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Chewy, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer seller of pet food and supplies. Their approach involves a deep understanding of pet owners’ needs and behaviors to provide personalized product recommendations and exceptional customer service. This case study aims to describe Chewy’s growth strategies and how the company can remain a market leader.

Using the customer value assessment tool, the authors examine Chewy’s value proposition, including service, quality, image and price strategies.

Chewy has built a loyal customer base that values the company’s commitment to their pets’ health and well-being. Future opportunities include focusing on pet wellness products and services, collaborating with veterinary providers in telemedicine and international expansion.

This work is largely conceptual and presents a descriptive case study which reviews Chewy’s marketing strategy based on industry research as well as a customer value assessment via the service-quality-image-price framework.

Corporate leaders must adapt to market change and create business strategies to deliver superior value for customers. This requires innovative products, services and processes. The strategic insights are applicable to retailers, service and technology firms and entrepreneurial companies seeking to scale their businesses.

Chewy’s highly competitive market includes Amazon, e-commerce pet supply companies and big-box pet stores. But it has dominated the online sector and has substantial growth prospects. This paper concludes with recommendations for management and questions for consideration.

The paper validates the threshold argument in the informality–poverty nexus. Recent literature and policy have argued the existence of a threshold in the relationship.

The study adopts dynamic panel threshold analysis, estimated within the framework of system Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) to control for endogeneity and simultaneity. Data from 40 selected sub-Saharan African countries between 1991 and 2018 are used for the study.

Empirical results confirm the existence of an average threshold of 31% share of informality in GDP. Also, the paper finds that threshold of informality that addresses mild and severe poverty varies between 24.32 and 36.75%.

The work is limited to African economies. Evidence from other emerging and developed economies is suggested for further research.

Overall, the empirical results indicate a threshold in the informality–poverty nexus. Therefore, an excessive informality level does not benefit the African growth process. Policymakers and governments are advised to operate within the bounds of the threshold of informality that reduces poverty and improve the African economic growth process.

The paper is the first study to provide empirical findings on the nonlinear and threshold argument in the informality–poverty nexus, as far as the authors know.

This study examines the role of institutions and governance on the digital financial inclusion and economic growth nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2014 to 2020.

This study adopts the generalised method of moments technique which controls for endogeneity. The authors employed four main variables namely, index of digital financial inclusion, gross domestic product per capita growth, institutions and governance.

The results suggest a significant positive effect of institutional quality and governance on the digital financial inclusion-economic growth nexus in SSA. Furthermore, the authors find that effect of trade and population growth on economic growth was significantly positive while inflation reduces economic growth in the region.

This study also ignored the effect of digital financial inclusion on environmental quality. Future researches should focus on addressing these drawbacks and replicating the study in Africa as a whole and other developing countries across the world that are experiencing digital financial inclusion and economic growth challenges. The results from the study imply that a positive relationship between digital financial inclusion and economic growth. It is important to note that the study was carried out on the premise that institutions play a pivotal role in enhancing economic growth in SSA.

The results confirm the significance of policies that enhances institutional quality and governance which are other avenues the authorities can pursue to enhance economic growth in SSA.

The paper documents the importance of institutions in boosting economic growth which impacts on social life rather than digital financial inclusion only.

The paper makes a contribution through analysing the role of institutions and governance on the digital financial inclusion-economic growth nexus rather than the traditional financial inclusion–economic growth nexus which is common to the majority of the available empirical studies.

Using the lens of upper echelons theory, this study examines the degree to which National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic department performance outcomes are associated with the personal characteristics and experiences of the athletic director leading the organization.

The authors match organizational performance data with athletic director and institutional characteristics to form a robust data set spanning 16 years from the 2003–04 to 2018–19 seasons. The sample contains 811 observations representing 136 unique athletic directors. Fixed effects panel regressions are used to analyze organizational performance and quantile regression is used to analyze organizational revenues.

The authors fail to uncover statistically significant evidence that athletic director personal characteristics, functional experience and technical experience are associated with organizational performance. Rather, the empirical modeling indicates organizational performance is primarily driven by differentiation in the ability to acquire human capital (i.e. playing talent). The results also indicate that on average, women are more likely to lead lower revenue organizations, however, prior industry-specific technical experience offsets this relationship.

In opposition to upper echelons research in numerous settings, the modeling indicates the personal characteristics and experiences of the organization's lead executive are not an economically relevant determinant of organizational performance. This may indicate college athletics is a boundary condition in the applicability of upper echelons theory.

The aim is to understand how goal orientation may help entrepreneurs maintain life satisfaction when faced with multiple crisis episodes. To do so, the authors study the early impact of COVID-19 on the life satisfaction of entrepreneurs who were previously faced with venture distress.

Data on 164 Belgian entrepreneurs, who were faced with previous venture distress, are used. The analysis is quantitative, and uses survey data, in combination with databases. The survey was administered in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020).

Entrepreneurs high in learning goal orientation are less likely, and those high in performance-avoidance orientation are more likely to experience a decline in life satisfaction. Additionally, the time span between the two crises moderates the relationship between learning goal orientation and life satisfaction. Particularly, entrepreneurs high in learning goal orientation are less likely to experience a decline in life satisfaction if more time has passed between venture distress and the COVID-19 crisis.

Often, entrepreneurs are faced with multiple episodes of distress. The authors study entrepreneurs who have been in venture distress before and are then confronted with the COVID-19 crisis. The study shows that goal orientation, which is a type of self-regulation, plays an important role in how entrepreneurs’ life satisfaction is affected. Also, the authors find that the time between distress events matters. These are important insights for practitioners, including entrepreneurs and support providers.

