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This paper aims to present a new model of marketing analysis that is capable of using the embedded knowledge that sits untapped in the history of marketing thought to solve contemporary marketing problems – the conceptual-historical analytical research model (CHARM).

This paper outlines the evolution of historical analysis methods (HAM), along with critiques and enhancements of the prior processes offered by Savitt (1980), Nevett (1991) and Golder (2000). From these foundations, the paper outlines the components of the model of historical analysis, detailing the development of the analytical template design. It also details the four-step process of engaging structured revisits of past knowledge for contemporary problem-solving.

The CHARM for problem-solving in marketing is a knowledge-gathering system that informs marketing decisions addressing contemporary problems. This is achieved through the use of embedded knowledge from a corpus of historical texts.

This paper provides a method for future researchers to apply for replicable examination of historical texts and to assist intercoder reliability for multi-author history projects through the application of structured templates.

The CHARM for problem-solving in marketing is a knowledge-gathering system that informs marketing decisions addressing contemporary problems. This is achieved through the use of embedded knowledge from a corpus of historical texts.

The CHARM process applies a systematic protocol for engaging qualitative sources for historical analysis through preset data collection templates, structured analysis frameworks and definitional understanding templates for improved replicability. This paper presents a new model of approaching historical analysis through a problem-solving lens, whereby historical sources become the foundations for the solution to a problem, rather than just the literature review that identifies the presence of gap.

The purpose of the research described in this paper is to disentangle the rhetoric from the reality in relation to supply chain management (SCM) adoption in practice. There is significant evidence of a divergence between theory and practice in the field of SCM.

Based on a review of extant theory, the authors posit a new definitional construct for SCM – the Four Fundamentals – and investigated four research questions (RQs) that emerged from the theoretical review. The empirical work comprised three main phases: focussed interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire survey. Each phase used the authors’ definitional construct as its basis. While the context of the paper’s empirical work is Ireland, the insights and results are generalisable to other geographical contexts.

The data collected during the various stages of the empirical research supported the essence of the definitional construct and allowed it to be further developed and refined. In addition, the findings suggest that, while levels of SCM understanding are generally quite high, there is room for improvement in relation to how this understanding is translated into practice.

Expansion of the research design to incorporate case studies, grounded theory and action research has the potential to generate new SCM theory that builds on the Four Fundamentals construct, thus facilitating a deeper and richer understanding of SCM phenomena. The use of longitudinal studies would enable a barometer of progress to be developed over time.

The authors’ definitional construct supports improvement in the cohesion of SCM practices, thereby promoting the effective implementation of supply chain strategies. A number of critical success factors and/or barriers to implementation of SCM theory in practice are identified, as are a number of practical measures that could be implemented at policy/supply chain/firm level to improve the level of effective SCM adoption.

The authors’ robust definitional construct supports a more cohesive approach to the development of a unified theory of SCM. In addition to a profile of SCM understanding and adoption by firms in Ireland, the related critical success factors and/or inhibitors to success, as well as possible interventions, are identified.

This paper aims to elaborate on the concept of “integrated marketing communication (IMC) practice” and provide an empirical exposition of how integration is enacted in the lifeworlds of marketing practitioners, drawing from the “practice turn” in management studies. Although IMC is a well-known conceptual idea in academia, there is insufficient theorisation of what it means “to do” IMC. Despite broad acceptance for IMC, there has been scant application of available organisational and sociological theories to illuminate actual IMC practices in the field.

The paper introduces practice theory as a lens through which to study and analyse IMC practices. Using qualitative coding and interpretative analysis, the framework was operationalised and applied to a two-year organisational ethnography encompassing IMC planning activities in at a leading Swedish retailer.

Findings demonstrate how practitioners develop explicit and implicit strategies to enact strategic integration. The study conceptualises IMC as a set of interrelated practices, or routinised behaviours, which are repeated and organised by some social or formal rules and conventions. In the ethnographic context of the study, “IMC as practice” is exhibited in the forms of routines, material set-ups, rules and procedures, cultural templates and teleoaffective structures.

