In this study, we collected and analyzed the current status of licenses for the limited fishery business and divided the problems related to licenses for the limited fishery business into partial damage compensation and cancellation compensation areas. In the case of partial damage compensation areas due to existing public water use projects, it is suggested that the issuance of licenses for limited fishery businesses should be reconsidered. In the case of cancellation compensation areas, it is recommended that the disposition of communal fishery businesses that do not require capital investment should be the principle. If capital such as facilities are invested, compensation should be made by Article 52 of the Enforcement Decree of the Land Compensation Act if the licenses for limited fishery business are closed due to other development projects. In addition, we proposed an improvement plan to establish a rational management system for licenses for limited fishery businesses. In addition to these improvement measures, we hope that further investigation and research on licenses for limited fishery business, which have been insufficient so far, will be conducted to promote the comprehensive use of fisheries resources and waters and the sustainable development of fisheries that are the objectives of the Fisheries Act, and contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the people and the balanced development of the national economy.

현행 전자금융거래법 상 전자금융업종은 시행 16년이 지나 낡았고, 지나치 게 세분화되고 경직돼 있다. 이로 인해 최근의 전자금융시장과 업계의 현실 을 유연하고 탄력성 있게 반영할 수 없는 문제점을 노출하고 있다. 업종을 지나치게 세세하게 구분하다 보니, 동일한 기능임에도 불구하고 서로 다른 업종으로 분류되어 다른 규제가 적용되고 있다. 역외 적용 측면에서도 해외 전자금융업체에 적용하기 힘든 상황이다. 게다가 혁신적인 핀테크 서비스의 출현을 제도적으로도 뒷받침하지 못하게 해 우회적인 편법 영업을 만연하게 하는 현상마저 낳고 있다. 전자금융업종은 전자금융거래법의 핵심 규율체계이다. 글로벌 스탠다드에 맞는 원칙과 기준을 확립해 시장에 적합한 전자금융업종의 통합ㆍ개편을 시 급히 추진해야 할 것으로 본다. 먼저 전자금융업종 설계의 기본이 되는 전 자지급수단에 대한 개념정의와 종류를 외국 선진법제처럼 포괄적(네거티브) 탄력적으로 설계해 나가는 것이 바람직하다고 본다. 전자지급수단을 기능 및 역할이 동일 유사한 형태끼리 통합하고 스테이블코인의 경우도 선불전자 지급수단으로 포섭하는 것을 검토해야 할 것으로 본다. 전자금융업종에 대해서도 EU, 일본처럼 원칙과 기능 중심으로 포괄적 설계 를 하는 것이 바람직해 보인다. 핀테크 등 혁신기업의 범위도 전자금융거래 법에서 이를 명확히 할 필요도 있다. 신생 혁신기업의 진입 활성화와 경쟁 촉진을 위해 Sliding Scale 제도나 스몰라이센스의 도입도 필요하다. 종합 지급결제사업자의 도입도 적극 검토할 필요가 있다. 전용 계좌와 연계된 고 객의 결제 관련 각종 데이터의 독자적 확보와 활용을 가능하게 해줘 다양한 부가 사업에 나설 수 있게 해줄 뿐만 아니라, 마이데이터의 고도화도 가능 해지기 때문이다. 오픈파이낸스 시대에 오픈뱅킹과 마이페이먼트의 법제화 도 시급하다. 현행 선불업자에 대한 규제도 공정거래위원회의 신유형상품권 표준약관과 규제 대상 중복문제와 자가형 발행업자들인 대형 백화점, 유통업체, 항공사 등이 배제되는 형평성 문제도 해소할 필요가 있다. 소액후불결제업무는 신 용공여가 주목적이 아니고 포용금융, 대안금융, 금융데이터사업의 성격이 강 한 만큼 소액후불결제의 혁신성, 이용자 후생 증진에 무게를 두고 전자금융 거래법 틀 내에서 세부 행위규제를 새로 설정하는 것이 바람직하다고 생각 한다. 전자금융보조업자들을 시장에 명확히 공개(공시)하여 금융회사·전자금융업자 의 전자금융보조업자에 대한 계약과 간접 감독에 만전을 기하고 전자금융보 조업자의 업무범위와 책임관계를 명확히 할 필요가 있다. 유럽 PSD2, PSD3, 일본 자금결제법에서처럼 전자지급거래 청산기관의 제 도화를 위해 해당 법 규정을 전자금융거래법에 반영하는 것도 바람직할 것 으로 본다. 그리고 전자금융거래법에 역외적용을 강화하는 내용을 반영, 국 내 사업자와의 형평성, 자국민(기업) 보호 차원에서 소비자보호를 위한 행위 규제, 진입규제 등은 강행규정으로서 행위 주체의 소재 국가와 상관없이 적 용되어야 할 것으로 본다.

