David R. Low

Inter-relationships between innovation and market orientation in SMEs

Purpose – This study aims to explore the nature of the interactions between two strategies, innovation and market orientation. By examining the components of these constructs the paper seeks to identify key components of market orientation that are antecedent factors of the innovation performance of the firm.Design/methodology/approach – Correlation analysis was undertaken on data from a survey of 73 manufacturing firms in the Greater Western Sydney economic development zone in Australia. The data were supplemented by information obtained from the firms annual reports.Findings – Innovation was found to be positively correlated to market orientation (customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter‐functional co‐ordination) and both of these constructs were found to be positively correlated to firm performance and the degree of change in the firms competitive environment.Research limitations/implications – Possible limitations are: the low survey response rate; the nature of the sampled population;...

Attitudes of undergraduate business students toward sustainability issues

Purpose – This paper aims to report on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study of undergraduate business students’ attitudes, beliefs and perceptions concerning sustainability issues. Design/methodology/approach – To improve understanding of the potential effects of changes in the curriculum, business students enrolled during the academic year prior to a redesigned, sustainability-informed, curriculum were surveyed. Familiarity with key sustainability terms was tested using a semi-structured questionnaire applied across two campuses of James Cook University, Australia. Quantitative data were complemented by use of open-ended questions that yielded qualitative insight into a range of student knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and normative influences relating to sustainability and climate change. Findings – Findings reflect naive awareness of the potential impact of individual contributions to sustainability and environmental challenges. They reveal a tendency to regard major issues as beyond p...

The role of social marketing, marine turtles and sustainable tourism in reducing plastic pollution.

Environmental plastic pollution constitutes a significant hazard to marine turtles, human health and well-being. We describe a transdisciplinary approach to draw together findings from diverse disciplines in order to highlight key environmental pollution problems and their consequences, together with social marketing-based strategies to address the problems. The example of plastic pollution and impacts to marine turtles illustrates the severity of the problem. Wildlife tourism and sustainable tourism activity have not focussed on specific behaviours to change and have had minimal impact on subsequent human behaviour regarding environmental issues, indicating the need for new strategies. Social marketing principles offer promise, but there is a need to investigate the utility of various theoretical foundations to aid the design and implementation of interventions. We offer insight towards using sophisticated multi-method research to develop insights into behaviours and segmentation-based strategies, that can aid the identification of barriers to, and enablers of, sustained behaviour change.

Integrated marketing communications and social marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the view of integrated marketing communications (IMC) by social marketing practitioners. Specifically, the paper furthers the discussion how a symbiotic relationship between IMC and social marketing can lead to both practical improvements of health-related social marketing campaigns, as well as theoretical advancement of the IMC construct. Design/methodology/approach – Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with practitioners, the authors provide exploratory evidence for support for IMC within the social marketing community and highlight potential differences and similarities when transferring IMC from a commercial to a social context. Findings – Three main differences emerged when transferring IMC from a commercial to a social context. These include differences of customer-centric approaches between commercial and social marketing, the need to weigh out the application of IMC to the charity brand or the use of IMC at a behavioural level and, finall...

E-Novation for Competitive Advantage in Collaborative Globalization: Technologies for Emerging E-Business Strategies

The Web has metamorphosed into a powerful vehicle for the development and delivery of new, emergent products and services, creating vast implications for organizational strategies. E-Novation for Competitive Advantage in Collaborative Globalization: Technologies for Emerging E-Business Strategies highlights new business products, services, strategies, and philosophies drawn from an emerging collaborative information platform. This book explores connections between the development of new e-business technologies with users and consumers, existing and new businesses, and links to social and political visions and strategies.

Climate Change Science Versus Climate Sceptics: Is the World Really Flat?

We present a computer-based content and discourse analysis of the arguments and key messages relating to climate change, contrasting the material dispersed via the Internet versus material drawn from refereed academic journals. We find significant differences in message complexity and argument focus between climate change scientists and sceptics, with potential impacts on public attitudes and behaviour.

If we post it they will come: a small business perspective of social media marketing

The use of Web-based technologies can provide powerful opportunities to transform small business engagement with their communities and markets. However, there are few studies on the adoption of social media by small businesses to determine their levels of confidence and use of the platforms. This paper presents preliminary results of a study that explored the adoption social networking platforms, specifically Facebook, by small business in a regional context. A cross sectional empirical survey was conducted with 237 participants, each the proprietor of a regional small business (RSB) in a northern Australian region. The purpose of the study was to compare existing engagement and technology adoption theories and current practice in regional small business communities. The preliminary results indicate certain engagement dimensions are of higher importance that suggest design focus areas from the technological development perspective to potentially convert RSB Non-Facebook users (NFBU) to Facebook Users (FBU). For example, findings show the highest importance was for timely information to consumers whereas conducting competitions and discounts were of least importance to FBU and NFBU groups. There is also a high importance on consumers ability to comment, add suggestions and discussions of opinions on products or services provided by the RSB and the ability to provide recognition to customers to better harness the audience of the RSB. The outcomes of this study may inform developers of social media platforms to increase technology uptake and use.1

Foundations for Effective Sustainability Education

Universities are increasing their focus on sustainability and related issues, and the ways in which these can be effectively communicated via curricula. While many issues have significant implications for future business practices and individual lifestyles, simple communication of information will not be sufficient to change student’s attitudes, beliefs and, ultimately, behaviours. There is increasing concern regarding a number of aspects of sustainability and the disjuncture between issue-awareness and individual actions that might address sustainability challenges. The identification of key barriers to and enablers of behaviour change to reduce sustainability problems is of particular pedagogical and public policy importance. This paper investigates undergraduate students’ perceptions, attitudes and beliefs regarding sustainability. It explores perceptions of their own contributions to sustainability problems and barriers to, and enablers of, behaviour. Findings reveal naive awareness of the potential impact of, and individual contributions to, sustainability and environmental challenges. Respondents exhibited a tendency to regard major issues as ’beyond personal control’, and solutions as being the ’responsibility of others’. These perceptions are coupled with a reluctance to consider major lifestyle changes. The findings of the study have multiple uses including guiding the development and implementation of curriculum content. They will also provide the foundation for the development of intervention strategies and tactics that should be considered in order to achieve long-term positive behaviour change.