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Motivation and satisfaction of mega-business event attendees: The case of ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong	[ "Hong Kong", "Tourism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The importance of business travelers has been widely documented in the existing hospitality and tourism literature (Bauer et al., 2001; Davidson and Cope, 2003). Due to their large expenditures, this group of travelers is generally recognized as the most important contributor to the local economy. Hence, the issues of motivating business travelers to attend meetings and events, and satisfying the needs of this high-yield group, have been, and will likely be, of paramount importance to industrial practitioners, policy makers, and academic researchers. According to Hede et al. (2004), motivation refers to the desire and willingness to do something; whereas satisfaction relates to gratification for positive emotional response to the fulfillment of desire.Deery et al. (2004) as well as Jago and Deery (2005) have advocated the importance of event tourism and the need for examining the relationships and factors that influence convention decision-making. Similarly, Breiter and Milman (2007) identified the elements of services that exhibitors had encountered. These studies, however, did not take event attendees' views into consideration. In other studies, Milner et al. (2004) as well as Hede and Jago (2005) attempted to profile special event attendees and examined their perceptions about the host destination after attending a special event. These studies, however, focused on the demographic profiles or change of perceptions instead of examining attendees' views on motivation and satisfaction factors.Despite the wide recognition of the importance of business travelers, the existing literature only comprised a limited number of prior studies that investigated the issue of motivation and satisfaction of mega-business event attendees. Although convention attendees' motivation and satisfaction were examined by Severt et al. (2007), findings were confined to a regional conference. In addition, Wu and Weber (2005), as well as Breiter and Milman (2006) attempted to apply the importance-performance gap model to analyze convention delegates' evaluation on services and facilities. These studies, however, did not investigate the delegates' motivation and satisfaction. The scarcity of prior studies on what influences attendees to attend events and how satisfied they were with different aspects of event destinations is particularly true in the context of Asia, the world's fastest growing region in hospitality and tourism. To fill the gap in the literature, the primary objective of this study was to investigate different factors of motivation and satisfaction of both local and overseas attendees to the ITU Telecom World 2006 (hereafter referred to as ITU 2006), which was held in Hong Kong between December 4-8, 2006. Research findings will benefit event organizers to better establish their strategies to meet the needs of event attendees.The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an international organization, which mainly serves worldwide governments and private businesses by coordinating global telecom networks and services (International Telecommunication Union, 2006). ITU Telecom World, being the world's largest telecom trade show, is usually organized once every three years for government and business delegates to meet, network, exhibit, and conduct business. The ITU 2006 was held in the recently completed Asia World-Expo, Hong Kong's largest exhibition and events complex, which is located near the Hong Kong International Airport but a long way from the city center and the majority of hotels.\nMethodology: A structured questionnaire was used in this study that examined the levels of motivation and satisfaction of ITU 2006 delegates. The questionnaire was adapted from the one that was used by Deery et al. (2004) in their national business events study in Australia. The questionnaire was modified by the researchers to suit the local situation, and the modified questionnaire was pilot-tested by 20 potential ITU 2006 attendants in September 2006. Other than a few minor suggestions for wording change, no major problems were found. In the final version of the questionnaire, ITU 2006 delegates were firstly asked about the components of the event (the Forum, the Exhibition or both) they had registered for and their place of residence. In addition, the questionnaire comprised two major sections. Using a five-point Likert scale from 1 (low influence) to 5 (high influence), the first section consisted of 11 questions, which were related to different factors that influenced their decision to attend ITU 2006. In the second major section, respondents were requested to answer 14 questions in a five-point Likert scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied) that sought their views on various aspects of the ITU 2006 destination. An option of N/A (not-applicable) was also made available for each question in these two major sections.With the assistance of the ITU 2006 organizer, an e-mail invitation was sent to the registered attendees in mid-December 2006 with a request for completion of the online questionnaire. The attendees were informed about the study purpose, and the link to the online questionnaire was provided. As of February 2007, 171 usable questionnaires were received. With a population of over 60,000 participants, a major limitation of this study is the low response rate. Still, with a sample size of over 170 respondents, research findings are considered comprehensive that can provide useful insights for ITU 2006 attendees' perceptions.\nFindings: Among the 164 respondents who had answered the question regarding which component of ITU 2006 they had registered for, 120 (73.17 per cent) did register for the exhibition, whereas the corresponding numbers for the forum and for both functions were 8 (4.88 per cent) and 36 (21.95 per cent) respectively. In addition, 115 (68.45) and 53 (31.55%) of the respondents respectively were overseas and local attendees.As for motivation factors, respondents rated networking and business opportunities (mean=4.00) and business and education content of the ITU (mean=3.72) as fairly high as to their influence on their decision to attend the event (Table I). The attendees, however, had a neutral view on five other motivation factors with means ranging from 3.03 to 3.42. These neutrally rated factors included professionalism of the exhibition organizers, location of ITU 2006, safety and security of the destination, accessibility of the destination, and employer's instruction. The remaining four factors, however, were rated as having a fairly low influence on the attendees' decision to attend the event (mean values ranged from 2.46 to 2.63). Results of an independent samples t-test showed that all but one of the 11 factors did not exhibit significant difference between local and overseas respondents. A significant difference was found for the factor of social program which local respondents perceived significantly higher than overseas respondents. Such a significant difference may be attributed to the unattractiveness of the official social program, which was not appealing to the overseas attendees.When satisfaction factors of the location of ITU 2006 (Hong Kong) were rated, respondents did not view any of the listed factors negatively. As Table II shows, five of the factors received mean values of more than 4, indicating the respondents' high satisfaction with these factors. In particular, accessibility of Hong Kong (mean=4.34) as well as safety and security of destination (mean=4.32) were rated the most satisfactory factors. These results correspond to respondents' inattentive consideration of motivation factors for accessibility and safety. Additionally, the mean ratings of the remaining factors ranged from 3.60 to 3.96, implying that the respondents were fairly satisfied with Hong Kong as the destination for ITU 2006. Like the motivation factors, only one satisfaction factor exhibited significant difference between overseas and local respondents. Specifically, local respondents were significantly more satisfied with the range of accommodation available to visitors in Hong Kong. This is based on the fact that as locals they are more aware of accommodation places available even though they do not use them.\nImplications and conclusions: In general, findings in this study were similar to the national business event studies that were conducted in Australia and the USA (Deery et al. 2004; Severt et al. 2007). The ITU 2006 attendees were mainly motivated to attend the event for business and networking opportunities. Similar to Severt et al.'s (2007) research, another major motivating factor was the business and education content of the ITU 2006. Different from other studies, findings of this study showed that location, infrastructure and safety did not seem to influence attendees' decision for attending the event. Moreover, attendees considered traveling to or visiting the destination would have a low influence on their decision to attend the event.While prior studies mainly examined the importance-performance relationship (Breiter and Milman, 2006; Wu and Weber, 2005), a new finding of this study is the insignificant differences between the views of local and overseas attendees in most of the included attributes. In view of such a finding, practitioners and policy makers probably should not invest their limited resources to segment different groups of event attendees in the context of event organization. Instead, they should set realistic marketing strategies to motivate potential event delegates to visit and, more importantly, to ensure that these delegates are satisfied during their stay. Tourism researchers have previously highlighted the importance of good planning for business success in the tourism industry (Gunn, 2002; Robinson and Callan, 2002).Some respondents commented that hotel room rates charged during ITU 2006 were too high. Although it is a business decision to charge hotel room rates according to demand, Kasavana and Cahill (2003) have advocated the importance of setting the appropriate right room rate to encourage repeat business. Event organizers should also select the venue's location very carefully. Choosing a conveniently located venue that is near the city center would certainly be beneficial to event attendees who are conscious about their valuable time.This study has investigated the motivation and satisfaction factors for ITU 2006 attendees in Hong Kong. While the findings of this research are limited by the low response rate, they do offer useful insights for commercial event organizers and government policy makers for planning future events. Given the promising prospect of business meetings and their associated economic returns, destinations should develop appropriate strategies accordingly to accommodate this growing sector of the industry. Future research efforts can examine the issue in multi-destinations and multi-industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that examined the factors of motivation and satisfaction of mega-business events, using the ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong as a case study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper takes the form of a structured questionnaire developed by the authors and distributed by the event organizer to registered attendees.\nFindings: - Empirical findings showed that the respondents attended the event mainly for business and networking opportunities. Overall, they were satisfied with Hong Kong as the location for the ITU Telecom World 2006. Additionally, there were no significant differences in perception between overseas and local attendees in all but two attributes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The major limitations of this case study are the low response rate and the fact that the results would be limited to this sector of activity.\nOriginality/value: - The findings should be of use to related practitioners and policy makers to set more pragmatic plans for hosting mega-business events.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Co-production of service experiences: insights from the cultural sector	[ "Service-dominant logic", "Co-production", "Institutional logic", "Services marketing", "Cultural sector", "Value-in-cultural context" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Cultural organisations, including museums, galleries, parks and gardens (both botanical and zoological), are increasingly redefining the role played by the consumer from a passive observer to an interactive partner in the cultural experience (Mencarelli et al., 2010). The cultural sector is facing significant challenges, and there is tension in the sector between a curatorial orientation and one that focuses on the consumer experience (Gainer and Padanyi, 2002; Thomas and Nuttall, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to explore the way organisations collaborate with consumers to facilitate consumption of cultural experiences through a lens of co-production.\n2. Co-production of service experiences: Co-production has been referenced by a range of disciplines. In marketing, via the S-D logic literature, co-production is considered as a component of co-creation (Lusch and Vargo, 2006b; Vargo and Lusch, 2008). Lusch and Vargo's (2006b) definition of co-production is based on that of Lengnick-Hall et al. (2000) and defined as \"a customer's participation in the core offer itself\" (p. 284). This definition has been adopted by research that empirically examines co-production in services (Auh et al., 2007; Guo and Ng, 2011). White et al. (2009), in a study of arts consumption experiences, concur with this conceptualisation of co-production and define it as \"consumers actively involved in the production of the organisation's offerings\" (p. 776).\n3. Organisational drivers and inhibitors of co-production of the service experience: The factors that might drive and inhibit organisations from co-producing experiences with consumers are a neglected area of research. Although authors discuss the potential for market-oriented organisations to craft co-creation capabilities (Madhavaram and Hunt, 2008), their discussion stops short of identifying what practices and resources would support such a capability and what hurdles may also exist.\n4. Method: A multiple case study approach was used to explore the organisation's role in co-producing the service experience. Three organisations from the cultural sector in Australia were identified (an art gallery, a science and history museum and a zoological garden). Johnston et al. (1999) emphasise the need for every case chosen to serve a unique purpose within the overall scope of enquiry. Cases selected represent a broad spectrum of experiences (Stake, 1995) and potentially different levels of organisational co-production practices (Eisenhardt, 1989). Each of the cases offers scope for investigating varying degrees of and approaches to co-producing service experiences. Table I profiles each case study organisation in greater detail.\n5. Findings and discussion: All case studies evidence an increased focus on the consumer experience: \"there's a huge awareness now of the customer experience. People talk about customer experience all the time\" (Andrea). At the zoo, the commitment was illustrated through organisational restructuring efforts: \"We developed this area of Customer Experiences. It's a reflection of the organisation's commitment to understanding that customers are key\" (Rob). The organisations' efforts to co-produce the experience were in line with Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) and Ramaswamy and Gouillart (2010a), reflected through three practices:\n6. Model of organisational co-production practices and their influences: Based on the findings from the three case studies, there is strong evidence to suggest that cultural organisations are co-producing the service experience with their consumers, as revealed through a number of key practices: inviting consumers to actively participate in the experience, engaging consumers and supporting consumers in the co-production of the experience.\n7. Contribution and implications: 7.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The increased involvement of customers in their experience is a reality for all service organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way organisations collaborate with customers to facilitate consumption of cultural experiences through the lens of co-production. Although organisations are typically an integral part of the co-production process, co-production is typically considered from a consumer angle. Aligned with the service ecosystem perspective and value-in-cultural context, this research aims to provide greater insight into the processes and resources that institutions apply to co-produce experiences with consumers and the drivers and inhibitors of such processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case study research with three exemplar organisations, using in-depth interviews with key informants was used to investigate the processes organisations follow in co-producing the service experience with customers, as well as the drivers and inhibitors of organisational co-production of the service experience in the cultural sector.\nFindings: The findings illuminate that cultural organisations are co-producing the service experience with their customers, as revealed through a number of key processes: inviting customers to actively participate in the experience, engaging customers and supporting customers in the co-production of the experience. Increasingly demanding consumers and a changing competitive landscape are strong external drivers of co-production. Visionary leadership and consumer-focussed employees are internal factors impelling organisations to co-produce experiences with consumers. A strong curatorial orientation, complex organisational structure, employee attitude and capability gaps and funding constraints are impediments towards organisations co-producing experiences with consumers.\nOriginality/value: This paper addresses a gap in Service-Dominant logic theory, arts/cultural marketing and broader services marketing literature by proposing a broadened conceptualisation of co-production of the service experience. This conceptualisation can be used as a platform to derive strategic imperatives for managers of service organisations. The findings highlight the key practices and resources that are central to organisations co-producing experience with customers. In this way, greater understanding of institutional logics and practices that underpin experience co-production emerges.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management ecological approach: a cross-discipline case study	[ "Interdisciplinary", "Music education", "Software business", "Software development", "Ecological approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In every academic discipline, new knowledge is systematically produced, framed and organized by specific theories and concepts (Krishnan, 2009). As individual disciplines become more complex, the connections between them strengthen, resulting in greater disciplinary interdependence (Helbing et al., 2012). Given the novel findings it produces, interdisciplinary work is receiving more attention from researchers in various disciplines (Bartunek, 2007). There has been an increase in the discourse on and perceived long-term effect of interdisciplinary research, as reflected by the growing number of publications and citations (van Noorden, 2015). Despite the growing needs of interdisciplinary research, the implementation process can be difficult because of factors such as the availability and distribution of prior related knowledge (Kotter and Balsiger, 1999). Understanding the increasingly complex relationships between various disciplines requires more comprehensive investigation of the broader interdisciplinary environment.\nKnowledge management approaches: Previous studies have demonstrated the use of various approaches to improving knowledge management in individual disciplines. Biasutti and El-Deghaidy (2012) proposed the use of a wiki as an online didactic tool to develop knowledge management processes in higher education, Chen and Fong (2015) developed an organic approach to evaluate the performance of knowledge management based on a survey of construction contracting firms and Eppler and Pfister (2011) conducted a literature review in which the use of sketch-based approaches in the fields of design, psychology and computer science were documented.\nConceptual framework: The KME approach proposed in this study is based on a knowledge management framework with two key assumptions. First, knowledge management is understood as a set of processes implemented to facilitate the use of knowledge to achieve various goals (Avakumovic and Avakumovic, 2013). Alavi and Leidner (2001) identified four sets of knowledge management processes:\nEcological approach: The interactions between organisms and their environment, known collectively as ecology, have long been used as a metaphor for the relationships between interacting organizations and individuals. Scholars from numerous disciplines, including education (Goodlad, 1985), business (Moore, 1996), politics (Rocheleau et al., 2013) and psychology (Lewin, 1943), have used this metaphor to portray the interactions between organizations, communities and individuals.\nKnowledge management ecological approach: The ecological perspective that views knowledge management as an organic and interactive environment has been found in previous literature. For example, Chen et al. (2010) proposed an ecological model for organizational knowledge management that consists of knowledge distribution, interaction, competition and evolution. Chang and Tan (2013) provided an alternative view that considers the practice and leverage of organizational knowledge as ecosystems which could be enhanced through collaborative learning. Based on the framework of information ecology that emphasize on human resources rather than information and communication technology, Malhotra (2002) developed a knowledge ecology that accounts for not only the human but also their actions and performance.\nCase study: A case study was conducted to put the KME approach into practice and examine knowledge management activities in an interdisciplinary environment. The case study conducted by Yin (2014) was adopted to frame the research design of this study. The ecological environment comprised three disciplines: software development, software business and music education. The following research questions were used as a guide:\nAdministration of the interviews: A formal invitation to participate in the study was sent to each member of the sample by e-mail. The e-mails also explained the purpose of the study and the data collection process. After the participants had agreed to participate, interviews were arranged at suitable times and in suitable places. Each interview commenced with a brief outline of the purpose of the study and a request for permission to audio-record the interview.\nData analysis: Axial coding (Charmaz, 2006) was used to analyze the data. The research team read all of the interview transcripts and synthesized the data according to the KME approach. The findings taken from the semi-structured interviews were categorized into four knowledge management processes as defined by Alavi and Leidner (2001). A conceptual model for the ecological environment was developed based on the knowledge management activities identified and categorized based on the interview data. Missing links and components were then revealed by combining and comparing the power relations between key informants and the knowledge management activities within and between the three disciplines, followed by suggestions to fill in the knowledge gaps. Intercoder agreement (Garrison et al., 2006) was achieved with the research team which consists of scholars and practitioners in the areas of software development, educational technology and music education to ensure the reliability of the findings, because the case study involved more than one discipline and team members were knowledgeable in different subject matter. Any coding discrepancies were reconciled in accordance with the discussion of the research team.\nFindings: The findings of this case study were limited to the ecological environment defined at stage one, drawing from the data from the semi-structured interviews with the selected key informants from the three disciplines. Represented in four themes, the following subsections detail the knowledge management activities within and between the three disciplines.\nConclusion: This study shows how the proposed KME approach can deepen the understanding of knowledge management activities within and between different disciplines, which fills the gap of previous literature that applies the ecological metaphor in knowledge management by taking into consideration the interdisciplinary nature of the real-world practices within each organization and the broader society. It addresses the issue of the growing disciplinary interdependence of individual disciplines and urges interdisciplinary thinking and vision to oversee the connections between different disciplines, a topic that previous studies with discipline-specific approaches have not focused on.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The growing needs of interdisciplinary research have been hindered by implementation difficulties because of factors such as the availability and distribution of related knowledge. Knowledge management could be a viable solution to address the problems of interdisciplinary research and further its synergic effect by optimizing the use of knowledge across different disciplines. A knowledge management ecological (KME) approach that facilitates the study of knowledge management in discourses between different disciplines was proposed and applied in a case study within an interdisciplinary environment comprising three disciplines: software development, software business and music education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups of key informants to examine the knowledge management processes within the environment.\nFindings: The findings reveal the details of knowledge management activities in each of the three disciplines, but the lack of collaboration between them limits the opportunity for a synergistic effect to benefit the cross-discipline environment.\nOriginality/value: This study shows how the KME approach can be used to deepen the interdisciplinary understanding of knowledge management within and between different disciplines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Journalling and public health education: thinking about reflecting...	[ "Public health", "Higher education", "First year", "Reflective thinking", "Reflective journalling", "Qualitative", "Students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Practicum in undergraduate clinical health degrees, such as nursing and dietetics, is an essential component of curricula to graduate clinically proficient students. A fundamental element of practicum is reflection or the ability to critically reflect about practice. Reflective journalling is a recognised teaching and learning tool employed to facilitate reflection. Undergraduate professional health degrees, including public health, have not embraced practicum and reflection as a teaching and learning tool. This suggests reflection is not fundamental to the education of public health graduates.In second semester of first year, students enroled in the Bachelor of Health Science (Public Health) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undertake a compulsory unit titled PUB215 Public Health Practice (PUB215). PUB215 was first offered in 2009 because teaching staff were concerned students did not have a clear understanding of public health practice and career pathways and identify as a student cohort and profession. PUB215 was designed to address the first issue from two approaches. The first approach was to invite a range of public health practitioners from different organisations to present a guest lecture. From Weeks 2-7, guest speakers focused on a specific issue; core competencies, position descriptions, transition to practice in government and non-government sectors and career pathways in, for example, indigenous health, international health, chronic disease, research and policy. The second approach was workplace visits. Each student nominated three preferred workplaces from 15 identified organisations. Small groups of students visited workplaces for one to two hours in Weeks 8-10. Workplaces conducted a range of activities, for example, a brief tour, an overview of the organisation, attendance at a meeting, showcases about specific organisational activities and photo shoots.In 2009, formal teaching and learning feedback indicated students appreciated guest lectures and workplace visits because they identified a raft of public health career pathways, introduced professionals working in the field and helped \"get a feel\" for public health positions. The unit was offered again in 2010. A reflective journal was introduced as an assessment item to capitalise on guest lectures and introduce students to reflection.\nLiterature review: Reflection is underpinned by several well-recognised theories which highlight fundamental concepts. According to Biggs and Tang (2007), there was little research into how students learn until two decades ago when Marton and his colleagues explored surface and deep learning. Deep learning is the intrinsic desire to cognitively engage with the subject and truly understand meanings, themes, principles and applications. The father of reflection, Dewey (1933, p. 6) describes the process as \"active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends\". Dewey (1909) considers that reflection leads to understanding actions, new consequences and new conclusions but concrete experiences are needed to situate learning (Dewey 1938). The experiential learning theorist, Kolb (1984) agreed that people learn more from their experiences when they think about them.The fundamental concepts of reflection underpin a plethora of definitions. Some definitions refer to reflective learning, for example, Boyd and Fayles (1983, p. 19) who suggest \"reflective learning is the internal process of exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self and which results in a changed conceptual perspective\". Some definitions link reflection to practice, for example, Reid (1993, p. 306) defines reflection as \"a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform about practice\". Kathpalia and Heah (2008) suggest reflection is the combination of experience and knowledge to produce new learning. Other authors define reflection by process, for example, Atkins and Murphy (1993) propose three key stages which underpin the process of reflective practice: first, awareness of uncomfortable feelings or thoughts; second, analysis of the situation, examining knowledge and feelings; and third, the development of a new perspective.The literature reveals many contemporary models of reflection designed to structure and support reflective thinking, learning, writing and/or journalling. These models include, for example, Schon's model for educating the reflective practitioner (Schon, 1991), an integrated model for incorporating reflective learning into adult instruction (Castelli, 2000), Gibbs reflective cycle (Ashby, 2006), a reflective essaying model (Badley, 2009) and a model of professional thinking (Bannigan and Moore, 2009).Reflective journalling\nMethodology: The qualitative approach used in this case study is phenomenography. The word phenomenography originated from the Greek root phainomen which means appearance and graphein which means description (Husserl, 1970). The literal interpretation is the \"description of appearances\". Sonneman first coined the term phenomenography in 1954 (Hasselgren and Beach, 1997; Patton, 2002) although it did not evolve as a research approach until the 1970s. The proclaimed forefather of phenomenography is Ference Marton from the faculty of education at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Marton and his colleagues, Dahlgren, Svensson and Saljo from the Gothenburg Research Group, developed phenomenography to complement the existing quantitative approaches to inquiry about education (Svensson, 1997). The Gothenburg phenomenographers deliberated three distinct investigative frameworks to answer questions about thinking and learning (Booth, 1994; Marton, 1986). The first framework guides inquiry about the content of learning; the broad characteristics of learning, the approaches adopted and the outcomes. The second framework supports inquiry about the nature of the context of learning. These two frameworks encompass the relationship between conceptions of learning and the content and context from which they arise. The third framework describes how humans conceive various aspects of their reality as conceptions of phenomena in the world around them. This is known as pure phenomenography. Pure phenomenography focuses on categories of description and the relationship between a limited number of categories which are represented in the outcome space (Marton, 1986 as cited in Fetterman, 1988, pp. 189-91).Phenomenography is the most appropriate and logical approach for this research because phenomenography is designed specifically to answer questions about thinking and learning and improve knowledge about education (Booth, 1994; Marton, 1986). This research is guided by the third framework, which has become the essence of phenomenography because it provides a lens to better understand how students conceptualise reflecting thinking about public health education.Participants\nResults: Students conceptions of reflective journalling\nDiscussion: There are three points worthy of discussion in light of the findings of this research and in the context of the current literature. First, the findings indicate first year public health students have the ability but need to be taught how to think reflectively. Second, reflective journalling is a suitable assessment item for first year public health students to encourage and develop reflective thinking. The third point is not directly linked to but supports the findings; educators should deliberately undertake reflection in their own practice to better facilitate students reflective thinking. These points will now be discussed in more detail.The first and main point is that first year public health students can think reflectively but educators need to teach reflective thinking. This is important because educators can improve student outcomes by proving guidance and instruction. Students need to learn the art of reflective journalling. Higher education lecturers assume students know how write reflective journals but the evidence suggests many students write poor quality journals which lack depth necessary for learning. Higher education lecturers should expect reflective writing which is deeply reflective, highly critical and insightful (Dyment and O'Connell, 2010). \"The disposition to think critically does not imply the ability to write critically\" (Leaver-Dunn et al., 2002). Some students lack confidence for frank expression while others display great originality, deep personal thinking and soul bearing accounts of the experience (McGuiness and Brien, 2007). Kessler and Lund (2004) write reflective journalling facilitates reflective clinical practice. Students will benefit most if they are taught the process and skills of reflective journalling. Enabling ideas, such as training the students, providing detailed responses, fostering trusting relationships and modelling journalling behaviours, may seem daunting to \"already busy\" lecturers but are advisable because they benefit the student (Dyment and O'Connell, 2010).This research indicates first year public health students may not think critically without guidance. This is seen in the bottom two conceptions, reflective journalling as doing the task, and reflective journalling as understanding the process where participants focus on the structural elements of the assessment. For example, participants identify the limited word count as problematic and suggested the broad scope limited their ability to concentrate and expand particular reflections. This conception is similar to other research findings. For example, participants identified the lack of precise guidelines as a barrier to effective journalling and indicated a preference for explicit instructions (McGuiness and Brien, 2007). This suggests participants should be \"trained\" in the art of reflective journalling or thinking about thinking and thinking about learning to achieve the best possible learning outcomes.Second, reflective thinking can be enhanced by using a reflective journal as an assessment item. The literature highlights the link between assessment type and higher order thinking. Lecturers feel students are more interested in gathering examination material (surface learning) than in real (deep) learning (Mori, 2000; Arthur, 1997). Deep learning is more important than mere factual recall under examination conditions because graduates need to apply their knowledge in a variety of ways and under diverse circumstances. Additionally, Micari et al. (2007) calls for the measurement of student performance to be grounded in learning experiences of students. Assessment tasks should be authentic so students address problems grounded in real life contexts (Slater, 1996). Woodward (1998) suggests learning and assessment are not disconnected. Reflective journalling as an assessment item is compatible with learning and accepted as a method of assessment (Plack et al., 2005). Palmer (2004) suggests there is tension between traditional and contemporary assessment items which are complex and time consuming to administer. Reflective journals are difficult to grade because students invest character and a sense-of-self and if they are well designed and assessed, they provide a new space for learning (Pavlovich et al., 2009). As an assessment item, reflective journalling encourages students who are not intrinsically driven to put more effort into learning (Cisero, 2006). Badley (2009) confers; students are encouraged to be critical thinkers through reflective essays. Educators should reward students who write somewhat deeply and critically because higher grades motivate students who do not acknowledge reflective journalling as a journey to deeper thinking (Dyment and O'Connell, 2010).This research contributes to the knowledge about reflective journalling as an assessment item. The first two conceptions, reflective journalling as engagement in learning and reflective journalling as depth of knowledge reflect higher order reflective thinking about public health practice. This suggests first year public health students exhibit some of the learning traits of their postgraduate counterparts. Postgraduate students find journalling compels them to \"systematically reflect\" on fieldwork barriers and capabilities. These students also found reflective writing raised awareness of others placement experience and encouraged them to think critically about practice skills (Cronin and Connolly, 2007). This suggests reflective journalling is an appropriate assessment item for students to gain an understanding of public health practice.The third point does not directly link to the findings but is worthy of note because the literature suggests student outcomes improve if educators engage in the art of reflective practice. Educators should deliberately undertake reflection in their own practice to better facilitate the process of reflective journalling for students. Students consider truth seeking as intellectual courage even if it undermines personal belief and conceptions. This can be facilitated by educators who are willing to truth-seek. Educators should undertake self-examination, confront prior information and resolve inconsistency. Educators can improve the learning experience of the students in their class (Hustler et al., 1986) by inquiring into their own educational practices (McTaggart, 1991). Educators willing to take this approach will find it time consuming but beneficial if it is used strategically throughout the curriculum (Leaver-Dunn et al., 2002). The literature suggests educators should constantly promote reflection because \"reflection distinguishes great practitioners from their peers\" (Leaver-Dunn et al., 2002). Moreover, educators owe it to student practice. Students grow in confidence and gain trust in the educator to enable them to do the best they can in their professional lives (Walker, 2006).Again, the bottom two conceptions in this research, reflective journalling as doing the task and reflective journalling as understanding the process suggests educators have not been actively engaged in reflective journalling because participants remained \"trapped\" in the lower levels of reflective thinking. Researchers such as Anderberg (2000) confirm that in order to \"direct the students to learning with deeper understanding\", educators must focus on the learners \"own construction of meaning\". Other authors agree, for example, Pavlovich et al. (2009) uses learning journals as a method of developing self-awareness in a business education context. This suggests reflective journalling is enhanced by the active role of the educator.\nConclusion and recommendations: In light of the absence of literature about first year students and reflective journalling, the findings of this research add to the knowledge about public health education. The findings suggest reflective journalling is a vehicle for first year public health students to think reflectively. This research also suggests reflective journalling as an assessment item in a first year public health practice unit is effective. It effectively engages students learning, increases depth of knowledge and deepens students understanding of reflective journalling. Reflective journalling can enhance student engagement, reduce anxiety and create positive experiences for first year students. This is consistent with findings from previous research by Ramsay et al. (1999) which demonstrated students are affected emotionally by both positive and negative factors.There are practical implications from this research. The authors make three recommendations from the findings. First, first year public health students should be \"trained\" in the art of reflective journalling or thinking about thinking and thinking about learning. Second, reflective journalling is a suitable assessment item for first year public health students to encourage and develop reflective thinking. Third, and to support the second recommendation, educators should deliberately undertake the reflection in their own practice to better facilitate the process of reflective journalling for students.These three recommendations are designed to improve first year students to understand public health practice. These recommendations will encourage students to take cognitive risks and move students along the trajectory to higher order reflective thinking and ultimately a higher order conception and the authorised conception.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to understand reflective journalling in a first year Public Health practice unit.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research uses pure phenomenography to interpret students' descriptions of reflective journalling. Data were collected from 32 students enrolled in PUB215 Public Health Practice in the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology. Participants completed a brief open-ended questionnaire to evaluate the first assessment item in this unit, a reflective journal. Questionnaire responses were analysed through Dahlgren and Fallsberg's seven phases of data analysis.\nFindings: - The reflective journal required students to reflect on lecture content from five of seven guest speakers. Participants' responses were categorised into four conceptions: engagement in learning, depth of knowledge, understanding the process and doing the task. Participants describe reflective journalling as a conduit to think critically about the content of the guest speakers' presentations. Other participants think journalling is a vehicle to think deeply about their potential career pathways. Some define journalling as a pragmatic operation where practical issues are difficult to navigate. The reflective journal successfully: engaged students' learning, increased students' depth of knowledge and deepened students' understanding of the journalling process.\nOriginality/value: - This research gives an insight into how first year public health students understand reflective journalling, supports educators in reflective journalling assessments and confirms a reflective journal assessment can move student reflection towards higher order thinking about practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using corporate stories to build the corporate brand: an impression management perspective	[ "Content analysis", "Corporate reputation", "Impression management", "Corporate brand", "Corporate story" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A recent area of academic interest within corporate branding and reputation is the use of storytelling in order to differentiate the corporate brand (Janssen et al., 2012). This paper investigates the content of corporate stories, as Janssen et al. (2012) suggest that if corporate stories are useful in reputation building then it is important to know how to use the corporate story most effectively, by first understanding the characteristics of corporate stories. Corporate stories are explored from the perspective of impression management (IM) theory, in order to bring insight into how the elements of stories could affect audiences' perceptions of the organisation (Elsbach et al., 1998), and therefore build the corporate brand, and ultimately the corporate reputation.\nCorporate storytelling: Corporate storytelling is suggested to help demonstrate the importance of the corporate brand to internal and external stakeholders, and create a position for the company against competitors, as well as help a firm to bond with its employees (Roper and Fill, 2012). The corporate reputation is defined as a stakeholder's perception of the organisation (Brown et al., 2006), and Dowling (2006) suggests that if the story causes stakeholders to perceive the organisation as more authentic, distinctive, expert, sincere, powerful, and likeable, then it is likely that this will enhance the overall corporate reputation.\nImpression management theory: Elsbach et al. (1998) refer to organisational IM as any action purposefully designed and carried out to influence an audience's perception of an organisation. The origins of IM theory are attributed to Goffman (1959), who presents a dramaturgical perspective of social interactions, which views people as \"actors\" engaging in \"performances\" before \"audiences\" (Gardner and Martinko, 1988). IM theory is a relevant perspective to explore the use of corporate stories in building the corporate brand, as Srivoravilai et al. (2011) name it as one of the most influential theories regarding corporate reputation, and Mishina et al. (2012) use IM theory to explore the formation of organisational reputations, and propose that companies often use impression management to manage stakeholder perceptions and evaluations. Stanton et al. (2004) argue that IM provides a rationale for corporate communication, and the study by George (2000) analyses the University of Texas' application of IM techniques to achieve its communication goals. Previous studies have used IM theory to explore forms of corporate communication such as the annual report (such as Merkl-Davies and Brennan (2011), Rahman (2012), and Schleicher (2012)), but there are a lack of studies focusing specifically on IM perspectives of corporate stories. The corporate branding literature notes that interactions with brand communications enable stakeholders to form an impression of the organisation (Abratt and Keyn, 2012), and this indicates that IM theory could also therefore bring insight into the use of corporate stories as a form of communication to build the corporate brand.\nLiterature review conclusion: The four reputation platform themes could be potential starting points of corporate stories, and could be presented by the elements of corporate stories suggested in the literature. However, the studies which identify these elements are predominantly conceptual (including Barnes (2003), Dowling (2006), Driscoll and McKee (2007); Larsen (2000), Marzec (2007), and McKee (2003)), and it is therefore necessary to explore the validity of the themes and elements with empirical research. The IM perspective offers potential insight into how corporate stories could build the corporate brand, by influencing the impressions that stakeholders form of the organisation. The link between themes and elements of corporate stories and IM strategies/behaviours indicates that these elements will influence audiences' perceptions of the corporate brand. The rest of this paper discusses the empirical study undertaken to explore the corporate stories currently presented by organisations.\nMethod: The cases in this study were selected from two populations; the FTSE 100 Index, and large charities in England and Wales with an income range of PS10,000, 001 and over (a total of 398 charities). The FTSE 100 companies are a suitable population because they include companies from a broad range of industries, which is important as corporate stories may be different according to the industry/industries the company operates in. A census was conducted of the FTSE 100 companies, and 100 large charities were randomly sampled from the population of charities, using a systematic sampling method, so there were an equal number of cases from both sectors.\nResearch findings: The web sites of all the FTSE 100 Index companies and 100 charities were searched for corporate stories. Stories were presented on the web sites of around half of both FTSE 100 companies and charities (47 per cent and 52 per cent), therefore 99 organisations and their corporate stories were included in the analysis. Some corporate stories were spread across more than one page of the organisation's web site, and these sections were therefore all included in the pool of data for analysis. The FTSE 100 company stories were on average slightly longer than the charity stories (average word length of 2,134 for the FTSE 100 company stories and 1,991 words for the charity stories).\nDiscussion: This paper has identified themes and elements of corporate stories, and introduced the use of IM theory to explain the impact of corporate stories on the corporate brand. The main contributions of this study are in identifying a gap between the theory and practice of corporate storytelling, with organisations in both the for-profit and NFP sectors missing opportunities to maximise the effectiveness of their corporate stories. Many organisations neglect activities, benefits, emotion, and strategy in their corporate stories, and focus instead on their accomplishments. Charities appear to be slightly more effective in their storytelling activity through the greater use of benefits and emotion, but there is room for improvement in the stories in both sectors, discussed further below. The study also contributes to the literature by illustrating that IM theory could explain the impact that stories could have on an organisation's stakeholders, and the links proposed between the story elements and IM strategies/behaviours indicate that story elements can affect audiences and build the corporate brand in different ways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A recent area of academic interest within corporate branding and reputation is the use of storytelling in order to differentiate the corporate brand, however there is little empirical research exploring the contents of corporate stories, and how they are used by organisations to build the corporate brand. This paper aims to utilise impression management theory to bring insight into the potential role of corporate stories in shaping the corporate brand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Corporate stories were identified from the web sites of 99 organisations in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and content analysis conducted on the stories, using a deductive approach to identify the story elements present in the stories.\nFindings: There are wide variations in the inclusion of different elements in the stories, indicating that organisations place greater importance on the inclusion of some elements in their corporate stories than others.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper highlights the point that while organisations are using corporate stories, they are not sufficiently leveraging them to build their corporate brand. There is a gap between storytelling theory and practice, in that the literature emphasises the importance of including benefits for stakeholders, emotion, and aspects of the corporate strategy in stories, whereas organisations frequently neglect these aspects and instead focus mainly on their accomplishments.\nOriginality/value: This study has found impression management theory to be a useful perspective on exploring corporate storytelling, and identifies links between the elements of stories and impression management strategies and behaviours. This indicates that the corporate story could influence the impressions that audiences form of the organisation and therefore build the corporate brand.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Big Data promises value: is hardware technology taken onboard?	[ "Big Data", "Networking", "Storage", "Knowledge economy", "Microprocessor", "Technology trends" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Earlier technology only provided a platform for processing data to yield information in order to improve the performance of existing processes, businesses and activities. With the advancement and proliferation of technology, the digital data nowadays comes from variety of sources (countless sensors, innumerous web applications, growing handheld devices and so on), in various forms (text, images and videos), in huge volumes and with high velocity. Big Data is the term used to describe this voluminous, heterogeneous and frequent generation of semantically unstructured data (Laney, 2001). Big Data is large in volume, complex in structure and aggressive in its production. Information and communication technology has always had a positive impact on innovation activity (Kmieciak et al., 2012), performance (Bayo-Moriones et al., 2013) and value (Ong and Chen, 2014) of an enterprise; Big Data being no exception. Big Data provides an opportunity to academics, industry and organizations to better understand a process or a phenomenon. If proper analysis of Big Data is performed and correct correlations are drawn, Big Data promises generation of new ideas, innovations, new products, higher productivity and profitability. Research has shown that knowledge creation has the potential to act as a catalyst for innovation (Begona Lloria and Peris-Ortiz, 2014) and Big Data not only promises creation of new knowledge but also new kinds of knowledge, on which an entirely new economy can be founded (Haynes and NGuyen, 2014). Big Data also promises entirely new classes of economic activities built on insights, and the value derived from it.\n2. Research methodology: Relevant research concerning Big Data challenges and current trends in hardware technology was identified by searching the online computer-databases for primary research material. These online databases included ACM Digital Library, IEEEXplore, Web of Science, Sciencedirect, SpringerLink, Arxiv.org, Inspec, Scirus, Scopus, CiteSeerx and such many other. They were searched for publication from 2000 through present. In order to ensure that relevant studies are not missed, the search terms remained broad. The search terms were categorized into two: first, terms which were meant to identify studies investigating Big Data challenges and requirements; and second, terms which were meant to identify studies investigating evolution and current trends in hardware technology. In former case, the search terms included \"Big Data\" AND \"challenges OR requirements OR hardware challenges OR hardware requirements OR technology challenges OR technology requirements.\" In latter case, the search terms included \"hardware OR technology\" AND \"evolution OR trends OR future.\" Many alternative keywords with similar meanings were created and were employed to identify the relevant studies. Furthermore, a comprehensive search using same keywords was made for internet resources which yielded white-papers, technical-reports and so on. Due to usage of broad and alternative keywords, the process yielded 227 related studies.\n3. Computation technology: In general at Big Data source, a digital processing unit is employed to digitize the raw data gathered. As an example, a sensor that monitors the heart rate of a patient in hospital uses a digital processor to convert heart beats into appropriate digital data. On the other side of the spectrum, Big Data promises value, if and only, correct and timely analysis is performed which also requires services of a digital processor. However, the computation requirements at Big Data source and sink are totally different. This section discusses the current trends in computation technology applicable to Big Data generation and analysis, and highlights its various shortcomings and challenges.\n4. Networking technology: Networking occupies the central position in Big Data analysis by facilitating both generation and analysis of Big Data. At one end of the spectrum, it allows the collection of data from sources; while as at the other end, it facilitates Big Data analysis in horizontal scaling paradigm. This section discusses the current trends in networking technology available to facilitate Big Data transportation and analysis in peer-to-peer networks while highlighting the technological gaps.\n5. Storage technology: Currently digital data storage is at the prime focus of every organization, like never before. Big Data and storage are being pronounced together in same breath. The fact is that due to high volume, velocity and variety of Big Data, storage subsystems are under great pressure to be able to store and retrieve huge volumes of data with reasonable performance. This section discusses the current technology trends in storage subsystems to support storage and processing of Big Data while highlighting the technological gaps between the trends and the requirements.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: Big Data offers wide range of opportunities to academics, industry, businesses, research and so on. It relies on the technology for its growth and analysis, in order to deliver the value it promises. One promise of Big Data analysis is knowledge creation and the economy built on it. For a sustainable knowledge economy to be an outcome of Big Data, technology must play its part effectively both at Big Data source and sink. At Big Data source, technology must keep on refreshing Big Data along all its three major axis, i.e., volume, variety and velocity (Laney, 2001). Otherwise, with time, Big Data would become stagnant and knowledge, so derived, obsolete. Similarly, technology must facilitate correct, timely and diverse analysis at Big Data sink, failing which agile, stable and strong knowledge economy could not be expected. However, as technology has evolved keeping in view many factors but Big Data, technological gaps creep in at various stages of Big Data.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges posed by Big Data to current trends in computation, networking and storage technology at various stages of Big Data analysis. The work aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and highlight the areas of potential research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs a systematic and critical review of the relevant literature to explore the challenges posed by Big Data to hardware technology, and assess the worthiness of hardware technology at various stages of Big Data analysis. Online computer-databases were searched to identify the literature relevant to: Big Data requirements and challenges; and evolution and current trends of hardware technology.\nFindings: The findings reveal that even though current hardware technology has not evolved with the motivation to support Big Data analysis, it significantly supports Big Data analysis at all stages. However, they also point toward some important shortcomings and challenges of current technology trends. These include: lack of intelligent Big Data sources; need for scalable real-time analysis capability; lack of support (in networks) for latency-bound applications; need for necessary augmentation (in network support) for peer-to-peer networks; and rethinking on cost-effective high-performance storage subsystem.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study suggests that a lot of research is yet to be done in hardware technology, if full potential of Big Data is to be unlocked.\nPractical implications: The study suggests that practitioners need to meticulously choose the hardware infrastructure for Big Data considering the limitations of technology.\nOriginality/value: This research arms industry, enterprises and organizations with the concise and comprehensive technical-knowledge about the capability of current hardware technology trends in solving Big Data problems. It also highlights the areas of potential research and immediate attention which researchers can exploit to explore new ideas and existing practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From "manager" to "strategist": An examination of the evolving role of persistent high-growth entrepreneurs	[ "Entrepreneurs", "High-growth firms", "High-growth entrepreneurs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Generally being considered as the engine for job creation in a region high-growth firms (HGFs) (Littunen and Tohmo, 2003), have received widespread attention in recent years, both in academic and policy research (Coad, Daunfeldt, Holzl, Johanson and Nightingale, 2014). Generally, applicable findings on the profile characteristics of HGFs, such as their age, industry and geographical location have emerged (Moreno and Coad, 2015). Another important stylized fact considers the persistence of high business growth. Most evidence suggests that HGFs do not tend to persist in their high-growth (Daunfeldt and Halvarsson, 2014). This has raised the question about the special characteristics of HGFs with persistent growth (Daunfeldt and Halvarsson, 2014). Do they possess certain vital characteristics that non-persistent HGFs do not have? The answers to this question are still largely uncovered (Moreno and Coad, 2015). Moreover, relatively few studies have gathered data on the founding entrepreneurs of HGFs (Wennberg, 2013).\nTheoretical background: Persistence of HGFs\nMethods: To gain insights in to the low persistence of high-business growth and the exact role of the founding entrepreneur during this process, we initially interviewed 28 HGF founders. In a second phase, four in-depth case studies were performed. In this section, we first describe the high-growth definition that we adopted, the database that was available and the way in which the interviewed founders were selected. After that, we focus on the case studies that were conducted. An overview is given of the data collection process, the data analysis, the research design and the characteristics of the analyzed firms.\nResults: First, the main findings from the 28 interviews are presented followed by the results of the four in-depth case studies.\nDiscussion: The results that were presented above have suggested that high-growth entrepreneurs are better able to delegate their operational management tasks and move to a strategic role if their firm develops a strong human capital base with a talented pool of managers, if they start building a \"professional\" organizational structure in an early phase and if they acquire the necessary strategic skills during the high-growth period. Once the high-growth entrepreneurs reached the \"strategist\" phase, they all stated that the whole firm benefited from their new role. Shifting the focus from the day-to-day operational management to a focus on spotting promising business opportunities eventually led to the offering of a broader product range, the existence of more business units or the acquisition of other entities:As soon as I delegated the majority of my managerial tasks to the people who are currently holding the position of CFO and COO, I could focus again on the development of the business. Before this, I was too busy with the exploitation of the existing business units, which has undoubtedly resulted in missing certain promising opportunities. Recently, we started up a third business unit which was only made possible by the time that I created for exploring new opportunities within my network. Eventually, I believe that this broader service offering will lead to a renewed period of high-growth for our firm(Entrepreneur firm O2).\nLimitations and further research: Our research is subject to certain limitations. First, the data are based on the representations of the interviewees and on the interpretations of their experiences after the transformation process of the entrepreneur took place. This may have affected certain reconstructions as there could have been a distorted recollection or hindsight bias in some cases. However, we believe that sufficient interviews have been conducted and that data triangulation has been carried out to limit this risk to a minimum. Second, our research is based on a case study with four firms. This has provided the depth to generate rich descriptions, but has limited the generalizability of the findings. We tried to touch on certain dimensions that play a role in the transformation process of the entrepreneurs of HGFs. Applying a more deductive and quantitative research design, in order to test the dimensions that came across in this research and to discover potential additional dimensions, is highly recommended as it likely that this will add value to our findings and may lead to theory development. Third, this study has tried to \"scratch the surface\" as it has pointed to the importance of diversification and business development that resulted from the high-growth entrepreneur being active in phase 3, which might imply that a changing business model and/or revenue model might be an important factor with respect to the content of the growth strategy that the entrepreneur has formulated and that he wants to pursue in the future.\nConclusion: The literature on firm growth is filled with studies that try to uncover the determinants of (high) growth (e.g. O'Gorman, 2001; Dobbs and Hamilton, 2007; Smallbone et al., 1995). Frequently, firm-specific characteristics (e.g. the access to finance, the scalability of the business model, [...]) and external characteristics (e.g. the health of the industry, the threat of new competitors, [...]) are analyzed and found to have an effect on a firm's further growth capacity. In addition, the characteristics of the high-growth entrepreneur and their impact on firm growth have been thoroughly analyzed. Barringer et al. (2005) found that high-growth entrepreneurs are better educated, more highly motivated and have more experience than founders of non-HGFs. However, the functional role of high-growth entrepreneurs and its possible impact on sustaining high-growth rates have been largely left unstudied. Our study has tried to shed a new light on the transition in the role of high-growth entrepreneurs and on the reasons why certain founders easily transition out of the \"manager\"-phase to assume a strategic role, which fosters the further growth of the firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Few high-growth firms (HGFs) are able to maintain high-growth over time. The purpose of this paper is to find out why only a small number of firms become persistent HGFs, explicitly focusing on the role of the founding entrepreneur in this process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Initially, 28 semi-structured interviews were performed with high-growth entrepreneurs to discover why so few founders could become persistent high-growth entrepreneurs. In a second phase, four case studies were conducted to uncover the factors that facilitate a swift evolution from the \"managerial\" role to the \"strategic\" role.\nFindings: High-growth entrepreneurs, who quickly make a transition from a managerial role into a strategic role are more likely to keep their firm on its high-growth trajectory. This transition is made possible by: the early development of strategic skills; the presence of a high quality human capital base; and an organizational structure with characteristics from Mintzberg's \"machine bureaucracy.\"\nPractical implications: The results are vital for entrepreneurs of \"one-shot\" HGFs with the ambition to make their firm a \"persistent\" HGF. If high-growth rates are to be sustained, the three factors that emerged from the authors' analysis should foster the delegation of managerial tasks, resulting in an easier transition toward a \"strategic role.\"\nOriginality/value: Insights are valuable as both founders and governmental institutions can benefit from knowing which factors contribute to a successful phase transition from \"manager\" to \"strategist.\"\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge sharing serves as a mediator between collaborative culture and innovation capability: an empirical research	[ "Innovation", "Knowledge sharing", "Product innovation", "Process innovation", "Collaborative culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business environment is changing rapidly and becoming difficult to predict (Yasir et al., 2016). Innovation capability was considered a decisive factor in creating competitive advantage and improving organizational performance in change context (Tamayo-Torres et al., 2016; Gomes & Wojahn, 2017; Chen et al., 2018). Many Chinese firms chose innovation as an effective solution to face with higher market complexity and the increasing competitive intensity (Song, 2015). However, they are still getting difficult in finding the right way and striving to become innovators (Song, 2015; Le and Lei, 2018a). Leavy (2015) proposed a question that: why more and more organizations today aspire to become more innovative but most of them still fail in creating the requisite willingness for innovation? Based on such a situation, identifying key factors that positively promote innovation capacity for firms is urgent.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: The effect of collaborative culture on innovation capability\nResearch methodology: Sample and data collection\nData analysis and results: Measurement model\nDiscussions and conclusions: Discussions and implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the correlation between collaborative culture, knowledge sharing and innovation capabilities in Chinese firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper used structural equation modeling to examine the level of how collaborative culture and knowledge sharing impact on two types of innovation capabilities (product innovation and process innovation) based on using data collected from 77 Chinese firms.\nFindings: The research findings show that knowledge sharing plays a mediating role between collaborative culture and two specific types of innovation, namely, product innovation and process innovation. The paper first confirms the moderating role of ownership form in the relationships between knowledge sharing and innovation capabilities. The results underline the necessity of building a collaborative culture to stimulate employees' knowledge sharing behavior, which in turn positively promotes innovation capabilities in an organization.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper has not evaluated the relationship between latent variables under the condition of moderating variables of individual characteristics (such as optimism and self-efficacy) or firm characteristics (such as industry type, firm size and firm age). Further research should examine the moderating effects of these variables to have clearer relationship between the constructs.\nPractical implications: This paper offers leaders a deeper understanding of the effects of ownership forms and potential factors to promote innovation capabilities in their firms.\nOriginality/value: The paper has contributed to theoretical and practical initiatives on the theory of innovation management which enable firms to identify the necessary factors and mechanism to enhance firm capabilities for innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The education of innovative engineers	[ "Construction engineering", "Education", "Innovation", "Tacit knowledge", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Dominant activities of an innovative engineer include: develop ideas, investigate, assess and balance risks, assess requirements, validate and optimise processes, verify and interpret outcomes, develop and evaluate design concepts, control the use of analysis models, make judgements/decisions, write technical reports.Dominant activities for an engineering student include: doing calculations, writing essays/dissertations, learning about theories. While this characterisation of student activities is not relevant to all engineering courses it does represent a twentieth century position.There is a very wide gulf between the two sets of activities. Traditional engineering education did little to promote the abilities needed to foster innovative engineering. A twenty-first century approach to the education of professional engineers is needed.\nAcademic and engineering cultures: Table I lists features which contribute to academic learning and to the practice of professional engineering.The features listed in Table I are intended to be interpreted as:* Contexts. While theories are used in engineering practice, the dominant issue there is not the theory itself but what the theory can achieve.* Processes. A determinate process has a unique outcome whereas a non-determinate process may have several valid outcomes. The fundamental processes used in engineering are non-determinate (e.g. design) with determinate sub-processes.* Milieu. This concept is closely related to the determinate/non-determinate distinction between processes. A main motivation in mathematics, which is mainly concerned with determinate issues, is to establish truth. This spills into engineering mechanics which is the use of mathematical models to predict the behaviour of physical entities. Some of the principles used in mechanics can be treated as being true or at least to be have sufficient accuracy that their validity in normal engineering purposes need not be challenged, e.g. Newton's Law of Gravity. But most relationships used in mechanics are subject to uncertainty - for example the use of linear elasticity to model the behaviour of structures. Students tend to be taught engineering mechanics as if it represented a determinate process and are not introduced to the uncertainty and messy complexity of analysis modelling in the real world.* Treatment of topics. In education the curriculum is divided into topics taught by specialists. Learning then moves on to the next topic with very little attention given to synergy among the topics. Later in the paper the negative effects of such isolation is discussed.* Communication mode. The main mode of communication in education is via text and mathematical expressions. In engineering, the dominant medium for communicating design information is graphics/drawings.* Writing style. The structure of an essay/dissertation is quite different from that of a technical report. A technical report comes immediately to the point - the outcomes come first. All unnecessary information is excised. It is made as short as possible consistent with getting across the necessary information. Compare this with essay writing where a theme is developed to reach a conclusion and the requirement is often for a specified number of words.These features characterise cultures in the sense of sets of shared attitudes and values. The academic culture embraces very little of the engineering culture. Student experience at university, in being so remote from engineering practice, provides little support for the development of engineering ability. As a result, the traditional practice of professional engineering is, in general, significantly sub-optimal.\nEffect of inability to innovate: Does the low level of attention given in education to developing ability to innovate result in low levels of innovation in practice or to low quality innovative outputs? One can argue that the standard of innovation in the construction industry is good. There are many instances in the UK of innovative buildings and bridges of great merit. Compared with some other countries the incidence of major failures in construction industry products is low.In the construction industry there is a proportion of people who have good to excellent natural ability for innovation and who may have trained with people with such ability. They take on the innovative work. Clients commission these people for innovative projects.There is however direct evidence from 40 years ago that structural engineers were not, in general, good at innovation. Plate 1 shows the 22 storey Ronan Point building in 1968. The corner of this building collapsed due to a gas explosion. The subsequent examination of this and many other similar large panel construction buildings in the UK in the 1960s indicated that a large proportion of the structural design features had serious faults. The designers had failed to identify basic design issues in a non-codified context. It was not only the structural engineering that proved to be faulty. These buildings tended to suffer from bad engineering in general. It is less likely that this would happen nowadays, not because modern structural engineers are in general better able to operate in such contexts, but because there are now more checks and balances in the system. If students were to learn the principles of innovative engineering would this not further reduce the risk of Ronan Point type situations?In addition to the academic and traditional engineering cultures, a third culture can therefore be identified: that of innovative engineering (Figure 1). So, we have a traditional academic culture which does little to support traditional engineering which tends not to be an innovative engineering culture.The fundamental objective for developments in engineering education should therefore be to change the academic culture, not to support engineering as it exists but to support an innovative engineering culture. The nature of such a culture is now discussed.\nThe nature of innovative engineering: Creativity may be defined as the generation of new concepts whereas innovation infers the development of creative ideas into useful outcomes (MacLeod et al., 1998). Just having original ideas is not enough. The greater the degree of innovation the greater the risk and hence the greater the need to focus on the processes for getting the outcomes right.How do the qualities needed for an innovative engineer arise? As with all human abilities such competence is a function of both native ability and of the culture in which the competence developed. Since these two factors are deeply meshed it is not possible to assess their relative contributions. But we do know that they are both very important. Gladwell (2008) argues that for outstanding performance in any field high levels of native ability must be there but the factor that generates peak performance is the amount of time spent on developing the competence. This corresponds to the quote from Thomas Carlyle that \"Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains\" or from Thomas Edison \"Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.\" Neither of these quotes refers directly to the genetic component of genius and my intuition suggests that Gladwell understates its importance. However, while we cannot alter our genetic inheritance, a lot can be done to steer engineering experience on a course towards innovation.The definition of innovation set out at the beginning of this section infers two basic activities:1. forming the ideas; and2. processing them to successful outcomes.Two types of thinking needed for these activities are represented in the form of a duality in Figure 2. A \"duality\" represent a spectrum of values between two extremes where the extremes are not seen as radically independent.Innovative engineers are able to move easily between the two modes of thinking implied in Figure 2. It is not a matter of free thinking to generate the basic ideas and then move on to a focused thinking phase. Creative ideas are also needed in the development of the processes for implementing the ideas and in the development of details.The generation of creative ideas - free thinking\nEngineering education: The introduction of professional engineering education in the UK\nTwentieth and twenty-first century modes: Engineering practice and education\nTwenty-first century engineering education: The major issue in education is to achieve a satisfactory balance among competing objectives. Dualities which help to characterise the need for balance are now discussed.Knowledge\nHow can twenty-first century education be achieved: Principles\nConclusion: Because of principles based on misplaced academic elitism established in the nineteenth century, traditional engineering curricula tend to develop an academic mindset rather than an engineering mindset in students. They do little to support innovative engineering. As a result, the large amount of money spent on engineering education in the UK does not represent a good investment. The academic mindset does not well support any professional context.The principles of twenty-first century engineering education set out in this paper could form the basis of a manifesto for change.We live in a world under stress from many angles: social, ecological, ethical, fuel energy depletion. We like to think of professional engineers as clear thinking, innovative problem solvers - just the attributes needed in such difficult times. The availability of twenty-first century engineering expertise was never more important. Should we not invest in converting education to support such competence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Traditional engineering education in the UK, as established in the nineteenth century, is based on the principle that a degree in engineering should be focused on engineering science and not on the practice of engineering. This has proved to be seriously negative to the development of engineering ability in general and innovative engineering in particular. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for this situation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Features of innovative engineering are outlined and a structure for learning which has potential to promote innovation is proposed.\nFindings: - Because of principles based on misplaced academic elitism established in the nineteenth century, traditional engineering curricula tend to develop an academic mindset rather than an engineering mindset in students. They do little to support innovative engineering. As a result, the large amount of money spent on engineering education in the UK does not represent a good investment. The academic mindset does not well support any professional context.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a challenge to universities and professional engineering institutions which should be addressed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-employment: the significance of ability, desire and opportunity	[ "Entrepreneurs", "Opportunity", "Desire", "Ability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The family is an important element for understanding an individual's decision to enter into self-employment. This has mainly been shown by illustrating that self-employment aggregates within families or that having a parent that is self-employed substantially increases the probability that the child ends up as self-employed (Aldrich and Kim, 2007; Andersson and Hammarstedt, 2010, 2011; Arum and Mueller, 2004; Dunn and Holtz-Eakin, 2000; Lindquist et al., 2015; Scholin et al., 2016; Sorensen, 2007). An important research objective is therefore to formulate and test hypotheses that might explain this familial aggregation and familial transmission. As expected, previous studies show that genetic factors contribute substantially to this familial aggregation of self-employment (Lindquist et al., 2015; Nicolaou et al., 2008; Nicolaou and Shane, 2010; Zhang et al., 2009). Furthermore, a number of models for explaining the relationship between individuals' personal characteristics (including the familial factors) and their likelihood of being self-employed have been proposed. Essentially, the models are either based on the so-called \"entrepreneurial event\" (Shapero and Sokol, 1982) or on the \"theory of planned behavior\" (Ajzen, 1991). Both models have been shown reliably to predict self-employment (Krueger et al., 2000). According to Ajzen (1987), perhaps the scholar most commonly associated with discussions on the subject of planned behavior, intentions should be understood as essential transmission variables mediating between the act of starting a company and potential external factors. This study employs the theories of intentionality, and considers the individual's choice to enter into and maintain self-employment to be a deliberate act based on intention.\nTheory and previous research: Scholin et al. (2016) suggested in an earlier study that it would be possible to measure the impact from the genetic disposition and the impact from the familial environment on the intention to be self-employed. As family most probably has a determining influence on the individual's desire and ability, it is possible to assess the respective size of impact from desire and ability on the intentions of self-employment. Therefore, this study will divide the total family effect between the effects of genes and common family environment, that is, the effects of nature and nurture, respectively, on the intention to be self-employed. And finally, as a complement, the study will measure the impact of the external environment on the individual's intention to be self-employed, a factor here called opportunity. To do this, two theoretical frameworks are used: theories of additive genetics and theories of the intention to be self-employed.