기업의 비재무적 요소인 ESG는 지속 가능한 개발 및 자연과 인류의 지속 가능한 공존을 위해서는 거부할 수 없는 거대한 흐름이 되었다. 그리고 ‘E’ 와 ‘S,’ 그리고 ‘G’ 중에서도 특히 ‘G’는 전자를 실현하는 중심축이자 뿌리 라고 여겨진다. 그런데 기업지배구조를 개선해야할 의무공개매수제도가 기 업의 ESG 가치 제고에 악영향을 끼치는 모순적인 현상이 발생하고 있다. 특히 유럽에서 관찰되는 현상으로는, 주주활동(shareholder engagement) 내지는 주주행동주의(shareholder activism)의 맥락에서 이뤄지는 기관투 자자와 소수주주들의 주권 행사 내지는 경영권 개입이 의무공개매수제도 상 공동행사(acting in concert)로 간주 되어 잔여주식에 대한 매수청약의무를 야기하는 것이다. 의무공개매수제도 재도입 내용을 담은 자본시장과 금융투 자업에 관한 법률 개정안이 현재 제21대 국회에 계류 중인데, 해당 개정안 이 본회의를 통과한다면 우리나라 법제도 기업지배구조의 개선과 ESG 가치 제고라는 두 목표가 상충하는 상황을 마주하게 된다. 인수·합병 시 소수주 주 보호 체계의 미비로 인한 ‘코리아 디스카운트’를 해소하기 위한 개정안이 주주활동 내지는 주주행동주의의 걸림돌 내지는 그 방어기재로 작용하여 다 른 차원의 ‘코리아 ESG 디스카운트’를 야기할 위험이 있는 것이다. 의무공개매수제도가 주주의 경영개입을 억제하는 모순은 본질적으로는 공 동행위 또는 공동보유의 기준과 해석을 통해 해결할 문제이다. 하지만 개인 적으로는 이 모순을 해결하기 위한 시작점은 의무공개매수제도의 적용기준 인 지배권 기준에 대한 접근방식을 재검토하는 일이라 본다. 우선, 지배권 기준은 시대와 국가, 시장, 회사, 사안, 상황마다 다르기에 획일적인 지배권 기준은 최선의 규제방식이라 보기 어렵고, 둘째, 그러므로 지배권에 대한 개 념을 각 회사가 처한 환경과 상황에 맞게 설정한다면 인수·합병 시 불합리 하게 낮은 가격으로 주식을 매각해야 하는 압박으로부터 잔여 소수주주를 효과적으로 보호하면서도 의무공개매수제도로부터 일정 수준 자유롭게 주주 활동 내지는 주주행동주의 차원의 주주 간 연대를 장려할 수 있으며, 셋째, 각 회사에 적합한 지배권 기준의 설정을 통하여 공동행사에 대한 기준 설정 과 해석을 통한 예외를 허용하는 번잡한 문제를 사전에 해결할 수 있기 때 문이다. 이와 같은 법제는 ESG 가치 제고를 선호하는 지배주주가 단기이익 의 증진을 요구하는 다른 주주들의 반대를 이겨내기 위해 기관투자자 등과 연대하는 경우 의무공개매수제도가 걸림돌이 되는 문제도 예방한다는 차원 에서 큰 의미가 있다. 그러므로 이 글에서는 국내외 의무공개매수제도 상 지배권 기준을 비교· 분석함과 더불어 우리나라 상사법상 지배권의 개념이 상대적이라는 근거를 제시함으로써 추상적인 개념이자 상대적인 기준인 지배권에 대한 접근방식 재검토 필요성을 도출하고, 이 논의를 바탕으로 지배권 기준에 대한 회사의 재량권을 인정하는 입법론을 제시하기로 한다. 이 모든 논의의 지향점은 우 리나라 기업들이 ESG 가치를 제고하는 데 적합한 환경을 조성하는 것이다.

