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The purpose of this paper is to explore academic library leadership behaviors and the methods for integrating the democratic and transformational leadership styles.

Eleven structured interviews were conducted with academic deans and directors. A thematic content analysis was conducted on their responses, analyzing the frequency of certain topics and identifying emergent themes. These themes were then used to construct a democratic communication model.

The interview responses were grouped into five general leadership themes: participation in decision-making, relationship building, frequent and honest communication, equality and knowing the environment.

The structured interview format did not permit for unplanned follow-up questions, and some topics may not have come up in every interview unless specifically asked by an interview question. Due to the qualitative nature of this study, the perspectives of the participants may not be generalizable to the larger population.

This study identifies core themes of leadership practice that extend beyond the focus of transformational leadership alone. It suggests a democratic communication model to assist in integrating democratic leadership methods with transformational practices and goals.

This study suggests a greater emphasis on the communication and engagement practices of democratic leadership. In doing so, it suggests that the American Library Association's emphasis on transformational leadership alone should be reconsidered and that library science schools should increase focus on democratic leadership practices.

Most library leadership style studies emphasize transformational leadership. While there are some studies that explore elements of democratic leadership such as engagement and a flattening of organizational hierarchy, there is limited research on the integration of democratic and transformational leadership practices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the rationale for value chain business associations and construct a conceptual framework for establishing and managing a value chain association, using the value chain for dried fruits and vegetables in Tanzania as the empirical basis.

To achieve the objectives of the paper, a conventional approach involving literature review, framework development, and data collection and analysis was used to conceptualise the organisation of a value chain association in a developing country context.

The study finds rationale for a value chain-based business association based on the literature review, observations and discussions from the stakeholder workshop.

It has been suggested that upgrading the currently fragmented dried fruit and vegetable value chain to encompass all value chain actors might have implications towards “creativity”, “innovation” and “entrepreneurial abilities” along the value chain, i.e. resources and competences that could enhance the value of the market offer and thus the competitiveness of the whole value chain. A value chain-based business association might be one of the stepping-stones to enhance innovative and entrepreneurial abilities for strong and competitive value chain activities.

If the literature has been relatively silent on business associations understood primarily as industry associations, it has been completely silent on value chain associations. This paper therefore makes explicit contribution on the conceptualization of value chain association with a particular focus on the developing country setting.

This study aims at exploring the choices of livelihood strategies amongst the rural youth and how these choices relate to food security and income poverty.

The study used data from the 2016/17 wave of Integrated Household Living Condition Survey, with a sample size of 1,050 rural youths. Statistical and econometrics methods including descriptive statistics and the Multinomial Endogenous Treatment Effect (METE) model were used to analyse the data.

Livelihood choices were grouped into five categories, namely agriculture, non-farm wage employment, agriculture plus non-farm wage, agriculture plus self-employment and agriculture plus non-farm wage plus self-employment. The estimates from METE indicate that the youths' choice of non-farm wage, agriculture plus non-farm wage and agriculture plus self-employment contributes substantially to household food security improvement and poverty reduction. These findings show that agriculture is necessary but not a sufficient livelihood strategy to sustain the rural youth's contribution to youth's household welfare. The rural youth will pursue agriculture as a reliable source of livelihood not only for food self-sufficiency, but also for ensuring adequate return to labour.

This paper extends single choice analysis to multiple choices impact analysis, which has the advantage of accounting for selection bias due to both observed and unobserved heterogeneity. This paper assesses the differential impact of the choice of single as well as multiple livelihood strategies.

In this chapter, the authors undertake a systematic review of the literature to identify research exploring the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT). New ICT include the use of the Internet, mobile communications, and social technologies. The authors find that while interest in the area is increasing, especially among marketing and information systems scholars, there seems to be far less research interest among international business (IB) and strategy scholars. This chapter provides a summary of the research that has been done and discusses some potential future research areas that IB and strategy researchers might wish to pursue. Among these projects are investigating the use of ICT as a tool to aid the internationalization process, improve location choice and entry mode decisions, and identify and create a sustainable competitive advantage. The use of ICT in business is pervasive; As research scholars, we need to build these technologies into our theories and research to help managers determine what works and where certain technologies can help create better performing firms.

This paper explores the transformation of international business models in the context of international ICT businesses where cloud computing has triggered a major paradigm change in the way software and hardware related services are offered to international customers.