\nMethodology: This study uses linked data from multiple Swedish nationwide registries. Linking was achieved by means of the unique, ten-digit personal ID number assigned at birth or immigration to all Swedish residents. In order to preserve confidentiality, the ID number was replaced by a serial number. The following sources were used to create the study database: the Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labor Market Studies (LISA), which contains annual data on employment status 1997-2010; the Multi-Generation Register, which provides information on family relations and the Total Population Register, which contains information regarding year of birth and gender. In total, the database had information of all Swedish citizens residing in Sweden sometime during the period 1997-2010.\nResults: The prevalence among full-siblings of natural entrepreneurs, inevitable entrepreneurs and hybrid entrepreneurs are 7.4, 11.2 and 16.9 percent, respectively. The corresponding figures for maternal half-siblings are 5.1, 10.2 and 12.1 percent, and for paternal half-siblings are 6.1, 11.1 and 13.6 percent. The tetrachoric correlations for self-employment in all sibling pairs are shown in Table II.\nDiscussion: Compared with the expanded model of the entrepreneurial intention by Fitzsimmons and Douglas (2011), the following results are notable (see Table V).\nConclusion: The main hypothesis of the study concerning the intention to be self-employed is verified, which means that the ability and the desire are different, both in size and content, for three types of self-employment, the natural, the disinclined and the hybrid entrepreneur.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of ability, desire and opportunity on the individual's intention to be self-employed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors created a database from Swedish national registers consisting of all individuals residing in Sweden sometime during the period 1997-2010 and selected all 333,001 full sibling pairs, 12,810 maternal half sibling pairs and 15,944 paternal half sibling pairs. Three types of entrepreneurs were defined based on information from the Swedish Tax Register. The authors divided the intention to be self-employed into ability and desire and defined ability as a genetic factor and desire as a common family factor. A classical twin model was used to separate the variance of the outcome variables into genetic, common and unshared environmental factors.\nFindings: The study demonstrates that the influence from opportunity on the intention to be self-employed is generally strong and that all factors, ability, desire and opportunity, differ, both in size and content, for the three outcomes of entrepreneurs.\nOriginality/value: The authors divide self-employment into three distinct company types, which enables a sophisticated additive genetic analysis of the ability, desire and opportunity to be self-employed. The authors contribute to the understanding of why individuals become self-employed by examining the influences from internal and external factors of family on the intentions of self-employment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of social variables on urban children's consumption attitude and behavior intentions	[ "Children (age groups)", "Consumer behaviour", "Socialization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Marketers and consumer researchers have ignored children as a consumer segment because of their little disposable income. As children are consumers, it is certainly reasonable to inquire about their shopping behaviors, such as the motivations underlying where they shop and what they buy. Children's unique shopping patterns are developed and affected by socialization agents, which include family, peers, media, and schools (Moschis, 1981; Ozgen, 2003). These influences are critical consumer socialization agents among children and adolescents, and may often impact whether or not the young will buy certain products or brands. Young consumers change their shopping patterns depending on the relative presence or absence of interfamily communication about consumption matter and adolescents' media use. Also, youthful consumption patterns influence consumer behavior as adults. Consumer socialization of children was also found to be associated with demographic variables, especially age.Children's learning of consumer behavior pattern has been of interest to researchers since the early 1960s when the first study of the development of consumer behavior patterns among children was published in 1964 (McNeal, 1964). Subsequently, children began to be recognized as a market (Ward et al., 1977). Only recently have marketers begun to consider children as a segmentable market with discretionary income (Rose et al., 2002; Wilson and Woods, 2004; Ozgen, 2003; Chan, 2005; Shoham and Dalakas, 2005).Many factors interplay to affect children's consumer decision-making that can directly influence their purchase behavior and family has been identified as one of the most influential factors affecting children's related decisions and behavior, operating at the levels of parent modeling and parent-child interaction. Past research has found that children's involvement in family consumer decision-making varies with product type, decision stages, and product sub-decision (e.g. Ahuja, 1993; Belch et al., 1985; Foxman and Tansuhaj, 1988). Overall, children appear to have significant influence in product decisions for which they are the primary consumer. This is particularly true when the product involves low financial costs. Their involvement is greatest in the need recognition stage and declines significantly by the decision stage. This is especially true for major products related to children (Beatty and Talpade, 1994). Children's involvement is lowest in the sub-decisions regarding make, model, and brand choices.Concept oriented communication has also been found to increase purchase influence of children (Rose et al., 2002). Gender has also been shown to be a distinguishing factor for children between the ages of 5 and 18 as consumers. Halling and Tufte (2002) found that boys were more informed, received more pocket money, know more brands and use the internet more frequently.Given the importance of children in the market place, and the widespread changes in society and the role of marketers, understanding these factors and its effects shall allow for the predictions of the economic power and market impare of young consumers as well as providing better insight and understanding of various factors that affect children consumer behavior pattern (Kraak and Pelletier, 1998). Traditional behavioral research on children has focused on what children think and know about the marketplace, what are the socialization agents from where children draw their consumer behavior, and the extent of children's consumer behaviors in the marketplace.Obviously, past research has contributed greatly to our knowledge about children's consumer socialization; however, much remains to be explored. While guided by the consumer socialization theory, researchers have identified many factors that would affect children's influence, but no research has tried to integrate consumer socialization theory with familial characteristics and put forward a model to study children purchase behavior outcome patterns. Thus, the relative influence of familial characteristics in the choice of the actual product acquisition has not been completely acknowledged and investigated by previous researchers. Research in identifying basic purchase behavior patterns in the area of children's consumer behavior is lacking, although literature on mathematical models developed for young adults can be found (Corstjens and Gautschi, 1983). Determining which factors might best characterize children's purchase behavior at different ages requires a basis for predicting when children are likely to learn to incorporate judgment patterns into their choice process (Ozgen, 2003).There is a growing body of knowledge about consumer behavior of children around the world and the majority of those studies were originated and focused mainly on US children (McNeal and Yeh, 1997). While such studies are useful, there is great need for comprehensive examination of consumer behavior of non-US children to assist researchers and international marketers to answer various questions pertaining to their behavior as consumers and to draw inferences about their preferences, and accurately predict their future choice behavior in the global market.In summary, little research has been developed in the area of children's consumer socialization to enable researchers and marketers to draw inferences about children's future choice behavior. Although consumer socialization theory has recognized the importance of parental roles in family socialization of children, research on the effect of familial characteristics of children's purchase behavior outcome is still lacking. The purpose of this study is to apply a consumer decision-making model to examine the relative influence of familial characteristics and their effects on the development of purchase behavior outcome pattern of the young urban Malaysian consumers. Specifically, this study aims to uncover the effects of several demographic variables on purchase behavior patterns.\nResearch design and selection: This study aims to analyze and understand the relationship between children's characteristics in the development of children's purchase behavior outcome pattern. Selected familial characteristics was examined and evaluated to determine the extent of their influence on children' consumer behavior and decision structure.Field interactive procedure was used in this study and specific research questions was formulated and structured. Based on the result of the pilot test done on 30 children, food items, reading material and stationary items were chosen for this study because they were ranked as the three most preferred products that children would like to purchase during their next store visit. During actual data collection stage, field interactive methods using formulated questionnaires were used to collect actual data from children samples in the urban cities of Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kuantan, and Johor Bahru in Malaysia.Research settings\nResults and discussions: Demographic characteristics of child samples\nConclusions: The results indicate that children of different age group measured from different gender group taken from four different cities have different preferential attitude towards product, producer, brand, store, and price when performing their consumer roles. Similarly, the results show that age, gender, and city of dwelling may significantly influence the development of children consumption attitude, behavior intention and purchase behavior outcome patterns.\nConsumption attitudes on products specifics: In this study, consumption attitudes on product specifics refer to children's favorability of attitude towards brand, price, store, and salesperson for food items, reading materials, and stationary items according to age, gender, and city of dwelling characteristics. Children's consumption attitude reflects children's choice process across four purchase situations prior to making actual purchase decision. Additionally, in this study, children's favorability of choice during product purchase decision process are measured against food products, reading materials; and stationary items according to age, gender, and city of dwelling situations.As predicted, the finding has shown that children's favorability of attitude varies according to purchase situations across product specifics. The significant differences that existed between age and city of dwelling and the measured attitudinal preferences revealed from this study has suggested that social variables such as age and city of dwelling to a certain extent shall influence the development of consumption attitude and purchase behavior patterns among young urban Malaysian consumers.\nImplications: The results of the study on social structural variables such as social status, age, birth order and city of dwellings appear to support the reasoning that demographic environment and family socioeconomic setting significantly influence the development of children consumption behavior. The result is consistent with the earlier study by Moschis (1981) which suggested that young consumer decision-making patterns appears to be based on certain parent/child characteristics such as age, social class, and sex, although the degree of associations varies by product type, and study by Ward et al. (1977) which found that learning processes vary according to social class, suggesting a better consumer learning among children of higher socio-economic class due to various socialization practices among these families, and/or due to the structural factors such as the availability of newspaper, magazines, electronic media and internet at this higher socio-economic class homes.The results of this study shall increase marketers understanding on family decision-making process. By understanding the decision framework and the various influencing factors affecting children's consumer attitude and choice, marketers shall be able to predict, plan and execute the right marketing strategy to maximize market coverage for children's products in Malaysia and neighboring countries.Besides using economically derived variables such as social class and parent income to segment the market, the findings of this study also suggest that social structural variables such as age, gender, and city of dwelling may also be used as a basis of segmentation of the Malaysian market. In the marketing of food products for example, the type of city of dwelling were found to play the most important roles in the purchase decision outcome, similarly in the marketing of stationery items, city of dwelling was found to play the most important roles. Hence, marketers should obtain more information about the country's demographic structures as a basis for good segmentation of the Malaysian market.In summary, the results of the study have revealed the relationship between familial characteristics and purchase behavior outcome pattern among young urban Malaysian consumers that can be used by marketers to develop effective marketing strategy focusing on young urban consumers that can be generalized to other East Asian markets. A thorough understanding of the relationship shall help consumer marketers to focus their effort to win children's choice, which shall potentially mean winning children's immediate and future market as well as getting the children to influence their family members to also purchase the intended products.\nLimitations: The first limitation relates to the difficulty to measure certain dimensions within the decision-making process. This could be due to the facts that family unit, being a private or intimate social groups, may at times become socially biased during the field interaction method. Hence, to overcome this problem, a combination of survey research, observation methods, and field interaction methods may also be used to studying behavior patterns in family decision-making.The other limitations relate to the age categories of the participating children whereby only Malaysian children between the ages of 9 and 14 years old have been examined, the study however did not consider the teenagers. Specifically, the study has looked at consumer behavior of the younger members of Malaysian households. However, youth marketers would logically be interested in consumer behavior of teens that traditionally are heavier users of consumer products in the country.\nDirections for future research: The results of this study have suggested several directions that might be taken in future research. It is recommended that for future research, children's actual decision influence and patterns of agreement or disagreement on product choice for specific product class, decision stage and sub-decision stage in the entire framework of family decision-making process be examined. This study could provide researchers with generalizations of findings that could help clarify the relationships among the views and opinions of mother, father, and children in the family decision-making process.This study may be replicated in other geographical areas in the region such as Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. These countries have both similarities and differences with Malaysia in terms of cultural background, religious belief, and phases of economic development. Another extension of this study would be to focus on variables tested in this study over a wider range of city of dwelling in Malaysia. The variables may be tested in a Malay dominated city of Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu and Alor Setar against Chinese dominated city of Penang and Johor Bahru. The study may also be segmented and replicated to other Malay; Chinese and Indian densely populated towns within the Peninsular of Malaysia, and several multi-ethnic and multi-dialect rural dwellings of Sabah and Sarawak.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of age, gender and city of dwelling on children's consumption attitude and behavior intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 300 children were interviewed in four different cities in Malaysia. Samples were selected using purposive sampling.\nFindings: - Findings indicated that age and city of dwelling were significant influence on children's consumption attitude and behavior intentions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study has looked at consumer behavior of the younger members of Malaysia households whereby only Malaysian children between the ages of nine and fourteen years old have been examined, the study however did not consider the teenagers.\nPractical implications: - These findings would help increase marketers' understanding of family decision-making process. By understanding the decision framework and the various influencing factors affecting children's consumer attitude and choice, marketers will be able to plan and execute effective marketing strategies to maximize sales for selected children's products in Malaysia.\nOriginality/value: - This research provides meaningful information on children consumption attitude and behavior intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fostering knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization: The impact of organizational commitment and trust	[ "Ethics", "Knowledge sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the modern business environment, resources and competencies are key factors that enable organizations to survive, innovate and grow (Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005). According to the knowledge-based theory, knowledge is one such crucial resource that organizations must possess and develop (Nonaka, 1994). Various researchers argue that knowledge resources can become a primary source of sustainable competitive advantage (Zheng et al., 2010; Kapoor and Adner, 2012; Swart et al., 2014). Matusik and Hill (1998, p. 683) also assert that \"firms increasingly rely on building and creating knowledge as a necessary condition to survive.\"\n2. Literature and hypotheses: Defined as a \"business process which relates to creating new knowledge and ensuring usage of knowledge within organization whenever it is necessary\" (Kor and Maden, 2013, p. 2), knowledge management has emerged as one of the most important topics in management research in the past two decades (Serenko and Bontis, 2004). For Von Krogh (2009), knowledge management also is a critical factor that every organization should take into serious consideration. Riege (2005) echoes this view by arguing that the competitiveness and performance of an organization largely rely on the effectiveness of its knowledge management process. Therefore, many companies have invested extensively in building different formal knowledge management systems to encourage and facilitate knowledge creation, transfer and utilization (Carter and Scarbrough, 2001). Following the resource-based view, an organization's capacity to develop an effective knowledge management system is a source of competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). Probst et al. (2002) propose that knowledge management encompasses eight processes: localizing, acquiring, developing (creating), sharing, disseminating, leveraging and storing knowledge. They further argue that these processes are all interlinked, and every organizational member should engage in them.\n3. Methods: 3.1 Data collection and sample characteristics\n4. Data analysis and results: This study employed a two-stage methodology to analyze the data. The first stage consisted of assessing the reliability and validity of the multiple-item scales using SPSS 19.0 and SmartPLS. The second stage involved examining the structural relationships inspired from the theoretical model (Figure 1) using a structural equation modeling technique in AMOS 20.0.\n5. Discussion: To clarify an important, interesting issue related to knowledge management processes, this study investigates the influence of trust and commitment on knowledge sharing, as well as the influence of knowledge sharing on knowledge utilization. Theoretically, this study extends knowledge management literature, as it pertains to knowledge sharing and utilization. As the results show, affective commitment relates positively to knowledge sharing (H1). Knowledge sharing among coworkers is an extra-role activity, and as noted by Morrison (1994), employees with high affective commitment view their jobs as encompassing a wider range of behaviors. This finding provides further evidence of the positive outcomes of affective commitment. Yet given that there are generally fewer job opportunities than there is demand, employers may mistakenly believe that they have little need to invest in the affective commitment of employees, who may seem easy to retain. The hypothesized negative relationship between continuance commitment and knowledge sharing is insignificant (H2), suggesting that continuance commitment may not be favorable to knowledge sharing, but it also is not detrimental to it.\n6. Theoretical implications: The findings presented herein make several contributions. First, we provide a deeper understanding of how employee commitment influences knowledge sharing. Our study reveals that the two kinds of commitment (affective and continuous) do not have similar effects on knowledge sharing. Affectively committed employees are more willing to share their knowledge and utilize the knowledge shared with them by their peers; employees with a continuance commitment profile are not. Similarly, the two types of trust (professional and personal) do not have similar impacts on knowledge sharing. This study is one of a few that attempts to expand the knowledge sharing literature through the examination of the two kinds of commitment and trust and their effects on knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization.\n7. Managerial implications: In unfavorable job markets, employees may commit to their employing organizations because they need to. Such continuance commitment does not influence knowledge sharing though, so managers must establish conditions that help employees bond affectively with their firms, such as by creating a fun workplace, building a strong culture based on shared values or providing meaningful work tasks. In addition, considering that continuance commitment exerts no significant impact on spontaneous knowledge sharing, managers dealing with high continuance commitment employees should consider rewarding them for knowledge sharing. Although this research did not study such rewards explicitly, because of their attachment to their organization, it is likely that high continuance commitment employees are more inclined to share knowledge if they would be rewarded for doing so.\n8. Conclusion, limitations, and further research: This research investigates the roles of personal trust, professional trust, affective commitment and continuance commitment for knowledge sharing, as well as the influence of the latter on knowledge utilization, as well as the moderating effect of business ethics. A quantitative study conducted among 307 employees shows that both affective commitment and professional trust positively affect knowledge sharing, whereas neither personal trust nor continuance commitment has a significant influence on knowledge sharing. Business ethics moderates the relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization such that the relationship is significant only when business ethics is high. This research represents one of the first attempts to better understand how different types of organizational commitment and trust influence knowledge sharing, as well as how business ethics functions as an antecedent of the shared knowledge to get used by its recipients. Our research, thus, extends the knowledge management literature and leads to practical recommendations on how to enhance knowledge sharing and utilization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of organizational commitment and trust on knowledge sharing and on knowledge utilization. Also, the study aims to examine the influence of knowledge sharing on knowledge utilization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was conducted among 307 employees working at Canadian organizations.\nFindings: The results reveal that both affective commitment and professional trust have positive influences on knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization, whereas personal trust and continuance commitment do not. The authors also found that business ethics moderates the relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization.\nPractical implications: These findings extend the literature on knowledge management and demonstrate, from a practical perspective, that in order to build a knowledge-sharing culture, managers must create conditions that allow affective commitment, professional trust and business ethics to flourish.\nOriginality/value: The current study offers an initial investigation of the effects of both kinds of commitment and trust on knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Overconfidence of vocational education students when entering higher education	[ "Self-efficacy", "VET", "Pathways", "Low socio-economic", "Overconfidence", "TAFE" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A key driver of Australian Federal Government higher education policy since the 1980s has been the recognition that greater participation in higher education is a central precondition for competitiveness, economic growth and higher living standards. In response to these influences, various initiatives by the federal and state governments, as well as policies established by educational institutions, have sought to offer more diverse and seamless pathways from vocational to higher education (Harris, 2009). In 2008, for example, Australian universities admitted approximately 9 per cent of their undergraduates on the basis of a vocational qualification, with the new generation of Australian universities admitting approximately seven times more undergraduates on the basis of such qualifications compared to the Group of Eight universities[1] (Moodie, 2010).\n2. Literature review: 2.1. TAFE to university (pathways)\n3. The present study: Data were collected via a survey conducted in first and again in second semester of 2012 from students studying a one semester subject on introductory microeconomics, which is a core subject for students undertaking the business degree. The study was undertaken in a dual sector university in Australia which has significant enrolments into their business degree programs from TAFE-pathway students. Students were advised that participation in the surveys was voluntary and that individual students' personal and academic data would not be identifiable. The survey took approximately 30 minutes to complete. Ethical clearance to conduct the research was obtained from the university's Human Research Ethics Committee prior to collecting data (SUHREC Project No: 2011/275). A total of 151 students completed the surveys. Of these, we had the final results of 147 students. The descriptive statistics are presented in Table I.\n4. Results: 4.1. The inter-related impact of enrolment in TAFE and self-efficacy on academic performance\n5. Discussion: 5.1. Potential sources of overconfidence in TAFE students\n6. Conclusion and implications: This paper has examined the performance (based on final results) of students who attended TAFE in the previous year, and low SES students, in a first year microeconomics unit in an Australian dual sector university. Students who completed TAFE in the previous year underperform relative to other students. We find that this underperformance can be explained by prior ability and the students' self-reported levels of self-efficacy. In particular, while, on average, a student's results are positively related to their level of self-efficacy, students who recently completed their TAFE studies are more likely to suffer from overconfidence leading to a negative relationship between self-efficacy and final marks for this cohort. We also find some evidence that lower SES students have lower levels of self-efficacy and as a result are underperforming relative to other students, holding all other variables constant.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is evidence that students who attend Technical and Further Education (TAFE) prior to entering higher education underperform in their first year of study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of self-efficacy in understanding the performance of students who completed TAFE in the previous year in a first year subject of microeconomics in a dual sector university in Melbourne, Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study utilises data collected by surveys of 151 students.\nFindings: A student's self-efficacy is positively associated with their marks in a first year subject of microeconomics. However, the relationship between final marks and self-efficacy is negative for those students who attended TAFE in the previous year suggesting that they suffer from the problem of overconfidence. When holding self-efficacy constant, using econometric techniques, TAFE attendance is found to be positively related to final marks.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings are exploratory (based on a small sample) and lead to a need to conduct cross institutional studies.\nPractical implications: The research points to the need for early interventions so that TAFE students perform well in their first year of higher education. It also points to potential issues in the development of Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) programs.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the inter-related impact of attendance at TAFE in the previous year and self-efficacy on the subsequent academic performance of TAFE students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Firm insurance and sickness absence of employees	[ "Insurance", "Absence", "Moral hazard", "Sickness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sickness absence brings high costs to society and to the entire economy through the loss of working hours and production. Vast empirical evidence in economic literature suggests that higher income replacement in sickness spells increases the absence rate. This is also in line with basic economic theory within the standard work-leisure framework (Brown and Sessions, 1996).\nInsurance scheme in Denmark and data description: Denmark has a comprehensive system of health insurance and sickness benefits where the health insurance is basically free and includes all treatments at GPs and hospitals. All workers receive their normal wage for each day they are not working due to sickness for the first two weeks.\nSelection into the insurance scheme and identifying the moral hazard: The formal rule requires that a firm may insure against the sickness of its employees if their total wage bill is below an exogenously defined threshold. If a firm is eligible the decision to insure should depend on two key factors - the amount of expected sickness absence and, indirectly, the average wage in a firm. Using formulas for reimbursement and the size of the insurance premium, we find that the participation in the insurance scheme is profitable only if the total amount of sickness hours (up to two weeks after which the authority takes over the main part of the bill) is at least 0.76 per cent of all working days of a firm[2]. After the second week of sickness absence, a firm need not be insured as it is reimbursed from the municipality. The role of wage expenditures is less straightforward.\nResults: We test the presence of moral hazard in the behaviour of insured firms using standard probit and instrumental variable probit models. The results are presented in Table I. Column 1 presents results from different specifications estimated using the full sample from 1999 to 2002. Coefficients in Table I are recalculated to marginal effects and standard errors are estimated using the delta method. Full results are provided in the annex of this paper.\nConclusion: In our analysis, we show a strong and robust presence of moral hazard in firms that are participating in the insurance scheme subsidising the expenditures related to absence due to sickness of employees. We use an instrumental variable approach, that is, justified by an eligibility threshold exogenously set by the public authority.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In Denmark and several other European countries, firms are obliged to cover the first two weeks of sickness. The insurance scheme is provided by government authority and is designed to help small firms with the financial burden related to sickness absence of their workers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of firms' participation in an insurance scheme on the long-term sickness absence of their employees, using administrative records.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To identify potential moral hazard, the authors use IV approach created by the eligibility threshold, in order to identify the true causal effect of sickness insurance on sickness absence of workers. The authors use the eligibility criterion as an instrument for the participation in the insurance scheme. The authors confirm the presence of moral hazard in insured firms.\nFindings: The authors show that sickness absence in insured firms is much more prevalent than in uninsured firms. Sickness spells in insured firms are shorter and the conditional probability to return back to work from sickness is much higher in insured firms.\nPractical implications: These results suggest that employees in insured firms are less monitored during the first two weeks and that their sickness is less serious. The authors demonstrate in the paper that the minimum cost of the present insurance scheme is similar to about 1,100 man-years. On top of that comes a substantial cost to more short time sickness.\nOriginality/value: The authors provide additional evidence on this topic using precise administrative spell data combined with socio-economic data. Compared to previous literature, the authors include duration analysis and identify the presence of moral hazard using a Cox proportional hazard model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Translation and validation of the Graham-Harvey survey for the Brazilian context	[ "Surveys", "Translation services", "Corporate finances", "Emerging markets", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over the past 60 years, research in finance has made significant strides in developing ever more complex theories to guide managerial decision making toward the maximization of shareholder wealth. Theoretical advances in the areas of corporate finance, asset pricing, and risk management have been nothing short of impressive. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned about how managers actually make financial decisions. Despite the enormous advances made toward understanding financial management, many aspects of financial decision-making are still not well understood. Hence, the investigation of the practice of finance continues to be an important area of research.\n1. Research design: Ethical, methodological, and statistical procedures are employed to provide an answer to the main research question. These procedures are described next.1.1. Ethical procedures\n2. Results: The scores obtained from the judges for the translated version of the Duke Special Survey on Corporate Policy are analyzed according to the psychometrics literature (Balbinotti, 2004; Hernandez-Nieto, 2002; Vallerand, 1989). As mentioned above, these judges were selected among experienced faculty members in the area of finance and CFO's of large Brazil-based corporations.We present the results of the analysis in Table III for the three aspects evaluated, clarity of language (CL), practical pertinence (PP), and theoretical dimension (TD), as well as the CVC for the questionnaire as a whole. A detailed table transcribing the original English and Portuguese translation of the instrument, as well as the coefficients of content validity is presented in Appendix 2 (Table AI).2.1. Clarity of language\n3. Summary and concluding remarks: This study demonstrates a procedure for scientific translation and content validation of a questionnaire originally designed for a survey in North America in order to produce an instrument suitable for administration in Brazil. We followed the psychometrics literature in our method. The translation of the survey instrument was performed by the technique of backtranslation, as a means to assure the faithfulness of the wording to the original survey. Next, a panel of experts served as judges to evaluate the clarity of language, the practical pertinence, and the theoretical dimensions of the questionnaire. The coefficients of content validity for each survey item and for the instrument as a whole were computed and it was found that, with only a few exceptions, the instrument is ready to be administered to Brazilian CFOs.The use of formal techniques in the translation and validation of questionnaires constitutes a distinct contribution to the discipline of finance. Field research in corporate finance enables a better understanding of the decision-making process of financial managers. Cross-cultural field research may help highlight the role of the legal, institutional, and macroeconomic frameworks in the financial manager's decisions. Therefore, cross-country comparative field studies are necessary. However, in order for such studies to allow for meaningful cross-cultural comparisons, researchers must ensure that they are asking the same questions in different cultural contexts. The techniques exemplified in this study are an important way of meeting this challenge[6].\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report on the systematic translation and content validation method used to produce the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Duke Special Survey on Corporate Policy by Graham and Harvey.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In accordance with the requirements for cross-cultural application of surveys, the paper accounts for obvious differences in language, culture, and the institutional setting and employ well-known techniques from the field of psychology, such as the use of backtranslation, to ensure faithfulness to the original survey. A panel of experts served as judges in evaluating the clarity of language and the practical pertinence and theoretical dimensions of the questionnaire. Coefficients of content validity for each item and for the instrument as a whole are reported.\nFindings: - The results illustrate how a questionnaire designed for one country should be rigorously translated and validated prior to use in another country.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although the content validity of the translated version of the Duke Special Survey on Corporate Policy for use in Brazil is generally satisfactory, a few items may prove to be a challenge for the Brazilian CFO to answer, particularly those questions concerning features that are uncommon in the Brazilian financial market.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explores the field study method in finance by borrowing from the vast experience of psychology research in the rigorous translation and validation of survey instruments. This study also highlights the similarities and differences in the interpretation of questions between emerging and developed markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technological knowledge breadth and depth: performance impacts	[ "Performance management", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Few would argue against the proposition that technological knowledge is an important source of firm performance. A host of studies in strategic management and industrial organization economics observed the expected positive relationship between technological knowledge and measures of sales or profitability (e.g., Chan et al., 1990; Cockburn and Griliches, 1988; Ernst, 2001; Jaffe, 1986; Pakes, 1985; Wang, 2008; Woolridge and Snow, 1990). These earlier studies considered technological knowledge to be unidimensional and, therefore, examined the relation between quantity of knowledge and performance. However, scholars in the areas organizational learning and knowledge development (Henderson and Clark, 1990; Nonaka and von Krogh, 2009; Starbuck, 1992) by have persuasively argued that organizational effectiveness is more powerfully influenced by specific characteristics of knowledge stocks rather than just total quantity. Following that line of thought, we argue in this paper that, rather than total stock, depth and breadth of technological knowledge are important for firm performance. We test our hypotheses on a sample of manufacturing firms, using information embedded in patents to measure depth and breadth of technological knowledge.