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1 – 7 of 7The conceptualization of the Base of Pyramid (BOP) proposes that low-income markets can lead to profitable opportunities for businesses. The purpose of this study is to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
The conceptualization of the Base of Pyramid (BOP) proposes that low-income markets can lead to profitable opportunities for businesses. The purpose of this study is to identify key success factors of a BOP business strategy based on a case study of the discount retailer, Dollar General, in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design used in this research is an in-depth case study of Dollar General in the USA. Qualitative methods are applied in both the primary and secondary data collection and during the follow-on data analysis of Dollar General.
Findings
Dollar General’s strategic profile is achieved through the combination of the following four actions which are tailored to compete effectively at the BOP in the USA: creating the neighborhood discounter, raising aspirational appeal, reducing service and eliminating internationalization.
Research limitations/implications
The case is specific to Dollar General in a US cultural context.
Practical implications
The case of Dollar General demonstrates how a discounter retailer should not only follow a low-cost strategy to compete at the BOP. Its ability to craft a distinctive strategy is coherent with meeting the logistical, rational and emotional needs of the low-income consumer in the USA.
Social implications
Many businesses have neglected rural areas of the USA as being unprofitable. The ability for businesses such as Dollar General to serve the BOP segment can foster the socio-economic well-being of communities.
Originality/value
The overwhelming body of the BOP literature is based on emerging markets. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies to investigate BOP business strategy in the USA.
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Vera Pedragosa, Rui Biscaia, Michael E. Naylor, David P. Hedlund and Geoff Dickson
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of member identity and its dimensions of power, urgency, external legitimacy, internal legitimacy and interest, on satisfaction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of member identity and its dimensions of power, urgency, external legitimacy, internal legitimacy and interest, on satisfaction and behavioural intentions in fitness centres.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies were designed. In Study 1, data were collected from fitness centre members (n = 225) and structural equation modelling used to examine the dimensions of fitness centre member identity and its subsequent effect on satisfaction and behavioural intentions. In Study 2, interviews exploring member identity were conducted with members (n = 9) and managers (n = 7) and a content analysis contrasted their perceptions of power, urgency, internal legitimacy, external legitimacy and interest.
Findings
The results of Study 1 support the multidimensional construct of member identity and its positive influence on both satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Satisfaction mediated the relationship between member identity and behavioural intentions. In Study 2, managers and members expressed similar perceptions of the member identity dimensions: low power; urgency is issue-dependent; external legitimacy is recognized; members are perceived as legitimate; and most members exhibit high interest in their membership.
Originality/value
This study provides a deeper understanding of how member identity contributes to long-term relationships between members and fitness centres. It extends the body of consumer behaviour literature in the context of fitness centres.
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Sharon Xin Ying Ong and Natalia Vila-Lopez
Marketing scholars have begun to look at negative emotions that young consumers could develop toward brands, such as brand hate. Brand hate has experienced exponential growth…
Abstract
Purpose
Marketing scholars have begun to look at negative emotions that young consumers could develop toward brands, such as brand hate. Brand hate has experienced exponential growth during the past decades in the cosmetic industry. In this frame, the purpose of this paper is to identify the weight of each of the five key drivers of brand hate and to analyze if these weights are the same (or not) for drugstore and luxury make-up brands regarding.
Design/methodology/approach
To carry on this paper, brand haters in the make-up industry were contacted with the help of cosmetic influencers. Participants of the online questionnaire (N = 162) were existing young makeup consumers. They were divided into drugstore and luxury makeup brand haters by classifying their identified hated brands into either group.
Findings
The authors’ results showed, first, that experiential, identity, moral, deficit-value and advertising avoidance all had a positive effect on brand hate, being identity avoidance the strongest one. Second, drugstore and luxury makeup brand haters do not differ, as far as no differences were identified in the strength of each avoidance type on brand hate.
Originality/value
There is a gap in the literature related to the absence of work investigating brand hate in the make-up industry; moreover, studies measure whether brand hate drivers are the same (or not) for luxury brands and drugstore brands that compete in the same arena. In this framework, this research will provide a specific industry context involving young consumer opinions. Research into consumer–brand relationships has been largely focused on the positive forms, while the negative forms are still a relatively newer area of academic interest. Even more, brand hate has been investigated from a multidimensional approach linking proposals from different authors has been tested.
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Oliver William Jones, David Devins and Greg Barnes
The paper is a proof of concept (PoC) intervention study aimed for developing performance management (PM) practices in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper is a proof of concept (PoC) intervention study aimed for developing performance management (PM) practices in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the longer-term aim enabling the SMEs to improve their productivity. The intervention was designed and deployed by a collaborative quartet of academics, management consultants, accountancy firm and a commercial bank manager.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper firstly musters a set of initialising PM practices aligned to productivity improvement. These are utilised to design a knowledge transfer intervention for deployment with a set of manufacturing SMEs incorporating some associated productivity tools. The evaluation of the intervention utilised a case study approach founded on a logic model of the intervention to assess the development of the PM practices.
