Search results

How do entrepreneurs use simple rules to build their business models? Based on an inductive study of three Chinese Internet and technology firms, the authors find that business models emerge from simple rules that entrepreneurs learn from their experience. Simple rules also guide entrepreneurs to actualize and exploit opportunities in the marketplace, and they can help business models evolve through market feedback, especially in internationalization. This paper aims to delve into the black box of entrepreneurial decision-making and offer a better depiction of the business model development process in uncertain and fast-changing environments and thus provide guidance for future entrepreneurs.

Following the case method (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003), the authors first present a thick description of characteristics of three companies and the dynamics of their business models. They then code these descriptions into first-order measures. Finally, they aggregate these measures into abstract constructs. They constantly compare the theoretical constructs and the emerging theory with the existing literature on business models.

The authors generate three key insights from the findings: business models emerge from simple rules learned from entrepreneurs’ experience, simple rules help entrepreneurs exploit and actualize opportunities in the marketplace and simple rules help businesses expand and evolve business models through market feedback, especially in internationalization.

This paper falls into the intersection of strategy and entrepreneurship – an emerging new field of strategic entrepreneurship – and is concerned with how businesses create and sustain a competitive advantage while simultaneously identifying and exploiting new opportunities. The authors bring people – the individual decision-makers for businesses – back in strategy research and depict a more realistic picture of the behavior of successful entrepreneurs and their business model development process.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a broadened and integrated red team strategy with concrete steps to help companies better deal with the disruptive forces prevalent in the world today and turn disruptions into growth.

This paper synthesizes and builds on previous research and relevant business cases accumulated through our research and executive teaching experience. The authors offer a broadened and integrated red team strategy with practical guidance for business executives

The authors provide four key steps to help companies implement the red team strategy: create a red team culture and encourage diverse perspectives; establish an independent red team to overcome organizational inertia; use the red team to embrace disruption and growth opportunities; and take a milestone approach to red team execution and resource allocation.

More research on red team strategy is needed to delve into the underlying factors and delineate the boundary conditions for specific details in this strategy and implementation.

The red team strategy provides concrete steps to help companies in their efforts to adapt to and capitalize on disruptive forces.

The red team strategy extends the concept and application of red teams and integrates previously fragmented ideas and practices into a systematic model with simple steps, which make it easier for companies to cope with disruption.

The purpose of this study is to systematically analyze the evolution of health tourism development, identify relevant themes and segments of health tourism research and offer future research directions and practical implications for academic researchers and tourism practitioners worldwide using China as an example.

Using a bibliometric analysis, the present study comprehensively analyzes the theme, segments and the evolution of health tourism research over the past 40 years in China.

Major findings show that health tourism research in China could be divided into four stages with different characteristics, and three segments, including wellness tourism, health and wellness tourism and medical tourism. Findings also reveal the trend of health tourism development tends to be industrialized, diversified and systematic under the guidance of recent policies. Theoretically, based on the theoretical framework developed by Hall (2011), the present study contributes to the establishment and extension of the framework for health tourism within the context of China. Practically, findings can provide health tourism-related policy implications for the future development of health or health sector-integrated tourism.

The study proposes possible collaboration between government and academia in terms of health tourism-related policy formulation.

Through 40-year bibliometric analysis of health tourism evolution in China, the present study explores the main themes of health tourism development, identifies the segments of health tourism and analyzes the development stages of health tourism. Findings should be of use to international readers to better understand the uniqueness of health tourism development and find out possible future health tourism development research directions. As a result, major contributions of this paper are the comprehensive analysis of the evolution of health tourism research and the implications on other countries and regions to adopt a pragmatic approach to explore the trend and unique characteristics of health tourism for future development.

