Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Overcoming The Challenge Of Exploration: How Decompartmentalization Of Internal Communication Enhances The Effect Of Exploration On Employee Inventive Performance, Lin Jiang, Brent B. Clark, Daniel B. Turban

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

Drawing upon the notion of boundaryless organizations and upon the information processing perspective of organizational design, we investigate the decompartmentalization of internal communication as a unique organizational context that moderates the relationship between R&D employees’ exploration behaviors and their individual inventive performance. We test our hypotheses using a novel combination of survey and archival data. We find that R&D employees who explore more generate inventions that are more valuable only when in workplaces characterized by high communication decompartmentalization. Such workplaces have more frequent communication between R&D and other units, more employee mobility via cross-unit project rotations, or greater managerial support …

Launching An Online Boutique And Analyzing Digital Marketing Strategies Used, Kayla Weyers

Honors Theses

Digital marketing is becoming more relevant and widely used in the marketing industry. In order to use the marketing skills that I have learned through my marketing major in a real-world scenario, I launched an online women’s clothing store called Ash + Grae. This paper examines the start-up process and legal obstacles of opening a small business. It also analyzes the different marketing techniques by comparing digital marketing strategies such as social media, influencer, email, and SEO marketing.

Keeping It Agile: The Internationalisation Decision For The Agile Executive, Siobhan O Regan, Roger Sherlock

Case Studies

This case focuses on The Agile Executive, a company looking for new market opportunities to expand their business in several possible European markets.

This case is also an exercise case for students to practice their knowledge from the perspective of strategic management, branding, marketing & sales, conducting market research and the development of feasible marketing entry strategies, all based on clear use of robust criteria, aligning with the core competences, resources and capabilities of the organisation.

This case can be divided into sub-cases that could focus on answering the questions of how to enter or expand in a target European …

A Survey Of Retail Trade Patterns In South Dakota: 2012-2021, Rand E. Wergin

Faculty Publications

This paper provides an analysis of retail sales and retail trade in the state of South Dakota for the years 2012 to 2021. This analysis will provide valuable information to community leaders in the cities and towns of South Dakota. Along with measures such as unemployment and inflation, Retail Pull (RP) provides a measure of community’s economic health. For example, retail is often the largest employer in a city, particularly the smaller communities of South Dakota, and a robust retail sector provides a tax base to support community services. Thus, the economic health of the community depends on the viability …

Decentralizing Corporate Governance? A Praxeological Inquiry, Scott L. Mitchell, Mark D. Packard, Brent B. Clark

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

The theory and practice of corporate governance has been in something of an arms race with corporate malefactors—as corporate governance mechanisms have incrementally advance, so too have the strategies of malefactors who skirt those governance practices to engage in costly misconduct. Modern centralized governance approaches appear inapt to filling the gaps caused by agency and knowledge problems. Here, we start afresh using the atypical ‘praxeological’ method to reconstruct governance theory anew from basic foundations. The resultant theory is distinctive from prevailing corporate governance theorizing in several key ways. One of the more important conclusions from our reconstructed theory is that …

Ethical Perceptions Of Ai In Hiring And Organizational Trust: The Role Of Performance Expectancy And Social Influence, Maria Figueroa-Armijos, Brent B. Clark, Serge P. Da Motta Veiga

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in hiring entails vast ethical challenges. As such, using an ethical lens to study this phenomenon is to better understand whether and how AI matters in hiring. In this paper, we examine whether ethical perceptions of using AI in the hiring process influence individuals’ trust in the organizations that use it. Building on the organizational trust model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, we explore whether ethical perceptions are shaped by individual differences in performance expectancy and social influence and how they, in turn, impact organizational trust. We collected primary …

Distinguishing Unpredictability From Uncertainty In Entrepreneurial Action Theory, Ryan W. Angus, Mark D. Packard, Brent B. Clark

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

The traditional view that perceived and archival uncertainty measures are substitutable proxies for “true” environmental (entrepreneurial) uncertainty presumes an “all-seeing eye.” Adopting a representationalist epistemology, we distinguish environmental (objective) unpredictability from entrepreneurs’ subjective uncertainty, which has so far been theoretically confounded. It is, in fact, possible for an entrepreneur to be highly certain despite excessive unpredictability and vice versa. Theoretically distinguishing these constructs has fundamental implications for entrepreneurial action theory. For example, because intentional action is consciously originated, unpredictability influences action only indirectly, while uncertainty has direct effects. Outcomes, on the other hand, are directly affected by the complexity and …

Marketing Activity Influences On Brand Attractiveness & Loyalty, Keiondre' Mcallister

McNair Scholars Research

While selecting a specific brand could seem simple, many variables are considered. Consumers must trust that the chosen brand meets their needs by providing value. Value differs for everyone; however, four value pillars within the value creation pyramid could explain which value attracts the consumer most to a brand. These value elements will be explored to explain consumer preferences.

Status Consumption And Charitable Donations: The Power Of Empowerment, Sona Klucarova, Xin He

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

Status consumption, the act of consuming market offerings aimed at conferring status on the consumer, has often been portrayed as the opposite of charitable donation behavior. In a departure from prior works, this study examines the connection between these two seemingly contradictory behaviors. The results of seven studies (including one in the Supporting Information Appendix) demonstrate that status consumption, considered a self-centered behavior, leads to increased charitable donations, a prosocial outcome. This effect is driven by a process of empowerment (i.e., increase in the sense of power that consumers derive from status consumption). The underlying mechanism of empowerment is examined …

An Investigation Of Teenagers’ Advertising Literacy In The Context Of The Brand-Rich Environment Of Social Media, Emma Sweeney

Doctoral

Teenagers are avid consumers of social media and consequently, constitute attractive target audiences for marketers. On social media, advertising can be integrated into content such as YouTube videos and Instagram posts which means the boundary between commercial content (the advertisement) and non-commercial content (e.g., the video in which the ad appears) becomes increasingly blurred. Therefore, in this context, the consumer must be able to navigate a minefield of overt and covert advertising that is disseminated by a range of sources, including brands and social media influencers. A resulting concern for academics, parents and policy makers alike relates to young people’s …

“Old Boys' Club”: Barriers To Digital Marketing In Small B2b Firms, Justina Setkute, Sally Dibb Prof

Articles

Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of digital marketing, many B2B SMEs have been slow to adopt these practices. These firms' characteristics and ways of working mean that digital marketing as practiced in B2C or in larger firms may be unsuitable. This paper aims to increase understanding about digital marketing in B2B SMEs, by examining the barriers they face and the digital practices that work for them. A qualitative research methodology is used to focus on these previously unexplored practices in small B2B firms operating with the oil and gas industry. The study identifies the internal and external factors linked to …

Digital Entrepreneurship: Context And Conceptualization, Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Anthony Paul Buckley

Books/Book Chapters

Recognizing how the lines between digital and traditional forms of entrepreneurship are blurring, this forward-thinking book combines digital technology and entrepreneurship perspectives to advance knowledge on this paradigm-shifting typology of entrepreneurship.

An Exploratory Study Of The Role And Contribution Of Absorptive Capacity Levels In The Commercialisation Of Knowledge In Knowledge Intensive Smes, Francis Martin Behan

Doctoral

Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) is a construct introduced by Cohen and Leventhal in 1990 to describe the process by which an organisation recognises and absorbs new external knowledge to increase its current stock of knowledge, thereby giving it increased capability to create value for its customers, stakeholders and wider society. ACAP, as a construct, has gained widespread acceptance within academia and the construct has been further refined and developed over the last thirty years. However, the application and testing of the construct, is in practice, still in the early stages of development. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate …