Helge Löbler

Learning entrepreneurship from a constructivist perspective

Abstract The aim of this article is to present a learning theory (constructivist theory) that supports and explains a lot of the requested changes in entrepreneurship education. It also explains how entrepreneurs learn and serves as a basis for designing entrepreneurship programs. If we look at the ‘skills’ and competencies of entrepreneurs from a constructivists perspective we find most of them by observing children under the age of five or six: they are motivated to learn, they are interested in a variety of different topics, they ask excellent questions, they try many things to get insights, they are creative, they are impatient. In short, they create and govern their own learning process, which is open for any content, style, goal, experience, etc., and allows them to take every opportunity to answer the question in concern. In this sense it is similar to the entrepreneurial process where the entrepreneur tries everything and is ready to learn what is needed to be successful.

Theorizing about resource integration through service-dominant logic

Resource integration, as it relates to value creation, has recently been a key aspect of the discussions about service-dominant (S-D) logic. However, the majority of research pays relatively little explicit attention to the process of theorizing and the epistomological and ontological assumptions upon which the theorizing process is based. This article addresses these issues. The processes that relate to theorizing and developing strong theory are discussed. We then examine how to conceptualize ‘resources’ and ‘resource integration’ following differing ontological and epistemological assumptions that guide the theorizing process. Research recommendations to help navigate through the finer details underlying the theorizing process and to advance a general theory of resource integration are developed.

Position and potential of service-dominant logic - Evaluated in an ‘ism’ frame for further development

This work offers a framework for researchers by linking service-dominant (S-D) logic to an intersubjective stream of philosophy of science. Service-dominant logic has resonated in marketing, but no existing research has attempted to link S-D logic with basic meta-theory to provide a framework. Since the range of philosophies of science (isms) referred to in the marketing literature is broad, varying from ‘realism’ to ‘relativism’, from ‘positivism’ to ‘constructivism’ and from ‘structuralism’ to ‘post-structuralism/postmodernism’, first the different isms are grouped into four main groups/streams and then S-D logic is analyzed and classified according to these streams. The four streams are: object-orientation (realism, positivism, empiricism, and so on); subject orientation (constructivism, interpretivism, and so forth); intersubjective orientation (social constructionism, pancritical rationalism, methodological constructivism, and so on); and sign orientation (post-structuralism, postmodernism, and variations). S-D logic is mainly underpinned by an intersubjective orientation and has a huge potential for further development both in and for marketing if seen from a sign-orientated, post-structural perspective and linked to the theory of practices.

Service‐dominant networks

Purpose – This article seeks to advance a novel service network perspective, based on the service‐dominant logic, designated as service‐dominant networks (SDN).Design/methodology/approach – Service‐dominant logic components serve to build and describe SDN. Specifically, resources and actors are key components, combined with activities and the process by which they become resources. A case study details the features of SDNs.Findings – Service‐dominant networks exhibit unique, previously unaddressed features. According to the service‐dominant logic, components only become resources when they are integrated; thus, they disappear as resources after their integration, which means SDNs are fugacious: they (be‐)come and go. In addition, SDNs comprise one or more main intended activities that explain their existence, though these intended activities do not necessarily initiate any particular SDN. Rather, other critical incidents can initiate SDNs.Research limitations/implications – The features of SDNs proposed i...

Measuring Value-in-Context from a Service-Dominant Logic’s Perspective

Purpose – Service-dominant logic (S-D logic) has conceptualized value as value-in-context where context is defined as a “set of unique actors with unique reciprocal links among them” (Chandler & Vargo, 2011, p. 40). The chapter proposes a means of measuring value-in-context as experienced by an actor while integrating resources, called the ValConRIA model (value-in-context of resource integrating activities).Design/methodology/approach – Value emerges from experiencing interactions in a service-for-service exchange. The actor perceives value as emerging with his activities and hence experiences the emerging value as connected to either his activities or the items supporting his activities or the people he is interacting with. We call these realms of experience the I (–Me) realm, the I–It and It–I realm, and the I–You and You–I realm, composing five dimensions. An exploratory principal component analysis supports this structure. The measurement process has been tested for reliability and validity and applied to different activities: using a laptop, using cigarettes (=smoking), using a smartphone, and using Facebook.Findings – According to where the actor mostly experiences the value emergence, five dimensions of value-in-context have been identified using principal component analysis. The measurement scale shows high construct reliability and discriminant validity.Implications – Being able to measure value-in-context as proposed by S-D logic brings S-D logic into practice. Practitioners can use the measurement process to identify value their customers co-create. The proposed means of measuring value-in-context does not measure the value of things but instead values as it emerges from an actor’s activities, exchanging service for service.Value/originality – To our knowledge this chapter is the first to propose a means of measuring value-in-context, which is based on S-D logic.