The paper proposes a novel set of theoretical and methodological tools that can be used to understand how IMC lives as a set of practices inside organisations. It specifically conceptualises the link between mental and objectified, materialised and routinised activities that has previously been escaping the sphere of theorisation. By creating language and tools to capture hitherto unmodellable phenomena, the paper opens many new avenues for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to present an emergent model showing the change potential inherent in the mirroring of time‐space bound metrics and numbers in management accounting (MA) and other cognitive frames.

An observation‐based qualitative field study of a change project in a large manufacturing company is used as the basis for the analysis.

The empirical study shows that as actors recurrently mirror time‐space bound metrics/numbers in MA and other cognitive frames, three forms of ambiguity may occur. Definitional ambiguities occur as actors' extant MA frame cannot fully account for the metric as such, while representational ambiguities occur as actors perceive uncertainties as to what a particular number stands for “in reality”. Operational ambiguities, finally, occur as actors perceive uncertainties as to how time‐space bound numbers can be “causally” explained. In the emergent model, the paper shows how these different forms of ambiguity constitute important sources of critical and collective reflection of, and subsequent change in, both metrics and MA and other cognitive frames.

Through identifying and elaborating on the change potential inherent in the interplay between cognitive frames and time‐space bound metrics and numbers, the study adds a partial, yet previously largely unexplored answer to the paradox of embedded agency in a MA context (i.e. how actors may change existing cognitive (MA) frames when their interpretations and actions are largely constrained and shaped by these very frames). Also, the study shows that it may not necessarily be the content of MA information per se that triggers critical reflection and structural MA change, but also the perceived ambiguities that such information use may engender.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a critical assessment of the literature on business incubation effectiveness and second, to submit a situated theoretical perspective on how business incubation management can provide an environment that supports the development of incubatee entrepreneurs and their businesses.

The paper provides a narrative critical assessment of the literature on business incubation effectiveness. Definitional issues, performance aspects and approaches to establishing critical success factors in business incubation are discussed. Business incubation management is identified as an overarching factor for theorising on business incubation effectiveness.

The literature on business incubation effectiveness suffers from several deficiencies, including definitional incongruence, descriptive accounts, fragmentation and lack of strong conceptual grounding. Notwithstanding the growth of research on this domain, understanding of how entrepreneurs and their businesses develop within the business incubator environment remains limited. Given the importance of relational, intangible factors in business incubation and the critical role of business incubation management in orchestrating and optimising such factors, it is suggested that theorising efforts would benefit from a situated perspective.

The identification of specific shortcomings in the literature on business incubation highlights the need for more systematic efforts towards theory building. It is suggested that focusing on the role of business incubation management from a situated learning theory perspective can lend itself to a more profound understanding of the development process of incubatee entrepreneurs and their firms. Theoretical propositions are offered to this effect, as well as avenues for future research.

Three different pedagogical approaches grounded in three different definitional foundations of entrepreneurship have been compared in relation to their effects on students. They are: (1) “Idea and Artefact-Creation Pedagogy” (IACP), grounded in opportunity identification and creation, (2) “Value-Creation Pedagogy” (VaCP), grounded in value creation and (3) “Venture-Creation Pedagogy” (VeCP), grounded in organisation creation.

Data were collected at 35 different sites where education was deemed to be entrepreneurial and experiential. A quantitative, smartphone app-based data collection method was used alongside a qualitative interview approach. 10,953 short-survey responses were received from 1,048 participants. Responses were used to inform respondent selection and discussion topics, in 291 student and teacher interviews. Comparative analysis was then conducted.

The three approaches resulted in very different outcomes, both in magnitude and in kind. VaCP had strong effects on entrepreneurial competencies, on student motivation and on knowledge and skills acquisition. VeCP had weaker effects on knowledge and skills acquisition. IACP had weak effects on all outcomes probed for. Differences were attributed to variation in prevalence of certain emotional learning events and to variation in purpose as perceived by students.

VaCP could serve as an escape from the potential dilemma faced by many teachers in entrepreneurial education, of being caught between two limiting courses of action; a marginal VeCP approach and a fuzzy IACP one. This could prompt policymakers to reconsider established policies. However, further research in other contexts is needed, to corroborate the extent of differences between these three approaches.

