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PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to explore how entrepreneurial opportunities are used by the rapidly increasing immigrant Indian female population in Japan. Given that a majority of Indian women are housewives and grew up in conservative family backgrounds, this analysis seeks to provide an insight into the situations that aided them and the challenges they faced in their entrepreneurial business ventures far from home.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a case study analysis through a semi‐structured questionnaire designed on the concept of "Life cycle of minority owned businesses" to track enterprise activity from beginning to end.FindingsThe analyses show that although respondents began their stay in Japan as housewives, they shed their image with time, used their talents and diversified into a different role without sacrificing family duties, while also creating employment opportunities for both natives and immigrants. Major hindrances faced due to socio/cultural influences, lack of government initiatives and support facilities were identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe research analysis has been done on three case studies only as most available respondents were in the birth phase of their enterprises. More research is required on issues like capital availability, native employee and ethnic owner relationships, legal challenges and institutional support.Practical implicationsThe paper draws attention to problem areas where changes in governance structure and social acceptance can create a more viable environment for immigrant entrepreneurs in Japan.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that explores and evaluates the status of Indian female immigrant entrepreneurs in Japan. As Indian immigrants in entrepreneurial activities in Japan are increasing every year, the paper can contribute in restructuring opportunity creation and facilitate maximum advantage.

Purpose
This study aims to explore the respective risk perception toward the Covid-19 pandemic among the elderly in two developing countries and their lifestyle change and adaptation behavior as a result of that.


Design/methodology/approach
In total, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted among people aged 60 to 85 in Iran and India. The interview guideline was based on two constructs inspired by the study of Gerhold (2020) – risk perception of the pandemic and change in lifestyle and adaptation to the pandemic situation.


Findings
The results showed that although the majority of the interviewees initially experienced fear and anxiety during the stay-at-home order and the pandemic situation at large, they quickly adapted to the new situation with behavioral and attitudinal changes in ways relevant to the new normal. The results confirmed the maturation hypothesis proposed by Knight et al. (2000).


Originality/value
This paper is an original study of the researchers and among the first contributing to the literature of the elderly studies in developing countries. It contributes to the knowledge required for future behavioral studies concerning the Covid-19 pandemic by evaluating the experiences, risk perception and adaptation approaches of the older people in India and Iran.

Purpose
This paper aims to study the context of market orientation and the contribution of customer knowledge, networking and cultural knowledge to market orientation particularly to the internationalization of firms in developing economies.


Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case approach is adopted with four Swedish firms internationalizing to the Indian market. The data was obtained through personal interviews and typically lasted an hour. Follow-up questions were obtained by personal meetings or on Skype. Data was collected over a period of seven months during 2016-2017.


Findings
This study highlights the importance of customer knowledge, networking and cultural knowledge for foreign small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the initial stages of internationalization. It proposes that a holistic market sensing of the target market can be achieved as the three constructs contribute to the market orientation of the firms and help in devising relevant strategic fit with the market.


Research limitations/implications
The sample size is small due to a limited number of Swedish SMEs who have the experience of operating in the Indian market. Future studies may include the Nordic region, and a quantitative approach for testing market orientation frameworks can be adopted.


Originality/value
This study lifts the concept of market sensing as customer knowledge, networking and cultural knowledge strengthen the market orientation of the firm. It addresses the research gap about limited research in developing market contexts for SME internationalization and specifically on Swedish SMEs in the Indian market.