This research aims to understand how academic articles stimulate knowledge progress by addressing two questions: Does the level of contribution vary between different methods of research (e.g., conceptual, theoretical, and empirical)? How do we assess the potential of scholarly articles to impact and further innovate the field?

Webpage cookies collect and authorize access to users’ online footprints and regulate the data authorization for access, sharing, and usage. Data authorization, which is built based on, but exceeding cookies protocol, enables personalized recommendations under the framework of data-driven content-user matching in a way against customer privacy invasiveness and data breaches. However, gaps exist in how users’ desire for a personalized experience and the site’s perceived ethics contribute to the site-trust and cookies acceptance of categories at each type of site and how businesses’ reward incentives and cookie-based controls may intensify the willingness to contribute to the user data donation continuously.

The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in the Masan region’s restaurant industries from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Within this period, there were 1,597 numbers of restaurants found in ‘Masansanggongmyeonggam’. During the same period, 313 restaurants appeared in the ‘Gyeongnamsinmun’ restaurant advertisements. The characteristics of the restaurant industry in Masan during this period are as follows. In Korean food, meat menus such as ‘Bulgogi’ became popular, and local foods such as ‘Masan Aguijjim’, ‘Kkosirak’, ‘Hoebaekban’, and ‘Jinjubibimbap’ were commercialized. Due to the government's ‘Punshik Changny-ö’ policy, the flour food became popular and the number of Chinese restaurants rapidly increased. New western foods were also introduced, such as hamburger and pizza. Grilled whole chicken at ‘Yeongyangcenter’ became popular, and the emergence of ‘Food Department Store’. These new changes were introduced so quickly that there was almost no time difference with the metropolitan area, and it is thought that this is because the young people who moved in as the Masan area was industrialized actively accepted the new changes.

This paper presents the results of qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with CEO and Marketing managers among Swiss luxury watchmaking companies. We present the highlights on innovative business models and how it could create competitive advantage creation in the highly competitive Swiss luxury watchmaking industry.

“우버화”라는 용어는 비단 우버(Uber) 뿐만 아니라 에어비앤비(Airbnb) 등 과 같은 공유경제 산업이 활성화됨에 따라 운수업계, 숙박업계 등 기존 산업계와의 충돌로부터 빚어지는 현상을 의미한다. 혁신을 주도하는 새로운 기술 또는 비즈니스 모델(또는 둘 다)은 기존 산업을 지배하는 규제 구조와 관련된 문제를 제기하며, 기술혁신은 기존 규제 체계와 잘 맞지 않거나 긴장관계에 놓이게 된다. 이러한 갈등의 조정을 위해 각국이 “전통적인 규제방식”을 어떻게 변경시킬 것인지 관심이 모아지고 있다. 비즈니스 혁신에 의해 촉발되는 정책 교란에는 네 종류가 있다. 교묘한 회피, 면제 및 공백, 해결책이 그것이다. 예를 들어 에어비앤비는, 법적으로 차별을 두는 호스트에 의한 ‘면제’ 와 구역제, 호텔세 및 기타 규제 제도와 관련된 일련의 ‘교묘한 회피’ 정책 교란을 야기했다. 이와 같은 정책 교란에 대한 규제 기관의 정책 대응 방법에는 차단, 프리패스, 구체제, 신체제 및 신뢰이익의 보상이 있다. 에어비앤비와 우버택시의 국내 도입에 따른 법적 공백이 발생한 것과 관련해, 규제 대응 방법으로써 ‘구체제’ 또는 ‘신체제’ 이론을 적용하여 관련 국내법의 개정과 새로운 법률의 도입을 고려해 볼 수 있다.