Through comparative analysis of two cases, this paper examines the business model transformation processes in the cloud computing context.

The key challenges of the case companies were related to business model transformation as cloud computing was triggering a change in most of the business model elements.

There is a need to define the concept of business model in a way that suits the cloud and internationalization.

A research study is described exploring the potential of decision support systems to improve marketing planning practice, using a combination of project action research and case research approaches. The paper focuses on solutions to two practical methodological problems: how to analyse action research data in as rigorous a way as possible; and how to minimise the biases which can arise from the action researcher's dual role as participant and observer. In particular, the paper describes an adaptation of the research design termed analytic induction to the complex, multi‐propositional theory common in action research, and indeed in much qualitative management research. The findings of the study itself are also reported briefly.

A paradigm shift was observed a couple of decades back when the relationship marketing took over the transactional marketing. Concepts such as customer lifetime value came into existence. Customer lifetime value is nothing but the aggregate income which an organisation can expect from a customer as long as the customer remains a client. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) took the centre stage as the organisations are transformed into customer-centric organisations. The implementation of CRM earmarked the collection of customer data that enabled the personalisation of products. Business use cases emerged with differential pricing models and loyalty programs contributing to the profitability of the organisations. The different types of CRM, i.e. Strategic CRM, Operational CRM, Analytical CRM and Collaborative CRM, contributed further to the organisation to generate value for the customers as well as for the organisation. Innovations in the digital technologies supported the business use cases with the help of real-time data. The usage of real-time analytics delivered unmatched customer experience resulting in a higher degree of customer satisfaction and customer retention. Customer retention as we know is directly related to the longevity of an organisation, while customer acquisition is expensive. Researchers in this chapter have attempted to unleash the importance of CRM simultaneously presenting the impact of digital technologies on CRM. Readers could be greatly benefitted from this research as practical use cases are discussed, while academicians can cascade this information further.

The main purpose of this study is to fill the research gap on how B2B global service firms integrate dynamic capabilities within their omnichannel management to influence positive word of mouth (WOM), customer engagement (CE) and customer equity.

Drawing on the dynamic capability and WOM theories, a model has been developed that defines the subjects of the empirical test. The paper reports on data collected from 312 service-oriented global firms in Australia, through a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings suggest that content management (i.e. information consistency, source trustworthiness and endorsement) and concerns management (i.e. privacy, security and recovery) capabilities are the two significant antecedents of positive WOM within a B2B omnichannel setting in international marketing. The findings also confirm the key mediating role of CE between positive WOM and customer equity.

The findings extend dynamic capability theory in the context of international marketing by linking WOM, CE and customer equity. The findings add further theoretical rigor by establishing the nomological chain between positive WOM and customer equity, in which CE plays a key mediating role.

Intelligence transformation has hugely influenced business operation in many industries and countries, such as in the emerging market. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) adoption by organisations is a significant result of transformation. However, the influence of GAI adoption on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been given less attention in business and management studies. In particular, managing the relationship of employees in GAI adoption is a focal point during the transformation from an ethical, responsible and sustainable perspective. Drawing on organisational socialisation and technology adoption theories, this chapter develops a process of socialising newcomers and/or existing employees in the development of GAI adoption in their workflow with identification of challenges and strategies to the adapt to the change. This discussion can help managers and other key persons to effectively manage the relationship and interactions between employees and technology (GAI) in a more ethical, responsible and sustainable manner.

This chapter discusses the use of an extended stage model for the evaluation of the adoption of e-business in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Empirical studies of e-business adoption are rare in Middle Eastern and developing countries and the chapter provides valuable insight into this region, by presenting an account of the use of the extended stage model to explore the level of e-business adoption among Yemeni SMEs.

In making this examination, the challenges and opportunities that accompany e-business adoption are revealed. The internal drivers and barriers, such as finance and skills, are recognised along with the external factors that include infrastructure and legislation. It also provides valuable insight into the macro-level sociopolitical determinants of e-business adoption that have not previously been appreciated; the study was undertaken during the Yemen Civil War in 2016.

Current adoption models imply that organisations adopt technologies in a linear fashion, gradually increasing complexity and capability. This study makes an important contribution by recognising that there are multiple points at which SMEs may ‘enter’ the technology-adoption ladder.