Christian Gärtner and Oliver Schön
The purpose of this paper is to explicate why and how modularization of business models can lead to path dependence or strategic flexibility, thus either inhibiting or favoring…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explicate why and how modularization of business models can lead to path dependence or strategic flexibility, thus either inhibiting or favoring business model innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual paper that depicts a model based on the extant literature. The derived implications for business model innovation are illustrated by several examples.
Findings
Modularity can be used as cognitive frame to explore issues of dynamics, evolution and transformation of business models. Thereby, the paper reveals drivers as well as barriers to business model innovation which sensitizes managers that modularity as a design principle is a two-edged sword: managers cannot simply rely on what they know about the benefits of modularity because this might lead to path dependence in the future.
Practical implications
The authors suggest that middle managers might best focus on managing modules and their direct relations. Senior management should put more emphasis on encouraging extra-modular thinking.
Originality/value
By outlining the concept of business model modularity, the authors add to the scarce literature that addresses modularity beyond the fields of products, production and organization design. The discussion also advances to the literature on drivers as well as barriers to managing business model innovation. While most of the extant literature has portrayed modularity as a means to increase flexibility, only a few studies have revealed the downside of modularity and explained how it gives rise to path dependence. In this respect, the authors highlight the relation between managerial action, self-reinforcing mechanisms and characteristics of the environment. Finally, the paper’s findings provide a lens to consider contradictory strategies simultaneously which is crucial for managing complex business models.
Details
Keywords
This paper seeks to provide a critical review of the theoretical conception and practical implications of the notion of mindfulness (introduced to organization theory by Karl…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide a critical review of the theoretical conception and practical implications of the notion of mindfulness (introduced to organization theory by Karl Weick and colleagues). As this concept aims at clarifying the mechanisms of knowledge creation and knowledge re‐configuration, the notion of mindfulness is used and refined to contribute to explaining some of the micro‐foundations of dynamic capabilities. Thus, the paper aims to show how putting “new wine” (mindfulness) into “old bottles” (dynamic capabilities) can add to the clarification of the nature and development of dynamic capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores and reviews the literature on mindfulness as well as dynamic capabilities and engages in conceptual development based on this literature. Based on this literature review, propositions are developed that regard mindfulness as a micro‐foundation of dynamic capabilities.
Findings
It is shown that the literature neglects opportunistic behaviour, issues of power, and self‐contradictory aspects of the principles for mindful organizing. It is argued that mindfulness should neither be understood as an attribute of an entity nor be simply contrasted with routine, but should rather be depicted as a medium and outcome of social practices which involves enacting power and drawing pre‐reflectively on a background that is built up by routines. Five propositions describe how such a refined understanding of mindfulness can contribute to explaining the micro‐foundations of dynamic capabilities such as “sensing opportunities and threats”, “seizing opportunities”, and “reconfiguring a company's assets”.
Research limitations/implications
While there are apparent parallels between the notion of mindfulness and the concept of dynamic capabilities, there are also some notable differences. The discussion of dynamic capability puts more emphasis on routines that introduce instability and ambiguity rather than coping with (externally posed) the unexpected. As a consequence, the propositions regarding the relation between mindfulness and dynamic capabilities should be further elaborated and validated or refuted empirically.
Originality/value
First, the paper delineates the limits of (organizing for) mindfulness which has been applied quite uncritically by organization scholars. Second, it derives five propositions that highlight previously neglected mechanisms of how dynamic capabilities develop, therefore adding to one's understanding of the micro‐foundations of dynamic capabilities.
Details
Keywords
Entrepreneurship is a prominent area of inquiry which is enriched by an ample literature base and challenged by definitional deficiencies. Over the years, multiple perspectives of…
Abstract
Entrepreneurship is a prominent area of inquiry which is enriched by an ample literature base and challenged by definitional deficiencies. Over the years, multiple perspectives of entrepreneurship have emerged and a holistic approach to entrepreneurship has been proposed. This can facilitate the continued enlargement of the entrepreneurship field and allow for interdisciplinary research within the African region. This chapter contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship in developing economies by providing an extensive review of the various approaches that entrepreneurship has been conceptualised. Nine themes are explored: the great person, economic perspective, psychological perspective, sociological perspective, behavioural perspective, management, intrapreneurship, cognitive perspective and leadership perspective. This is followed by an examination of entrepreneurship as a process, as a new venture creation and as an art of opportunity recognition and exploitation. In the last section of this chapter, a clarion call is made for more African scholarship and research in the field of entrepreneurship.