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Patents, technological knowledge and firm performance\n3. Theory and hypotheses: 3.1 Concept of depth and breadth of technological knowledge\n4. Method: 4.1 Sample\n5. Discussion: We discuss three aspects of our study's results. First, using Sales Growth as guide we consider the relationship between depth and breadth of knowledge. Second, we give some thought to our study's reliability and generalizability. Third, we consider implications for further research and for practitioners.5.1 Explaining the relationship between performance and knowledge\n6. Conclusion: The study's findings are encouraging. Its results clearly indicate that firms need to pay attention to their technological knowledge stocks. As argued earlier, complexity theory could be of help in investigating the interactive effects of different technological knowledge dimensions. There is equally well a need to broaden the scope investigation beyond technology. Obtaining and sustaining a firm's competitive advantage needs more than just technological competence. In many, if not all, industries marketing competence is equally important. Marketing scholars posit that a firm's \"market orientation\" is an important determinant of performance (Kirca et al., 2005). A study of 748 firms spread across a wide variety of industries found that a firm's \"market orientation\" and \"marketing capabilities\" affected its return on investment (Morgan et al., 2009). While there exist a host of studies looking into the performance effects of one specific competence (or resource), very few have examined effects of two or more resources (Newbert, 2007). A fruitful line of inquiry would, therefore, focus on both technological and marketing competencies. Such studies should be carefully crafted to investigate both independent and complementary effects of the two resources on performance.As the resource-based perspective cautions us, resources, in and of themselves, do not assure a sustainable competitive advantage. Firms need capabilities to convert their resources into useful products/services (Teece et al., 1997). Human resource practices and organization structuring are important in this regard (de Pablos and Lytras, 2008; Danskin et al., 2005). Investigations of how these two capabilities moderate (or mediate) the technological knowledge-performance relation would yield rich dividends, especially to practicing managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the depth and breadth of firms' technological knowledge affect their performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An empirical investigation of a sample of US manufacturing firms was conducted. The main independent variables were measured using firms' patent data. Three hypotheses based on theory were developed and tested using multivariate regressions. To increase reliability, alternative industry and firm explanators of performance are controlled.\nFindings: - The depth and breadth of technological knowledge, rather than total stock, are significantly better at predicting three measures of firm performance that was used in the study - return on invested capital, sales growth, and Tobin's q. The two knowledge dimensions exhibited either independent non-linear effects or mutually reinforcing effects on each of the three performance measures.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study is limited to a fine-grained analysis of effects of technological knowledge. It does not take into account the facilitating role of marketing and administrative knowledge.\nPractical implications: - Corporate managers need to measure the depth and breadth of their technological knowledge stocks and include them in their planning models. Extreme combinations of depth and breadth need to be corrected and brought into balance.\nOriginality/value: - The paper represents one of the few studies to disaggregate a firm's total stock of technological knowledge into its depth and breadth components.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Complexities and challenges in the work-family interface	[ "Family", "Sociology of work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Work-family relationships are complex and multidimensional and remain an important ongoing academic and social policy area that requires multidisciplinary and multi-level investigation and collaboration. Growing out of research on inter-role conflict (Kahn et al., 1964), historically work-family research has tended to focus on relationships between specific work and family variables and usually from either a family-focused or a work-focused perspective. This has resulted in an expanding body of research coalescing around the perceived ability of individuals to control stressors stemming from one or other of the work and family domains. In their review of 190 work-family studies published in IO/OB, Eby et al. (2005, p. 180) note that while there is a growing body of research to suggest that work and family can positively influence one another, there is far more that points to a negative spillover in terms of work-family conflict.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on \"Complexities and challenges in the work-family interface\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper first introduces the theme of the special issue, and a brief outline of each paper contained in it is given.\nFindings: - There is concern that progress in the work-family research area has been somewhat restricted and may have failed to take sufficient account of the complexity of work-family issues.\nOriginality/value: - The literature on the work-family interface is complex, and theory in the field is uncertain and under-developed. The papers in this special issue should further understanding of the challenges and complexities underscoring the work-family interface.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding citizens' participation in service delivery protests in South Africa's Sedibeng district municipality	[ "South Africa", "Cities", "Public policy", "Local government", "Public services", "Citizen complaints", "Citizen participation", "Local public policy", "Public evaluation", "Public service delivery", "Citizen protests", "Municipality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Background: South Africa has committed itself to a developmental local government (RSA's Constitution, Section 153) whose objects are to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities, ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner and encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of local government. With the advent of the new system of local government ushered in from 2000, municipalities began to build administrative and institutional systems to improve the socio-economic conditions of local communities.National level databases show improvements in basic service delivery in South Africa, in accordance with the redistribution and development programme (RDP) commitment made in 1994. However, many households still do not have access to clean water, sanitation, free health care, refuse removal and electricity. Consequently, municipalities have started to experience a rash of service delivery protests in recent years. About these concerns have been raised regarding local authorities' failure/inability to deliver basic services. Many of the protests have turned violent, with some criminals exploiting the situation. The potent combination of indigence relative deprivation and by any measure squalid living conditions in some cases has given rise to the involvement of organisations such as the South African National Civics Organisation and the Anti-Privatisation Forum. Most importantly protests have taken place mainly in informal settlements and under-privileged communities. Data from wards show that these communities are typically significantly poorer, have higher levels of unemployment and have lower levels of access to services than the average resident living in their municipalities (Municipal IQ, 2010). However, service delivery protests appear to be spreading from hotspots in informal settlements to large metropolitan areas. It is doubtful whether government will achieve its targets of providing 100 per cent access to adequate sanitation, or 92 per cent access to an electricity supply by 2014. Former President Thabo Mbeki had, however, indicated in parliament in 2005 that poor service delivery could in the long run negatively affect the stability of South Africa. Understanding participation in service delivery protests is essential.An important gap exists in the literature with respect to studying participation in service delivery protests. Notwithstanding the variation between services generally, improved customer satisfaction especially over time remains curious given its inverted relationship with the (rising) number of protests. Also, academic literature is by and large qualitative. We also need to look at a number of other factors that might substantially affect participation in protests at the local level such as whether protest participants are also active in local politics and/or have participated in ward level meetings.1.1 Objectives of the study\n2 Service satisfaction: Consumer expectations are at the centre of studies of satisfaction. Although there is general agreement about the influence of customer's expectations in overall service quality and customer satisfaction, considerable work remains to be done regarding the exact way this process takes place (Coye, 2004). It is assumed that consumers create expectations prior to their service experience against which performance is evaluated. Perception can disconfirm expectation (either for \"worse\" or \"better\") or confirm it (\"neutral\" comparison).Authors believe that satisfaction is an emotional reaction, a transaction-specific measure (Bitner, 1990; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Emotions refer to a set of responses occurring especially during consumer experience (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). High levels of satisfaction may include positive and negative emotions (Arnould and Price, 1993). Putnam (2000) and Orren (1997) also argue that public satisfaction with public trust in government is a function of both public expectation and perception of governmental performance. They identify an inverse relationship between public satisfaction and public expectation but a positive relationship between public satisfaction and public perception of governmental performance. They opine that different factors involved in the perception and expectation dimensions jointly affect the level of public satisfaction with governmental performance. Satisfaction is perceived as a global consumer response in which consumers reflect on their pleasure level. Satisfaction is based on service delivery predictions/norms that depend on past experiences, driven by conceptual cues (e.g. equity, regret) (Oliver, 1997).2.1 The theory of reaction to service delivery\n3 Causes of service delivery protests: The literature finds a strong evidence that factors at the country or industry level which raise labour market returns to skills acquired through education in turn have a systematic impact on an individual's incentives to apply their human capital towards political activities (Campante and Davin, 2011). In short, the higher the returns to human capital in the production sector, the less likely that it will be channelled to political participation instead. The interaction between individual skills and the dearth of economic opportunities that reward those skills could lie at the heart of political turmoil in the country. The narrative of a youthful disaffected population has been widespread in discussions on the wave of protests in South Africa. Matebesi (2011) opines that young people are at the forefront of the protests in the former black townships and that these protests probably, to some degree, have a bearing on issues of youth development. He reports that if the mayor could provide a programme of mentorship for young aspiring entrepreneurs, service delivery protests could be partly contained.Many reasons for service delivery protests are offered. The primary reason is dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic municipal services especially in informal settlements. Unemployment, high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, and the lack of houses add to the growing dissatisfaction in these and other poor communities. These protests may be violent or peaceful but there is a clear dissatisfaction with the management of the affected local municipal council. They are also small, sporadic and limited to smaller areas. They are also not linked to each other (Hough, 2009). The form of these actions relates to the kind of people involved and the issues they have raised. They have included mass meetings, drafting of memoranda, petitions, \"toyi-toying\", processions, stay-aways, election boycotts, blockading of roads, construction of barricades, burning of tyres, looting, destruction of buildings, chasing unpopular individuals out of townships, confrontations with the police, and forced resignations of elected officials.A number of other causes of public protests are also provided. These include allegations of rampant corruption and nepotism within local government structures. Some protesters blame poor service delivery on the deployment of ANC \"comrades\" to positions for which they are not qualified. The Centre for Development Support at Free State University has published four case studies of delivery failures and protests in Phumelela, Khutsong, Phomolong and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities (Botes et al., 2007). They find that deficient service delivery has been caused by poor governance, individual political rivalries within local government, a lack of communication, an ineffective client interface, inefficient management and issues of affordability and unfunded mandates. Indeed Robinson (2007) notes that equity and efficiency outcomes are closely related to the availability of financial resources and local government capacity.Booysen (2007) writes of \"grass-roots protests against both the quality of service delivery and public representation of grass-roots\" service delivery needs' and Botes et al. (2007) note the importance of service delivery (notably around housing issues) and unresponsive local government (including unfulfilled promises) as being behind these protests.The Research Unit of the South African Parliament (2009) identified reasons that have been cited for the protests to include the following:* lack of/poor service delivery (water, sanitation, electricity, refuse removal);* lack of/inadequate housing;* evictions;* high levels of unemployment;* lack of communication with communities;* lack of leadership in the municipality;* corruption;* nepotism;* maladministration; and* financial mismanagement.There are those who view that some of the protests are also personally motivated, for instance in the case of politicians for example who \"did not make it on the ruling party (African National Congress) candidates' list before local elections\". A number of issues always come to the fore during and before South Africa's election periods and they are nearly always related to service delivery issues. In some cases, councillors are found to be inept, failing to consult with their people, and municipalities are often cited as problematic. Schlemmer (quoted in EISA, 2006a, b) claim that more than 50 per cent of municipalities were \"dysfunctional\" or \"severely challenged\", and much mention was made of corruption (EISA, 2006a, b) and of the inability of municipalities to spend their budgets.3.1 Other causes of service delivery protests\n4 Research methodology: 4.1 Characteristics of Sedibeng that inform sampling procedure\n5 Concluding remarks: This paper provides some explanation for service delivery protests in Sedibeng district municipality, South Africa. It is intended to throw light into stemming the tide to prevent it from spreading and developing into a fully-fledged revolt. Satisfaction with road maintenance, crime cutting and the provision of jobs are ranked very low. Ranking of service delivery satisfaction decreases with age and men tend to rate satisfaction higher than women. These are areas to attend to in order to prevent future protests. Protesters believe that doing so is the only way of getting things done. The overwhelming opinion of respondents is that the councillors are unresponsive.It is important for the South African government to carry out urgent interventions aimed at the efficient and effective functioning and service delivery of municipalities, and improving socio-economic conditions in communities. Government should prioritise crime prevention, job creation and development for young people. Health care delivery is important to long term residents. Government should ensure that all allegations of corruption and maladministration are speedily and transparently dealt with, without fear or favour.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss citizen participation in public service delivery protests in the Sedibeng district municipality of South Africa. The municipality consists of three local municipalities: Lesedi, Emfuleni and Midvaal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A structured sample of 1,000 respondents was used in the study. The descriptive and inferential statistics approaches were applied to understand the root causes of the protests.\nFindings: - Overall, the average level of satisfaction with public service delivery is quite low. Service delivery protest participants opine that doing so is the only way of getting things done in the municipality. The overwhelming opinion of respondents is that the councillors are unresponsive.\nPractical implications: - Public service delivery in Sedibeng municipality must improve so that citizens' confidence in municipal governance can rise. Sedibeng municipality should urgently improve the socio-economic conditions in the communities and should prioritise crime prevention, job creation and development for young people. Health care delivery is important to long-term residents. Government should ensure that all allegations of corruption and maladministration are speedily and transparently dealt with, without fear or favour.\nOriginality/value: - Studies that provide insight into citizen participation in public services delivery protests in Africa are very few and so this study makes an important contribution to our understanding of this important field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Failure of foresight: had the Cold War more than one origin?	[ "Marxist economics", "Capitalist systems", "Nuclear weapons" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Our foreign policy is [one] of preserving peace and strengthening trade relations with all countries ... Those who want peace and seek a business relationship with us will always find our support. And those who try to attack our country will be dealt a deadly blow, to deter them from sticking their snouts into our Soviet backyard (Josef Stalin, in a speech, 1934).Throughout the Spring and Summer of 1945 American officials developed their thinking on the use of the atomic bomb in close relationship to the planning of US diplomacy towards the Soviet Union ... [T]he public was not aware of this fact at the time or for a very substantial period thereafter (Gar Alperovitz, historian, 1995).\nEndemic antagonism becomes reality: Historical snapshot\nPsychological warfare joins the political kind: Novel diplomacy ... and another new emergence\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to recall, with specific developments in international relations, how the major powers failed to avoid prolonged political conflict that teetered for a half-century on the brink of war.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Evocation of developments tending to confirm reciprocal hostility instead of cooperation between partners in international enterprise.\nFindings: - Foresight and determination, often translatable into expression of trust, may ensure the success of an undertaking. The Cold War, with its political as well as psychological origins, was not such a case.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The period's history, now already detailed, remains incomplete. This paper is an effort to supplement other reconstructions.\nOriginality/value: - Planners, strategists and designers may profit from the material reviewed to avoid hostile interpretation by partners in future efforts of combined initiative.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
South Africa's economic response to monetary policy uncertainty	[ "DSGE", "Volatility", "Nonlinear", "Uncertainty", "C10" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As you are aware, heightened uncertainty is one of the defining characteristics of the monetary policy environment in many emerging market countriesDaniel Mminele (Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (2015).This quote from the Deputy Governor of the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB) points to the importance of uncertainty in monetary policy. How does the SARB deal with uncertainty, and more importantly, how does monetary policy uncertainty affect the economy? Even if this speech is most likely related to economic and financial uncertainty, the weights that the SARB attaches to inflation and output should induce uncertainty into monetary policy actions.\n2. Methodology: Following Mumtaz and Zanetti (2013), the VAR with stochastic volatility is given by:(1)\n3. Volatility shocks nonlinear DSGE model for South Africa: The DSGE setup is similar to Mumtaz and Zanetti (2013) that resembles Ireland (2004). The model is fairly standard, however, enriched with features such as habit formation, price stickiness and volatility. The model is representative of a small developing country like South Africa. In particular monetary policy in South Africa targets inflation by setting interest rates and forward guidance. Monetary policy is approximated with a Taylor rule. Habits in consumption allow for a smooth consumption profile over time regarding monetary policy shocks - this is in line with South Africa's well developed financial markets. South Africa is also characterized by a large set of monopolistic firms (Fedderke et al., 2007), which justifies our price behaviour setup. The DSGE model is used to analyse the transmission mechanism of volatility shocks.\n4. Conclusion: We study the effects of monetary policy uncertainty for the South African economy. We use a stochastic volatility model in a multivariate setup where the variables of interest, output, interest rates and inflation, respond endogenously. Monetary policy uncertainty is noisy with not a single period of low uncertainty in our sample. The volatile nature of monetary policy uncertainty suppresses inflation and output contemporaneously and lowers interest rates. Output, however, rebounds quickly. The empirical results are slightly smaller compared to a DSGE model. A simple DSGE model calibrated using South African data suggests that output, inflation and interest rates should decrease for the duration of the uncertainty shock.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of monetary policy uncertainty and its impact on the South African economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a sign restricted SVAR with an endogenous feedback of stochastic volatility to evaluate the sign and size of uncertainty shocks. The authors use a nonlinear DSGE model to gain deeper insights about the transmission mechanism of monetary policy uncertainty.\nFindings: The authors show that monetary policy volatility is high and constant. Both inflation and interest rates decline in response to uncertainty. Output rebounds quickly after a contemporaneous decrease. The DSGE model shows that the size of the uncertainty shock matters - high uncertainty can lead to a severe contraction in output, inflation and interest rates.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors model only a few variables in the SVAR - thus missing perhaps other possible channels of shock transmission.\nPractical implications: There is a lesson for monetary policy: monetary policy uncertainty, in isolation from general macroeconomic uncertainty, often creates unintended adverse consequences and can perpetuate a weak economic environment. The tasks of central bankers are incredibly difficult. Their models project output and inflation with relatively large uncertainty based on many shocks emanating from various sources. It matters how central bankers react to these expectations and how they communicate the underlying risks associated with setting interest rates.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that looks into monetary policy uncertainty into South Africa using a stochastic volatility model and a nonlinear DSGE model. The results should be very useful for the Central Bank as it highlights how uncertainty, that they create, can have adverse economic consequences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability in the global hotel industry	[ "Hospitality", "Sustainability", "Global hotel industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the early 1900s the concept of sustainability has attracted increasing attention in political, media and investment circles. In Ernst & Young and the GreenBiz Group's recent review of trends in corporate sustainability strategy, for example, it was argued that \"over the past two decades corporate sustainability efforts have evolved into a complex and disciplined business imperative focused on customer and stakeholder requirements\" (Ernst & Young and GreenBiz, 2012, p. 4). Many business leaders have been developing sustainability plans and programmes as an increasingly important element of their corporate strategies. A number of factors help to explain this trend. These include the growth amount of legislation and regulation on environmental and social issues; concerns about increasing shortages of vital natural resources; increased shareholder awareness of the importance of ethically sound corporate investments; and prominent press and television coverage of the activities of anti-corporate and anti-capitalist organisations and pressure groups. An ever growing number of large companies now look to publicly emphasise and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and sustainable development to enhance their competitive advantage, to build their brand and to differentiate themselves from competitors within the marketplace.\nSustainability and theoretical frameworks: The ideas underpinning sustainability are not new but the concept has attracted increasing attention in recent years. According to Diesendorf (2000), for example, sustainability is \"the goal or endpoint of a process called sustainable development\" (p. 21). The definition of sustainable development in most common use is \"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\" (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 43). In reality, however, there is little genuine consensus in providing an operational definition. Firstly there is a family of definitions essentially based in and around ecological principles and secondly there are definitions which look to embrace social and economic development, as well as environmental goals, and which look to embrace equity in meeting human needs. At the same time a distinction is often made between \"weak\" and \"strong' sustainability, with the former being used to describe sustainability initiatives and programmes developed within existing economic and social systems while the latter is associated with much more radical changes in both economy and society (Roper, 2012).\nMethod of enquiry: In order to obtain a preliminary overview of the extent to which the global hotel industry is addressing the challenge of sustainability the top ten global hotel brands, as identified by Heardable (2012) - namely Marriot, Best Western, Hyatt, Iberostar, Hilton, Relais and Chateaux, Ramada (part of Wyndham Worldwide), Holiday Inn (part of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, IHG), Ritz Charlton, and Jumeirah - were selected for study. The selected chains might be seen to reflect contemporary approaches to sustainability within the industry and to be keen to publicise their sustainability initiatives to a wide audience.\nFindings: The navigation of the top ten hotel chain's websites revealed market variations in the information the leading hotel chains publicly provided on sustainability. Four of the selected companies, namely Marriott, Ramada (Wyndham Worldwide), Holiday Inn (IHG) and Jumeirah published formal sustainability reports, while the other six companies provided varied but more limited information concerning their approach to sustainability. A number of the hotel groups stress their corporate commitment to sustainability. Marriott, for example, reports \"investing in sustainable development and innovative conservation initiatives [...] that will provide long term solutions to critical social and environmental issues\" (Marriott, 2012, p. 1) while Hilton defines its \"sustainability mission\" as being \"to benefit this and future generations by actively managing our business through the lens of sustainability\" and stresses that \"sustainability is now a critical performance measure for our business\". In a similar vein, Wyndham Worldwide reports its \"commitment to sustainability, which by definition means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\" and the company outlines how it is \"delivering Triple Bottom Line benefits\" by focusing on \"people\", \"profits\" and the \"planet\" (Wyndham Worldwide, 2011, p. 18). Iberostar emphasises its \"concern for the economic, human and social development of the communities where the company has a presence\" and its \"firm commitment to the preservation of the environment and respect for wildlife in all the destinations in which we operate\" (Iberostar, 2012).\nDiscussion: Sustainability is attracting increasing attention within the global hotel industry, but there are marked variations in the volume and the detail of the data and information posted by the top ten hotel chains. Although the majority of the leading hotel chains claim strong commitments to sustainability, several of them also recognise, either explicitly or implicitly, that they are at the beginning of what may be a lengthy and arduous journey, and as such a range of issues merit discussion.\nConclusion: This exploratory review of the global hotel industry reveals that there are marked variations in both the volume and the detailed content of the information that the top ten hotel chains post on the internet about their commitments to sustainability. While these commitments cover a variety of environmental, social and economic issues, they can be interpreted as being driven as much by a search for business efficiency gains as by a genuine concern for sustainability and the maintenance and enhancement of natural ecosystems. As such the global hotel industry would seem to be following a \"weak\" rather than a \"strong\" approach of sustainability and the lack of independent external assurance, mentioned earlier, certainly calls into question the transparency and credibility of the reporting process. More fundamentally the authors would argue that the global hotel industry's commitments to sustainability have been developed within existing capitalist business models which are focused on continuing economic growth. This, in turn, echoes Roper's (2012, p. 72) belief that weak sustainability represents \"a compromise that essentially requires very little change from dominant economic driven practices but effectively works to defuse opposition, increase legitimacy and allow business as usual\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory review of how the global hotel industry publicly communicates its approach to sustainability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper begins with an outline of the growing importance of sustainability within the hospitality industry and a short discussion of the characteristics of sustainability. The paper draws its empirical material from the most recent information on sustainability posted on the world's leading hotel chains' corporate websites.\nFindings: The findings reveal that while there is considerable variation in the information the leading hotel chains provided publicly on their sustainability commitments and achievements, they embrace a wide range of environmental, social and economic issues. More critically, the authors argue that these commitments are driven more by the search for efficiency gains, that they are couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth, and that as such the global hotel industry is currently pursuing a \"weak\" rather than a \"strong\" model of sustainability.\nPractical implications: The paper suggests that although the leading global hotel companies are well placed to take a leading role in promoting sustainability, they may need to extend their sustainability reporting and to introduce external assurance procedures.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides an accessible review of the sustainability agendas currently being pursued within the global hotel industry and as such it will interest academics, students and practitioners interested in both the hospitality industry and corporate sustainability strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A case study of the investment yields of high street banks	[ "Investment", "Great Britain", "Influencing factors", "Yields", "Banking-halls", "Portfolio building" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the past two decades, many of the UK's leading companies have released value from their operational property through the process of sale-and-leaseback. Much of the wealth of these companies has traditionally been held in real estate. Prevailing theory has been that they should release capital from their real estate holdings. The British retail banks have been one of the pre-eminent types of company adopting the sale-and-leaseback approach with respect to their operational properties. In particular, the approach has found favour amongst the leading British retail banks. The latter are defined as Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland Group (including National Westminster), HSBC and HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland). The overwhelming number of cases have comprised the operational retail banking premises of Barclays, HSBC and the former Lloyds TSB. The sale-and-leaseback of banking-halls has been conducted by a small number of property consultants based in London. Where these properties have been sold as individual lots rather than as parts of portfolios, they have been sold by public auction in London. The high profile sale-and-leaseback transactions offered at auction in London have attracted keen interest and high demand from private investors. This has been reflected by the low yields at which these properties have sold relative to the overall property investment market at any given time. In total, 97 Midland Bank lots sold at an auction in 1997 achieved a mean yield of 7.94 per cent. By 2006, many banking-halls lots were achieving yields below 4 per cent. Between 1997 and 2006, there had been yield compression in the wider property investment market. Throughout that period, banking-halls have consistently achieved lower yields than some other property classes at any given time. In contrast, following the 2008 credit crunch yields increased for a few years during a period of economic uncertainty.\n2. Influencing factors: Different investors may have their own over-riding objectives that will influence their investment decisions. They may be influenced more by anticipated yields, rental growth or capital growth. One measure commonly used in making property investment decisions is the all risks yield (ARY) which is positively associated with the rental return. Isaac and O'Leary (2013) show that initial yield and the ARY are the same when applied to freehold property let at the full market rent. Both are determined by the net initial rental income, although ARY is derived from the analysis of the comparables of similar fully let properties, and this infers that higher the yield the higher the return is (French and Patrick, 2015). To maximize their returns on property investments, investors and their professional advisors need to be able to identify those factors having the greatest influence on yields. The ARY adopted by the property professionals does not make any allowance for management costs and letting voids. However, the ARY is very easy to calculate, being the inverse of years' purchase expressed as a percentage. In a practical sense, ARY is capable of being easily calculated in a fast moving auction environment. Accordingly, the approach is much favoured by property professionals (Mackmin, 2009).\n3. Hypothesis and research methods: British banking-halls are an especially safe and secure form of investment, thus attracting strong demand from the investors. This research aims to identify the variables most influencing the ARY of banking-halls. Based on the review of literature and professional practice, it was hypothesized that the ARY can be influenced by:\n4. Findings and discussion: 4.1. Semi-structured interview results\n5. Validation of the hypothesis: The results of the qualitative interviews and questionnaire survey confirm that the four proposed factors having significant influence on the yields and investors' decision-making when purchasing retail banking premises on sale-and-leaseback terms were:\n6. Conclusions: The demand for investment property in the UK post the 2008 credit crunch has remained high. This high demand has been due to low rates of interest on capital deposited, resulting in property yielding between five and ten times the return of deposits. Since bank tenants have always been perceived by the market as being strong covenants, much of the revival in demand from private investors has been directed towards banking-halls.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Sale-and-leaseback has become an increasingly common approach during the last two decades in the investment of high street banks (banking-halls) in the UK. One measure commonly used in making property investment decisions is the all risks yield (ARY) which is associated with the level of rental income. Investors and their advisors need to know which factors are likely to result in the highest ARY when assembling investment portfolios of such properties. The purpose of this paper is to identify those yield influences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative multiple-case study was adopted. A literature review generated a hypothesis which was tested by a qualitative study, based upon semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire, to establish the influencing factors. Expert interviews were held with the heads of those three major auction-houses dealing with auctions of all retail bank premises in the Great Britain market, whilst the questionnaire survey involved investment professionals from within the auction-houses.\nFindings: The study confirmed that the four factors influencing yields and investors' decision-making when purchasing retail banking premises were tenant banking company (brand names), regional location (north and south super-regions), lot size (hammer price), and tenure (freehold or leasehold).\nResearch limitations/implications: This investigation focuses on Great Britain's geographical and political area which includes England, Scotland and Wales, but excludes Northern Ireland. This research focuses on banking-halls as a sub-class of retail property investment. The findings form a baseline upon which further research can be conducted on other sub-types of retail property such as high street shops and retail parks. The results will also underpin the development of a quantitative yield predictive model based on regression analysis.\nPractical implications: To maximize the returns on property investments, investors and their professional advisors can use those factors having the greatest influence on yields to make informed investment decisions for the building of property portfolios.\nOriginality/value: As a sub-sector, bank premises do not necessarily correlate to the generic retail sector. This research consolidates the broad systematic drivers of retail yields into specific factors influencing the ARY of banking-halls. The findings provide better understanding of an active but sparsely analysed sub-market of banking hall investments, and by so-doing help investors to maximize their investment returns.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adoption of internet banking: proposition and implementation of an integrated methodology approach	[ "Consumer behavior", "Internet", "Electronic commerce" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The 1980s witnessed a marked shift in the distribution channels of banking services towards self-servicing alternatives. Pressured by rising costs, ever more demanding customers, and the need to preserve profitability while standing out from the competition, banks found themselves forced to invest in new customer service channels such as internet banking (IB).In Brazil, the IB growth rate over the past years has exceeded that of the internet itself. According to Febraban (2004), the number of IB registered current accounts has jumped from 8.3 million in 2002 to 18.1 million in 2004, of which 16.2 million belong to individual account holders. The 2 billion or so transactions processed via IB in 2004 accounted for 7 percent of the year's transaction total, surpassing the number of check transactions. Financial sites are among the most visited by internet users, with 50 percent of the 13.5 million home users accessing them regularly (IBOPE, 2005).Additionally, taking into consideration that in 2004 alone, Brazilian banks invested 2.1 billion dollars in technology (Febraban, 2004), including the development of remote access technology such as IB, a relevant question is what prevents people from using the internet to control their bank accounts. In the marketing literature, this topic is usually referred to as adoption of new technologies (Rogers, 1983).Recent literature on marketing in the banking industry shows that several scholars have investigated the adoption of internet banking. However, the utilization of several theoretical models combined with a broad variety of data collection and analysis tools makes a comparison difficult between distinct studies and consolidation of their respective results.Therefore, this study has two key objectives - to propose a method that lends itself to studying adoption of new technologies and test it to find out the factors that influence adoption of internet banking in Brazil. The proposed method is based on three pillars: a model that reconciles the key constructs in the best known theoretical models of new technology adoption; a sampling process that includes both current and prospective IB users; and the use of multiple linear regression and multinomial logistic regression techniques as data analysis tools.Below, in the first section, we review the better known models of new technology adoption and the literature on IB adoption. In the following section, we set out the main principles of method proposed to look into new banking technologies. We then describe how the method was brought into operation and show the results of the empirical study. Finally, we discuss the results obtained and share the conclusions of the study.\nAdoption of new technologies: Several competing theoretical approaches have been used to investigate the determinants of acceptance and use of new information technology (Venkatesh et al., 2003). One of the most important lines of study in this area focuses on the determinants of individual acceptance of new technologies by using behavioral intention (intention to adopt a new technology) or behavior itself (actual adoption of a new technology) as dependent variables (Davis, 1989; Taylor and Todd, 1995). These models are based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985) and the adoption determinants are based on beliefs, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceptions of behavioral control.A second line of research has considered adoption of new information technologies from the perspective of the Innovation Diffusion Theory (Rogers, 1983; Tornatzky and Klein, 1982). This line also uses behavioral intention or behavior itself as dependent variables but the determinants are usually established according to the characteristics of the new technology.Below we look into the main features of the theoretical models most frequently used in the studies of innovation adoption, and more specifically into studies in the area of information technologies such as internet banking.Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT)\nStudies on banking innovation - proposed methodology: The current study aims to propose a methodology that can be used as a reference for future studies on the adoption of new technologies such as internet banking. The characteristics that set this methodology apart from others used in previous studies rest on three pillars, discussed in more details in the sections below.Proposition of an Integrated Theoretical Model\nMethod and procedures: Implementation of the method proposed in the previous section to determine the factors that influence IB adoption in Brazil is described below. The respondents engaged in this study had at least one current bank account at the time of the interview. They were sampled by convenience and approached close to bank branches at several locations in a Brazilian major capital. Clients from several banks were interviewed roughly in the same proportion as the market share that each of the banks then held on the Brazilian market.Three types of questionnaire were prepared to cater for the three groups elected for the study: internet/IB users (IIB), internet/non-IB users (INIB) and non-internet/non-IB users (NINIB). Interviewers picked the appropriate questionnaire according to the answers given to the screening questions.As suggested by Moore and Benbasat (1991), the items of latent constructs were formulated in terms of perception. The questionnaires explored similar topics which enabled an investigation into the same topic across distinct populations with a comparison of the results. In this case, constructs were expressed in different verb tenses according to IB users' status. Therefore, the items in the IB-user questionnaire were either formulated in the present or in the past tense (for instance, \"I can tell my friends about the advantages and disadvantages of using internet banking\", \"My friends influenced my decision to use internet banking\") whereas when the respondents were non-IB users, the same items were in a conditional tense (for instance, \"I would be able to tell my friends about the advantages and disadvantages of using internet banking\", \"My friends would influence my decision to use internet banking\"). Some items were put in the same verb tense in both questionnaires (for instance, \"The benefits of internet banking are clear to me\").The same type of adjustment had to be applied to the Intention to use IB construct. For IB users, the items tried to capture their intention to continue to use IB (for example, \"I will continue using IB to carry out my banking transactions\"), while for non-IB users the phrases tried to capture their intention to start using IB (for example, \"I intend to use IB to carry out my banking transactions.\"). With the exception of the verb tenses, the items in the constructs had the same wording in all tree questionnaires.In order to maintain comparability with most previous studies, the items of all latent constructs were measured by 6-point Likert type scales (1=totally disagree; 6=totally agree). The items for the visibility, results demonstrability, ease of use, trialability and image constructs were adapted from Moore and Benbasat (1991). The Compatibility scale of Moore and Benbasat (1991) was developed to look into the adoption of new technologies in organizational environments. Therefore, it captures only the compatibility between the technology and the type of work that the prospective adopter performs, rendering it inappropriate for this study. Instead, we chose to use an adaptation of the scale employed by Tan and Teo (2000).Since the relative advantage construct was broken down, the items therein had to be created for this study. Definition of the items in the relative advantage of convenience construct were based on the convenience that the internet offers (24/7 availability all year round, transactions can be carried out quickly from anywhere). The items in the relative advantage of security and privacy construct tried to capture users' common worries related to use of the internet, such as the risk of information theft, identity theft or sale of private information (Liebermann and Stashevsky, 2002). The items in the relative advantage of economic benefits construct try to capture perceptions about the cost of internet transactions (it's cheaper to perform transactions through IB, IB fees are lower) while the items related to the relative advantage of control construct refer to the possibility of controlling transactions (IB affords greater control over personal finances, IB permits scheduling of account payments, and IB permits retrieval of old transactions).According to the definition of subjective norm, the items in this construct were defined according to the influence that friends, family and workmates may have on the adoption of internet banking (for example, \"My friends influenced my decision to use IB.\").The items in the self-efficacy construct were adapted from Compeau and Higgins (1995). The items in the government support construct were adapted from Tan and Teo (2000), and the technology support items were specifically created for this study. The items in the intention to use/continue to use IB construct were formulated along the same lines as in other studies on IB adoption.The questionnaire went through several testing steps, including evaluation of the items by a professional translator and marketing scholar, and preliminary tests with graduate students and prospective respondents.\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion: With a few exceptions (in general, studies that incorporate the Attitude Toward IB construct and analyzed data by means of Structural Equation Model), results from the proposed model suggest that its ability to explain Adoption of internet banking exceeds that of previous studies. The adjusted coefficient of determination for the model using the Intention to use/Continue to use IB as a dependent variable was 60 percent and the pseudo-coefficients of determination for the model using the Actual Adoption of IB as a dependent variable ranged from 45 percent to 69 percent.According to Venkatesh et al. (2003), conventional models of innovation adoption \"usually explain about 40 percent of the variance in the intention to use a specific technology\" (p. 40) while the various models tested by these authors managed to explain between 17 percent and 53 percent of the intention to use the innovation proposed.Earlier research into IB adoption employed a broad variety of data analysis tools, making a comparison difficult between previous studies and the present method in terms of explanatory ability. However, we can say that the performance of the intention to use/continue to use IB model herein is at least equivalent to previous ones (for instance, Wang et al., 2003) while the performance of the Actual IB Adoption model is superior to that reported for previous studies (for instance, Pikkarainen et al., 2004).In the first model using the intention to use/continue to use IB as a dependent variable, most coefficients of belief-related variables had a significant main effect, which means that the multi-collinearity effect among them was relatively low. Additionally, all significant coefficients, with a single exception (Trialability), had signs in the expected direction.On the other hand, in the multinomial logistic regression model, fewer belief-related coefficients proved significant, although the coefficients of some individual variables were significant. Some belief-related coefficients had signs in the opposite direction to what had been anticipated.Maybe the most important point to be observed when comparing the two models is that the variables that influence the intention to use/continue to use IB are not exactly the same that influence actual adoption. While the first model produced no significant individual characteristics, the second model had three:1. has a home PC;2. age; and3. college degree.These results seem to suggest that, while actual adoption is also influenced by some individual characteristics such as possession of a home PC, age and a college degree, these factors do not influence the intention to use internet banking.\nConclusions: This study has two key objectives - to propose a new method to study innovation adoption and to use this method to investigate the factors that influence adoption of internet banking in Brazil. The results obtained from the proposed integrated model proved to be superior to those from most general studies on innovation adoption and at least equivalent to those on the adoption of internet banking. This corroborates the belief that the set of explanatory variables chosen is consistent and the decision to include in the model only constructs from the best known innovation adoption models was sensible. The main advantages of the proposed method are that this model is more comprehensive that those preceding it and therefore more suitable for a multitude of situations; in addition, the variables that influence adoption, are determined through analyzing not only intention measures but also actual adoption.Study results have also led to the identification of a broad set of variables that proved significant in influencing both the intention to use/continue to use IB and actual IB adoption in Brazil. Based on these results, Brazilian banks could develop marketing programs to encourage their clients to adopt IB.As an example, take the compatibility with lifestyle construct to illustrate how the results of this study can be put to managerial use. Compatibility with lifestyle refers to the extent to which people perceive that an innovation is compatible with the way they think, act and lead their lives. Aware of how influential this variable is on IB adoption, Brazilian banks could develop communications reinforcing the message that IB is in line with different lifestyles. Another example is the result demonstrability construct. In order to encourage adoption of IB, Brazilian banks could set up IB terminals at bank branches, shopping malls, airports and other busy venues so that their clients could personally check on the advertised benefits.Few differences were found between the two groups of non-adopters (internet users and non-users). One of the key conclusions is that experience on the internet doesn't seem to have a strong moderating effect on IB beliefs, that is, those who use the internet but don't use IB share with non-internet users a similar perception of IB and are not more inclined to adopt IB. This finding certainly deserves further investigation.By comparing results from the two models, we have concluded that while actual adoption is influenced by some individual characteristics (Has a home PC for the INIB group and has a home PC, college degree and age between 21 and 40 for the NINIB group), these variables do not play an important role in determining the intention to use/continue to use IB. From the managerial point of view, Brazilian banks should first focus on those clients who already have a home PC, are more educated and younger since they are the most likely to adopt internet banking.Despite the remarkable results, the study has some limitations that should be addressed in the future. The first limitation refers to the fact that the model was tested against a single type of innovation, internet banking. In order to be considered better than previous models, a model has to undergo testing in multiple and different categories. Once consumers have got to telephone banking, internet banking can be easily sold by staff, which could differentiate internet banking from other innovative technologies. In order to prove its explanatory ability, the present model has yet to be tested on different technologies in the banking industry (for instance, mobile banking) or technological innovations in general (for instance, video on demand on mobile phones).The second limitation comes from the selection criteria of respondents that do not accommodate generalization of results. Finally, it should be noted that measurement of certain items in the questionnaire did not work out as expected. It is suggested that future studies should focus on refining the proposed scales to include larger, probabilistically selected samples and investigate different types of technology innovations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study proposes a new method to investigate adoption of new technologies and tests this method by looking into the determinants of internet banking adoption in Brazil.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 600 respondents living in one of the biggest cities in Brazil were sampled for interviewing: 300 were internet bank users, 150 were internet but not internet bank users, and 150 were neither internet nor internet bank users.\nFindings: - The adjusted coefficient of determination in the multiple linear regression equation (dependent variable: intention to use/continue to use IB) was 60 percent and the main effects of the eight variables proved significant (relative advantage of control, compatibility with lifestyle, image, subjective norm, self-efficacy, relative advantage of security and privacy, results demonstrability, and trialability). The McFaden pseudo coefficient of determination in the multinomial logistic regression equation (dependent variable: a dummy variable for each of the three groups analyzed) ranged from 45 percent to 69 percent. The findings show that the variables that influence the intention to use/continue to use IB are not exactly the same as those that influence actual adoption. Specifically, the results seem to suggest that intention to use IB is influenced solely by people's beliefs about IB, while its actual adoption is influenced also by individual characteristics.\nOriginality/value: - The findings herein suggest that the proposed integrated model offers superior ability to explain adoption of internet banking to that of the models elected by previous studies. Furthermore, the model looks not only into the intentions but also into actual adoption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intrinsic motivation a powerful tool	[ "Development strategies", "Management development", "Engagement and learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Inter-employee knowledge sharing has become one of the most critical issues faced by contemporary managers.\nA mutual goal by generating a common goal: In contrast to the negotiated exchange, which explicitly promotes personal self-interest over organizational goals, reciprocal and generalized exchange forms are less extreme and, therefore, should not result in negative attitudes. At the same time, these modes should not contribute to the development of positive knowledge-sharing attitudes:\nImportant organizational citizenship behavior: Employees who engage in productive knowledge exchange inadvertently develop perceptions of affective attachment to their organization which triggers an important organizational citizenship behavior - knowledge sharing.\nComment: This article is based on the article in Journal of Knowledge Management \"Negotiate, reciprocate, or cooperate? The impact of exchange modes on inter-employee knowledge sharing\" by Alexander Serenko and Nick Bontis. The paper investigated the impact of exchange modes - negotiated, reciprocal, generalized, and productive - on inter-employee knowledge sharing, based on the affect theory of social exchange, a theoretical model developed and empirically tested using a survey of 691 employees from 15 North American credit unions.\nIn summary: *Intrinsic motivation - sharing one's own expertise with colleagues because doing so is inherently enjoyable, pleasurable, interesting, and important - was found to be a powerful knowledge-sharing tool.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Managers should focus on the development of positive knowledge-sharing culture.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The partial shock mode in reforms of local state-owned SMEs	[ "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Economic reform", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: State-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SOSMEs), which had a large number of enterprises and created considerable industrial outputs and job opportunities, played an important historical role in many old industrial bases such as Wuhan city, in China. Since the 1980s, however, in contrast to large state-owned enterprises, SOSMEs have not been given enough support from government. Unlike privatised enterprises, they could not establish flexible management systems that explained their structural defects and have become obstacles to the development of local economy and social stability. Various approaches have been used to resolve such problems, and some local governments in China implemented a model of reform characterised as \"partial shock model\" at the turn of the twenty-first century. This is an innovative approach to economic system reforms in contemporary China.Here \"partial\" means that reforms would only target those SOSMEs whose management system had not been transformed into a modern enterprise system. \"Shock\" means that reforms specifically focused on the completion of property transfer and conversion of employees' identity in a given period of time (normally within two years). This reform emphasised a swift change and differs from the former gradual reform mode. This mode is the practice of a new system that allows the central and local governments to address state-owned property rights respectively. This model was endorsed at the 16th National Congress of the Central Party Conference. Therefore it is necessary to do undertake further research and analysis of this important aspect of Chinese economic development.\nThe inevitability of implementing the partial shock model of SOSMEs: The partial shock model emphasises the necessity and huge potential benefits of a sudden change of system in the reform of state-owned small and medium-sized enterprises. Local governments, after long and careful preparation, can use this strategic measure as an opportunity to fulfil their aim of \"reforming SOSMEs in one stroke\" for optimisation of economic structure. According to an investigation conducted by the Zhongnan University of Economic and Law in conjunction with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Wuhan Municipal Government (Xiamen Municipal Government, 2000; Shenyang Municipal Government, 2002), it was decided to adopt the partial shock approach. For example, Wuhan government implemented compulsory reforms in 1,909 enterprises within two years, and over 251,300 employees completed the conversion of identities, and over 122,100 retired employees were taken over by the social security system.The social condition to implement partial shock\nThe feasibility of implementing partial shock model in local SOSMEs: The reason why this mode has received widespread confirmation is two-fold: momentum is accumulated by the long-term quantitative change, and the pilot cities generally accept that at its centre of reforms were the effective operation of property right, dealing with creditor's rights rationally, and safeguarding basic human rights. Moreover, they have also designed concrete reform schemes which are accepted by employees in the enterprises under reform and which can be operated by local governments.Effective operation of property rights is necessary for the functioning and positioning of local state-owned assets\nThe analysis of the partial shock of local SOSMEs in Wuhan: The integrated reform control system SOSMEs in Wuhan\nConclusions: Taking SOSMEs as our main focus, we have argued that implementation of the \"partial shock model\" in SOSMEs is not only essential but also feasible. More than 1,000 enterprises in Wuhan region of China have completed property right restructuring; hundreds of thousands of workers have changed their state-owned identity; and economic and social structures have been optimised, which has been the results of the positive changes in SOSMEs. During the process of reforms, there are still some problems such as damage to the benefits of creditors and unfair possession and distribution of state assets. It is too soon to evaluate the full effects of the reform, but we are optimistic with the rationale, directions, and main principles of the ongoing reform of SOSMEs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to examine the sufficient and necessary conditions upon which the innovative \"partial shock model\" was implemented in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study employs a multi-method approach, involving a case study of Wuhan city in 2004.\nFindings: - Evidence suggests that implementation of the partial shock model in state-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SOSMEs) is not only essential, but also feasible. More than 1,000 enterprises in Wuhan have restructured properties, and hundreds of thousands of workers have changed their state-owned identity, which has resulted in positive social and economic outcomes in SOSMEs.\nPractical implications: - The paper suggests that there is a need to combine business reorganisation with government's timely intervention so as to overcome potential problems such as unjust occupation of state assets and unfair distribution among different enterprises in the same city.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores the distinct Chinese experiences in reforms of SOSMEs, which is a relatively under-researched area of entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of foreign aid on corruption: evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries	[ "Development", "Developing countries", "Corruption", "Governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The subject of corruption has increasingly become a hymn among the scholars, policy makers and development community. Scholars have significantly attempted to measure its effects on development and the effectiveness of foreign aid as a means of improving governance and consequently reducing it (International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2005). For instance, Transparency International has constructed aggregate corruption indicator that covers more than 200 countries to measure the level of corruption based on perception of the citizens of respective countries. Similarly, World Bank has constructed and tracked down aggregate indicators of governance using more than 350 variables obtained from dozens of institutions worldwide (World Bank, 2006).\n2. Review of literature: Despite the importance of foreign aid-corruption nexus, there exists very limited literature on this issue. The existing theoretical and empirical literature on foreign aid is mostly focused on effect of aid on economic growth. Past studies generate mixed results on the relationship between foreign aid and corruption. Some argue that flows of foreign aid increases corruption in which the corruption itself is associated with low economic growth (Mauro, 1995). While some asserted that as more aid flows, the recipient governments tend to become less accountable thereby creating space for corruption (Knack and Rahman, 2007; Knack, 2001, 2004).\n3. Data and methodology: As noted earlier, we use QR approach developed by Koenker and Bassett (1978) to examine the effect of foreign aid on corruption in SSA countries. QR is a statistical method used to estimate and make inference about the conditional quantile function (Alexander, 2008; Koenker, 2005). It is an extension of least square approach that is used to estimate the conditional mean function (i.e. the function that describes how the mean of dependent variable varies with the changes in independent variables). In least square method, the independent variables are expected to affect only the position of the conditional distribution of the dependent variable. It does not affect the scale of the dependent variable or its other conditional distribution aspects. In this case, the research is bound only at estimation of the conditional mean of the dependent variable. However, this may restrict some of the research agendas. For example, in the situation where dependent variables affect parameters of the explained variables other than the mean, then, the analysis with least square regression will be inappropriate (Koenker and Bassett, 1978). With QR, the study of the full characteristic of the conditional distribution of the explained variable is possible. It allows us to study the influence of covariates at different quantiles of the dependent variables.\n4. Empirical results: In this section, we present the empirical results of the effect of aid on corruption. The discussion of the analysis divided into four three categories, namely; the total aid on corruption; bilateral (total) vs multilateral aid on corruption; and donor-by-donor results.\n5. Conclusion: In this study, we use the QR approach to investigate the impact of foreign aid on corruption using the data from 42 SSA. QR approach is much appropriate for the study of foreign aid effect on different as it enables to examine the aid effect at different levels (quantiles) of corruption. Our results suggest that generally, aid has reduction effect on corruption. The effect is bigger in countries with low CPI scores (i.e in more corrupt countries). Concerning bilateral and multilateral aid, the results indicate that both types of aid have statistically insignificant effect on CPI. Donor-by-donor analysis reveals that source of bilateral aid matters so much in aid-corruption relationship. Aid from some bilateral donors is relatively important and effective in reducing corruption while aid from some donors can in fact increase corruption. More specifically, it has been found that aid from USA and Germany is more effective in combating corruption while aid from other bilateral donors is either positively associated with corruption or has insignificant effect on corruption. It is also found that out of the control variables included in the analysis; the index of rule of law appears to be strongly associated with low corruption. This suggests that for the case of SSA countries, rule of law is a very crucial determinant of corruption.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of foreign aid on corruption in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Foreign aid is aimed to promote economic growth by complementing the recipient country's shortfall of financial resource. However, if the recipient country's quality of governance and institutions is poor, the process of growth will be undermined. Since foreign aid to SSA countries has been increasing substantially in recent years, it is imperative to explore its impact on the level of corruption in the SSA countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper opted to use a Quantile regression (QR) approach to examine the impact of foreign aid on corruption. The data cover from the year 2000 to 2010 for 42 Sub-Saharan countries. QR is appropriate to achieve the stated objective because the method enables to examine the effect of aid on at different level of corruption.\nFindings: The paper provides empirical insights on the impact of foreign aid on corruption level in SSA countries. The finding indicates that foreign aid has reduction effect on the corruption level of SSA countries. The effect is likely to be greater in nations that experience a higher level of corruption. The findings further reveal that aid from different bilateral sources has different effect on corruption. As a whole, the findings are statistically significant and robust to alternative measure of corruption.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since the study just focus on Sub-Saharan African countries, the research findings may lack generalization to the entire African countries or poor developing countries that are receiving substantial amount of foreign aid. Therefore, future research should incorporate all the African countries or all poor developing countries.\nPractical implications: Since the empirical findings reveals that aid reduces the corruption level and aid from different bilateral source have different effect on corruption, it is important to establish more cooperation between donor countries in allocating aid. The conditions attached to aid should be, among other things, be related with improvement of governance and institutional environment. Allocation of aid should be selective such that countries in institutional quality should be among the important criteria for a country to qualify for aid.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfills the need to study the relationship between foreign aid and corruption in the case of SSA countries. The aid-corruption nexus is relatively under explored issue especially in the case African countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial productivity issues of offshore and "Made-in-USA" through reshoring	[ "Supply chain management", "Sourcing", "Financial productivity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many apparel brands focus on a mass market interested in fast fashion and aim to increase profits by cutting costs through offshoring - the relocation of a company's manufacturing or business processes to outside of the home country - for example, China and other low-labor cost countries in the Southeast (The Fashion Law, 2016). Over 90 percent of apparel goods sold in the US were domestically produced in the 1960s and over 50 percent in the mid-1990s (The Fashion Law, 2016). There was a shift from domestic sourcing to global sourcing with most of apparel manufacturing jobs offshored mainly to Asia for lower costs during the late 1980s, resulting in over 90 percent of apparel and footwear manufactured overseas during the 2010s (The Fashion Law, 2016).\n2. Theoretical framework: In a BTAF/QR, there are six essential internal constituencies for an apparel firm that adopted QR. These include core areas of specialization encompassing all business functions including executive, merchandising, marketing, operations, finance, and supply chain (Kunz, 2010). The external constituencies of an apparel firm include communities, competitors, customers, families of employees, shareholders, and suppliers. In addition, an apparel firm is operated in a complex of cultural, ecological, economic, political, regulatory, social, and technological surroundings. Kunz (1998) postulated domestic production under the supply chain management system could be more effective in response to customers' demands more promptly and frequently than offshore production. Global sourcing of basic goods with a low retail price generally increases profits, while that for fashion/seasonal products tends to result in higher lost sales, due to stockouts or higher rates of markdowns on unsold inventories (Kunz, 2010). Global sourcing takes a longer lead time for initial delivery and subsequent replenishments, so it does not meet the rapidly changing customer needs as much as domestic production and/or sourcing (Kunz, 2010). In addition, wages and raw material prices in China are increasing; this encourages the textile and apparel manufacturers to reconsider domestic production as a viable option through reshoring (Friedman, 2012).\n3. Literature review: 3.1 Offshore vs \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategies\n4. Methods: Simulation has been frequently used in the supply chain and engineering literature. Simulation modeling provides flexibility to model processes and events to the desired level of complexity in a risk free, dynamic, stochastic environment. Sourcing decisions cannot be truly tested in the actual marketplace. Thus, simulation of sourcing decisions serves as an efficient decision support tool for merchandise planners and buyers to reduce uncertainty and adequately handle dynamism in production and distribution of fashion goods in retail supply chain environments (Terzi and Cavalieri, 2004; Yu and Kunz, 2010).\n5. Results: 5.1 Preliminary analysis\n6. Discussion and conclusions: The purpose of this study was to examine differences of financial productivity between offshore vs reshore sourcing scenarios for fashion/seasonal products when merchandise plan errors, including volume error and assortment error, exist due to high uncertainty of customer demands. According to the results, financial productivity, represented by three factors, profitability, inventory and costs, and lost sales - mathematically reduced from the 21 merchandising performance indicators, differed depending on a sourcing decision between offshore and reshore sourcing scenarios as well as on the levels of volume error and assortment error. Comparing these two scenarios, the reshore sourcing scenario through \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy with multiple deliveries can provide better profitability, including GMROI, by minimizing negative impacts due to under-volume error as well as over-assortment error than the offshore sourcing scenario with single delivery. When more customers were available than planned (e.g. over-volume error), \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy could increase inventory and costs to respond to the increased actual demand, while reducing lost sales. Increases in inventory and costs deteriorate profitability of \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy. However, when there were less customers than planned (under-volume error), \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy maybe more effective to reduce inventory and costs as well as lost sales than may offshore sourcing scenario.\n7. Recommendations for further research: There are many potential areas for future research regarding evaluating financial productivity aspects of offshore vs \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine merchandise performance-based financial productivity of offshore vs reshore sourcing scenarios for fashion/seasonal products with higher demand uncertainty, using computer simulation software.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using Sourcing SimulatorTM, the researchers generated a data set of 530 simulations concerning merchandising performance measures for offshore and reshore sourcing scenarios. Analysis of covariance was conducted for data analysis.\nFindings: Results show financial productivity differs, depending on a sourcing decision between offshore and reshore sourcing scenarios as well as on the levels of volume error and assortment error. The reshore sourcing scenario through \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy can have a better profitability, including gross margin return on inventory with service level, in cases of under-volume error and over-assortment error, than the offshore sourcing scenario.\nResearch limitations/implications: Findings from this study are based on simulation data, which may have a gap between simulations and reality concerning the competitive advantages of \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy. \"Made-in-USA\" domestic production strategy can be more agile and responsive to the uncertainty of markets and customer demands when the supply chain systems are well-integrated and fully implemented.\nOriginality/value: Results from this study contribute to fill the literature gap about differences of financial productivity between offshore and reshore sourcing scenarios for apparel manufacturers and retailers. This study also offers an insight of which decision response may be better to uncertain customer demands, while satisfying financial productivity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Academic staff's perceptions of characteristics of learning organization in a higher learning institution	[ "Learning organizations", "Performance", "Organizational learning", "Satisfaction", "Academic staff" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The survival of today's universities depends on how they accept changes, how they can improve their practices and how they can increase their competitiveness. As with other organizations, universities have been using various methods to improve their practices, services and competitiveness. Some methods are used to improve management, such as applying total quality management, training and organizational restructuring. However, becoming a learning organization is another means that some organizations and universities apply to improve their services and practices, and to increase their competitiveness.The construct of learning organization has been conceptualized and defined in different ways. For example, based on systems thinking, Senge (1990) defined a learning organization as an organization that has capacity for learning, and the ability to adapt to change and create alternative futures for the organization. Yang et al. (2004) defined a learning organization as an organization that displays continuous learning and adaptive characteristics. Based on these definitions a learning organization can be defined as an organization that possesses continuous learning characteristics or mechanisms to meet its ever-changing needs.Becoming a learning organization provides a promising mechanism of adapting to required changes, remaining competitive and fostering continuous improvement (Senge, 1995). Senge (1990, 1995) argues that a learning organization has the capacity to enhance organization effectiveness because through the learning organization process an organization develops its capacity to proactively respond to external changes and a competitive environment. From the process of becoming a learning organization an organization can also establish structures that can act wisely in response to turbulent changes (Watkins and Marsick, 1993). Furthermore, the concept of learning organization has been linked to innovation, team learning, continuous learning and performance in organizations (Wageman, 1997; Power and Waddell, 2004; Watkins and Marsick, 1993, 1999). The notion of learning organization was introduced almost three decades ago and during that time it has received increasing attention from researchers. In recent years, the notion of learning organization has been seen as a fundamental ingredient for performance and growth in organizations because learning and performance are interconnected and inseparable (Gorelick and Tantawy-Monsou, 2005). In this way, it seems necessary for an organization to identify its learning organization status if it wants to survive and to perform well.1.1 Efforts toward improvement in IIUM\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Learning organization\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Institutional context of IIUM\n4. Results: This section presents the results of the study. It describes the demographic variables of the respondents, the relations between satisfaction with performance and underlying dimensions of learning organization, as well as descriptions of the characteristics of learning organization and satisfaction with performance. It concludes with the contribution of learning organization to satisfaction with performance in teaching and research.4.1 Respondents of the study\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The main purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of learning organization in a higher learning institution. It also examined the relationship of learning organization and satisfaction with performance in teaching and research activities. The characteristics of learning organization were investigated using Marsick and Watkin's (2003) instrument, DLOQ, whereas the satisfaction with performance activities was examined using a self-constructed questionnaire. Using EFA, seven dimensions of DLOQ were identified to present the characteristics of learning organization of the higher learning institution under study (IIUM). Identification of the seven dimensions of learning organization in this study first shows the likelihood of applicability of the instrument developed by Marsick and Watkins to a higher learning institution. Second, the identification of the seven dimensions of learning organization in this study supports the construct validity of the original instrument of learning organization as developed by Marsick and Watkins.These findings also support the argument that learning organization is a multidimensional construct (Marsick and Watkins, 2003; Yang et al., 2004). Although the seven expected dimensions of learning organization were identified, as was the case in the original instrument, in this study slight differences in loadings of items were observed. In this study, some items did not load to their respective dimensions. For example, only five items out of six loaded on the scale of providing strategic leadership. Similarly, out of six, only four items loaded on the dimensions of empowerment and team learning. Moreover, only three out of seven items loaded on the continuous learning dimension. The nature of loadings of items as explained in this study resulted in the rejection of several items from some dimensions of the original instrument. It should be observed that the original instrument under discussion was originally developed and used to measure the construct of learning organization in business organizations. Therefore, for the results of this study only, it is too early to judge the inappropriateness of some items that did not load for a higher educational organization. Instead, the results of the loadings in this study indicate that research is required in similar higher learning institutions to assess the acceptance or appropriateness of the instrument in higher learning institutions. For satisfaction with performance, EFA shows that only six items out of 14 loaded on two factors, three items for satisfaction with research and three items for satisfaction with teaching activities.The academic staff who participated in this study have shown that their university (IIUM) has moderate levels of the characteristics of learning organization. All seven dimensions of the learning organization have merely scored at the middle level. This could mean that the academic staff perceived that IIUM had yet to reach a status of a full learning organization. It seems that what is happening is that the university is merely labeled as a learning organization because of its core business of teaching and learning, whereas the results of this study show that this is not sufficient for the university to acquire the status or characteristics of a learning organization. Possibly, there is a difference between labeling and practicing learning in educational organizations. This means that attaining a status of learning organization for an educational institution is more than merely labeling the organization as a learning one. Probably, achieving the status of a learning organization in a workplace in an educational organization needs purposeful creation. In other words, an organization can become a learning organization when individuals in it realize that they are learning. It might need a commitment by everyone in the university to create a climate of learning until all members appreciate or realize that their institution is a learning organization. The findings of this study are in line with the views of White and Weathersby (2005) who argued that our universities hardly resemble learning organizations. Probably, universities need cultures and leadership that can transform them to true learning organizations. They need a climate as described by Senge (1990) when he contended that learning organization can be seen when individuals learn in an organization.Similar to the levels of organizational learning, academic staff's satisfaction with performance activities in teaching and research were at moderate levels. The moderate level in satisfaction with performance construct could be contributed to by the status of learning organization as the results of relationship and regression analysis show. Based on this result, there is a possibility that the level of learning organization in an organization might predict the level of satisfaction with performance activities.The results of this study showed moderate and positive significant relationships between dimensions of learning organization and satisfaction with performance activities in teaching and research. This implies that when the characteristics of learning organization increase in the organization, the satisfaction with performance in teaching and research might also increase. These results support the findings of previous research on the relationship between learning organization and performance (e.g. Marsick and Watkins, 2003; Yang et al., 2004; Ellinger et al., 2002; Lopez et al., 2005). By contrast, unlike the results of Yang (2003) that showed the relationship among dimensions at the individual level tended to have a high correlation, in this study the results of correlations among dimensions at the individual level and among dimensions at organization level had patterns of clear differences. Probably, a study with a large sample size and using structural equation modeling, as Yang (2003) did, is required to examine the trend of correlations among the dimensions to exactly compare the results in different higher learning institutions with Yang's study. Moreover, similar to the findings of Yang et al. (2004), the nature of relationships among dimensions of the learning organization in this study indicates, to a certain extent, the degree of convergent validity of the dimensions of learning organization in evaluating one construct.The results of the relationship between learning organization and satisfaction with performance in this study were further supported by the findings of multiple regression analysis. In the multiple regression analysis, the characteristics of learning organization contributed significantly to both variances of satisfaction with performance in teaching and research activities. However, the contribution of learning organization to the satisfaction with performance activities was not very large but it was significant. Also, the contribution of demographic variables to satisfaction with performance was very small compared to the contribution of dimensions of learning organization. These findings support the results of previous studies by Ellinger et al. (2002) and Zhang et al. (2004). The low contribution of learning organization to the variance of performance in this study could be due to the fact that academic staff reported only moderate levels on all dimensions of learning organization in the descriptive analysis. Taken as a whole, the results of the descriptive statistics and multiple regressions indicate that the contribution of learning organization to the variance of satisfaction with performance depends on how individuals perceive the degree of presence of the characteristics of learning organization in a particular organization. It can be concluded that learning organization in institutions of higher learning is a promising construct to adopt. Having characteristics of learning organization could positively contribute to employees' perception of satisfaction with performance activities in their organizations. Because this study found that there is a significant relationship between learning organization and satisfaction with performance activities, deans of colleges and heads of departments of universities should strive to create clear characteristics of learning organization.Although the measure of satisfaction with performance used in this study was different from the measure of performance used by Marsick and Watkins (2003) and Yang et al. (2004) in business organizations, the results of this study support the previous findings of a relationship between learning organization and performance. These results encourage further research in the use of Marsick and Watkins' measurement of learning organization to investigate the construct and relate it to the appropriate measures of performance in higher learning institutions.Furthermore, the findings of this study contribute to filling the existing gap in quantitative research on learning organization within higher education. It has also contributed to research by investigating the construct of learning organization empirically and quantitatively because most of the existing literature on the construct is based on qualitative or conceptual frameworks (Tosey and Smith, 1999; Lopez et al. 2005; Kiedrowski, 2006).