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Given the complexity of a post-conflict environment, the restaurant sector needs to be analyzed not just from the economic perspective. This paper aims to identify the diverse macroenvironmental and managerial factors underlying restaurant failures in Lebanon. The authors hope that this effort may help increasing restaurant success rates in other post-conflict settings.

The aim of this paper is to explain how macroenvironmental pressures influence the restaurant business and which managerial factors are most critical in a post-conflict context. The authors adopted a qualitative method by conducting face-to-face, semi-structured interviews.

The findings show that restaurant failures in a competitive and uncertain post-conflict environment were caused mainly by a snowball of internal organizational factors related to bad management, poor human resource management policies, inefficiency and fraud. Internal organizational factors can all be associated with human mistakes and bad decisions, including excessive initial investment, expensive decoration, inability to manage monthly expenses, bad communication and market research.

This study contributes to the literature regarding restaurant failures in post-conflict regions and presents results that are expected to help managers in family- and non-family-owned businesses to enhance their decision-making process.

The article explores how servitization influences firms' foreign market entry mode decisions. This relationship is researched under the contingent effect of macroenvironmental factors in the host country, namely, market attractiveness, institutional environment and national culture differences between the home and host country.

The study employs a conceptual framework typology that interrelates, contextualizes and conceptualizes extant knowledge to develop explicit propositions.

Based on the extant literature, using a 2 × 2 matrix, the authors delineate the influence of two dimensions of servitization on entry mode decisions: customer relationship focus and digitalization focus. They conceptualize that relationship management and digitalization-based servitization have an antagonistic effect on the need for entry mode resource commitments, and macroenvironmental factors' favorability moderates this tension.

The study extends and incorporates the servitization literature into the context of international marketing by exploring the combined effect of the two most significant dimensions of servitization, i.e. investment in customer relations versus investment in digitalization on entry mode, thus delivering valuable new insights and perspectives, as well as explicit propositions toward empirical testing.

The authors’ framework increases foreign market managers' awareness of how servitization drives entry mode decisions of firms in international markets. Also, the framework explicates how the host country's market attractiveness, institutional environment and difference with the home country's national culture tangibly influence the relationship.

The study provides novel insights into the implications of servitization on international marketing, particularly regarding foreign market entry mode. The study also elucidates the combined effect of two servitization dimensions, i.e. customer relations and digitalization – a critical research area in which the literature is scant.

This article aims to describe a qualitative, exploratory study with the objective of developing scenarios for the road freight transport industry in Brazil and evaluating the effectiveness of the method applied, which used the stakeholders of said industry as a means to identify the variables of the scenarios.

According to the classification scheme developed by Huss and Honton, the authors' method fits into the intuitive logics approach to scenarios, employing concepts of stakeholder analysis as proposed by Freeman. Primary data collection was conducted through key informant interviews, as outlined by Fetterman. The use of the method of intuitive logics combined with the stakeholder analysis evaluates the consistency of experts' opinions on the characteristics of stakeholders. Four environmental scenarios, distinct but equally plausible, were generated for the road freight transport industry as it was felt that more than four scenarios tends to be too complex.

The method applied produced scenarios distinctive enough to classify them as contrasting, accounting for macroenvironmental variables and variables determined by influential stakeholders in the analyzed industry. Organized and connected, these variables produced precise end states that warrant consideration in the policies and strategies of industry players. The characteristics of the scenarios produced reveal that the method was effective. The authors found the most influential stakeholders in the industry to be the government, shipping clients, end consumers, logistics service providers, and trade associations. The industry's main uncertainties are tied to how the actions of government, shippers, and logistics service providers will unfold.

Some limitations could be identified in the method. One refers to the absence of procedures to govern the chronology of events at the time of preparation of scenario plots. Another shortcoming is the third and final stage of the research; the authors observed some weakness in the method when defining a variable that is independent because it can be independent of the variables selected for the last step but dependent on others considered but not selected.

The results of the study can stimulate reflection of stakeholders on factors that will affect their decision making, stimulate understanding of the conditions for sustainability of the industry, and identify business opportunities and necessary strategic resources for the success of organizations in the future.

The transport industry plays a vital role in factors that are paramount for the economical development of a country, such as exploration of resources and mass production, and, in Brazil, road freight transport is of particular importance. The research can guide public policy in regulating and investing in industry, since the plots facilitate the understanding of the consequences of causal relationships as well as the final states resulting from these. The scenarios reveal causal relationships strongly influenced by the stakeholder “government”, especially regarding investment in infrastructure, regulation and supervision of the industry.

