32 research outputs found
The Internet as a Small Business E-Commerce Ecosystem.
The purpose of this chapter is to analyse how the ecosystem concept can be applied to small businesses and how the Internet and e-commerce can help SMEs harness the required resources to enhance their competitive performance in
the marketplace. The chapter will investigate the wide variety of e-commerce applications that are available to small businesses to help address the issue of limited resources. It will provide an ecosystem map illustrating how each functional area of a small business can utilise Internet e-commerce applications to enhance their resource base. The chapter also explores the opportunities and
threats that the e-commerce ecosystem model poses for small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is based upon empirical research consisting of three focus group interviews undertaken with small and medium-sized retail service firms located in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire regions of the United Kingdom in January–February 2014
"Open Innovation" and "Triple Helix" Models of Innovation: Can Synergy in Innovation Systems Be Measured?
The model of "Open Innovations" (OI) can be compared with the "Triple Helix
of University-Industry-Government Relations" (TH) as attempts to find surplus
value in bringing industrial innovation closer to public R&D. Whereas the firm
is central in the model of OI, the TH adds multi-centeredness: in addition to
firms, universities and (e.g., regional) governments can take leading roles in
innovation eco-systems. In addition to the (transversal) technology transfer at
each moment of time, one can focus on the dynamics in the feedback loops. Under
specifiable conditions, feedback loops can be turned into feedforward ones that
drive innovation eco-systems towards self-organization and the auto-catalytic
generation of new options. The generation of options can be more important than
historical realizations ("best practices") for the longer-term viability of
knowledge-based innovation systems. A system without sufficient options, for
example, is locked-in. The generation of redundancy -- the Triple Helix
indicator -- can be used as a measure of unrealized but technologically
feasible options given a historical configuration. Different coordination
mechanisms (markets, policies, knowledge) provide different perspectives on the
same information and thus generate redundancy. Increased redundancy not only
stimulates innovation in an eco-system by reducing the prevailing uncertainty;
it also enhances the synergy in and innovativeness of an innovation system.Comment: Journal of Open Innovations: Technology, Market and Complexity, 2(1)
(2016) 1-12; doi:10.1186/s40852-016-0039-
Does corporate reputation matter? Role of social media in consumer intention to purchase innovative food product
The exponential growth of the corporate reputation in food industry has resulted in innovations in every link of its supply chain. There have been studies that have characterized innovation in various industries from the perspective of technology, but far fewer in the area of corporate reputation, consumer perception, and intention towards innovations in food products. This research analyses the innovations in the food industry from the perspective of the consumer and provides a conceptual framework of food innovation stages. The study also investigates the relationship between corporate reputation and intention towards food innovation along with the other components of TPB model with an extension of social media engagement. The results from India and US samples confirm that social media engagement have a significant role to play in creating intention to purchase innovative food products. The study compares the US and Indian samples and identifies differences in subjective norms and perceived behavioural control
Early onset Dementia- the nurses role in supporting their relatives
Summary
The aim of this study is to investigate the needs of carers’ of EOD patients, roles of Nurses, particularly detailing roles they could play in order to alleviate some of the challenges that carers’ of EOD patient face in today’s society. Problems posed to be answered for this study were; what are the needs and challenges of EOD Spouses? And, how can Nurses help to mitigate these challenges? Travelbee’s theory of human-to-human relationship was used as the framework for the study.
This study was conducted with qualitative method and data was collected through literature review. 11 articles were finally selected and analyzed using The Matrix.
Three main categories emerged from the analysis; psychological burden, emotional burden and socio-economic burden.
The results reflect on the challenges of spouses of EOD patients are faced with as their loved ones face the diagnosis of early onset dementia. There are several unmet needs from the perspective of spouses such as; informational, professional support etc. Moreover, spouses expressed how assuming the sudden role as caregiver to their loved ones brought a barrier between the companionship they once enjoyed