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Our comprehensive study, which is highly relevant to the current state of the tourism industry, investigated the extensive impact of tourism entrepreneurial ecosystems (TEE) on sales growth in European countries based on a sample of 109 entrepreneurs.

We studied 109 entrepreneurs in the tourism sector in Germany and France and analyzed the data using quantitative methods.

The results showed that financing and funding, networks, technological and international trade affect the sales growth of the tourism entrepreneurs. In addition, the uneducated workforce, legal and political factors as well as TEE do not influence the sales growth.

These findings have significant and practical implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers in the tourism industry, providing them with valuable insights for decision-making.

Research indicates that children’s early experience of fire can influence what and how they learn about fire. In turn, early fire-learning can influence how people come to use it later in life, including whether they engage in maladaptive use, i.e. firesetting. Little is known about the underlying mechanisms of fire-learning, which was the basis for this study. The research question was: “how do adults educate children about fire in the UK/ Ireland”? The purpose of this study was to explore the child fire education process from an adult perspective.

Semi-structured interviews was conducted with 21 fire-educators who had regular contact with children. Data was analysed using abbreviated grounded theory. Steps were taken to ensure reliability and validity, including a Cohen’s Kappa calculation, indicating an agreement level of 0.9 between two raters.

Four core themes were identified: the fire narrative, enabling growth, risk management, and communication, from which the fire-learning process model (F-LPM) was formed.

The main limitation is the nature of the sample, in that it was diverse and self-selecting.

The findings are discussed, including how they offer support for social learning theory (SLT) perspectives on fire-learning.

The social construction of fire (i.e. the way fire is viewed by society as a whole in the UK/ Ireland) is discussed in depth, and cultural variability is highlighted. Suggestions are made for how the societal view of fire and, consequently, how adults convey this to young people, could be better balanced.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in the UK/ Ireland to consider how adults educate young people about fire from a concurrent perspective. This is important given that research indicates early experiences of fire can impact how people later go on to use it (including maladaptive use in the form of firesetting).

Specific teaching and learning objectives include to identify factors influencing market expansion decisions and recommend appropriate entry modes, understand factors in the international business environment that contribute to success or failure of international businesses in developing countries, evaluate strategies enabling international businesses to sustain market presence in developing countries and overcome local competition, analyze the concept of local responsiveness in international business operations and suggest strategies for internationalizing domestic companies from developing countries.

The McDonald’s case examines the challenges associated with market expansion by global brands. The case occurs during the early-globalization era in the 1990s. Barbados, a developing country, is the site for potential expansion. Prospective investors, the Winters, are desirous of establishing a McDonald’s in Barbados. They need to thoroughly analyze the previous experience of McDonald’s against the host country’s current international business environment, e.g. political, economic, cultural and competitive environment. This case analysis provides a framework for understanding the multifaceted reasons behind McDonald’s exit from Barbados, considering the complex interplay of political, economic, sociocultural, technological and legal factors in the international business environment. The case equips the instructor and students to explore the risks of international expansion, particularly in developing country markets. The case study on McDonald’s failure in Barbados highlights the need to thoroughly examine one’s market entry strategy and available information on the host market and be more locally responsive regarding tastes and preferences. The case study also presents essential lessons for firms and planners from developing countries. Local firms innovated and enhanced their operations in response to the threat from the entry of the global fast-food giant. Yet, they did not seek to internationalize once McDonald’s exited the Barbadian market. The case study, therefore, considers strategies firms from developing countries could utilize to penetrate markets from developed countries.

At the undergraduate level, the McDonald’s Barbados case can be used in international business classes to highlight risks in the international business environment and the need for a carefully planned and executed market entry strategy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS5: International Business.

Poor municipal solid waste management is a major characteristic of urban development in Africa. In Ghana, local governments are mandated to ensure the collection, treatment and disposal of solid waste. However, this has been a herculean task for local governments in Ghana, owing to inadequate resources and weak technical capacities. This has prompted calls for, and actual involvement of the private sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs) in municipal solid waste management, particularly in the urban areas. This study aims to assess the roles, effectiveness and challenges of PPPs in urban waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana.

Adopting a case study design, the study used a qualitative research approach to provide in-depth insights into PPPs in municipal solid waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana. Therefore, key informant interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted.

The study revealed that some policies and actions of the local government (Assembly) do not positively facilitate the effective functioning of PPPs in municipal solid waste management. There is also lack of effective stakeholder consultation, collaboration and grassroot inclusion in the PPPs which affect the effective management of the increasing volumes of solid waste being generated within the municipality.

To achieve the objectives of the PPP arrangements, local authorities should initiate steps to effectively coordinate all the involved private companies. There must also be ways of involving the beneficiaries in the design and implementation of PPPs on waste management to allow for effective grassroots and participatory monitoring and evaluation.

