ABSTRACT
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are suffering heavily from the Covid-19 pandemic. Pincode Telenet International (PTI) is a small company providing software solutions to the utility sector in the Netherlands. Its revenue depends entirely on outsourcing contracts given by utility providers. When the market environment is disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak and its lasting impact, PTI is confronted with a 35% drop in revenue and many uncertainties. This case illustrates how PTI copes with uncertainties by focusing on one certainty: the available resources. The resource-based coping strategy presented in this case engages students to reflect on how different resources can be used to strengthen collaborations and expand a customer base. It thus advances our understanding of opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial behaviour in times of crisis.
ABSTRACT
The proficiency of survival of an organization depends on the ability to adapt to change, and change is a dynamic tool that impacts organizational growth and performance. The travel industry is one of the largest productive and diverse sectors comprising transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment, which are interlinked. The vastness in structure and composition of the travel industry allows several factors to impact the operation of the travel sector. This research identifies the level of impact that the internal and external factors have on the travel sector's business model innovation and analyze the key challenges faced during the implementation of business model innovation. This research further addresses the gaps in business model innovation research undertaken in the travel industry. The literature review provides a better understanding of the previous and current business model innovation in the Nigerian travel sector while incorporating a change management framework designed to create a productive and stable way of implementing change into the business model of the travel agency.This research adopts mixed embedded method research using a qualitative approach to support a quantitative system for data collection and analyses to accomplish the above. A quantitative method was adopted using a general survey constructed to focus on the business model innovation and the travel industry operations in Nigeria, examining its strategies and ability. Three hundred surveys were received and analyzed using SPSS, analysis connexion and regression, and tested hypotheses. Six interviews focused on the top management team to provide an adopted view of internal operations and their effect on the external environment. Interviews were adopted as a qualitative method to understand the factor affecting business model innovation in the Nigerian travel sector and the strategies adopted in developing a business model innovation from the management perspective.Certain limitations like the global pandemic Covid-19 slowed down the progress of the research, furthermore. The time constraint and lack of specific resources were obstacles;the mixed embedded method was also time-consuming.The findings address the research objectives of this research while contributing to the existing business model innovation literature by providing a broader view of the travel sector as it creates a clear roadmap for integration and value creation. Several kinds of literature drive this, theories and data collection which aims at identifying the factors affecting the BMI in the travel sector. And also, constructively studying change management theories like Lewin's and Kotter's theory aids in developing a suitable change management framework that serves as a roadmap in generating insight to help envisage, strategize, and address issues respectively to change.The contribution of this research addresses the importance of integration and implementation in the operation chain. Creates an understanding of the business model innovation as the sequence of activities that are technically and economically expressed from the beginning of the development stage to the implementation of a change management framework until its final commercialization and the importance in the business model innovation. Furthermore, this research also develops a change management framework that acts as a support system and catalyst for growth, sustainability, and adaptability.Lastly, the recommendation is established based on the result collected from the research, which focuses on identifying specific measures to fill research gaps in practice, knowledge and the Travel sector. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Purpose - This study investigates how to foster innovation and high performance through leadership competences (result-oriented, cognitive, interpersonal) in the context of tourism firms in Vietnam during COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach - Quantitative approach and survey questionnaire were applied to collect data from managerial executives working at different tourism establishments in Vietnam. A total of 638 responses were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. Findings - The findings revealed that all three leadership competencies affected almost all factors of business innovation. However, leaders' interpersonal competence was not related to process innovation and leaders' result-oriented competence was not associated with organizational innovation. Furthermore, leaders' result-oriented competence, product innovation, and process innovationwere found to directly enhance organizational performance. Practical implications - This study proposed some suggestions for tourism leaders in exhibiting appropriate leadership competences and fostering business innovation to drive their firms towards superior performance. Originality/value - Achieving high performance is always a priority goal of many firms;therefore, several attempted have been made to address several factors affecting organizational performance. This study provides a more nuanced picture of the relationships between the leadership competences, business innovation, and high performance of tourism firms.
