Successful Business Activity Research Articles

European SMEs and the Brazilian market

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the importance of networking for Italian and French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil. Business opportunities in Brazil have attracted a significant amount of interest in recent years. The country is moving towards market orientation, and it has recently experienced higher growth rates. Furthermore, upcoming events, such as the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, are attracting a significant amount of attention given the emergence of potential business opportunities in several sectors. Nevertheless, European companies wishing to enter the Brazilian market should address several constraints, including high barriers to entry, an extensive bureaucracy and a culture quite different from those in Europe. In this context, networking seems to be vital for success. Design/methodology/approach – The data were gathered through a survey undertaken between June and August 2012. After the questionnaire was prepared, each company either received and responded to the questionnaire by e-mail or participated in a telephone interview. The questionnaire included multiple choice questions, most of which used a 5-point Likert scale. Some open-ended questions were included to collect insights from respondents. Representatives of 21 Italian and 24 French SMEs agreed to participate in the survey. Respondents were typically company presidents, chief executive officers or export department managers with experience in the Brazilian market. Findings – The results highlight the importance of social networks for the SMEs interviewed. The establishment of social networks is pivotal for successful business activities in Brazil, as they can help entrants decipher and understand how society and business work. In Brazil, social networks are built through a path-dependent process that requires time, patience and perseverance, as well as an ability to overcome liabilities of sameness. In this regard, a networking process that encompasses specific activities linked to the peculiarities of Brazil is essential, even if it seems to be a second-best solution, as in the case of the QWERTY keyboard. This process, which is the main characteristic of social networking in Brazil, necessitates not only the use of the Internet and information and communications technologies but also face-to-face contacts for building reputation, legitimacy and trust. Originality/value – This paper extends the extant literature by investigating the importance of networking for Italian and French SMEs in Brazil. Brazil serves as an interesting and useful case that can deepen our knowledge about this aspect of international business. As highlighted by Jack et al. (2008) and Ruzzier et al. (2006), the knowledge and understanding of the networking process still suffers from several limitations despite the increased attention paid to this phenomenon.

The Evaluation of Needs and Expectations in Business Enterprises: The Gap between the Actual and Desired Wage

Rapidly changing and unpredictable internal and external environments effecting successful business activities are progressively influenced by satisfaction of needs and expectations of workers and security of cooperation between business companies and workers, harmony, and coordination of interest. One of the main factors motivating workers is material remuneration corresponding to their needs and expectations. On that basis, the objective of the paper is to evaluate the gap between the desired remuneration satisfying the needs and expectations of workers (considered as fair by workers) and the currently received remuneration in business companies. It would be expedient for business companies to involve employees in the process of formation of the system of remuneration for work, create possibilities for them to express their opinion about the needs and expectations that should be reflected in the elements of wage.

Evolution of Electronic and Mobile Business and Services

Mobile business and services are playing an increasingly significant role in economic activity for nations. However, one of the prerequisites for successful electronic business activity is to have practical and acceptable mechanisms to conduct electronic transactions. In this paper, the authors identify weaknesses in the mobile and electronic payments markets, namely hyper-competition that results in too much variation and lack of standards. The paper gains insights from previous works on the government and money nexus. The relationship between governments and money has continued to evolve. The current global and electronic environment now presents fresh challenges for the state, as payments extend across national jurisdictions and deal with new types of services and transactions. The paper provides the basis for developing theory to fully capture and recognise the development of mobility in an electronic and global market space and by identifying practical ways governments can support the evolving mobile payments industry.

Sustainability and Eco Practices in Tourism

Tourism is one of the greatest successful business activities in the world. Its success depends upon the success of a number of other sectors. The tourism industry doesn't manage the majority of products and experiences it sells. Tourism managers are transporting people to view natural features, cultural attractions, economic activities and lifestyles of people worldwide. Unlike other enterprises, tourism takes consumers to the product, not the products to the consumers.

The adoption of agency business activity, product innovation, and performance in Chinese technology ventures

AbstractThis study examines the roles of firm characteristics and environmental factors in the formation of interfirm alliances. Specifically, we examine the dual role of these groups of factors as inducements and opportunities for Chinese high‐technology new ventures (HTNVs) in their adoption of agency business activity, a downstream type of alliance involving marketing and distribution of the products of foreign firms. Results suggest that both internal and external factors are related to the adoption of agency business activity but the inducement and opportunity value of environmental uncertainty may be dampened by institutional support provided to HTNVs. Further, we find that successful agency business activity is positively related to new venture performance but negatively related to its product innovation efforts. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FOCUS: Ethics in Competition Morality and Competitive Advantage

Successful business activity in the market is commonly likened to evolution and the survival of the fittest, in which there is little, if any, place for ethics. The author questions various assumptions underlying this view, and suggests that competition can bring out the best as well as the worst in human character. He is a member of the Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Letters, Reading University, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AH. This paper was first presented at a Seminar on Teaching Business Ethics held at London Business School on Friday, 10 March, 1995.

Immigrant School Leavers and the Search for Work

Studies of immigrant school-leavers' opportunities have focused on England and on areas with low unemployment. A study of Glasgow's Asian school-leavers at a time of recession shows that in relation to a similarly qualified native control group the Asian boys' job opportunities are markedly inferior. Whereas a good proportion of native Glaswegians have access to the `primary labour-market' through jobs with formal training and relatively good pay and promotion prospects, Asian school-leavers are relegated to the `secondary market'. Two-thirds of the Asians at work have entered employment within the immigrant economic infrastructure itself, despite their unambiguous rejection of such jobs earlier, and many have responded by seeking more education as a remedy for their problem. Explanations of Asians' poor job-chances in terms of unrealistic aspirations and inadequate job-hunting are satisfactory only in a minority of cases. Segmentation of the labour-market analogous to the racial and class divisions of America is seen as a more viable hypothesis although it is still too early to say whether Glasgow's Asians may avoid `the Negro fate' by successful business activities and professional education.