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This research aims at the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) framework – How can cognitive traits for entrepreneurship be used by incubators and accelerators?

In this research the authors analyze the factors that catalyze the founding of new technology-based firms. From a practitioner stand-point, the GEM posits that these factors can be classified as contextual, social and individual factors. The present study focuses on the latter, looking into how demographic characteristics, possession of human capital and cognitive traits interrelate. The authors rely on a sample of 141 technological new ventures being incubated in Madrid, Spain, which is analyzed with the multilayer perceptron technique.

The results show that cognitive traits, as defined in the TPB, act as the “last mile” in the entrepreneurial decision process, while demographic and human capital factors appear to antecede them. These results are relevant for incubators and accelerators, which now gain a better, more complete understanding of success factors of their incubatees.

This research deals both with practitioners' view of entrepreneurship and with scientific literature, intertwining both with the purpose of providing valuable information for incubators and accelerators.

This article is based on the assumption that entrepreneurship improves quality of life (HDI). Its main objective is to establish causal relationships between entrepreneurship variables such as credits, innovation (R&D), business growth, foreign direct investment and the Global Competitiveness Index and how these have influenced a country's development.

To analyse and validate this assumption, relevant information has been extracted about Ecuador (the subject of the study) for the 1998–2017 period. The information has received the respective econometric treatment, through a multivariate estimation by the autoregressive vector (ARV) method that made it possible to establish impulse-response functions.

The results indicate that there is a significant and positive statistical impact between the variables related to entrepreneurship and quality of life (HDI), with the exception of “Innovation”, which is not representative in the model, demonstrating that the investment made at country level in R&D is not sufficient to have an impact on the HDI. It was also determined that promoting entrepreneurship would be useful as this would alter the trend of the variables, making them conducive to increasing the HDI.

This article is one of the few to address this issue. It includes the self-regressive vector model as a key methodology used to evaluate and establish public policies. RVM has provided positive results in the field of economics and can be adopted in the area of entrepreneurship.

El presente artículo se basa en el supuesto de que el emprendimiento mejora la calidad de vida de los individuos (IDH), siendo el objetivo principal establecer relaciones causales entre variables de emprendimiento como: Créditos, Innovación (I + D), Crecimiento Empresarial, Inversión Extranjera Directa e Índice de Competitividad Global; y, como estas han influido en el desarrollo de un país.

Para el análisis y validación del supuesto mencionado anteriormente, se ha extraído información relevante sobre el Ecuador (sujeto de estudio) para el período comprendido entre 1998 y 2017, a los cuales se les ha dado el respectivo tratamiento econométrico, a través de una estimación multivariante por el método de Vectores Autorregresivos (VAR) que permitió establecer funciones de impulso – respuesta.

Los resultados señalan que existe una significativa incidencia estadística entre las variables relacionadas con el emprendimiento y la calidad de vida (IDH) de manera positiva, a excepción de la “Innovación” que no tiene representatividad en el modelo, demostrando que la inversión realizada a nivel país en I + D es insuficiente para impactar el IDH. También se determinó la conveniencia de impulsar el emprendimiento, pues esto cambia la tendencia de las variables haciéndolas favorables para el crecimiento del IDH.

Este artículo es uno de los pocos en abordar esta problemática, además incluye el Modelo de Vectores Autorregresivos como una metodología clave para evaluar y establecer políticas públicas, que ha brindado resultados positivos en el campo de la Economía y que puede adoptarse en la rama del Emprendimiento.

This paper aims to address research gaps with regard to the relationship between market orientation and marketing performance when small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are located within a service cluster. The three main objectives of this research are to determine the effect that the cluster can have on both the market orientation of clustered companies and their marketing performance and to furthermore evaluate the effect of the market orientation of companies in the cluster on their marketing performance.

This research used executive-level data that were obtained by carrying out a survey involving a unique dataset of 133 Colombian health-related businesses located in the city of Cali (Colombia) in 2014. A system of equations was modeled using SMART PLS. This analysis was complemented by a qualitative study that involved conducting in-depth interviews in six companies.

The results showed that, among the SMEs, membership in an urban services cluster did not significantly influence marketing performance or the implementation of marketing orientation practices. No differences were observed in internal managerial practices implemented between companies that were co-located and isolated. However, a higher level of competitor orientation was associated with greater marketing performance. Given the verified absence of moderating and mediating effects, our work provides a reasonable basis for proposing future research and practical recommendations.

While research has demonstrated the relationship between a company's market orientation and marketing performance, this type of analysis has not been carried out on service SMEs in geographic concentrations or clusters.

