Dr. Llanos-Contreras, Orlando

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a tool for the integration of knowledge and the development of students’ capacities for analysis in the area of strategic management of companies. Mall Connection is a Chilean company that has developed mainly in the business of the commercialization of technological devices and their accessories. From this base, it has constructed a portfolio of related business and currently has expansion into neighbouring countries as one of its most important challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The case has been developed from primary sources of information, in-depth interviews with the management team of the company and secondary information obtained mainly from the Passport Euromonitor database. This information was processed, analysed and presented in the document so as to give support to the learning outcomes defined in the teaching notes. Findings: The breadth of the case offers flexibility in its application in corporate strategy and business courses. It allows external and internal competitive analysis of the strategy of the company. One central aspect is that it requires students to integrate the theory learnt in their courses with the practical experience described in the case to propose answers to the questions asked. Originality/value: The case is of great value in motivating the learning in MBA students and in courses of business strategy at undergraduate level. It is an original case that allows students to know experiences of entrepreneurship and strategic management in a Latin American context.

Purpose This study aims to determine how the communication of a family business identity in a recruitment call influences, directly and indirectly, the response of jobseekers, and whether this response varies according to the level of proactiveness and innovative of the applicants. Design/methodology/approach An experimental design using job advertisements on a LinkedIn recruitment call in Peru and Chile was implemented. The experiment simulates a job offer for a professional that could be filled by a business graduate student. The sample consisted of 171 surveys applied to university students in full-time higher education programs. Findings The results indicate that there is a positive indirect influence of family business signaling on the intention to pursue (through perceived prestige and career development opportunity). However, signaling family ownership of a company has a negative direct influence on jobseekers’ intentions to go to the recruitment call. When it comes to jobseekers with high and low levels of innovativeness and proactiveness, the results suggest that family business identity signaling is less effective among jobseekers with higher levels of proactiveness and innovativeness. Originality/value This article contributes to the theory of the family firm by advancing the understanding of the challenges that family businesses face when attracting talent. Our results enable family businesses to strategically adapt their hiring processes to enhance their appeal in the competitive labor market.