The current turbulent times call for adaptability, especially in non-repetitive endeavours being a vital characteristic of project management. The research organized along five objectives commenced in the autumn of 2008 with a pilot study. Then it proceeded through an inductive research process, involving a series of interviews with well-recognized international experts in the field. In addition conceptualized long-running observation of forty-five days was used, before proposal of a new framework for improving the accuracy of estimates in project management. Furthermore, the framework’s “know-how to apply” description have been systematically reviewed through the course of four hundred twenty-five days of meetings. This achieved socially agreed understanding assured that it may be possible to improve accuracy of estimates, while having flexible, adaptable framework exploiting dependency between project context and conditioned by it, use of tools and techniques.

Despite the robust evidence for the direct relationship between organisational culture (OC) and total quality management (TQM), the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not fully explored and have received little empirical attention. This paper extends prior TQM research in a novel way by building and then empirically testing a theoretical model that includes the mediating role of employee readiness for change dimensions (ERFCs) in the OC –TQM relationship. The paper adds value through its contextual originality in being one of the first studies that are conducted in Algeria; which has special ties with the EU geographically, politically and economically. The empirical data for this study was drawn by distributing a questionnaire to 226 middle managers of Algerian firms. Our findings support the mediating roles of two dimensions of ERFC, namely: self-efficacy (ERFC1) and personal valence (ERFC4) in the OC –TQM relationship. This indicates that the improvement in TQM implementation is not a direct consequence of supportive organisational culture but rather of self-efficacy and personal valence transferring the impact of group and adhocracy culture to TQM. To this effect, these results go beyond previous research and contribute significantly in explaining the underlying psychological mechanisms in the OC –TQM relationships model.

This article investigates the relationships between various types of educational value generated by the Markstrat simulation game. Considering several theoretical models of experiential learning and the research framework proposed by previous studies, an educational value generation model is developed and validated, using primary data collected from 305 UK-based students. Four types of educational value are identified: experience generation, conceptual understanding, skills development, and affective evaluation. The application of structural equation modelling indicates several significant relationships: experience generation has a strong impact on conceptual understanding, and both of them have medium to high direct impacts on skills development. On the other hand, the participants’ perception regarding the professional skills developed during the simulation game determines their affective evaluation of the Markstrat exercise. The model presented in this study is generalizable to other simulation games, and to other academic disciplines that implement the same experiential learning approach.

The purpose of this article is To foster entrepreneurship among students and incubate more start-ups for economic prosperity, universities around the globe are required to play a key role in terms of developing an overall conducive eco-system for student fraternity. Some previous studies have analyzed student entrepreneurship and the effect of entrepreneurship courses. However, the role of university as provider and enabler of entrepreneurial environment and its impact on entrepreneurial intent among student has not studied in a cross-cultural context. Considering this, the present study seeks to examine the critical role played by university in fostering entrepreneurial intention among post-graduate students. For the said purpose, researcher has taken the broader framework suggested by Kraaijenbrink et al. (2010) to understand university environment and Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1975) to measure entrepreneurial intention and it’s antecedents among the sample of final year post-graduate management students of India, Malaysia and Singapore. The total sample size is 1097. The data has been analysed with the help of Exploratory Factor analysis, MANOVA and Structural Equation Modeling. Two factors that emerged out of analysis in relation to university environment and support were: a) Targeted cognitive and non-cognitive support and b) General educational support. With the help of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), an attempt was made to find the relationship between these two factors and entrepreneurial intention. It was found that university environment and support has significantly positive relationship with perceived behavioural control. With the help of MANOVA, it was found that there is statistically significant difference between perceived university environment and support factors among the students of India, Singapore and Malaysia. With this, it was also found that for both the factors, the highest mean score was found among the students of Malaysia, followed by the students of Singapore and India. The study has closely examined role played by University environment and support to foster entrepreneurship among young students. The findings of the study can be used by post-graduate educational institute to design pedagogy, create enabling entrepreneurship support system and work towards becoming an entrepreneurial university.