本文旨在處理涉及市場導向與營銷績效間的關係的研究缺口. 當中小型企業處於服務群集內, 市場導向與其營銷績效間存在相互關係；本文旨在處理涉及這關係的研究缺口. 本研究有以下的主要目標：（1）找出群集對群集公司的市場導向及其營銷績效兩者的影響；（2）繼而評估在群集內公司的市場導向對其營銷績效的影響.

本研究使用透過進行一項調查而取得的管理階層數據，而這調查涉及於2014年位於卡利市（哥倫比亞）133間與健康衛生有關的哥倫比亞企業的獨特資料集。一個方程式體系透過使用SmartPLS被模擬出來. 這分析有個補充輔助，就是一個涉及在六間公司內進行的深層訪談的質性研究.

研究結果顯示，就有關的中小型企業而言，擁有城市服務群集身份並沒顯著地影響營銷績效或市場導向慣常做法的施行。對處於同一地點的公司，抑或是隔離的公司，其內部施行的管理慣常做法並沒觀察到有所不同。但是，高水平的競爭者導向與更佳的營銷績效兩者是相關的。考慮到調節及仲介效果被證實不存在，我們的研究為日後研究及實際建議的提出提供合理的基礎.

從前的研究證實了公司的市場導向與營銷績效是相關的，唯這類研究分析從來沒有在地理集中或群集內的服務中小型企業上進行過.

Due to the intense rivalry in the smartphone market, manufacturers of mobile phones are becoming increasingly interested in knowing the factors that influence consumers' purchase intention. This paper aims to examine the effect of country-of-origin image, brand image and attitude towards the brand on the purchase intention of smartphone users.

An empirical study was performed based on the information gathered from smartphone users. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was applied to examine the hypotheses.

The authors found that brand image and attitude towards the brand significantly influence consumer purchase intention. Additionally, there is an indirect effect even when the nation of origin image does not directly influence the consumer's purchase intention. Indeed, brand image and attitude towards the brand act as a mediator between the country-of-origin image and purchase intention.

This study presents a conceptual model on the impact of country-of-origin image on the propensity of consumers to buy smartphones in a field where little research has been done. The investigation offers a consumer-focused analysis regarding the country-of-origin image. This suggests a significant shift from the current strategy, which is frequently centered on the viewpoint of the companies.

While there have always been cultural differences between countries and between individuals, the virtualisation of markets is rendering the impact of these differences even more salient. There is clear evidence that cultural dimensions are relevant in the adoption and use of e-commerce. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the significant effects of individual cultural dimensions on perceived product quality, perceived risk and purchase intention in e-commerce platforms.

A questionnaire was developed to serve as a tool of measurement. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine whether all the indicators for the constructs are reliable. A multiple regression analysis was carried out to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that, in the case of e-commerce platforms, the cultural dimensions uncertainty-avoidance and collectivism exert a significant influence on perceived product quality, perceived risk and purchase intention.

The present study is based on real well-known e-commerce platforms which could have influenced the responses of the sample due to potential past experiences of use. An experimental design based on fictitious platforms could offer more objective findings.

This research contributes to the understanding of e-commerce and the behaviour of consumers during online purchasing, taking into account the cultural differences that may exist between them.

The literature on individual cultural dimensions – that is, non-national cases – and the variables analysed in the present study suffers from great limitations. This study complements a growing interest in analysing the individual cultural dimensions and their effects on the sphere of e-commerce, specifically on perceived product quality, purchase intention and perceived risk during browsing, measured in terms of the six types of risk prevalent in e-commerce platforms.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple heuristic model that provides diagnostic capabilities and prevention insights.

The paper brings together findings from previous research including injury statistics from several industries to illustrate that the model's predicted results can be found in practice. This is a conceptual paper that applies a simple heuristic model to existing data. The model leads to an equation with four parameters: a rate of improvement reflecting prevention, a rate of deterioration reflecting obsolescence and lapsing of procedures and practices, an intrinsic limit reflecting technological capability, and a “viscosity” that adds the impact of management system malfunction to the technological limits and normal delays.

The model says that, on the average, injury rates decrease with time if the rate of rejection is greater than the rate of mortality. If “r”<“m” injury rates increase exponentially with time, and drastic results can follow. When “r”=”m” the model produces a constant rate of failure that will continue until something is done to increase “r” or decrease “m”. A constant rate of failure means that an apparent safety limit has been reached. Unless this corresponds to the technological limit, a constant rate means that some preventable failures are recurring with regularity: they risk being accepted as “hazards of the job”. Stable periods may be normal, but they can lead to complacency.

The heuristic power of the model is evident in that parameters and insights from applying it can help define prevention activities to reduce the rate of injury and, by implication, to lengthen operational periods between consecutive injuries.

The drum model can help managers understand the separate but related effects of technology and management on injury rates. The model can be used to seek prevention possibilities hidden in the aggregate data, and it can help the manager to use period data to identify areas or groups in need of help.

