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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the challenges of Nigerian Professional Football League teams at the club level, with a view to aligning this with developments at the country level, and especially so in the aftermath of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil – an international event – where Nigeria participated alongside four others – Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The meta-analysis adopts a qualitative research approach, drawing upon a review of secondary data sources and the observation technique.

Although Nigeria’s first team players ply their trade in Europe, there remains a challenge epitomised by the “disconnect” between the domestic league and the national team composition. As a consequence, brand ambassadors are proposed as one of the key conduits for re-aligning the identified disconnect.

The dual focus on club level and a single country – albeit in the light of Nigeria, former African champions, poses a limitation as the domestic league in that country may not be representative of others across the continent. However, some insight is also derived from developments in another African football giant – i.e. Ghana, runners-up of the recently concluded 2015 African Nations Cup.

In the long history of the FIFA Football World Cup, only three African teams have ever reached the quarter-finals – notably Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Although the Super Eagles relished the label of African Champions going in the World Cup finals, they remain incapacitated, having failed to “fly” into the round of 16 since their 1994 debut. Furthermore, the alignment at the micro or club level to the meso or country level remains to be investigated at both scholarly and policy levels.

There are success stories on the management and development of football in Africa and as the case of Nigeria demonstrates, Stephen Keshi, the national coach, symbolises missed opportunities – i.e. brand ambassadors – to increase visibility and engagement with the domestic league.

This is one of the very few studies that have sought to highlight the misalignment between club and country within the research context of Africa. It is also one of the few papers that have called on the need for brand ambassadors as a means of bridging the gap in this area.

Two major issues to face many libraries today stem directly from the increased processing power and the consequential increased availability of the microcomputer. As the public become increasingly aware of the potential which microcomputers possess, a second wave of professional use is catching up with the first wave of enthusiast and hobbyist use. This second wave includes small businesses, industry, schools and increasingly, libraries. Initially use centred on word processing, spreadsheet and database management packages, and any further diversification tended to centre on these types of activity. One immediate issue — with which this paper does not deal — is the need for libraries to meet a new demand, and supply both machines and software — either on loan or for use within the library. The second issue, which forms the basis of this paper, is the acquisition of small computer systems by libraries for their own use. Before the microcomputer became available as a solution to the problem of automation — or partial automation — only two possibilities presented themselves and both were really only practicable to the larger library. Automation could be achieved via an expensive minicomputer or via substantial access to the mainframe of a parent institution; alternatively automation has more recently been possible through one of the larger consortia such as OCLC or SWALCAP. However, budgetary considerations or stock movement may determine that many libraries are too small to consider either of these possibilities and most industrial, government or school libraries would usually be included in this category. It is for these small libraries that microcomputers offer an excellent in‐house answer to automation.

This case was developed to explore what social entrepreneurship looks like in an emerging market context. It tells the story of Neil Campher, a self-identified social entrepreneur working in South Africa, a country that has recently been awarded middle income status by the World Bank despite sharing a ranking with Syria on the Human Development Index. In environments of deep market failure, what does social enterprise look like? and can you sustain change in communities of extreme poverty? The case looks at the academic characteristics of social entrepreneurs and applies them to Neil to see if he “qualifies”. It has a particular focus on the bricoleur social entrepreneur. It explores concepts of poverty, and looks at sustainability, achieved through asset-based community development. It explores the need for organisations to transition in response to the environment and provides a tool to assess sustainability. The value of the paper is in exploring what social entrepreneurship looks like in an emerging market context. It also raises important questions on sustainability in environments which are inherently constrained.

This case study is aimed at students of social entrepreneurship, development studies, sustainable livelihoods and asset-based development. It is written at an Honours level and is therefore appropriate for use in customised or short programmes. The case study is a good introduction for students with a background in business (e.g. Diploma in Business Administration/MBA/custom programmes) who are wanting to understand social enterprise and blended theories of social and economic change.