Details
Keywords
Christian Garmann Johnsen and Bent Meier Sørensen
While considerable critical energy has been devoted to unmasking the figure of the heroic entrepreneur, the idea that entrepreneurs are unique individuals with special abilities…
Abstract
Purpose
While considerable critical energy has been devoted to unmasking the figure of the heroic entrepreneur, the idea that entrepreneurs are unique individuals with special abilities continues to be widespread in scholarly research, social media and popular culture. The purpose of this paper is to traverse the fantasy of the heroic entrepreneur by offering a reading of Richard Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical approach of this paper is informed by Slavoj Žižek’s concept of fantasy and his critical analytical strategy of “traversing the fantasy”. Žižek offers a theoretical framework that allows us to understand how narratives of famous entrepreneurs create paradoxical fantasies that produce desire.
Findings
By offering a reading of Richard Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity, this paper serves to illustrate how the fantasy of the heroic entrepreneur creates the injunction to overcome oneself and become true to oneself, but also how this figure is ridden with contradictions and impossibilities. Branson’s book will eventually be shown to be a religious narrative, where the entrepreneur is responsible for redeeming the crises not only of the economy, but of being as such.
Originality/value
Rather than striving towards a processual approach that lays emphasis on the collective effort involved in entrepreneurship, this paper critically engages directly with the heroic entrepreneur by exploring how this figure is a fantasy that structures desire. This paper shows how critical entrepreneurship studies could benefit from an approach that analyses how the cultural representation of business celebrates the heroic entrepreneur as a source of value creation. The authors further argue that it is the contradictions and impossibilities embodied in the figure of the heroic entrepreneur that carry its far-reaching appeal.
Details
Keywords
Within entrepreneurship literature, the conventional approaches inspired by Schumpeter's “creative destruction” have largely emphasized the role of human cognitive processes to…
Abstract
Within entrepreneurship literature, the conventional approaches inspired by Schumpeter's “creative destruction” have largely emphasized the role of human cognitive processes to come up with new business ideas. In contemporary studies, however, there is a recent research stream wherein creativity is aestheticized. As a research line of the aesthetic approach, there is an increasing interest for playfulness and other signals of enjoyment that can also stimulate the entrepreneur's creative acts.
This chapter is a reflexion about the liberating and creative role of play in the context of sport entrepreneurship, particularly, in the fitness industry. It aspires to give to the recent development of the sport entrepreneurship field a novel twist by relating it to a theology of play. Drawing on the work of one of the most influential twentieth-century theologians who has approached play theology, Hugo Rahner, we present how his theological approach may be used to widen our understanding of sport entrepreneurship. This theological perspective allows us to develop alternative thoughts based on concepts that transcend the typical rationalist business approach and its instrumental language.
Details
Keywords
The concept of entrepreneurship is not new. As a concept, it remains elusive, diverse and multi-faceted. Although there is an extensive body of research within the field, there is…
Abstract
The concept of entrepreneurship is not new. As a concept, it remains elusive, diverse and multi-faceted. Although there is an extensive body of research within the field, there is little consensus on what underpins entrepreneurship, and whether it should remain a distinct domain of study.
This chapter contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship in developing economies. The study seeks to uncover the challenges facing entrepreneurs in a developing economy using the formal retail sector in Nigeria as a case.
Entrepreneurship in the retail sector of a developing economy has not been given significant attention by researchers despite its uniqueness and dynamism. By adopting a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews of 51 respondents, the lived experiences of these entrepreneurs were understood. Given the challenges such entrepreneurs face in a developing economy, this study makes a contribution, as the challenges such retail entrepreneurs face namely, challenges within the industry, government policy inconsistencies and corruption, infrastructural deficit and technology deficit were identified. In practice, the findings of this study serve as a useful reference for practitioners and policy-makers of the challenges that need to be addressed for entrepreneurship to flourish in Nigeria.
Details
Keywords
Anthony Marshall and Christian Bieck
Beyond its initial hype, and based on original new surveying, this paper explores the impact of metaverse on business in the medium to long-term.
Abstract
Purpose
Beyond its initial hype, and based on original new surveying, this paper explores the impact of metaverse on business in the medium to long-term.
Methodology
IBM Institute for Business Value, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, surveyed 400 C-Suite executives, (CEOs, CIO/CTOs and CMOs) in the U.S. across 25 industries on their investments in metaverse, business cases and outcomes.
Findings
Despite the media hype, the majority of investment in metaverse is B2B.
Although the biggest impacts of metaverse are medium to long-term, there are benefits immediately accessible in the short-term.
More success is likely if organizations develop metaverse strategies with ecosystem partners.
Research implications
Metaverse was extremely fashionable, now far less so. Both extremes are inappropriate. Metaverse, especially as a B2B strategy, has an important role to play in an organizations' strategy.
Practical implications
Many businesses are making investments in metaverse. They should continue.
Social implications
Metaverse impacts extends beyond B2C applications into the B2B workplace.
Originality and value
This work is completely original, based on new data and analysis that has not been published elsewhere.
