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This paper seeks to shed light on the challenges and opportunities demographic transitions bring about to the banking sector. Increasing life expectancy, coupled with an increasing old age dependency ratio has implications for the demand for financial services. This opens a window of opportunity for the banking sector to adjust its services so as to meet these changes and reap the benefit of demographic changes.

The paper uses demographic forecasts made by the United Nations Population Division, to which are applied established economic models on life cycle behaviour. Based on the findings, light is shed on potential scenarios that banks may encounter.

The life cycle models predict a higher overall asset accumulation level and a higher savings level, at least initially, in an ageing population. Other life cycle behaviour models point out that individuals' risk aversion increases with age, while evidence shows that population ageing exposes individuals to greater risks. This increases the need for households to appropriately diversify and manage the risks they face, and encourages the development of products that are better tailored to these growing needs.

The paper proposes that banks can contribute to creating financial stability. Banks can participate in financial education and consequently increase households' motivation to save more and in better ways. Consumer demand encountered by banks is shifting from credit products to savings products. The investment packages currently offered by banks need to adapt to changing needs: combined annuity and life insurance packages are one option.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptually develop the understanding of co‐opetition dynamics and to enhance the conceptual clarity of co‐opetition by developing a definition based on previous research efforts.

This conceptual paper integrates various approaches to the concept co‐opetition into a definition that holds for co‐opetitive interactions across multiple levels. Different co‐opetitive interactions and the resulting dynamics are discussed by drawing upon competition and cooperation theories. The paper concludes with an agenda for further research on co‐opetition dynamics.

The paper outlines how different types of co‐opetitive interactions result in archetypical situations where the dynamics of co‐opetition are present as well as where the dynamics of co‐opetition are missing due to a lack of balance between cooperation and competition. It notes four co‐opetitive forces: over‐embedding, distancing, confronting, and colluding. These four forces drive development towards situations without dynamics.

This paper provides a conceptual understanding of co‐opetition dynamics and will reveal that in order to adequately account for co‐opetition dynamics, a definition of co‐opetition must analytically separate the cooperative and the competitive interaction inherent in co‐opetition.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the selection of decision-making approaches at manufacturing companies when implementing process innovations.

This study reviews the current understanding of decision structuredness for determining a decision-making approach and conducts a case study based on an interactive research approach at a global manufacturer.

The findings show the correspondence of intuitive, normative and combined intuitive and normative decision-making approaches in relation to varying degrees of equivocality and analyzability. Accordingly, the conditions for determining a decision-making choice when implementing process innovations are revealed.

This study contributes to increased understanding of the combined use of intuitive and normative decision making in production system design.

Empirical data are drawn from two projects in the heavy-vehicle industry. The study describes decisions, from start to finish, and the corresponding decision-making approaches when implementing process innovations. These findings are of value to staff responsible for the design of production systems.

Unlike prior conceptual studies, this study considers normative, intuitive and combined intuitive and normative decision making. In addition, this study extends the current understanding of decision structuredness and discloses the correspondence of decision-making approaches to varying degrees of equivocality and analyzability.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrative model of foreign market learning, including different learning processes, antecedents and outcomes.

The paper makes a critical review of the relevant literature, drawing on a keywords-based search of three major databases and a range of other published work for a broader perspective on the subject.

The resulting integrative model shows in a number of ways how companies can learn and benefit from differences in foreign markets and what results this can lead to.

The sample of subject-specific contributions to the literature may have been insufficient, and a wider selection of keywords to identify them might have captured a richer variety of concepts and opinions.

The integrative model contributes to the literature on foreign market learning and innovation and serves as a basis for future studies and current management strategy.

The complexity of customer relationships has been recognized in the relationship marketing literature. Yet, the understanding of how this complexity impacts on the formation and development of different relationship forms is limited. Focusing on the development of customer‐service provider relationships in a financial services context, this paper aims to critically examine the nature and formation of business‐to‐consumer service relationships.

Qualitative methods were employed, with in‐depth interviews undertaken with a sample of UK bank customers.

The complexity of customer relationships was documented by approaching relationships as multidimensional, dynamic and contextual. A relationship typology based on four key relationship components (trust, commitment, buyer‐seller bonds, and relationship benefits) is proposed. This typology suggests that for a relationship to exist it does not necessarily have to encompass an emotional dimension. Moreover, the paper demonstrates the importance of the fit between customers' relational expectations and their experiences with service providers in developing long‐term committed relationships.