Toy industry in the US is product driven and full of challenges. This case presents an overview of the California-based Micro Games of America (MGA) Entertainment, which is a consumer entertainment products company, engaged in innovative lines of proprietary and licensed products including toys and games, dolls, consumer electronics, home decor, stationery and sporting goods. It had more than 200 licences. In 2001, MGA launched a fashion doll called ‘Bratz’, and it sold 150 million Bratz dolls all over the world. Bratz line surpassed the legendary brand ‘Barbie’—Mattel, Inc.’s flagship brand—in a short span of time through many innovative marketing strategies and different product placement, roll-outs, tie-ins and other promotional tactics, despite facing many challenges, such as, fast-changing demographics, shorter product life cycle (PLC) and negative perceptions about brand. This case can be used to address two issues: first, structural change drivers and trends that shaped the toy industry in developed economies and, second, how to develop effective marketing strategies for product with shorter PLC in highly product-driven market?

Gambling research often refers to attitude and belief measurements to distinguish between problem and non-problem gamblers. Past studies also indicated that problem gamblers have a tendency to steeply discount rewards. We join both research streams and investigate the relationships between attitudes and beliefs on gambling addiction with the moderating effects of delay discounting using a novel methodological approach of double-hurdle model. We hereby differentiate the five subdimensions of the Gambling Attitude and Belief Scale (GABS): emotions, chasing, luck, attitudes and strategies. Findings show that emotional predispositions and chasing tendencies are positively related to the severity of online gambling addiction, independent of gamblers´ impulsivity. In contrast hereto, gambling attitudes act as inhibitor for gamblers willing to wait for some time to receive higher reward. Findings show that money-related impulsiveness influences the relationship between sub-dimensions of GABS and gambling addiction: Gambling attitudes and beliefs do not necessarily harm online gamblers but that their positive or negative relationship to addiction depends on online gamblers’ impulsivity.

With increasing use of explicit comparative advertisement to get share of consumers’ mind and influence their purchase decision in western context, the same is now used extensively in emerging markets like India. However, there has not been sufficient research to understand the effectiveness of explicit comparative advertisement in low and high-involvement product categories. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to understand the effectiveness of explicit comparative advertising on consumers’ attitude and purchase intention (PI) towards high and low-involvement products. The study carried out experimental treatments with 2 × 2 factorial design among 200 Indian young consumers who were in the age group 18-25. The independent variables were product categories and type of advertising (comparative and non-comparative) and dependent variables were consumer attitude and PIs. It was found that the comparative form of advertisement developed favourable response towards the advertisement, rather than towards the brand or PI. The study found that comparative advertising is effective for high as well as low-involvement product category in changing the consumer’s attitude towards the advertisement. The research has used print media for conducting the experiment. It can be inferred that comparisons should be supplemented with additional information in the form of the unique features and associated emotions and feeling of the product in order to develop favourable attitude towards the brand and PI. Comparative advertising is a growing domain and there has been very little contribution by the researchers specially on high and low-involvement product categories.

Flow experience has been widely investigated in experiential activities such as sports, the performing arts, gaming and Internet usage. Most studies focus on the positive aspects of flow experience and its effect on performance. In stark contrast, gambling research focusing on the negative side of addiction lacks an in-depth investigation of gamblers’ (positive) flow encounters. This separation of research lines seems out of place given that recent research indicates connections between flow and addiction. Joining both constructs in a causal effects model helps to gain a better understanding of their relationship and its contingencies. This paper empirically investigates whether and how it is possible to observe a “Janus face” of flow with its various sub-dimensions in online gambling. Empirical data was collected from 500 online gamblers by applying a structured questionnaire with established scales. The data was analyzed with a confirmatory factor analysis and a double-hurdle model to separate casual gamblers who are unsusceptible to any addiction issues from gamblers affected by initiatory addiction issues. The findings indicate that online gambling addiction is negatively influenced by two sub-dimensions of flow experience, namely a sense of control and concentration on the task at hand, while enhanced by a transformation of time and autotelic experience.

Entrepreneurship in small- and medium-sized enterprises are significant contributors to economic development. The purpose of this research is to examine the extent and motives for the use of informal training in Chinese SMEs. Using case studies, we found that informal training is widely used and generally accepted in Chinese SMEs. We also uncovered three separate categories on the motives for SMEs in adopting informal training based on the financial and time constraints they face, the perceived outcomes of training activities in terms of organisational performance, employee turnover, and the development of guanxi and positive team cohesion, as well as the attitudinal aspects of both managers and employees that influence their intentions in adopting a specific training approach. Our study contributes to the literature of HRM in Asia, and has important implications for the government and institutions in emerging countries to support entrepreneurship and SMEs.