Startups and Consumer Purchase Behavior: Application of Support Vector Machine Algorithm

This study evaluated the impact of startup technology innovations and customer relationship management (CRM) performance on customer participation, value co-creation, and consumer purchase behavior (CPB). This analytical study empirically tested the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM) and SmartPLS 3 techniques. Moreover, we used a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to verify the model's accuracy. SVM algorithm uses four different kernels to check the accuracy criterion, and we checked all of them. This research used the convenience sampling approach in gathering the data. We used the conventional bias test method. A total of 466 respondents were completed. Technological innovations of startups and CRM have a positive and significant effect on customer participation. Customer participation significantly affects the value of pleasure, economic value, and relationship value. Based on the importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) matrix results, "customer participation" with a score of 0.782 had the highest importance. If customers increase their participation performance by one unit during the COVID-19 epidemic, its overall CPB increases by 0.782. In addition, our results showed that the lowest performance is related to the technological innovations of startups, which indicates an excellent opportunity for development in this area. SVM results showed that polynomial kernel, to a high degree, is the best kernel that confirms the model's accuracy.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Development of Entrepreneurial Universities: A Study of Higher Education Institutions in Turkey

This chapter focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of entrepreneurial universities and the provision of entrepreneurship education in Turkey. It does so via a 10.67 response rate questionnaire survey of all 206 universities in Turkey, conducted online in August 2020. The results revealed that those Turkish HEIs that responded (i) have a good understanding of what Entrepreneurial universities are and are in the transformation process, (ii) are involved in entrepreneurial activities to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, (iii) have or expect to have financial challenges as a result of the pandemic and believe that entrepreneurship is one of the key factors to survive in the market, and (iv) are fully supporting online education as a result of the COVID-19 crises, though much needs to be done to improve the current performance. Thus, this study addresses a critical gap in the body of understanding on the impact of the pandemic and suggests that it might be creating the conditions that will encourage Turkish universities to become more entrepreneurial. This has relevance for policymakers, university managers, entrepreneurship academics, and industry. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Arts Entrepreneurs in an Emerging Economy

Artists who bring creative products to the market in the innovation economy, such as handcrafters and others, mostly do not make it to a more prospering entrepreneurial venture and bring economic rent from their talent. In order to shed light on this issue, the role of an entrepreneurial mindset and the use of business tools such as social media by creative workers in the cultural innovation economy cannot be neglected. In this chapter, we bring an overview on how entrepreneurial mindset in such players plays a crucial role inside the innovation economy, how arts entrepreneurship can bring profound results, and how, as the aftermath of COVID-19 prevailed, gaining entrepreneurial skills and use of business tools have surged, more specifically, the use of social media for promoting products and branding the artists themselves. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC: REFLECTIONS BASED ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' COMMUNITY IN BANGLADESH

The fundamental aim of this study is to demonstrate the positive consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic while everyone else is talking about COVID-19's adverse effects. Researchers collected data through FGD (Focus Group Discussion) via an internet platform from April 2021 to June 2021. FGD was conducted with final-year undergraduate students from Bangladesh's Sylhet division. We purposively selected 20 students who have good knowledge about the consequences of COVID-19 and who were voluntarily involved at the university's different social clubs. According to this study, COVID-19 has positive impacts on people's life. People spent crucial time with their families, explored their interests, developed a range of new skills, and appreciated the need for sanitation, hygiene, and social separation. Nature recovers energy, and greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced to protect the ecosystem. Among other notable positive effects, people build religious learning's in conjunction with crime reduction notions. Researchers study a particular division (Sylhet) of a country, which may differ from that of other cultures and countries. As a result, generalizing the research findings is complex;more research in different divisions of Bangladesh, countries, and cultures is required. The study outcomes are intended to assist the community in building positive psychology to confront the COVID-19 and establish a new normal and a guideline for dealing with any impending pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the most comprehensive studies on the positive effects of COVID-19, as well as a guideline for dealing with any pandemic that may occur in the near future.

The impact of business process reengineering on organizational performance during the coronavirus pandemic: moderating role of strategic thinking

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impact of business process reengineering on organizational performance in the Malaysian electronics manufacturing industry during the coronavirus pandemic. It also studied the moderating effect of strategic thinking on the relationship between these two concepts. Design/methodology/approach: Data of 103 samples are obtained from a survey of the electronics manufacturing companies listed in the Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers’ directory. Data is analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings: The results show that business process reengineering dimensions, i.e. top management commitment, organizational readiness for change, information technology capabilities and people management have significant positive impacts on organizational performance;whereas organizational structure and other abovementioned dimensions were found to have a much stronger impact on organizational performance whilst strategic thinking exists in the organization. Practical implications: As the studied firms have been affected by the pandemic, the results will be useful for managers of the firms in the Malaysian electronics manufacturing industry by highlighting the dimensions of business process reengineering that can have a positive and significant impact on the organizational performance and by advising them to incorporate strategic thinking. Originality/value: The results extend the literature on business process reengineering dimensions, which impact organizational performance by empirically testing the relationship of those dimensions on the performance, with strategic thinking as a moderating variable in Malaysian electronics manufacturing companies. From the knowledge, studying strategic thinking as a moderator in the relationship between business process reengineering and organizational performance in electronics manufacturing companies in Malaysia is unique, especially during a global crisis, i.e. the pandemic. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Unboxing organisational complexity: how does it affect business performance during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Purpose This study aims to distinguish businesses by their degree of complexity and to analyse the influence of complexity on the performance of firms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 468 businesses, and various multivariate statistical techniques were used. Initially a factor analysis was conducted, organising variables into five factors. A discriminant analysis, performed with the five factors, allowed discriminating firms based on whether they internationalise or not. A linear regression was performed in order to estimate the contribution of each factor in the business performance. Findings The results suggest the existence of additional variables for measuring the complexity. From the factorial analysis it is possible to conclude that business complexity can be explained by size, indebtedness and profitability, internationalisation, number of employees, and age and leverage. Total assets, indebtedness and age are the variables that contribute the most to business performance. On the other hand, indebtedness, internationalisation, age and leverage are the independent variables that most contribute to explain business performance. Originality/value This paper presents advances in two ways. First, it proposes measures of complexity (highly debatable in the literature). It also proposes internationalisation as an explanation of complexity. Second, this paper sheds light on businesses decisions to grow, taking into account how complexity may affect performance.