A makeover for Dudley’s Q+

Theoretical basis The Dudley Beauty case illustrates a contemporary branding, management and marketing challenge facing many companies that are 50 plus years old. Movahhed (2016) highlights the six elements to consider during brand strategy: the target audience, the brand promise, brand perception (past, current and future), brand values, brand voice and brand positioning. The times have changed with changing macroenvironmental factors including political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and other environmental (PESTLE) changes that affect a business but which the business does not directly control. Research methodology The case is based upon an interview with Dudley Beauty CEO and President Ursula Dudley Oglesby and secondary sources. Case overview/synopsis The “A Makeover for Dudley’s Q+” case explores the challenges of a second-generation textured hair care and personal care company in the direct selling channel as it faces an aging market and changing business and economic environment. A Black-owned company, begun in 1967 by her parents, Dudley Beauty is led by the founders’ daughter, Harvard College and Harvard Law School-educated, Ursula Dudley Oglesby. At over 50 years old, the company has continually created new textured hair products and has high brand awareness among older Black consumers but has not adequately addressed changing hair trends and shifting communication preferences of younger consumers. The company is at a critical point needing to reach a younger, larger market to survive. The business situation supports marketing, management, strategy, and/or entrepreneurship undergraduate students in understanding how macroenvironmental forces and internal structures affect businesses. Complexity academic level This case is intended primarily for use by undergraduates in a variety of courses. It is suitable for courses in Principles of Marketing, Entrepreneurial Marketing, general Entrepreneurship and Marketing Strategy courses covering topics such as direct selling, the role of environmental factors in business, rebranding efforts using digital and social media marketing and women/minority business owners.

The Economic Development Potential of Minority-Owned Businesses

The consensus view that discriminatory barriers limit the size and scope of America’s minority-business community is factually well-grounded. Rarely examined, however, is the question of why these firms are flourishing. The authors examine the scope of this growth and its causes. The process of selectively reducing discriminatory barriers inhibiting minority entrepreneurship’s development began in the 1960s, moved forward in the 1970s, and continues presently. This path-dependent process of lowering barriers has altered the incentive structures, previously making the entrepreneurial choice an unattractive one for most minorities. This, in turn, has drawn into business ownership a younger generation of highly educated and experienced minorities, many of whom have successfully obtained bank loans. Spatially, minority neighborhoods as well have successfully attracted talented, experienced African American and Latino owners and financing for their firms. Those with abundant expertise have driven the substantial gains in numbers of workers employed by minority-owned businesses.

Managing diversity in minority business enterprises: the impact of employee homogeneity on financial performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of employee homogeneity on the financial performance of minority business enterprises (MBEs). It is widely postulated that MBEs tend to hire minorities that resemble the ethnicity of the founder(s) and that this is beneficial by helping to decrease minority unemployment rates as well as providing new opportunities to minorities that they might not otherwise receive at White-owned firms.Design/methodology/approachThe study used hierarchical linear regression on archival data of 271 MBEs to determine if employee homogeneity will be a factor in understanding their financial performance. The authors also conducted exploratory interviews with a convenience sample of MBEs to gain insight into the concept of employee homophily.FindingsThe research uncovered that as homogeneity increases, MBE financial performance decreases, and this effect is more pronounced the longer the MBE is in business.Research limitations/implicationsThe data set is cross-sectional in nature and lack the perspective and clarity of time. The paper only contains a small set of exploratory interviews. The most significant implication from the study is that a lack of diversity decreases the long-term financial viability of MBEs which is to counter mainstream arguments that speak only to the positive aspects of MBEs hiring their own.Originality/valueThe research builds on the scant literature on the impact of diversity within MBEs. It also provides guidance to MBEs by suggesting they be strategic in diversifying their employee base in order to improve performance.

How Do Large Purchasing Organizations Treat Their Diverse Suppliers? Minority Business Enterprise CEOs’ Perception of Corporate Commitment to Supplier Diversity

Supplier diversity programs were created in the United States nearly 50 years ago to encourage private sector companies to provide business opportunities to underutilized minority business enterprises. In order to assess the experiences that minority business enterprise CEOs have with large purchasing organizations and their perceptions of justice and commitment of large purchasing organizations to the buyer–supplier relationship (BSR), this study utilizes survey data collected from 206 minority business enterprise CEOs who supply large purchasing organizations that espouse a strong commitment to supplier diversity. The theoretical framework of organizational justice is utilized to establish testable hypotheses. The results from hierarchical linear regression show minority business enterprise CEOs’ perception of large purchasing organizations’ commitment to the BSR is positively related to the distributive and informational dimensions of organizational justice. Surprisingly, the procedural dimension was found to have a significantly negative relationship. This research also found a significant, negative relationship between minority firm CEOs’ perception of distributive and informational justice and their perceptions of unethical behavior by large purchasing organizations.

Using a design approach to create collaborative governance

In complex, shared-power settings, policymakers, administrators and other kinds of decision makers increasingly must engage in collaborative inter-organisational efforts to effectively address challenging public issues. These collaborations must be governed effectively if they are to achieve their public purposes. A design approach to the governance of collaborations can help, especially if it explicitly focuses on the design and use of formal and informal settings for dialogue and deliberation (forums), decision making (arenas) and resolution of residual disputes (courts). The success of a design approach will depend on many things, but especially on leaders and leadership and careful attention to the design and use of forums, arenas and courts and the effective use of power. The argument is illustrated by examining the emergence and governance of a collaboration designed to cope with the fragmented policy field of minority business support.

Applications of good corporate governance relating to shareholders, commissioners, and directors of limited liability companies in Indonesia

This critical analysis seeks to explore the inclusivity and feasibility of the legal application of organizational governance principles related to limited liability companies (LLCs) in Indonesia, which are considered essential pillars of Indonesia’s economic stability. The investigators employed the non-probability purposive sampling to select 150 study participants from a population of 250 administrative panel members working in PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Mandiri. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were constructed and distributed online through emails. The subjects’ responses were coded manually, using the NVivo software for ease of analysis. The result showed that (1) 84.5% of participants believed that ineffective relationship building approaches, corruption, and inadequate information disclosure mechanisms among internal and external shareholders formed the main challenges to implementation of corporate governance principles in Indonesian LLCs, (2) 97.8% of the respondents believed the Indonesian Company Law (ICL) had achieved significant milestones in guiding the application of sound corporate governance principles by explicitly outlining the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and providing sufficient protection for minority stakeholders, and (3) 78% of participants agreed that the ICL has introduced and reinforced critical rights and protections to shield shareholders from unfair regulations internally formulated by a company. In its findings, the investigation confirmed that poorly structured information sharing systems, fraud, and ineffective relationship building were the main factors that contributed to current inadequacies. 84.5% of the respondents believed that ineffective relationship building approaches, corruption, and inadequate information disclosure mechanisms among internal and external shareholders formed the main challenges, trends, and issues to the implementation of corporate governance principles in Indonesian LLCs. The study also confirmed that the implementation of GCG related legislations had reinforced the professional duties and obligations of stakeholders, alongside offering legal protections for minority business actors.