Kimberly Eddleston

Psychological contract and social exchange in family firms

This study tests a social exchange theory model that links firm family members transactional and relational psychological contract obligations to firm performance. Evidence supports the hypotheses that organisational obligations are antecedents of individual contributions to firm performance in the psychological contract model. When family firms meet the employees perceived obligations to their employees, the employees meet their perceived obligations to their employers. Participative decision-making and succession planning are of particular importance to maintain transgenerational control and evidence is found to support succession planning as fully mediating the relationship between participative decision-making and firm performance.

Retooling Products to Reach New Markets: The Lindt Candy Dilemma

The purpose of this exercise is to help entrepreneurship students understand the importance of retooling products to reach new markets. In this exercise students are required to generate and then evaluate product ideas based on Lindt’s already successful Lindor chocolate truffle ball. Students must then develop a total product offering for their retooled product, including branding, packaging and promotion strategies. This exercise has been successfully used with undergraduate, graduate and executive students in the U.S. and abroad. It is well-suited for the following topics: retooled/platform products, creativity, developing a total product offering, and product strategy. Introduction Entrepreneurial businesses live and die according to the quality of their ideas. Whenever possible entrepreneurs should consider retooling existing products and creating product platforms because they provide opportunities to leverage current product technologies into new markets and facilitate a reduction in cost of goods for product lines. By creating retooled products entrepreneurs can expand into new markets, which is essential for longterm growth. In addition, creating an effective total product offering for the retooled product is essential to achieve market success. Failure to understand product strategy options and the compatibility of the total product offering with the product can lead to ineffectiveness and conflict in the entrepreneur’s marketing effort. Therefore, it is important that nascent entrepreneurs learn how to effectively retool products and create a complimentary total product offering since both significantly contribute to an entrepreneurial firm’s survival and growth.

Real-Life Drama: Creating a TV Series Based on a Family Business

The purpose of this class project is to help family business students understand the complexities of family business management by requiring them to integrate multiple principles and lessons and to describe how they would be identified in a family business. Students are required to pitch a television series based on a family business, with the series centering on three to five family business principles and lessons. The pitch must also depict the family tree and thoroughly describe how the family business principles and lessons will be depicted in the television series. Students are required to create a short video clip that depicts at least one of the principles/lessons. This exercise has been successfully used with undergraduate and graduate students.

'Femgineer' Aims to Empower Technology Specialists

Poornima Vijayashanker is the founder of Femgineer, an educational business that empowers forward-thinking techies of all backgrounds and promotes inclusiveness in the high-tech industry. She was also one of the founders of the budgeting site Mint.com and later started Bizeebee, a company that provides software that helps membership-oriented businesses like fitness studios manage customer information. In this interview with EIXs Kim Eddleston, Vijayashanker talks about her first childhood entrepreneurial experience selling popcorn door to door; how she gave up a steady paycheck to turn Femgineer from a blog into a thriving business; and about why entrepreneurs must be open to coaching.