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In this paper the concept of knowledge production is used as a framework to study Dutch corporate universities. Knowledge production serves not simply as a desirable aim of corporate universities, as the concept also offers guidelines for the design of corporate universities. The purpose is to clarify the extent to which corporate universities fulfil this aim of knowledge production and the way they produce new knowledge.

From different theoretical perspectives 11 design characteristics have been extracted that help corporate universities to be knowledge‐productive. Two empirical studies were carried out to find out to what extent corporate universities meet those features required for knowledge production. The first study implies an exploration of opinions of key actors within 12 Dutch corporate universities, in which data were gathered through interviews and analysis of documents. The second study can be characterised as a case study of a concrete training practice within one corporate university. Data were gathered by interviews, evaluative questionnaires, and observation.

Results reveal that knowledge production is viewed as important, but that concrete measures to stimulate it are often absent. Moreover, corporate universities need to pay more attention to the working environment of their employees in order to achieve their own goals.

Analysing the corporate university from the perspective of knowledge production may stimulate corporate universities to rethink their own goals as well as their position within the organisation.

Every business can be described in terms of flows – both of materials and of information. Materials flow into the company, between activities within it, and in the form of finished goods and services from the company to its customers. Simultaneously, there are flows of information in the reverse direction that provide valuable data for the system: feedback from the marketplace in the form of customers’ orders, customer reaction, and information on needs and wants; flows of information within the company that provide data in the form of inventory schedules, production schedules, etc., and orders from the company to outside suppliers. In one sense the whole company and the market in which it operates can be regarded as a series of linkages and relationships, and the company’s operating efficiency can be seen to depend on how well these connections work. If the system can be made to flow smoothly, at minimum cost, then the chances are that the overall company performance, measured by any criteria, will be high. In practice, however, it is very common to find bottlenecks and poor integration between different parts of this system, with consequent unsatisfactory performance.

One of the biggest challenges in B2C e‐commerce is the so‐called “last mile”, the home delivery service for the customer. Particularly in electronic grocery shopping it is difficult to combine profitability and high service level. The authors’ simulations suggest that the unattended reception of goods reduce home delivery costs considerably, by up to 60 percent. Unattended delivery has not been widely used because it requires investments and commitment from the customer. The two main approaches to unattended delivery are the reception box concept and the delivery box concept. The reception box is a refrigerated, customer‐specific reception box installed at the customer’s garage or home yard. The delivery box is an insulated secured box equipped with a docking mechanism. The reception box concept results in more effective home delivery transportation and the delivery box concept in smaller investment to achieve unattended receipt. This article assesses these two different concepts. The cost savings in transportation are analysed using simulation. The operational cost savings are compared to the respective investments required to calculate the payback period. Both concepts proved to be feasible but which one works better is not only a question of financial justification. The possible additional value to customers and overall suitability to the market must also be considered.

The purpose of this study is to examine the branding strategies of SMEs from NIEs, juxtaposing the different strategies used to specifically target developed and developing countries with regard to brand-building approach, type and number of brands and degree of standardization.

A case-study approach is used. In-depth interviews are conducted with 10 Korean consumer-goods SMEs exporting their own in-house brands.

Clear differences emerge between the strategies of SMEs entering developed countries and those entering developing countries, particularly regarding brand identity development, use of foreign sales subsidiaries and number and types of brands used. The authors find an interaction effect between product characteristics and host market levels of economic development, both of which influenced the degree of product standardization.

This study is the first attempt to uncover the branding strategies of NIE consumer-goods SMEs. The findings contribute to the field by extending our understanding of branding strategies used by consumer-goods SMEs from NIEs, thereby providing useful insight for other NIE enterprises when establishing branding strategies aimed at foreign markets.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview about the Dutch fashion retailers' use of internet sites and the Dutch consumers' appreciation of apparel e‐tailing.

A selection of apparel chain stores was made with the criterion of having more than ten shops to investigate fashion retailers' sites. The sites were rated by the results of Google's search engines on name. Six categories about the content of the site were taken to measure completeness and the developmental stage of these web sites.

Retailer internet developments appear to be mainly complementary to their brick‐and‐mortar shop retail channel strategy. Of the interviewed consumers in The Netherlands 15 per cent had bought garments on the internet. Age and gender effects were not found. Inhibiting factors were security worries about payment, privacy and delivery, but the expected reasons such as fun, product information and fit, feel and look were less important.