The case study follows self-identified social entrepreneur Neil Campher in the grime and crime-ridden township of Helenvale, outside Port Elizabeth, in South Africa. Campher has given up his glitzy career as a financier in the economic hub of Johannesburg and returned to his home town, drawn by a need to give back. Helenvale used to be where he and his school friends would hide from the apartheid police, but as an adult, his friends are focused on strengthening and progressing the community. Campher’s entry point to change is a small waste recycling project, and the case study looks at how he uses this as a lever to achieve deeper structural change in the community. The teaching case exposes several questions around social entrepreneurship and change: what is social entrepreneurship in an emerging context and is Campher a social entrepreneur? What is community led change and can it be sustainable? Campher’s dilemma is around sustainability – has his extensive involvement of the community been enough to achieve progress in Helenvale?

The case study gives insight into social entrepreneurship in a developing country context. It highlights the nuances in definition and introduces the importance of context in shaping the social entrepreneur. The case is an opportunity for students to interrogate ideas on poverty and classical interpretations of social entrepreneurship and relate them to a small community that mirrors the macro country context in South Africa. The case study shows how asset-based approaches to development are interlinked with basic principles of social entrepreneurship. It shows that sustainability is more than a secure and predictable income stream and the need for community engagement and commitment to the solution. In tackling these issues, the case questions sustainability potential and the need for the organisation to transition to respond to opportunity and the changing environment.

Video X1 5minute video interview with Neil Campher 5min: YouTube Video of Campher from Interview 1 www.leadingchange.co.za (live from 01 April 2016) Video News report of gang violence in Helenvale 3min: YouTube. This is a quick visual introduction to Helenvale. It is a news clip, so is particularly focused on the angle of the story. It includes interviews with residents. The site www.youtube.com/watch?v=TluLpTuEq8I Northern Areas burning 2min: YouTube is a collection of video footage from a local reporter which shows Helenvale and its surroundings. The site www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCW-Hp24vMI shows the Text Global Competitiveness Report: South Africa; the first page gives additional information on social and economic development in South Africa, highlighting developed/developing country attributes. It also highlights how Helenvale is a microcosm of the negative social development indicators in South Africa (http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/economies/#economy=ZAF). Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This study investigated the emerging progressive use of ornamental art in the landscape architecture of Kazakhstan and determined the influence of symbolism on the quality of new urban environments. The study analysed the existing recreational facilities in Kazakhstan in order to establish their symbolic meaning, the level of utilisation of symbolic ornaments, and the socio-economic factors that influence the design structure of landscape elements. The results revealed that symbolic meanings of the ornaments stem from historic, legal and cultural traditions of different ethnic groups in Kazakhstan. Therefore, the form depends on not only the topography of the area, but also the traditional symbolism and numerology. This study categorised the studied places according to their size: large gardens, small squares and small landscape forms. Taking into account the natural and climatic features of Kazakhstan, small landscape forms acquire the quality of arid zone gardens. However, lack of identity and consistency appears to be a major problem in design of larger scale landscapes. This article posits that coordination between socio-economic and historical-cultural factors will open new creative opportunities for the development of an original landscape architecture in Kazakhstan, yet balance between environmental construction and contextually meaningful urban planning will still be needed.

In the context of the current financial crisis, this paper aims to examine values and spirituality in the modern workplace.

Using contemporary examples and examining recent literature on spirituality and loneliness, the paper considers the concept of loneliness and argues that this may stem from an over‐preoccupation with the workplace and employment‐based achievement, at the expense of having rounded lives as human beings.

It is demonstrated that, over the last decade at least, the levels of stress in life and work have risen noticeably. In this context, leaders need even more to be forgers of a sense of meaning and purpose in the workplace and engage the hearts and minds of staff towards improved outcomes.

