China has been exceptionally competent at utilising the technology of others but the ability to develop its own is yet to be tested. The purpose of this paper is to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
China has been exceptionally competent at utilising the technology of others but the ability to develop its own is yet to be tested. The purpose of this paper is to investigate China's capacity for nurturing radical technology. For China to recapture its earlier technological prowess it will need a creative class. The paper proposes eight stepping stones for China to move from its current situation to a position where creativity and radical technology re‐emerge.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that investigates options for China using a historical and trans‐disciplinary review.
Findings
Radical technology was a major strength for China prior to the 1500s. This paper suggests that China's subsequent demise in the technology stakes came from a combination of factors including regressive policies and the West finding a new politico‐economic model around science and technology. In total, eight stepping stones for Chinese institutional reform around creativity and radical technology are proposed.
Practical implications
Chinese businesses need to go much further than cost innovations and incremental additions to seriously challenge the creative capacity of their Western counterparts. This paper offers important insights for Chinese policy makers as they embark on innovation advancement in a highly competitive international business environment.
Social implications
Fostering radical technology is a challenge for any society. Developing this aspect of Chinese society is a critical element for China and its policy makers as they progress to the next phase of economic growth.
Originality/value
The paper shows that identifying systemic issues for China's radical technology demise is important. Offering steps for China to increase its capacity for radical technology is equally worthy of investigation.
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A Crown Court hearing of a charge of applying a false A description under S.2, Trade Descriptions Act, 1968, is given in some detail under Legal Proceedings in this issue of BFJ…
Abstract
A Crown Court hearing of a charge of applying a false A description under S.2, Trade Descriptions Act, 1968, is given in some detail under Legal Proceedings in this issue of BFJ. It concerns using the word “ham”, ie., the natural leg of a single pig, to various pieces from several pigs, deboned, defatted, “tumbled, massaged and cooked” in a mould shaped to a leg of ham, from which the average purchaser would find it impossible to distinguish. As the defence rightly claimed, this process has been used for at least a couple of decades, and the product forms a sizeable section of the bacon trade. Evidence by prosecution witnesses, experienced shop managers, believed the product to be the genuine “ham”. There is nothing detrimental about the meat, save that it tends to contain an excess of added water, but this applies to many meat products today; or that the manufacturers are setting out to cheat the consumer. What offends is the description given to the product. Manufacture was described in detail—a county trading standards officer inspected the process at the defendant company's Wiltshire factory, witness to the extent of their co‐operation—and was questioned at great length by defending counsel. Specimens of the product were exhibited and the jury were treated to a tasting test—presumably designed to refute prosecution's claim that the meat was of “poor value”. The trial judge said the jury had no doubt been enlightened as to the methods of manufacturing ham. The marketing of the product was also a subject of examination.
Sponsorship is an important communication tool yet evidence of its effectiveness is often sketchy as many sponsors fail to conduct rigorous evaluation programmes. Suggests that…
Abstract
Sponsorship is an important communication tool yet evidence of its effectiveness is often sketchy as many sponsors fail to conduct rigorous evaluation programmes. Suggests that this study of a major Australian sporting event over three years, that certain conditions, such as naming rights, may assist sponsors in securing some return from their investments, but also cautions them against unrealistic expectations.
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The paper aims to call attention to issues that may be missing or taken for granted in discourses on migrants and disasters by applying the author’s viewpoint to reflect on gaps…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to call attention to issues that may be missing or taken for granted in discourses on migrants and disasters by applying the author’s viewpoint to reflect on gaps and potentials for disaster risk reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
The author discusses key issues based on reflective engagement with selected secondary documentation in the form of grey and scholarly literature. Personal perspectives are engaged to develop arguments on intersections that are relevant to the migrant situation in different frameworks in disaster studies.
Findings
While migrants are considered significant stakeholders in key global agreements on disaster and migration, encounters with disaster literature from a more localised level reveal how references to the migrant sector can be omitted or racialised. This gap can be filled by searching for documentation of migrant strengths and vulnerabilities. However, further reflection demonstrates how adopting broader perspectives can reveal these strengths and vulnerabilities as part of more appropriate and sustainable disaster risk reduction strategies. The paper also shows how such reflections can be led by insights from migrants themselves, not as subjects to be managed but as agents of their own change.
Originality/value
The paper is distinctive because it shows aspects of migrant strengths and disadvantages from a personal viewpoint. It amplifies less-heard perspectives on a conceptual level as well as in actual practice.
Emmanuel Mogaji, Ogechi Adeola, Robert Ebo Hinson, Nguyen Phong Nguyen, Arinze Christian Nwoba and Taiwo O. Soetan
This study aims to explore how banks in Nigeria are marketing financial services to financially vulnerable customers.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how banks in Nigeria are marketing financial services to financially vulnerable customers.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study research strategy was used to analyse three commercial banks and two microfinance banks. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with the banks' directors as well as from banks' published annual reports and archival images.
Findings
The study reveals that Nigerian banks develop different product development portfolios, adopt innovative traditional marketing schemes and apply inclusive technologies to reach and extend services to the unbanked and financially vulnerable customers in the society.
