Maria Bernabo, Ivan Garcia‐Bassets, Laura Gaines, Christian Knauer, Alfred Lewis, Liem Nguyen and Leila Zolfaghari
The development and proliferation of cellular/wireless technology has changed the competitive environment of traditional cooper based telephony. The complexity in the competitive…
Abstract
Purpose
The development and proliferation of cellular/wireless technology has changed the competitive environment of traditional cooper based telephony. The complexity in the competitive environment coupled with advances in technology and innovation is requiring management to rethink strategy formulation and implementation. Convergence is discussed in the context of discontinuous competitive environment and possible management responses to changes.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings of this paper are based on the analysis of the communications industry, a comprehensive review of trends in innovation and technology, strategic diagnosis and implication for management.
Findings
The rate of change in innovation is leading to the creation of new industries and the disintegration of the industry classifications due to convergence of multiple needs previously served by different industry groupings. As such, firms have to upgrade their environmental scanning systems to detect competitive forces beyond the industrial competitive boundaries.
Practical implications
The paper provides a comprehensive review of convergence and disruptive technologies
Originality/value
The paper highlights the breakdown of barriers in terms of industry classification. Customer's needs could be served by firms in hitherto distinct industry groupings.
Maria Bernabo, Ivan Garcia‐Bassets, Laura Gaines, Christian Knauer, Alfred Lewis, Liem Nguyen and Leila Zolfaghari
It is widely acknowledged that the pace of change due to complexity in the competitive environment coupled with advances in technology and innovation is forcing management to…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely acknowledged that the pace of change due to complexity in the competitive environment coupled with advances in technology and innovation is forcing management to rethink strategy formulation and implementation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss convergence in the context of discontinuous competitive environment and possible management responses to changes.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings of this paper are based on the analysis of developments in the biotechnology environment. The disruption to pharmaceutical industry is examined from the context of need served.
Findings
The rate of change in innovation is leading to the creation of new industries and the disintegration of the industry classifications due to convergence of multiple needs previously served by different industry groupings. As such, firms have to upgrade their environmental scanning systems to detect competitive forces beyond the traditional industrial competitive boundaries.
Practical implications
The paper provides a comprehensive review of convergence and disruptive technologies
Originality/value
The paper highlights the breakdown of barriers in terms of industry classification. Customer's needs could be served by firms in hitherto distinct industry groupings.
Details
Keywords
Maria Bernabo, Ivan Garcia‐Bassets, Laura Gaines, Christian Knauer, Alfred Lewis, Liem Nguyen and Leila Zolfaghari
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history and development of the automobile industry Furthermore the paper discusses convergence in the context of discontinuous…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history and development of the automobile industry Furthermore the paper discusses convergence in the context of discontinuous competitive environment and possible management responses to changes.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings of this paper are based on the analysis of the auto industry and the changes triggered by advances in related industries and socio‐economic forces.
Findings
The rate of change in innovation is leading to the creation of new industries and the disintegration of the industry classifications due to convergence of multiple needs previously served by different industry groupings. As such, firms have to upgrade their environmental scanning systems to detect competitive forces beyond the industrial competitive boundaries.
Practical implications
The paper provides a comprehensive review of convergence and disruptive technologies and the resulting implications for the automobile industry.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the breakdown of barriers in terms of industry classification. Customer's needs could be served by other firms in hitherto distinct industry groupings.
Details
Keywords
Bharat Mehra, Vandana Singh, Natasha Hollenbach and Robert P. Partee
This chapter discusses the application of community informatics (CI) principles in the rural Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region to further the teaching of information…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter discusses the application of community informatics (CI) principles in the rural Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region to further the teaching of information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy concepts in courses that formed part of two externally funded grants, “Information Technology Rural Librarian Master’s Scholarship Program Part I” (ITRL) and “Part II” (ITRL2), awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program to the School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee (UT).
Design/Methodology/Approach
The chapter documents ICT use in ITRL and ITRL2 to extend librarian technology literacy training, allowing these public information providers to become change agents in the twenty-first century. It discusses aspects of CI that influenced these two projects and shaped the training of future rural library leaders embedded in traditionally underrepresented areas to further social justice and progressive changes in the region’s rural communities.
Findings
The chapter demonstrates the role that CI principles played in the context of ITRL and ITRL2 from project inception to the graduation of the rural librarians with examples of tangible IT services/products that the students developed in their courses that were directly applicable and tailored to their SCA contexts.
Originality/Value
ITRL and ITRL2 provided a unique opportunity to apply a CI approach to train information librarians as agents of change in the SCA regions to further economic and cultural development via technology and management competencies. These change agents will continue to play a significant role in community building and community development efforts in the future.
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Katerina Karanika and Margaret K. Hogg
This paper aims to examine how ambivalence and intergenerational support intersect with consumption in experiences of sharing within the family.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how ambivalence and intergenerational support intersect with consumption in experiences of sharing within the family.
Design/methodology/approach
Consumer research studies usually use one of two family paradigms (i.e. solidarity and conflict), but the role of ambivalence in family ties is often neglected. This paper examines how ambivalence relates to adult intergenerational support, specifically within the context of sharing, consumption and family identity. In contrast to consumer research studies, sociological studies identify the intersection between intergenerational ambivalence and intergenerational support within family life. This study draws on sociology literature to interpret data from phenomenological interviews with downwardly mobile Greek consumers involved in familial intergenerational support and sharing. The voices of adult recipients and providers of resources are captured, and the transcribed interview texts are analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutical process.
Findings
Three types of consumer ambivalence were identified that reflected different types of conflicts between consumption choices and different levels of family identity (collective, relational and individual).
Research limitations/implications
Future research should explore ambivalence and family sharing in different family structures and during different transitions. Future research should also investigate how this study’s findings resonate in societies less affected by austerity measures with stronger welfare states that nevertheless experience a rise in intergenerational support.
Originality/value
The study problematises previously somewhat polarised (i.e. positive vs bleak) views of the family in consumer research. Family sharing is highlighted as a major antecedent to consumer ambivalence, and different types of consumer ambivalence within intergenerational relationships within families are conceptualised. This paper proposes an extended typology of coping strategies aligned along a practical–emotional continuum.
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This study aims to investigate the research question: how do women leaders in the professional business services (PBS) sector develop and approach workplace (in)authenticity?
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the research question: how do women leaders in the professional business services (PBS) sector develop and approach workplace (in)authenticity?
Design/methodology/approach
Ten senior women leaders in the Midlands region of the UK were purposefully selected and interviewed. A semi-structured approach meant that the author adopted a social constructionist paradigm and feminist interpretation. Questions were designed to elicit rich descriptions from the participants. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted to address the study’s purpose.
Findings
Four themes were important to women when they developed and approached workplace (in)authenticity: (1) Power Structures, (2) Fit to Belong, (3) Influential Femininity and (4) Through Her Evolution. Women described masculine-majority organisations exerting power. They were pressured into altering their behaviours to “fit” into workplaces. When women had the latitude to be themselves, their leadership excelled. Women’s authenticity developed through increased self-knowledge, helping them to overcome workplace challenges. The study concluded that women face complexities when developing and approaching their constructions of authenticity, namely in the barriers and ramifications they face.
Practical implications
The study suggests several implications for practice and theory concerning enablers and barriers to women leaders' workplace authenticity. The link between authenticity and workplace gender equity needs to be investigated.
Originality/value
The study provides evidence that women are challenged when becoming authentic, therefore, altering their careers irrecoverably in some cases.
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The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015) is the story of a group of teenage friends that, during the screening of a Friday the 13th-like 1980s slasher horror, happen to be…
Abstract
The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015) is the story of a group of teenage friends that, during the screening of a Friday the 13th-like 1980s slasher horror, happen to be sucked into the film. Trapped in the gruesome narrative, they have to survive the deranged killer that haunts the premises of the campsite by applying their knowledge of the rules and cliches of the slasher genre. The film is of interest not only because it mixes horror and comedy and exaggerates the horror genre’s conventions – as Scream and other neo-slashers already did. By employing the device of the screen rupture, the film constructs a complex network of self-reflexive moments and intertextual references. The metalinguistic play involves in particular the notoriously sexophobic and gender-led dynamics of the 1980s slashers – those more emancipated girls who have sex are killed; the most prudish girl is the one that eventually manages to defeat the monster, the ‘Final Girl’. In this sense, the film is almost like a video essay that reprises and illustrates one of the most seminal study of the slasher genre, Carol Clover’s 1992 Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. The chapter presents the defining elements of the slasher subgenre as theorized by Clover and then focusses on the analysis of the metalinguistic elements of The Final Girls vis-à-vis Clover’s classic text.
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Stephen Nettelhorst, Laura Brannon, Angela Rose and Whitney Whitaker
The purpose of this study is to investigate online viewers’ preferences concerning the number and duration of video advertisements to watch during commercial breaks. The goal of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate online viewers’ preferences concerning the number and duration of video advertisements to watch during commercial breaks. The goal of the investigations was to assess whether online viewers preferred watching a fewer number of advertisements with longer durations or a greater number of advertisements with shorter durations.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies used experimental research designs to assess viewers’ preferences regarding advertisements. These designs used two independent variables and one dependent variable. The first independent variable manipulated the type of choice options given to online viewers (e.g. one 60 s or two 30 s advertisements). The second independent variable manipulated when the choice was given to online viewers (i.e. at the beginning of the viewing experience or in the middle of the experience). The dependent variable measured viewers’ choices concerning their preferred advertisement option.
Findings
The results across both studies found that participants made choices that minimized total advertisement exposure time when possible. When minimizing total exposure time was not possible, participants made choices that minimized the number of exposures instead.
Originality/value
These investigations extend the literature on advertisement choice by examining online viewers’ preferences about the format of their advertising experience rather than the content of the persuasive messages themselves. In addition, these investigations provide value by investigating viewers’ responses to stimuli within realistic online simulations rather than abstract hypotheticals.