Search results

Small retail stores in the luxury market face significant challenges due to fluctuations in market demand. This task turns challenging as it requires effectively coordinating and translating customer needs into specific requirements that align with retail goals and available resources. However, limited empirical research exists investigating how managers can address service value and quality attributes in small retail stores. This article aims to bridge this gap by investigating the role of quality function deployment (QFD) in improving market and quality requirements management in small retail stores.

Based on the case study, a customer survey was initially conducted to gather information on critical characteristics valued in the luxury retail segment. QFD was used to assist the company in identifying and prioritizing key quality attributes to meet customer requirements effectively.

The findings demonstrate that implementing QFD in small luxury retail stores empowers managers to identify previously neglected product and service quality aspects. The article shows that QFD informs organizational adaptations that align with the demands of the retail market, leading to an improved ability to meet customer expectations and enhance customer value through the development of enhanced products and services. The study showcases the efficacy of the tested methodology in effectively capturing and prioritizing both tangible and intangible customer needs in retail.

Findings offer valuable insights to retail managers of small luxury stores, providing actionable market-oriented strategies. By implementing the recommended practices, managers can improve the store’s competitiveness and better cater to the customer base.

This study contributes to bridging persistent knowledge gaps by addressing the unique context of small luxury retail stores and introducing the application of QFD in this setting. The insights gained from this research are relevant to both retailing and quality management literature. Considering the growing prevalence of transformations in the retail industry, the study provides practical implications for retail managers in effectively navigating these changes.

Patriotism is often described as the “love of country” that individuals display in the acclamation of their national community. Despite the prominence of this sentiment in various societies around the world, organizational research on patriotism is largely absent. This omission is surprising because entrepreneurs, human resource (HR) divisions, and firms frequently embrace both patriotism and patriotic organizational practices. These procedures include (among other interventions) national symbol embracing, HR practices targeted toward military members and first responders, the adulation of patriots and celebration of patriotic events, and patriotic-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR). Here, the authors argue that research on HR management and organization studies will likely be further enhanced with a deeper understanding of the national obligation that can spur employee productivity and loyalty. In an attempt to jumpstart the collective understanding of this phenomenon, the authors explore the antecedents of patriotic organizational practices, namely, the effects of founder orientation, employee dispersion, and firm strategy. It is suggested that HR practices such as these lead to a patriotic organizational image, which in turn impacts investor, customer, and employee responses. Notably, the effect of a patriotic organizational image on firm-related outcomes is largely contingent on how it fits with the patriotic views of other stakeholders, such as investors, customers, and employees. After outlining this model, the authors then present a thought experiment of how this model may appear in action. The authors then discuss ways the field can move forward in studying patriotism in HR management and organizational contexts by outlining several future directions that span multiple levels (i.e., micro and macro). Taken together, in this chapter, the authors introduce a conversation of something quite prevalent and largely unheeded – the patriotic organization.

The case study aims to help students/learners to analyse the role of perception and its linkage to an entrepreneur’s decision-making process in setting up a social entrepreneurship venture during the COVID-19 pandemic without any prior entrepreneurial experience; understand the definition and meaning of social enterprises based on concepts/theories of social entrepreneurship; identify if AgriVijay fits the outline of a social enterprise based on its vision, challenges faced and journey as an agriculture-based technology-oriented social venture (AgTech SE); and outline the future path of AgriVijay as an independent business (post its incubation support period) using suitable strategy and funding models related to for-profit social enterprises.

This case study details the fascinating journey of a social AgTech venture – AgriVijay – through the perspectives of the protagonist Vimal Panjwani, a budding agri-business entrepreneur. Fuelled by a desire to empower the farming communities, Panjwani with the support of his dynamic mother, Shobha Chanchlani, embarked on the challenging task of crafting a business model that sought to merge community welfare with profitable enterprise. The case study illuminates the protagonist's background, revealing Panjwani’s motivations, risk-taking tendencies and the pivotal role played by his co-partner and mother, Chanchlani. It also highlights the challenges encountered by the protagonist in setting up a technology-based social entrepreneurship venture along with its success in making a social impact across marginalised farming communities. Through all this, the case study also highlights the major dilemma of the protagonist – that of continuing to balance AgriVijay’s core mission of “empowering the farmers” with profitability and long-term growth beyond its limited incubation support period, and his own dilemma of venturing into a social enterprise as a start-up venture without any prior entrepreneurial experience. The case study through its narrative encourages the readers/learners to understand the evolving dynamics of a nascent social entrepreneurial venture in a developing economy and how such a balanced model can actually be the harbinger of social impact and change in similar economies with large rural farming and marginalised communities.

The case study is most suitable for postgraduate management, weekend executive learning or distance learning students in agri business, sustainable business, social entrepreneurship and allied management domains. It can be used for teaching and learning topics related to entrepreneurship, new venture strategy, leadership and motivation, with a specific focus on agriculture business, agricultural entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and sustainable ventures.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Calculating an organization's carbon footprint is crucial for assessing and implementing emission reductions. Although Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) aim for carbon neutrality by 2030, limited research exists on plans to reach a similar target in any country. This paper aims to address the shared and individual challenges Finnish HEIs have with carbon footprint calculations, reductions, resources and offsetting.

A survey was targeted to sustainability experts in all 38 HEIs in Finland to identify key patterns and trends in the focus fields of the study. SWOT analysis was used to classify main strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, based on which a series of policy recommendations was drafted.

Finnish HEIs are committed to carbon footprint tracking (97%, annually by 87%). The lack of standardization and the number of external stakeholders complicate accounting indirect emissions, impeding comparability and reliability. Only 39% had set separate emission reduction targets, suggesting a preference for carbon footprint over other environmental impact indicators. Insufficient monetary and human resources emerged in 23% of institutions, especially those smaller in size. Only 52% had clear offsetting plans, with shared concerns over trust and responsibility.

By including both research universities and universities of applied sciences, the findings provide an unprecedented outlook into the entire Finnish HEI sector. The policy recommendations guide HEIs both locally and globally on how to improve their transparency and scientific integrity, reflect on core successes and weaknesses and how they complete their objectives of education, research and social impact while promoting stronger sustainability.

In contrast to other Chinese sports, which attract enormous commercial interests and relates to a kind of political kudos and ideological significance, Chinese baseball represents a singular case for the author to investigate the way in which China responds to sport globalisation due to its peripheral position in, and limited resource from, the domestic sport system and powerful stakeholders from the global society. The study examines the development of Chinese baseball and its interplay with the global sport giants and international events (i.e. the Olympic Games and the Major League Baseball [MLB]). Given the influence of sport globalisation, the author also identifies the consistent dominance of Chinese sport authorities and the spectrum of local stakeholders' reaction towards globalisation. The chapter ends with a discussion of the relationship between marginal position of Chinese baseball in the local sport system and the rationale of its response to sport globalisation.