The current financial crisis is also a major spiritual crisis. Now there seems to be a growing gap between leaders and the led, and an increase in what the author terms “soul‐less leadership”, which fails to engage and motivate and inspire. The author calls on leaders in this crisis of capitalism to work and engage with staff in health and social care, so that those serving at the frontline feel‐valued and supported, developed and engaged in a common purpose.

Because of the increasing importance of access over ownership, the purpose of this paper is to propose a service ecosystem perspective to help managers navigate hypercompetition. With the rise of cloud-based services and the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has shifted toward hypercompetition, a state characterized by organizational advantages that are rapidly created and then destroyed by intense competitive moves. Because advantages are quickly eroded, organizations must be aggressive in the number of actions they take and the speed with which they execute these actions. The service ecosystem perspective focuses on relationships that allow organizations to jointly adjust to one another and to their environment.

This paper first reviews traditional strategies for navigating hypercompetition. Then, it presents an explanation of the service ecosystem perspective. Finally, the three north stars and media examples are provided.

The service ecosystem perspective asserts “north stars” that can guide managerial decision-making in hypercompetitive environments. These north stars are: cultivate system norms, facilitate feedback loops and embrace servitization.

In today’s world, organizations are increasingly seeking access to resources instead of ownership of them. The proposed approach suggests that, rather than an organization owning the resources it needs to achieve advantages, organizations are increasingly relying on accessing resources by coordinating with other organizations to draw upon the resource(s) as needed, without incurring the additional burdens of ownership. Examples from the media industry are used to illustrate the three north stars of the service ecosystems perspective.

The paper aims to identify the emergent themes of hotel guests’ satisfaction, to compare the distribution of the attributes of the themes between Chinese and North American guests and to compare the importance of the themes for different satisfaction levels between Chinese and North American guests from a cross-cultural perspective.

By adopting Python (a computer language), the word-frequency method was used to identify emergent themes of hotel guests’ satisfaction. Topic modeling was adopted to compare the attributes distribution of each theme and the features of satisfaction between Chinese and North American guests.

First, three themes were identified including functionality, staff and price. Functionality can be further categorized into five subthemes, namely, room, travel, food, environment and hotel facility. Second, the distribution of the attributes of the themes between Chinese and North American guests was compared from a cross-cultural perspective. Chinese guests tend to mention both lifestyles- and social norms–related attributes and expect personalized service, while North American guests mainly prefer to describe lifestyle-related attributes and prefer standardized service. Third, the study compared the changing importance of the themes (functionality, staff and price) for different satisfaction levels between Chinese and North American guests. As the satisfaction level decreases, the importance of functionality decreases, that of staff increases and that of price remain stable for Chinese guests. In contrast, the importance of each theme has fluctuated mildly from the high to the low satisfaction level for North American guests.

Proposed managerial implications are to highlight lifestyle- and social norms-related attributes, as well as personalized service for Chinese guests. However, lifestyle-related attributes and standardized service should be facilitated for North American guests. Specific suggestions were made to help improve hotel performance such as the good performance of functional-related attributes, which could enhance satisfaction and better staff performance, which would reduce dissatisfaction.

By mining big data, this study investigated hotel guests’ satisfaction from a dynamic instead of a static perspective. This study provides some rare insights into differences in key attributes influencing satisfaction levels of Chinese versus North American guests staying in luxury hotels in China. This study also takes a novel approach to examine the dynamics of the importance of the various themes at different satisfaction levels, and contrast these dynamics between Chinese and North American guests. The findings offer valuable insight into market segmentation and management in the hospitality industry.

Ireland, North and South, is benefitting from the STAR Programme. In the North, some 25 million ECU has been provided, with about 39 million ECU for the South. This paper reports on prospects for the growth of value added services in the North and examines evidence from two projects recently completed in the South.

Data‐Star opens North American office. Data‐Star is to start marketing and providing support for its services in North America on 30 March of this year. The first American office will open in Wayne, PA, close to Philadelphia. This office will market and promote the service as well as provide support to customers. Data‐Star will initially promote a series of databases and services in which customers have expressed interest.