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The Internet has introduced new ways of conducting business. Online auction of nonperishable experience goods (NPEG) items, which are generally rare, expensive and durable and need to be experienced to be valued, is one area that is undergoing significant change. Online auction platforms are encouraging participants to interact publicly in a social media type comment format. This paper investigates how such public interactions impact the auction outcomes of NPEG.

Auction records of vintage automobiles sold between 2015 and 2023 on one of the biggest online auction platforms in the USA were collected. The dataset contains multiple variables per record such as winning bid price, number of comments by sellers and browsers and various details of the automobile, for example brand, vintage and mileage. Ordinary least squares was utilized to analyze close to 42,000 records in the dataset.

The paper found that comments in general are positively correlated with the winning bid; it also found that online buyers value browser comments higher than seller comments. Furthermore, the relationship between vintage and origin country and winning bid is enhanced by browser comments.

This research furthers theory on two fronts. Firstly, we analyze how auction outcomes are impacted when buyers, casual observers and sellers interact with each other publicly when the auction is ongoing. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is one of the first studies that delve into participant interactions in online ongoing auctions. Secondly, we investigate how potential buyers utilize participant interaction information to guide their decisions about the value of NPEG.

The case delves into supply, demand, price gouging, hoarding and capabilities of the firm. The theories/concepts and a short overview are covered below. These theories and concepts are then referenced as appropriate in the “Answers to Discussion Questions” section as follows: Supply Demand Theory; Price Gouging, Speculation and Hoarding; Resources, Capabilities and Activities; Friedman’s and Porter’s view of goals of a firm; Corporate Social Responsibility.

The case was motivated after a discussion with Mr Matthew Roberts, who is the Chief Operating Officer of SPR Industries. Several subsequent interviews were conducted with Matt. Matt also became the chief protagonist of the case. Matt provided multiple quotes and anecdotes. The protagonist Matt and the focal organization (SPR Industries) are disguised. The financial figures have also been disguised using a multiplier. However, the material facts of the case are authentic.

This case sheds light on the impact of the COVID pandemic on a small business in the personal protective equipment industry. The students will get an understanding of the supply and demand forces in a market. Furthermore, the case bears out how unpredictable situations such as the pandemic lead to speculation and price gouging opportunities but not in all products affected by it. The case explores the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of firms regarding price gouging in their products. Students will also get an appreciation of how an industry and its participants change in response to such black swan events as the COVID pandemic. Finally, the case presents a small enterprise’s decision choices â?? Should they maintain the status quo, become a sub-broker or become a wholesaler.

This case is designed to target undergraduate students of strategic management or entrepreneurship. It could be appropriate for upper level courses such as Strategic Management, Small Business Management and maybe even Family Business Management. It could be taught in the latter half of the course after the basic concepts have been covered. This case could bring together many of the concepts into a real-life setting.

The case was motivated after listening to Dr Heather Westphal’s leadership journey as a President of State University of North State (SUNS), Somerville. Several subsequent interviews were conducted with Heather, and she also became the chief protagonist of the case. Heather provided multiple quotes and anecdotes. The protagonist Heather and the focal organization (SUNS, Somerville) are disguised. However, the material facts of the case are authentic. Data were collected from public sources and SUNS, Somerville administration. Some of the data have been jittered to maintain anonymity yet keep the authenticity of the lesson.

The case exposes students to a female leader of a higher education institution in the USA. Various aspects a high-level executive must consider when deciding on career moves have been explored. Furthermore, the case draws attention to some extra particulars women leaders must consider during career transitions. The case study then dives into how a leader sets goals, executes them and repeats the process to set new goals. Two types of situations are covered – the first is where planning is followed by execution and the other is a crisis where not much planning can be done. Students will also get a glimpse into how leaders remain fit physically and mentally, as they conduct their duties in high-stress situations. Exposure to mental fitness is especially pertinent in today’s day and age where mental fatigue and issues because of work-related strain are a significant concern. Finally, the case presents students with a decision the leader is facing regarding the direction of the institution – Should she keep it traditional, go nontraditional (online) or become a hybrid?

