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This paper provides remarkable insight into the structural components of a firm's core competence and its development via research and development (R&D) activities for innovation and exporting activities.

The authors have used a positivist design and a deductive methodology. The authors have examined the extant literature developing a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the relationships between a firm's core competence, organisational learning (OL), tacitness, dynamic capability and R&D activities. To carry out this investigation, the authors have collected stratified sample data from 330 firms operating in North East England, a peripheral region of England.

The authors have found that there are indeed significant statistical relationships between these structural components, R&D activities and a firm's core competence, and this nexus is pertinent to innovation and exporting. Furthermore, it is found that North East England is significantly constrained by the lack of finance, technological capability, experts and brain drain. Based on these findings, the authors propose a cooperative R&D framework to narrow down these constraints to assist firms in developing core competencies for innovation and exporting in peripheral regions.

There is an urgent need to investigate the incidence of knowledge-driven activities, R&D, the extent of innovation and exporting activities of firms operating in North East England, a peripheral region of the United Kingdom (UK).

This study provides an original and systematic investigation of the firm's core competence and its formation via key structural components for innovation and exporting within an empirical framework.

The study builds on studies in online shopping. Existing studies in online shopping proved that it is an attraction to shoppers. In Nigeria's emerging economy the increasing Internet penetration does not equate with intention to use online shopping because it is not really used by users for online shopping. Consumers are considering it unattractive because of serious concerns that border on product quality of online shops and poor know-how on e-tech. The study sought to explore factors that could mitigate challenges to successful online shopping in Nigeria's emerging economy.

Online survey method was used to sample 246 respondents. Measurement items were adapted from related literature. Confirmatory factor analysis and content validity were used to check the reliability and validity. A set of fit indices were used to check the goodness of fit. Data was analysed using structural equation model.

Results indicate direct effects of consumer attitude, perceived usefulness and social influence on intention to use online shopping with consumer attitude shown to have a greater degree of importance towards intention to use online shopping. Thus, consumers' attitude of browsing online and going offline for purchases is dependent on attitude of like or dislike. Perceived ease of use, social influence and perceived usefulness had an indirect positive effect on consumer attitude to intention to use online shopping. Social influence is indicated to have a direct positive effect on perceived ease of use. Also perceived ease of use had a positive and direct effect on perceived usefulness.

The sample size is not large enough and the use of snowball sampling limits representativeness.

The study indicated vital factors African emerging economies like Nigeria can use to improve consumer confidence towards intention to use online shopping and drive cashless policies. Several studies have missed the indirect effect of referents (social influence) on adoption of technology. The study proved that it can produce indirect effect as well as direct effect on intention to use online shopping.

Several studies have missed the indirect effect of referents (social influence) on adoption of technology. The study proved that it can produce indirect effect as well as direct effect on online shopping.