Business Information Technology (BIT) is a relatively new and still developing concept, which is offered as an under‐graduate programme of study at an ever‐increasing number of…
Abstract
Business Information Technology (BIT) is a relatively new and still developing concept, which is offered as an under‐graduate programme of study at an ever‐increasing number of educational institutions. Kingston Business School has been at the forefront of such developments and offers a four year ‘thick’ sandwich BSc (Hons) BIT course, which has a one year industrial period and consists of the following three central study themes: — Business Strategy, Operations and Environment — Information Systems/ — Information Technology (IS/IT) — Quantitative Decision Methods and Analysis This paper concentrates on the Business and IT aspects of the course and considers the experiences and lessons learnt over the last six years in order to attempt to answer the question: ‘what exactly is BIT?’ It concludes that the essence of BIT is the close integration of the above study themes in order to produce knowledgable, adaptable graduates, who have the technical and inter‐personal skills to work successfully in a rapidly changing business environment. The author is involved in course development, collaboration with business partners and a significant amount of BIT course teaching, particularly on the final year.
In order to debate whether or not the use of a formal systems development methodology is a critical success factor to successful computer project management it is firstly…
Abstract
In order to debate whether or not the use of a formal systems development methodology is a critical success factor to successful computer project management it is firstly necessary to examine a number of background issues, viz:‐
Walter Skok and Stuart Fitz‐Gerald
A sixth‐former, who is interested in studying for a “computer”‐ related degree is faced with what may be a bewildering choice of course titles:
This paper aims to investigate how various sales personas interacted and played a role in the early growth of Ewing Kauffman’s Marion Laboratories in the 1950s.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how various sales personas interacted and played a role in the early growth of Ewing Kauffman’s Marion Laboratories in the 1950s.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is a variation of “retrodiagnosis” – wherein modern psychographic personas are used to profile historical actors. After reviewing trends in both the academic and trade literatures related to professional and entrepreneurial selling in complex environments, the foundational sales force at Marion Laboratories active in the 1950s was assessed using the five sales personas proposed in a 2011 Corporate Executive Board (CEB) study: namely, hard-workers, relationship-builders, lone-wolfs, reactive-problem-solvers and challengers.
Findings
Individual members of the foundational sales force at Marion Laboratories displayed a number of dominant persona and subdominant persona traits. The relative success and managerial challenges evidenced by individual members of Marion’s foundational sales force are consistent with the CEB sales persona performance patterns. Specifically, those with dominant challenger and lone-wolf personas were especially crucial in driving sales success – to the point that Marion rapidly rose to become the most notable sales force in the American pharmaceutical vertical.
Research limitations/implications
Given that only a single firm was investigated, along with the interpretive and qualitative nature of the study, the findings are not generalizable. Additional studies in a similar vein with similar findings would add further support to the current findings. Theoretical implications related to customer development and effectuation are touched on.
Practical implications
The investigation lends qualitative historical support to the CEB study. The question of optimal-sales-team-persona-mix is worth founder’s consideration.
Originality/value
This is the first study to use contemporary sales personas to investigate a historically significant entrepreneurial sales force.
Details
Keywords
Sean Zinsmeister and Meera Venkatraman
I AM HUNGRY (IAH), a free mobile App for the iPhone and Facebook, was introduced in early 2010 by a small Web 2.0 startup business. This location based App provided users with a…
Abstract
I AM HUNGRY (IAH), a free mobile App for the iPhone and Facebook, was introduced in early 2010 by a small Web 2.0 startup business. This location based App provided users with a list of restaurants and food specials within a one-mile radius of their current location. It offered significant benefits to both restaurants and end users, yet IAH struggled to generate a sustained revenue stream. The case is set in late 2010 when co-founders Markarian and Kravets evaluated IAH performance and considered their options. The two segments, Mom and Pop restaurants and college students, presented different challenges. In the restaurant segment, IAH faced a dilemma not uncommon to Web startups. Should they push for growth (number of restaurants) at the expense of revenue (offering the App free) or should they charge for the App at the expense of growth? Focusing on the end user, the case discusses the outcomes of an IAH promotion at Collegefest, a heavily attended back-to-school event. Data from Google Analytics and Facebook Insights revealed that the event was a success in terms of user traffic. But, was that enough? The case asks students to deliberate on the appropriate performance metrics for evaluating next steps.
Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri, Brighton Nyagadza and Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura
This study aims to investigate how social entrepreneurial role models influence social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, social entrepreneurial intent and social entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how social entrepreneurial role models influence social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, social entrepreneurial intent and social entrepreneurial action, with moral obligation as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey of 261 pupils in the South African province of the Eastern Cape was used in the research study. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses.
Findings
The research revealed that having social entrepreneurial role models has a positive impact on both social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social entrepreneurial intent. In addition, a connection was found between social entrepreneurial intent and entrepreneurial action. The influence of moral obligation was found to be a positive and a significant moderator. Moreover, the association between social entrepreneurial role models and social entrepreneurial intent was mediated by social entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are not generalizable to nonstudent samples because students constituted the sample for gathering data. Future study therefore requires considering nonstudents to generalize the outcomes. This research should be replicated in other South African provinces and other developing countries for comparative outcomes.