Application of the method proposed by Boaventura and Fischmann to the road freight transport industry generated distinct, but equally plausible scenarios. The method considered the key uncertainties as dichotomous variables. The scenarios were different since combinations of final states of the key uncertainties led to a different logic or rationale. The authors may state that this particular application contributed towards improvement of the method, as it tested the method's logic when applied to a complex environment influenced by many stakeholders.

This study aims to explore possible behavioural change venues, beyond the traditional approach to financial education, using the capability-opportunity-motivation behaviour theoretical framework of behavioural change.

The study included 45, semi-structured, in-depth interviews of young adults to explore which elements of financial behaviour formation should interventions target to be effective.

To strengthen capability, the study recommends behavioural education and training for boosting financial knowledge and skills, enablement of financial independence and modelling for empowering self-control and reducing impulsiveness. To boost motivation, gamification of modelling is advised for boosting responsible financial behaviour as part of the identity and inducing consideration of future consequences. Persuasion is advised for inducing positive emotions while incentivization and coercion are advised for empowering self-conscious intentions. To rise opportunity, the study proposes incentivization and coercion imposed by parents, and governmental efforts regarding restriction, enablement and environmental restructuring.

The study brings recommendations for developing efficient interventions for strengthening responsible financial behaviour that may help design type-specific education programmes to promote responsible financial behaviour.

The present study attempts to explore new venues in intervention design that break away from the traditional approach of financial education focused on knowledge and skills that is proven to be ineffective

Using munificence, real options and ambidexterity theories, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the differential between home and host market environmental conditions affects US international franchising expansion.

The authors used firm-level panel data for 151 US-based franchising firms, from Bond’s Guide for Franchise Opportunities, for the years 1994-2008 plus macroeconomic data on the environment, to explain the probability of franchising.

The paper finds that the differential in economic growth and economic uncertainty impacts franchisors’ desire to expand abroad on a continual basis.

Researchers in international franchising should not only focus on host market environmental variables (pull factors), but also on conditions in the home market (push factors).

The paper adds to environmental explanations of international franchising by focusing on the differential in munificence and uncertainty between home and host countries.

Healthcare delivery faces increasing pressure to move from a provider-centered approach to become more consumer-driven and patient-centered. However, many of the actions taken by clinicians, patients and organizations fail to achieve that aim. This paper aims to take a paradox-based perspective to explore five specific tensions that emerge from this shift and provides implications for patient experience research and practice.

This paper uses a conceptual approach that synthesizes literature in health services and administration, organizational behavior, services marketing and management and service operations to illuminate five patient experience tensions and explore mitigation strategies.

The paper makes three key contributions. First, it identifies five tensions that result from the shift to more patient-centered care: patient focus vs employee focus, provider incentives vs provider motivations, care customization vs standardization, patient workload vs organizational workload and service recovery vs organizational risk. Second, it highlights multiple theories that provide insight into the existence of the tensions and how they may be navigated. Third, specific organizational practices that engage the tensions and associated examples of leading organizations are identified. Relevant measures for research and practice are also suggested.

The authors develop a novel analysis of five persistent tensions facing healthcare organizations as a result of a shift to a more consumer-driven, patient-centered approach to care. The authors detail each tension, discuss an existing theory from organizational behavior or services marketing that helps make sense of the tension, suggest potential solutions for managing or resolving the tension and provide representative case illustrations and useful measures.

Defines the milieu in which marketing actions are shaped and implemented, selectively surveys the knowledge base that underlies such actions, and suggests unique research opportunities to enhance both knowledge and action. Macroeconomic conditions materially influence managerial decisions regarding entry, maintenance and expansion strategies at regional, national and international levels. Such conditions include interest rates, trade deficits, savings and unemployment rates, foreign debt ratios, consumer and industrial spending ratios, and public sector expenditure ratios for economic, social and military endeavours. Successful competitive strategies during the 1990s will necessarily emphasize the development of approaches to “pro‐position” and/or “reposition” marketing strategies with regard to shifting macroeconomic conditions. Current theory and strategies are inadequate to the tasks of confronting these shifts or identifying their presence in a timely fashion. Rapid transformations of many national macroeconomic systems have compounded these challenges, placing insatiable demands upon an enterprise′s information resources necessary to support “appropriate” marketing actions. Outside the enterprise, strategic alliances with multinational customers or even competitors may be the most creative approach to managing changing macro‐economic environments.

