Business Commons^™

Introduction To International Business, Rajaram Veliyath

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

An introduction to the global business environment, this course examines the discrete and interactive effects of the geographic, historical, sociocultural, political/legal, economic and technological forces that shape business activities across borders and their consequences.

Developing An Integrative Theoretical Framework For Electronic Business Value Optimisation In Botswana, Meduduetso Tsumake-Tsiang, Adheesh Budree

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Organizations are trying to move quickly to adopt remote working policies into their organizations as to attract and retain top talent, reduce office space costs, and increase productivity. As many of these strategies were quickly adopted by South African ICT organizations during the COIVD-19 pandemic, organizations are still somewhat unclear on what their role is with regards to ensuring long term adoption of remote working. Thus, this study explored the role of the organization with regards to a work-from-home strategy. It was found that the organization is responsible for formalizing the chosen strategy, creating supportive policies, and adapting its management …

Digital Transformation Of Smes Through Social Media, Georgette Eugenia Otoo, Raphael Amponsah, Eric Afful-Dadzie, Emmanuel Awuni Kolog

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

This research paper explores the strategic integration of social media platforms by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) beyond marketing. Drawing from Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities theories, the study investigates how social media enhances management, coordination, and control functions. Through five diverse case studies from Ghana, findings reveal SMEs’ innovative use of platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, Slack, and Trello. These platforms foster efficient internal communication, customer engagement, project management, and talent acquisition. Challenges such as technical expertise and dynamic digital landscapes are identified.

Adoption Of Ict To Support Rural Small-Holder Farmers : A Systematic Review, Abdus Salaam Seat, Shaun Pather

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are slowly becoming more available to rural communities given a number of innovative approaches over recent years such as the implementation of Community Networks (CNs). Consequently, ICTs are able to become more meaningful in support of livelihoods of these communities, such as in agriculture production. Potential benefits to smallholder farmers include increase yields and reduced effort. However, there is very little evidence of smallholder farmers integrating ICTs into their livelihood activity. In this paper a Systematic Literature Review is used to explore the challenges faced in this sector. A total of 83 articles …

Small Value-Add Local Food Retailer’S Covid-19 And Post-Covid-19 Strategies, Timothy L. Schauer, Denise Ogden, Doc Ogden

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The pandemic came as a blow to retailers that were already under pressure from online competitors that offered low prices and provided the convenience of shopping from home. The media tended to cover the plight and challenges for larger chain stores and big box retailers. However, the small local food providers and retailers also faced challenges and had to manage without the luxury of having dedicated staff and deep pockets with which to navigate through the pandemic. This paper explores the experiences and strategies used by 20 small local value-added food providers and retailers as they navigated the pandemic. Additionally, …

Organizing Digital Platforms And Customer Needs For Digital Service Innovation, Gamel O. Wiredu

The African Journal of Information Systems

Digital organizations have become highly dependent on digital platforms and customer needs as key resources for digital service innovation. These resources in the competitive environment are making and shaping innovation of digital services because, though external, they remain central to digital organizations’ strategic innovation and competitiveness. Yet, how and why organizing these resources influences digital service innovation is under-explained in the literature. This paper, based on an empirical study and grounded theory methodology, addresses this limitation. It explains that digital service innovation occurs through two complementary types of organizing, namely: foundational knowledge organizing by combining digital platforms and customer needs, …

The 1-2-3 Of Market Research For Business Startups: A Case Study In Library Instruction, Daniel Le, Marie-Louise Watson

Georgia Library Quarterly

This article describes a practical way to teach student entrepreneurs to search and use market data for business startup plans. The conventional way of teaching students to find articles and business intelligence based on a class assignment can be challenging for many students without an academic business background. This library instruction approach sequentially uses three databases enriched with business data and infographics to support the development of critical thinking for student entrepreneurs. It teaches entrepreneurial personality support, analysis, visualization, and market mapping.

Validation Of Entrepreneurial Marketing Dimensions In North Carolina Wineries, George D. Shows, Pia A. Albinsson, James E. Stoddard

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This aim of this article is to test and validate a recently developed Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) scale in the context of North Caroline Wineries. Previous EM literature suggests that EM consists of six dimensions, namely 1) proactive orientation, 2) opportunity orientation, 3) customer intensity, 4) innovation focused, 5) risk management, and 6) value creation. Using confirmatory factory analysis and structural equation modeling on data collected from small businesses (e.g., NC wineries), results confirm the EM consists of five of the proposed six dimensions in the NC winery context. Risk management was not included in the final model. Implications for theory …

Escape For Boone & Crocket, William Foxx, W. Frank Thompson Jr., Joseph W. Giese, David Vanbuskirk

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Eber Crocket is the owner of Boone & Crocket Trapper Supply (B&C). He feels like the environmental forces that are impacting his business are like a trap slowing closing on him. He is considering ideas to improve his store’s profitability.