Research limitations/implications
Banks should focus on consumer engagement through the proactive development of technologies and employ innovative marketing methods. Customers' banking experiences can be enhanced if banks communicate with and educate customers about technological modes of engagement. In addition, financial service transaction support and financial literacy education can assist banks in marketing their services to financially vulnerable customers, in mutually beneficial ways.
Originality/value
This study shows how financial service operators' market and extend their services to financially vulnerable customers in emerging markets. It empirically establishes the importance of financial services to financially excluded customers.
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Arielle John and Virgil Henry Storr
This paper aims to highlight the possibility that the same cultural and/or institutional environment can differentially affect each of the two moments of entrepreneurship �…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight the possibility that the same cultural and/or institutional environment can differentially affect each of the two moments of entrepreneurship – opportunity identification and opportunity exploitation. It is possible that the cultural and institutional environment in a particular place may encourage opportunity identification, but discourage opportunity exploitation, or vice versa. Specifically, this paper argues that understanding entrepreneurship in Trinidad and Tobago requires that we focus on how Trinidadian culture and institutions differentially affect both moments of entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine how Trinidad and Tobago’s culture and institutions affect entrepreneurial opportunity identification and exploitation in that country, the paper uses a qualitative approach. In total, 25 subjects agreed to interviews, conducted in July and August 2009 in Trinidad. The questions were geared at understanding attitudes toward work and entrepreneurship in Trinidad, and how politics, culture and ethnicity interacted with those attitudes. The paper also examined institutional indicators from the Economic Freedom of the World: 2013 Annual Report and the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business Report.
Findings
The research identified features of the cultural and institutional environment in Trinidad and Tobago that help to explain why opportunity identification is relatively common among all ethnic groups there, but why opportunity exploitation appears relatively suppressed among African–Trinidadians. In particular, the research finds that the inheritance of British institutions, a post-colonial political culture, a post-colonial business culture and ethnically based social networks all have positive and negative influences on each moment of entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
Further research would involve an analysis of a wider set of both formal and informal entrepreneurial activities in Trinidad and Tobago, across industries and periods.
Practical implications
This paper has implications for understanding the complex nature of entrepreneurship, which many policymakers try to encourage, but which is shaped by deep cultural and historical factors, and also indirectly influenced by state policies and laws.
Social implications
Ethnic patterns in entrepreneurship shape the way groups see themselves and others.
Originality/value
While authors writing about opportunity recognition/identification and opportunity exploitation have captured the important dimensions of entrepreneurship, they underestimate the possibility of a disconnect between entrepreneurial identification and exploitation. Focusing on instances where the disconnect exists allows us to move away from characterizations of cultures as progress-prone or progress-resistant, and instead allows us to focus on these gaps between identifying and exploiting entrepreneurship across cultures.
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Myrthe Blösser and Andrea Weihrauch
In spite of the merits of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and social media, harm to consumers has prompted calls for AI auditing/certification. Understanding consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
In spite of the merits of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and social media, harm to consumers has prompted calls for AI auditing/certification. Understanding consumers’ approval of AI certification entities is vital for its effectiveness and companies’ choice of certification. This study aims to generate important insights into the consumer perspective of AI certifications and stimulate future research.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature and status-quo-driven search of the AI certification landscape identifies entities and related concepts. This study empirically explores consumer approval of the most discussed entities in four AI decision domains using an online experiment and outline a research agenda for AI certification in marketing/social media.
Findings
Trust in AI certification is complex. The empirical findings show that consumers seem to approve more of non-profit entities than for-profit entities, with the government approving the most.
Research limitations/implications
The introduction of AI certification to marketing/social media contributes to work on consumer trust and AI acceptance and structures AI certification research from outside marketing to facilitate future research on AI certification for marketing/social media scholars.
Practical implications
For businesses, the authors provide a first insight into consumer preferences for AI-certifying entities, guiding the choice of which entity to use. For policymakers, this work guides their ongoing discussion on “who should certify AI” from a consumer perspective.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to introduce the topic of AI certification to the marketing/social media literature, provide a novel guideline to scholars and offer the first set of empirical studies examining consumer approval of AI certifications.
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Nuraddeen Sani Nuhu, Martin Owens and Deirdre McQuillan
The authors explore how home and host market institutions impact emerging market (EM) international entrepreneurship (IE) into developed markets.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explore how home and host market institutions impact emerging market (EM) international entrepreneurship (IE) into developed markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on four case studies of Nigerian entrepreneurs expanding into the USA, this qualitative research adopts an institutional perspective to the study of EM IE.
Findings
The findings show home and host formal and informal institutions simultaneously enable and constrain the IE process. Weak home institutions shape the international opportunity recognition decision but seriously impede international opportunity development and exploitation activities in the developed market. EM entrepreneurs benefit from highly functioning regulation in the developed market whilst also experiencing discriminatory treatment from institutions. The findings of the study further show the positive and constraining effects of host institutions throughout the process.
Originality/value
Based on the findings, the paper details future research ideas, managerial implications and recommendation for policymakers.