EXPERT Insight
Turning Pressure Into Possibility
Berrone, Pascual
By studying polluting industries in the United States, the author discovers a better way of engaging with the growing green movement. Managers need to take a hybrid approach: paying attention to external influences, while also looking inside the company’s own resources for inspiration. This powerful combination grants social legitimacy, affects company performance and will set you apart from the rest.
A New Framework for Marketing
Quelch, John A.; Jocz, Katherine E.
The erosion of public trust in politics is partly due to some bad practices for which marketing is frequently blamed. By exposing the principles underlying good marketing, the authors show how managers can practice marketing that benefits consumers and social institutions. Doing so could go a long way toward restoring a sense of citizenship and also help democracy flourish in the process.
Waits and Measures
Bitran, Gabriel; Ferrer, Juan Carlos; Rocha e Oliveira, Paulo
Managers worry that their customers will perceive waiting as an annoyance, but simply reducing the wait time may not be the answer. Indeed, as the authors argue, that's an outdated solution less relevant for today's new breed of customer. Using research that blends behavioral psychology and traditional marketing principles with operations, the authors propose a new framework to help businesses make better decisions about wait management. They offer six implementable ideas to improve the service encounter, which will greatly impact customer satisfaction and ultimately profitability. Stop watching the clock, they say, and start asking, "How can I best manage my customers' time with me?"
Competencies Every Entrepreneur Should Develop
Prats Moreno, Mª Julia; Agulles, Remei
While it is widely assumed that entrepreneurs need business competencies like industry analysis, negotiating skills and resource management, other competencies such as interpersonal skills and self-leadership are all too often overlooked. Yet such competencies play a vital role in entrepreneurship - indeed they are a prerequisite for mobilizing the other capabilities and putting them to work in the various contexts in which entrepreneurship takes place. The authors debunk the notion of the entrepreneur as a natural-born genius with one-of-a-kind gifts. Instead, they propose a proper framework for classifying entrepreneurial competencies, which they say can be learned and developed through specific techniques and habits.