Editor’s note

Citation

Healy, N. (2009), "Editor’s note", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 30 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbs.2009.28830eaa.001

Editor’s note

Article Type: Editor’s note From: Journal of Business Strategy, Volume 30, Issue 5

This issue of JBS leads off with a paper adapted from Eric G. Olson’s forthcoming book on green business. As recently as a decade ago, many businesses – and even more individuals – politely snickered at the idea of greening, or environmental “correctness.” But the evidence is incontrovertible and few people or organizations are denying the urgency of preserving our world. Figuring out how to sustain a healthy environment while conducting business profitably is now front and center for many companies and other entities. And respecting the environment is something we can all participate in, just by how we live our daily lives. Eric G. Olson’s book should be welcome news to those who want to be more active in the drive for a greener business world.

On perhaps a more mundane note is the paper on a celebrity chef who wants to dominate the culinary world. Gordon Ramsay may be familiar to readers devoted to food television or those who have frequented his establishments in venues from London to Dubai. Marc T. Jones takes a fiscally sobering look at the expansion of the Ramsay brand from a strategic perspective.

Recent issues of JBS have included several articles on social networks and Web 2.0 and this issue continues the focus with a paper from Lisa Harris and Alan Rae. As part of an ongoing investigation, they explore how social networking can support the marketing function for small entrepreneurial businesses. Since social networks will only proliferate in the near future, business needs to understand their positive value as well as the danger that lurks online for reputation.

Jamie Anderson, a professor in a Netherlands business school, examines the subtleties involved in foreign market entry. Even sophisticated marketing giants have stumbled at times when entering new overseas markets because they failed to account for local differences in how business is conducted.

As more of the world’s production becomes service – rather than product-oriented, leveraging intangibles becomes a practical imperative. Two French-Canadian professors offer suggestions on how businesses can create sustainable value through skilled management of intangibles.

The divide between “real-world” business people and academics has generated heated debate for a long time, with no solution in sight. Academics feel slighted because their scholarly output remains largely untapped by business people. Practitioners contend that academics do not understand the operational environments where they work. Tim Hughes, Nicholas O’Regan and David Wornham, all from the Bristol Business School in the UK, interviewed academics, practitioners and consultants to find out more about how the two sides can converge and be useful to each other.

Nanci Healy