The study adds to the emerging discussion on the impact of crises on entrepreneurs. It studies life satisfaction (a measure of well-being) and complements studies that examine the impact of crises, on entrepreneurs’ actions and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper was to examine law enforcement officers' perspectives on job stress and barriers to supportive resources when working child sexual abuse cases in a large southern state. It is well documented in the literature that professionals who work in healthcare, emergency services and law enforcement face tremendous amounts of stress and consequences to their physical and mental health. Little research has been done to examine how child sexual abuse investigations impact law enforcement, and how these specialized officers perceive access to supportive resources.

This qualitative study was part of a larger quantitative study and included 20 law enforcement officers who participated in anonymous, semi-structured phone interviews.

Findings included (1) child sexual abuse cases are difficult, specialized and disturbing (2) barriers to supportive resources include law enforcement culture, the stigma of asking for help, awareness and accessibility of resources and leadership as gatekeeper to the resources and (3) officers perceive both formal and informal resources to be helpful and at best should be proactively available to all officers in the state. A model of the findings was developed to illustrate the implications for practitioners and scholars.

This study was not without weaknesses, specifically the small number of participants, volunteer sampling does not represent the general population and the sampling technique means some demographics may have been missed by researchers.

This study adds to the literature on law enforcement mental health, occupational health and mental health resources. It confirms established research in the literature and provides insight into officer perspectives about barriers that prevent access to informal and formal supports that could improve their emotional well-being.

This study is the first of its kind, to our knowledge, that asks detectives and investigators of child abuse cases about mental health resources. These law enforcement officers are at high-risk for traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and burnout due to the specialized cases they investigate.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how individuals’ hybrid entrepreneurial venturing activities (HEVA) influence key characteristics associated with one’s wage work, namely creativity and job satisfaction.

Through a cross-sectional self-administered survey design, data were gathered from 465 US-based useable responses via Amazon Mechanical Turk and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Findings show individuals reporting higher levels of HEVA – such as creating, founding, starting or running – tend to also exhibit higher levels of creativity and job satisfaction in their workplaces. Findings further reveal that income negatively moderates the relationship between creativity and wage work job satisfaction.

By providing a better understanding of how engaging in HEVA can impact creativity and job satisfaction, this study has important implications for (1) managers seeking to influence key employee outcomes and (2) employees considering such entrepreneurial activities.

This paper adds to the growing scholarly and practitioner interest in hybrid entrepreneurship and its outcomes. Specifically, the paper adds new insights regarding how engaging in HEVA can influence individual skills (i.e. creativity) or organizational goals (i.e. employee job satisfaction). In doing so, the paper also uses insights from the intrinsic/extrinsic motivation literature to suggest how extrinsic motivators (such as income) can interact with intrinsically motivated behaviors (such as creativity) in influencing employee outcomes in wage work. Finally, the paper contributes to the growing interest in applying the empowerment perspective within entrepreneurship research by exploring where and how empowerment may occur.

The retail sector has the largest energy consumption among commercial buildings in the U.S. Although previous studies explored benefits, barriers and solutions for implementing sustainability in various building sectors, research focused on retail facilities has been very scarce. This study aims to explore U.S. facilities managers’ perceptions of barriers that prevented the implementation of energy-efficiency practices in the retail sector. Their perceptions were compared by facility size and facilities management company’s business revenue.

An online survey was distributed to the members of the International Facility Management Association and the author's LinkedIn network. The survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis and ANOVA.

Managers from large facilities, as opposed to those from small ones, significantly more agreed that the unavailability of building automation systems, a lack of professional writing skills and a lack of awareness of life cycle cost (LCC) were the barriers. Business revenue did not cause significantly different perceptions of the barriers except for a lack of awareness of LCC and a lack of support from upper management.

This study fills the research gap on energy efficiency in the retail sector by revealing U.S. facilities managers’ perceptions of the barriers to the implementation of energy-efficiency practices in retail stores. This novel study compares perceptions of the facilities managers by facility size and business revenue; this comparison has not been performed before. The study also identified several new barriers to the implementation of energy efficiency in the retail sector.

Drawing on the social identity theory, this paper explores the impact of rider–driver ethnicity match on the driver’s expected ride satisfaction and willingness to perform, and rider’s trust on the driver.

The study relies on scenario-based online experiments with 291 ride-hailing drivers and 282 riders in the USA.

The findings indicate that ethnicity match between ride-hailing drivers and riders positively impact driver’s ride satisfaction and willingness to perform, and rider’s trust in the driver. The study also revealed a significant positive moderation effect of ethnic identity on the relationship of ethnicity match and those constructs.

While it may be challenging to influence an individual’s level of ethnic identity, managers can take steps to educate and train their employees regarding the impact of ethnic identity and discrimination, with a particular focus on those individuals who possess a strong sense of ethnic identity.

The findings of this research provide theoretical contributions to the existing literature on ride-hailing services and adds to the limited stream of logistics research that examines the impact of ethnicity on ride-hailing operations.

Research and interest in food loss and waste (FLW) have increased, but barriers stand in the way of firms engaging in food recovery efforts. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how firms overcome these barriers.

This study followed a qualitative, field-study-based research design in which 23 decision-makers at food-based organizations were interviewed. Quotes were extracted and categorized to develop a conceptual model of the food recovery process.

The conceptual model that evolved helps to explain decision-making related to FLW across the following dimensions: barriers to food recovery, incentives to overcome the barriers, internal processes for engaging in food recovery and external relationships influencing internal incentives and processes. In addition, the barriers and incentives were divided into operational and managerial issues.

Building on the barriers to food recovery in prior research, we explored the processes that help firms overcome these barriers. The model developed in this study is an important step toward addressing these processes and relationships. It can serve as a foundation for a variety of future studies of food recovery.