The purpose of the present study was to generate a list of business ethics components according to business area for small and medium-sized fashion companies. Based on the literature review, 21 components of business ethics components were identified within five business areas. Ten CEOs(Chief Executive Officers) each participated in an in-depth interview, sharing ethical and unethical cases from their own businesses. Constant comparative analysis was used to generate important business ethics components from those cases. In results, important business ethics components for each business area are: 1) using human-friendly materials, strengthening sustainable technologies, using vegan materials, concerning safe process, and reducing waste in the material production and sourcing area, 2) enhancing an efficiency in design, developing recycle/reuse designs, avoiding to copy designs, and using messages for public interest in the product design area, 3) concerning fair-trade, reducing harmful substance, saving energy, and using ethical supply channels in the distribution and logistics area, 4) acquiring certifications, promoting consumer protection, avoiding exaggerative/false advertisements, and promoting social contributions in the management and marketing area, and 5) promoting workers’ rights, complying with the law, and investing on employee educations in the labor management area. All of the ethical and unethical cases of the ten companies have involved aspects of the 21 components, thereby enhancing understandings on how each issue is being seriously considered and/or handled in the small and medium-sized fashion companies. Study findings may provide a basis for development of a research model for quantitative studies and/or educational programs related to business ethics in the fashion industry.

구 저작권법상 ‘판매용 음반’의 해석에 관한 ‘스타벅스 사건’, ‘현대백화점 사건’, ‘롯데하이마트 사건’의 대법원 판결이 잇따라 선고되었다. 이들 판결은 매장 내에서 디지털 음원을 스트리밍 방식으로 재생하는 데 대하여 공연사용료를 지급 하여야 하는지와 관련한 것들이다. 그런데 이들 판결은 매장 내 스트리밍 방식으로 디지털 음원을 재생한 것을 과연 ‘판매용 음반’을 재생하여 공연을 한 것으로 볼 수 있는지에 관하여 상반된 내용의 판시를 하였다. 이에 공연사용료 지급과 관련한 일관적 기준이 존재하지 않아 혼란이 존재한다는 취지의 비판이 있어왔다. 2016. 3. 22. 개정 저작권법은 구 저작권법의 ‘판매용 음반’이라는 용어를 ‘상업용 음반’으로 변경하는 한편, ‘음반’의 정의에 디지털 음원이 포함됨을 명확히 하였다. 그리고 2017. 8. 22. 저작권법 시행령이 개정되어 커피숍, 체력단련장, 대규모 유통업체 등이 위와 같은 ‘상업용 음반’을 매장 내에서 재생하는 때에는 공연사용료를 지급 할 의무가 있음을 명시하였는데, 이에 대하여 다수의 영업주들이 “이미 월정액 서비스를 통해 저작권료를 납부하고 있는데 추가로 공연사용료를 지급하여야 한다는 것에 납득하기 어렵다”며 반발하고 있는 상황이다. 한편 미국 저작권법도 우리 저작권법과 유사하게 공연을 정의하면서, 일정한 규모 이상의 매장 내에서 디지털 음원 스트리밍 방식으로 음원을 재생하는 경우 추가로 공연사용료를 지급하여야 하는 것으로 규정, 해석되고 있다. Stephanie Haun은 이러한 해석이, 인터넷에서의 음악 저작 물 공연권을 인터넷이라는 매체의 특성을 반영해 유연하게 이해되어야 함에도, 전통적 공연에 대한 패러다임을 경직되게 적용하여 음악 저작권자를 오히려 해하고, 저작물에 대한 대중의 접근을 용이하게 하는 권리의 발전을 해한다고 비판한다. 우리 법상 매장 내 디지털 음원 스트리밍 서비스가 공연에 해당하는지에 관한 논의도 결국 인터넷 매체의 특성을 고려하지 않은채 전통적 패러다임을 유지하면서 이루어진 것이다. 따라서 미국 저작권법에 대한 위와 같은 비판논의가 우리 저작권법에서도 많은 시사점을 제시한다. 우리 저작권법은 저작자의 권리, 이에 인접하는 권리를 보호함과 동시에 저작물의 공정한 이용을 도모함 으로써 문화 및 관련 산업 발전에 이바지하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 그러므로 이해관계의 조율을 통하여 저작권법의 두 가지 목적을 효과적으로 달성할 수 있도록 하기 위해서는 급격하게 변화 하는 디지털 환경에 대하여 전통적 패러다임을 고수할 것이 아니라, 그 특성을 고려한 유연한 접근이 필요하다 할 것이다.