This paper aims to respond to calls in academia for an update of the product lifecycle (PLC). Through a systematic literature review, the authors provide an updated agenda, which aims to advance the PLC concept in research, teaching and practice.

The authors started by surveying 101 marketing academics globally to ascertain whether a PLC update was viewed necessary and beneficial in the marketing community and thereafter conducted citation analysis of marketing research papers and textbooks to ascertain PLC usage. The subsequent literature review methodology was split into two sections. First, 97 empirical articles were reviewed based on an evaluative framework. Second, research pertaining to the PLC determinants were assessed and discussed.

From the results of this review and primary data from marketing academics, the authors find that the method of predicting the PLC based on past sales has been largely unsuccessful and perceived as somewhat outdated. However, a new stream of PLC literature is emerging, which takes a consumer-centric perspective to the PLC and has seen more success at modeling lifecycles in various industries.

First, the study outlines the most contemporary and successful methodological approaches to modeling the PLC. Namely, the use of artificial intelligence, big data, demand modeling and consumer psychological mechanisms. Second, it provides several future research avenues using modern market trends such as sustainability, globalization, digitization and Covid-19 to push the PLC into the 21st century.

The PLC has shown to be resolutely popular in management application and education. However, without a continued effort in academic PLC research to update the knowledge around the concept, its use as a productive management tool will likely become outdated. This study provides a necessary and comprehensive literature update resulting in actionable future research and teaching agendas intended to advance the PLC concept into the modern market context.

The advancements in internet technologies and the use of sophisticated digital devices in supply chain operations incessantly generate enormous amounts of data, which is termed as big data (BD). The BD technologies have brought about a paradigm shift in the supply chain decision-making towards profitability and sustainability. The aim of this work is to address the issue of implementation of the big data analytics (BDA) in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) by identifying the relevant factors and developing a structural model for this purpose.

Through a comprehensive literature review and experts’ opinion, the crucial factors are found using the PESTEL framework, which covers political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. The structural model is developed based on the results of the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) procedure and MICMAC analysis.

The policy support regarding IT, culture of data-based decision-making, inappropriate selection of BDA technologies and the laws related to data security and privacy are found to affect most of the other factors. Also, the company’s vision towards environmental performance and willingness for material and energy optimization are found to be crucial for the environmental and social sustainability of the supply chain.

The study is focused on the manufacturing supply chain in emerging economies. It may be extended to other industry sectors and geographical areas. Also, additional factors may be included to make the model more robust.

The proposed model imparts an understanding of the relative importance and interrelationship of factors. This may be useful to managers to assess their strengths and weaknesses and ascertain their priorities in the context of their organization for developing a suitable investment plan.

The study establishes the importance of BDA for conservation and management of energy and material. This is crucial to develop strategies for enhancing eco-efficiency of the supply chain, which in turn enhances the economic returns for the society.

This study addresses the implementation of BDA in SSCM in the context of emerging economies. It uses the PESTEL framework for identifying the factors, which is a comprehensive framework for strategic planning and decision-making. This study makes use of the TISM methodology for model development and deliberates on the social and environmental implications too, apart from theoretical and managerial implications.

Through the lens of experiential learning theory, this conceptual paper examines the factors influencing the likelihood of transitioning from hybrid to full-time entrepreneurship. It is critical to evaluate the experiential learning that takes place during the hybrid phase, in order to establish a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic entrepreneurial journey.

This conceptual paper made use of a secondary data analysis of the existing academic literature, in particular using a thematic analysis, in order to propose a conceptual model and associated propositions.

The proposed conceptual model identifies four factors: fear of failure, perceived risk, entrepreneurial competency development and self-efficacy that are predicted to influence the transition decision. This paper establishes hybrid entrepreneurship as an effective learning ground and path toward full-time entrepreneurship.

Providing insights into the factors that influence the transition, allows policy makers to establish systems and incubators to support hybrid entrepreneurs reach the tipping point at which they have sufficient knowledge to enter full-time entrepreneurship. This paper establishes the importance of developmental policies aimed at encouraging hybrid entrepreneurship. There are also implications for managers of hybrid entrepreneurs to establish policies that encourage a culture of transparency and reap the benefits of enhanced employee development.

The paper has three predominant sources of value. First, offering a multidisciplinary approach by extending an existing theory to a new context; second, through the establishment of a conceptual model, offering propositions readily linked to hypotheses for future empirical assessment and third, enhancing the visibility of hybrid entrepreneurship in the literature to encourage public policy intervention and support.