This case is designed to target undergraduate juniors or seniors in strategy and leadership courses. The course could also be suitable for strategy students of nonprofit and not-for-profit management. It could be taught in the latter half of the course after the basic concepts have been covered. Students will be able to apply the knowledge of the core courses of management and strategy in this case. Hence, this case can act as an integrative case that brings together multiple disciplines and focuses on the leadership of a large institution.

This study compares the performance of female majority-owned new ventures (FNV) vs. male majority-owned new ventures (MNV). It analyzes the differences in levels of variables such as education, the same industry work experience of owners, and other venture level attributes between FNVs and MNVs. More importantly, this study employs decomposition techniques to determine the individual contribution from the intergender difference of each attribute on the performance of the new venture. For example, the study finds that, on average, the owners of an MNV possessed 3.4 years more of the same industry work experience than their FNV counterparts. This difference in work experience accounted for 47% of the “explained” gap [1] in Net Profits between the FNVs and MNVs.

This paper utilizes the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal dataset of 4,928 new ventures started in the USA in 2004. It employs Blinder-Oaxaca and Fairlie decomposition techniques in conjunction with OLS and Logit regressions. Both methods provide point estimates of contributions to the performance gap due to the heterogeneity in each attribute across the groups (FNV and MNV). This approach has a significant advantage over OLS or mediation analysis, which can only provide a directional analysis of the contributions of differences in attributes to performance.

The paper finds no performance gap between MNVs and FNVs. It further investigates whether the heterogeneous characteristics of MNVs vs FNVs are related to different effects on survival and performance. It finds that characteristics such as owners’ work experience in the same industry, average hours worked by owners in the new venture, the technology level of the venture, and its incorporation status are related with a differential impact on new venture survival and performance.

All firms in the dataset belonged to a single cohort (2004) of new ventures started in the US. Future studies are encouraged to develop a dataset from multiple geographies and founding over several years so that the results may be more generalizable.

The paper provides crucial practical guidance to policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs. In general, policies that enhance the work experience of women entrepreneurs and provide access to infrastructure such as daycares, which may allow them to work more hours, would probably improve the performance of FNVs.

The paper furthers the literature on women entrepreneurship by analyzing point estimates of differential contribution of disparate variables to performance. From a methodological perspective, the study reconciles the results between regression and decomposition analyses.

The purpose of this paper is to move beyond individual level characteristics of founders to explain the performance gap between white and black majority owned new ventures. It specifically investigates three potential mediators: demographic characteristics of venture’s location, financial size of the venture and its credit riskiness.

The Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal data set of 4,928 new ventures started in the USA in 2004, has been utilized in this paper. Pooled OLS and Logit regression models were employed for direct effects. Mediation effects were tested using two different approaches: the Baron and Kenny approach and decomposition analysis.

The paper finds that the financial size and credit riskiness mediate the relationship between majority race ownership and the performance of a venture.

The data were collected for a single cohort (2004) of nascent firms; furthermore, the sample draws from firms based in the USA. Future studies could replicate this research utilizing samples of different cohorts and from other parts of the world.

The paper provides important guidance to policy makers. In general, to reduce the performance gap between black and white owned ventures, providing access to subsidized assets, capital and credit could be very helpful.

Past research suggests that the majority race ownership of a new venture impacts its performance and attributes these differences to heterogeneous endowments, usually of the primary owner. In this paper, analyses are conducted at multiple levels and new mechanisms through which the internal resources and capabilities of a new venture mediate the relation are discovered.

The theoretical linkages are with dynamic nature of PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces, resource-based view of the firm and characteristics of an entrepreneur.

The names of the institutions and individuals involved have been disguised. However, the material facts of the case are authentic.

This case discusses strategy in the context of a crisis situation in a small business. JTH Inc. was a computer subcontract manufacturing (SCM) firm serving the New England region of the USA. The influx of international competition (mainly from China) due to recession led to significant challenges for JTH and the SCM industry. JTH was struggling and the situation was further complicated by the founder’s (Robert Maxwell) personal and emotional situation. Robert had to decide whether to keep the business running, close it down, merge with/be acquired by a competitor, innovate the business model or do something else.

