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Editorial: Paradoxes of diversity, equity and inclusion: from the lab to the social field
No full textContemporary societies strive for multiculturalism and tolerance. To create conditions to reach this ideal, there should be a continuum between what the social actors are prepared for in school, the practices they encounter in the workplace, and the way they are welcomed (Roberson and Scott, 2024) and can contribute to the broader society. This continuum should be materialized in consistent conceptualizations and practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across educational, organizational, and societal contexts. However, what we see in practice (Post et al., 2021; Roberson, 2019) is fragmentation instead of continuum and consistency in focus and definition, with little dialogue between research and policy implementation and between research in educational and organizational environments. Inclusive education practices focus on students with special needs, with broader definitions of diversity being neglected. In organizations, the emphasis is mainly on diversity, inclusion and equity being more recent Research Topics and practices. Research conducted at the societal level addresses the comprehensive ideologies underlying diversity and inclusion (Konadu-Osei et al., 2023). This insufficient conceptualization within and across domains gives rise to the many paradoxes we see in the research and praxis of DEI
Rising star monitor. Ten years of exponential growth. Results 2023
No full textPromising tech start-ups adopt a global market approach from the outset. They also typically have a business model that is easily replicable internationally. Furthermore, they are characterised by greater financial scalability. And finally, they invest more in their growth - and they show a greater appetite for risk compared to similar companies in terms of age, sector, size, and location. This is according to a study by Vlerick Business School and Deloitte that takes stock of 10 years of the Rising Star Competition, an annual list of the most promising technology companies in Belgium. The study examines what makes these companies so unique and how these Rising Stars evolve in the years after they enter the competition
Getting the job done: Nowjobs an industry disruptor?
No full textThis case describes how House of HR, an international HR services group, dealt with turbulence in the European human resource and employment services market. This case study shows how established firms can respond to such turbulence by building a new business model outside their core market. It shows the challenges during the various phases of the creation of this new business model - from the idea's inception of the idea to the formation of the new team, and then to the launch of the new concept, the scaling of the venture and the international expansion phase. Although the new venture has experienced a healthy start and has been very successful since then, significant questions remain. One of those questions is how much freedom to give to the new unit and how to shape the growth path of the new business
An exact decomposition technique for the deadline-constrained discrete time/cost trade-off problem with discounted cash flows
No full textA DTCTP-NPV model is adapted to align with real-world payments and deadlines. The GBD algorithm is used for complex mixed integer nonlinear programming. Three innovative feasibility cuts are introduced for faster convergence. Extensive benchmarking and experiments show the algorithm’s superior efficiency. A comprehensive online dataset with solutions is created to aid further research.This paper addresses the deadline-constrained discrete time/cost trade-off problem with discounted cash flows in project scheduling optimization. Our objective is to optimize the net present value (NPV) of cash flows by selecting execution modes for activities while considering project deadlines. To address this problem, we propose an adapted model that combines the activity-on-node representation of the project network with the milestone activity payment system commonly used in real-world scenarios. This enhanced model accurately depicts project dynamics, enabling improved decision-making in NPV optimization. To solve the problem, we employ the generalized benders decomposition technique, which provides an exact solution approach to handle the computational complexity of the problem. Our approach introduces three types of feasibility cuts. The first type eliminates infeasible solutions by analyzing subproblem infeasibility. The second type enhances the generation of high-quality optimality cuts by iteratively introducing constraints to the master problem, utilizing dominated paths in the project network graph. Lastly, the third type targets the elimination of inferior infeasible solutions. Additionally, we generate a comprehensive dataset encompassing various scenarios and parameter ranges from existing literature. This dataset serves as a valuable resource for further research, with online accessibility and the latest solutions available for approximately 32,400 generated instances. Through our research, we demonstrate the superiority of our proposed solution procedure compared to existing methods in the field. By considering the specific requirements of project scheduling with NPV optimization and project deadlines, our approach contributes to more effective project planning and decision-making in real-world contexts
Unanswered questions in entrepreneurial finance
No full textWhile the academic literature on entrepreneurial finance has expanded exponentially, many gaps in our knowledge remain. This is driven by digitalization impacting the development of new investment types such as crowdfunding and ICO, the emergence of new investors based upon digital technologies, and the functioning of existing investors. Next, the supply of entrepreneurial finance has become more diverse and new types of investors developed, like incubators and accelerators, family funds, impact investors, or sovereign wealth funds. This increases the sources and type of funding new ventures can get access to. Third, investors pay increasingly attention to non-financial goals like providing solutions to environmental or societal challenges. This paper explores these trends and suggests avenues for future research
From analytics to empathy and creativity: Charting the AI revolution in marketing practice and education
No full textThe rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly demands an understanding of its impact on marketing practice and education. Our hybrid literature review synthesizes 312 peer-reviewed articles on AI in marketing and consumer behavior, using scientometrics and the TCCM (Theory, Context, Characteristics, Methodology) framework. We identify five research areas: human–AI interaction in services, natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision for consumer insights, AI for e-commerce and decision support, marketing automation and creativity, and AI ethics. AI’s evolution is marked by a transition from analytical to empathetic and intuitive technologies like affective computing and generative AI. We highlight the changing dynamics between humans and AI, AI integration in marketing practices and education, and the transformed AI-enhanced marketing workplace. We underscore the significance of ethical considerations, the well-being of users, and the integration of generative AI tools. This review provides a comprehensive guide for forthcoming research, practical applications, and educational advancements in AI-enhanced marketing