Most impact studies in experiential entrepreneurial education focus only on organisation-creation-based education. This study contributes by investigating entrepreneurial education that is also grounded in two other definitional foundations. Allowance has been made for novel comparative conclusions.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a process‐oriented lifecycle model for ensuring quality in e‐learning development and delivery. As a dynamic and iterative process, quality assurance (QA) is intertwined with the e‐learning development process.

After reviewing the existing literature, particularly focusing on QA frameworks, procedures, and methodology, a process‐oriented model structured around three sequential non‐linear phases is presented: before: planning and analysis; during: design, prototype and production; and after: post‐production and delivery. This model is supported by an advanced information system used to organize, track, collect, and generate reports regarding QA changes and needed updates.

Following a process‐oriented lifecycle approach, the paper emphasises that QA requires a supportive environment that explicitly recognizes quality as a work value and as an enabler for reaching organizational goals.

The paper proposes a practical QA model which follows e‐learning development phases. For each development phase, practical steps, including sample checklists, are recommended.

The proposed model has the potential to transform QA from a static, after‐the‐fact state to a more iterative and dynamic state, thus promoting a culture of ongoing self‐improvement, rather than of circumstantial compliance, within the e‐learning community.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the substantial and growing body of emerging market (EM) research. Through assessing the literature an organizing framework is formed to support a nuanced basis for future research and management decisions in EMs.

Following guidelines of seminal authors, the authors conduct a systematic review involving both leading field-specific and top-tier international business journals.

The empirical context of the literature is outlined showing dominance of studies involving China and India. Seminal contributions are identified based on cross-references in the EM field and citations in international business literature in general. The definitional elements of the most dominant definitions are compiled into an organizing framework.

Researchers need to acknowledge the distinct contextual setting of specific regions and countries labeled as EMs. This entails considerations into the capacity of current frameworks to lend insights not just on EM contexts but the particular EM context in focus.

The findings suggest a more nuanced approach to managing activities in EM contexts. The proposed framework encloses the EM category on its distinct dimensions. Each provides a unique basis for managerial decision-making on specified EM activities.

This paper provides the first systematic review of the ever-growing body of EM research literature to map and assess the existing intellectual territory. Through this, the authors contribute to the development of the existing body of knowledge and form a solid basis for future research.

This paper aims to dissect conceptual and semantic issues surrounding the word “brand.” Theoretical, operational and practical concerns resulting from the term’s use and misuse are exposed, some derived managerial problems are highlighted, and alternatives for resolving the confusing and dysfunctional brand nomenclature are offered.

Comprehensive literature review, i.e. review of an entire population of literature, incorporating content analysis.

A large fraction of empirical brand literature is ambiguous because the definition, meaning and therefore measurement of the focal construct, brand, is unclear. In other words, empirical results throughout the brand literature may apply to “brand” – by one definition or another – but there is no way of knowing which brand interpretation is in use.

A large part of the marketing field does not know what the word “brand” means anymore, a lapse that is widely unrecognized. This paper illuminates the lost knowledge condition and proposes resolution. The present state of theoretical and empirical ambiguity is untenable because so many empirical findings throughout the literature are vitiated.

The concept of supply chain orientation (SCO) has been described in multiple ways in previous research. The purpose of this paper is to integrate previous descriptions and further develop the structural element of SCO including the areas of organizational design, human resources, information technology, and organizational measurement.

A literature review is used to identify previous descriptions of SCO and present a framework to more completely describe the concept.

SCO cannot be understood without incorporating both a firm's strategic intention to compete via supply chain capabilities and the firm's internal structural elements.

This is a conceptual study undertaken to develop a comprehensive framework incorporating SCO concepts. Although the framework is developed from the existing literature, further research is necessary to test the extended view of the concept.

The paper provides a template for understanding a firm's current SCO, and may be a useful roadmap for firms wishing to develop a greater SCO.

Little research has been published surrounding the concept of SCO. The paper integrates previous descriptions by incorporating both strategic and structural views, and by explaining the antecedent elements internal to the firm that are required to form a SCO.