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The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

Universities have a new role in the commercialisation of knowledge (Etzkowitz, 1998). The new role began with science parks and increased collaboration in 1980s and, with other forms of commercialisation, broadened to licensing and spin-off creation in 1990s, which also involved students (Rasmussen, Moen, & Guldbransen, 2006). Commercialisation has led to a situation where a complex web of relations exists between higher education, spin-offs created by them and large firms. All together the progress has been important because the ‘commercialisation of knowledge connects the higher education to the users of the knowledge’ (Etzkowitz, 1998). The rise of the knowledge-based society also brings the creation of knowledge-intensive firms into focus. The aim of the chapter is to create more understanding how small technology-based Knowledge Intensive Business Service (KIBS) firms can have a new role in knowledge commercialisation. In this chapter, the innovation chain is considered as a continuum from basic research through applied research to product development and finally commercialisation. There still exists a ‘valley of death’ between research and commercialisation (Markham, 2002). Spin-offs are one means to cross it.

Despite the competitive necessity of New Service Development (NSD), research into NSD and specifically within hospitality is scant. As tourists are becoming more sophisticated and less loyal, hotels need to continuously innovate to address the dynamically changing tourists’ demands and the fierce competition. This study aims to explore the level, type and processes of NSD efforts that Greek hotels undertake for creating, assessing and further improving their NSD practices. To achieve that, literature on NSD is critically reviewed and expanded. Data from the Greek hotel sector revealed not only that hotels need to substantially increase their NSD activities, but findings also confirmed the fact that, in contrast to manufacturing, NSD in services should consider the ad hoc nature of processes in service development as well as the role and participation of guests and other stakeholders in NS processes.

This chapter focuses on the ethnographic research approach that I employed in a service marketing study. The first part briefly describes ethnography’s key characteristics, that is, emergent research logic, prolonged fieldwork, and multiple modes of data collection, where the main method is observation. The second part discusses the data collection methods: participant observation, informal discussion, interview, and document analysis. This section describes in detail how these techniques were used in practice and highlights the key challenges I faced, especially related to the observations, and how I managed these challenges. The third part describes the case, field setting, informants, and field relationships. The development project that I studied concerned a bank’s website and project members from the bank and different consultant agencies represent the study’s informants. The fieldwork lasted for about one year and covered the entire development process from the initial stages to the launch, and some time after. The chapter ends with a thorough discussion about the research criteria of validity, reliability, and generality, and the coping tactics that I used in this study to enhance these. Prolonged fieldwork, multiple modes of data collection, reflexivity, and specification of the research are among those important tactics that this last section discusses in detail.

Kenya basks of a vibrant digital financial sector from her mobile and digital financial services that have led to financial inclusions. On the flip side of it, the Kenyan digital loans sector is facing ethical scrutiny from all and sundry. Issues that are arising include a customer base being trapped in the debt trap, inflated pricing model, high interest rates, and short-term loan tenures. The sector is shrouded in poor transparency and many consumer rights infringement. Undeniably, providers inadvertently breach consumers' right to privacy and tend to promote ‘push loans’ with unsolicited messages to the vulnerable. Additionally, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in determining the suitability of loan applicants via algorithms is seen to be intrusive. With consumer data being mined from the mobile phone, data utilisation, mobile payment usage, airtime usage without users' express consent, it renders the sector an unethical jungle for hunting consumers. Furthermore, consumers who by default end up receiving aggressive uncouth and unprofessional treatment in a bid to recover the unpaid loans. New Product Development (NPD) should, therefore, listen to the consumer's voice for ethical concerns to be reflected in the final product. Thus, marketers should endeavour to give ethical dimensions in NPD a measurable attribute by constantly reviewing it. This chapter examines the ethical implications of developing digital loans in Kenya.

As the demand for new services strains library resources, directors of research libraries must practice efficient cost management and demonstrate alignment with institutional objectives. For technical services, this requires managing the effective cost of metadata services, assessing core functions, and evaluating operational performance. This paper uses Complex Adaptive Systems (CASs) as a framework to expose the network of local and global dependencies that currently define the field of operation for technical services. Comparative analyses using a CASs framework were conducted on reports by the Library of Congress, the Heads of Technical Services in Large Research Libraries Interest Group, and the British Library. Each report addresses financial pressures placed on bibliographic control services in response to the 2008 recession. Statements within the reports were assigned to one of three dominant systems: bibliographic control, institutional identification, and distributive networks. The statements were then mapped to the CASs characteristics to determine environmental pressures and areas of adaptation. The reports exposed long-standing dependencies that tie local bibliographic control to a complex network of external agencies. Institutional shifts toward user-centered services coupled with growing fiscal restraint has disrupted the stability of these networks. The analyses found that in all cases network instability led to localized institutional adaptation to existing economic pressures. The paper recommends applying a CASs model to assess the alignment of distributed metadata standards and systems development to local institutional objectives.