Demand for furs as fashion goods is a multi-million dollar industry. Twenty percent of this demand is met by wild fur which is harvested by trappers. Trapping suppliers serve as the middleman between small individual trappers and auction houses. These auction houses collect the raw fur pelts from trappers and trapping stores and hold them until one of their auctions. …

Understanding Entrepreneurial Marketing Through Customer Orientation Of Hispanic And Black Business Owners, Linda Golden, Robert A. Peterson

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Financial Technology Usage 2017 Predictive Analytics Study, Alan D. Smith

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Unintended Impacts On Entrepreneurs During Covid-19 – Pandemic Creates Unforeseeable Opportunities Of A Lifetime, Ryan Matthews

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Select entrepreneurs are successful for a reason. One reason being, they have been able to use their skills to execute during times of chaos and panic, sometimes using these times as an opportunity to identify and exploit new or existing opportunities. Now and then, the external business environment changes in a manner that was never imagined or planned, therefore creating unintended impacts or new opportunities. During times of chaos, will these entrepreneurs pursue newly present opportunities that were not planned, or will they stick to their comfort zone? While several studies have been conducted looking at the characteristics of the …

Information Searching And Satisficing Process For It Decision Making Process Of Smes, Mohammed A. Enagi, Jean-Paul Van Belle

The African Journal of Information Systems

Information Technology (IT) can provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with competitive advantage, effective management, and improved business performance. Decision making is an integral process of achieving a successful IT investment. SME owner-managers are usually the key IT decision makers despite the fact that they often do not possess sufficient IT skills. This study examines how SME managers search and prioritise information that guides their IT decisions. This study adopted a qualitative research method and conducted interviews with eleven SME owner-managers in Nigeria and South Africa to understand the process of IT investment based on the information available to the …

The Slackback, Joe Stasio

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Review Of Career Education For Women Entrepreneurs In Nigeria, Elizabeth Ojo, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Influence Of Pre- And Post-Purchase Services Mix On Millennial Shopping Behavior, Matt Elbeck, Debbie Delong, Hannah Wilburn

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

The Examiniation Of Entrepreneurial Investment Tax Credits: Angel Vs. Crowdfunding Investing, Laura Barthel

PhD in Business Administration Dissertations

Equity-investment credits are prevalent in the United States and other countries (Bell and Woodmansee, 2016), yet little evidence exists about the effectiveness of these credits at incentivizing individuals to invest. The intent of these credits is to spur entrepreneurial activity and in turn economic development (Acs, Asterbro, Audretsch, and Robinson, 2016; Bell, Wilbanks, and Hendon, 2013; Erken, Donselaar, and Thurik, 2016). The current study experimentally tests the influence of a tax credit on an individual’s likelihood to invest in startups across two risk settings, which parallel Angel and Crowdfunding investing methods.

The study finds an equity-investment tax credit is effective …

Sex May Sell But Gender Identity Predicts: An Investigation Of College Students’ Propensity To Join Entrepreneurship Clubs, Jerald Wallace

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

A rich and diverse stream of research has focused on assessing different outcomes between men and women entrepreneurs. Popular stereotypes maintain that women are neither as interested, or successful as entrepreneurs compared to men. However, most past research has used biological sex as a proxy to measure differences between women and men dichotomously. The problem with this approach is that it is an oversimplified approach to a complex issue. To address this problem, the more recent literature suggests the inclusion of more meaningful variables, such as gender identity, an individual’s concept of their traits both masculine and feminine, to assess …

Entrepreneurship Marketing In North Carolina’S Wine Industry, George D. Shows, Pia A. Albinsson, James E. Stoddard

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Entrepreneurial marketing seeks to create, communicate and deliver value to customers and manage customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization. This paper explores whether increased entrepreneurial marketing practices at North Carolina wineries can lead to enhanced winery performance. A web survey was delivered to N.C. wineries by email. The results suggest that winery customer intensity and innovation was positively related to winery satisfaction of winery performance. Also, innovation and value creation were found to be positively related to percentage sales change at wineries.

