Seminar with Carina Antonia Hallin and Kristian Anders Hvass

Presenter: Carina Antonia Hallin, 14.00-15.30

Entrepreneurship, innovation, and organisational learning: Exploring employees’ perceptions

Abstract

Purpose – This paper examines employees´ perceptions of their role and that of the firm in entrepreneurship, innovation and organisational learning and the relation with business performance. It focuses on firms operating in Denmark.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a survey of 131 mid-level corporate staff members currently enrolled as MBA students at the Copenhagen School of Business. The questions were divided into five categories: firm orientation toward innovation; the types of relations the business developed with other firms operating in the same supply chain; how information was managed within the firm; attitudes and opinions regarding: their job and work in general, their freedom of decision-making within the firm, and other people in general; a profile of the firm and its recent business performance.

Findings – The study´s findings support the hypotheses that business performance in recent years was positively associated with entrepreneurship, learning style and participation within firms in organisational learning. However, firm involvement in open innovation was perceived to contribute to improved business performance in some areas, but not others.

Practical implications – Results of the study indicate that firms operating in Denmark, and possibly in similar small, industrialized economies, during uncertain economic conditions can benefit from exploiting entrepreneurship and broad participation in organisational learning in order to sustain business growth.

Originality/value – The paper addresses a frequent call in the literature to assess the role of employees in and their perceptions of the innovation process as part of the overall research agenda on innovation.

Presenter: Kristian Anders Hvass, 15.30-17.00

To Fund or Not to Fund: A critical look at funding destination marketing campaigns

Abstract

Destination development is predicated on transportation infrastructure and air transport is a major contributor to both development and visitor accessibility. Destination management organizations, airports, and regional governments wish to develop a destination’s  accessibility and it is common that various forms of financial aid are

offered to airlines to support service. Global Connected is a Danish example of such a project whose mandate is to influence airline route decisions with offers of funding marketing campaigns. While several new routes are attributed to this campaign an analysis of passenger traffic flows and interviews with industry experts suggests that funding offers are seldom influential and there are threats of uni‐directional traffic, cannibalization, and inappropriate metrics with such programs. A sustainable alternative would see destination stakeholders cooperate to develop inbound tourism products to match the needs of an airline’s customer groups.