Since factors that inhibit buying on the internet are mainly connected to internet technology and insecurity, the prediction of 25 per cent of the consumers buying garments on the internet is only justified if internet use and buying becomes more generally accepted by larger consumer groups.

Apparel internet sales by retailers is a significantly growing retail channel. To be successful, retailers should take five recommendations seriously.

This paper offers an overview of current apparel retail internet strategies and an analysis of consumer data about apparel buying. Results are interpreted to offer recommendations to apparel retailers in general.

Investigates religious discrimination (RD) and how this is difficult to contend with in the workplace with particular emphasis on the USA – as it has over 239 officially recognized sectors and approximately 1,300 unconventional groups alone! Gives examples of litigation between employee and employer and the courts’ verdicts. Shows that there are numerous factors involved in the upswing of RD cases in the USA, but to solve the complex problem the USA needs to define its stance regarding religion.

The concept of online shopping has been in vogue for the past two decades and is on the rise. Even developing countries like Pakistan are using electronic platforms to buy and sell goods and services, and the trend has been increasing ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the expectancy-disconfirmation theory, this study aims to test the e-service quality (E-SQ) and e-customer satisfaction (ECS) linkage with the mediating roles of functional values (FVs) and hedonic values (HVs).

The data have been collected from 298 customers of AliExpress and Daraz e-commerce platforms and analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM).

The results of the study showed a significant positive relationship between E-SQ and ECS and indirect linkage through FVs and HVs have also been established.

E-commerce platforms, particularly in Pakistan, should place a strong emphasis on FVs by providing accurate product details, user-friendly navigation, transparent pricing and streamlined transactions. Customers' trust and confidence will increase if they have a smooth and effective online purchasing experience. Customer satisfaction may be influenced by regular platform functionality and usability changes.

The use of functional and HVs is considered to be a novel factor in testing the relationship between E-SQ and ECS.

This study aims to examine the key antecedents influencing the private firm’s intention to adopt big data analytics (BDA) in developing economies. To do so, the study follows the sequential explanatory approach.

To test the hypothesized model that draws on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework paired with the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, a purposive sampling technique was applied to gather data from 156 IT and management domain experts from the private firms that intend to adopt BDA and operate in Pakistan’s service industry, including telecommunication, information technology, agriculture, and e-commerce. The data were analysed using the partial least squares structural equations modelling (PLS-SEM) technique and complemented with qualitative analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews in NVIVO 12 based on grounded theory.

The empirical findings revealed that the two constructs – perceived benefits and top management support – are the powerful drivers of a firm’s intention to adopt BDA in the private sector, whereas IT infrastructure, data quality, technological complexity and financial readiness, along with the moderators, BDA adoption of competitors and government policy and regulation, do not significantly influence the intention. In addition, the qualitative analysis validates and further complements the SEM findings.

Unlike the previous studies on technology adoption, this study proposed a unique research model with contextualized indicators to measure the constructs relevant to private firms, based on the TOE framework and DOI theory, to investigate the causal relationship between drivers and intention. Furthermore, the findings of PLS-SEM were complemented by qualitative analysis to validate the causation. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications.

Are we now entering the era of a new type of economy, with new rules? What we perceive is more than just an addition to today’s economics. By removing the effects of distance, and giving more equal access across nations and classes, networks will effectively reengineer our basic economic equations. Electronic networks can provide access to skills, work and commerce at much lower cost, via electronic markets in jobs, products, services and education. At the same time, they introduce new economic behaviour, as a large enough quantitative change becomes a qualitative change. Electronics and optics enable the networking of human capital, expanding its application and accelerating its enrichment via education. So knowledge‐based operations may slowly replace traditional capital‐based assets. Consequently, the conventional process for the creation of wealth with its prerequisites for capital investment is revised:economic value in traditional fixed assets is replaced by “electronic assets”. At the same time, the network effect pushes the market mechanism to its limits, through a step‐change in breadth of access, reduced costs of entry and pace of trading. National differences and national markets, all the trappings and devices of commercial locality, are challenged. In this first of two articles, the initial conditions and the evidence for change are examined and the emergence of a new form of economy, or “tele‐economy”, is reviewed. Following from this, a view of the form of capitalism driving the economic environment – “electronic capitalism” – is put forward. The second article, to be published in a forthcoming issue of foresight, examines the consequences and conclusions on assets, wealth accumulation, national players and the benefits and dangers of a tele‐economy.