\n6. Limitations: One limitation of this study is the underlying constraint of perceptual measures in examining satisfaction with performance activities. Probably, future research needs to use more measures of perception and objective measures. This study has covered only the academic staff of the university; it did not cover other categories of staff such as administrative staff and technical staff. Therefore, these findings limit the generalization of the results to the whole population of the university under study.Another limitation is that the findings of this study are limited because a cross-sectional study was used to explore academic staff's perceptions at one particular point in time. Although it would be more useful to examine the relationship between the variables over time, this did not take place given the cost and time constraints imposed on the study.\n7. Suggestions for organizational practices: The findings of this study indicate that the university under study shows only moderate levels of characteristics of learning organization. The relationship between learning organization and satisfaction with performance was positive and significant. Therefore, to achieve a higher level of learning organization and increase satisfaction with performance the university should adopt learning organization characteristics. The characteristics of learning organization are those used in the instrument of this study as described by Watkins and Marsick (1993). Alternatively, the university could develop its own characteristics of learning organization based on the five broad concepts indicated by Senge (1990): personal mastery, systems thinking, shared mental models, team based learning and building a shared vision. Senge's concepts provide general necessary principles and guidelines to develop characteristics of learning organization (Yang et al., 2004)\n8. Suggestions for further research: The moderate level of learning organization in the findings of this research has raised an issue as to whether educational organizations are true learning organizations. There is an assumption that all educational organizations are learning organizations by nature because teaching and learning is their core business. However, the empirical evidence challenges this assumption, therefore, a clear demarcation between the labeling of an educational institution as a learning organization and the practice of a true learning organization should be made. Based on this line of argument, a study is required to investigate how the concept of learning organization is applied in terms of labeling and practice to educational institutions.Future research could also investigate how other organizational variables influence the perception of learning organization. Variables such as leadership, teamwork and academic staff involvement might be examined as to how they influence the characteristics of learning organization in higher learning institutions. A conceptual model such as the one proposed by Hannah and Lester (2009) can help researchers in this direction. Also, examining how learning organization influences variables such as student ratings of academic staff and actual number of published journals or books are more objective measures than merely academic staff's rating of satisfaction.This study investigated the views of academic staff and so a study involving academic and non-academic staff would give a fuller picture of learning organization in a university; it might also provide an opportunity to compare the views of academic and non-academic staff in the characteristics of learning organization in an institution of higher learning. These recommendations can be extended to other institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and other places because there is a lack of research on the construct of learning organization in universities and colleges.By using the same instrument of learning organization, future research could be conducted in relating the construct with the same satisfaction with performance activities or other outcomes of higher learning institutions such as consultation and social services, leadership and commitment to expand the understanding of learning organization and its influence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main objective of this study was to examine academic staff's perceptions of the characteristics of a learning organization within higher education: in this instance, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study also examined the relationship between the characteristics of a learning organization and satisfaction with performance in teaching and research activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey method was used in a sample of 400 academicians with a return rate of 214 (53.5 per cent). Watkins and Marsick's and Marsick and Watkins's learning organization questionnaire was used to measure the characteristics of the learning organization and to collect data for the study.\nFindings: - The main results showed that the academic staff indicated moderate levels of the characteristics of a learning organization and satisfaction with performance. The results also showed that there were positive and significant relationships between dimensions of the learning organization and satisfaction with performance activities in teaching and research. Furthermore, dimensions of the learning organization accounted for small but significant variance of satisfaction with both teaching and research performance activities.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes empirical findings on learning organization in a higher learning institution, a research area in which there is a scarcity of empirical studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Multi-disciplinary decision making in general practice: A case study of switching between oral anticoagulants	[ "Decision making", "Healthcare", "General practitioners", "Pharmaceuticals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Non-valvular Arial Fibrillation (AF) is an abnormal heart rhythm, which increases the risk of stroke (Roger et al., 2012) and of stroke severity (Marini et al., 2005) but patients have no artificial heart valve. To prevent stroke and thromboembolism (i.e. a blood clot), patients with AF are typically administered an anticoagulant. The traditional anticoagulant prescribed in Ireland and the UK, is warfarin. However, it has major side effects such as bleeding; a pronounced propensity to interact with other medicines; and a narrow therapeutic range which means extensive monitoring is required for its safe use (Dobesh and Fanikos, 2015). As populations age and people remain in the workforce for longer many AF patients receiving anticoagulation are economically active.\nMethods: Primary data\nFindings: GPs experience of switching between OACs for AF patients\nDiscussion: With regards to which prescriber initiated, maintained and switched treatment between OACs, evidence is sparse. A Danish study reported that two-thirds of switching decisions between OACs were made by a GP (Pottegard et al., 2014). Furthermore Poulsen et al. (2012) noted that switching decisions are often not explained by different physicians' preference towards NOACs or OACs but by something else, such as patients' profiles, patients' intolerance to NOACs or a change in renal function. Pottegard et al. (2014) advocates that switching can affect the organisation of thrombosis clinics and general practices who deliver OAC maintenance therapy. Thus if these trends continue, it should be taken into consideration in how services are configured. The ESC guidelines advocate a structured and integrated approach to care that is patient centred with involvement from multi-disciplinary teams (Ferguson and Hendriks, 2017).\nConclusions: Models of care that promote and facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach yield favourable outcomes. Specialists in a specific disease/condition work closely together, and patients and caregivers have time to discuss their condition, symptoms, treatment regimens and lifestyle behaviour with healthcare providers in a less time-poor setting (Stewart et al., 2015). As the Irish healthcare system, embarks on developing integrated care programmes, the necessary infrastructure to support these modules of care should be taken into consideration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Internationally, healthcare systems are moving towards delivering care in an integrated manner which advocates a multi-disciplinary approach to decision making. Such an approach is formally encouraged in the management of Atrial Fibrillation patients through the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Since the emergence of new oral anticoagulants switching between oral anticoagulants (OACs) has become prevalent. This case study considers the role of multi-disciplinary decision making, given the complex nature of the agents. The purpose of this paper is to explore Irish General Practitioners' (GPs) experience of switching between all OACs for Arial Fibrillation (AF) patients; prevalence of multi-disciplinary decision making in OAC switching decisions and seeks to determine the GP characteristics that appear to influence the likelihood of multi-disciplinary decision making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A probit model is used to determine the factors influencing multi-disciplinary decision making and a multinomial logit is used to examine the factors influencing who is involved in the multi-disciplinary decisions.\nFindings: Results reveal that while some multi-disciplinary decision-making is occurring (64 per cent), it is not standard practice despite international guidelines on integrated care. Moreover, there is a lack of patient participation in the decision-making process. Female GPs and GPs who have initiated prescriptions for OACs are more likely to engage in multi-disciplinary decision-making surrounding switching OACs amongst AF patients. GPs with training practices were less likely to engage with cardiac consultants and those in urban areas were more likely to engage with other (non-cardiac) consultants.\nOriginality/value: For optimal decision making under uncertainty multi-disciplinary decision-making is needed to make a more informed judgement and to improve treatment decisions and reduce the opportunity cost of making the wrong decision.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A model for measuring technology capability in the agrifood industry companies	[ "Innovation", "Technology management", "Agroindustrial systems", "Milk agrichain", "Technology capability index" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Technology capability (TC) plays an important role in achieving efficiency in a company's production process and degree of innovativeness. It is associated with the skills and knowledge necessary for a company to absorb, use, adapt, develop and transfer technologies. Its diffuse and tacit nature, its multidimensional aspects and interdependence with the productive activity profile imposes difficulties to identify elements that materialize the concept and allow its measurement. Evaluating the TC can be viewed as a multicriteria problem that includes a simultaneous consideration of both quantitative and qualitative requirements. Quantifying TC can help businesses understand their behavior and technology potentials, serving as a tool to analyze performance and support decision making, as well as the construction of references of the technology dynamics of companies within an industry or region.\n2. Theoretical framework: TC and measurement models: 2.1. TC\n3. Methodological procedures: Using a combination of literature review, observation research (expert interviews), AHP multicriteria analysis method and case study research, the research develops an index model. The proposed model was applied to the case of dairy agribusiness complex in Brazil (180 rural units, five fluid milk processing companies and six cheese factories). Since the objective of the research is the development of an instrumental-referential index for measurement, this work has the character of applied research. The four research stages presented in this paper are:\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1. Proposed model\n5. Conclusions: This paper advances the discussion of the TC concept. It presents an overview of the TC measurement structures focussing on food firms and proposes a model to measure TC performance that encompasses different aspects of the food sector. A second-order multidimensional construction (operational, organizational and relational) is proposed. Different from other analytical frameworks, the proposed TC index is calculated from a set of general indicators and a set of specific factors to the companies in the sector analyzed. In relation to existing analytic structures, the model offers an integrated and synthetic approach complementing structures of management analysis. The variables used in the proposed model are directly observable (e.g. presence or absence of function or department to develop RD\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on technology capability and develops a model for measuring it applied agrifood industry companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a combination of literature review, observation research (expert interviews), AHP multicriteria analysis method and case study research, the paper develops an index model. The proposed model was applied to the case of dairy agribusiness complex in Brazil (180 rural units, five fluid milk processing companies and six cheese factories).\nFindings: The index model developed includes five macroindexes: resources; technology upgrading; processes and routines; learning mechanisms; and coordination and accessibility. Results show that the model was able to identify the different technology capabilities of the companies studied and generated important information to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities for these companies.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to understanding of a technological capability in the agribusiness system companies and how it can measure this capability in an integrated and synthetic model. Literature shows any models but no record of an integrated measurement system composed of a multi-attribute applied to assess the agribusiness system companies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The determinants of the choice of Islamic banks in Tunisia	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Islamic bank", "Trust", "Service quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Modern Islamic finance began with the 1975 establishment of the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and the Dubai Islamic Bank, but its main growth is quite recent (Shoaib, 2007). The growth of Islamic banks was particularly encouraged by successive increases in oil prices (until 2014) and the need to recycle petrodollars (Siagh, 2012). In 2007, Islamic banks achieved annual growth in assets of 27 percent against only 19 percent for conventional banks (Kapur, 2008). This tendency continued after the financial crisis; global Islamic banking assets witnessed a compound annual growth rate of around 17 percent from 2009 to 2013 (World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2014-2015).\n2. Conceptual framework and research hypotheses: The marketing exchange approach has evolved over the last few decades, while companies have been changing their commercial methods. Traditional marketing focussed on satisfying the needs and desires of the customer and creating an orientation toward a product or brand without considering the social relationships among the actors. From this perspective, communication between companies and customers was almost non-existent; the latter were regarded as complete strangers, and there was no interest in understanding the customer's personality because the role of customer relations was chiefly to respect the company's obligations in accordance with the terms of the exchange. This exchange, named \"transactional exchange\" (Dwyer et al., 1987) or \"restricted exchange,\" is not sustainable, as each transaction is regarded as unique and independent of all past and future transactions. The customer has no preference, consideration, or loyalty concerning the seller. Reciprocally, the seller does not express any desire to know the preferences of the customers nor their perceptions and opinions of the service or product. This highly restrictive vision of an exchange was criticized for its limited ability to explain customer behavior. It has been gradually replaced by a new line of research over the past few decades, both on the theoretical and practical levels. It focusses on the concept of \"relational exchange\" and makes the relationship between the partners the main object of analysis (Oliver, 1999).\n3. Research methodology and data: Our empirical analysis is based on a questionnaire survey conducted in the banking sector in Tunisia. To minimize bias, we chose to administer our questionnaire to customers immediately after their experience with banking services. We contacted customers leaving branches of the major retail Bank in Tunisia. The convenience sampling method was used (Zikmund, 2000). The survey was conducted in April and May of 2014. We followed the recommendation in Hair et al. (2008) that the sample size be equal to at least five times the number of items in the questionnaire. To collect our data, we distributed 250 questionnaires, of which 180 were usable when returned (a response rate of 72 percent). In total, 70, questionnaires could not be used because of missing data. The questionnaire was presented in French.\n4. Empirical results: 4.1. Factor analysis\n5. Discussion and conclusion: Our research had two main objectives. First, we identified the determinants of selecting an Islamic financial institution in Tunisia. Furthermore, we assessed the moderating role of gender and age on the choice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the explanatory factors for the selection of Islamic banks and evaluate the moderating role of demographic characteristics. This study seeks to better understand these determinants in Tunisia, a country with a developing Islamic finance system and a culture different from those in other Muslim countries studied in the literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors developed a two-sided approach: a quantitative survey and 12 semi-structured interviews based on four customer segments identified by the quantitative study. For the survey, data were collected from 180 Islamic bank clients in Tunisia. The factors adopted for the selection of an Islamic bank are service quality, trust, and compliance with Sharia (Islamic) law. The authors identified and measured the selection criteria using a factor analysis, regression analysis, and demographic characteristics analysis.\nFindings: Customers consider several factors while choosing an Islamic bank: the quality of service offered by the financial institutions, trust, and (especially) compliance with Sharia law. Moreover, gender and age appear to be the only moderators between the selection of an Islamic bank and these determinants.\nPractical implications: This study offers Islamic banks a better understanding of how Tunisian customers select financial institutions. These banks must consider the different determinants of choice in order to create value for consumers and prepare their marketing strategies. The authors identify four customer segments based on gender and age by which the banks may improve their positioning and market share, thus contributing to the development of Islamic financial institutions in Tunisia.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study of its kind in Tunisia, where the market share of Islamic finance remains low. The study enriches the Islamic marketing literature on the quality of Islamic financial institutions' service, trust, and compliance with Sharia law. It also tests demographic characteristics as moderators. The results and implications of this research can be applied to countries similar to Tunisia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Forecasting energy storage technologies	[ "Energy technology", "Forecasting", "Patents" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The US Department of Energy constructs energy forecasts annually (Energy Information Association, 2009). In their February 2009 forecast, they estimate that our electricity demand will grow from 13,382 trillion Btu's in 2009 to a predicted 16,730 trillion Btu's in 2030. Similarly, the overall energy consumption of the US is expected to top 120,000 trillion Btu's by 2020 as shown in Figure 1 (Energy Information Association, 2008). With the increasing demand for energy in the US along with rising concerns over natural resource depletion and environmental concerns stemming from traditional energy generation plants, there is a growing demand for affordable, commercially available, clean renewable energy sources.While the need for renewable energy technologies is undeniable, as with most new technologies, the need for the complementary technologies to successfully implement the new technology is often lagging. In the case of renewable energy, many of the developing technologies are unpredictable or intermittent in their ability to produce energy and as such will require additional energy storage technologies to mitigate the erratic nature of the energy production. This energy storage dilemma is a key negative attribute of renewable energy that must be overcome to make it a viable alternative to traditional energy generation technologies. Ultimately if all the negative attributes of renewable energy are managed effectively, a unit of renewable energy will be interchangeable with the equivalent unit of base load energy. The purpose of this paper is to determine the potential energy storage technologies that could complement a wind turbine or photovoltaic system and forecast which of these complementary technologies is best poised to become a viable solution to the energy storage problem facing these renewable technologies.The methodology was deployed in two steps:1. Evaluate the potential energy storage technologies that could complement a wind turbine or photovoltaic system.2. Forecast which of these technologies is best poised to become a viable solution to the energy storage problem facing these renewable technologies.To accomplish (1) we used two methods: literature review and expert interviews. We were able to discuss our findings with experts from Bonneville Power Administration. They were responsible for developing technology roadmaps for renewable energy sources and therefore very knowledgeable. For (2) we used a combination of bibliometric analysis, patent analysis and growth curves.\nLiterature review: Within the realm of energy storage there are a plethora of technologies available, however, only a select few will be technically feasible as a complementary technology to renewable energy based on the amount and quality of energy that is storable along with other factors such as response time and duration of charge. To begin the discussion on energy storage technologies it is valuable to examine the various classes of energy storage technologies. Hall (2008) clearly demonstrated that energy storage is the key to drop fossil fuel usage in the future.Recent literature is an evidence of the importance of understating the readiness of energy storage technologies. Umstattd (2009) demonstrated the criticality of the problem from the military perspective. He stated that \"increasing the use of renewable energy sources and improving energy storage capabilities are gradually creating a positive impact\". Andersen et al. (2009), Lund and Kempton (2008), and Jorgensen (2008) reiterated issue for electric vehicles. Utilizing power grids with a substantial increase in renewable electric energy production and managing the resulting fluctuating supply efficiently is indicated as a problem. Driver (2008) emphasized that as intermittent distributed power becomes more common, new materials are needed for fuel cells, combined heat and power, wind and wave power, and energy storage. Pitts (2008) reached similar conclusions through a study on future roof construction and stated that \"a combination of renewable energy and storage mechanisms will be needed to decouple energy supply from energy demand\".Hall and Bain (2008) reviewed the energy storage technologies. They concluded that no single energy-storage technology has the capability, According to them, \"systems will comprise combinations of technologies such as electrochemical supercapacitors, flow batteries, lithium-ion batteries, superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and kinetic energy storage\". They reviewed technologies such as electrochemical supercapacitor, lithium-ion battery, flow-battery development and flywheel technology. Stadler (2008) reviewed thermal storage devices.According to Baker (2008), there are the following types of energy storage: electrochemical systems such as batteries and flow cells, kinetic energy storage such as flywheels, potential energy storage such as pumped hydro or compressed air systems and thermal energy storage such as phase change materials. Independently applied each of these energy storage techniques has positive and negative characteristics and as such, Baker further identifies the advantages of mixing storage technologies to address a variety of issues such as response time and duration of discharge.From the literature search cited above it was determined that the five most likely technologies to complement a wind or solar power generation system are: pumped hydro energy storage, compressed air energy storage (CAES), flywheel energy storage, Sodium Sulfur (NaS) battery energy storage and Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery energy storage. Experts in our panel has also confirmed this conclusion.Pumped hydro energy storage\nMethodology: To properly predict the most likely energy storage technology to compliment a wind turbine or photovoltaic system in the near future, several steps were taken. First, a literature search of energy storage technologies was conducted in conjunction with wind and solar energy. From this search, the technologies were screened and paired down to the five most feasible technologies: pumped hydro energy storage, compressed air energy storage (CAES), flywheel energy storage, Sodium sulfur (NaS) battery energy storage and nickel cadmium (NiCd) battery energy storage. Next, a SWOT analysis was done to qualitatively evaluate the five technology options. Then, a patent search and bibliometric search on specific key words is conducted and the resulting data is used to develop growth curves for the various technologies. The growth curves developed are done using the Gompertz and Pearl formulas to provide a comparison in the techniques. Finally the growth curves developed are forecasted and conclusions regarding the storage technologies are drawn.Forecasting methods vary in the literature (Tran and Daim, 2008). Many recommend integrated approach. Daim and Hernandez (2008) demonstrated the implementation of such approaches through a forecasting project conducted for emerging interconnect technologies. Zhang et al. (2008) integrated multiple perspectives and diffusion of innovations to forecast mobile broadband technologies in China. Chen and Daim (2008) combined multiple perspectives and system dynamics for forecasting the integration of internet and mobile phones in China. Anderson et al. (2008) used an emerging approach called DEA for forecasting wireless technologies. Just these last three papers demonstrate that multiple methods can be used to forecast similar technologies.Although there are numerous techniques available for technology forecasting, the selection of specific forecasting methods used within this paper was driven by the availability of data that could be used to predict the subset of energy storage technologies (Willis, 1979). Willis (1979) suggested that forecasts should be developed as a baseline to study the behaviors of the specific trend being studied. Daim et al. (2006) stated that direct measurement of a given technology may not be possible, and that a combination of tools could be necessary to properly forecast adoption rates. This is beneficial in situations where there is little or no directly measurable data available. Rueda and Kocaoglu (2008) suggest that bibliometrics can be used to identify the technical panel group for a given topic.Bibliometrics and patent analysis are emerging methods used for forecasting technologies. They are used in forecasting technologies including RFID (Daim and Suntharasaj, 2009), data storage technologies (Daim et al., 2008), laptop batteries (Daim and Jordan, 2008), health information technologies (Rastogi et al., 2008), and nanotechnologies (Martin and Daim, 2008; Daim et al., 2007).Growth curves were chosen as a convenient method to forecast which technologies are developing more rapidly using the available patent and bibliometric data available. Growth curve formulas are also quite numerous, Phillips felt that the knees and tipping points of the growth curves are determined by the number of parameters in the growth curve and the fundamental model (Franses, 1994). As such, it was desired to compare a couple different growth curve formulas to determine if the results changed dramatically; therefore, our team chose the Gompertz and Pearl formulas for our growth curves.The Gompertz formula can be seen below in equation (1). Franses describes the Gompertz curve as a better tool for forecasting markets with short introduction periods and a decreasing growth rate in the maturity stage (Franses, 1994): Equation 1 Where:* y is the data to be predicted.* a is the upper asymptote on the dataset.* b and c are growth rate parameters and are negative numbers.* e is Eulers Number (2.71828 ...).* t is the time period.The Pearl formula can be seen below in equation (2). Willis indicates that the growth curve originally suggested by Pearl and Reed may introduce problems with \"statistical evaluation of model fit and in estimating the precision of forecasts\", developed with this method (Willis, 1979). Willis further explains how using a curve fitting approach (suggested by Yule) a more precise method is obtained: Equation 2 Where:* y is the data to be predicted.* L is the upper asymptote on the dataset.* A and B are growth rate parameters.* t is the time period.A convenient transformation of the Pearl equation, seen in equation (3), can be derived to make approximation of the A and B coefficients simpler. Equation (3) shows by plotting the logarithm of the data to be predicted a linear function is obtained where the intercept of the line is - A and the slope is B: Equation 3\nData collection and analysis: To develop the growth curves two datasets were developed, one for publications and one for patents. From the literature search the following key words were chosen as the best complimentary technologies for wind energy and were chosen to use in the database search to give us our data set:* flywheel energy storage;* compressed air energy storage;* sodium sulfur battery;* nickel cadmium battery; and* pumped hydro.The first dataset was gathered by doing a bibliometric search using Science Direct to search published journals. The key words were searched for in the abstract, title and keywords. The data was then separated into publications per year. The publication data gathered can be seen below in Table I.The second dataset was gathered using the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) database, Patent Scope, which gives a list of international patent applications that have the key word on the front page. The data was then separated into patent applications per year. Table II shows the international patent application data be energy storage technology.Growth curve development\nConclusions: Based on the publication and patent data compressed air energy is set to be the fastest growing complimentary technology to wind energy. Two of these types of plants are currently in existence today as mentioned previously indicating the technology is commercially available. This technology has great potential however implementing this technology involves finding or creating underground airtight caverns in usable locations.Of the remaining complimentary technologies pumped hydro seems to be the next fastest growing technology for the short term in terms of publications; however, NiCd battery technology is poised to overtake it within as few as five years according to the Pearl forecast. According to the patent search the second fastest growing complimentary technology is flywheel that is a relatively young technology so the patent growth is higher than some of the more established technologies.Despite the growth in publications and patents of compressed air, flywheel and pumped hydro energy storage the technologies are still expensive and not readily available. Therefore, if the energy storage requirements can be met by Nickel Cadmium and Sodium Sulfur batteries then they are still the most logical choice. In comparing the growth curve techniques it appears that the Gompertz formula is a much more pessimistic forecast; however when modeling the data it consistently provided a lower sum squared error than the Pearl forecast. On the other hand, the Pearl formula provided a more optimistic growth curve for a technology, but it was also probably more realistic for a technology that is truly being adopted as a new standard.The push for renewable energy needs to take into account the complementary technologies needed to successfully implement a renewable energy resource and advance them into a larger portion of the overall energy production in the US. The way renewable energies are currently being marketed they are an incomplete technology since they are not truly interchangeable (apple to apple) with other energy production processes (base loads do not compare).This paper provided an assessment that was indicated as necessary by those who identified the need for development of energy storage technologies for future electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar both of which have inherent intermittency challenge (Hall and Bain, 2008; Baker, 2008; Clark and Isherwood, 2004)There are several limitations in this paper. The major assumption was that the publication and patent trends would translate to commercial success. Although many research studies cited in the methodology section agree with this assumption, there are many dynamic factors that may invalidate the assumption. What can be concluded accurately is the amount of research and development being done. This paper presents a cross section of where we are today. Further analyses are required to develop a sustainable portfolio. Such analyses would include several experts from many fields and multi dimensional evaluation tools. Based on the analyses, further policies are required to increase or motivate research and development as well as adoption.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In order to compliment the growing use of renewable energies in the US, additional technologies must be employed on the bulk power system. This paper aims to forecast the most probable energy storage technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methodology was deployed in two steps: evaluate the potential energy storage technologies that could complement a wind turbine or photovoltaic system; and forecast which of these technologies is best poised to become a viable solution to the energy storage problem facing these renewable technologies.\nFindings: - Based on the publication and patent data, compressed air energy is set to be the fastest growing complimentary technology to wind energy. Two of these types of plants are currently in existence today as mentioned previously indicating the technology is commercially available. This technology has great potential; however, implementing this technology involves finding or creating underground airtight caverns in usable locations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The number of variables have been limited due to the methodologies chosen for this analysis. The research can be expanded using other criteria such as cost, cost of capital, economies of scale, environmental concerns, social and political constraints.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides an assessment that was indicated as necessary by those who identified the need for the development of energy storage technologies for future electricity generation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Environmental practices and innovation performance of US small and medium-sized manufacturers	[ "Innovation", "Environmental management", "Manufacturing", "Collaboration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Environmental practices need to help companies address their internal as well as their external challenges. This is especially the case for small and medium-sized companies, which often have more limited resources and less likelihood of success when competitive pressures increase. To date, research on the adoption of environmental practices has focussed on large companies in high profile industries (e.g. Haddock-Fraser and Tourelle, 2010; Simpson and Samson, 2010; Christmann, 2004; Angel and Rock, 2005) and small and medium-sized manufacturers primarily outside of the USA (Gadenne et al., 2009; Lee, 2009; Wagner, 2008; Williamson et al., 2006; Sarkis and Dijkshoorn, 2007). This strand of literature has shown that these companies are mainly adopting environmental practices for regulatory compliance and customer approval (ElTayeb et al., 2010; Delmas and Montiel, 2009; Delmas and Toffel, 2008; Kassinis and Vafeas, 2006), and that the adoption of environmental practices does not guarantee improved performance (Wagner, 2008; Sarkis and Dijkshoorn, 2007). What is needed is more understanding of the actions of small and medium-sized companies across US industrial sectors, because these companies contribute a major proportion of manufacturing. In particular, there is a need for a better understanding of the environmental practices of small and medium-sized manufacturers in the USA. In the USA, over 99 percent of all companies and 95 percent of manufacturing companies are small and medium-sized with fewer than 500 employees (US Bureau of Census, 2010). Moreover, due to their smaller scale of operations, these companies must ensure an effective and efficient utilization of their resources. Consequently, it is a promising research agenda to investigate if and how environmental practices can help small and medium-sized companies improve their internal as well as their external performance[1].\n2. Environmental management and collaboration practices and innovation: This section elaborates on common environmental management and environmental collaboration practices and identifies recent studies that assess the adoption of these practices by manufacturing companies. The section then reviews research on companies' ability to improve their products and processes and the relationship between environmental practices and product and process innovation.\n3. Data and methods: This section describes the data and provides details on the items used in the interview questionnaire. In particular, the approach for measuring the adoption of environmental management and environmental collaboration practices and the innovation performance of companies is explained. This section also offers information on the methods employed for the data analysis.\n4. Analysis and discussion of results: First, the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices is described and analyzed, highlighting the most popular practices and the prevailing industry patterns. Next, the regression results are examined to assess the relationship between the adoption of the practices, company characteristics, and product and process innovation performance.\n5. Conclusions and implications: This paper presents the analysis and description of the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices among a sample of US small and medium-sized manufacturers. In addition to noteworthy differences across industrial sectors, which are likely to be caused by industry-specific governmental regulation and/or differing competitive pressures, the results also indicate that larger and older companies are taking advantage of environmental practices at a higher rate than their smaller and younger competitors. Furthermore, this research provides evidence that the adoption of environmental management practices supports manufacturing companies in their efforts to improve products and production processes via innovation. This finding is especially relevant to decision makers in small and medium-sized manufacturers as these companies must be particularly efficient and effective in their resource allocation. The introduction of environmental management practices may not only contain costs and improve productivity, but also simultaneously augment innovation abilities. Consequently, integrating environmental practices with production systems may help small and medium-sized manufacturers face increasing competitive pressures and even gain advantages over their rivals. There are worthy research opportunities in pursuing more insight on industry differences as they relate to the adoption of environmental practices. In particular, insights on which practices offer the largest benefits for small and medium-sized companies in specific manufacturing sectors and on efficient implementation approaches may be most helpful for practitioners. Nevertheless, companies in all manufacturing industries and policy makers can learn from the leading companies in this research, as they tend to be more innovative regarding their products and processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices by US small and medium-sized manufacturers and explore whether there are discernible differences in product and process innovation that can be explained by differences in their adoption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research uses descriptive statistics and probit regression analysis of survey data from 295 small and medium-sized US manufacturers in seven industries.\nFindings: There are significant industrial sector differences in the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices, larger and older companies are more advanced in their adoption of these practices, and companies adopting these practices are outperforming their competitors in terms of product and process innovation.\nOriginality/value: This research assesses US industry sector differences among small and medium-sized manufacturers in the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices and differences in product and process innovation linked to this adoption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
