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The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology to analyze a large amount of unstructured textual data into categories of business environmental analysis frameworks.

This paper uses machine learning to classify a vast amount of unstructured textual data by category of business environmental analysis framework. Generally, it is difficult to produce high quality and massive training data for machine-learning-based system in terms of cost. Semi-supervised learning techniques are used to improve the classification performance. Additionally, the lack of feature problem that traditional classification systems have suffered is resolved by applying semantic features by utilizing word embedding, a new technique in text mining.

The proposed methodology can be used for various business environmental analyses and the system is fully automated in both the training and classifying phases. Semi-supervised learning can solve the problems with insufficient training data. The proposed semantic features can be helpful for improving traditional classification systems.

This paper focuses on classifying sentences that contain the information of business environmental analysis in large amount of documents. However, the proposed methodology has a limitation on the advanced analyses which can directly help managers establish strategies, since it does not summarize the environmental variables that are implied in the classified sentences. Using the advanced summarization and recommendation techniques could extract the environmental variables among the sentences, and they can assist managers to establish effective strategies.

The feature selection technique developed in this paper has not been used in traditional systems for business and industry, so that the whole process can be fully automated. It also demonstrates practicality so that it can be applied to various business environmental analysis frameworks. In addition, the system is more economical than traditional systems because of semi-supervised learning, and can resolve the lack of feature problem that traditional systems suffer. This work is valuable for analyzing environmental factors and establishing strategies for companies.

Environmental scanning is a key factor to sustained competitive advantage of the firm and it is becoming increasingly important in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) theory and practice. Not surprisingly, it is widely viewed as the first step in the process of strategic management. The main debate in strategy and environment management is nowadays concerned with the primary importance of environmental scanning to strategy formulation and implementation. Moreover, effective scanning of the environment is seen as necessary to the successful alignment of competitive strategies with environmental requirements and the achievement of outstanding performance in SMEs. This paper explores the above relationship in the context of the British electrical and electronic industry. It is based on the empirical evidence and the findings of a survey of 132 chief executive officers (CEO) and their perception of environmental scanning and strategy in SMEs. It is concluded that there is a significant relationship between increasing the environmental scanning of the firm, and the success of the firm’s performance in small and medium sized enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance of business intelligence (BI) in businesses in general and tourism firms in particular. BI has been hailed as an innovation that can propel businesses that adopt the system to high productivity and efficiency. This paper confirms that view but further adds that BI also enhances a business’s competitiveness.

This paper reviews literature on the use of BI in tourism. Although current literature is largely fragmented, focusing on BI, the tourism industry and the notion of competitiveness separately, this paper makes an attempt to bring the three sub-themes in the same study and highlights their interconnectedness. The study adopts two environmental analysis models to better analyze this matter. First is the environmental analysis model as based on Downes’s modification of Porter’s five forces framework. The second model used is the resource-based view approach to business environmental analysis.

This paper affirms that the tourism industry is one of those industries that continue to benefit from the advantages that come with the adoption of a BI system. Literature shows that the tourism industry was one of those that first adopted BI in order to benefit from the benefits that come with its adoption. Such advantages include flexible and user friendly tourists’ data capture, storage, retrieval, processing and analytical capabilities.

This was a largely literature review-based study. There is, therefore, room for strengthening its findings by conducting field work and mixed methods research for more robust results.

This study will surely benefit the tourism industry and business in general from its highly favorable conclusions to the benefits that come with the adoption of a BI system. It can also be used as a reference in to the tourism field, especially aggregating important concepts and literature that can help future practical studies.

Society will also benefit from this study in terms of the new knowledge that has been generated. Members of society will then be in a position to demand products and services that are a result of innovation and informed decision making.

Although this paper is largely based on literature, the conclusions reached are those of the authors. A close assessment of the literature in BI and the tourism industry was done, resulting in the conclusions reached by the authors.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: 1) identifying challenges confronting small businesses in emerging markets using the SWOT framework; 2) the application of the Porter’s five forces model in analysing industry dynamics for small businesses; and 3) evaluating business expansion decisions using the force field analysis framework.

Freshood Express Store was a convenience store owned and managed by Mr Cuthbert Tsikira. Freshood Express Store operated grocery convenience stores in partnership with a government-owned fuel retailer in Zimbabwe. It operated two grocery convenience stores in Harare and Bindura. Its business environment was a complex and highly competitive industry with large retailers such as OK supermarkets and TM-Pick n Pay. These large retailers enjoyed massive discounts from powerful suppliers, which enabled them to charge low prices in the market. However, Freshood Express Store, as a small business, sourced their stock from the same suppliers on a cash basis. The playing field was thus uneven. In early 2021, Freshood Express Store was offered two sites to open new establishments. These two sites were more than 200 km out of Harare, the major supplier hub for Freshood Express. In addition, large retailers had existing operations in the two proposed sites, thus adding serious competition. The dilemma confronting Mr Tsikira was as follows: Could he direct limited resources to existing establishments or new markets? He wanted a sound business analysis of the attractiveness of the proposed two markets before making a management decision to invest resources. The case focuses on the need to perform industry analysis before making strategic decisions. The use of the Porter’s five forces model and the force field analysis model to validate decisions after an industry analysis is the high point of the case.

