Chapters authored
Business Plan: In or Out? A Holistic View of the Combination of Planning and Learning Processes when Evaluating Business Opportunities
Entrepreneurship is an important driver of innovation that is a critical factor to boost the competitiveness of modern economies. However, the rate of failure of start-ups tends to be quite significant. This chapter offers a new understanding of entrepreneurship inasmuch as a particular attention is given to different insights on the business plan in the creation of start-ups. In this context, we propose a broader understanding of the business plan integrating it in a holistic understanding of the business planning process. This investigation project results from the merits associated with the concomitant approach that combines planning and learning when creating new businesses. We support the adoption of this approach by developing a scheme that combines two processes that seem to be opposite. One focuses on the business planning and the other on the information collected from customers and other stakeholders. This scheme is likely to guide entrepreneurs and managers when they choose the concomitant approach that combines planning and learning over the other approaches previously studied. Furthermore, we also establish the foundation for future scientific research to develop a framework that can be used to help decrease the number of new businesses that do not survive in the market.
Part of the book: Entrepreneurship
The Counterfeit Market and the Luxury Goods
Product counterfeiting is a form of consumer fraud: a product is sold, purporting to be something that it is not. Counterfeit is illegally made products that resemble the genuine goods but are typically of lower quality in terms of performance, reliability or durability. There is a need to learn as much as possible about the counterfeit market and the luxury good’s market, as well as learning about the customers of both of these markets. A large number of counterfeits are purchased online as the customer relies only in the information provided by the seller that is easy to manipulate. The Internet makes it possible for counterfeiters to sell fake goods without prior consumer inspection. Thus, if the presentation of the product online is elaborated and advanced, it would influence the user’s perceptions of the authenticity of products in a positive way, which leads to an increase in the user’s willingness to buy online. The chapter focuses on the counterfeit market, its influence on luxury consumption and consumers’ drivers for the counterfeit. The chapter also discusses innovative ways how authenticity of luxury goods can be verified.
Part of the book: Fashion Industry