The uniqueness of the case study being a mid-sized and secondary city in a developing country enhances the value of the findings and the application of recommendations in cities with similar characteristics and initiatives in improving PPPs in municipal waste management.

In recent years, technology diffusion, globalization and the Internet revolution have accelerated the growth of online transactions and altered corporate operations systems. The emergence of computer technology and the Internet have changed the way businesses work. The purpose of this study is to find and identify any common patterns in the logistics and supply chain industries for job requirements using job posting content in Malaysia.

This study provides an exploratory assessment of the employability skill set required using online job posting advertisements. Online job posting advertising, also known as e-recruiting, is one field that has been significantly influenced by information technology. In addition, the current Covid-19 outbreak has created a new need for a long-term contactless talent acquisition process in the organization's operating systems.

Based on this study's findings, the top ten skills required by employers for logistics and supply chain positions are (1) supply chain analytics, (2) technological aptitude, (3) teamwork skills, (4) customer focus, (5) leadership skills, (6) interpersonal skills, (7) people skills, (8) creativity and resilience, (9) demand and supply forecasting ability, and (10) project management skills. Overall, the findings provide a road map for practitioners and academics interested in developing supply chain managers' necessary skills and competencies to manage current and future supply networks. It also allows companies to adjust their supply chain management hiring, training and retention methods.

Although the study was done in Malaysia, the supply chain skills and competencies stated in this study, as well as their categorization, can be applied in other developing countries.

Export market orientation can be broadly divided into intelligence (generation and dissemination) and responsiveness activities. Although previous studies assess intelligence and responsiveness activities, little is known about what type of international channel partner acts as an enabling condition for the impact of these activities on export venture performance. This study aims to examine the extent to which the selection of international channel partners through word-of-mouth referrals versus direct contacts affects the benefits of intelligence and responsiveness activities.

Data were collected from 246 exporting manufacturers in Japan. To test the hypotheses, we conducted regression analyses using a subjective performance measure at the venture level. We also performed a post hoc analysis using objective performance measure at the function level.

We find that the extent to which international channel partners are selected through word-of-mouth referrals has a moderating role in the export market-oriented activities–performance linkages. Specifically, it acts as an enabling condition for intelligence activity and a disenabling condition for responsiveness activity.

This study contributes to a better understanding of export market orientation by classifying it into intelligence and responsiveness activities and providing empirical evidence on their different interaction effects with partner selection. It also contributes to the elaboration of agency theory by offering insights into the fit between task characteristics and contract type. Our study is critical for business managers as it suggests guidelines for manufacturing exporters engaging in export market-oriented behaviors and export channel management.

This study aims to examine decision factors for global sourcing, differentiated into transcontinental and continental sourcing to obtain insight into locational aspects of sourcing decisions and global trends. This study analyzed various country perceptions to reveal their influence on sourcing decisions. The country of origin (COO) theory explains why certain country perceptions and images influence purchasing experts in their selection of suppliers.

This study used a two-study approach. In Study 1, the authors conducted discrete choice card experiments with 71 purchasing experts located in Europe and the USA to examine the importance of essential decision factors for global sourcing. Given the clear evidence that location is a factor in sourcing decisions, in Study 2 the authors investigated purchasers’ perceptions and images of countries, adding country ranking experiments on various perceived characteristics such as quality, price and technology.

Study 1 provides evidence that the purchasers’ personal relationship with the supplier plays a decisive role in the supplier selection process. While product quality and location impact sourcing decisions, the attraction of the buying company and cultural barriers are less significant. Interestingly, however, these factors seem as important as price to respondents. This implies that a strong relationship with suppliers and good quality products are essential aspects of a reliable and robust supply chain in the post-COVID-19 era. Examining the locational aspect in detail, Study 2 linked the choice card experiments with country ranking experiments. In this study, the authors found that purchasing experts consider that transcontinental countries such as Japan and China offer significant advantages in terms of price and technology. China has enhanced its quality, which is recognizable in the country ranking experiments. Therefore, decisions on global sourcing are not just based on such high-impact factors as price and availability; country perceptions are also influential. Additionally, the significance of the locational aspect could be linked to certain country images of transcontinental suppliers, as the COO theory describes.

The new approach divides global sourcing into transcontinental and European sourcing to evaluate special decision factors and link these factors to the locational aspect of sourcing decisions. To deepen the clear evidence for the locational aspect and investigate the possible influence of country perceptions, the authors applied the COO theory. This approach enabled authors to show the strong influence of country perception on purchasing departments, which is represented by the locational effect. Hence, the success of transcontinental countries relies not only on factors such as their availability but also on the purchasers’ positive perceptions of these countries in terms of technology and price.