Carving out new business models in a small company through contextual ambidexterity: the case of a sustainable company

Business model innovation (BMI) and organizational ambidexterity have been pointed out as mechanisms for companies achieving sustainability. However, especially considering small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is a lack of studies demonstrating how to combine these mechanisms. Tackling such a gap, this study seeks to understand how SMEs can ambidextrously manage BMI. Our aim is to provide a practical artifact, accessible to SMEs, to operationalize BMI through organizational ambidexterity. To this end, we conducted our study under the design science research to, first, build an artifact for operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation. Then, we used an in-depth case study with a vegan fashion small e-commerce to evaluate the practical outcomes of the artifact. Our findings show that the company improves its business model while, at the same time, designs a new business model and monetizes it. Thus, our approach was able to take the first steps in the direction of operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation in small and medium enterprises, democratizing the concept. We contribute to theory by connecting different literature strands and to practice by creating an artifact to assist managemen

Transforming an idea into a strategic decision in SMEs

Entrepreneurs in small and medium sized firms (SMEs) are dynamic when it comes to decision-making. 65% of the interviewed entrepreneurs in our sample took an important decision in the last three years or will take an important decision in the near future. In this report we investigated the stages and crucial moments in the decision-making process of SMEs. By means of two extensive pilot studies we developed a model, distinguishing three stages and two moments in the decision-making process.

Asset Criticality in Mission Reconfigurable Cyber Systems and its Contribution to Key Cyber Terrain

The concept of a common operational picture has been utilized by the military for situational awareness in warfare domains for many years. With the emergence of cyberspace as a domain, there is a necessity to develop doctrine and tools to enable situational awareness for key-decision makers. Our study analyzes key elements that define cyber situational awareness to develop a methodology to identify assets within key cyber terrain, thus enabling situational awareness at the tactical level. For the purposes of this work, we treat critical assets to be key cyber terrain, given that no formal study has determined differences between asset criticality and key cyber terrain. Mission- and operationally- based questions are investigated to identify critical assets with the TOPSIS methodology. Results show that the ICS system can be evaluated using TOPSIS to identify critical assets contributing to key cyber terrain, enabling further research into other interconnected systems

Transfer of brand knowledge in business-to-business markets: A qualitative study

This is the author's accepted manuscript (under the provisional title "Transfer of brand knowlede in business-to-business markets by brand when personified as a human: A qualitative study"). The final published article is available from the link below. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8377). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Purpose – This paper presents the approach of a one-to-one relationship for branding in business-to-business markets. With qualitative evidence, the paper seeks to clarify the links between branding, relationship marketing and purchase intention of resellers and to discuss the contribution of brand personified as brand representatives to the brand knowledge of resellers. The aim of this paper is to understand how this transfer of knowledge by brand personified as representatives of the brand is reflected in the selection process of brand for resale by resellers. Design/methodology/approach – The theory is used to develop a testable model. Information from the field was gathered through 12 in-depth interviews of brand managers of international IT brands. These interviews helped to give a deeper insight into the topic and contributed to the categorization of different themes to be developed into constructs. Components that emerged from the interviews were from different disciplines and were useful in making linkages between these disciplines. Findings – Interviewees associated the role of brand personified (as brand representative) as a conduit between brand and resellers. Given the findings, brand when personified as a human can be used to manage reseller relationships in a business-to-business network. The brand personified with its metaphorical properties enables the resellers not only to clearly understand brand-related information but also to make positive evaluations about the brand. Empirical research would be helpful to establish the indicators of brand personification and to enhance the understanding of the concept. Practical implications – The study will be useful for senior managers of brands operating in competitive and complex business-to-business networks. It will enable them to use the categories and components to ensure that their brand is the preferred brand for resellers operating in the network. Originality/value – The approach will be helpful in linking different functions of the organization to measure the contribution made by employees representing the brand to resellers in competitive markets by imparting knowledge about the brand to resellers

The Social Market Economy as a Formula for Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability

The social market economy was developed in Germany during the interwar period amidst political and economic turmoil. With clear demarcation lines differentiating it from socialism and laissez-faire capitalism, the social market economy became a formula for peace and prosperity for post WWII Germany. Since then, the success of the social market economy has inspired many other countries to adopt its principles. Drawing on evidence from economic history and the history of economic thought, this thesis first reviews the evolution of the fundamental principles that form the foundation of social-market economic thought. Blending the micro-economic utility maximization framework with traditional growth theory, I provide theoretical support that aggregate social welfare is maximized in a stylized social market economy. Despite the presence of extensive qualitative research, no attempts have yet been made to measure social market economic performance empirically or to quantify the effects of social market economic principles on peace and prosperity. Thus, I explore potential indicators to develop a social market economic performance index. I provide empirical evidence that supports the notion that the application of social market economic principles carries a social peace dividend, creates more equal opportunity, promotes ecological sustainability, and generates higher per capita incomes. I use the empirical results to build an interactive web application that allows for the simulation, assessment, and visualization of the economic-performance effects of applying social market economic principles to the economies of 165 countries. Lastly, the interactive web application also allows for modification of the social market economic principles and reports the estimated impact on peace and prosperity in these countries

Entrepreneurial Marketing and Regulation: Finnish SME Distilleries and Breweries

Entrepreneurial marketing has become a frequently discussed topic in the field of international business over the past 35 years. The notion of acting entrepreneurial in order to create value for consumers in unique ways is highly beneficial to the way SMEs are structured and resourced. There has been a calling for applying entrepreneurial marketing to new industries and unique environments in order to understand this phenomenon more clearly. This study aims to add to the literature by studying entrepreneurial marketing in an international setting with home regulations as a potential influence as to how Finnish SMEs use entrepreneurial marketing. This study’s main research question focuses on understanding the moderating effect of Finnish alcohol regulation on Finnish SMEs in terms of entrepreneurial marketing. The study focuses on Finnish Breweries and Distilleries which have a presence abroad in order to understand more clearly their international entrepreneurial marketing aspects in regards to the home regulation towards alcohol in Finland. This study was conducted using three case companies two of which are Finnish SMEs and one of which was a UK based brewery with a presence in Finland. Semi structured interviews were used for this qualitative study to give an insight into this topic by the founders and managers of the firms. Based on the literature a framework was developed to help to better explain and guide the research. This study found that regulation does in fact have a moderating effect on SMEs based on this notion, but with both positive and negative moderation discovered. The alcohol regulation leads to both a hindrance of some entrepreneurial aspects as well as providing a bit of a innovative spark in some cases to firms existing in the regulatory environment. Customer orientation were key aspects to all firms in this study. It was found that the key orientations of the firms that continued to provide value in this regulatory atmosphere was the innovation aspect and the ability to be proactive in both the home and foreign markets to offset the moderation of the regulation.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Social capital for industrial development: operationalizing the concept

The present report on Social capital for industrial development: operationalizing the concept is part of the broader Combating Marginalization and Poverty through Industrial Development (COMPID), research programme of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), designed to enhance the competitiveness of industrial producers in marginalized countries.1 The Industrial Development Report 2002/2003 posits that, especially in the least developed countries, building industrial competitiveness: ‘‘… can involve heavy costs and great risks and uncertainties’’ (UNIDO [131], p. 9). The main reason for conducting research on operationalizing social capital is that there are grounds for believing that social capital could potentially mitigate some of the risks and uncertainties that exist in low-income and marginalized countries, and thus help to increase their level of competitiveness

The decision-making entrepreneur; Literature review

This study provides a literature overview of the entrepreneurial decision-making process. The literature review is used as background information for a qualitative study, which investigates, by means of case studies, the decision-making process of small business enterpreneurs in The Netherlands (Gibcus and Van Hoesel, 2003). The literature overview is the starting point of a confrontation between the literature on decision-making and the empirical findings of the latter qualitive study. Firstly, this literature review gives an introduction to general decision theory. It discusses the classical rationality, the bounded rationality and the neoclassical rationality. The place of the entrepreneur in the general decision theory is also discussed. Next, an analytic framework of the strategic decision-making in SMEs is presented. The analytic framework consists of three elements: the entrepreneur, the environment and the strategic decision process. Each of these elements is critical. Finally, some earlier empirical findings on entrepreneurial strategic decision-making are discussed.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Resource Acquisition: An Environmental Dynamism Perspective

This study attempts to define the three constructs identified in the title and examine patterns of interaction among them. It begins by demonstrating that entrepreneurial orientation influences resource acquisition. It then puts forward a set of parameters to assess the degree to which factor identified as environmental dynamism affect an entrepreneurial orientation resource acquisition equation. The study finds that there are relationships between all three of the constructs, but in two propositions developed in the course of discussion it puts forward issues that may be clarified by future research, which from various angles could show how entrepreneurially oriented firms react differently from more established firms in terms of their acquisition of resources and interaction with environmental dynamism