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The paper will first discuss certain sociocultural trends such as population growth, increased life expectancy, the labour force and education, and look at how these are affecting society as a whole. Such trends are linked with the global economy and the industrial sector as well as the environment. The consequences of such trends are a number of problems which face the world in the future, particularly in developing countries. These problems include overpopulation, levelling off of food supplies, diseases, natural resources depletion, and conflicts and clashes in areas where immigration and cultural differences exist. Such problems are discussed together with their implications. Some ideas are then given on how these future difficulties might be overcome; and it is clear that information will have an enormous role to play in this respect. Topics covered comprise global awareness (for example of the environment, birth control, women's rights, healthcare) through education and information; frontierless transactions; global information access, dissemination, communication and transfer of knowledge; knowledge build‐up and transfer through CDROM archiving of latent skills and know‐how; and the like.

This editorial, which synthesises many different published sources and references, tries to anticipate the world over the next 25 years or so in terms of population growth and increased life expectancy, as well as working conditions and education, and looks at how these will affect society as a whole. The trends are linked with the economy and with the industrial sector and also have implications for the emergence of conflicts in areas where immigration and cultural differences are rampant. Some implications for the library and industry are also given.

While guanxi is by far the most prominent network construct in international business research, the literature on other informal network constructs (wasta, sifarish, svyazi, yongo, etc.) is emerging. Though guanxi research suggests that the influence of informal networks in business may recede with increasing levels of economic growth and institutional effectiveness, this hypothesis remains to be tested in different contexts using varied network constructs in order to come to general conclusions. Assuming that informal networks are culturally rather than institutionally driven, we elaborate on the developmental dynamics of informal networks in Korea, namely yongo and inmaek, arguing that yongo persists and adjusts to changes in the sociocultural environment. While we define traditional yongo based on three in-group ties (family, university, and regional ties), today we see workplace-related ties and networks becoming an increasingly important yongo base, which we call yongo 2.0. Societal trends reflected in the so-called spoon-class theory and N-po generation debate mirror the ambivalence of traditional yongo and the reliance on yongo 2.0. Hence, we assume that yongo will not recede but remain an important in-group tie that foreign business expatriates need to understand and learn to access in order to manage business effectively and integrate into society.

This study aims to explore the patterns and transformational dynamics of the executive–interpreter network in the innovation processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises in hospitality.

Grounded in social network theory and adopting a case-based approach, this study features a multi-case design focusing on three Chinese boutique hotels. Data were collected through Web page and document reviews, participant observations and semistructured interviews.

Results capture how executive–interpreter network dynamics contribute to innovation in small- and medium-sized hotels. Key factors in social networks (e.g. size, scope and strength) shift throughout innovation. This study presents a design-driven approach as a means of innovation. Findings also delineate the network development conditions under which innovation dynamically occurs in boutique hotels.

Practical implications center on how network dynamics help small- and medium-sized hotels innovate more effectively. These insights can assist hotel operators and prospective market entrants in improving their hotels’ performance and competitiveness.

This study blends social network theory with a design-driven approach to explore innovation mechanisms in small- and medium-sized hotels. It offers empirical evidence for practitioners regarding design-driven innovation. Findings enrich the body of knowledge on both design-driven innovation theory and hospitality innovation.

This paper aims to challenge the assumption that brands of everyday products have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years by conducting the first case study of the marketing practices of the Swedish toothpaste brand Stomatol (1910–1940). Through visual social semiotic analysis, it explores how the brand was a pioneer in lifestyle marketing, using discourses of modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life” to sell its toothpaste.

Two hundred Stomatol advertisements were collected from the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive and analysed using visual social semiotics. The analysis considers how the idea of a cultural Swedishness centred around modernity and beauty developed between 1910 and 1940, and how both linguistic and semiotic resources were used to make these claims seem credible.

At a time when its main adversaries were capitalising upon science in their advertisements to construct authority and credibility, Stomatol instead targeted lifestyle. Modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life” were central themes of their marketing campaigns, yet the way these themes were articulated varied between 1910 and 1940 in accordance with changing popular discourse. This made Stomatol more competitive than other toothpaste brands because it was able to sell an experience rather than a product, turning it into Sweden’s most popular toothpaste.

This paper demonstrates the importance of case studies to challenge the assumption that toothpaste brands have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years (a claim based on Anglocentrism). It also showcases the need to further investigate non-Anglo countries when conducting research into lifestyle marketing to build a more nuanced perspective on its origins and the supposed novelty of (largely) US practices. Thus, Stomatol makes an important case for Sweden as a trailblazer in lifestyle marketing.