Same owner, different impact: How responses to performance feedback differ across a private equity investor’s portfolio firms
No full textResearch Summary Private equity (PE) investors invest in a portfolio of firms, setting new, ambitious performance aspirations and providing monitoring and value-adding services to help management attain these aspirations. Integrating a behavioral theory of the firm and corporate governance perspective, this study investigates how portfolio firms respond to performance feedback, considering heterogeneity in PE investors' incentives and influence toward a given portfolio firm's strategic actions. Using unique data from a PE investor including direct aspirations measures, we find that (1) portfolio firms' performance relative to aspirations, and (2) the PE investor's relative investment amounts and experience of PE-appointed board members, interact to affect the distinct growth strategies (i.e., internal capital investments or external acquisitions) its portfolio firms pursue. Managerial Summary A PE investor may guide its portfolio firms differently. Incentives to intervene should be larger in case of larger investments, and influence should be more extensive in case of more senior PE board representatives. In this study, we examine how a PE investor's varying incentives and influence affect how PE-backed firms strategically react to underperformance and overperformance. We find that a PE investor pushes for capital investments but deters acquisitions as performance shortfalls increase in a portfolio firm, when they have made larger investments and appointed more senior board members. In case of overperformance, a PE investor pushes toward acquisitions (and against capital investments) when they have invested more. Surprisingly, the opposite holds in case of more senior board members
A genetic algorithm for the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with Alternative Subgraphs using a boolean satisfiability solver
No full textBoolean satisfiability solver is used to schedule projects with alternative subgraphs.
Clauses are proposed and illustrated for two key problem features (linked and nested).
Proposed solution approach is competitive with existing benchmark procedures.
Rules-of-thumb are presented to fix alternatives in order to reduced the complexity.
Learning has significant improvement potential for complex alternative subgraphs.This study evaluates a new solution approach for the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling with Alternative Subgraphs (RCPSP-AS) in case that complex relations (i.e. nested and linked alternatives) are considered. In the RCPSP-AS, the project activity structure is extended with alternative activity sequences. This implies that only a subset of all activities should be scheduled, which corresponds with a set of activities in the project network that model an alternative execution mode for a work package. Since only the selected activities should be scheduled, the RCPSP-AS comes down to a traditional RCPSP problem when the selection subproblem is solved. It is known that the RCPSP and, hence, its extension to the RCPSP-AS is NP-hard. Since similar scheduling and selection subproblems have already been successfully solved by satisfiability (SAT) solvers in the existing literature, we aim to test the performance of a GA-SAT approach that is derived from the literature and adjusted to be able to deal with the problem-specific constraints of the RCPSP-AS. Computational results on small- and large-scale instances (both artificial and empirical) show that the algorithm can compete with existing metaheuristic algorithms from the literature. Also, the performance is compared with an exact mathematical solver and learning behaviour is observed and analysed. This research again validates the broad applicability of SAT solvers as well as the need to search for better and more suited algorithms for the RCPSP-AS and its extensions.This work was supported by the Fonds of Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO), Belgium under Grant No. 12A4222N
Are Consumers Equally Willing to Pay More for Brands That Aim for Sustainability, Positive Societal Contribution, and Inclusivity as for Brands That Are Perceived as Exclusive? Generational, Gender, and Country Differences
No full textThis study explores consumer preferences for brands that emphasize sustainability and inclusivity, and for brands perceived as exclusive and trendy. Consumer data obtained via a large-scale survey involving 24,798 participants across 20 countries and one special administrative region (SAR) are used to understand how willingness to pay (WTP) for these brand types varies globally, accounting for demographic factors like generation, gender, and country. A substantial body of literature highlights growing consumer interest in brands that stand for sustainability and inclusivity, challenging traditional notions that luxury and exclusivity primarily drive brand value. Despite persistent skepticism among some business executives about consumers’ actual versus claimed willingness to spend more for sustainable and inclusive brands, academics and commercial researchers increasingly signal a shift in purchasing behavior that is influenced by socio-ecological factors. This research aims to provide empirical data on consumer WTP across different demographics and countries/regions, thereby contributing to academic discussions and offering insights for managerial decision making. The study frames its investigation around four research questions, to explore how consumers’ WTP for exclusive and inclusive brands varies across generations, genders, and countries/regions. It employs a robust methodological approach, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. This ensures that the constructs of brand inclusiveness and exclusivity are comparable across diverse cultural contexts. Significant gender, generational, and country/region differences are observed. When comparing generations, the findings indicate that GenZ consumers have a higher WTP for sustainable/inclusive brands (compared to older, GenX, and Baby Boomer generations). Similar patterns are found when considering WTP for exclusive, on-trend brands. In terms of gender, women are observed to have a higher WTP for sustainable/inclusive brands, but a lower WTP for exclusive, on-trend brands compared to men. Finally, compared to consumers originating from certain European countries, we find that consumers living in certain Asian countries/regions have a significantly higher WTP for inclusive and sustainable brands, as well as for exclusive/on-trend brands. The study underscores the complexities of consumer behavior in the global market, highlighting the coexistence of traditional preferences for exclusive, trendy brands and preferences for brands that embrace sustainability and inclusivity