Pamperpop is a new online platform based in Indonesia that connects beauty and personal care service providers to the end customers. The business idea was triggered by Zomato, an online platform for restaurant search and discovery service. There are some competitors in the market who provides services alike Pamperpop, but they are all new players who still building their customer base. This condition puts Pamperpop in a fierce competition and forces the company to be innovative in penetrating the market. Considering the nature of this business, there are two markets to be penetrated by the company. First market is the service providers who will become the tenant, and second market is the end customers who will become the user. Pamperpop has done some marketing activities to enter both markets; however the results were far from expectation. The acquisition rate did not meet target from management. Pamperpop really need to revisit their marketing strategy in order to stay competitive in the market. This article describes the analysis on the business issues faced by Pamperpop especially problems in the market penetration. Author identified the root issues by using Porter’s 5 Forces, Business Model Canvas, S-T-P analysis, and Marketing Mix. Authors found that management focus on the product development rather than identifying customer needs when building this business. This created some gaps in the marketing strategy to penetrate the market. The New Wave Marketing framework is chosen to formulate the new marketing strategy since it is suitable for technology and internet based business model that has horizontal communication in nature. The New Wave Marketing approach refines the existing business model to introduce clear positioning and strong differentiation in the market. The solution’s set aims to achieve Low Budget and High Impact marketing techniques with the combination of Above-The-Line and Below-The-Line approach.

Based on survey data from 160 importing firms from 33 countries/regions, this study examines the effects of firm-owned versus sales rep-owned commitment on firm performance across varying degrees of economic distance between import and export countries. Results reveal both firm- and rep-owned commitment have positive effects on the export firm’s financial outcomes including the current and predicted future purchase share. Moreover, findings show that the larger the economic distance, the stronger the effect of rep-owned commitment but the weaker the effect of firm-owned commitment on sales performance. We also find two important antecedents to rep-owned commitment: economic-based instruments and relationship-based instruments, whereas only economic-based instruments have positive effect on firm-owned commitment.

Recent headlines predict that artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics and other aspects of cognitive computing will be the next fundamental drivers of economic growth (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2017). We have evidenced several success stories in the recent years, such as those of Google and Facebook, wherein novel business opportunities have evolved based on data-driven business innovations. Our directional poll among companies, however, reveals that at present, only few companies have the keys to successfully harness these possibilities. Even fever companies seem to be successful in running profitable business based on data-driven business innovations. Company’s capability to create data-driven business relates to company’s overall capability to innovate. Therefore, this research builds a conceptual model of barriers to data-driven business innovations and proposes that a deeper understanding of innovation barriers can assist companies in becoming closer to the possibilities that data-driven business innovations can enable. As Hadjimanolis (2003) suggests, the first step in overcoming innovation barriers is to understand such barriers. Consequently, we identify technology-related, organizational, environmental and people-related i.e. attitudinal barriers and examine how these relate to company’s capability to create data-driven business innovations. Specifically, technology-related barriers may originate from the company’s existing practices and predominant technological standards. Organizational barriers reflect the company’s inability to integrate new patterns of behavior into the established routines and practices (Sheth & Ram, 1987). Environmental barriers refer to various types of hampering factors that are external to a company. Environmental barriers are caused by the company’s external environment and thus company has relatively limited possibilities to influence and overcome such factors. Attitudinal barriers are people-related perceptual barriers that can be studied at the individual level, and if necessary, separately for managers and employees (Hadjimanolis, 2003). Future research will pursue to build an empirical model to examine how these different barriers are related to company’s capability to create business based on data-driven innovations.

Many firms see organizational learning systems as critical to facilitating competitive advantage. However, until now, few tourism studies have empirically investigated and identified how the different characteristics of highly competitive organizations, such as travel agencies, influence competitive advantage in a dynamic environment. This study uses a mediation-moderation analysis for such an empirical examination. A total of 288 travel agencies from Taiwan were analysed. The authors found that travel agencies’ shared goals may influence competitive advantage through characteristics of dynamic capability development, differential strategy implication and social capital accumulation. Greater levels of organizational learning may positively strengthen the relationships between (a) shared goals and dynamic capability, (b) shared goals and social capital, and (c) social capital and competitive advantage. Implications of these findings for managerial and theoretical frameworks are also discussed.