In an MBA capstone project course, a team of four mid-career, working professionals had assessed the feasibility of a new venture idea. All four were dog-lovers who had been frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the various dog training programs and products in which they had participated. Their idea was to utilize a novel technology to assist dog owners in the training process. After completing the course, the team met to determine whether SmartPooch was just an interesting idea—or alternatively was a sufficiently promising opportunity that one or more of them would continue to explore it.

The four students who are the case protagonists conducted both primary and secondary research. In addition, the case writer conducted additional secondary research and consulted with the four students during the development of the case study.

Introductory Entrepreneurship course at Master’s or Undergraduate levels

Frameworks from which feasibility analysis questions were derived include Mullins’ New Business Road Test and Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas. The discussion of opportunity recognition starts with the definition of opportunity drawn from Hansen, D.J.; Shrader, R.; and Monllor, J. (2009), “Composite definitions of entrepreneurial opportunity and their operationalizations: toward a typology”, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Vol. 29 No. 17.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a solution that helps reduce confusion about choice and usage of tools for strategy-making.

The approach is to present a classroom-tested system that integrates new methods for applying a parsimonious set of six widely used tools, within one, comprehensive, yet succinct, procedure for strategy-making.

Findings, based on years of development and use of the procedure as the basis for teaching MBA capstone courses in strategy, reveal that it facilitates rapid mastery of the underlying theory and practical application of the essential tools of strategy-making.

Practical implications include decreased tendencies for ad hoc or disjointed use of random sets of tools for strategy-making and increased capabilities to connect strategy-making and strategy-executing in an iterative process, as previous iterations of strategies that were executed by organizations are used to determine new strategies.

Characteristics of the procedure which are original include: merging outside-in and inside-out perspectives on strategy-making in one, succinct procedure; providing an approach with general applicability to diverse types of organizations; providing a systematic process for identifying and rating environmental characteristics, using shared, theory-based scales, applied to fully-cited, real-world data, thereby reducing reliance on unsubstantiated opinion, providing full traceability, and facilitating knowledge transfer across users and time; and linking strategy analysis to formulation. The procedure described in this article has value for professors, students, managers, consultants, and the broad spectrum of people throughout organizations who are engaged in strategy-making.

The study of family mobilities necessitates an examination of how practices are orchestrated in time as well as space. Conventional approaches to the study of family time use either quantitative analysis of time-use data or qualitative studies of time pressure and work/life balance. The limitation with these approaches is that they assume a rather static family structure that is dominated by parents with young children. Moreover, these studies do not capture the dualistic quality of time; that time constitutes and is a constituent of family life. In this chapter, I use one-day diaries on organising and experiencing time, collated as part of the UK Mass Observation Project in Autumn 2017, to interrogate the relationality of family time. The analysis examines how family practices maybe sequential, synchronous, planned or serendipitous and how these different temporalities permeate the busyness of time pressure. These one-day accounts confirm how time is experienced through and by family and intimate relationships.

The volatile and ambiguous state of the global economy is changing prerequisites in the corporate environment paradigm. Contemporary small- and medium-sized businesses fill in the gaps in the value chains originally created by big businesses. Such a change in the global environment is calling for a completely new system of values bringing on new challenges for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The smart solution to overcome the barriers might be found in the course of sustainable development. The idea of sustainable development of the world economy was originally developed by large corporations and governments of different countries based on scarcity and irresponsible use of natural resources. The corporate approach is to gain positive economic effect through implementation of large-scale projects to transform business models. The society, as the main recipient of the ‘products’ of business and state activities, represents its interests in a heterogeneous way; In fact, there is ample evidence this is due to a number of social, economic, political and cross-cultural factors. In correlation with the above-mentioned vectors of interests of global stakeholders, the implementation of sustainable development policies includes the development of new products; the reorganization of production, incentive and process assessment systems; as well as leading cross-functional organizational changes. Despite the commitment of senior management and institutional efforts to spread the concept of sustainable development via global corporations, practical cases are often characterized by organizational resistance and inertia. According to some authors, cultural, structural and routine communications – emerging at different corporate levels – become agents of influence on large, medium and small firms (Banerjee, 2008). Such a combination of economic and social processes forms a special environment for the development of contemporary SMEs in Europe. The chapter pinpoints the challenges and drivers for SMEs’ development in an ambiguous environment, as well as the prerequisites for the formation of sustainable development of the business as a state of art.