Innovations in veterinary markets: opinion leaders’ social capital

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to identify how the personal social capital of opinion leaders contributes to the market adoption of start-up innovations. Design/methodology/approach A design-oriented case study is undertaken with a start-up company focusing on the development and commercialization of innovations in the veterinary market. Based on a literature review, the authors examine the social capital in value creation and the role of opinion leaders and use qualitative methodology and semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. Findings The adoption of innovations could start with opinion leaders that will later share their experience with other members of the professional community. In turn, social capital allows for creating a collaboration between start-ups and leaders based on a number of specific parameters. Originality/value This paper contributes to marketing literature by providing new insights regarding collaboration between start-ups and opinion leaders. The collaboration between opinion leaders and start-ups could be implemented not only in the veterinary industry but also in other industries with minor adaptations. Authors demonstrate how the social capital of external stakeholders may be used as a resource of the company for business development. The main contribution of this study is to demonstrate that social capital could be used as a parameter for the adoption of innovations. The key parameters that allow creating cooperation between start-up and opinion leader have been identified.

How global mindset drives innovation and exporting performance: the roles of relational and bricolage capabilities

“…Second, this study addresses the importance of relational and bricolage capabilities in a resource-constrained context and provides an insight into how exporting firms can leverage their capabilities to overcome resource-based constraints and improve their innovation in international markets. In today’s competitive business environments, innovation is regarded as a valuable tool for improving competitiveness (Zhang et al , 2015; Chowdhury et al , 2017; Kulangara et al , 2016; Leyer et al , 2017; Vos et al , 2018; Anning-Dorson, 2018; Golini and Gualandris, 2018; Kwak et al , 2018; Kulkov et al , 2021). Developing economies encounter more barriers to innovation because of deficiencies in terms of their education system, the institutional environment and financial resources (Bradley et al , 2012).…”

Corporate opinion leadership on professional social media

“…The opinion leadership literature has shown that individual opinion leaders have acquired social capital, which allows them to achieve better outcomes (Kulkov et al. , 2021) and is considered experts in the field (Leal et al.…”

“…Employee-generated content. The opinion leadership literature has shown that individual opinion leaders have acquired social capital, which allows them to achieve better outcomes (Kulkov et al, 2021) and is considered experts in the field (Leal et al, 2014). Professional networking platforms enable users to register as employees of specific companies and reveal their current and past employment positions, responsibilities, and achievements.…”

Identifying institutional barriers when implementing new technologies in the healthcare industry

“…This means that policymakers need to support new technologies in health-care implementation, for example, through being flexible in adjusting legislation to accommodate most promising and beneficial technologies. We expected that cooperation with universities and opinion leaders would be Implementing new technologies in healthcare important to successfully form and promote the digital solutions in focus (Kulkov et al, 2020). However, this is not entirely true for all solutions.…”