Shueh‐Chin Ting, Cheng‐Nan Chen and Darrell E. Bartholomew
The purpose of this paper is, first, to provide a comprehensive discussion about entrepreneur opportunism's antecedents (uncertainty, information asymmetry, asset specificity and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is, first, to provide a comprehensive discussion about entrepreneur opportunism's antecedents (uncertainty, information asymmetry, asset specificity and relational exchange) and consequences (transaction cost, trust, commitment, performance, and cooperation) and, second, to construct a model by linking entrepreneurs' opportunism and its antecedents and consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper tests the theoretical construction empirically. In total, 200 retailers of the computer industry in Taiwan participated in the investigation. The linear regression analysis is applied to the tests of the hypotheses.
Findings
The study finds that uncertainty and information asymmetry induce the generation of entrepreneurs' opportunism, while asset specificity and relational exchange can be used to lower entrepreneurs' opportunism. Entrepreneurs' opportunism incurs transaction costs and lowers trust, commitment, performance, and cooperation.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations associate with the model variables, the cooperative willingness of retailers, the empirical industry and country, and the explored relationships. However, the model provides a basis for further studying the antecedents and consequences of an entrepreneur's opportunism.
Practical implications
Insights derived from this study will provide managers with the appropriate strategies of relationship marketing to solve opportunism's problem in a channel relationship and attain better relationship outcomes.
Originality/value
This study integrates the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurs' opportunism in one model. From a managerial perspective, the results of this study are of importance because they provide evidences for the causal relationships of entrepreneur's opportunism.
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Darrell Goudge, Megan C. Good, Michael R. Hyman and Grant Aguirre
The purpose of this paper is to develop, test, and validate a model in a specialty retail environment to assess the influence of a salesperson’s sales- or customer-orientation and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop, test, and validate a model in a specialty retail environment to assess the influence of a salesperson’s sales- or customer-orientation and customer characteristics related to buy/no-buy decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Backward stepwise discriminant analysis was used to identify variables that most differentiated buyers from non-buyers. The discriminant model was estimated with survey data provided by a judgment sample of consumers asked to recall details about a recent in-store purchase experience (n=240). One significant discriminant function emerged. The model correctly classified 87.5 percent of buy/no-buy decisions by consumers in a separate validation sample (n=40).
Findings
Customers who believe a salesperson is sales oriented (i.e. only interested in closing) are more likely to make a no-buy decision even when retailer-related attributes – such as positive prior experience with the retailer, susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence, and positive attitude toward retailing – suggest otherwise. Surprisingly, neither customer orientation nor susceptibility to interpersonal informational influence relates significantly to making a buy/no-buy decision.
Practical implications
Specialty retailers should avoid a sales-outcome-based orientation. To add value in a competitive marketplace where buyers can avoid salespeople, the focus of a sales interaction should be on identifying customer needs and characteristics.
Originality/value
Adaptations of sales people’s personas and selling efforts – fostered by new managerial training practices – and the need for specialty retailers to adopt behavior-based control systems are suggested. In addition, sales or customer orientation typically is reported by the salesperson. Here, customers’ belief – which is more germane to modeling buy/no-buy decisions – designates the salesperson’s orientation.
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Michael K. Rich and Darrell Bartholomew
This paper aims to discuss the inequities in the financial infrastructure of Division II rural universities located throughout the USA and much of the Western world while seeking…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the inequities in the financial infrastructure of Division II rural universities located throughout the USA and much of the Western world while seeking to offer possible solutions through on‐campus marketing enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a conceptual contribution based on the author's personal experiences as the executive director of an undergraduate research center combined with a literature study by the authors.
Findings
Depending on available resources in the immediate proximity of a given rural university, services can be offered, such as marketing research, that otherwise would not be available. The author's personal experiences have demonstrated that sufficient cash flow can be generated not only to compensate the student employees, but also to support all operating expenses of an established university marketing department.
Practical implications
If faculty members can be found who are willing to assume a leadership role, Division II universities can augment their operating funds through the development of undergraduate research organizations. This not only benefits financial situations, but also offers students real‐life experiences directly related to their earned academic degree, thus enhancing their employment opportunities subsequent to graduation.
Originality/value
Sufficient opportunities exist in the rural marketplace for reasonably priced marketing research services that the demand can be generated once promotion and word‐of‐mouth have established the impact of the offered services. Commercial research firms have often avoided solicitation of rural clients based on their inability to pay commercial rates and the dearth of opportunities to sell services.
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Natasha Katuta Mwila and Mtendere Caroline Wemba
The purpose of this paper is to explore and articulate the profile of handicraft entrepreneurs operating in the Maboneng precinct of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and articulate the profile of handicraft entrepreneurs operating in the Maboneng precinct of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is qualitative in nature – implementing a phenomenology through which cases of four handicraft entrepreneurs are developed.
Findings
Handicraft entrepreneurs in Maboneng possess a spiritually motivated profile that does not allow them to be neatly characterised in the profiles of the literature.
Originality/value
This study contributes to addressing the dearth of knowledge in the literature on the profile of entrepreneurs in Africa. It provides insights on the spiritual motivation of artisanal entrepreneurs in particular who represent a part of the largest proportion of African small-scale entrepreneurial activity.
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THE June conference at Margate is so near that we must needs be pre‐occupied with it at the moment although two months ago we were able to give an anticipatory description of the…
Abstract
THE June conference at Margate is so near that we must needs be pre‐occupied with it at the moment although two months ago we were able to give an anticipatory description of the programme. The protracted and cold winter, culminating in the most “perishing” April of the century, possibly of any century since the Great Ice Age, seems on the threshold of May to have dissolved at last in warmer weather. Margate is a lady in the sun, but perhaps something else under cloud, and wise people take warm clothes when they visit her. We hope, however, that they will not be necessary and that for some hundreds of our readers Margate air will be an invigorating experience.