Markenführung und Werbung

Werbung spielt in der Markenpolitik eine grose Rolle. Allerdings kann festgehalten werden, dass Werbung alleine noch keine Marke macht. Denn das, was in der Werbung versprochen wird, muss schlieslich und endlich durch eine Leistung beziehungsweise ein Produkt gehalten werden. Umgekehrt gibt es sogar Leistungen, die ohne Werbung zu Marken geworden sind: z.B. Google, Starbucks und Body Shop.

Optimal compensation rules for integrated services

Research on service compensation is rare. In this article we examine different compensation rules for integrated services (IS) which are produced jointly by a service provider and his client. Examples are consulting, advertising or management training. We distinguish three different compensation rules and compare them with joint profit maximization where both, service provider and client act as one organizational unit. The compensation rules are (1) the input based compensation (IBC) characterized by a compensation that is based on work hours or work days, (2) the sales based compensation (SBC) with the compensation based on client’s sales and (3) the profit based compensation (PBC) with compensation based on client’s profits. We can show that under reasonable, realistic conditions the IBC (surprisingly) leads to better results for the service provider and for the client as compared to the PBC and the SBC.

Social Attribution of Value – the Case of Electronic Engagement Platforms

In literature and especially in Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, value is seen as being “uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary” (Vargo/Lusch 2016: 8). However, to evaluate the value of the experiences made, the beneficiaries need a reference to which such experiences can be related. According to goal theory, value is dependent on the goals of a beneficiary as it stems from the contribution of things, processes, or behaviors to an individual’s goal achievement in use situations (Bagozzi 1997; Barsalou 1991; Gutman 1982; Peterman 1997).

The Regulative Idea of Recursive Operations: A Second-Order Cybernetic Approach to Responsibility

Drawing on a cybernetic understanding of systems, this paper introduces the broader notion of “second order responsibility” and distinguishes it from a traditional model of responsibility, which, in terms of cybernetics, can be described as “first order responsibility.” We regard this concept as being capable of addressing major shortcomings related to the standard concept of individual responsibility without retreating to a rejectionist position, which dismisses the concept of responsibility in modern society at all. Instead of ascribing responsibility to actors, and analyzing it in terms of actors, actions and consequences—which is becoming more and more difficult in light of interdependent and increasingly competitive interactions in modern societies—we propose a perspective that applies responsibility to responsibility itself, i.e. to the process of negotiating the norm of ascribing responsibilities, which, a priori, cannot be taken as universally given in a pluralistic, modern society.

Anpassung von Exportpreisen bei Wechselkursänderungen

ZusammenfassungDer vorliegende Beitrag untersucht den Einfluss von Wechselkursänderungen auf Exportpreise. Dabei werden verschiedene Preisstrategien, nämlich das ‘pricing to market’, das ‘pass through’ und Gleichgewichtspreise, miteinander verglichen. Es werden zwei Typen von Preis-Absatzfunktionen diskutiert, einmal linear und einmal multiplikativ. Es zeigt sich, dass die Strategie der Preisführerschaft auf der Basis von Stackelberg-Preisen eine dominierende Strategie ist, die darüber hinaus zu einem einfachen Anpassungsverhalten der Preise an die Wechselkursänderungen führt. Diese Ergebnisse werden empirisch überprüft.SummaryThe article examines the impact of exchange rate changes on international pricing by comparing different pricing strategies such as the ‘pricing to market’, the ‘pass through’ and the ‘equilibrium pricing’ strategy. The article discusses two types of price-demand functions: the linear and the multiplicative price-demand function. As a result, the price leader strategy based on Stackelberg prices emerges as the dominant strategy, which moreover leads to an easy adaptation process of prices towards exchange rate changes. These results are proven empirically.