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Gillette’s historically successful “razor and blade” business model (RBM) has been a promising benchmark for multiple businesses across diverse industries worldwide in the past several decades. The extant literature deals with very few nuances of this business model notwithstanding the fact that there are several variants of this business model being put to practical use by firms in diverse industries in grossly metaphorically equivalent situations.

This study adopts the 2 × 2 truth table framework from the domains of mathematical logic and combinatorics in fleshing out all possible (four logical possibilities) variants of the razor and blade business model for further analysis. This application presents four mutually exclusive yet collectively exhaustive possibilities on any chosen dimension. Two major dimensions (viz., provision of subsidy and intra- or extra-firm involvement in the making of razors or blades or both) form part of the discussion in this paper. In addition, this study synthesizes and streamlines entrepreneurial wisdom from multiple intra-industry and inter-industry benchmarks in terms of real-time firms explicitly or implicitly adopting several variants of the RBM that suit their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of evolution in situations that are grossly reflective of the metaphorically equivalent scenario of razor and recurrent blades. Inductive method of research is carried out with real-time cases from diverse industries with a pivotally common pattern of razor and blade model in some form or the other.

Several new variants of the razor and blade model (much beyond what the extant literature explicitly projects) have been discovered from the multiple metaphorically equivalent cases of RBM across industries. All of these expand the portfolio of options that relevant entrepreneurial firms can explore and exploit the best possible option chosen from them, given their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of growth.

This study has enriched the literature by presenting and analyzing a more inclusive or perhaps comprehensive palette of explicit choices in the form of several variants of the RBM for the relevant entrepreneurial firms to choose from. Future research can undertake the task of comparing these variants of RBM with those of upcoming servitization business models such as guaranteed availability, subscription and performance-based contracting and exploring the prospects of diverse combinations.

Smart entrepreneurial firms identify and adopt inspiring benchmarks (like razor and blade model whenever appropriate) duly tweaked and blended into a gestalt benchmark for optimal profits and attractive market shares. They target diverse market segments for tied-goods with different variants or combinations of the relevant benchmarks in the form of variegated customer value propositions (CVPs) that have unique and enticing appeal to the respective market segments.

Value-sensitive customers on the rise globally choose the option that best suits them from among multiple alternatives offered by competing firms in the market. As long as the ratio of utility to price of such an offer is among the highest, even a no-frills CVP may be most appealing to one market segment while a plush CVP may be tempting to yet another market segment simultaneously. While professional business firms embrace resource leverage practices consciously, amateur customers do so subconsciously. Each party subliminally desires to have the maximum bang-to-buck ratio as the optimal return on investment, given their priorities ceteris paribus.

Prior studies on the RBM have explicitly captured only a few variants of the razor and blade model. This study is perhaps the first of its kind that ferrets out many other variants (more than ten) of the razor and blade model with due simplification and exemplification, justification and demystification.

Research on the underlying mechanisms that transfer the effects of performance appraisal (PA) on employees’ behaviors and intentions remains scarce. The social exchange view of performance appraisal can be a source of deeper understanding about these underlying mechanisms. This study aims to investigate how psychological empowerment (PE) and organizational commitment (OC) explain the link between performance appraisal and three important distal outcomes: voice behavior (VB), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and turnover intentions (TOI).

The current study utilizes two wave – two source data from a sample of 250 employees and their supervisors from private organizations in Pakistan and tested the mediation model using SMART-PLS.

Results demonstrated that organizational commitment mediated the effects of performance appraisal on VB, OCB, and TOI, whereas psychological empowerment mediated the effects of performance appraisal on VB and OCB. These results have significant implications for theory and practice.

This study adopts the social exchange perspective to examine the mediation mechanisms linking PA with the three distal outcomes: VB, OCB and TOI. The paper identifies two novel mediators of PA – outcome relationship, i.e., psychological empowerment and organizational commitment.

Leadership is key to building a culture of continuous learning within organizations. This study aims to explore the pivotal role of leadership in creating a culture of constant learning within organizations by bibliometric and content analysis. It also introduces propositions and frameworks that emphasize the importance of fostering a growth mindset, encouraging knowledge sharing, promoting learning agility and leveraging technology to support lifelong development.

Using data from the Web of Science Core Collection, the author performed a complete analysis of publication features, collaboration networks and keywords in the field using VOSviewer software. Furthermore, drawing on social cognitive theory, this paper also presents propositions that integrate key concepts and strategies for fostering a culture of learning.

The data shows a large increase in publications on leadership and organizational learning, particularly since 2000, indicating an increasing interest and importance in this field. The author proposes leaders who demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement and invest in learning resources empower their teams to embrace new challenges and explore innovative solutions. By fostering a culture of learning, organizations can enhance employee engagement, foster creativity and innovation and adapt more effectively to changing market dynamics.

This study offers a unique perspective on the role of leadership in driving learning and development initiatives. By implementing the principles, organizations can create a competitive advantage by cultivating a workforce that is agile, resilient and equipped to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Unlocking the potential of Big Data Analytics (BDA) has proven to be a transformative factor for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. This has prompted researchers to focus attention on BDA in the AEC industry (BDA-in-AECI) in recent years, leading to a proliferation of relevant research. However, an in-depth exploration of the literature on BDA-in-AECI remains scarce. As a result, this study seeks to systematically explore the state-of-the-art review on BDA-in-AECI and identify research trends and gaps in knowledge to guide future research.

This state-of-the-art review was conducted using a mixed-method systematic review. Relevant publications were retrieved from Scopus and then subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A quantitative bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer software and Gephi to reveal the status quo of research in the domain. A further qualitative analysis was performed on carefully screened articles. Based on this mixed-method systematic review, knowledge gaps were identified and future research agendas of BDA-in-AECI were proposed.

The results show that BDA has been adopted to support AEC decision-making, safety and risk assessment, structural health monitoring, damage detection, waste management, project management and facilities management. BDA also plays a major role in achieving construction 4.0 and Industry 4.0. The study further revealed that data mining, cloud computing, predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence methods, such as deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision, are the key methods used for BDA-in-AECI. Moreover, several data acquisition platforms and technologies were identified, including building information modeling, Internet of Things (IoT), social networking and blockchain. Further studies are needed to examine the synergies between BDA and AI, BDA and Digital twin and BDA and blockchain in the AEC industry.

The study contributes to the BDA-in-AECI body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive scope of understanding and revealing areas for future research directions beneficial to the stakeholders in the AEC industry.