INTRODUCTION Today we live in a rapidly evolving environment supported by high-quality technology and fast communication, which has impacted professional, commercial and academic aspects of the society. In higher education there is a constant need to keep respective fields up-to-date with the changing needs of the society. A comprehensive approach to address this challenge is the creation of interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary programmes. The field of Digital Humanities (DH), lying at the intersection of humanities and computing is such an example which may be instrumental in creating the change by serving as a platform for novel interdisciplinary connections to address societal challenges. DH has been identified as a tool that assists in furthering research, studies and collaboration between distantly related fields which have not been connected conventionally in the discipline of humanities (e.g., Kirshenbaum, 2010). Further, higher education and its array of offerings is influenced by market economies. For example, Newman, Couturier and Scurry (2010) study the dynamics of market influences on higher education and point to the inevitable transformations due to agendas of political parties, public policies, corporate goals and market structures. Recent EU political discussions emphasize the need for addressing societal needs through fields like DH, where Humanities and Social Sciences are viewed as "essential to maximise the returns to society from investment in science and technology" (European Commission, 2016). Higher education is viewed as central to the objectives of public and private institutions and related economic development, employment, skills development and talent acquisitions. The development of new courses with a unique course offering helps to position the universities and higher education institutions differently from the others and helps counter global competition. The local community stakeholders can provide assistance in identifying the required set of skills for the job market. They can guide on how interdisciplinary connections can be built up so as to expand the possibilities. Not the least, courses and programmes informed by actual needs will enable the highly skilled professionals, whose education has been markedly enhanced by practice-informed education and joint, cross-sector innovation, to address future societal challenges. All this is applicable to the field of humanities and the newly evolved Digital Humanities. METHODOLOGY The paper reports on a pilot study undertaken with the purpose of informing the developments of DH courses at Linnaeus University (LNU) in the way that reflects actual societal needs, based on input from the relevant stakeholders in the LNU region encompassing south-eastern Sweden. To this purpose, a focus group interview of representatives from relevant public institutions and organizations was conducted. While the invitation was sent out to 9 representatives from the LNU's DH Initiative network (https://lnu.se/en/research/searchresearch/digital-humanities/), 4 were able to attend the focus group interview, and 1 provided his views via an email interview. The five participants represented: Kulturparken Småland (encompassing the biggest group of local cultural venues, http://www.kulturparkensmaland.se/1.0.1.0/108/1/) in Växjö, Kalmar Castle (http://www.kalmarslott.se) in Kalmar, Det fria ordets hus (The House of Free Speech, http://www.vaxjo.se/-Det-fria-ordetshus-/Om-Det-fria-ordet-hus/) in Växjö, and AV Media Region Kronoberg (publically financed institution for media and IT in schools, http://avmedia.kronoberg.se). The focus group interview and the email interview were of a structured type and comprised 11 questions, grouped around the following 4 subsections: Views about DH as a general topic and as the specific LNU initiative; Relevance of DH to the Linnaeus University region; The skills and talent pool in the market in relation to DH; and, Points of attention for the DH project to aid needs of the society and local industry. RESULTS The participants largely agreed that DH is a very broad topic that needs concrete references to applications in order to relate it to various industries. DH can be both a method and a way of thinking and can be used in optimal ways to engage people and customers in their work and social engagement; for the latter, it is important to devise new modes of participation of end users in order to collect their ideas and interests, and create new content. The LNU DH Initiative was hailed as an excellent idea allowing for cross-sector collaboration, and for humanities to connect to computing and business disciplines more substantially. The overall perception was that the Linnaeus University region needed to be developed in many sectors, ranging from business, culture, education, innovation etc. The project could contribute to and engage with society through schools, museums and other public platforms. Sustainability of the DH Initiative would need to be addressed. The respondents had a consensus that strategic thinking, though very important, was largely lacking in the overall societal development and in the related plans in the local municipal bodies. The DH programme was therefore recommended to include education related to strategy and strategic thinking. The DH programme is also expected to include communication skills building and working in multidisciplinary teams. Finally, the respondents pointed out that as a higher education provider in Sweden it was important to remember that the DH programme needs to keep the three pillars of Education, Research and Engagement with Society as primary in their course development. REFERENCES European Commission. (2016). Horizon 2020: Social sciences & humanities. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/area/social-sciences-humanities. Kirschenbaum, M., 2010. What is digital humanities and what's it doing in English departments? Debates in the digital humanities, ADE Bulletin, 150, pp.1-7. Newman, F., Couturier, L., & Scurry, J. (2010). The future of higher education: Rhetoric, reality, and the risks of the market. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons

The role of women in Japan was traditionally restricted to housekeeping and childrearing. Over the years, changes in Japanese lifestyle and attitudes have created new grounds for women to venture into small businesses. Although this new personality aspect of women has been accepted, by and large, in larger cities of Japan, it is yet to be accepted in rural areas. Given this background, it becomes even more challenging for a foreigner — an immigrant woman entrepreneur — to set up shop and conduct business in Japan. This study looks at the status of female immigrant entrepreneurs in Japan. Through a qualitative study, it explores the experiences and challenges female entrepreneurs must face before they achieve stability in their businesses. It highlights and draws attention to areas where changes in governance structure and social acceptance can be made so a more positive environment can be built up and the relationship between Japan and the immigrant entrepreneurs can be strengthened.