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1 – 10 of 196Andrea Runfola and Giulia Monteverde
This paper aims to investigate which network relationships foster the early development of a sustainable new venture (SNV) and how sustainability as the core characteristic of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate which network relationships foster the early development of a sustainable new venture (SNV) and how sustainability as the core characteristic of the new venture shapes those network relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper relies on a qualitative approach. The primary data source is 25 interviews with 18 key informants of 15 Italian SNVs. The fashion industry is the empirical setting due to its negative environmental and social impacts and shifts toward sustainability during the past decade.
Findings
The paper identifies six types of network relationships that affect the development of fashion SNVs. It proposes sustainability-enhanced and sustainability-enabled network relationships and relates them to trust and legitimation in the network.
Research limitations/implications
The study enriches the theoretical debate on networks, new ventures and sustainability by dealing with the case of SNVs in a traditional sector. This paper presents managerial implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers.
Social implications
This paper contributes to the debate on society’s sustainable development by emphasizing how networks can affect the growth of SNVs.
Originality/value
This paper fills a research gap in a novel manner. The paper contributes to the recent debate on new ventures and sustainability from the market as network approach. It identifies relevant networks, their contribution and the role of sustainability. The study refers to SNVs in traditional nontechnological industries.
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Peter Ekman, Peter Thilenius and Torbjörn Windahl
Research has shown that companies focus their internal processes when they adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. However, the ERP systems need to expand their…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown that companies focus their internal processes when they adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. However, the ERP systems need to expand their functionality to include customers and suppliers (with e-commerce functionality) to reach their full potential. The purpose of this paper is to consider business relationships as a resource but also a limitation when companies strive to get an extended ERP system.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents an illustrative case study of an industrial company's process of developing an extended ERP and how the company's portfolio of business relationships has affected the solution. The analysis is supported by the markets-as-networks theory.
Findings
The process of developing an extended ERP system needs to incorporate the company's business partners (customers and suppliers). It is a simultaneously bottom-up and top-down process given that the operative frontline staff hold the knowledge about the company's business relationships while the corporate management has the means of extending the ERP system functionality and align it with the focal company's strategy.
Research limitations/implications
Companies need to consider the fact that the technological and financial status of their customers and suppliers differ. Thus, an effective and flexible extended ERP system needs to include both a high-end and low-end solution as well as understand that a full interorganizational integration might not be realistic.
Originality/value
The paper puts forth business relationship portfolios as an important factor to consider when extending the ERP system functionality in the supply chain and toward customers.
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Seeks to explore the notion of fashion networks, both local and global, as a means by which “products” – economic and intangible – can be exchanged and to present research…
Abstract
Purpose
Seeks to explore the notion of fashion networks, both local and global, as a means by which “products” – economic and intangible – can be exchanged and to present research findings of a network study undertaken in the Nottingham knitting industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Presents a study of knitting companies in the Nottingham area of the UK using social network methods to identify the structure and role of the local and global networks in which these businesses sit and shows, by describing the networks of two contrasting companies, the advantages and challenges they afford to the learning of individual businesses and other participants in the local network.
Findings
The density of the local network is presented and the role of universities and regional development agencies is shown to be important. The profiles of two‐example companies shows one type which is well connected within the local network and another type which has good global links but is not well connected locally. The implications of these two kinds of profile are discussed.
Practical implications
Indicates the importance of developing balanced networks, which allow the dissemination of ideas, information and norms and provide opportunities for exchange.
Originality/value
Challenges current ideas about fashion supply chains by exploring markets as complex networks of relationships which reflects the blurring of boundaries between firms and changing perceptions of “customers” and currencies of exchange. This paper revisits notions of markets in the context of the needs of small and medium‐sized fashion businesses and in particular focuses on their learning and development.
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Simone Guercini and Silvia Ranfagni
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the emergent role of market in cultural enterprises.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the emergent role of market in cultural enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors consider market as network and identify the role of the interaction process with a special focus on theatre organizations.
Findings
The interactions are examined on the basis of relationship models, distinguishing for each of them the progressive changes in their structural components (actors, activities and resources) and the outcomes (economic, artistic, social) produced.
Originality/value
The value of the study is to identify market representation by theatre organizations and to analyse their interactions with the market as a cumulative and continuous process.
A retail banking case study published in this journal ten years ago described a method for inviting staff involvement in customer service improvement. In this article, the author…
Abstract
A retail banking case study published in this journal ten years ago described a method for inviting staff involvement in customer service improvement. In this article, the author has reinterpreted the case as an archetypal example of internal marketing for generating and circulating staff knowledge through a network of voluntary internal relationships. First, a typology for making sense of conflicting concepts in the internal marketing literature is provided. Second, the author returns to the case data to suggest an integrated theoretical framework for internal marketing that links the parallel but distinctive traditions of relationship marketing and the markets‐as‐networks approach of the International Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group. Third, internal marketing is defined as a relationship development strategy for the purpose of knowledge renewal. Finally, the implications for management are examined.
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Frans Prenkert and Lars Hallén
The purpose of this article is to explore possible contributions to the development of models to define business networks conceptually, and identify and delineate them empirically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explore possible contributions to the development of models to define business networks conceptually, and identify and delineate them empirically by integrating concepts and ideas from “market exchange theory” originating in the works of Alderson.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a conceptual discussion defining business networks as a type of exchange system, empirical data were used to exemplify and illustrate the theoretical development ideas. From data on 22 business firms collected in 1999‐2001 in the form of transcribed interviews and other print documentation, a business network as a type of exchange system was identified comprising five business entities. This case serves as illustration to the remainder of the theoretical discussions throughout the paper.
