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The Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business at Shenandoah University engaged in an intense planning process in the fall of 2004. In addition to clarifying its mission and strategic directions, the Byrd School clearly articulated its vision: to become recognized as a provider of individualized business education driven by entrepreneurial thinking, global understanding, and ethical practice. The development of the Institute for Entrepreneurship described in this article is a critical step in actualizing this vision.

Interview of M. Yaqub Mirza by Miles K. Davis. Dr. Mirza attributes both his personal and business success to following Islamic principles.This interview outlines the Islamic principles he uses to guide his investment in new ventures and how those same principles shape his management style and attitude toward corporate social responsibility.

Recent attention has been given to organizations that claim to run on faith-based principles. Activities such as at work bible study groups, charitable giving, and the individual practices of the owners are often the focus of such discussions. In such discussions little attention has been paid to those who not only hold strong religious views, but have chosen to put those views into practice‐even when it may not appear to make good business sense.

Since 1946, S. Truett Cathy, founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A Inc., has run his enterprises based on his understanding of Christian principles. Starting with his first restaurant, the “Dwarf Grill,” which he opened with his brother Ben in 1946, continuing when he opened the first “Chick-fil-A” in 1967, and even as he finished the remodeling of the companies headquarters in 1997, S. Truett says he tries “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on other people. . . .” In fact, this purpose is engraved in a bronze plaque that rests at the entrance to Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

In practice, this purpose has lead S.Truett to never have his businesses open on Sunday, a time in the quick service industry that normally generates 20 percent of revenue. It has caused him to shut down another restaurant venture, Markos in Florida, rather than serve alcohol, which most patrons wanted. Despite his staunch adherent to principles that seem to run counter to “good business sense,” S.Truett Cathy has built a successful, privately held organization that operates in 38 states, has more than 1,300 franchisees, and generates over $2 billion a year in revenue.

In the following interview, S.Truett offers his perspective on why focusing on principles is more important than focusing on profits and what he thinks it takes to succeed in business and in life.

In 1983 Ted Leonsis survived a crash landing of a plane he was on.This fateful event proved to be a pivotal point in his life. One of the byproducts of that near-death experiences is Leonsisʼ list of 101 things to do before he died‐a “bucket list” before the movie of that title came out. Leonsis has managed to accomplish more than two-thirds of the things on his list including owning a sports franchise (the Washington Capitals), changing someoneʼs life via a charity, sailing the Caribbean, and being on the cover of a magazine. As impressive as these accomplishments are, they do not reveal the person underneath these accomplishments or what has driven this serial entrepreneur. In previous interviews appearing in NEJE, we have explored how a personʼs faith tradition impacts how they run and manage their businesses. In this interview Leonsis reveals how his life was shaped by both his early childhood and the transformational experience of a crash landing. This interview examines not only what drove Leonsis to success, but also why he feels failure is important. Along, the way he offers his perspective on corporate social responsibility and why it is so critical for individuals and companies to give back to society. And finally, Leonsis shares what he has learned about the secret to happiness.

In describing his success, Sinegal attributes it to “just good business practices.” And while he was born into a Catholic family and supports Catholic causes, he does not necessarily tie his faith to the way he approaches business. That approach, he says, is based in learning how to do business with integrity and high values from an early mentor. The following interview outlines how Sinegal approaches business and how he works to establish integrity and high values throughout Costco Wholesale Corporation.

The strategic management literature emphasizes the concept of business intelligence (BI) as an essential competitive tool. Yet the sustainability of the firms’ competitive advantage provided by BI capability is not well researched. To fill this gap, this study attempts to develop a model for successful BI deployment and empirically examines the association between BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage. Taking the telecommunications industry in Malaysia as a case example, the research particularly focuses on the influencing perceptions held by telecommunications decision makers and executives on factors that impact successful BI deployment. The research further investigates the relationship between successful BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage of the telecommunications organizations. Another important aim of this study is to determine the effect of moderating factors such as organization culture, business strategy, and use of BI tools on BI deployment and the sustainability of firm’s competitive advantage.

This research uses combination of resource-based theory and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to examine BI success and its relationship with firm’s sustainability. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and a two-phase sequential mixed method consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. The chapter presents a qualitative field study to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. The study includes a survey study with sample of business analysts and decision makers in telecommunications firms and is analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that some internal resources of the organizations such as BI governance and the perceptions of BI’s characteristics influence the successful deployment of BI. Organizations that practice good BI governance with strong moral and financial support from upper management have an opportunity to realize the dream of having successful BI initiatives in place. The scope of BI governance includes providing sufficient support and commitment in BI funding and implementation, laying out proper BI infrastructure and staffing and establishing a corporate-wide policy and procedures regarding BI. The perceptions about the characteristics of BI such as its relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and observability are also significant in ensuring BI success. The most important results of this study indicated that with BI successfully deployed, executives would use the knowledge provided for their necessary actions in sustaining the organizations’ competitive advantage in terms of economics, social, and environmental issues.

This study contributes significantly to the existing literature that will assist future BI researchers especially in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, the model will help practitioners to consider the resources that they are likely to consider when deploying BI. Finally, the applications of this study can be extended through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

The share of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in e-commerce has increased, particularly after COVID-19, alongside the growing volume of e-commerce transactions. The increased number of orders necessitates the optimization of delivery operations. This situation has made using different technologies in last-mile delivery processes necessary. Currently, used electric vehicles (EVs) play a significant role in integrating these technologies into delivery operations. Adapting to new technologies emerges as a critical need for small enterprises to survive in the face of advancing technologies. In this context, the main purpose of this paper is to examine and identify attitudes of small businesses toward EVs’ usage in last-mile delivery for FMCG.

The theoretical frameworks commonly used in studies investigating new technologies, namely the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and technology acceptance model (TAM) have been employed. The analysis of the study was conducted using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and the Smart PLS software package.

When examining the results of the study, a significant and positive relationship was found between compatibility and enjoyment with perceived usefulness. Furthermore, a significant and positive relationship was identified between attitude toward use, perceived behavioral control and perceived usefulness. Ultimately, a strong relationship was found between intention, which is a precursor to active usage and attitude. Based on the obtained data, it can be concluded that EVs can be actively used in last-mile delivery in the future.

In FMCG processes in Türkiye, EVs are limitedly used in last-mile delivery operations. However, there are very few studies on the use of EVs in FMCG. Therefore, it is expected that the current research will contribute to the literature by providing information on the factors that influence the acceptance of EV usage and their implications. The TAM and TPB models were used in the current study.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way in which film can introduce jazz to a wider audience.

This study applies the method of subjective personal introspection (SPI) to the area of film and music consumption. The paper reports on insights provided by two researchers through using SPI to investigate their relationships to film and jazz music. In so doing, the paper adopts a Bourdieuian frame in applying a reflexive methodological approach and considering the role of cultural and symbolic capital in influencing these consumption practices.

This paper found that aside from the recognition problem facing jazz, episodes of sublimation may prevent potential audiences from increasing consumption of jazz music.

In common with all SPI studies, the focus of the research is very narrow. While the indepth insight provided here is of use to scholars of arts consumption, further research should explore the prevalence of sublimination in arts communities in order to extend this further.

This study moves our understanding of why consumers may not develop their consumption relationship with jazz music. The findings can be used by jazz professionals in addressing ways in which consumers may overcome their lack of cultural capital and the emphasis placed on this by the wider jazz consumption community.

The paper investigates issues of inclusion and exclusion which should have wider social relevance.

The paper addresses the issue of participation in the arts and should be of value to academics and arts marketing practitioners alike.