Growing Pains: New Zealand Qualitative Evidence on Hurdles to Exporting Growth

This paper surveys qualitative evidence with the aim of identifying consistent issues surrounding the growth of New Zealand firms. The available literature is focussed on exporters and raises the possibility of two “hurdles” to growth for New Zealand firms. The first is the fixed-cost hurdle to entering exporting. The second is the hurdle of establishing the offshore distribution channels required for continued growth. While the evidence for these hurdles is far from conclusive, their existence is consistent with many of the available case studies. The hurdle to ongoing growth may explain why so many promising New Zealand companies are sold to foreign firms in the same industry. Overseas ownership by a firm in the same industry often solves the distribution problems of many small New Zealand firms and allows growth to continue. The outcome of overseas ownership is therefore not necessarily bad for New Zealand. The case study evidence suggests many plausible causes of these hurdles. These include New Zealand’s small market size and distant location and the fluctuating exchange rate. While the evidence on capital markets is mixed, case studies suggest a possible lack of specialised expertise on the part of New Zealand’s small venture capital industry may also be a hurdle to growth.Patterns of Firm Growth; Exporting

Smartphone chronic gaming consumption and positive coping practice

Purpose: Chronic consumption practice has been greatly accelerated by mobile, interactive and smartphone gaming technology devices. This study explores how chronic consumption of smartphone gaming produces positive coping practice. Design/methodology/approach: Underpinned by cognitive framing theory, empirical insights from eleven focus groups (n=62) reveal how smartphone gaming enhances positive coping amongst gamers and non-gamers. Findings: The findings reveal how the chronic consumption of games allows technology to act with privileged agency that resolves tensions between individuals and collectives. Consumption narratives of smartphone games, even when play is limited, lead to the identification of three cognitive frames through which positive coping processes operate: (a) the market generated frame, (b) the social being frame, and (c) the citizen frame. Research limitations/implications: This paper adds to previous research by providing an understanding of positive coping practice in the smartphone chronic gaming consumption. Originality/value: In smartphone chronic gaming consumption, cognitive frames enable positive coping by fostering appraisal capacities in which individuals confront, hegemony, culture and alterity-morality concerns

Marketing planning and digital customer loyalty data in small business

Purpose – Retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence presents actual customer purchasing preferences, competitor activities and performance. Typically, extant literature implies that larger firms with formal marketing planning approaches will be more able to leverage it, structured as it is within a formalized statistical format. Small business literature on the other hand emphasizes their more informal approach to marketing planning. The purpose of this paper is to consider, for the first time, the potential relationship between retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence and small business market orientation. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model is developed which diagrammatically interprets how retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence can relate to small business market orientation. Propositions provide a basis for further discussion with applied and research implications. Findings – A pertinent aspect of the conceptualization is the role of small business owner-manager insight and intuition within an experiential learning context. A complementary relationship is posited in the leveraging of retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence to enhance small business market orientation, which with higher levels of entrepreneurship orientation can lead to positive organizational outcomes, such as facilitating more successful and informed engagement with larger suppliers. Originality/value – The paper addresses the increasing pressure small businesses face in dealing with retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence. Generally, literature has yet to adequately address marketing planning implications for firms. The informal/formal tension when considering small businesses presents a particularly interesting area of conceptual development, integrating market orientation literature and also recent developments which point to interaction between market and entrepreneurship orientations. This paper therefore provides a basis for a new small business research agenda in an area which is highly topical and important, with a synthesis of the extant literature in developing a conceptualization and propositions. The conceptualization and propositions can facilitate the development of new research and thinking in this potentially fruitful area of future enquiry

The Role of Action Research in the Study of Small Business Marketing and Retailer Loyalty Card Data

The small business is challenged on a daily basis to compete in an ever demanding and ever expanding marketplace. As a result of new technologies such as market intelligence databases, small business owner-managers are playing catch–up with larger and more resource based firms in maintaining current insight into the market. Larger firms have typically been better positioned to afford and analyse the latest market intelligence data for internal marketing purposes. This study provides insight into three action research case studies through a participatory action research, investigating the ways in which traditionally informal small business owner-managers addressed marketing challenges through the utilisation of free access of formalised retailer loyalty card data for the first time in their daily business marketing activities

Determining the presence of a long-term/short-term dilemma for SMEs when adopting strategic orientation to improve performance

