Editorial

Citation

Pesqueux, Y. (2017), "Editorial", Society and Business Review, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 254-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-08-2017-0056

This issue is built with eight papers and three book reviews.

In “Heroic Narratives of Intentional Non-Compliance with PRME”, Hillon Yue Cai analyzes the business school ideology according to the “Principles for Responsible Management Education” standards. The governing bodies responsible for drafting and promoting the PRME apparently envisioned a completely voluntary initiative without concern for accountability. Public concern and commentary led to the addition of a reporting requirement in 2010. Two years later, program administrators began to update statuses. As of January 2016, PRME listed 636 signatories on their website. Since the reporting requirement took effect, approximately 86 schools have broken their commitment to comply with the PRME standards. Some schools were de-listed for inaction, while others actively left the program. This study uses a heroic quest typology to analyze and understand the behavior of a small group of commitment breakers, those who intentionally chose not to comply with PRME.

In Dior and I: Understanding the Combination of Creativity and Economy in Fashion Industry”, Leclair Margot suggests that while revealing information about the creative process, economic priorities are understated. She reviews Frederic Tcheng’s Dior and I documentary, which brings the viewer inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a look at the creation of Raf Simons’ first haute couture collection as its new artistic director. She analyzes the documentary with the literature on tensions between creativity and economy to bring some light into the observed frictions.

In “Memorable Projects and Aesthetic Experiences in an Industrial R&D Lab”, Ocnarescu Ioana and Bouchard Carole show the mechanism of aesthetic experiences of work in a research and innovation context – an R&D laboratory of a multinational communications and information technology company. Analyzing memorable projects of this laboratory through the lenses of aesthetics is a useful way to understand organizational and innovational culture and the quality of life of researchers and innovators. This paper is based on an exploratory study focusing on memorable projects of 31 researchers that worked on 70 projects during four years. The data analysis is based on grounded theory. The study reveals six key dimensions that describe the dimensions of R&D researchers’ aesthetic experiences: perceptive, emotional, intellectual, communicative, collective and organizational. These dimensions are close related and support an innovation culture in an R&D environment.

In “Business Models Sustaining Subsistence Economics: Evidence from India”, Saripalli Bhavani and Chawan Vinaysingh analyze interventions of various forms of organizations operating with the objective of connecting subsistence entrepreneurs (SEs) with the formal economy. This paper also attempts to understand and analyze the transformational role played by these organizations. A lot of similarity can be seen in the components of the business model adopted by the six organizations studied in the paper. The paper offers practical suggestions for organizations interested in collectivizing SEs with the aim to improve their returns from market transactions and a conceptual framework to enrich the understanding of role played by organizations working toward collectivizing SEs. It adds to the debate of subsistence entrepreneurship and transformational entrepreneurship. It elaborates the elements of social capital created by these organizations at the meso level and re-emphasizes the strengths of informal economy to support the customer value proposition for formal markets.

In “Trust, Relogiosity and Relationship Marketing: a Conceptual Overview of Consumer Brand Loyalty”, Abdulrazak Rula and Gbadamosi Ayantunji reconsider the link between trust, commitment and relationship marketing and its relevance to consumers’ brand preferences according to religiosity. The paper emphasizes the significance of trust and religiosity in consumers’ commitment to specific market offerings and brands, which strengthens relationship marketing. A model entitled Brand, Faith Relationship model (BFR) is proposed to understand brand positioning in the marketplace in relation to faith. With this model, a four categories typology of brand position scenarios is suggested in this paper. Passive Brand, Faith relationship, Faith trust established in the absence of brands, Brand Loyalty without any Faith associations and Brand Loyalty, with Positive Brand, Faith relationship.

In “Fatwā Shopping and Trust: Towards Effective Consumer Protection Regulations in Islamic Finance”, Oseni Umar considers Islamic finance products and the need for effective consumer protection. The paper examines the phenomenon of fatwā shopping, and its effect on consumer trust. This paper finds that the increasing practice of fatwā shopping through clandestine searches by some Islamic banks to get their new products endorsed by leading Sharī‘ah scholars requires proper legal regulation to avoid a total erosion of trust in the entire Islamic finance industry.

In “Building Trust in Islamic Finance Products and Services”, Ali Syed considers the remarkable growth of Islamic finance during the past 40 years that has been driven primarily by its distinctive ethical characteristics, innovative features and foundations of faith-based trust. The central moral principles and religious injunctions underpinning Islamic finance bar riba (interest), gharar (uncertainty), qimaar (gambling) and recommend risk sharing, and equitable economic and ethical conduct. Islamic finance is emerging as truly a universal phenomenon given its geographical reach transcending the traditional markets of the Gulf, Middle East, North Africa and South-east and South Asia. More than belief, it is the demonstration of trust in Islamic finance as a multi-dimensional framework of economic prosperity and finance that defines its success.

In “Islam and Capital, Mortared by Trust: The case of Sri Lanka”, Patel Geeta considers that capital in many of the senses in which it can be deployed (social, political, religious, human, economic) carries trust along with it as a key participant or component or even as a driver; religious capital is established, for example, when people place their trust in it. What happens if one translates Islamic capital and trust into a country such as Sri Lanka, one of the smaller nations in the South Asian combine of nations, with a long history of civil war and also a nation that has on and off been considered one whose prospects look fairly promising. How might one begin to conceive the amalgam of Islamic capital and trust here, given these conditions? Why Islamic capital and not finance? What is the place of trust? How is trust to be given shape? In this paper, the author brings these questions together to understand or grapple with the lineaments of how a nascent Islamic finance industry takes shape and grows.

Book Reviews by Ahmad Tasfeen

“Pathways to Action: Social Policy in the Caribbean”, edited by Aldrie Henry-Lee and published by Ian Randle Publishers, 2016.

“Business Renewal and Performance in Jamaica”, Dr William Witherle published by The University of the West Indies Press, 2014.

“Knowledge Management for Development: Domains, Strategies and Technologies for Developing Countries”, edited by Kweku-Muata Osei by Springer Publishers, 2016.