Details
Keywords
M. Isabella Cavalcanti Junqueira, Allan Discua Cruz and Paul C. Gratton
This study aims to address decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs living and working in rural areas. The authors draw on the institutional logics perspective and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs living and working in rural areas. The authors draw on the institutional logics perspective and stewardship perspective to demonstrate how religion influences rationality and entrepreneurial decision-making processes in a rural context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach supported by ethnographic fieldwork. Qualitative and interpretative analyses are used to access deeper insights into the decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs in a rural environment. Data include short-term immersive events, observations and interviews as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted in the region.
Findings
This study reveals that normative (religious) commitments – a sense of moral duty and action influenced by religion – and a high-religiosity context – where religion permeates diverse aspects of life – lead to behaviors that are perceived as rational and normative. In this context, the normative relationship between a market and a community logic, alongside a logic of religion, are all linked through a stewardship perspective. A broad focus on the development of community and place also safeguards business and community interests.
Research limitations/implications
Since the findings are based on one rural area and one religion, future studies should address a broader range of geographical areas and religions. In this study, uncertainty arising from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the resumption of business exchanges also influence the decision-making processes of the entrepreneurial participants. While the findings reflect the normative dispositions and the decision-making processes that are inherent in this context, an even broader examination of rural entrepreneurship will benefit our understanding of entrepreneurial decisions in terms of rationality and place.
Practical implications
The findings reveal that entrepreneurs who relocate to a rural, high-religiosity context should first assess how the community affiliated through a set of beliefs – expects actors to behave. Additionally, applicability to other religions requires further consideration.
Originality/value
This study answers the call to examine entrepreneurship and the underpinnings of rationality that challenge mainstream debates on entrepreneurial decision-making and religion. The findings answer this call by advancing the knowledge of the decision-making process of religious entrepreneurs. In this respect, the findings present a context where rational business behaviors, influenced by a market logic, are transformed through exchanges with a community informed by a logic of religion. A conceptual model illustrates the nature of this context and associated processes.
Details
Keywords
Keren Naa Abeka Arthur and Alex Yaw Adom
The past two decades have witnessed a surge in entrepreneurship training (ET) programmes among religious organisations in Ghana. Despite this, current studies on the topic have…
Abstract
Purpose
The past two decades have witnessed a surge in entrepreneurship training (ET) programmes among religious organisations in Ghana. Despite this, current studies on the topic have revealed a gap in the perception of ET initiatives and the actual needs and expectations of trainees. This paper aims to explore the characteristics of ET programmes in Christian organisations in Ghana and the perception of beneficiaries on the relevance of these schemes.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research approach was used for the study. The study used interviews and document reviews as data collection instruments. In investigating research questions one and two for case study one, interviews were used. For case study two, data were collected mainly through a review of documents for research question one and interviews for research question two. The data were analysed using thematic analysis techniques.
Findings
The results show some similarities in ET characteristics in the two cases studied, specifically regarding objectives and target outcomes. Therefore, ET programmes identified in both cases were targeted at both potential and practicing entrepreneurs in the congregations. Further, content appears adequate with an emphasis on topics that develop business management skills. The teaching approach varied within the studied religious organisations and although some practices were similar to best practice guidelines suggested in literature, there are lapses in the system. Regarding respondents? perception on the relevance of the ET programmes, the authors observed a positive outlook among all respondents who argued that the scheme addressed key issues at individual, organisational and national levels. However, the study revealed that religious institutions were unwilling to provide seed funding to beneficiaries.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies will need to validate findings in other Christian denominations not captured in the study. Furthermore, replicating this study among non-Christian religious institutions would be beneficial for policymaking.
Practical implications
This study suggests that managers of ET programmes in churches need to be helped to focus their programmes on developing business competencies, specifically technical skills.
Originality/value
There is a gap in understanding of the nature of ET programmes in religious institutions in Ghana and globally. This study provides insights on the characteristics of ET programmes in churches; thus allowing us to understand how they can be supported to deliver effectively.
Details
Keywords
Dawne Moon and Theresa W. Tobin
Scholars who study humility tend to think of it in highly individualized terms, such as an absence of vanity or an accurate self-assessment. Individuating definitions can lead to…
Abstract
Scholars who study humility tend to think of it in highly individualized terms, such as an absence of vanity or an accurate self-assessment. Individuating definitions can lead to such jarring concepts as the “humble white supremacist” (Roberts & Wood, 2007). Qualitative sociological research in the (predominantly North American) evangelical movement to accept and affirm lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) identities, same-sex marriage, and sex/gender transition reveals that humility is not simply the awareness that “I could be wrong.” That awareness is rooted in what we have found to be humility’s defining element, concern to foster relationship. These findings prompt us to define humility as a fundamentally social disposition, as concern to protect the kinds of intimate connection with others that can transform the self. Recognizing the social nature of humility reveals why humility is incompatible with injustice.