Findings
The intervention contributed to a partial development of the mustered practices and the productivity diagnostic based on the multi-factor productivity (MFP) abstraction and a data extraction protocol had the strongest impact. The study revealed the importance of the three interlaced factors: Depth of engagement, feedback opportunities and the intervention gradient (the increase of independent action from the participating SME's and the diminishment of the external intervention effort).
Research limitations/implications
The case study is based on a limited number of individual SME's, and within just the manufacturing sector.
Practical implications
SME businesses will require a more sustained programme of interventions than this pilot to develop PM capability, and depth of engagement within the SME is critical. Professional stakeholders can be utilised in recruitment of firms for intervention programmes. Business can start developing PM capability prior to PMS implementation using the tools from this programme.
Originality/value
The productivity diagnostic tool, based on a synthesis of MFP and the performance pyramid, an array of potential initialising practices for PM capability and discovery of potential mechanisms for PM practice development.
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Abdulrazaq Kayode AbdulKareem, Kazeem Adebayo Oladimeji, Abdulrasaq Ajadi Ishola, Muhammed Lawan Bello, Abubakar Yaru Umar and Abdulhakeem Adejumo
This study examines the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) for e-recruitment and its impacts on public value outcomes.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) for e-recruitment and its impacts on public value outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted with 213 public sector employees in the federal civil service using a questionnaire to test a conceptual model integrating the Technology Acceptance Model, Media Richness Theory and Public Value Theory using PLS-SEM analysis.
Findings
Results validate significant positive relationships between ICT adoption, social media use for e-recruitment and public value creation. Internet self-efficacy positively moderates public value outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
While this study makes valuable contributions, avenues remain to further expand generalizability, strengthen validity and incorporate additional institutional factors in the framework.
Practical implications
The study provides insights to guide policies and interventions aimed at improving ICT adoption success and public value gains from e-government investments in developing countries.
Originality/value
The research makes key contributions by operationalizing and empirically assessing the public value impacts of e-government innovations and examining adoption issues in an understudied developing country context.
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Gracia Rubio Martín, Conrado M. Miguel García, Francisco José González Sánchez and Álvaro Féliz Navarrete
The aim of this work is to explain the final negotiated prices for some of the most famous transfers of football players over the last twelve years (2007–2018).
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this work is to explain the final negotiated prices for some of the most famous transfers of football players over the last twelve years (2007–2018).
Design/methodology/approach
The article analyses different values for forwards taken from the sports website Transfermarkt, developing a statistical model based on personal, performance, risk, environmental and popularity variables. From those values, the article finds an explanation for the final prices paid for 20 superstar players based on a combination of real option valuations, incorporating the players' life cycles and game theory.
Findings
The authors find that in a large percentage (70%) of the analysed cases, the price paid was higher than the intrinsic market value resulting from Transfermarkt, implying the existence of monopolistic rents, paid as “growth options” on prices from different negotiating conditions. On occasions, the final prices also exceed the value of the growth option, calculated under neutral bargaining conditions, highlighting the lack of economic viability of important transfers, leading to financial difficulties for the clubs involved.
Originality/value
The algorithm provides more flexibility and realism than previous proposals, based on the life cycle of football players, introducing the uncertainty and volatility of projections through Monte Carlo simulation, the capacity of clubs to bargain a price at any point of the contract and finally, the buyer's ability to transfer the player if his subsequent performance is not as expected.
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Jonas Fasth and Stefan Tengblad
This paper investigates the ways managing directors (MDs) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involve employees in strategic conversations. The paper examines how…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the ways managing directors (MDs) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involve employees in strategic conversations. The paper examines how managers interact with employees in strategic conversations, and why the managers do so (or do not), to generate empirically grounded knowledge about the nature of internal openness in SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a general inductive approach and is based on in-depth interviews with 60 Swedish MDs with development and growth ambitions.
Findings
The paper develops a model of employee involvement in strategic conversations based on the nature and intensity of the MD–employee interaction. A key finding is that SMEs exhibit wide variation in terms of employee involvement, from virtually no employee involvement to, in some cases, far-reaching company democracy. The reasons for this variation are complex, but personal preferences and company size are shown to have an impact, as does, to some degree, ownership structure. In contrast to existing research, the limitations and drawbacks of involving employees in strategic conversations are outlined.
Originality/value
The study provides important insight into MDs' views and practices of internal openness in strategic conversations in SMEs. A model of employee involvement in strategic processes is outlined, and potential limitations of internal openness are highlighted.
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