The major paradox in research in marketing: Can the researcher construct models that capture firm heterogeneities and achieve accurate prediction of outcomes for individual cases that also are generalizable across all the cases in the sample? This study presents a way forward for solving the major paradox. The study identifies research advances in theory and analytics that contribute successfully to the primary need to fill to achieve scientific legitimacy: Configurations that include accurate description, explanation, and prediction (i.e., predicting outcomes accurately of cases in samples separate from the samples of cases used to construct models having high fit validity.) The solution here includes philosophical, theoretical, and operational shifts away from variable-based modeling and null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) to case-based modeling and somewhat precise outcome testing (SPOT). The study here provides examples of research contributing to knowledge and theory that advance prediction and control in business-to-business contexts. Shifting beyond linear model construction and symmetric tests (i.e., multiple regression analysis (MRA) and structural equation modeling (SEM)) and embracing complexity theory and asymmetric tests (i.e., constructing and testing algorithms by “computing with words,” Zadeh, (1996, 2010)) includes taking necessary steps away from examining “net effects” of variables to useful screening modeling of case configurations. Researchers embracing this shift in marketing benefit from recognizing that the current dominant logic of performing null hypothesis testing (NHST via MRA and SEM) is “corrupt research” (Hubbard, 2015) and from recognizing that predicting by algorithms via somewhat precise outcome testing (SPOT) advances business-to-business research toward achieving scientific legitimacy.

As the competitiveness of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) is getting more and more improved and globalized, the government provides various consulting services to secure the competitiveness of small and medium firms and support stable growth. However, the assessment of the result from the government’s support is generally focused on non-financial factors, such as customer satisfaction and analysis of improvement effect. This paper is in regards to the statistical analysis of how much the government’s support in the form of providing consulting services contributes to financial outcomes in terms of profitability and growth. ROA (return on asset) and ROS (return on sales), which are investment profitability and sales profitability respectively, are chosen as an indicator of profitability. For analysis of growth, sales revenue and total asset growth are used. The samples are 44 corporations which are supported by government, and 150 corporations which are selected for comparison, with corporate growth support center program by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy chosen as the consulting model. After gathering the yearly balance sheets and income statements of the samples from CRETOP, Korea Enterprise Data, the analysis is conducted in the way of identifying the statistical significance of financial difference in the same period between corporates taking consulting services and corporates which have not, and the difference of financial outcomes from the corporates taking consulting services before and after consulting services. As a result, in terms of business growth, it is turned out to have positive difference both in growth ratio and profitability compared to the compared corporations at the significant level. Therefore, it is obvious that the consulting program which government provides to SMEs have direct influence practically to the corporates’ management performance.

As the competitiveness of small and medium businesses is getting more and more improved and globalized, the government provides various consulting services to secure the competitiveness of small and medium firms and support stable growth. However, the assessment of the result from the government’s support is generally focused on non-financial factors, such as customer satisfaction afterwards and analysis of improvement effect. This paper is in regards to the analysis of how much the government’s support in the form of providing consulting services contributes to financial outcomes and to the analysis of the gap of performances among the types of consulting services. We verified the statistical significance of our hypothesis through SAS9.4 and SPSS 22, conducting comparative analysis of the business growth and profitability based on the yearly balance sheets and income statements of 44 corporations which government supports and 150 corporations which are for comparison. The data is gained from CRETOP, Korea Enterprise Data, and the testing model is chosen as the business of support center for corporate growth, which is a customized supporting business of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. As a result, in terms of business growth, it turned out to have positive difference in growth ratio compared to the industrial average and compared corporations and to have significant difference in terms of profitability as well. Since, this paper shows that the different supporting ways have significant difference, we would say that this paper is meaningful in that it may propose a guidance for government to set strategies of government-supporting businesses.