This study seeks to discuss a potential ‘long-term/short-term dilemma’ for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which could cause tension when adopting two strategic orientations assumed to be complementary – market orientation (MO) and sales orientation (SO). Specifically, the objective of this study is to examine the role of MO and SO as mediators of the relationship between business approach and SME performance. An empirical study of 122 SMEs in the UK grocery sector is conducted. The results reveal that an apparent conflict or tension between market and SO seems to exist in practice. SMEs emphasise both strategic orientations as a way of framing their business approach. However, this emphasis does not hold when considering SME performance. The impact of business approach on performance only occurs through MO. There is no observable significance in the mediation of SO on this relationship. Theoretical and managerial implications for SME management literature and practice are developed

Assessment of the variation in nutritional composition and safety of dried recovered food from United States households and prospects for use in chicken feed

IntroductionNew poultry feed valorization pathways for recovered household food could be enabled by commercially available household devices that dry uneaten food material, arrest spoilage, and preserve nutrient content. However, the nutrient composition, safety, and feed incorporation potential of dried recovered household food (DRHF) is presently unknown.MethodsThirty-eight households spanning 31 states participated in a 4-to-6-week survey to generate and collect food residues that were dried using an in-home device. The DRHF samples were evaluated for chemical composition, digestibility of energy and amino acids, and safety to determine their potential for inclusion in chicken feed.Results and discussionThe DRHF had average levels of 15.9% crude protein, 13.3% crude fat, and 22.6% neutral detergent fiber, and 3.18 kcal/g of nitrogen-adjusted true metabolizable energy (by dry weight). The Windows User-Friendly Feed Formulation 2.1 modeler was used to perform linear programming and develop chicken feed rations for broilers and layers that incorporated DRHF alongside conventional feed ingredients, including corn, soybean meal, dicalcium phosphate, limestone, synthetic amino acids, salt, vitamin premix, and mineral premix. The feed formulation results showed that, on average, DRHF incorporation rates of up to 33 and 37% (by weight) are predicted to avoid any nutrient deficiencies or electrolyte imbalances in the broiler and layer rations, respectively. In the broiler ration, DRHF displaced corn, soybean meal, and limestone to varying degrees, while corn, soybean meal, animal fat, dicalcium phosphate, and limestone were substantially displaced in the layer rations. Addition of vitamin premix was predicted as necessary to facilitate DRHF inclusion in the layer rations. Furthermore, foodborne pathogens, mycotoxins, and heavy metals were either absent or below United States regulatory threshold levels. Measured levels of biogenic amines and fat/oil oxidation were consistent with prior research showing compatibility with chickens. These results can inform future in vivo feeding trials to validate the use of DRHF with varying properties in poultry feed

Establishment of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and reduction of local dengue transmission in Cairns and surrounding locations in northern Queensland, Australia.

Background: The wMel strain of Wolbachia has been successfully introduced into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and subsequently shown in laboratory studies to reduce transmission of a range of viruses including dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Mayaro viruses that cause human disease. Here we report the entomological and epidemiological outcomes of staged deployment of Wolbachia across nearly all significant dengue transmission risk areas in Australia. Methods: The  wMel strain of  Wolbachia was backcrossed into the local  Aedes aegypti genotype (Cairns and Townsville backgrounds) and mosquitoes were released in the field by staff or via community assisted methods. Mosquito monitoring was undertaken and mosquitoes were screened for the presence of  Wolbachia. Dengue case notifications were used to track dengue incidence in each location before and after releases. Results: Empirical analyses of the Wolbachia mosquito releases, including data on the density, frequency and duration of Wolbachia mosquito releases, indicate that Wolbachia can be readily established in local mosquito populations, using a variety of deployment options and over short release durations (mean release period 11 weeks, range 2-22 weeks). Importantly, Wolbachia frequencies have remained stable in mosquito populations since releases for up to 8 years. Analysis of dengue case notifications data demonstrates near-elimination of local dengue transmission for the past five years in locations where Wolbachia has been established. The regression model estimate of Wolbachia intervention effect from interrupted time series analyses of case notifications data prior to and after releases, indicated a 96% reduction in dengue incidence in Wolbachia treated populations (95% confidence interval: 84 - 99%). Conclusion: Deployment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia into local Ae. aegypti populations across the Australian regional cities of Cairns and most smaller regional communities with a past history of dengue has resulted in the reduction of local dengue transmission across all deployment areas