本研究旨在系统地分析中国健康旅游的演变过程, 探索健康旅游研究的相关主题及细分领域, 并为全球学术研究人员及旅游从业者提供未来的研究方向。

此研究通过文献计量学的研究方法, 全面分析了中国近40年健康旅游研究的主题、细分以及演变。

中国健康旅游研究根据其发展特点可以分为四个阶段及三个细分主题：分别是养生旅游, 康养旅游及医疗旅游。调查结果还表明, 在近期政策的引导下, 健康旅游发展趋于产业化、多元化和系统化。从理论意义来说, 本研究基于Hall (2011) 提出的理论框架, 构建了中国背景下的健康旅游框架。从实践意义来说, 研究结果可以为健康和旅游业相关部门提供政策建议。

此研究还有助于促进政府和学术界在健康旅游政策制定方面的合作。

此研究通过对中国近40年健康旅游的研究进行文献计量分析, 探索了健康旅游发展的主题, 分析了健康旅游的细分市场以及发展阶段。研究结果有助于学术界及旅游业更好地了解健康旅游发展的独特性及未来健康旅游的研究方向。因此, 本研究的主要贡献是全面地分析了健康旅游研究的演变, 并有助于其他国家/地区探索未来健康旅游的发展趋势和其独特特征。

El propósito del presente estudio es analizar sistemáticamente la evolución del desarrollo del turismo de salud, identificar temas y segmentos relevantes de la investigación en turismo de salud y ofrecer direcciones de investigación futuras e implicaciones prácticas para investigadores académicos y profesionales del turismo en todo el mundo utilizando a China como ejemplo.

Mediante un análisis bibliométrico, el presente estudio analiza exhaustivamente la temática, los segmentos y la evolución de la investigación sobre turismo de salud en los últimos 40 años.

Los principales hallazgos muestran que la investigación del turismo de salud en China podría dividirse en cuatro etapas con diferentes características y tres segmentos, incluido el turismo de bienestar, el turismo de salud y bienestar y el turismo médico. Los hallazgos también revelan que la tendencia del desarrollo del turismo de salud tiende a ser industrializado, diversificado y sistemático bajo la guía de políticas recientes. El presente estudio hace aportes tanto teóricos como prácticos. Teóricamente, basado en el marco teórico desarrollado por Hall (2011), el presente estudio contribuye al establecimiento y extensión del marco para el turismo de salud en el contexto de China. En la práctica, los hallazgos pueden proporcionar implicaciones políticas relacionadas con el turismo de salud para el desarrollo futuro de la salud o el turismo integrado en el sector de la salud.

El estudio también propone una posible colaboración entre el gobierno y la academia en términos de formulación de políticas relacionadas con el turismo de salud.

A través del análisis bibliométrico de 40 años de la evolución del turismo de salud, el presente estudio explora los temas principales del desarrollo del turismo de salud, identifica los segmentos del turismo de salud y analiza las etapas de desarrollo del turismo de salud. Los hallazgos deberían ser de utilidad para los lectores internacionales para comprender mejor la singularidad del desarrollo del turismo de salud y descubrir posibles direcciones futuras de investigación sobre el desarrollo del turismo de salud. Como resultado, las principales contribuciones de este documento son el análisis exhaustivo de la evolución de la investigación en turismo de salud y las implicaciones en otros países y regiones para adoptar un enfoque pragmático para explorar la tendencia y las características únicas del turismo de salud para el desarrollo futuro.

Initiated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over half a century ago, fair trade has successfully evolved from a regional business discourse to a global social movement within international trade. In the matter of fair trade coffee, this global social movement has transformed the traditional coffee trade structure of inequality and unfairness into a conglomerate of international institutions that embrace equity and inclusivity – a metamorphosis that can be attributed to NGOs’ institutional entrepreneurship.

In this exploratory study, the authors examine the fair trade coffee industry and trace the actions of NGOs along with other stakeholders at the organizational field level, in moving toward an inclusive model of globalization.

Departing from exploitative globalization, fair trade practices advocate inclusive growth through the promotion and establishment of greater equity for all as well as higher environmental standards in global value chains.

This study contributes to nascent research on inclusive growth by analyzing how fair trade promotes inclusive growth and trade in GVCs. This study also contributes to research on institutional entrepreneurship by examining two enabling conditions – the shift in institutional logics and the peripheral social position of NGOs – that enabled NGOs to serve as institutional entrepreneurs in the initiation phase of institutional entrepreneurship.

