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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities and challenges of serving low-income consumers in developing markets with mobile telecommunications.Design/methodology/approach -Field visits were made to Africa, India, Mexico and the Philippines, and in-depth interviews took place with companies that had succeeded in serving low-income consumers.Findings -The paper provides insights about the importance of various elements of a mobile operator business model. The paper suggests that serving the poor is just as much about motivation as about issues such as affordability and availability.Research limitations/implications -Since this research is field-based and examines only a small sample of firms, only tentative propositions can be offered on what the answers to the research questions are believed to be.Practical implications -The paper suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and take into account the unique institutional context of many developing markets.Originality/value -This has value for management practitioners, regulators and researchers. The paper fulfils an identified need to study different business models of mobile operators in bringing telecommunications services to the poor, and identifies common themes and success factors.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the experience of hub:raum, the accelerator program of Deutsche Telekom, to deduce potential success factors. In today’s fast-paced world, large companies strive to keep up with the disruptive changes in their markets brought by innovative startups. In face of these challenges, the paradigm of open innovation encourages firms to use internal ideas and external sources of knowledge to advance their innovation output (Chesbrough, 2003). Yet, in practice, this is much easier said than done, particularly when large firms engage in partnerships with startups. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on interviews and academic collaboration with hub:raum. Findings From the five years of experience since the foundation of hub:raum, one of the first German corporate accelerators, the authors have seen five key success factors: transparent and aligned goals, an independent team of startup advocates, a large and committed external network, top-management backing, long-term objectives and performance indicators. Research limitations/implications This paper is based on the case study of hub:raum. There are several limitations to this approach. Hub:raum has a clear industry focus in the information and communications technology industry and also acting international has a strong German and European focus. Practical implications Based on the identified five success factors, executives working with or designing accelerator programs can significantly increase the chances of success of these kind of programs. Constantly working on the right alignment of these factors with the overall objective of the incubator program is the key task of the management. Social implications Designing and running corporate accelerator programs more successfully will also help to enable more startups to join forces with corporates, creating more jobs and developing successful product innovation. Originality/value The paper is based on working for five years closely with the hub:raum management, a series of interviews and longitudinal study of this specific accelerator program.

If you want to lend or borrow money, Zopa is a much acclaimed peer‐to‐peer lending service. Martin Kupp and Jamie Anderson concede that, as a business, it's a Web 2.0 star. But can it last?

“Think outside the box” is the slogan of countless creativity experts who rightly connect creative thinking to corporate innovation. Jörg Reckhenrich, Martin Kupp and Jamie Anderson advocate, instead, that you think outside the canvas. A review of the thinking of the German artist, Joseph Beuys, shows how managers can unleash bold new ideas.

A NEW MARKETBritish artist Damien Hirst is both controversial and successful. Jörg Reckhenrich, Jamie Anderson and Martin Kupp suggest that his innovative approach to life and work demonstrate strategies useful to organizations. Thinking

Jamie Anderson, Jörg Reckhenrich and Martin Kupp celebrate strategy the Lady Gaga way.

Purpose Prior research has argued that family firms are reluctant to consider external equity as a source of financing because they fear a loss of control, which would limit their socioemotional wealth. However, prior empirical research has neglected potential contingencies that determine whether family firms’ need for control affects their equity financing decisions. The purpose of this paper is to provide first insight into this research void. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds on rational choice theory and a logit regression using secondary data. Findings The study shows that the effect of family firm owners’ need for control on their consideration of external equity depends on the extent to which owners expect investors to interfere with management and the extent to which decision making is affected by emotions. Hereby, the present study provides evidence that family firm owners’ decisions to use external equity are more complex than previously presumed. Research limitations/implications This study has several limitations that provide fruitful avenues for further research. Overall, the authors list and detail seven different limitations in the paper, e.g. the narrow focus on equity financing, the use of a partial model, the fact that the authors did not conceptualize differences between different types of investors (such as high net worth individuals, private equity firms and venture capital firms) in the model and further more. Practical implications The study shows that investors need to understand the complex interplay among family firms’ need for control, expected investor interference and emotional decision making, to correctly assess their chances of success when approaching family firms for equity. Originality/value Prior empirical research has neglected potential contingencies that determine whether family firms’ need for control affects their equity financing decisions. The present paper provides first insight into this research void.