Gerhard Plaschka

Emerging Structures in Entrepreneurship Education: Curricular Designs and Strategies

Analyzes the history of entrepreneurship education and presents frameworks for the development of entrepreneurship education courses and programs. In evaluating whether entrepreneurship has become an established discipline, the following areas are considered: systematic theory and an established body of literature; authority, professional associations, and communication sanction; ethical codes and culture; and career opportunities for graduates. At the time of this study, there were at least 12 academic journals and 20 annual conferences focused on entrepreneurship. In addition career opportunities included positions with newly established firms or as entrepreneurial executives with established firms. While entrepreneurship was recognized as a discipline and a career, business and management education was slow to react. Entrepreneurship education has developed along two dimensions: the absolute number of entrepreneurship courses and the degree of integration of the entrepreneurship courses. Using these dimensions, two frameworks are presented. The first framework, a matrix of these two dimensions, identifies four optimal combinations. The second framework is built upon two paths: stages of transition in a firm and a functional approach. As entrepreneurship programs are developed, multiple alternative structures and learning mechanisms are needed to meet the needs of a variety of individuals. (SRD)

Supplier-Switching Inertia and Competitive Asymmetry: A Demand-Side Perspective

Building on strategic management, operations strategy, and supplier management literatures, this article presents a framework for supplier selection from the demand-side perspective. We highlight the role of a purchasing firms switching inertia in the supplier-selection process and demonstrate the usefulness of our framework for the industrial automation industry. Empirical data for this study was collected from 171 corporate and plant-level executives in pharmaceutical, chemical, and paper-and-pulp manufacturing industries in the United States. A series of Web-based individually customized discrete choice experiments asked the respondents to either switch to the new supplier or stay with the existing supplier. Based on the results of these experiments, we demonstrate the existence of switching inertia in the supplier-selection process and discuss the managerial implications for incumbent and challenger supplier firms.

Safeguarding Your Customers: The Guest's View of Hotel Security

A study of 930 hotel guests found relatively high acceptance of certain security measures, along with a willingness to pay extra for some of them. In particular, respondents were favorable to security cameras and requiring photo identification, and they would support having a first-aid kit in every hotel room. Study participants were mixed on more intrusive security efforts, such as metal detectors, visible security guards, and background checks of guests to see whether they have police records. Respondents younger than forty were both more likely to accept stringent security measures and more willing to pay for them. Women were also more supportive of strong security measures than were men, particularly men who are frequent travelers.

The art and science of customer-choice modeling Reflections, advances, and managerial implications

Customer-choice models continue to improve, allowing hospitality companies to do an ever-improving job of dialing-in customer benefits for more profitable and sustainable operation.

Predicting customer choice in services using discrete choice analysis

This paper presents an overview of the science and art of discrete choice modeling for service sector applications. With the ongoing momentum of service science, management, and engineering, the discrete choice modeling approach provides a sophisticated tool kit for assessing the needs and preferences of service customers. We provide directions for designing and executing discrete choice studies for services and discuss several examples for a number of industries including health care, financial services, retail, hospitality, and online services. We conclude with a discussion of the many managerial implications of the discrete choice approach.

Customer-choice Modeling Reflections, Advances, and Managerial Implications

Customer-choice models continue to improve, allowing hospitality companies to do an ever-improving job of dialing-in customer benefits for more profitable and sustainable operation.Customer-choice models continue to improve, allowing hospitality companies to do an ever-improving job of dialing-in customer benefits for more profitable and sustainable operation.

Planning behaviour of successful and non successful founders of new ventures

A business plan is often considered as a critical success factor for a new venture. A literature review offers that the extent of planning derived from suggested business plan structures differs widely. Situation specific requirements of the extent of planning needed are rarely found. Most of the literature seems to be prescriptive in an unfounded manner. An empirical study comparing successful and non-successful founders of new ventures reveals that not the extent of planning but the quality of planning is a critical factor. The ability to separate essentials from matters of secondary importance and to concentrate on key elements of the foundation and early start-up phase are related to successful founders.

Understanding Customer Choices

© 2002, CORNELL UNIVERSITY We know that hospitality customers usually make purchases by simultaneously evaluating several criteria. A typical buying decision might take into account service quality, delivery speed, price, and any special buying incentives, for instance. It is imperative that businesses take into account customer preferences and choices when making decisions regarding product and service attributes. Managers need to understand how customers integrate, value, and trade off different product and service attributes. By the same token, information about customer demands and preferences must be incorporated into the design and day-to-day management of service-delivery processes. In this paper we describe a particularly effective way to determine those customer preferences and to assess the tradeoffs that customers make in considering various product and service bundles. The methodology we describe is discretechoice analysis (DCA). After explaining DCA, we provide guidelines for incorporating customer-preference information into the design and management of business processes. The DCA approach provides a robust and systematic way to identify the implied relative weights and attribute trade-offs revealed by decision makers’ choices (whether customers or managers). To be sure, DCA is not the only approach that has been used to understand and model consumer decision making, but it has proved particularly valuable in many hundreds of applications since its introduction by Daniel L. McFadden Understanding Customer Choices: