Mainstream Companies Research Articles

The Role of Equity Crowdfunding Platforms for New Venture Financing

Equity crowdfunding platforms allow only a fraction of ventures to launch campaigns. This first quantitative study of how platforms evaluate the quality of applicants uses an experimental conjoint analysis. It applies signaling theory to investigate whether patents, team experience, sales alliances, and venture capital backing result in positive evaluations by platforms. All four criteria matter; team experience matters most. The authors also randomly assign platform decision makers to evaluate firms from high-tech industries with high levels of information asymmetry and from mainstream industries. The only difference that emerges is that decision makers attach significantly greater importance to sales alliances of mainstream companies than of high-tech companies.

Trust in business alliances between mainstream and emerging companies in South Africa

This study explored perceived trust between mainstream and emerging business partner entities in South Africa. A purposive sample of 25 managers from mainstream companies (n = 7) and emerging companies (n = 18) participated in the study. The managers Q-sorted trust-related items with follow-up interviews. The Q-sort data were subjected to factor analysis to reveal clustered perceptions about trust in business partnerships. Interview data were thematically analysed to place the findings from the factor structure analysis into context. The results indicate both mainstream and emerging business partners shared six conceptions or ways of perceiving trust: sincerity-trust, values-trust, duped-trust, vigilance-trust, deceit-trust, and propensity to trust alliances. Integrity seemed to be more salient in the emerging companies. The sincerity-, values-, duped-, and vigilance-trust were manifestations of perceptions of partner integrity, revealing the centrality of honesty in defining trust in business partnerships.

Comprehensive Study and Comparison on 5G NOMA Schemes

Compared to the traditional orthogonal multiple access, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology can achieve higher spectrum efficiency and support more massive connectivity. In this paper, we conduct comprehensive study and comparison on current NOMA technologies that many mainstream companies have proposed for the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication standard. According to the characteristics of the NOMA schemes, we classify these schemes into four categories: scrambling-based NOMA, spreading-based NOMA, coding-based NOMA, and interleaving-based NOMA. We systematically summarize the transceiver block diagram of each category, and detail basic principles, key features, and transmission-reception algorithms of all NOMA schemes. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis based on average mutual information is given to evaluate the achievable sum-rate performance of the NOMA systems and their potential performance gains as compared with OMA. Comprehensive simulations are carried out for the block-error-rate performance evaluation of these NOMA schemes as well, which coincide with the theoretical analysis. By comparing the performance of these technologies, some promising schemes and directions are suggested for the future 5G NOMA development.

The Legal Nature of Cooperative Membership

Membership is one of the core structural characteristics of the cooperative form. It distinguishes cooperatives from other business forms, especially companies. Cooperative membership is often regulated in national laws; however, the question of how membership should be translated into legal rules, has been largely unexplored. This is quite unfortunate, since to fully understand the complex relation between the cooperative and its members—and the mutual purpose of the cooperative—one must study the legal nature of cooperative membership. The purpose of this article is to investigate the legal dimensions of cooperative membership and how cooperatives differ from mainstream companies. The analysis is structured so that first the distinctive normative features of cooperative membership are assessed on a general level. Next, the focus shifts to the members’ rights and obligations with the aim to provide a systematic overview regarding their justification and structure. Finally, the question of how cooperative membership should be regulated de lege ferenda, is briefly discussed. The findings of this article suggest that when translating membership into legal rules, special attention should be paid to the cooperative identity. It is particularly important to distinguish membership from shareholdership and to understand the central role of the members as user-owners of the enterprise. The purpose of the cooperative is based on member participation and without such interaction, cooperatives would ultimately lose their true identity. This article also points out several membership-related issues, which require further attention, and such studies are necessary to determine how cooperative law should be developed in the future.

When You Can't Touch a Touch Screen.

AbstractA touch screen can be an intuitive interface method for many people. Mobile phones, tablets, and tablet computer combinations have made this technology part of daily use. Touchscreen technologies are common and present unique difficulties for individuals who require alternative access methods. Dedicated augmentative and alternative communication systems continue to offer a range of access methods, but it is also important to examine existing accessibility options from mainstream companies (e.g., Microsoft [Redmond, WA], Apple [Cupertino, CA]) and how current tools can be used to allow individuals to interact with touch screen technologies. An overview of current accessibility features available on popular mainstream devices (e.g., Microsoft Surface, Apple iPad) is provided along with discussion of alternative access methods for current technologies, future research directions, and the potential impact of speech recognition, virtual reality, and augmented reality for interfacing with multiple devices.

Writing “Gamers”

In the mid-1990s, a small group of video game designers attempted to lessen gaming’s gender gap by creating software targeting girls. By 1999, however, these attempts collapsed, and video games remained a masculinized technology. To help understand why this movement failed, this article addresses the unexplored role of consumer press in defining “gamers” as male. A detailed content analysis of Nintendo Power issues published from 1994 to 1999 shows that mainstream companies largely ignored the girls’ games movement, instead targeting male audiences through player representations, sexualized female characters, magazine covers featuring men, and predominantly male authors. Given the mutually constitutive nature of representation and reality, the lack of women in consumer press then affected girls’ ability to identify as gamers and enter the gaming community. This shows that, even as gaming audiences diversify, inclusive representations are also needed to redefine gamer as more than just “male.”

You no longer control your brand

Purpose – To draw parallels between the development of brand identity by successful contemporary artists and the use by mainstream companies of social and ethical factors or product innovation to act as a focus for their brand narrative. Design/methodology/approach – Analyzes the workings of the art market and provides examples of brand development by celebrity artists. Discusses the relationships between social, cultural, and economic capital and shows how this distinction can be profitably used in the development and marketing of consumer products. Findings – Marketing ain’t what it used to be. That tightly controlled brand identity is a thing of the past. In an era dominated by social media, everyone – but everyone – can share their opinion on what your brand stands for. Supporters, detractors, activists […] like them or loathe them, you need to know how this model works if you want to grow the business. Practical implications – Shows how the development of symbolic capital can subsequently lead to financial success when marketers highlight company characteristics that appeal to their target market rather than emphasizing the profit motive. Social implications – Advocates paying less attention to “what the consumer thinks they want” and more to marketing creative concepts. Originality/value – Proposes a departure from traditional marketing theory and practices. Recommends that companies become more product-focused in order to achieve a higher rate of innovation.

Realizing marketplace opportunity

Purpose – The influence of research on decisions concerning black consumers by mainstream marketers between 1920 and 1970 is to be examined. Market opportunity analysis provides a theoretical foundation. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on examination of rare books, archival and proprietary documents housed at the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History at Duke University; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library; the Museum of Public Relations and relevant literature concerning research on black consumers. Findings – Mainstream companies were motivated to pursue black consumers on the basis of attractive consumption habits, demographic and psychographic characteristics revealed by informal and formal research available as early as the 1920s. During and after the Second World War, research on black consumers became widely available to corporate executives through the trade press, trade associations, academic literature and internal corporate efforts. White and black scholars, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals were instrumental in collecting, disseminating and interpreting information regarding African-American consumers. Research not only prompted corporate interest in the black consumer market by appealing to profit motives, but also encouraged ground-breaking change in the way that blacks were addressed and portrayed in marketing materials. Originality/value – This examination expands the literature by introducing information from materials not previously analysed which explains interest in black consumers from marketers' perspectives. Analysis indicates that economic self-interest, more so than social pressures driven by civil rights efforts, prompted mainstream marketers' interest in black consumers. At the same time, socioeconomic gains associated with civil rights advancements transformed African-Americans into an attractive consumer segment widely recognized by mainstream marketers.

Outsourcing governance: Fairtrade's message for C21 global governance

PurposeThis paper seeks to bring together ethical governance theory and empirical findings to examine the shifting nature of governance in global value chains, and the implications of this shift for mainstream companies. In particular, it aims to examine one of the more mature models of ethical value chain governance, Fairtrade, and how this is being used by business.Design/methodology/approachInformation is derived from a longitudinal study of multi‐stakeholder co‐governance in Kenya and the UK, and an analysis of the literature on similar co‐governance models.FindingsThe paper shows that mainstream companies are looking to multi‐stakeholder models not only to protect their reputation, but as a way of governing ethical dimensions of their value chains. However, rather than a form of co‐governance, it has become a way of outsourcing governance, enabling companies to strengthen their public credibility, while simultaneously transferring an especially difficult element of modern value chain governance to organizations enjoying high consumer trust. Yet, primary data suggest that these governance systems are not delivering the benefits promised, at least at the producer level.Practical implicationsBy outsourcing governance to initiatives with dubious credibility in this way, companies may seem at risk. However, the mismatch between the promise and delivery of Fairtrade does not seem to be affecting consumer confidence and, until it does, companies may continue to benefit from the halo effect of being a Fairtrade ally. But there are also opportunities for companies to use Fairtrade's weaknesses to make the value chain a better avenue for delivering ethical governance, with implications for similar co‐governance models.Originality/valueThe study draws on one of the very few pieces of longitudinal field research on the impacts of Fairtrade. It approaches Fairtrade from a governance rather than reputations perspective, and emphasizes the implications for mainstream business rather than the co‐governance movement.

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“COMPETITION is as fierce as I have ever seen it in my nearly 30 years in the business,” one scientific instrument company executive says. “Business is tight, and mainstream companies are having to...

Tobacco Research Methodology: First Things First

Over the past half century, tobacco control arguably has been America's greatest public health success story. Antismoking campaign–induced decisions to quit smoking or not to start in the first place have translated into the avoidance of more than 5 million premature smoking-related deaths. On

Starting a new team in microelectronics development---SWOT and new initiatives

This paper discusses about the critical issues that are addressed through highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) as they pertain to the UM and concludes with the depiction of new initiatives that have been undertaken in order to establish a new research team for microelectronics development. A remaining key issue is to create a secure human infrastructure. Building up a new research team with talented students and state-of-the-art facilities and establishing cooperation with different mainstream Universities and Companies have become necessary to accelerate the local IC R&D.

P2P networking comes of age

Despite its controversial reputation, peer-to-peer (P2P) networking is expected to survive the current debate which centers on illegal file sharing. P2P networks are simply to useful to be eliminated and are being used by mainstream companies such as the BBC for economic reasons. In this paper, the main attraction of these networks are enumerated. The paper also describes their various application categories which include virtual LAN, communications, data privacy, data storage, and homeland security. Finally, it discusses the conflict in QoS control requirements for the network between the P2P user and the network operator.

The challenges of benevolence: The role of indigenous actors

The history of Indigenous Australian participation within the Australian creative industries is one of extended struggle for recognition and respect. Given the struggle by Indigenous theatre practitioners to gain and claim space on Australian stages and within Australian theatre companies, the success of these struggles can seem ironic in the face of the problems facing Indigenous artists on the rehearsal room floor in productions written, directed or produced within flagship or mainstream companies. Actors in particular are in a difficult position, a position that arises from non-Indigenous Australian theatre practitioners' benevolent desire to include Indigenous voices. This article examines some causes contributing to concerns Indigenous theatre practitioners are expressing about cross-cultural theatre work. In the 1960s Oodgeroo wrote a play called The Play That Never Was 1 , an ironic title considering that it was never published and that non-Indigenous Australian theatre companies largely ignored her theatre writings. The piece parodied benevolence and protection by presenting the cross-cultural relations between Indigenous and white Australians in the form of a hospital where well-meaning administrators and medical officers carelessly torture and abuse the freedom and rights of the 'guests' in their care. It is usually presumed, or at least hoped, that Australian cross-cultural relations have progressed from this position of benevolent abuse in the forty years since that play was written.

Advertising Online Casinos: An Analysis of the Legal Rights and Risks

WITH REVENUES PEGGED at anywhere between two hundred million and two billion dollars per year, numerous mainstream companies currently accept advertising from online casinos that are most often based in jurisdictions outside the United States. Some foreign online casinos also generate their own marketing strategies inhouse. Notably, many webmasters have implemented or are considering some form of online casino affiliate program. While the legality of online gaming itself is still an open question as a result of conflicting court decisions and stalled legislation, the legal issues relating to advertising online gambling services are even more obscure. One of the reasons is that the power of the government to regulate advertising of a particular product or service is not coextensive with its ability to regulate or ban the same product or service. This article will explore the historical treatment of gambling advertising by the courts, evaluate the current regulatory climate, and suggest some possible theories for legal challenges in the future. HISTORICAL TREATMENT OF GAMBLING ADVERTISEMENTS

It's a small world:managing human resources in small businesses

It has become widely acknowledged that, during the past decade or so, large mainstream companies in the UK have adopted a new agenda for managing people. Relatively little is known about the impact of this new agenda on small businesses. The small business sector has been long regarded as the natural home for ‘bleak house’ employment relations practices typified by direct management control, poor terms and conditions, high staff turnover and little training. In March 1993, however, a large survey of 560 companies in Leicestershire revealed a surprisingly high take-up and awareness of new management ideas among small business managers. These findings are at odds with a crude ‘bleak house’ scenario. This large-scale telephone survey was then followed up with detailed case study research. This article presents and reflects upon the evidence and reformulates ideas about people management in small businesses.

The take-up of human resource management by mainstream companies: key lessons from research

Drawing upon a major British study involving over 300 interviews in fifteen case organizations from the private and public sectors, this paper draws out the essential elements of recent changes in industrial relations. In particular, it examines the significance of human resource management initiatives for the practice of industrial relations. The main thrust of the paper examines the ways, and the extent to which, mainstream organizations have transposed and absorbed concepts and practices from the highly publicized ‘lead cases’ into their own routines. The central argument has three component elements: a whole array of managerial initiatives was launched in the period covered by the research; many of the more far-reaching of these were devised and driven from outside personnel or industrial relations management; cumulatively, these initiatives have impacted on the conduct of industrial relations. A key concept which is identified and explored is that of HRM/IR ‘dualism’. This is the attempted bolting-on...

Directors in Vancouver: The New Community

As far as stage directors are concerned, the community in Vancouver is comprised of a few mainstream theatres, a couple of layers of alternative companies, and some individual artists. Among the alternative theatres are several artistic directors whose body of work has drawn a good deal of attention here. Since these directors run their own companies, and sometimes their own spaces too, they probably have more latitude in play selection than either free-lance directors or mainstream companies. The kinds of plays they choose, in turn, largely determine their role in the theatre community. Despite their broad impact on theatre locally, however, these directors are not well known outside Vancouver. This article is intended to introduce you to five of them.

Factors influencing the design of a prototype decision support application for a distributed object management project

The development of decision support systems is motivated by socio-economic demand, and the opportunities offered by new hardware and software technologies. It goes without saying that these factors mutually stimulate each other as well. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the issues influencing the design of a prototype decision support application for a distributed object management project. Emphasis is put on features that are likely to gain widespread use since backed by mainstream companies. These are the role of deep knowledge processing tools, multimedia, and objectoriented approaches.