The paper shows how and why Home-Based Internet Businesses are drivers of variety. This paper argues, by means of five theoretical perspectives, that because of the variety HBIBs generate, they contribute to the economy over and above their direct and indirect contributions in terms of revenue and employment. A multiple case study approach is employed studying the best practices of eight HBIBs. It is found that HBIBs generate variety because of the unique way in which they operate, and because of the reasons why they are started. How HBIBs operate can be captured in the acronym SMILES: Speed, Multiple income, Inexpensive, LEan, and Smart. They are founded (amongst other motives) for reasons of autonomy, freedom and independence. Both aspects-the how and why-of HBIBs are conducive to the creation of variety as they facilitate trial-and-error commercialization of authentic ideas. Five theoretical perspectives posit that variety is important for the industry and the economy: evolutionary theory, strategic management, organic urban planning, opportunity recognition, and the knowledge economy. The findings are discussed in the context of each perspective. Acknowledgements: We thank eight home-based internet business owners for participating, and Ralph Bathurst, Joeri Mol, Roy Thurik and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable inputs.
This article explores conceptual barriers to protecting children’s personal information in relation to online commercial data practices. It does this by using Vedder’s conceptual categories of privacy to identify and position parents’ and teenagers’ concepts of privacy within interpersonal, institutional and commercial data terrains. Drawing from qualitative interviews, the analysis shows that parents’ and teenagers’ conceptualise privacy in terms of the private/public dimension and that their conceptualisations of the consumer–corporate relationship, and corporations themselves, prohibited any concern for their decisional and informational privacy. As their conceptualisations of privacy harms were embedded within social rather than technological frames, this precluded motivation to protect children’s data privacy. This research argues that without a conceptual shift in the way we think about privacy and privacy harms, we need to question whether the logics of neoliberalism can effectively address children’s data privacy.
This article explores the failure of democratic nation-states to regulate corporate Internet intermediaries who essentially provide access to websites containing illegal and legal pornographic content. Existing literature credits this apparent diminishing regulatory role of states to neoliberalism. Drawing on Wacquant’s theory of ‘neoliberal statecrafting’ can explain the paucity of state media regulation while also accounting for when states do engage in alternative forms of regulation. Through a thematic analysis of key documents, media and interviews with ‘elite’ stakeholders in Australia and the United Kingdom, this research shows that private actors are generally exempt from state regulation, while individuals are simultaneously subject to punitive mechanisms for problematic and illegal uses of the Internet.
This article discusses policy debates in the United Kingdom and Australia concerning the regulation of online pornographic content as it relates to children. Through a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with key stakeholders at the negotiation table, we find that rather than positivist notions of the ‘developing’ and ‘vulnerable’ child dominating policy discourse, post-modern representations of the ‘savvy’ and ‘agentic’ child have come to dominate policy culture and outcomes. In this scenario, the regulatory role of states in providing media protection is diminished, while neoliberal forms of governance that emphasise the responsibility of individuals, including parents and children, have come to dominate the emerging policy landscape.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.