This contribution focuses on fitting between heuristic rules and the task environment in business to business market. The subject is about evidence-based business decision-making process in the business actors‟ perspective. The empirical setting of fashion business to business markets is considered, focusing on adaptive behavior situated in the interaction processes in customer-supplier relationships emerging from empirical researches. The paper considers two key aspects of the process: (1) the origin and diffusion of the heuristic rules adopted by the actors (adoption) and (2) the fields in which the rules can be used (scope) are discussed. The central research questions are: How heuristics are adopted and diffused in the fashion business to business environment (adoption)? How wide is the context in which the heuristic rule is applied by the actors (scope)? Fashion business to business markets is our setting of analysis. First of all we have to define what are heuristics. Studies of decision-making processes generally divide them into two, mutually exclusive types: rational decision making versus rule-based decision making (March 1994). In the case of rational decision making the approach is to evaluate the consequences of any decision in terms of either pure (maximizing) or limited rationality (satisficing). In rational decision making, consequential choices are adopted, hence an evaluation of preferences and expectations is necessary and decisive to the final outcome. Instead, in rule-based decision making, what counts most is following the rules, the aim being to satisfy and/or define an identity. In rule-based decision making, rules deemed appropriate are adopted, and what then counts are the rules and the identity, which form the basis for taking well-thought-out actions. Rationality requires less „specific‟ knowledge, since it relies on abstract rules. In this approach, following the rules may instead involve understanding them in relation to the specific context in which they are to be applied. The relations between heuristics and interaction in business networks provide a means to study other aspects of the evolution of the relationship between enterprise and business market environment (Artinger et al. 2015; Guercini et al. 2014, 2015). In fact, the network of relationships the actors adopt images of the relationships to be cultivated with the precise aim of formulating an effective representation of the market, enable other phenomena to be examined, not so much in their qualitative aspects, but rather as regards their importance as perceived by business decision-makers. In light of these relations between heuristics and setting, the essential properties of heuristics that we propose to examine herein are: (1) specificity, intended as the field of application and setting in which any heuristic rule is generated and routinely applied; (2) convergence, which concerns how widespread, at least in appearance, any given heuristic rule is amongst actors in a given market setting (Guercini 2012). In other terms, the heuristics of entrepreneurial marketing can be considered specific to this particular setting, in that they concern the degrees to which such rules are generated, are successful, and are confined to the specific setting or context. Looking more closely at the two above-mentioned properties, specificity is high when, for instance, a heuristic refers to a specific, circumscribed matter (for example assessing the opportune moment to purchase certain semi-finished goods) and finds no application in any other setting. Conversely, a rule‟s degree of specificity is low when its field of application is broad: a rule may, since its inception, be applicable to many different fields, or it may be initially applicable only to a limited range of decisions, but subsequently find fruitful application in other, broader matters (Guercini et al. 2014). The degree of convergence instead regards the frequency with which a given heuristic rule is adopted within a population, a community or, in our case, by entrepreneurs. Such adoption may only be apparent, in the sense that what seems to be a single rule may actually represent various, subtly different rules for each individual, given the supremely personal, individual nature of fine mental processes. Evaluating the degree of convergence of a given heuristic within a population obviously involves measuring its dissemination in terms that are recognized as such by the researcher. Convergence is high for rules adopted by everyone, or at least by a large segment of the population in question. Other heuristic rules are instead developed by individuals in forming their personal judgments and seem to be unique to such individuals, in that they do not arise in others. This implies that heuristic rules may be the source of a relative advantage for the entrepreneur, in so far as the heuristic in question proves itself successful, that is, an element that determines a good choice when other methods are ineffective or may even produce negative effects. Specificity and convergence are thus general properties of the heuristics adopted by entrepreneurial marketers, and are strongly tied to the interpersonal relationships and consequent interactions within business decision-makers‟ personal contact networks (Guercini et al. 2015). Heuristic procedures are easily detectable in the descriptions of enterprise top management of the processes they utilize in assessing possibilities and forming judgments. Some of these procedures are highly abstract and applicable to various different settings, for instance, regarding