The study was limited to the UK context. The extension of this study to other sectors or financial institutions operating in different regulatory and technological environments needs to be tested.

It is crucial that relationships are viewed as multidimensional, taking into account various relationship components. Since different relationship components influence relationships differently, organisations need to develop different relationship marketing strategies for each consumer segment according to consumers' relational expectations.

Building on preceding research, this paper broadens understanding of the complexity of customer‐firm relationships by presenting insight into the affective element of relationships and highlighting the role of the fit between customers' relational expectations and their experiences in relationship development.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether banks are needed as partners for internationalising small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and, if so, in what ways they affect SMEs. The purpose can, in a wider sense, shed light on institutions' intermediating functions for transactions in the economy, both locally and internationally.

A questionnaire was distributed to Swedish SMEs involved in international activities. A sample of 318 SMEs was used. The results are presented as descriptive statistics and by using t‐tests.

The findings show that banks are the least used source of information for internationalising SMEs. The results also show that banks do not participate in SME business networks when SMEs are internationalising. SMEs that have been dependent on banks when developing their international business relationships, however, tend to have previously depended on the bank when conducting business.

It is believed there is much to be gained, both for SMEs and banks, in developing their business exchange and reciprocal understanding. The bank can make SME international operations and financial situations flow more efficiently. This in turn may improve SME growth, thus creating more business opportunities between banks and SMEs.

The study fills a gap in the literature and knowledge concerning banks' effects on SMEs' internationalisation.

The aim of this paper is to lay out some of the more complex issues arising in the area of publication ethics. The impact of electronic publishing and electronic information is a main focus of the paper.

The paper draws in particular upon the work of the Committee on Publication Ethics including illustrative cases discussed at the forum, guidelines and discussion documents.

Three areas are highlighted to stimulate discussion around challenges of publication ethics in the digital era. These are the role of the internet in facilitating misconduct, the issue of confidentiality in publishing and how incentives in research assessments drive author behavior.

The paper brings together a variety of issues discussed under the broader umbrella of electronic information and new technologies in publishing.

Parent–child relationships formed in early childhood have profound implications for a child’s development and serve as a determinant for bio-social outcomes in adulthood. Positive parenting behaviors play a strong role in this development and are especially impactful during times of crisis because they buffer stressors that may lead to externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Children of forced migrants experience numerous extreme stressors and their parents may struggle with parenting due to their own adjustment and trauma histories. The purpose of this study is to understand how these parents conceptualize their struggles with parenting upon resettlement.

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 migrant parents from three communities (Afghan, Burmese and Congolese) to understand their parenting experiences. The authors applied thematic text analysis to analyze the data.

The authors identified four interrelated themes on parenting challenges across responses: adjustment to a new culture, acculturation differences, fear for children and balancing multiple responsibilities. The findings demonstrate that parents of different cultural backgrounds share certain experiences when negotiating a new cultural identity after resettlement. Providing educational programs that focus on these concerns may result in better outcomes for both parent and child.

These findings extend and reinforce the existing literature on parenting in a new context. While the parents in this research come from different cultures, they share certain experiences that are important to consider when developing parenting programs, social services and other interventions, such as what may be negotiable and nonnegotiable practices for parents of different cultures.

Despite the perfect nutritional value of imperfect “ugly” produce, they are either never harvested or discarded, resulting in escalating farm-to-fork food waste problems in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to investigate US consumers’ perceptions of imperfect “ugly” produce and their willingness to purchase and consume these foods in their households.

Four focus group sessions with at least five voluntary participants per session were conducted. Each session used structured interview questions and the discussions were led by the same moderator. All sessions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed based on published focus group guidelines and recommendations.

The research study has revealed two categories of potential consumers, Influencers and Learners, when it comes to an initial understanding of “ugly” produce consumption. The study also identified nine themes (i.e. food safety, price sensitivity, location of sale, product display, name/label, purpose of use, fun, targeted education and food waste) that consumers hold regarding imperfect “ugly” produce.

Insights from this study provide strategies for sustainable food management that could help stakeholders along all points of the food chain save money, reduce hunger and diminish food waste in our communities.

This study serves to provide preliminary insights in approaching the issue of consumers’ perception of imperfect “ugly” fruits and vegetables from a research perspective. Although a limited number of real consumers from the local community participated, their rich and in-depth qualitative responses defined the scope and the defining questions that need further exploration.