Developing Capabilities for Sustainability in Family Small Enterprises

Though literature in family perpetuity and sustainability is well documented from the advanced economies, there is scarcity of insights from emerging markets where this research relates. The study, therefore, sought to investigate, understand, and interpret the underlying drivers of sustainability in small family businesses using the stewardship theory paradigm in the Nigerian family business environment. A qualitative method with 41 in-depth interviews involving owners and managers of family-owned small and medium businesses was conducted. The study empirically shows that there is an interrelationship between family structure and business sustainability; hence, the practice of polygamy was found to be inimical to family business success and sustainability. Building on the stewardship theory, the paper develops a model of sustainability for small and medium family businesses. The study contributes to the theoretical literature on stewardship and family business sustainability.

Three Approaches To Risk Management In The Cloud

Since companies have increasingly used cloud services for their businesses, security risks are important issues for their business success. The paper presents the understanding of cloud computing and risk management in the cloud. For managing cloud risks, three risk management approaches are introduced.. This paper will give some inferences that companies choose the best cloud network to enhance their businesses and use the appropriate risk management approach to mitigate their risks within the cloud environment.

Male and Female Successors' Support

Despite substantial research on business success, female succession, its associated process, the encountered difficulties within the succession process, and the suitable support are theoretically ignored. The low attention of this subject is preconditioned by some cultural factors essentially religion and habits favorable to man. Successors face some difficulties like acceptance, integration, insertion, and management. It differs from the context and the successors' identities. Some countries support men more than women; others support women than men while some countries refuse this distinction. Using 20 successors, this study aims to understand how religion interferes in supporting successors within the succession process. Muslim countries offer to contextually support and assure business continuity and business cohesion.

Managing Human Resources in E-Commerce

Human resources are the driving force and source of the core competitive advantage of any business. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how human resource management (HRM) practices and human resource (HR) strategies are formulated and utilized in the context of e-commerce firms. When discussing e-commerce, relatively less attention is paid to HRM-related issues. However, analyzing, carefully, both the successful start-ups (i.e., Dollar Shave Club and Warby Parker) and e-commerce giants (i.e., Amazon and Alibaba) treat HRM as a critical success factor. Because business success depends on the careful integration of HRM strategies with business requirements and strategies. In this chapter, the different HRM practices and strategies adopted by different e-commerce firms will be discussed.

Product Returns: An Opportunity to Shift towards an Access-Based Economy?

With the rise in online purchases, returns polices have become more lenient to maximise sales, leading to increased product returns. This results in considerable costs to businesses due to complex returns systems, and environmental costs due to unnecessary transportation and waste. Unsustainable consumption poses a threat to our environment, and access-based business models whereby products are borrowed/rented rather than purchased have been proposed as a way to align customer needs, business success, and sustainability. Product returns often constitute a form of informal or illegitimate borrowing, as goods are bought with the intention of being returned. In this discussion paper we propose that, instead of being viewed as a threat to business, issues with high product returns could be seen as an opportunity to switch to an access-based model. As product returns escalate, businesses will need to invest substantially in their reverse supply chains. We propose that a more strategic approach might be to leapfrog the costly stage of developing more efficient returns systems, and move straight to formalising product returns as the new normal for those goods that would best suit an access-based model, so that processes are streamlined around borrowing and returning rather than around sales.

Impact of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Motivation on Micro and Small Business Success for Food and Beverage Sector in East Java, Indonesia

The research aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial motivation on the success of the food and beverage (F&B) sector’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The sample was selected using purposive sampling techniques from 267 MSE owners in the F&B businesses in Madiun City, Madiun Regency, and Magetan Regency, East Java, Indonesia. The test results of the hypothesis showed that: (1) partially, self-efficacy entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial motivation are significantly positive on business success in micro and small F&B businesses in East Java, Indonesia; (2) entrepreneurial motivation acts as a partial mediation of the influence of self-efficacy entrepreneurship on the business success of micro and small businesses in the field of food and beverage in East Java, Indonesia; abd (3) simultaneously, self-efficacy entrepreneurship and the influence of entrepreneurial motivation are significantly positive on business success in micro and small businesses in the food and beverage fields of East Java, Indonesia. The results showed that self-efficacy and motivation in entrepreneurship are necessary because they affect business success, particularly in micro and small F&B businesses in Indonesia. Further research can explore other factors that influence business success by expanding the research area and other types of creative industry businesses. Further research could explore other factors influencing business success by expanding research areas, such as entrepreneurial leadership and innovative work behavior.

Role of Information System Strategies, Business Intelligence and Analytics used to Enhance Firm Performance: Mediating role of Innovation Ambidexterity

The objective of this research is to examine the aspects of Information System (IS) strategies, Business Intelligence, and Analytics (BI&A) used to enhance firm performance. The main purpose of this study is to assess the influence of IS strategy, BI&A impact on firm performance as well as to demonstrate the association of innovation ambidexterity between BI&A and firm performance. Statistically analyzed results were based on data obtained from a survey questionnaire filled out by 322 Indonesian, China, Japan, and Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises employees. The findings revealed that IS strategies, business intelligence, and analytics use have a significant influence on firm performance. The findings also revealed that innovative adaptability is a mediating factor in the favourable relationship between BI&A use and business success. All of the hypotheses were supported and the partial least squares method was used to test them.

Dynamic Modeling for Product Family Evolution Combined with Artificial Neural Network Based Forecasting Model: A Study of iPhone Evolution

<div>Products continuously evolve over time. Realizing the pattern of product family evolution along with proper estimation of features for future products has been regarded as a critical issue for business success. Focusing on this issue, a dynamic model for product family evolution combined with forecasting is proposed in this research work. The proposed model considers the influence of market demand, customer needs and technological requirements that are time-dependent. The methodology is a four-phase model. For each phase, the effectiveness of the developed approach is demonstrated with numerical simulation results and validated with a case study of Apple’s iPhone product family.</div>

Dynamic Modeling for Product Family Evolution Combined with Artificial Neural Network Based Forecasting Model: A Study of iPhone Evolution

<div>Products continuously evolve over time. Realizing the pattern of product family evolution along with proper estimation of features for future products has been regarded as a critical issue for business success. Focusing on this issue, a dynamic model for product family evolution combined with forecasting is proposed in this research work. The proposed model considers the influence of market demand, customer needs and technological requirements that are time-dependent. The methodology is a four-phase model. For each phase, the effectiveness of the developed approach is demonstrated with numerical simulation results and validated with a case study of Apple’s iPhone product family.</div>