B2c e-commerce logistics: the rise of collection-and-delivery points in The Netherlands	[ "Electronic commerce", "Distribution management", "Service delivery", "Retailing", "The Netherlands" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Online retail sales have grown rapidly in many developed countries. For example, between 1999 and 2005 online retail sales grew with 720 percent in the UK, 1,060 percent in Germany, and 1,403 percent in The Netherlands (Weltevreden, 2007a). Despite these impressive growth figures, the proportion of online retail sales compared to total retail sales was only 3.1, 3.8, and 2.8 percent, respectively, in 2005 (Weltevreden, 2007a). However, by 2012 more than 10 percent of all retail sales in The Netherlands will be online sales, as the rapid expansion of online shopping is expected to continue in the future (Weltevreden, 2007a).The increasing popularity of online shopping leads to a growing amount of delivery vehicles in residential areas to deliver the packages to consumers' homes. For example, in the UK approximately 540 million parcels were shipped to online shoppers in 2006 (IMRG, 2006). As home delivery increases, so does the number of failed deliveries. Many parcels do not fit through mail- or letterboxes or require consignee signature, which implies that customers need to be at home when the parcel is delivered. However, often consumers are not at home when a package is delivered, which leads to increased delivery cost as the packages need to be redelivered or returned to the sender. IMRG (2006) estimated that the direct costs of failed deliveries in 2006 in the UK were EUR682 million.Recently, collection-and-delivery points (CDPs) where customers can collect and return their online orders have emerged as a solution for home delivery failure (Foresight, 2000, 2001; Browne, 2001; Browne et al., 2001; Nemoto et al., 2001; Brummelman et al., 2003; Fernie and McKinnon, 2003, 2004; McKinnon and Tallam, 2003; McLeod et al., 2006). For carriers delivering a package to a CDP after a first-time delivery failure may save time and fuel, as they need not anymore visit a home for a second or a third time to make a successful delivery. In addition, when CDPs are located near residential locations (e.g. at local stores, schools, etc.) or at areas that already generate consumers trips (e.g. petrol stations, railway stations, etc.) little additional travel by consumers will be required to collect a (failed) delivery (Browne, 2001; Browne et al., 2001; Fernie and McKinnon, 2003; McKinnon and Tallam, 2003). Delivering failed deliveries to CDPs also reduces the risk of theft of goods that otherwise would have been left unsecured at the home or delivered at the neighbours. Thus, by using CDPs product loss and insurance claims can be reduced because unsecured deliveries can be mitigated (McKinnon and Tallam, 2003; Fernie and McKinnon, 2004).Beside that CDPs may yield time and cost savings for consumers, carriers and retailers they also have other advantages. Nowadays, policy makers acknowledge the potential of CDPs as a means to reduce freight transport in residential areas caused by online shopping (Foresight, 2001; TNO Inro, 2002; MuConsult, 2003; OECD, 2003). According to the OECD (2003, p. 85) \"governments need to co-ordinate actions with the private sector in developing necessary logistics facilities including local pick-up points and parking places in order to restrain the expected growth of transport in urban areas\" due to business-to-consumer (b2c) e-commerce. Furthermore, CDPs may contribute to the attractiveness of shops and shopping centres (Foresight, 2000; Stec Groep, 2000; TNO Inro, 2002; McKinnon and Tallam, 2003). According to Foresight (2000, p. 15) \"the adoption of a new CDP role could offer a lifeline for local shops\". In other words: CDPs could increase \"footfall\" in shops and additional revenue as people might be encouraged to make purchases whilst collecting packages. In addition, especially convenience and neighbourhood centres are expected to benefit from the CDP concept, as these shopping centres are located close to residential areas (Stec Groep, 2000; TNO Inro, 2002).Despite the increasing interest in CDPs there has been little empirical research with regard to the emergence CDPs as an interesting alternative for home delivery. As such, this paper aims to provide more insight in the rise of CDPs and its consequences for mobility and shopping centres in The Netherlands. Using data from an online consumer survey and data provided by CDP companies the goal of this paper is threefold. First, to describe the development of the CDP networks and the geographical distribution of CDPs in The Netherlands. Second, to explore the use of CDPs among Dutch online shoppers. More insight will be provided in the factors that determine the adoption of CDPs among online shoppers. Third, to analyse what types of retailers and shopping centres currently benefit from this new logistical concept. Contrary to the other empirical studies on CDPs the main focus of this paper will be on the geographical diffusion and usage of CDPs rather than on the mobility effects of CDPs, as this concept is still in its infancy in The Netherlands.The outline of the paper will be as follows. First, a brief review of the literature on CDPs will be given, followed by the methodology and results of the research. The paper closes with conclusions, policy implications and directions for future research.\nLiterature review: Collection delivery points\nSummary: Despite the increasing attention in the literature for CDPs there is still little known about the impacts of this concept on retailing and mobility. The empirical literature is up till now largely descriptive. In addition, the empirical studies conducted so far are mainly pilot studies (Brummelman et al., 2003) or case studies (Van Oosterhout, 2004; McLeod et al., 2006; Esser and Kurte, 2007). Moreover, the locker point experiment by Van Gend & Loos and Wehkamp as described in Brummelman et al. (2003) has ended, while CollectPoint as described in McLeod et al. (2006) currently only focuses on the b2b market (see the preceding section).In particular there has been little empirical research about the adoption of CDPs by consumers. The research by Infas GmbH (2001) only offers insight in the characteristics of potential CDP users, while the study by Brummelman et al. (2003) that does provide information on the characteristics of actual users, suffers from a small sample size (i.e. 67 respondents). In addition, since it remains uncertain how many people are currently using these services, the exact mobility effects of CDPs are still unclear.Furthermore, the scarce empirical studies on the potential mobility impacts of CDPs that have been conducted so far report contradicting outcomes. Some studies concluded that personal travel will decrease and that freight transport will increase as a result of using CDPs (McLeod et al., 2006), while other studies report the opposite (Brummelman et al., 2003; Van Oosterhout, 2004). Moreover, Esser and Kurte (2007) reported that both personal travel and freight transport can decrease by using locker points instead of home delivery. This can be explained by the fact that the focus, the methodology, and the assumptions vary from study to study. McLeod et al. (2006) focus on the transportation impacts for carriers and consumers of collecting delivery failures at service points instead of at the carrier's depot. Brummelman et al. (2003) and Van Oosterhout (2004) on the other hand focus on the transport savings for carriers and/or consumers of delivering parcels directly to a CDP instead of to consumers' homes. Finally, Esser and Kurte (2007) calculated the mobility effects of locker point delivery by comparing it with failed home deliveries. Nevertheless, all studies on the potential mobility effects of CDPs expect that this logistical concept will produce transport savings for carriers and/or consumers, leading to a net mobility reduction. In the following, more information about the geographical diffusion and usage of CDPs in The Netherlands will be provided.\nMethodology: Data collection\nResults: In this section both descriptive and multivariate results of the adoption and effects of CDPs in The Netherlands are described. First, more insight is provided in the diffusion of CDPs across The Netherlands: How many CDPs are there and where are they located? Second, the adoption of CDPs by consumers will be described: How many Dutch e-shoppers currently use CDPs and what are their characteristics? In addition, how many of the online orders are nowadays delivered at service points? Finally, attention will be given to the implications of CDPs for retailers and shopping centres: Which retailers and shopping centres currently benefit from the CDP concept? These questions will be answered in the following.The geographical diffusion of CDPs in The Netherlands\nConclusions: Despite the increasing interest from researchers and policy makers, so far, little empirical research has been conducted with regard to the emergence of CDPs as an alternative for home delivery. In this paper, we aimed to make a contribution to the scarce empirical literature by providing more insight in the uptake of CDPs in The Netherlands and its consequences for mobility, shops and shopping centres.Service points are nowadays the most popular form of CDPs in The Netherlands. Their number have rapidly increased in 2006. Excluding TNT Post, the national postal company, DHL, Kiala, and GLS are the major CDP companies in The Netherlands. However, currently only a small proportion of the Dutch online shoppers (about 19 percent) use service points for collecting and/or returning their online orders. In addition, only 1.4 percent of all online orders in 2006 were delivered at a service point. Moreover, Dutch online shoppers nowadays mainly use service points for returning online orders instead of for collecting (failed) deliveries. As such, currently positive mobility effects of service points are small.Nevertheless, for retailers operating a service point may lead to additional revenues, as one in four service point users made a purchase in the store when collecting or returning their parcel. So far, service points are mainly operated by retailers selling daily items that are hardly threatened by the growth of e-commerce. As such, retailers selling items with a high volume of online sales do not take the opportunity to (partly) compensate their loss of revenues due to e-shopping by operating a service point.Furthermore, the success of service points is largely determined by their accessibility. Not only are online shoppers more willing to use this concept when they have many service points in the vicinity of their home, but service points with many consumers in their immediate surroundings also perform best. A five minutes driving distance by car seems the critical accessibility value for the success of this concept. However, currently more than 50 percent of the Dutch population is unable to reach a service point of DHL, GLS, or Kiala within five minutes by car, whereas almost 90 percent is able to visit a TNT Post outlet. Thus, developing a more dense network of service points may stimulate the uptake of this concept by online shoppers, but may also yield significant delivery cost increases for carriers (see also Punakivi and Tanskanen, 2002; McLeod et al., 2006). As such, the CDP companies must carefully determine the optimal size of their service point network.Currently, CDPs are just one of the logistical services that carriers offer to (online) retailers. As the growth in online shopping is expected to continue in the future (Verdict, 2005; Weltevreden, 2007a) the popularity of this delivery method may increase as well. The more, because consumers in many developed countries are becoming increasingly time-constrained (e.g. by the growing participation of women in the labour force). Given the fact that the use of CDPs is still in its infancy, but with good prospects for increasing use of this concept in the future, more research on this subject is necessary. What has become clear from this paper is that future research on CDPs should not only focus on the collection of parcels, but also on the reverse-logistics function which is ( at least in The Netherlands ( currently the most important use of CDPs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To empirically study the uptake of collection-and-delivery points (CDPs) in The Netherlands and its consequences for retailers, shopping centres, and mobility.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study uses 2006 data from an online consumer survey and data provided by the major CDP companies in The Netherlands. In addition, two Dutch directors of CDP companies were interviewed.\nFindings: - The service point is nowadays the dominant form of CDP in The Netherlands. However, in 2006 only 1.4 percent of all online orders in The Netherlands were delivered at a service point. In addition, Dutch consumers currently mainly use service points for returning their online orders. As such, positive mobility effects of service points are so far small. Nevertheless, for retailers operating a service point may lead to additional revenues, as one in four online shoppers make a purchase when collecting or returning a parcel.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Since service points - at least in The Netherlands - are nowadays mainly used for returning online orders, future empirical research should not neglect the reverse logistics function of CDPs.\nPractical implications: - Online shoppers are more willing to use the service point concept when they have many service points in the vicinity of their home. In addition, service points with many consumers in their immediate surroundings also perform best. A five minutes driving distance by car seems the critical accessibility value for the success of this concept.\nOriginality/value: - Using nation-wide representative samples the paper makes a significant contribution to the scarce empirical literature on the uptake and consequences of CDPs for retailers, shopping centres, and mobility.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
For better or for worse: the changing life of academic staff in French business schools	[ "Academic staff", "Technology", "Business education", "International", "Career development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Much academic research has been undertaken on what can be classified as negative aspects such as the poor quality of working conditions, the number of teachers leaving the profession, low salaries and stress resulting from an overload of work or from the administrative structure of organisations (Mc Cormick, 1996). These sorts of studies create debate around the challenges facing academics in the current turbulent environment, as institutions attempt to respond to the changes imposed by globalisation, society and educational reforms (Hoeksra et al., 2009). It is equally important to understand that the academic staff of today are living and working in a world where they are not simply teachers transmitting knowledge to their students but who are becoming more and more themselves learners who will transmit knowledge they have created through personal research (Hoekstra et al., 2007). This study in French business schools sets out to focus on how academic staff perceive the changes that have been undergoing in management education and the extent to which these perceived changes have an influence on their work.\nLiterature review: Despite the traditional approach to business education in France, it has changed radically since the late twentieth century and has faced a number of evolutions, due to three principle factors. First, the globalisation of management education which stems from the fact that the corporate world is laying extra demands on institutions of higher education to produce highly qualified young graduates capable of operating in an increasingly complex environment of globalisation where the speed of communication and change evolves constantly. This has mainly been achieved through the increase of integrated study abroad semesters within the framework of initiatives such as the Erasmus programme which is perhaps contrary to the US model which develops the international aspect through curriculum development (De Wit, 2002). Second business schools are constantly having to juggle with bottom lines of the balance sheet where we are experiencing increasing costs and diminishing budgets especially from the public sector (Ulhoi, 2005; Pon and Ritchie, 2014). Third, the Ministry of National Education through the former Helfer Commission laid down guidelines to which French business schools were held in order to keep their national accreditation.\nBackground information to the French education system: \"L'exception francaise\" or the French exception is a common term to describe France and it is particularly applicable to the French education system (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1997) which, when it comes to higher education there is a dual system. On the one hand there are the Universities with low tuition fees and access for all baccalaureat holders, which are part of the Ministry of National Education and are thus public institutions. In parallel to the Universities there are \"Grandes Ecoles\" or Great Schools whose history goes back to Napoleon who created them to train the nation's elite (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1990). The business schools belong to this category of higher education institution or HEI. Contrary to universities, students enter the \"Grandes Ecoles\" through a competitive entrance exam and are limited to the number of new students they can take every year. Traditionally, theses students spent two years in special preparatory classes in high schools to prepare for the entrance exams but today any applicant can apply for these schools provided they have validated a two year undergraduate degree. Another important characteristic of these business schools is that they have very strong ties to industry and the corporate world thus providing opportunities for work experience to be highly integrated in the teaching and learning process. Contrary to the US system which extols money and the UK which chooses blood, the French system lays its emphasis on cleverness and intellect. The underlying philosophy is that class contact hours are high to transmit knowledge and intellect based on the functions of the corporate world.\nMethodology: One of the major problems when studying a change or evolution is the longitudinal aspect of the work or time involved for the study and to start at a given point in the past to the present day. It takes a significant amount of work and a long period of time in order to produce results of any scientific value. It is for this precise reason that due to the fact that the present research has recently begun, the authors will lay the emphasis on the perception of the changes of academic staff rather than actually trying to establish the real changes. At a later date, however, it is hoped that the data collected for this research will be extended in order to produce results and conclusion in a real longitudinal manner.\nResults: The results from this study reveal that there were indeed specific themes that academic staff perceive on what influences their work both in a positive and negative manner.\nInternationalisation: The first and most recurring factor to be cited was that of internationalisation. Indeed academic staff are compelled to change the educational content of their lessons in order to consider this process of internationalisation (Knight, 1999) and no teacher can ignore its significance (Halliday, 2000). This detail manifested itself in several different ways:\nPractical implications: The practical implications of the findings from this research are in the opinion of the authors can be seen on two levels concerning research, practice. The outcomes and results of this research suggest that there is a new perception of the work of the teacher in these particular institutions of higher education where there is a higher job satisfaction and contentment contrary to many other studies that have been carried out as cited in the literature review. Continuing the research in this area should consider the if this is culturally or nationally bound, or if it is particular to this category of institutions. For example, would the same results be obtained had faculty from an engineering school been interviewed.\nConclusions: In conclusion, the key changes taking place in higher education can be described as a \"knowledge loop\" - in other words, the core role of the University /HEI in the value chain. These are:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how the work of teachers in French schools of Management has evolved over the years and to see how these changes are perceived by the teachers themselves.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed with open ended questions and sent out to academic staff in various fields of business and management and then examined to see if there were any common factors to business schools. The perception of these changes were also examined through the questionnaire.\nFindings: There were many positive aspects found concerning these changes where staff had a certain amount of power over these changes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research was limited to a certain type of business school and within France.\nOriginality/value: The paper highlights a number of positive changes to the work of academics staff in France and gives insight to how the staff themselves can have the power to change their work as they wish. It is therefore complimentary to research which lays the emphasis on the negative aspects of the profession.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hollowing out national agreements in the NHS? The case of "Improving Working Lives" under a "Turnaround" plan	[ "Work-life balance", "NHS", "Collective bargaining" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper evaluates the employment relations impact of implementing two distinct - and separate - policies, with seemingly conflicting agendas, in an NHS hospital. The NHS has long claimed to aspire to be a \"model employer\" (Bach, 2005, 2010; Corby and Symon, 2012; Morgan and Allington, 2002) and this has been manifested at the level of the individual employment relationship between employer and the public service professional (Lethbridge, 2011; Needham, 2007), at workplace level (Stuart and Martinez Lucio, 2000) and national levels, where Whitley structures have largely remained as the basis for establishing pay grading levels (Bach and Kessler, 2012). However, there has been little recognition of the tensions that can exist when agendas at each level are seemingly incompatible: incompatibilities between local and national priorities, for example.\nIWL as model employer initiative: IWL was launched in the NHS in 1999 as part of the \"staff-side\" element of NHS reform (Bach, 2005) and established as a standard in 2001 (Department of Health, 2000). It is explicitly mentioned as a significant element of \"investing in staff\" in the NHS (2000, 53). It was an initiative jointly supported by health service employers and unions with the aim of enhancing working practices to the mutual benefit of staff and patients and was revisited and re-endorsed in 2009.\nTurnaround as upstream performance management initiative: It is the coexistence of IWL, within the broader context of NHS reform, that the parallel process of Turnaround is now considered. Turnaround comes from an entirely different place to that of IWL. The issue of financial accountability within the NHS has always been an issue. However, the specific mechanisms by which the financial performance of individual hospitals were to be measured began to change from the 1980s in line with the broader ideological challenge from what is now commonly labelled neoliberalism, but at the time identified more as a nascent \"new right\" challenge to the role, structure and delivery of welfare in society (Clarke and Newman, 1997). The introduction of quasi-markets, cost centres and key aspects of performance management could not have been achieved without reforms to the financial accountability structure of the NHS. The introduction of Foundation Trust status, from 2002, provided a further catalyst for greater attention being paid to hospitals being more financially self-sufficient. To this end the Wanless (2002) and Douglas (Department of Health, 2006) reports created an environment in which hospitals could be deemed to be in need of short-term intervention by a designated \"Turnaround\" team to make organisational changes necessary to balance the books.\nNHS employment relations: parallel or sequential systems?: From the outline of IWL and Turnaround, above, there appear to be two narratives operating simultaneously but in isolation from each other. Turnaround operates within the narrative of NPM, while IWL is best seen in context of the ideal of the \"model employer\". While the notion of the model employer remained as a residual concept, its legitimacy began to be openly challenged after 1979. We now consider the inter-relationship between NPM and the model employer.\nCase study and methodology: To address these questions this paper examines how the competing upstream/downstream agendas of IWL and Turnaround play out within a specific hospital context, and what the consequences are for individual working life (Bazen et al., 2005; Gallie, 2007; Green, 2006).\nFindings: Findings are presented around three broad themes informed by the IWL standard, and emerging from interviewees' own expressed priorities in order to identify how the competing agendas (IWL and Turnaround) affect the quality of working life for a range of workers at the hospital. The emergent themes are: the change process involved in introducing Turnaround and the associated employee voice mechanisms used to facilitate these changes; the impact of Turnaround on time autonomy and self-rostering; and work pace and intensity as a consequence of the outcomes of the above themes.\nDiscussion and conclusions: This paper has sought to identify how the processes and outcomes associated with IWL in an NHS hospital are reconciled with the processes and outcomes associated with a Turnaround initiative being implemented simultaneously. Specifically it addresses two research questions:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the resilience of a national-level initiative (Improving Working Lives (IWL)) in the face of local-level initiative (Turnaround) in an NHS hospital and compare to Bach and Kessler's (2012) model of public service employment relations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case study research consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews from a range of participants.\nFindings: The principles behind IWL were almost entirely sacrificed in order to meet the financial objectives of Turnaround. This indicates the primacy of localised upstream performance management initiatives over the national-level downstream employee relations initiatives that form the basis of the NHS' claim to model employer aspiration.\nResearch limitations/implications: The case study was conducted between 2007 and 2009. While the case study falls under previous government regime, the dualised system of national-level agreements combined with localised performance management - and the continued existence of both Turnaround and IWL - makes the results relevant at the time of writing.\nOriginality/value: Some studies (e.g. Skinner et al., 2004) indicated a perception that IWL was not trusted by NHS staff. The present study offers reasons as to why this may be the case.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research in UK Business Schools or management research in the UK?	[ "Management research", "Business schools", "History", "Financing", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper has an intentionally ambiguous title in that amongst a number of confusions relating to the nature of management research is the difference between research that is conducted in Management and Business Schools (henceforth \"Business Schools\" for convenience) and research conducted on management activity as domain of study that could be undertaken in a range of Social Science Departments. Some might argue that the essential distinction lies in the perspective taken in the research or at least in the perspective that is in some way privileged, in that Business School research might be identified by its underlying managerialist focus. This is, of course, a view which is strongly challenged by some of those within Business Schools, particularly academics associated with the \"critical management\" movement (Alvesson and Willmott (1992, 2003) and indeed more widely when linked to broader ethical concerns (Ghoshal (2005)).\nResearch in UK business schools: As in the USA, Research in UK Business Schools has been subject to considerable critical scrutiny since the initial growth and development of such Schools in the 1960s. In essence the continued criticisms have been around two issues that have sometimes been related: the nature of what is taught to whom, and the nature of what is researched and its usefulness[1]. It is important however to recognise that there has also been a rather less public but equally severe criticism around the issue of the academic quality of the research as well. Some but not all of the critical commentary has indeed combined either two or three of these strands to provide an overall analysis that has not always been internally consistent.Historical Overview[2]\nDouble challenge or different?: Much of the debate about the specific nature of the problems involved with management research has focused on the so-called double challenge of \"rigour and relevance\" and more recently the challenge of Mode 2 research, co-production and engagement. Although not an entirely new theme, the Commission on Management Research particularly highlighted the double challenge issue whilst Tranfield and Starkey (1998) initially raised the Mode 2 issue in a paper published.The double challenge: rigour and relevance\nRelevance, importance, intuition and folk wisdom: In addressing the question of relevance more closely, Pearce (2004) has claimed that:I am not saying our research is not relevant - that old chestnut. No. I think most of it is quite relevant; certainly there is a lot of good relevant research being done. Rather much of it is relevant for those less critical, more technical problems, rather than for the most important problems that those coping with large, complex organizations face.One way of addressing this question further is to look more closely at the nature of these \"most important problems\" to which she refers. There are various suggestions that moves us into the domain of \"intuitive\" rather than \"analytical\" cognitive styles to cope more effectively with the inherent complexity and time pressures[4]. As Watson (1994, p. 223) notes:[...] managerial competence or effectiveness is indeed a subtle, multi-faceted and context-bound thing. It does not just involve skills and attitudes, but encompasses knowledge even if that knowledge is stored in the form of intuitions and is manifested in what Donald Schon calls reflection-in-action.Some researchers would find this focus on the intuitive rather than the analytical difficult to accept: after all it can be argued that the various reports dating back to the 1960s (Clark and Opulente, 1963) set Business Schools, particularly in the US, on a much more analytical and even \"scientific\" path but it seems critical that we look more closely at the overall issue of what is researched and what is practised in the name of management. From a slightly different perspective, recognising the limitations of a more systematic and so-called evidence based approach in such situations, Oaksford and Chater (1998, pp. 166-167) note:[...] [folk theories] must deal with domains in which good science is more or less impossible and rough and ready generalisations must suffice. Thus, the fact that folk explanations do not stand up to scientific scrutiny should not be viewed as a criticism of folk theories: it is an inevitable consequence of the fact that folk theories must venture where science cannot.\nCitations, outputs and impact: As we have already noted, in academic assessment, it is common to equate academic quality with citation measures and often to proxy these with a notion of the quality category of the journal concerned. Indeed, Baldridge et al. (2004) use direct citation measures in their empirical study to try and assess the degree to which there seems to be in practice a trade-off between rigour and relevance. In doing this however they, like many others, appear to be in danger of conflating a number of different issues.It is undoubtedly true that direct citation measures do reflect some sort of academic impact although even in this case the actual measure is often restricted to citations in a very limited number of academic journals. The advent of services such as Google Scholar may mean that we have available in the future some wider measures for comparative purposes. It is therefore arguable that rather than measuring rigour, citation measures are much closer to measures of what might be termed academic relevance.The use of journal averages for citation impact measures is however likely to be further misleading. There is reason to believe that Per O Seglen's (1997) conclusions in Information Sciences would hold for management research more widely:The citational variability between articles in a journal is less [semilog linearity] than in the corresponding field as a whole, suggesting that each journal represents a select, stratified sample of the field. However, the variability is still too large to make the journal Impact factor [the average citedness of the journals articles] suitable as a parameter for evaluation of science. Fifteen percent of a journals articles collect 50 per cent of the citations. and the most cited half of the articles account for nearly 90 per cent of the citations, Awarding the same value to all articles would therefore tend to conceal rather than to bring out differences between the contributing authors.Ironically, we might well argue that it is the prior to publication review and referee process which is more a measure of rigour albeit a very specific and restrictive measure not to say idiosyncratic particularly in the case of those journals which have high reject rates.\nThe business school dimension: As we discussed earlier the Business Schools have often been seen as one of the prime culprits in the so-called problems of management research. Through their staff incentive and promotion criteria they are seen to often encourage research which itself is highly technical but of limited usefulness and hence relevance to others. At the same time, they are often also criticised for failing to raise adequate research funds from external sources such as the private sector.Indeed, according to Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data the trend for funding of management research in business schools is not very impressive (Figure 1). In real terms it appears that there has been absolute decline in funding from the private sector, fortunately, at least for the Business Schools, more than compensated by an increase in funding from public bodies and the research councils (as represented by the Office of Science and Technology. Indeed, this recent pattern of funding rather replicates that found for UK R&D much more generally, where the increase in the level of state funding has been partly at least offset by a significant reduction in private sector funding (D'Este and Neely, 2007).The level of funding by the private sector should be seen in comparison with, for instance, the fact that the Management Consultants Association currently estimates that the overall turnover for management consultancy organisations is around PS10 billion per annum. Hence, as a rough estimate total research in management within HE represented around 0.5 per cent of turnover achieved by management consultancy organisations and that funded by the private sector around only 0.1 per cent.Of course, any basic linear model in which we imply that the HE sector does the basic research and management consultants are engaged solely in a process of commercialisation of the tools and techniques that result from this research is not only naive but also thoroughly misleading[5]. Moreover, getting estimates of how much consultancies themselves spend on what might be termed management research is very difficult although it is clear that many have spent considerable sums on developing internal knowledge sharing networks.It is therefore not surprising that some of the most commonly proposed institutional mechanisms to overcome the gap between management research and practice such as academic/practitioner knowledge networks are more evident in their absence than presence. Alferoff and Knights (2009) reporting on a study of such networks in the UK note that they identified only 14 such active networks in Business Schools and that there were seen to be a number of factors mitigating against the sustainability of any network including the lack of interest among younger academics, the perception that it was seen as peripheral to the main activities of the school and there were no career benefits and finally that the research itself was not easily published in highly-ranked peer reviewed journals. In the context of the commentary above it is also interesting to note that a significant number of such networks had a policy of specifically excluding consultants from their membership.