This case is designed to target undergraduate students of Strategic Management; it may also include Entrepreneurship students. It should most probably be taught in the first half of the course after concepts such as PESTEL, Porter and resource-based view of the firm have been taught.

Sustainability is increasingly becoming an essential aspect of technological innovations. In addition, the diffusion of sustainable new technology-based products appears to be uneven across the globe. The authors examine the effect of three country-level Hofstede measures of culture and two national-level innovation characteristics on the diffusion of Sustainable New Technology-based Products (SNTP).

Regression and Necessary Conditions Analysis were used to analyze a panel dataset of electric and hybrid vehicles sales from 2008 to 2017 across 89 countries.

Results suggest Long-Term Orientation (LTO) was correlated with SNTP diffusion, Indulgence (IVR) was partially correlated with SNTP diffusion and was also a necessary condition. Surprisingly, Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) was not correlated with SNTP diffusion. In addition, a national proclivity for developing innovations and a history of utilizing prior generic innovations were both correlated and necessary for SNTP diffusion.

This paper measures the impact of several macro-level variables (culture and other innovation related characteristics of countries) on SNTP diffusion. In addition to regression analyses to measure the average effect size, the authors conduct Necessary Conditions Analysis, which assesses the necessity of a variable for the outcome. These insights may help multinational companies better strategize entry decisions for international markets and aid governments in formulating more effective policies by recognizing and accommodating the influences of national culture and innovation attitudes.

In the era of Industry 5.0, understanding the balance between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and firm performance is crucial for mitigating climate change and enhancing financial outcomes. This paper aims to analyze the effect of ESG disclosure on the financial performance (FP) of renewable and clean energy (RCE) companies, focusing on the combined ESG disclosure and individual E, S, and G disclosure scores.

The study analyzed a panel data sample from 2015–2021, covering 41 RCE companies. By applying the K-means++ clustering technique, the research also explored how firm-specific features influence the relationship between ESG disclosure and FP. The Bloomberg database and audited financial reports were used to gather the data for the study.

The findings indicate that increased ESG disclosure positively influences FP. Further, a significant positive relationship exists between FP and a company’s E and S disclosure. However, firm-specific characteristics significantly influence this relationship. Findings suggest that a company’s commitment to comprehensive ESG efforts enhances financial efficiency rather than increasing costs.

This study adds to the ESG-FP literature by emphasizing global RCE companies, a key player in sustainability. Further, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the study’s uniqueness is attributed to its application of a two-step approach, combining ESG-FP analysis with K-means++ clustering to account for firm-specific characteristics. It also uniquely examines the individual impact of E, S, and G disclosure on the FP of global RCE companies. The findings offer valuable insights for businesses and policymakers in developing strategies that improve profitability while addressing climate change risks.

As the retail banking institutions are becoming more customer centric, their focus on service quality is increasing. Established service quality frameworks such as SERVQUAL and SERVPERF have been applied in the banking sector. While these models are widely accepted, they are expensive because of the need for replication across bank branches. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel, user friendly and cost effective approach by amalgamating the traditional concept of service quality in banks (marketing base) and sentiment analysis literature (information systems base).

In this study, the main objective is to analyze user reviews to better understand the correlation between RATER dimension sentiment scores as independent variables and user overall rating (customer satisfaction) grouping in “good” and “bad” as dependent variable through development of authors’ own logistic regression model using lexicon-based sentiment analysis. The model has been developed for three largest private banks in India pertaining to three banking product categories of loans, savings and current accounts and credit cards.

The results show that the responsiveness and tangibles dimensions significantly impact the user evaluation rating. Even though the three largest private banks in India are concentrating on the tangibles dimension, not all of them are sufficiently focused on the responsiveness dimension. Additionally, customers looking for loan products are more susceptible to negative perceptions on service quality.

This study has highlighted two types of scores whereby user provided overall evaluation scores help provide validation to the sentiment scores. The developed model can be used to assess performance of a bank in comparison to its peers and to generate in depth insights on point of parity (POP) and point of difference (POD) fronts.