Practical implications
Since social entrepreneurial role models have been practically linked to social entrepreneurship intent and entrepreneurial efficacy, understanding the factors that influence student’s decision to start a social enterprise is critical in South Africa to develop targeted interventions aimed at encouraging young people to start new businesses. Policymakers, society and entrepreneurial education will all benefit from the findings.
Originality/value
This study contributes to bridging the knowledge gap as it investigates how social entrepreneurial role models influence social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, social entrepreneurial intent and social entrepreneurial action, with moral obligation as a moderator. Encouraging social entrepreneurship among South African youth would also help address societal issues. This is a pioneering study in the context of an emerging economy such as South Africa, where social entrepreneurship is so integral.
Details
Keywords
Syeda Nimra Batool, Khawar Razzaq and Hassan Imam
Earlier studies have shown that individuals with business education and the personality traits listed in the big-five model are more inclined to pursue entrepreneurial activities…
Abstract
Purpose
Earlier studies have shown that individuals with business education and the personality traits listed in the big-five model are more inclined to pursue entrepreneurial activities. The Big-Five Model of personality is one of the prominent taxonomies, which highlights five fundamental human's traits. However, the big-five model does not cover all baseline personality features essential for pursuing an entrepreneurial career. Drawing on the trait-factor theory of career choice, this study discusses action-oriented traits as a driving force for individuals to pursue entrepreneurship as a foremost career choice in the context of developing economies.
Design/methodology/approach
Data of 599 recent graduates, who just completed their university degrees and about to join the job market, were collected through surveys and analyzed after achieving the model-fit.
Findings
Results highlighted that three action-oriented traits (innovativeness, risk-taking and competitiveness) aspire individuals to pursue entrepreneurial careers. In addition, a multi-group analysis of business vs. non-business educational backgrounds revealed that business related education is not the only strong precursor leading to the pursuit of an entrepreneurial career.
Originality/value
This study draws attention to the belief of higher educational consultants, institutes and policymakers that investment in certain trait development can increase the number of new entrepreneurs in an economy.
Details
Keywords
Padma Charan Mishra and Manoj Kumar Mohanty
The purpose of this paper is to explore operation influencing factors of mining. To collect gaps of study and to form a thematic representation of principal influencing factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore operation influencing factors of mining. To collect gaps of study and to form a thematic representation of principal influencing factors and their unique influencing factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Articles were collected from different sources from 1974 to 2019 consisting of research articles, technical papers, expert blogs, working papers and conference papers covering various disciplines from psychology, human resource, finance and economics to mining engineering. Mining operation influencing factors were noted down. Four massively deposed mines were visited to observe the sequence of mining process. The field experts were also consulted to identify factors influencing their respected industry. Gaps were observed while comparing with the reviewed articles and opinions of field experts. Finally, senior experts were consulted to identify unique factors from the final list prepared and a framework of seven thematic categories consisting of unique factors was formulated.
Findings
A total of 197 sub-factors were collected from literature review and 2 sub-factors from Indian Mining experts during field study. These 199 sub-factors were initially categorised as 48 factors and one more factor was collected from Indian field experts. Finally, these 49 factors were thematically represented as principal factors and termed as operation, marketing and management, human resource, finance, resource and utility, corporate affairs and corporate social responsibility and environment.
Research limitations/implications
This study can be very helpful in the direction of different qualitative and quantitative studies, as the factors and sub-factors groups are identified.
Originality/value
The paper fulfils an identified need to provide a holistic review for understanding and documenting principal factors, unique factors and sub-factors those influence mining operation, profitability or sustainability issues of mines.
Details
Keywords
This article aims to explore the dominant normative patterns that establish the timing and order of life events, determining the desirable life strategies for working-class youth…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explore the dominant normative patterns that establish the timing and order of life events, determining the desirable life strategies for working-class youth in modern Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploring the interrelationship between new working-class studies and life-course studies, this research combines the consideration of life course as a structurally organised integrity with a phenomenological perspective on the study of life strategies. The empirical basis of research consists of a survey of 1532 young working-class representatives living in the Ural Federal District of Russia and biographical in-depth interviews with 31 of them.
Findings
The study resulted in persisting significance and values of traditional life-course structures while showing that the current social conditions do not allow for this life strategy to be fulfilled. Young workers choose adaptation and survival life strategies that restrict the realisation of their professional and cultural potential. The obtained data have confirmed the presence of some worldwide tendencies, such as the dispersion of events during transition to adulthood, a combination of schooling and full-time work and an earlier career start of working-class representatives.
Originality/value
The sequencing and timing of life-course events of Russian working-class youth is an original research topic. The present study proposes and substantiates the notion of the new working class and criteria for its definition.