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The United States business community has before it an opportunity for economic growth through international trade that represents approximately three trillion dollars. Unfortunately, the American business community has not seized the opportunity to penetrate international trade. For example, the import of goods into the United States has continued to exceed exports. Since 1970, the United States' share of world trade has decreased from 15.4 per cent to 12.6 percent, creating a deficit in the balance of payments.

Utilising qualitative research methodology, this pilot study of telecottages/business resource centres in South‐east England interviewed 13 centre managers to identify problems, needs, models and ideas that could be related to enterprise televillage development. The research also aimed to improve the quality of management guidance and the long‐term future for these centres. Questions were posed to identify the extent to which centre managers perceived their business strategies to be entrepreneurial and innovative, as they attempted to decrease dependence on public funding by generating additional business income. Emergent strategies, networking, telecommunications and building partnerships with both private and public organisations allowed some centres to expand and to move from total reliance on public funding to a mix of private and public sources of income. Although initial public funding is seen as an important factor in reducing the early vulnerability of business resource centres, the ability of opportunity‐seeking managers to develop an innovative range of services, including a mix of those offered free and those that required fees, was an important factor in survival. Two detailed case studies (private and mixed) are presented as generic prototypes.

Knowledge sharing is a process where individuals mutually exchange knowledge to create new knowledge. Understanding the knowledge-sharing process, during which organizations share spaces, facilities and services, is highly important for owners/managers who seek to optimize their business centres and to attract more innovative tenants. For users of business centres, it is interesting to know how, where and what type of knowledge is shared. However, there is hardly any research into sharing different types of knowledge in business centres. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of personal and organizational characteristics on sharing different types of knowledge within and between organizations in business centres.

Data were collected using a questionnaire that was completed by 268 users of 53 business centres in The Netherlands. A seemingly unrelated regression analysis was used to simultaneously analyse the influence of personal and organizational characteristics on knowledge sharing in business centres.

The results show that public and private non-codified knowledge is more frequently shared with people from other organizations by those who more frequently use an event space, lounge space, canteen or consultancy services. Knowledge sharing with colleagues within organizations was influenced by the use of individual closed workspaces, meeting spaces and restaurant/canteen and gender.

The study suggests that owners and managers of business centres can optimize their business centres by offering specific facilities, services and workspaces to attract a specific group of tenants. In addition, organizations that want to enhance knowledge sharing with other organizations need to stimulate their employees to use shared facilities and services.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not a dedicated business center within a public library acts as a key success factor in a public library’s services to the community entrepreneur.

A questionnaire survey was sent to 88 public libraries with dedicated business centers, and posted to BRASS-L and BUSLIB-L, for input from public libraries without business centers. Interviews with three survey respondents and one local city official followed.

Fifty-seven per cent of all respondents felt that a dedicated business center is very essential or essential to the services provided to the entrepreneurial community. The services most often offered were workshops/seminars/classes, counseling sessions by collaborative agencies and one-on-one research sessions with librarians. The majority of responding libraries collaborated with a community business agency (80 per cent). Fifty-one per cent spend between 6 and 20 hours/month on the collaboration.

Since 2007, many of the dedicated business centers in public libraries have closed or been consolidated with other sections and services of a public library. This should be further studied. Further research on librarian expertise in market and industry research is recommended.

This study updates the business services associated with public libraries business services since the push in the late 1990s for public libraries to be more active in community economic development.

Service quality performance is benchmarked at business‐to‐business and business‐to‐consumer call centers. Differences between call center types are observed including characteristics of operation, customer ratings of service quality performance, and employee ratings of workplace issues. Business‐to‐business call centers are challenged by customers who have higher expectations for service performance and who are more critical evaluators of organizational service performance. Implications for customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty are discussed.

This paper seeks to present a partnering model pioneered in Sudbury, Canada, that combats fragmentation in the delivery of business support services. Partnerships form the backbone of a comprehensive business support centre. The Sudbury Regional Business Centre brings together banking, government, communications, education, legal, and accounting partners. These partners coordinate their efforts to provide services to area businesses, striving to improve the odds for a dynamic and resilient local economy. This model has been replicated and adapted by various communities across Ontario, Canada's most populous province.