Policymakers may encourage collaboration between profit organizations and nonprofit organizations to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for trials, errors, and revisions. The evolution of fair trade coffee provides such an example.

The coevolution of NGOs and MNEs has made the globalization of fair trade practices possible. The collaboration between NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs (operating on the community logic) and MNEs as institutional followers (operating on the financial logic) support inclusive globalization and sustain fair trade practices.

Drawing on the process model of institutional entrepreneurship, the authors seek to understand the role of NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs in the dynamics of initiating, diffusing and sustaining fair trade coffee practices.

Extant literature has indicated that government support is one of the main drivers of international expansion of Chinese multinational enterprises. However, research on the influence of governors on firm internationalization is still limited. Drawing upon the institution-based view, we theorize a novel concept of institutional enablement to illustrate the influence of a governor's pro-market ideology on Chinese firms' internationalization.

We analyze the relationship between a governor's pro-market ideology (consisting of a pro-market political ideology, an overseas educational background and a business background) and firm internationalization with a sample of Chinese public companies during 2014–2017.

We find a direct and positive effect of a governor's pro-market ideology on firm internationalization. We also find an indirect and positive effect of a governor's pro-market ideology through regional, inward foreign direct investment.

To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate an underexplored question of the impact of governors on firm internationalization and to develop a novel concept of institutional enablement, based on discursive institutionalism.

Most previous studies have discussed the factors that drive the development of smart tourism or its benefits. Nevertheless, hindrances to smart tourism development have been largely ignored by previous studies. Hence, to bridge the aforementioned research gap, the present study identified the hindrances to smart tourism development in Hong Kong, which has been affected by the recent pandemic, based on the adjusted destination competitiveness conceptual models.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the hindrances to smart tourism development. A qualitative interview method using a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended questions was adopted in the present study.

Findings of the present study indicated that the hindrances in developing smart tourism in Hong Kong are from four primary perspectives, namely, economic, sociocultural, technological and planning and management.

Seeking cooperation from popular tourist destinations can address the economic issues of market size and return on investment in technological infrastructure. Experiences, as the core product of travel, should be highlighted in smart tourism development and enterprises should be given support for the transformation.

Theoretically, based on the adjusted conceptual models for destination competitiveness, the present study identifies the macro factors that hinder the development of smart tourism in Hong Kong from different primary perspectives. Practically, factors such as policy support, which includes public funding or low-interest loans, are essential to supporting preliminary finances to attract entrepreneurs and young talents to participate in the development.

智慧旅游发展的障碍

之前的大多数研究都讨论了推动智慧旅游发展的因素或其好处。然而, 以往的研究在很大程度上忽略了智慧旅游发展的障碍。因此, 为弥合上述研究空白, 本研究基于调整后的目的地竞争力概念模型, 确定了受近期疫情影响的香港智慧旅游发展的障碍。

本研究采用了带有开放式问题的半结构化问卷的定性访谈方法来采集数据。

本研究结果表明, 香港发展智慧旅游的障碍主要来自四个方面, 即经济、社会文化、技术以及规划和管理。

寻求热门旅游目的地的合作可以解决市场规模和技术基础设施投资回报等经济问题。智慧旅游发展应突出体验作为旅游核心产品, 支持企业转型。

理论上, 本研究基于调整后的目的地竞争力概念模型, 从不同的首要视角识别阻碍香港智慧旅游发展的宏观因素。从实际意义上来讲, 公共资金或低息贷款在内的政策支持等因素对于支持初步资金, 以及吸引企业家和青年人才来参与发展至关重要。

This study aims to review published articles on website evaluation in hospitality and tourism for the period of 2000-2015 to provide a comprehensive updated review, as well as to offer implications for academic researchers and industry practitioners.

Content analysis was adopted by this study to review retrieved articles on website evaluation in hospitality and tourism. Articles were then analyzed from consumers’ perspective, suppliers’ perspective, and both consumers and suppliers’ perspectives using a systematic approach.