ABSTRACT
The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations to close or even shut down temporarily. In the literature, previous attempts have pointed to the role of leaders and learning in supporting firms to innovate and overcome such harsh and turbulent situations. This study investigates how different leadership personality traits affect business innovation both directly and indirectly through organizational learning. A total of 638 samples were collected from leaders working at tourism firms in Vietnam and analyzed using a quantitative approach and the partial least squares-SEM technique. The findings revealed that leadership personality traits, such as core self-evaluation, narcissism, the need for achievement, and risk propensity, have direct or indirect effects on business innovation. Moreover, knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, and knowledge interpretation are three organizational learning subprocesses that play mediating roles in the relationship between leadership traits and business innovation. Based on these findings, this study makes recommendations for tourism businesses to recover and develop sustainably following the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The innovative development of the economy is closely connected with its digitalization. The modernization of technological cycles makes it necessary to turn to new business methods and modernize existing business models. One of the factors contributing to the IT development was the Coronavirus pandemic in 2019–2020. When the restrictions were adopted, there was a massive transition to the digital environment. The positive attitude to digital changes has increased significantly, in particular in the Russian Federation, companies have realized advantages of the digital transformation. In the course of the study, the authors analyzed publications of domestic and foreign authors, as well as popular media on the topic of digitalization of the economy in a changing external environment. The main purpose of the study was to consider the Industry 4.0 technology for the digital transformation of the economy and the modernization of business models. It was concluded that the main obstacles to successful digital transformation are the human factor, outdated IT systems, as well as the lack of knowledge and habits of the population in the area. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The article discusses current digitalization trends from the perspective of business innovation management, the relevance of which has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationship between the innovative and digital profile indicators and the level of entrepreneurship development is analysed and substantiated based on the world and European experience in general and Azerbaijan in particular. The study's main goal is empirical confirmation, formalization, and evaluation of digitalization's impact on entrepreneurship development in Azerbaijan, some European and Asian countries to improve public policy in the areas under study. For achieving the study goals, scientific methods of statistical, analytical, graphical, correlation and regression analysis, and economic and mathematical modelling using Excel and Stata software products were applied. The information base of the study is formed from scientific papers and publications in the field of innovation management, digital economy, and entrepreneurship, as well as World Bank data for a sample of 14 countries in Europe and Asia (Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, and Ukraine) for 2006-2020. The author characterized trends in the total number of new firms, the overall density of business and the density of new business in the countries included in the sample, and indicators of the relative cost of procedures and the time to start a business in the studied countries. Particular attention is paid to the export and import of ICT goods, communication and computer services. A panel data regression model with fixed effects has been built to determine the influence of digitalization parameters on the business sector's development parameters. Evaluating the impact of digitalization on entrepreneurship development in Azerbaijan and other European and Asian countries could be useful to scientists, researchers, public authorities and local governments, business structures, and entrepreneurs.
ABSTRACT
International markets and digital technologies are considered among the factors affecting business innovation. The emergence and deployment of digital technologies in emerging markets increase the innovation potential in businesses. Companies with an entrepreneurial orientation also strengthen their innovation capabilities. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of international markets and new digital technologies on business innovation in emerging markets, and to estimate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on this relationship. The present research was applied research in terms of aim and descriptive survey in terms of data collection method and quantitative in terms of the type of collected data. A standard questionnaire was to collect data. The study’s statistical population consisted of all companies providing business services in Tehran, Iran. To analyse the data, the structural equation modelling method with partial least squares method and Smart PLS-3 Software was used. The results revealed that international markets and digital technologies are positively associated with innovation. They also revealed that when a company’s entrepreneurial orientation increases, the digital technologies and international markets will be more involved in mutual relationships.
ABSTRACT
Humans are living longer than ever before, and people above 65 are the fastest growing age group in the world. However, while technological progress, the proliferation of the internet and business innovation – among other factors – have inspired other age groups to increasingly adopt e-commerce, this has not been the case for elderly people, particularly those in Russia. This paper is a literature review examining the existing literature on the challenges elderly people face in buying and selling goods and services online. It connects existing data on the consumption patterns in Russia with the leading theories on consumer behaviour, and narrows it down to contemporary research on the elderly. Among other factors, this paper found that Russian elderly consumers and small entrepreneurs continue to prefer brick-and-mortar companies to e-commerce. Difficulty with verifying a product’s quality, problems with navigating complex websites, a fear of making financial transactions online, and a fear of receiving counterfeit products are some of the main factors contributing to this. Furthermore, this paper also found that companies currently fail to target elderly customers compared to other market segments, thereby failing to make their online platforms responsive to the specific needs of the elderly. However, there remains a significant gap in existing literature on the consumer behaviour of elderly people in e-commerce. And research specific to Russian elderly entrepreneurs remains limited. Moreover, leading theories on consumer behaviour are also less relevant to elderly consumers in a digital age. This presents additional opportunities for further research. The current COVID-19 pandemic which has disproportionately affected older people has placed a greater urgency on this research. Therefore, the outcome will be relevant to policy makers and political leaders worried about reducing the fatality rate of the pandemic while boosting economic growth, and for businesses trying to innovate web-platforms to increase turnover. It will also be a crucial contribution to the existing literature on elderly consumer and entrepreneurial behaviour.