts in the social media environment.