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This paper aims to highlight differences between business and non-business literature regarding base of the pyramid (BoP) and subsistence contexts and reveal discourse’s powerful role in influencing goals, solutions and outcomes.

This paper uses critical discourse analysis to review a convenience sample of business versus non-business literature on the BoP and subsistence contexts.

Discourse used in business literature on the BoP is oriented toward hegemonic Western capitalist approaches that result in the depletion of resources, resource inequalities, poverty and increased consumption, dependence and environmental degradation and, therefore, cannot alleviate poverty.

There are two primary limitations: the study relied on a convenience sample that was not random and comparatively, the business BoP literature is not as mature as the non-business subsistence literature and, therefore, the BoP field of study is not yet fully developed.

Discourse has a powerful role in revealing assumptions and guiding actions. A change in BoP discourse toward a strength-based approach can serve as a model of sustainability and can help powerful entities enact structural and systemic change.

This paper reveals the role of discourse in business BoP literature and how it perpetuates and even exacerbates the problems they were designed to alleviate: depletion of resources, resource inequalities, poverty and increased consumption, dependence and environmental degradation. The paper challenges researchers, economists and powerful guiding entities to reorient their discourse of the BoP to be more aligned with those of non-business researchers of subsistence markets.

As family and nonfamily businesses differ in how they do business, the focus of this manuscript is on understanding how strategy-level models can be misinterpreted if family involvement is not considered. Thus, in this manuscript, the focus is on understanding the extent to which strategic orientations (market orientation and technology orientation, which reflect strategic approach), strategic performance metric focus (financial-based, optimization-based and market-based, which reflect strategy evaluations) and strategic audacity (which reflects boldness in envisioning and delivering strategic outcomes) play a role in driving firm performance – in family businesses vs nonfamily businesses. Understanding how these drivers impact performance differently in family vs nonfamily businesses enables companies to better direct their strategic efforts.

After presenting theoretical concepts, authors use regression analysis on a sample of companies in a developing European Union (EU) country (n = 282) to evaluate the impact of strategic orientation, strategic performance metric focus and strategic audacity on firm performance separately in three samples: the full sample (consisting of both family and nonfamily-owned firms), sample of family businesses and the sample of nonfamily businesses.

The role of strategic orientation, strategic audacity and focal goals in driving firm performance differs depending on the company type (family vs nonfamily). In the case of nonfamily businesses, strategic audacity and technology orientation with the focus on efficiencies and markets are driving firm performance. In the case of family businesses, both market and technology orientation are important drivers of performance; the focus on financial and market indicators of performance is positively impacting performance, while the focus on efficiency indicators is diminishing the performance of family businesses. Thus, results show that of the performance drivers for family businesses, some are insignificant (strategic audacity), while some even have a negative impact (focus on optimization-based measures of performance) on family businesses' performance. Moreover, results show that some of the drivers of performance in case of family businesses (market orientation and focus on financial-based measures of performance) are not drivers of outstanding performance in the case of nonfamily businesses.

Best practices differ for family vs nonfamily businesses. In case of family businesses, comparing them to nonfamily businesses, market orientation and the focus on financial-based measures of performance have a greater impact on firm performance, while, at the same time, family businesses should refrain focusing on pursuing optimization-based measures of performance as such pursuit drives down their performance. Understanding the drivers of performance specific to family businesses will enable such firms to better navigate contexts characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty.

The manuscript evaluates how models, generally researched in the overall firm metrics, differ between family businesses and nonfamily businesses, thus delivering new insights into the important marketing concepts.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of activation policies in contexts of public-oriented employment services.

The fieldwork was conducted in Italy, using the regional case of Emilia-Romagna as a representation of public-oriented models. The empirical research relies primarily on quantitative research methods by means of impact evaluations based on very rich and recent administrative data that includes 20,014 observations. These are integrated with some interesting insights from qualitative research tools by means of semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the fieldwork.

The overall level of effectiveness of activation policies does not seem to be particularly high. However, the results show that, to some extent, there are more advantages for job seekers furthest from the labor market. The stronger efforts made to assist those disadvantaged groups are probably related to a loss in the overall effectiveness of the system.

This analysis has focused on a substantially homogeneous and economically developed region. Indeed, Italian activation policy reforms have been implemented differently in different areas of the country. Similar to other Southern European countries, they are characterized by regional fragmentation and implementation gaps in activation policies.

