Title: Resilience of a business: the case of Yellow Pages Directories

Authors: Terence Tse; Jerome Couturier; Lucie Roux

Addresses: ESCP Europe, 527 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London NW3 7BG, UK ' ESCP Europe, 527 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London NW3 7BG, UK ' ESCP Europe, 527 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London NW3 7BG, UK

Abstract: This paper aims to study the strength and the resilience of a seemingly out-of-date business - the Yellow Pages Directories (YPD). Its main assertion is that having absolute technological advantage does not always enable a firm to succeed; human factors also play an important role in sustaining a company's competitive advantage. The first contribution of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of the under-researched YPD business. The second is to examine the factors that enhance the resilience of a declining business facing the threat of new technologies.

Keywords: Yellow Pages; YPD; print directories; search engines; internet technologies; advertisements; adverts; business resilience; brand loyalty; human factors; declining business; new technologies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2012.047582

International Journal of Management Practice, 2012 Vol.5 No.2, pp.149 - 169

Published online: 28 Jun 2012 *

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