The methodology consists of qualitative research by two participant‐observers.

If a solid business case can be made, banks and three levels of government can be persuaded to act in concert with other partners through a community business support centre; economic upheaval in the Sudbury area precipitated urgency and resolve; several postulates regarding key success factors were supported.

The reporting is retrospective; the postulates are examined in a single context.

Disparate players can form a working partnership so that business support services from various quarters blend effectively, and are easily accessed to give clients the best help available.

This paper describes how a community forged partnerships designed to overcome fragmentation in the delivery of business support services. Comprehensive enterprise support offered by committed public and private sector partners can be channelled through a physically accessible centre. The factors which proved most critical to success are discussed.

This study aims to demonstrate how the process of quality function deployment (QFD) is used to identify the basic requirements of the customers in designing and executing the commercial business center.

This study was considered with the aim of determining the approach of QFD methodology used in the planning and designing of commercial business centers. The methodology used in the study is a customer-driven process that includes customer requirements in each and every aspect of the planning and designing of the project. The main focus of this study is to understand the requirements of the customers and to design and execute a commercial business project.

This study illustrates the quality requirements of the projects that benefit from the QFD process to obtain customer requirements for the planning and designing of commercial business centers. A case study is used to demonstrate the use of QFD process. This helps to explain the effective application of QFD in the planning and designing of business centers and similar constructions.

The planning and designing of the commercial business center using the QFD process were challenging and hence it is limited to the design part. The strategic objectives are not taken into account while performing QFD in this case study and the risk of market research is lacking. House of quality (HOQ) can be too complicated at times; hence, the adaptability in the traditional QFD is lacking. Most of the work in the HOQ matrix is done through subjective evaluation. Therefore, this research is mostly useful for a single party responsible for all phases of the planning and designing of the project.

In the construction industry, the use of the QFD process for project performance analysis and application is restricted. As a result of the scarcity of studies on the planning and design of construction projects, this study on the planning and design of a construction project was inspired.

This paper aims to explore the effects of holistic cognition frame on novelty-centered business model design and efficiency-centered business model design. Moreover, the authors consider how these effects differ in new ventures vs established firms.

The authors use survey data to testify the hypotheses based on a database of 204 firms in China. Then, regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between holistic cognition frame and business model design. They also explore the contingency effects of new ventures and established firms on the relationships.

The authors find that the holistic cognition frame has a positive effect on efficiency-centered business model design, whereas it has an inverse U-shaped effect on novelty-centered business model design. Furthermore, they find that the effects of holistic cognition frame on efficiency-centered business model design and novelty-centered business model design are different in established firms and new ventures.

This work offers new insights into the effects of holistic cognition frame on business model design and provides useful suggestions for firms to promote business model design.

Reports on a survey undertaken to gather information about the relatively new business centres market. Examines the trend of small businesses, business centre facts, sub‐markets, survey results, and a comparison with French business centres. Concludes that the 1980s saw a shift to entrepreneurialism in the United Kingdom, and despite the recession the shift has been permanent, with the consequence that the kind of flexible space off

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and types of business school centers/institutes – their role in business school development, ability to overcome disciplinary and organizational boundaries, and encourage innovation in programs and curricula.

The primary methodology is literature review and empirical survey using web data. The approach is exploratory, and summary case studies are presented to illustrate center/institute roles.

Business school centers/institutes are widespread and diverse in mission and activity. There is little previous research in the field. A model for forces driving center formation is also presented.

Centers/institutes represent structural forms that can help implement strategies for change and innovation. This means administrators of business schools should consider centers/institutes as tools to strengthen strategic planning. The paper presents directions for further research.

The paper focuses on strategic planning by business school administrators, and reform and change in programs and curricula.

The paper takes a holistic view of the literature, provides a comprehensive survey of multiple types of center/institute, and links the roles of centers/institutes to strategic and structural change. It presents differences between US and international schools.