This case study can be used to teach the environmental analysis topic in emerging markets in the small business management course.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Presents an initial inquiry into the role of competitive environmental scanning in the internationalization process. Explores specifically the relationship between dimensions of competitive environmental scanning and measures of export market involvement and success. Finds that the results provide strong support for the contention that scanning capabilities must be developed for firms to pursue strategies that will result in a higher degree of export involvement and export success.

The dual importance of centrally induced strategic intent and the ability to engage in autonomous strategic initiatives has been demonstrated in both qualitative and quantitative empirical studies over the past decades. However, the particular mechanisms required to facilitate the interaction between these strategy-making approaches and achieve better corporate performance are less clear. The authors argue that the commonly conceived but rarely examined role of the strategic control process is essential to the implied adaptive performance dynamic. Although the strategic control typically is conceived as the diagnostic monitoring of outcomes, the authors contend that an interactive control (IC) mechanism is conducive to superior performance outcomes. To examine this, the authors use the extant strategy literature to generate the basic hypothesized relationships and conduct an empirical study based on a large corporate sample to uncover the intricate strategy-making model. The analyses show that adherence to ICs is an essential mediator for the positive combined effects of strategic planning and autonomous strategy-making processes.

Firms around the world seek new paths to maintain competitiveness and renew their businesses. Although entrepreneurial-orientation (EO) is extensively researched, there is some ambiguity regarding different variables that mediate the effects of such strategy on business performance. Hence, current literature lacks in-depth studies that provide useful tools for companies to implement effective change, in contrast to the quantitative methods normally applied.

Through an in-depth case study, the authors explored whether the implementation of an entrepreneurial-oriented strategy by an incumbent firm in Brazil would renew its business and potentially increase its performance.

The study showed that performance is achieved when the pervasiveness of EO activities spurs the company's boundaries, promoting not only intraorganizational changes but also multiple-stakeholder engagement.

This study reinforces the idea that EO alone may not be sufficient to increase firm performance and must be considered more comprehensively. Although case studies always suffer from the problem of generalization, the authors provide a good illustration of a strategy being implemented in a constrained-resource environment.

This paper contributes to practice by discussing a real-life situation of a small company from an emerging economy.

The authors provide a holistic view of the firm, presenting the managerial changes in a new framework, which combines EO and inward- and outward-looking perspectives.

The case is written using secondary data sources (namely, research documents, press information, journal articles and published interviews). Publicly declared company information has further been leveraged to augment case facts. All information sources have been duly acknowledged in the reference section.

The case is written in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the Indian retail industry, revolving around scenarios in which a multinational retailer has to decide on its long- and short-term strategy in such an economic crisis. The case story has been developed around Marks and Spencer’s retail venture in the Indian market. With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting business at various levels, with countries moving to lock down and economies shrinking to recessionary levels, one of the worst affected sectors is retail. The teaching case builds upon Mark and Spencer’s initial decision of not entering and extending its food/grocery business in India. While it remained a dominant player in Indian fashion retail for almost two decades, it needs to re-think its decision of entering food retail owing to a pandemic situation affecting its offline sales/store footfall and increasing competition from global fashion brands such as Zara and H&M that had flooded the Indian fashion retail sector. The case provides a context for students to perform environmental factor and competitor analysis for a sector, with special focus on decision making in a changing crisis scenario.

This case could be used in undergraduate and MBA classroom programme, across subjects such as retail management, marketing management, international business, international business environment and strategic business management. This case fits while discussing topics such as business environmental factors, competitor analysis, decision-making under crisis, market entry decision, omnichannel retail strategy, consumer behaviour and brand management.

Competence-based theory provides valuable insights in a business context characterized by global ecosystems, co-specialization, and asset orchestration. As the unit of analysis shifts from the individual enterprise to the ecosystem, pursuing proper competence building and competence leveraging activities considering both firm-specific and firm-addressable resources becomes a key issue in strategy development.

Based on the original concepts of the competence-based theory, this paper suggests that the competence space can be a useful framework when considering alternative ecosystem strategies. Competence-based theory, emphasizing the simultaneous pursuit of competence leveraging and competence building, provides an important complement to other dynamic perspectives on strategy, such as dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity. The paper also suggests considering the inclusion of aesthetic properties as an important part of competence-based theory.

Monitoring and assessment are essential in the measurement of tourism business performance. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how monitoring and assessment procedures can be applied in the hospitality business.

A case study and micro examples provide a framework for the monitoring and assessment of business performance in the hospitality business.

This chapter provides reasons why the tourism business uses control measures to monitor business performance. This is complemented with practical steps in the assessment procedures and guidelines for assessments. Different types of assessment procedures together with the characteristics of performance management provide a well-rounded overview to tourism business owners on how to conduct monitoring and assessment.

Due to the explorative nature of the monitoring and assessment case study, more empirical studies are needed to investigate and test performance measurement from a developing country perspective.

Discussions from the case study support the steps and practical guidelines in the monitoring and assessment of the tourism business.

The case study offers new practices into prospective entrepreneurs’ measurement and understanding in the monitoring and assessment of business performance.