Major findings of this study showed that a majority of articles focused on either hospitality or tourism. Moreover, most of the articles generally discussed user interface, marketing effectiveness and website quality. However, these articles did not discuss in detail the implications of website evaluation and ignore the connections between suppliers and consumers to some extent.

This study can be used as a reference for academic researchers to extend previous frameworks and for industry practitioners to reconstruct the traditional organizational chart and implementing e-strategic management strategies, including m-marketing.

This study updates website evaluation development in hospitality and tourism in the new millennium. The findings of this study provide significant implications for hospitality and tourism researchers and practitioners to encourage supplier-consumer engagement.

Forming ties with prominent partners can help convey greater status and legitimacy to the company (Hallen, 2008) and also increases the entrepreneur’s influence within their own network (Bonacich, 1987). This allows entrepreneurs to gain greater access to the information, experience or resources that the company needs.

The founders of the company provided us with access to the inner workings of the company, their mentors and advisors and themselves. The authors used archival research and interviews when preparing this case. Interviews allow for the development of uncensored, real-life insights into the entrepreneur’s business experience. The authors also interviewed two of their mentors and investors.

Having graduated from UMass Lowell with engineering degrees, co-founders Rajia Abdelaziz and Ray Hamilton build invisaWear into a venture, but they did not know much about business. With coaching from their mentors, Rajia and Ray focused on building their network to raise capital to finance the business. Despite all their hard work networking, however, they faced a hurdle. Rajia and Ray contemplated their dilemma. “Are the authors doing something wrong? What can the authors do differently to attract investors?”

This case is suitable for an undergraduate course in business or entrepreneurship. This case is intended to illustrate to both business and non-business students how entrepreneurs can go about building their networks to grow their businesses. Presented as a real-life example of how entrepreneurs build their networks, the case can also be used to hone in on select topics including mentoring, searching for resources and coachability.

Why do some individuals become entrepreneurs while others do not? This fundamental question has vexed entrepreneurship scholars for some time, giving rise to various schools of thought. Traditional economic motivation theories, for example, suggest that entrepreneurial opportunities arise from changes in either supply (Shane, 2000) or demand (Dew et al., 2004) and emphasize personal economic gain as a motivator for pursuing entrepreneurship. Both neoclassical equilibrium and psychological theories take a person-centric perspective whereby stable, enduring differences among people’s characteristics, determines who becomes an entrepreneur. Opportunity recognition may be enhanced through perspective taking (i.e. putting oneself in the shoes of another person) (Prandelli et al., 2016).

The founders of the company provided us with access to the inner workings of the company, their mentors and advisors and themselves. This study used archival research and interviews when preparing this case. Interviews allow for the development of uncensored, real-life insights into the entrepreneur’s business experience. The authors first conducted a 90-min interview with Rajia and Ray at DifferenceMaker^® Central on the UMass Lowell campus. DifferenceMaker^® provided us with pictures and timelines from when Rajia and Ray participated in the various DifferenceMaker^® activities and competitions. A follow-on 90-min interview was conducted with the founders four months later at the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub to delve deeper into their transition from engineers to entrepreneurs.

In the summer of 2016, the future of invisaWear suddenly became uncertain. Rajia Abdelaziz and Ray Hamilton had conceived an idea for smart jewelry that they felt solved a real problem. But it was one thing to have a great idea and quite another to turn that idea into a real business. As engineering students, they were accustomed to solving problems, but if they truly wanted to make an impact, they had to learn to solve problems as entrepreneurs. With the help of DifferenceMaker^® and their mentors, they developed an entrepreneurial mind-set and decided to build invisaWear into a company.

This case is suitable for an undergraduate course in business or entrepreneurship. This case is intended to illustrate to both business and non-business students how individuals with different backgrounds can become entrepreneurs. Presented as a real-life example of how engineering students can make the transition to an entrepreneurial mind-set, the case can also be used to hone in on select topics including opportunity recognition, problem-solving, ideation and the business model canvas.