The findings of the present study are relevant to policymakers who deal with activation policies and to both public and nonpublic organizations involved in this field. It seems plausible to support the possibility that public-oriented models could represent a proficient alternative to proposals relying heavily on market-based interventions. Such evidence becomes particularly interesting in the aftermath of the Great Recession when this model is confronted with the consequences of the economic crisis.

The paper adds to the literature on public-oriented models, while overcoming some of the limitations of earlier research, which has been restricted mainly to cases with early traditions of marketized services.

This research seeks to understand if transformational marketing can be used as a tool that helps destinations to create products that can be individually, or group tailored to result in an enjoyable way to gain self-awareness, spiritual experience and an expansion of consciousness.

This article is exploratory and with it, one intended to raise questions and hypotheses aiming to broaden the discussion scope on transformational marketing as a tool to create products that can not only conquer transformational travelers, but that also helps creating the conditions to expand this niche.

One suggests that destinations' that adopt transformational marketing as a tool will gain not only an advantage over their competitors, but will also, create the conditions for a more sustainable and responsible tourism development. Therefore, destinations that implement transformational marketing-based strategies will see tourism become a catalyst for environmental, social, cultural and economic regeneration.

This paper contributes to research on transformational tourism and transformational marketing pointing out some possible paths to be explored. More broadly, this research provides some valuable insights into the future of tourism destinations' marketing and development dimensions.

This article presents the Special Issue (SI, 35-2) of ARLA, edited (not exclusively) with the best articles from the specialized conference of the Academy of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Knowledge (ACIEK, 2021) conference and performs a bibliometric analysis on innovation, management, governance and sustainable growth.

Guest editors conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the scholarly literature by examining the characteristics of publications and how articles published in this SI contribute to their growth.

Innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth is an area that revolves around five points: (1) sustainable innovation in SMEs, (2) technological innovation, social capital and information patents to create value chains and financial development in the textile industry, (3) knowledge management and competitiveness for growth and productivity, (4) social entrepreneurship, business ecosystems and startups for sustainable development and (5) marketing-based business strategies for sustainable development.

From the analysis conducted, it is concluded that more research is needed on knowledge management and competitiveness in developing countries, such as Latin American and African countries, and to compare the results with more developed countries.

Este artículo presenta el Número Especial (SI, 35-2) de ARLA, editado (no exclusivamente) con los mejores artículos de la conferencia especializada de la conferencia Academy of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Knowledge (ACIEK, 2021) y realiza un análisis bibliométrico sobre innovación, gestión, gobernanza y crecimiento sostenible.

Los editores invitados realizan un análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de la literatura académica examinando las características de las publicaciones y cómo los artículos publicados en este SI contribuyen a su crecimiento.

La innovación, gestión y gobernanza para el crecimiento sostenible es un área que gira alrededor de cinco puntos: (1) innovación sostenible en las PYMES, (2) innovación tecnológica, capital social y patentes de información para crear cadenas de valor y desarrollo financiero en la industria textil, (3) gestión del conocimiento y competitividad para el crecimiento y la productividad, (4) emprendimiento social, ecosistemas empresariales y startups para el desarrollo sostenible, y (5) estrategias empresariales basadas en el marketing para el desarrollo sostenible.

Del análisis realizado se concluye que es necesario investigar más sobre la gestión del conocimiento y la competitividad en los países en desarrollo, como los latinoamericanos y africanos y comparar los resultados con los países más desarrollados.

This article seeks to identify the mediating role of marketing resources and capabilities in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)‐poverty alleviation relationship. A qualitative approach of conceptualization of the interconnectedness of the major variables of the study is undertaken. Despite several development programs of SMEs and poverty alleviation, the poverty level of Nigerian SMEs has dragged with incidence of high SMEs failure. Marketing resources and capabilities are suggested as probable missing links between SMEs and profitable exchanges that lead to wealth creation, thus alleviating and eradicating poverty. While empirical study in this direction is vital, the current conceptual model shows that SMEs operators would help in the elimination of poverty by acquisition of necessary marketing knowledge, skills, and capabilities to identify the customersʼ needs, establish vital relationships with them through requisite ego drive, empathy, and capability to change, and thus keep them sold. Prior research concerning SMEs and poverty alleviation in Nigeria has been limited to finance. The findings of the present research have implications for the role of marketing as the ultimate source of profitable growth through exchanges and wealth creation that will help in eradicating poverty.