Application Of New Theory In Entrepreneurship: Social Cognition, Ryan Matthews Dr., Kelly R. Hall, Lucy Matthews

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Developing A Model For Entrepreneurs: Niche Tourism And Consumer Typologies, Michelle B. Kunz, Janet M. Ratliff

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Corporate Social Responsibility Report Narratives And Analyst Forecast Accuracy, Volkan Muslu, Sunay Mutlu, Suresh Radhakrishnan, Albert Tsang

Faculty and Research Publications

Standalone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports vary considerably in the content of information released due to their voluntary nature. In this study, we develop a disclosure score based on the tone, readability, length, and the numerical and horizon content of CSR report narratives, and examine the relationship between the CSR disclosure scores and analyst forecasts. We find that CSR reporters with high disclosure scores are associated with more accurate forecasts, whereas low score CSR reporters are not associated with more accurate forecasts than firms who do not issue CSR reports. The findings are robust to controlling for firm characteristics including …

Recognizing And Exploiting New Opportunities In Times Of Chaos And Unintended Impacts, Ryan Matthews

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Select entrepreneurs are successful for a reason. They have been able to use their alertness and prior knowledge, among other skill sets, to identify and exploit new opportunities. However, when new opportunities are identified outside of their area of expertise, will they choose to pursue these opportunities, or stick to the behaviors that are most comfortable? While several studies have been conducted looking at the characteristics of the entrepreneur, or the experiences faced by the entrepreneur, there is a gap in the current literature when combining these two elements. The current literature lacks an understanding as to how the environment …

The Scent Of Change: A Case Study, William K. Foxx, Melissa C. Northam, Corlette S. Burns

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Decisions about entering into a new business venture involve a variety of considerations, despite the level of experience an entrepreneur has. This case presents the story of a business owner Bennett Gage and his decisions concerning whether or not he should enter into a business where canines are used to detect bed bugs in hotels. This case study gives the reader an opportunity to wrestle with some of the many questions that are part of entering into the creation of a new service.

Corporate Social Responsibility In The B-2-B Market, Susan Saurage-Altenloh, Perry Haan

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Organizations that invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to improve the quality of a community or population expect a return on their investment in the form of improved brand reputation and greater consideration in the competitive environment. Homburg, Stierl, and Bornemann (2013) determined that targeted CSR activities could enhance trust and identification by organizational customers, thus fostering customer loyalty. The authors confirmed that CSR influenced client trust through loyalty and that integrating instrumental stakeholder theory with social exchange theory undergirded this link between CSR and trust. Maignan and Ferrell (2004) exhorted marketers to focus beyond consumers to other stakeholder groups …

Business Framing For Analytics, Beverly Wright

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Both the academic and business practitioner communities are faced with the challenges of discovery, innovation, and constant learning of their field, particularly within the marketing discipline, where content, processes, and even structure are dynamic in nature, with constantly evolving interests and focus. A solid research agenda with excellent analytics to address pertinent business questions is crucial for successfully expanding our understanding of the marketing function.

Removing The Undesirables: A Case Study, William K. Foxx, Melissa C. Northam, Corlette S. Burns

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The lodging industry has been particularly challenged by the bed bug’s resurgence. Bed bugs are primarily associated with places where people sleep and most of these places are properties associated with the lodging industry such as hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts.

In the United States, this industry is massive.

All In Or A` La Carte: Preferences Of Medical Tourists Towards Value Of Co-Creation, Michael Dotson, Jennifer Henson Nevins, Bonnie S. Guy

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Patients Beyond Borders (2014) defines a medical tourist as anyone who travels across international borders for the purpose of receiving nonemergency medical care. It has been estimated that the market size in USD ranges from 38.5 to 55 billion based upon eleven million cross-border patients worldwide spending an average of 3,500 – to 5,000 USD per visit. Further, Patients Beyond Borders suggests that the top Medical tourism destinations are Costa Rica, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.

A Game Theory Analysis Of Team Based Incentivization In Retailing, Don Shemwell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The connection between incentives and outcomes has long found consistent support in management literature generally (Bartol and Hagmann 1992; Miller & Schuster 1993; Swinehart 1986) and retailing in particular (Banker et al. 1996; Team Pay Case Studies 1997). Later meta-studies strongly support this view. (Condly, Noe and Jackson 2002; Garbers and Konradt 2014). Yet, providing performance-based incentives, at least for rank and file retail employees, still is not common in U.S. retailing and team-based incentives are even rarer.

The next section of this manuscript describes some of the issues with individualized commissions, which though not prevalent in a many product …

A Research Note On Street Pricing Requirements In Major U.S. Airport Retail Concessions Requests For Proposals, Blaise Waguespack

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

When reviewing the subject of airport marketing, much of the literature is broken down into issues external or internal to the airport. The external literature tends to divide and differentiate airports on the issues of size (passenger counts) and who is the target of the marketing campaign. Those articles and books that tend to focus on the larger commercial airports (Jarach, 2005; Halpern and Graham, 2013) note the role the airport can play in economic development. Much of the external marketing tasks for the larger commercial airports are aimed at either attracting more airline service to the community or working …