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This paper includes an examination of two key issues on price decisions: (1) how should price decisions be made (the strategic and normative issue) within market contexts, and (2) how are price decisions actually made (the execution and implementation of price decisions). The paper closes with some observations useful for applied research and strategies for making effective pricing decisions. The propositions and literature review show that one pricing strategy does not fit a brand in all market contexts that brand executives experience annually in managing brands. Setting specific price points requires continuing deliberate management responses to dynamic market contexts. This paper provides useful sense-making conjunctive steps to accomplish such deliberate thinking effectively relevant for different market contexts.

This first paper examines total benefits and total costs of product–service designs as antecedents to customer value assessment. It introduces the reader to all the papers in this volume. The first half of the paper offers a model of customer value assessment. This section describes research studies in industrial marketing contexts that illustrate the core propositions in the model. The second half of the paper provides brief introductions to the papers in this volume; these papers offer further evidence supporting the view that discontinuous innovations offer superior customer value but customers tend to eventually become increasingly comfortable with the status quo and move away from adopting superior proven technologies. This paper advocates being mindful of the marketplace dynamics affecting value. The volume serves to increase knowledge and understanding of the dynamic forces affecting changes in customer value.

Invisibility and inequality in the subjective experiences of Albanian migrant women in the Greek labor market have not been sufficiently studied. In times of crisis, mechanisms and social processes of marginalization are being strengthened and push women to new roles, expectations, and social positions. This chapter investigates how migrant women understand invisibility within their occupation, to what extent they feel relative deprivation and injustice when comparing their situation with others, and what this means for the reproduction of inequalities and the boundaries of social stratification. Qualitative research is conducted through a case study and 10 work history biographical interviews with Albanian migrant women, living and working in the Artemis community. Findings are analyzed in light of the socio-historical context of invisibility of migrant women workers in Greece, while the statistical analysis of changes in the occupational distribution provides a picture of the social landscape. Findings show evidence of the ethnic and gender segregation of the Greek labor market and a significant increase of informal and temporary work in low-status jobs in services. Invisibility is mainly experienced through the degradation of working conditions, flexibility, insecurity, and the concealed process of alienation. The economic crisis increases the dependencies; meanings and perceptions change towards reduced expectations. Comparisons with reference groups show increasing inequalities within the same social group, but feelings of injustice are felt more due to administrative barriers and discrimination. The chapter offers insights on the process of invisibility of migrant women and its significance for social stratification.

In recent decades, processes of postindustrialization, economic restructuring, and globalization have been transforming the landscape of social and economic inequalities in general (Wade, 2003), and in urban settings in particular (Baum, 1997; Fainstein, 1990; Sassen, 1990a, 1991, 1998; Waldinger, 1996). The role of cities as strategic sites in the globalization process and as arenas of economic transformation is central in the literature of globalization and economic restructuring (Fainstein, 2000; Sassen, 1988, 1998).

On-going change in relation to the management of public services has led to the development of many initiatives in the control of day-to-day resources as the New Public Management¹ (Hood, 1991, 1995) continues its reforms. In this context debates about control of capital expenditure have taken a less visible role despite some earlier and influential comment on the area (Perrin, 1978 for example). Perhaps as the flow of ideas for reform in the management of day-to-day activity have waned, recent attention has turned more systematically to the efficient use of capital resources or infrastructure. This has been accompanied by recognition of the poor state of some of the public sector infrastructure. This chapter is concerned with the implications of the changing approaches to the provision of infrastructure is the U.K. National Health Service (NHS). Its particular focus in the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and the contractual implications this brings into infrastructure development.

The objective of this chapter is to identify the key characteristics of Global Services businesses that will thrive and achieve success in the future. These factors are integrated into three main pillars, which we refer to as the Triple-Win. The first and most obvious pillar is technology as a tool. The second pillar is the design and sustainability of the business model, without which the previous factor would be merely a cost and not an investment. And last but not the least, there is the purpose which gives meaning to the proposal, focusing on the human being and their environment. The DIDPAGA business model sits at the intersection of these three elements.

Two linked topics concerning environmental issues at the WTO and their implications for MNEs are considered – namely, international business in the environmental goods and services sector, and the relationship of the WTO to the emerging climate change regime, particularly the Kyoto Protocol. Liberalization of barriers to international trade and investment in environmental goods and services could expand market access and otherwise change competitive conditions for multinational firms. The relationship of the WTO to the Kyoto Protocol is on the broader agenda of environmental and economic diplomacy. Decisions concerning these two sets of issues during the next few years will affect multinational firms’ competitive positions, strategies and operations in many industries. For instance, the liberalization of barriers to trade and FDI in the environmental goods and services industry creates new international market opportunities for firms that want to expand abroad; it also creates new competitive threats in home markets. The chapter was in press when the WTO Cancun ministerial meeting collapsed in mid-September 2003.

A lot of literature has been generated showing the high unemployment rate in Africa and especially among the youth aged between 18 and 35 years. This glaring state of unemployment among the youth, including many educated graduates, has led them, in the course of time to despair, disillusionment, and consequent susceptibility to their involvement in anti-social behaviour including crime. For instance, the infamous radicalisation of the youth and great insecurity threats that come with this as currently being experienced in Libya, Mali, Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo as advanced by Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and affiliates are all related to unemployment challenges. Additionally, the Arab Spring in North Africa experienced in 2010, as well as the xenophobic insurgences in South Africa, South Sudan, Nigeria, and in other countries across the continent, have all been attributed to youth unemployment and disillusionment. As a way of intervention, the African Union declared a decade of youth empowerment between 2008 and 2019 which set the tempo for countries, organisations, and agencies across the continent in coming up with mitigation measures. Motivated by this spirit of assisting the youth towards a mindset change to be job and wealth creators and not job-seekers, Mount Kenya University (MKU) established the Graduate Enterprise Academy (GEA) in 2013. This chapter showcases the double-pronged approach adopted by MKU, an ISO 9001:2015 certified university in East Africa, towards promotion of entrepreneurial mindset among the youth in Africa through the GEA. More specifically, in collaboration with leading indigenous institutions and agencies in Kenya, the GEA was established in MKU in 2013 with a clear mandate of promoting youth-driven enterprises throughout the country and across the continent. More recently, since 2017, in collaboration with the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO, Leuphana University of Germany, and other stakeholders, MKU has embraced the Students Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP). STEP has thus been rolled out by MKU as a co-curriculum activity for undergraduate students as well as for training youth outside universities at various counties in Kenya. The STEP and GEA initiatives at MKU are presented in this chapter as a case study in terms of their implementation, strengths, challenges, and recommendations for possible replication and up-scaling to cover the entire continent.