This paper aims to investigate how global university rankings interact with quality and quality assurance in higher education along the two lines of investigation, that is, from the perspective of their relationship with the concept of quality (assurance) and the development of quality assurance policies in higher education, with particular emphasis on accreditation as the prevalent quality assurance approach.

The paper firstly conceptualises quality and quality assurance in higher education and critically examines the methodological construction of the four selected world university rankings and their references to “quality”. On this basis, it answers the two “how” questions: How is the concept of quality (assurance) in higher education perceived by world university rankings and how do they interact with quality assurance and accreditation policies in higher education? Answers are provided through the analysis of different documentary sources, such as academic literature, glossaries, international studies, institutional strategies and other documents, with particular focus on official websites of international ranking systems and individual higher education institutions, media announcements, and so on.

The paper argues that given their quantitative orientation, it is quite problematic to perceive world university rankings as a means of assessing or assuring the institutional quality. Like (international) accreditations, they may foster vertical differentiation of higher education systems and institutions. Because of their predominant accountability purpose, they cannot encourage improvements in the quality of higher education institutions.

Research results are beneficial to different higher education stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, institutional leadership, academics and students), as they offer them a comprehensive view on rankings’ ability to assess, assure or improve the quality in higher education.

The existing research focuses principally either on interactions of global university rankings with the concept of quality or with processes of quality assurance in higher education. The comprehensive and detailed analysis of their relationship with both concepts thus adds value to the prevailing scholarly debates.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the systematic relationships among dynamic capabilities in startups’ survival.

This study is based on a systematic literature review on dynamic capabilities related to startups’ survival, following the content analysis approach.

This study presents four different perspectives of analysis about dynamic capabilities from resources exchange and business factors that meet needs of startups' survival. It also points out new area for future research in this field. In doing so, this study differentiates itself by its approach not limiting dynamic capabilities research and enriching entrepreneurs' capability theory.

By indicating an evolution of dynamic capabilities theory among tangible and intangible resources exchange in a more favorable adaptation to startups growth, this study boosters and contributes to the society, economy in general and to the science of business management in various perspectives such as overcoming cognitive barriers, entrepreneur’s commitment, innovation capabilities and knowledge capacity of startups.

This study amplifies dynamic capabilities vision in startups’ survival as one of the main sources for growth in this type of organizations. It also develops a deeper understanding about new avenues for dynamic capabilities theory among tangible and intangible resources exchange.

Foreign markets possess different characteristics to domestic ones; this means that dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) should be adjusted. This paper aims to understand how these DMCs enable firms to achieve greater legitimacy in international markets.

This research uses a qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews in collaboration with an association of exporting firms.

Findings suggest five areas of DMCs to improve organizational legitimacy overseas: flexibility, relationship management, local market sensitivity, anticipation and exemplariness. Those capabilities should be combined and will play a different role depending on the implementation phase of the external company. Resource allocation and capability development should follow an integrative approach emphasizing proximity, adaptability, alliances, engagement and credibility to reach differentiation in foreign markets.

The originality is mainly focused on the cohabitation and strong synergies between DMCs and legitimacy. This aspect is particularly relevant because legitimized companies have higher levels of survival, which is fundamental in the international venture.

Traditional payment systems based on cash and bank cards are being replaced by new innovative formats. This research analyzes the success factors in the adoption by customers of Bizum, a peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payment system widely used in Spain. This study proposes a theoretical framework based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and includes the analysis of the moderating effect of perceived risk and the mediating effect of perceived trust.

To achieve the proposed objectives, an online questionnaire was administered to 701 Spanish smartphone users, potential users of the proposed P2P payment systems.

The results show that perceived usefulness is the most important predictor of intention to use. Additionally, a medium predictive relevance performance of the proposed model is found.

This research contributes to a more holistic understanding of the adoption of P2P payment systems and provides new business opportunities that companies can exploit through the use of this technology.

以現金和銀行卡為基礎的傳統支付系統、正被嶄新而又富創意的模式取代。本研究擬分析驅使消費者使用Bizum的成功因素 (Bizum 是一個在西班牙得到廣泛使用的P2P移動支付系統) 。本研究以刺激-有機體-反應模型為基礎, 建議了一個概念框架;研究亦擬分析感知風險的調節作用, 以及感知信任的中介效應。

為達研究目標, 研究人員處理了701名西班牙智慧型手機使用者回答的網上問卷, 這些使用者是本研究提出的P2P支付系統的潛在用戶。

研究結果顯示、感知有用性是消費者會否使用P2P支付系統最重要的預測因素。研究結果亦顯示、本研究建議的概念框架的預測能力水平屬中等。

本研究使我們對驅使消費者使用P2P支付系統的因素更全面地了解;研究也使企業可透過使用這技術, 為自己創造新的商機。