Susan Snycerski

Implications of customer and entrepreneurial orientations for SME growth

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate how the business orientations of customer orientation (CO) (represented by responsiveness to customers) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (represented by proactiveness, innovativeness and risk‐taking) impact the growth of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative empirical approach, using structural equation modeling with the software package AMOS to analyze the results of 660 surveyed SMEs from Austria.Findings – This analysis reveals that EO is positively related to SME growth but CO shows a negative association with growth. Moreover, this analysis suggests that SMEs grow the most if they exhibit high EO and low CO.Research limitations/implications – This analysis shows that CO, interpreted as a purely responsive and reactive construct, cannot be considered a strategy that leads to sustainable SME growth. If an SME desires growth, EO is needed to fuel these growth aspirations. In spite of these findings however, thi...

Response acquisition with immediate and delayed conditioned reinforcement

Groups comprising eight rats initially were exposed to response-independent water deliveries, then to conditions under which a lever-press response raised an empty dipper immediately or after a resetting delay of 15, 30, or 45 s. When their performance was compared to that of control animals using a 90% confidence level, six rats in the immediate-reinforcement group met the primary criterion for response acquisition during a single 6-h session; 4, 4, and 3 did so in the 15, 30, and 45 s delay groups, respectively. Similar evidence of acquisition was obtained when a 95% confidence level was used. With a 99% confidence level, however, evidence of acquisition was not compelling. Although these data appear to provide the first demonstration of response acquisition in the absence of handshaping or autoshaping under conditions where the putative reinforcer is both conditioned and delayed, they also demonstrate that whether response acquisition occurs depends, in part, on how it is defined.

The Abative Effect: A New Term to Describe the Action of Antecedents that Reduce Operant Responding

Behavior-analytic terminology concerning the so-called inhibitory effect of operant antecedents lacks precision. The present paper describes the problem with current nomenclature concerning the effects of antecedent events that reduce operant responding and offers a solution to this problem. The solution consists of adopting a new term, abative, for the effect in question. This paper suggests that the new term has several advantages over terms currently used and that adopting this term will yield a variety of practical and theoretical benefits, including, but not limited to, a more consistent vocabulary to describe antecedent—behavior relations.

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) reduces operant behavior without impairing working memory in rats responding under fixed-consecutive-number schedules

The use of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a therapeutic agent and recreational drug, has increased since the late 1990s. Researchers have primarily studied GHBs neurochemical, discriminative, and reinforcing effects, but little is known about the drugs effects on learning, memory, or other complex behavioral processes. This study examined the acute and chronic effects of GHB in rats responding under fixed-consecutive-number (FCN) schedules, which assess working memory. Additionally, we examined stimulus control and response effort as modulators of GHBs effects. GHB dose-dependently reduced operant activity and response rates, but tolerance developed to these effects. GHB had no effect on accuracy or efficiency (i.e., working memory). Stimulus control and response effort did not modulate GHBs effects. These results suggest that GHB produced non-selective behavioral disruption but not working memory impairment.

MDMA and Performance Under a Progressive-Ratio Schedule of Water Delivery

This study investigated the possible motivational effects of (+-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) in water-deprived rats responding under a progressive-ratio 2 schedule of water delivery. Lower doses (1.0 and 1.8 mg/kg i.p.) had inconsistent effects on breakpoints and response rates, whereas higher doses (3.2 and 5.6 mg/kg ip) significantly decreased both response measures relative to vehicle control levels. Increasing the level of water restriction significantly increased both response measures, and decreasing restriction significantly decreased both response measures. This study found no evidence that MDMA increased the reinforcing efficacy of water, although prior findings have suggested that the drug might have such an effect. MDMA-induced changes in motor activity may account for the present results.