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Like most industries that adopt a reactive manufacturing strategy, the clothing industry changes only when external forces dictate that the current approach or strategy will no longer satisfy the prevailing business environment. This paper presents a case study of the modular manufacturing system and discusses the underlying premises that support the success of modular manufacturing both in the formative stages and during sustained operation. A review of the known origins of modular manufacturing illustrates how this production system can be used to advantage for clothing manufacture. Modular is the apparel industry's attempt to optimise the social and technical components of a Sociotechnical System (STS). No single solution fits all products/tasks in fully optimising STS, given different technologies, environment and people, etc. Consistent with the requirements for STS, the authors have formed five conclusive statements regarding the characteristics of modular manufacturing for apparel.

Advances in artificial intelligence have ushered in new opportunities for marketers in the domain of content generation. We discuss approaches that have emerged to generate text and image content. Drawing on the customer equity framework, we then discuss the potential applications of automated content generation for customer acquisition, relationship development, and customer retention. We conclude by discussing important considerations that businesses must make prior to adopting automated content generation.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Three distinct, and interrelated, events led to this article. All three actually happened to me. The first was when a young man whom I had known vaguely as a neighborhood kid approached the reference desk where I was working in August, 1974. He said, “Do you have a book on pregnancy? I'm getting married Saturday, and I want to make sure that she takes care of herself.”

Various theoretical issues and debates were investigated in order to measure quantitatively social entrepreneurship (SE) activity (SEA), together with the different skills associated with successful SE in South Africa.

This was primarily an exploratory study, using factor analysis and inferential statistical testing, based on a surveyed sample of 287 respondents, undertaken to measure SEA and concomitant SE skills. Empirical findings were interrogated in the context of existing research and comparisons with established SEA rates were made.

The findings were modest, particularly about the number of active and future social entrepreneurs. Moreover the validity and reliability of the instrument used to measure skills was established, offering insights into SEA and the types of skills associated with SE.

The study is limited by being in the early stage of theoretical development on the SE construct. The interpretation of the empirical findings, understanding SE and the associated skills, may serve as catalyst for this emerging and important activity in SA.

SEA and skills were empirically measured for the first time. This initial South African investigation advances the topic to where it has much relevance.

Purpose – This chapter details the collaborative investigation of a neuroscientist and a literature scholar into whether reading literature increases empathy in health professionals, pre-health professionals and students outside of health care. It also reflects on the role of different epistemologies that inform researchers’ approaches, and muses on how ethnicity, sexual orientation and class inform research and teaching

Methodology/Approach – Students watched or read Margaret Edson’s play W;t and were asked if the medical drama increased their sense of appropriate empathy in medical encounters. The original research employed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, electromyography and galvanic skin response to measure physiological markers of empathy. These results were then compared to the self-reflection of participants to determine whether or not the physiological responses mirrored the self-report. The reflections on how emotion impacted the research were primarily narrative essay-based accompanied by feminist other literary theories.

Findings – All participants in the original study reported an increase in empathy after reading or viewing the play. This affect was even stronger when they viewed a live performance. The researchers determined that the role that their ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and class needed further study, perhaps with different pieces of literature.

Originality/Value – This chapter reflects the interdisciplinary and epistemological challenges of two researchers from very different backgrounds and training and investigates the relationship between reading, physiological empathy and perceptions of empathy. It considers the difficult and controversial challenges to quantifying emotions and the role emotions play in academic collaboration.

Theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been used to study the impact of entrepreneurial education (EE) on entrepreneurial intention (EI) for more than 20 years, yet an intensive literature review reveals that there are gaps in both the conceptual models and the research methods. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of EE on EI with a view to address the gaps in previous research.

This research proposes a conceptual model that links the entire antecedent variables of TPB and the elaborated four components of entrepreneurship education (Why, What, How, and Who). The model is tested by a structural equation modeling with the empirical data from 200 engineering students from three universities in Hong Kong.

The empirical test reveals that the four components of entrepreneurial education do influence attitude, social norm, self-efficacy, and EI, correspondingly. Additionally, it also reveals that the four EE components and the three TPB antecedent variables are also interrelated with each other.

This study bridges specific education components and EI, providing significant insight into how the key components influence the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of students. It fills the gap in the knowledge required for fostering EI through entrepreneurship education. It not only answers the question on whether EE influences EI but also on how to nurture the intention by designing a relevant EE course.

Scholars researching entrepreneurship argue that the distinct characteristics of social entrepreneurs, together with the particular category of opportunities they pursue, invite us to further understand social entrepreneurship (SE) as a distinct field of investigation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunity recognition behaviour of social entrepreneurs and closely related unique attributes of empathy, moral judgement (MRJ) and self-efficacy, in an emerging market African context.

A survey was administered to social entrepreneurs across two of the largest provinces in South Africa, namely Cape Town and Gauteng. Hypotheses were statistically tested using correlational analysis and hierarchical regression with mediation effects.

Results reveal that social entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) plays a significant mediating effect in the relationship between MRJ and social opportunity recognition. Moreover, perceived MRJ and social ESE act as important determinants of increased social opportunity recognition.

This study has brought to attention the relevance of opportunity recognition to social entrepreneurs, while recognising their distinctive features in terms of empathy and MRJ. While self-efficacy and opportunity recognition are relatively well established in the traditional entrepreneurship literature, this study extends the reach of these variables into the SE domain.