Five areas to advance branding theory and practice

The paper suggests five areas to advance branding theory and practice based on the authors’ recent work in brand management. In this commentary, we aim to put forward suggestions and ideas for further research in brand management; ideas, which we believe will have an impact on the way branding is researched and practiced by both academics and practitioners alike. We will focus on the future of branding in the following areas, inspired by our own work in the field: (1) branding in higher education, (2) branding in Asia Pacific, (3) brand ambidexterity, (4) brand innovation on social media, and (5) brand likeability

Corporate Entrepreneurship:From Structures to Mindset

Corporate entrepreneurship dispersed throughout an organization and leveraging the entrepreneurial potential of all its employees bears significant benefits for those organizations that embrace it. However, it appears more difficult to instill and requires strong investment in the development of human capital and entrepreneurial mindset among the employees and across the organization. In this chapter, we discuss the essence of corporate entrepreneurship mindset and show that across an organization, there might be different entrepreneurial mindsets that correspond to different people, opportunities, and contexts. Although different, they all lead to enactment of entrepreneurial projects. This chapter, thus, contributes to the discussion regarding the nature of corporate entrepreneurial mindsets, and their development and stimulation within an organization, from both academic and practical view

Getting Ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Innovation in Small and Medium Sized Companies

Part 4: Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration in the Development of Smart Product-Service SolutionsInternational audienceCompanies are currently preparing for the fourth industrial revolution, which is envisioned to radically change manufacturing processes, logistics and business models in global manufacturing networks. Previous research have emphasized the need to respond to the changing landscape of the digital economy in dynamic and innovative ways. This study aims at exploring how small and medium-sized companies are prepared to meet this opportunity and challenge. In order to do this we have applied insights from innovation theories and empirical findings from eight companies that are part of two industrial clusters. The findings in this study indicate that even though most of the case companies have ambitions to position themselves in a new digital landscape, they prepare themselves differently. We see that organizations that has progressed furthest in implementing Industry 4.0 related concepts are the ones that make actively use of their external network in cooperation and sharing knowledge. These companies also have managed the balance between exploration and exploitation internally, where employees are both engaged in efficient manufacturing of existing products and product development. Consequently, we claim that both openness and organizational ambidexterity is vital for successful implementation of Industry 4.0