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Enterprise software is a predominant sector in the European software industry. Four of the five largest European software companies are found in this sector. Interestingly, two of these — among them SAP as one of the two global market leaders — are located within the same industrial agglomeration in South-Western Germany. This agglomeration, the SAP cluster, further consists of enterprise software SMEs forming a ‘satellite system’ centred around the large players, which fosters the formation of ‘mutualistic symbiotic’ relationships between large and small firms. At first sight, cluster formation in the context of the enterprise software industry might seem perplexing considering that traditional rationales of agglomeration economies seem obsolete in an environment where advances in communications technology would permit companies to locate in any location within a modern developed economy instead of concentrating in proximity to each other or to major players in the industry. This chapter explores possible explanations of this agglomeration phenomenon based on patterns of competition, collaboration and the formation of social capital between smaller firms and large anchor firms.

The findings of a comparative analysis between the SAP cluster environment and two categories of controls (firms in other agglomerated environments and those unaffected by agglomeration effects within Germany) show that SAP cluster SMEs might simultaneously benefit from heightened intensity of competition and a more pronounced inclination towards collaboration. Moreover, the role of social capital derived from SAP as anchor firm clearly differentiates SAP cluster participants from firms located within other environments.

This chapter examines the financial performance efficiency of the restaurant sector in Croatian counties over the period 2013–2017. Today's tourists are ambitious explorers who travel in order to find and explore new experiences and motives for travelling as long as there are interesting things, activities and offers which correspond to their preferences. Among the many motives that today's tourist decides to travel, gastronomic tourism certainty plays an important role. The observation period began in 2013, since that was the year when Croatia acceded to the European Union and joined all the other prominent European food destinations. In order to evaluate the financial performance efficiency, the methodology of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied separately to the data processing of each year. The results of the Charnes–Cooper–Rhodes model showed that only four counties (Lika-Senj, Zadar, Istria and Dubrovnik-Neretva) achieved continuous efficiency over the whole observed period. In 2013 the results of scale efficiency showed that 10 counties (Krapina-Zagorje, Karlovac, Bjelovar-Bilogora, Lika-Senj, Požega-Slavonia, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Istria and Dubrovnik-Neretva) achieved a score of 1, and in later years there was a decrease. One of the main obstacles of the existing inefficiencies in the entire restaurant sector in Croatian counties is certainly changeable tax legislation and lack of employees in the restaurant sector.

The construct of “tradition” is commonly used in studies of society and culture and refers to historically patterned institutionalized practices that emphasize the “presentness of the past” in their transmission. However, there is “very little analysis of the properties of tradition” (Shils, 1971, p. 124), especially in the management literature. We draw on illustrative examples from Martha Stewart Living magazine to reveal the use and meanings of traditions and their relevance to understanding institutional micro-foundations in contemporary living. We investigate how organizations bundle various aspects of institutions in their presentation, and seek to advance theory on how institutions matter in everyday life.

Retailing has developed from independent merchants to multinational giants operating through global value chains, which has profoundly shaped consumption patterns in Western economies. This constant development currently consists of three global-scale change trajectories – climate change, online consumption, and technological development – that affect the retail industry. Based on this, this chapter concentrates on connecting the development paths of consumption and retailing and identifies various factors that affect the future of international retailing. The authors analyze the changes in institutional logics of international retailing by mapping the past, present, and future of the retail industry and consumption using content analysis of secondary data. The authors pay special attention to the effect of the current Covid-19 crisis on the future development of the retail industry. In the findings of this chapter, the authors recognize institutional logics changes in organizing the position of retailing as a connector of customers and producers, and the authors suggest blockchain to be an emerging new institutional order.

This chapter discusses concepts from and research about experiential marketing and place branding to provide insights for authenticity studies in tourism. In order to offer a practical perspective, an empirical study was undertaken at a cacao farm in the Brazilian state of Bahia. The locality is known historically for its cacao production, but due to Vassoura-de-Bruxa (witch’s broom) plague diagnosed in 1989, local farmers saw their crops fail and thus sought other alternatives to secure the sustainability of their businesses. Tourism was one of these options. The chapter analyzes the authenticity of tourism experiences and the role marketing plays in this process.

James G. March taught his students how to combine rigor and playfulness. He saw scholarship as the interplay between harnessing crazy ideas; the technology of foolishness on one side, and the rigorous building and assessment of models which emulate the behaviors of individuals in organizations and of organizations as a whole on the other side. Therefore, a student should develop not only an ability to understand the world, by mastering technical analytical methods, but also an ability to appreciate it. In order to develop the latter, one should grasp that the underlying problems of management and leadership are indistinguishable from the fundamental problems of life, and that the novels, poems and plays of great literature are the best sources to examine these problems. Thus, James March’s teaching involved basic skills in statistics, the subtle art of building models, and the study of major pieces of great literature. According to James March, teaching is not primarily about spreading knowledge but is about raising faith in scholarship. Learning is not aimed at adapting to the world, but at developing a desire to change it for more truth, beauty and justice. Higher education is a vision, a vocation, not a rational choice. Teaching is a sacrament.