problems typically facing firms as well as purchase decision-makers. In the following we shall briefly present some of the heuristics encountered in our research; a more detailed description and more rigorous modeling of their characteristics will be addressed in future work. Let us consider now a fashion business to business settings, and more precisely the situation in which the decision-maker of a fashion firm is tasked with formulating a judgment regarding the best choice of colors to keep up with the fashion trends of coming seasons. From interviews with representatives of styling divisions, what repeatedly emerged was their conviction that “strong” colors periodically and forcefully come back in fashion. Some even went so far as to specify the duration of this cycle: seven years – that is, the same as the number of strong colors –, which also turns out to be coherent with long-standing observations on the limits of human cognitive function (Miller 1956). No clearly defined explanation was offered of the reasons for, or origins of, this rule, although some hypotheses were advanced: simply that a sort of “law” was first noticed and then became consolidated as its predictions were repeatedly verified over time. A second example is that of the textile firm entrepreneurial marketer called on to provide a forecast of the fabrics that will be most widely utilized in the market over the next few seasons. From the marketer‟s perspective, the price of natural fibers is one element on which to base any judgment regarding future fabric usage trends. Clearly, there are technical time constraints on the purchasing of fibers for spinning, which must naturally precede the sale of the fabric, and may even take place already in the stage of drafting the fabric sample book. Thus, a specific assessment rule is applied: those fibers whose price increases during certain periods of the year are deemed to be those that will be in most widespread use the following season. However, for some years now this rule has begun to seem less reliable than in the past. Workers in the sector speak of greater complexity in the wool market, where supply factors, such as international manufacturers‟ policy of stepping up fiber tops production, have had the effect of upsetting traditional market dynamics. The heuristic rules in these examples can be regarded in the perspective of the attributes they present, in particular, their “specificity” (or field of application) and their “convergence” (or degree of dissemination). A rule that is highly specific to a certain application setting looses much of its value when applied to judgments other than the one for which it has been developed. On the other hand, a rule that is in widespread use in many firms can hardly become a distinctive resource for entrepreneurial marketers. The widespread dissemination of a given heuristic rule amongst the rules “in stock” or the “adaptive toolbox” of firms may influence its effectiveness. Indeed, the fact that a rule is shared by many may justify its adoption in light of the validity that the decision-makers seem to attribute it, even if it is less probable that its use impart a distinctive competitive advantage. The examples of heuristic processes presented in the foregoing seem to enjoy different degrees of specificity and convergence. The association of certain heuristics to specific settings takes on the significance attributed to them by Simon (1979), as rules bound by the task environment and not clearly referable to relatively abstract mechanisms or endowed with autonomy. Mechanisms applicable to less specific settings are instead referable to the heuristics described by Tversky and Kahneman (1974), including representativeness, availability and adjustment/anchoring, identified in relation to the possible distortions and errors associated to them. The heuristics modeled by “building blocks” by Gigerenzer et al. are seemingly cannot be captured by a few categories, given the variety of formal models identified. Briefly, these include (1) recognition heuristic; (2) fluency heuristic; (3) take-the-best; (4) tallying; (5) satisficing; (6) 1/N equality heuristic; (7) default heuristic; (8) tit-for-tat; (9) imitate the majority; (10) imitate the successful; (11) hiatus heuristic; (12) fast and frugal trees; (13) mapping models; (14) averaging the judgment; (15) social circle; (16) moral behavior (Gigerenzer and Gaissmaier 2011, Gigerenzer and Brighton 2009). In the approach proposed by Gigerenzer and his “adaptive behavior and cognition program”, formal models are necessary to evaluate the real contribution of heuristics to cognition, decision-making and behavior. For details, refer to the publications of the adaptive-behavior-and-cognition program (Gigerenzer 2007; Todd and Gigerenzer 2012). Rule-based decision making implies the availability of rules to follow and consistency with an established identity as the driving factors in the decisionmaking process. If the rules satisfy an ecological rationality approach, are such rules then the result of a process of rules selection with which the decision makers are endowed innately or they are formed through a process of learning? And, if the latter is true, what are the characteristics of the decision-making process during the stage that the rules formation schemes are more open? And lastly, when the rules have already been defined, are they necessarily stable or can they be questioned and, if so, in what terms? These research questions are part of the future research stimulated by this first exploration based on case study research.