Findings
Based on a conceptualisation of business networks as a type of exchange system and a notion of interaction encompassing exchange processes stemming from both market exchange theory and social exchange theory, it is suggested that business networks can be more consistently identified and delineated empirically using this theoretical base.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical case is merely illustrative, and more extensive empirical work is needed to further test the ideas of business networks as a type of exchange system. The implications to the study of markets‐as‐networks are that these ideas can be used as a basis for identification, delineation and analysis of business networks.
Originality/value
This paper extends Alderson's work by suggesting a fourth type of transformation: transformation in ownership, as well as by developing a typology with five resource types in the exchange system. Furthermore, it provides a conceptual tool that can be used by researchers to identify, delineate and analyse business networks and incorporates market exchange theory.
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The purpose of this article is to provide an application of network literature that can be used for teaching and learning purposes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide an application of network literature that can be used for teaching and learning purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
The information used to present the case study is drawn principally from documentary evidence as well as discussions with a phone manufacturer, retailer and waste management company.
Findings
Describes the role of key actors in the development of “circular” supply chains for mobile phones and outlines two recovery and reuse/recycling schemes, one which operated as a trial (having been initiated by mobile phone manufacturers) and one which has functioned as a commercially viable arrangement since 2002 and is led by waste management and retail firms. The two schemes demonstrate ways in which various parties seek to influence the behaviour of others as well as changes (both temporary and permanent) in the activities performed by and connections between parties.
Research limitations/implications
Whichever way various companies choose to deal with electronic waste, one factor remains constant, namely that collection schemes are of little value without consumer involvement. The case study would have benefited from empirical research of consumer awareness of and propensity to contribute to phone collection schemes.
Practical implications
A valuable illustration for teachers and students of “markets as networks” using a problem which is prevalent in any geographic location. The case could also be used as a vehicle for students to design and conduct research into consumer disposal of discarded phones and awareness of/propensity to make use of available recovery and reuse/recycling schemes.
Originality/value
Requires the reader to think beyond linear supply chains and shows how network literature can incorporate consumers and organisational actors alike. The UK perspective provides a useful teaching/learning tool by describing how discarded mobile phones are handled. In addition to this, the case study could be used as a starting point from which to investigate how networks are organised in other geographic locations for dealing with this same problem.
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This paper aims to analyse how well enterprise systems capture the business network in which an industrial company is involved. Enterprise systems have been presented as a “dream…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse how well enterprise systems capture the business network in which an industrial company is involved. Enterprise systems have been presented as a “dream come true” with a seamless integration of business data through a common database and software modules that can be customized to the companies’ different functions. However, research shows that companies’ utilization of enterprise systems is limited, and that internal processes are prioritized.
Design/methodology/approach
European multinational companies and some of their partners have been followed through case studies between 2003 and 2010. The pattern-matching analysis has been supported by a theoretical framework that depicts industrial companies as engaged in business relationships in a network setting.
Findings
The results show that the company’s relationship-oriented activities are badly captured by the enterprise system. The study highlights limitations that future enterprise systems need to address if they are to be able to offer the company a better insight into its business network.
Originality/value
The traditionally internal focus on enterprise systems means that important business information transcending inter-organizational activities will be missed. To be worthy of the name enterprise system, more customer- and supplier-oriented activities need to be supported and captured.
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Sharon Purchase and Antony Ward
This research investigates cross‐cultural business networks between Australian engineering consultants and their Thai customers. A qualitative research study was conducted into…
Abstract
This research investigates cross‐cultural business networks between Australian engineering consultants and their Thai customers. A qualitative research study was conducted into business relationships, gathering data on different aspects of actors' perceptions of their relationships. The theoretical foundation of the research was the actors‐activities‐resources model, a western model developed by members of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group. The results prompted an adaptation to the original model through the addition of two new constructs: network constraint and actor bond negative. A detailed description of the models’ constructs and their antecedents is given, thus contributing to the richness of data on cross‐cultural business relationships. The modified model adds to the development of a universal model of business relationships that can form the basis for applications in both western and eastern business cultures.
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Martyn Gosling, James Richard and Yuri Seo
The paper contributes to the debate on a general theory of markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a market practice model based on social practice theories, and explore…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper contributes to the debate on a general theory of markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a market practice model based on social practice theories, and explore new ways of describing market boundaries.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual analysis of contemporary marketing directions and market theorizations provides a basis for defining markets and market boundaries in terms of social practices and their performances by market actors.
Findings
Based on the market performances held in place by institutional practices that define, contextualize and stabilize a market, this paper defines market boundaries by nine specific categories of practices, described here as parameters.
Research limitations/implications
This is a conceptual paper. Future research using empirical evidence derived from situated investigations should endeavor to refine the model and practices that define market boundaries.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new conceptualization of markets and market boundaries from the social practice perspective, and advances contemporary market theorizing that puts services at the center of exchange. The paper offers managerial implications by describing alternative means for analyzing markets and developing corresponding competitive strategies. Furthermore, the conception of market boundaries as nine parameters provides insights beyond the geographic and price boundaries typically used to describe market limits and exchange processes when developing policy.
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