\nThe possible nature of a business school response: The analysis presented implies that not only is the issue of the relationship of management research and management practice one of long standing dispute but also that a number of well established institutional processes exist to reinforce the nature of the divide. In this paper, we therefore wish to suggest that any systemic approach which aims to merge the interests and issues within these two separate domains will inevitably result in both further and irresolvable problems in many specific cases and ultimately in failure. The solution is more likely to lie in the recognition of two separate but to some extent overlapping domains and the development of more effective means of acting within the overlap. Recognising that an overall overlap exists means however also recognising that there are very significant areas where overlap neither currently exists nor should be actively developed.Keeping the difference but engaging with the practice\nConclusions: There remains a clear gap in two critical areas for management research in UK Business Schools: the funding of such research and the degree to which even the potential benefits of such research are \"lost in translation\" (Wensley, 2008).To overcome these problems Business Schools both collectively and individually need to take action on both fronts. The good news is that working on one gap will help achievements on the other. On the translation front, we first need to recognise that there is clearly a role for such translations[8] but there is also significant expense involved. Equally the process of translation is just that; an on-going process of engagement and dialogue not just the production of a final report however well crafted. We also need to appreciate that this is in many ways as much a challenge to Business Schools as it is to those who fund research itself. It would also seem self-evident that Business Schools also need to develop more effective links with management consultancies both at an individual and a systemic level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper takes an overview of the history of both the funding and the assessment of research within Business Schools in the wider context of social science research which examines the practice of management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Historical archives and current statistical data are both considered in the context of various writings on the nature of management and business school research.\nFindings: - Many of the issues are deep seated but overall it is particularly important to emphasise the importance of \"translation\" in both engagement and interaction and also better links through intermediaries.\nOriginality/value: - The paper adds to the on-going debate about the relevance of management research as well as the role of business school.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reimagining career collections to increase usage and engagement	[ "Collections", "Outreach", "Engagement", "Career development", "Collection assessment", "Career services", "Usage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2008, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Career Services department experienced major changes to its operations and staffing. As a result of the economic downturn, the University was looking for ways to cut expenditures and the career services office became a victim of those cuts. The office has been in a rebuilding phase since that time and has experienced major staff changes, organizational restructuring and physical office moves. A few colleges have allocated funds to create their own office or person to coordinate career-related support (e.g. business, engineering and hospitality). This decentralized model, though not uncommon in other universities, has presented communication challenges as the University grows. In the past few years, a \"Career Consortium\" was created by the previous director to address this issue. It includes any staff member on campus who has career-related responsibilities. This monthly meeting has greatly improved communication and the ability to share information. The UNLV Libraries Career Services Librarian is a member of this group.\nLiterature review: Building and assessing career collections is a topic that is not prevalent in the literature and many of the career-related articles in librarianship have not been published in the past ten years. A review of the literature provided a background of articles related to library partnerships with campus organizations, information literacy and a brief discussion of building career collections.\nCareer collection: The UNLV Libraries support over 30,000 students. As this number continues to grow, the liaison librarian for Career Services began to explore how the Libraries could support not only the previously mentioned students but also the alumni who use career services. Considerations about the professional development needs of the career staff, who have a variety of backgrounds, were also considered in the ongoing evolution of the materials.\nAssessment of career collection - usage: The UNLV Libraries collects usage statistics for print and online resources, tracks the usage each year to assess the cost-effectiveness of purchases and identifies trends to ensure the collection budget is spent appropriately. The assessment of the Career Collections over the past several years shows high usage and demonstrates a need for resources related to career information.\nOutreach and marketing: Early efforts to publicize the Career Collection involved using existing communication tools within the UNLV Libraries. Those included the creation of digital content to be rotated on screens throughout the Libraries, posting content on the Libraries home page and signage located near the collection. Current initiatives have evolved through the integration of resources at campus events and learning management system integration.\nConclusion: The findings presented in this case suggest that relocating materials from the general stacks and highlighting them in a similar manner to that of a bookstore or retail space can help libraries overcome trends in low print circulation. This type of project can also serve as a visual reminder to explore online content and as a result potentially increase online database statistics too.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe a case study of building a career collection at an academic library and to assess the use of materials and the services provided to students and the career services office.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study reviewed circulation statistics and COUNTER reports to identify usage of career services resources.\nFindings: The major findings of this study indicated that items in the print career collection experienced higher circulation rate than items in the circulating collection at Lied Library.\nOriginality/value: The information and findings of this study can provide a background of services and information on how to build a career collection in an academic library that can be used as an example for other libraries interested in providing career services and/or collections.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender and returns to entrepreneurship in Africa	[ "Sub-Saharan Africa", "Entrepreneurship", "Returns to entrepreneurship", "Gender gaps", "Quantile decomposition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Improving the economic, social and political outcomes of women has been central to global and national development objectives in recent years. Especially, the promotion of female participation in non-farm employment has been identified as essential to women empowerment as well as an anti-poverty strategy. To this end, governments and other international development agencies have focused and invested resources to promote micro and small entrepreneurships. This entrepreneurship intervention serves as an avenue for job creation in sub-Saharan Africa, especially when the role of the state as the primary provider of employment opportunities has steadily declined in recent years (Ayyagari et al., 2014). As a result of these interventions, the proportion of female entrepreneurs has increased significantly, although substantial cross-country differences exist.\n2. Literature review: The literature on gender difference in entrepreneurial activities, particularly motivations and aspirations, constraints and performance has grown exponentially in recent years. The section reviews two strands of literature on gender and entrepreneurship. The first section presents a brief review of the relevant literature on gender performance gaps with emphasis on the evidence from developing and emerging countries. The second section also presents an overview of gender gaps in related entrepreneurial activities, focusing on input markets, challenges and constraints and motivations and aspirations.\n3. Methodology: This section discusses the UQR technique used in assessing the determinants of returns to entrepreneurship at various quantiles along the distribution for female and male entrepreneurs in three African countries. We further attempt to determine factors contributing the gender return gap in entrepreneurship using an unconditional decomposition technique designed by Fortin et al. (2011).\n4. Data, variables and descriptive statistics: The data for the empirical estimation are sourced from the Gender and Enterprise Development in Africa (GEnDA) Survey undertaken in 2014 across three Africa countries, namely, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The survey was conducted with the financial support and technical assistance from the International Development Research Center. The primary objective of the GEnDA survey was to contribute to a deeper understanding of the nature, role and dynamism of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa with emphasis on gender-differentiated outcomes. The survey involved the random selection of samples of non-farm household enterprises in each country. To allow for comparability of results, a standardised questionnaire and sampling methodology was used for the data collection exercise. The enterprises sampled were nationally representative and drawn from the national sampling frames of households with non-farm enterprises. The survey collected detailed and reliable information on a variety of issues including household demographic composition and characteristics, start-up and current business profile, previous experience of entrepreneurs, enterprise financing and assets, as well as profit, costs, revenues, ICT use and business associations and government regulations. A total of 4,416 enterprises were interviewed across the three countries - Ghana (1,225), Uganda (1,169) and Kenya (2,022).\n5. Results: This section is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the results of the RIF regressions from the 10th to 90th quantiles of the distribution of firm profit. Whilst the second part presents the findings of the decomposition exercise along the distribution of profit.\n6. Conclusions: Increasing gender disparities in economic outcomes has received significant attention in research and public policy in recent times. Such gender differences in outcomes have manifested in the labor market in the form of gender wage gaps and the gender segregation of occupations. The persistence of such gender gaps may impede female economic empowerment through limited labor participation and exacerbate income inequalities between and within households. As such, governments and development partners have invested substantially in promoting and enhancing mirco and small enterprises to bridge the gender gaps in the labor market. However, there is limited evidence on the role of gender in driving differences in returns to entrepreneurship in developing economies, particularly SSA. Available evidence has contradictory effects of gender on entrepreneurial returns. Understanding the nature and sources of the gender gaps in entrepreneurial returns is crucial to efforts at developing a vibrant private sector as well as achieve equitable and inclusive economic growth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess determinants of returns to male and female entrepreneurship in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda at selected quantiles along the distribution, as well as examine gender gaps in returns to entrepreneurship and factors contributing these gaps.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Employing a unique data set collected in the three countries on entrepreneurial motivations, constraints and performance, the authors apply unconditional quantile regression technique to assess the determinants of returns to entrepreneurship at various quantiles along the distribution. Additionally, the authors employ decomposition techniques to assess gender gaps in returns to entrepreneurship at various points along the distribution. The data contain extensive information on entrepreneur's personal characteristics, including parental background and household composition and structure.\nFindings: The study finds substantial differences in determinants of returns to male and female entrepreneurship along the distribution, with firm asset increasing returns to entrepreneurship. There is also the presence of gender gaps in returns to entrepreneurship at the lower-end of distribution, however, gaps disappear at the upper tail of the distribution, indicative of sticky floors in returns to entrepreneurship in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The authors also find gender bias against female entrepreneurship in the three countries, as unobserved characteristics largely responsible for the gender gaps in entrepreneurial returns.\nOriginality/value: This work has been undertaken by the authors and has not been carried out by any other person. The study will add to the existing literature on gender and returns to entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge acquisition: the roles of perceived value of knowledge content and source	[ "Knowledge transfer", "Knowledge acquisition", "Learning", "Individual behaviour", "Knowledge economy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge has been recognized as a valuable resource for a company competing in an uncertain environment. A company tries to leverage this valuable resource by transferring the existing knowledge within the company itself as well as from external sources. Since knowledge can reside in an organization and in individuals who are staff in an organization, transferring knowledge can be between organizations, between individuals, or between individuals and organizations (Sveiby, 2001). Consequently, knowledge transfer involves two parties, one is a source of knowledge and the other is a recipient of it.Regarding the transfer of knowledge between organizations, researchers focus on how an organization accepts knowledge from the external environment and transforms it so that it can be used (Liao et al., 2009). For transferring knowledge between an individual and an organization or between individuals, the focus is placed on the sharing behavior of the source and acquiring behavior of the recipient. An individual who is a source of knowledge can share knowledge by sharing with peers (Bock et al., 2005), sharing with organizational knowledge repositories (Kankanhalli et al., 2005), or sharing with an electronic network of practice (Wasko and Faraj, 2005). Sharing knowledge requires willingness and ability of a source to codify and share knowledge (Kankanhalli et al., 2005). On the recipient's side, an individual can acquire knowledge by learning from others, learning from knowledge repositories, and learning from experiences (Ryu et al., 2005). For knowledge to be acquired, willingness and ability of a recipient to acquire and use knowledge are crucial elements (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000).Since the willingness of a source and a recipient are important for their sharing and acquiring behaviors, various motivation drivers are studied by researchers. On the source side, three sets of motivation driver are described. The first set are individual factors, i.e. attitude towards knowledge sharing, cost and benefit from knowledge sharing. The second set are contextual factors, i.e. subjective norms and organizational climate. The last set is the knowledge factor, i.e. perceived value of knowledge (Bock et al., 2005; Kankanhalli et al., 2005; Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Ford and Staples, 2006). While source-side perspectives are most prevalent, some authors have also considered the recipients' side. A recipient's motivation driver for knowledge acquisition can derive from attitude towards the need for knowledge acquisition, i.e. job's intellectual demands and belief that competence can be improved (Gray and Meister, 2004) as well as attitude towards knowledge sources and knowledge content (Dixon, 2002; Desouza et al., 2006).To motivate a recipient's acquisition, knowledge content and a knowledge source should be perceived as valued knowledge and a valued knowledge source (Desouza et al., 2006; Ford and Staples, 2006). The value of knowledge content derives from its potential benefit for a recipient. Since to acquire knowledge by learning from others requires interaction between a recipient and a source, characteristics of a source send value signals to a recipient. The salience of value from a knowledge source and knowledge content are different for those who are experts or novices in a particular knowledge domain (Desouza et al., 2006).Despite the growing interest in the knowledge transfer process, an organization gets no benefit unless a recipient applies the acquired knowledge in his or her work. However, a recipient will not apply the knowledge unless he or she acquires it. The Individual Knowledge Acquisition (IKA) serves as linkage between knowledge sharing by a source and knowledge application by a recipient. The objective of this study is to deepen understanding of the factors that increase or lessen an individual's tendencies to acquire knowledge from others and to uncover the difference between an expert and a novice in the knowledge domain.\nTheoretical background: Knowledge acquisition\nResearch methodology and analysis: To test the proposed research model, this study adopted survey method for data collection, and examined hypotheses by applying Structural Equation Model Method to the collected data. The unit of analysis was an individual.Questionnaire design\nResults: Hypotheses tests\nDiscussion: Defining knowledge as a state of understanding and knowing, knowledge management research focuses on individual learning (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). The objective of this study is to add collective understanding of factors underlining an individual's tendency to acquire knowledge from others and the difference between those who are experts and novices in the knowledge domain. Defining Individual Knowledge Acquisition (IKA) as changing a recipient's cognitive structure to comply with the knowledge and intention to use it, this study operationalize the IKA construct in which empirical results demonstrate acceptable reliability and validity. Positing that perceived value of knowledge content and a knowledge source are factors underlining the phenomenon, we determine the number of potential valued factors both from knowledge content and knowledge source. Our results provide support for the theoretical model and qualified support for most hypothesized relationships.The Perceived Relative Advantage, the perception that using knowledge will save time, cost, and effort to accomplish one's work, demonstrates strong influence on Individual Knowledge Acquisition in general. The result is consistent with prior research in which Perceived Relative Advantage positively influences intention to use knowledge (Desouza et al., 2006). However, the results are different for those who are experts and novices in the knowledge domain. While Perceived Relative Advantage shows strong influence on knowledge acquisition in a knowledge novice, the influence cannot be demonstrated in a knowledge expert. It may be that a knowledge expert has been acquainted with the knowledge domain for a certain period of time so he or she already recognizes its advantage. Hence, relative advantage of knowledge is not a salient value signal for value which influences his or her Knowledge Acquisition.In general, Individual Knowledge Acquisition is influenced by the Perceived Compatibility, i.e. the perception that knowledge is consistent with needs and past experiences. However, knowledge tenure is contingent on this relationship in which Perceived Compatibility demonstrates influence on Knowledge Acquisition by a knowledge expert but not a knowledge novice. While such findings might simply be a reflection of the study's design, a plausible reason for this result can be proposed. When knowledge is new for a knowledge recipient, as in the novice group, he or she does not have experience of using the knowledge. In that case, gauging how compatible knowledge is with his or her experiences, existing beliefs, and schema of work could be difficult which in turn weakens the signaling for value.The results from this study also provide evidence that the Perceived Image Gain, i.e. the improvement to a recipient's social status, sense of pride and job security based on knowing or using knowledge, exerts an influence on Individual Knowledge Acquisition. The influences are found both in those who are experts and novices in the knowledge domain.In addition to value signals from knowledge content, our results provide evidence that value signals from a knowledge source play an important underlying role in Individual Knowledge Acquisition. The most significant one is the role of the Competence Trust with Knowledge Source. A knowledge recipient, whether he or she is an expert or novice, gauges value of a knowledge source based on competence or favorable characteristics in the acquired knowledge domain.The results also indicate that the Shared Cognition with a Knowledge Source plays an underlying role in Knowledge Acquisition in general. However, different results are found for those who are experts and novices. Shared Cognition demonstrates strong influence on Knowledge Acquisition in the knowledge experts group, but its influence in the knowledge novice group cannot be demonstrated. A plausible explanation for this result is that being new in the knowledge domain, a knowledge novice expects to learn new language or narrative while acquiring knowledge so shared cognition is not his or her main concern.Though Psychological Safety is an important interpersonal factor in team member knowledge transfer, its role in Individual Knowledge Acquisition cannot be demonstrated. There are two plausible reasons, first, Psychological Safety influences learning behavior i.e. \"an ongoing process of reflection and action, characterized by asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting, reflecting on results, and discussing errors or unexpected outcomes on actions\" (Edmondson, 1999, p. 353) but not learning outcome, i.e. changing cognitive structure and intention to use knowledge. A second probable reason may be that Psychological Safety, feeling safe from embarrassment when asking questions or admitting error, is considered important in the inter-personal context when there are third parties involved as in team learning. In a one to one relationship, this is not the main concern.Implication for theory\nConclusion: Although we know that an essential factor for enhancing knowledge transfer in an organization is the staff's knowledge acquisition, it cannot be forced or mandated. Management desiring to institutionalize staff's knowledge acquisition should focus on factors influencing it. By revealing the value factors associated with Individual Knowledge Acquisition and providing empirical evidence regarding the significance of their influence, the study contributes to richer understanding of what should be perceived by potential knowledge recipients in order to enhance their acquiring knowledge from others. Given the importance of leveraging an individual's knowledge today, this study increases collective understanding of knowledge transfer within and across organizations via knowledge exchange between individuals.Although this study provides interesting results regarding KM, some limitations must be acknowledged. In terms of the external validity, because data were collected from organizations that were willing to participate in the study and not randomly selected, the possibility that the samples were atypical of a more general population exists, and the results should be interpreted with this caveat in mind. Further, measurements of the constructs were gathered using the same instrument at the same point in time, consequently, the potential for common method variance exists. However, based on Harman's single factor test, common method variance was not a threat to the findings. The other limitation is that selecting highest loading items in order to achieve acceptable criteria of convergent validity and discriminant validity, though providing a homogeneous instrument, might sacrifice preliminary content validity of the constructs by narrowing the domain coverage (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Furthermore, care should be taken in interpreting the different result between the knowledge expert and knowledge novice groups. Accessing expertise by another measure i.e. self-rated expertise (Wasko and Faraj, 2005) or changing the cutoff point of knowledge tenure, may yield a different result. Finally, due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, causality is made based on theoretical grounds rather than empirical evidence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to propose the factors that increase or lessen an individual's tendencies to acquire knowledge from others and uncovers the difference between an expert and a novice in the knowledge domain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study adopted a survey method and examined hypotheses by applying the structural equation model method. The unit of analysis was an individual.\nFindings: - The research illustrates that individual knowledge acquisition is influenced by the recipient's perceived value of knowledge content and knowledge source. The influence differs between those who are experts and those who are novices in the acquired knowledge domain.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The data were collected from organizations that were willing to participate in the study and not randomly selected; the possibility that the samples were atypical of a more general population exists. This study advances theoretical development by highlighting individual knowledge acquisition which fills the gap between two main knowledge management processes, i.e. knowledge transfer and knowledge application.\nPractical implications: - Management interest in enhancing knowledge exchange should pay attention to value signals both from knowledge content and knowledge source that influence acquiring knowledge by recipients.\nOriginality/value: - By revealing the value factors associated with individual knowledge acquisition and providing empirical evidence, the study contributes to richer understanding of what should be perceived by potential knowledge recipients in order to enhance their acquiring knowledge from others.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational consciousness	[ "Consciousness", "Organizational analysis", "Organizational identity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is time to hold up the metaphorical mirror and look at consciousness in the analysis of organizations. In this article, we shall argue that organizational consciousness is central to an organization's success at pursuing its mission, expressing its values, and defining itself in a clear and coherent manner. Although, Stamps and Lipnack (2004) claim, consciousness may be the \"un-discussible elephant in the room\" (p. 53), we need to face the objections and push ahead, because organizational consciousness offers immensely promising tools for analyzing organizations. Indeed, it will give us a new perspective in organizational analysis and open up possibilities to examine organizational behavior in a new way. Furthermore, if we can come to understand how consciousness operates in organizations, and learn how to apply it in organizational decisions, the pay off could be big in terms of leading initiatives for change. The final goal is to use what we learn to improve organizational outcomes.We begin developing a conceptual understanding of organizational consciousness by addressing two central questions: what is consciousness from an organizational perspective, and why does it matter? Then we apply what we learn to a case study involving two healthcare organizations. We specifically chose health care organizations because they face incredibly complex and sometimes conflicting decisions involving quality of care, access to care, education, cost, humanitarian responsibilities, and professional duty. Health care organizations - often managed on corporate principles - have difficulty making concrete, logical sense of all the issues they face. They zigzag through strategic plans as they struggle with a myriad of needs and requirements that often clash with their fundamental responsibility to deliver compassionate and competent patient care. Therefore, it seems like a good time to explore consciousness's role in analyzing health care organizations and helping the organization deal with these complicated issues.\nTheoretical background: Researchers and philosophers have laid out general principles of consciousness through various theoretical frameworks and propositions. The result is an abstract concept with a variety of meanings and context-specific interpretations that tend to cluster in cognitive, neural, quantum, and non-physical theories (Andris, 2001; Atmanspacher, 2004; Bancroft, 1998a, b, c; Bernard, 1926; Coward, 1999; deQuincey, 2002; Hoogerwerf and Poorthuis, 2002; Morris, 1932; and Van Gulick, 2004). Embedded in these interpretations are the following attributes of consciousness we find useful in our discussion: accountability of experience, a sense of knowing, choice, interrelationships, meaning, reflection, relationship and contribution of self to others, self-awareness, and sentience. Also notable in these interpretations of consciousness are context - those conditions and circumstances that influence behavior or affect outcome - and subjective experience.Organizational scholars have written about the organization's capability for consciousness. For example, Campion and Palmer (1996) proposed that organizational consciousness is entrenched in an organization's social responsibility, business ethics, culture, corporate values, and multiple stakeholders. In 2001, Gustavsson claimed that there must be an understanding of consciousness in order to comprehend organizations. A year later, Hoogerwerf and Poorthuis (2002), wrote about the metaphorical organizational mind - the \"orgmind\" - suggesting it holds the consciousness of the organization, and they also put forward the idea that there is a trajectory toward ever-higher orders of consciousness as the organization develops. Richard Barrett (2003), using Abraham Maslow's (2003) level of hierarchical needs, defined organizational consciousness through seven levels: survival, belonging, self-esteem, transformation, cohesion, inclusion, and unity (p. 349). After an extensive assessment of organizations, Barrett went on to conclude that successful organizations operate at all seven levels of consciousness.After considering all these interpretations of consciousness, we define organizational consciousness in broad terms as the organization's mental alertness, directly speaking to the organization's awareness of itself in terms of its identity, reason for existing, and in its relations with others. Consciousness functions to bring the unity across organizational units that is needed to make decisions and manage change. It serve as the organization's cognizance, providing the capacity for reflection and the centering point from which an organization can \"think\"; and it supports a coherent and clear organizational identity. We propose organizational consciousness functions in three stages:1. Reflexive.2. Social.3. Collective consciousness.Stage I: reflexive consciousness\nThe application of consciousness: a case study: To apply our interpretation of organizational consciousness, we turn our attention to a merger between an academic health center and a regional medical system. The information we present in the case study came from author participation and observations, official records, informal verbal exchanges, and anecdotal reports (tales and legends) from individuals involved in the merger and resulting reorganization.In the analysis we take a systems approach, defining organizations as open systems with identifiable boundaries and interrelated subsystems (von Bertalanffy, 1950, 1968; Scott and Mitchell, 1972). We based our analysis on the contribution of the Kast and Rosenzweig model of organizational analysis (Kast and Rosenzweig, 1973, 1985). We found James T. Ziegenfuss's (2002) adaptation of the Kast and Rosenzweig model most comprehensible and helpful to conceptualize the organization as an integrated system. The model represents the organization as a socio-technical system of five organizational subsystems receiving inputs from the environment (Ziegenfuss, 2004). These systems are so interrelated that a change in one system affects all others. Figure 1 shows the following five subsystems in relationship to the environment:1. Managerial. This managerial subsystem is the leadership command and control subsystem in the organization. The subsystem plans, directs, and controls the processes of the organization, relates the organization to the environment, and integrates all subsystems in such a manner that they are unified to achieve organizational goals (Ziegenfuss, 2004).2. Culture and values. The culture and values subsystem speaks directly to the organization's customary beliefs, rituals, artifacts, rules of behavior, social norms, goals and values that define the organizational culture, and to a large extent considers those basic assumptions that go unspoken but are attached to the organization's identity (Schein, 2004; Ziegenfuss, 2004).3. Psychosocial. The psychosocial subsystem directs our attention to the social system in the organization. The subsystem considers the important individual characteristics, roles, relationships, and the powerful informal relationships that affect organizational behaviors, and create the \"organizational climate\" in which employees and managers act out their roles (Ziegenfuss, 2004).4. Technology. The technology subsystem defines the manner in which tasks are completed and specific goals are accomplished with special sets of skills and knowledge (Ziegenfuss, 2004). The subsystem relates to specific resources, techniques, physical structure, and equipment that are needed in the organization to produce the services and products.5. Structure. This structure subsystem addresses the formal structures that divide and define how the tasks are completed and the goals are met (Ziegenfuss, 2004). The subsystem is defined by the organizational charts, committees, job descriptions, policies and procedures, and patterns of authority.What we understand of an organization and how we interpret the system, depends to some degree, on what we believe an organization \"is\" in terms of how these five interdependent subsystems interact with each other. Analyzing an organization with this model brings order, logic, and dependability to the analysis. However, adding organizational consciousness creates an abstract association across the subsystems.The case of the academic health center and the regional medical system\nDiscussion and conclusions: Organizational consciousness evolves in organizations and operates at three distinct stages - reflexive, social and collective consciousness. Within these three interrelated stages, the organization unmistakably defines its function, core competency, and those identifying features it uses to define itself within the confines of the organization and references itself to others outside the organizational structure. Before anything can proceed, the organization must stay in reflexive consciousness long enough to come to terms with itself and what it wants to be.Consciousness becomes pervasive in the organizational culture and climate as the leadership gives the organizational system its form and structure to support its identity. As illustrated in Figure 2, all subsystems are held in a delicate balance, yet subject to change as the leadership makes decisions in response to organizational needs and external environmental influences. Consciousness is dynamic and provides the invisible support to keep the organization aware and mindful of its identity and purpose so the organization can make appropriate adjustments to the subsystems that bring itself back into equilibrium when it falls out of balance.We believe our proposed stages of organizational consciousness have an integrative function widely distributed across all the subsystems. We also feel that to consider organizational consciousness is an intentional decision that provides the function to know what an organization is to itself and what it is to its environment. It lies beyond the boundaries of the formal structures in an organization, and provides the place for the organization to collect itself and ultimately give voice to its values, guiding principles and core competencies. Lastly, organizational consciousness provides an important coalescence around the people and operational systems, and can work across organizational boundaries such that the organization can collectively achieve success.This matter of organizational consciousness applies to the academic health centers as they confront the challenges ahead. Clearly the rules have changed as these organizations are managed from a corporate perspective with incredibly complex decisions involving quality of care, education, cost, access to care, and professional duty. Due to their complicated nature, healthcare organizations must be vigilant and diligent in their position on where quality, patient care, and professional responsibility sit on the ladder of competing priorities. Consciousness keeps this focused and centered.It is for good reason why Stamps and Lipnack (2004) called consciousness the \"un-discussible elephant in the room\" (p. 53). First, the concept may be viewed as too context dependent and abstract to make it meaningful - translating abstract concepts such as consciousness to an organizational model is complex and interpretive. Second, to discuss consciousness means the organization must look inside itself and assess who and what it is. Lastly, at least for now, organizational consciousness lacks substantial, scientifically- persuasive empirical evidence to fully support the theory behind it.These reasons, however, in no way minimize the importance of an organization to think in terms of its consciousness. How an organization approaches its consciousness speaks directly to how it defines itself and finds meaning. An organization needs to know what it is before it can turn to what might be. As eloquently stated by David Bohm (1996), \"We have to share our consciousness and be able to think together, in order to do intelligently whatever is necessary\" (p. 15).We now hold the opinion that organizational consciousness does exist and it does matter for within it lays the awareness of an organization's purpose and its commitment to succeed in the overall operation of an organizational system. If we accept this premise, we will see organizational consciousness as the link for all subsystems to come together as a collective and cohesive \"whole\". If you look where organizational consciousness is today, you will find fragments of it in each subsystem: managerial; culture and values; psychosocial; structural; and technical.As we look to the future of academic health centers, leadership must completely understand the possibility of this differentiation of consciousness, and cannot accept the mistaken idea of conscious unity across all subsystems. Some subsystems may remain so segregated that they are not yet fully and coherently aligned with the others. This differentiation of consciousness must be accepted and understood so that leaders in healthcare organizations can identify and work within the organizational structure to bring the subsystems into a united whole.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual understanding of organizational consciousness that expands the discussion of organizational analysis, and use a case study to apply it in the analysis of a merger between an academic health center and a regional medical center.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper draws on the experiences and insights of scholars who have been exploring complex organizational issues in relationship with consciousness.\nFindings: - Organizational consciousness is the organization's capacity for reflection; a centering point for the organization to \"think\" and find the degree of unity across systems; and a link to the organization's identity and self-referencing attributes. It operates at three stages: reflective, social, and collective consciousness.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Translating abstract concepts such as consciousness to an organizational model is complex and interpretive. For now, the idea of organizational consciousness remains mostly a theoretical concept. Empirical evidence is needed to support the theory.\nPractical implications: - Faced with complicated and compelling issues for patient care, health care organizations must look beyond the analysis of structure and function, and be vigilant in their decisions on where important issues sit on the ladder of competing priorities. Organizational consciousness keeps the organization's attention focused on purpose and unifies the collective will to succeed.\nOriginality/value: - If the paper can come to understand how consciousness operates in organizations, and learn how to apply it in organizational decisions, the pay-off could be big in terms of leading initiatives for change. The final goal is to use what is learned to improve organizational outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teaching social economics: Bringing the real world into the classroom and taking the classroom into the real world	[ "Teaching", "Neoliberalism", "Education", "Pedagogy", "Heterodox economics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to Alvaredo et al. (2018), \"the top 1% richest individuals in the world captured twice as much growth as the bottom 50% individuals since 1980.\" This ongoing accumulation of wealth at the top is fueling growing distrust and anger and calls for immediate action by world leaders. The rise of social movements such as \"March for our Lives,\" \"Black Lives Matter,\" and \"Occupy Wall Street\" are the direct result of this anger and dissatisfaction with the status quo. Another sign of the growing feeling of injustice is that students began to question their learning in economics courses as manifested in the formation of the \"International Student Initiative for Pluralist Economics,\" an alliance of university student groups from several countries campaigning for reform of economics education and research. This initiative, which started in 2014, includes other groups like \"Rethinking Economics,\" \"Economics Student Society of Australia,\" \"Institute for New Economic Thinking\" and \"Post-Crash Economics Society,\" among others, arguing for a reorientation of economics education toward pluralism, the inclusion of a humanities approach to economics, an increased awareness of methodological issues, and an inclusion of history of economic thought and discussion of ideology in the economics curriculum. In contrast to these calls for change, undergraduate college level economics in the USA continues to be taught as if the economy takes place outside society where the economy is theorized as the aggregate outcome of rational individuals and firms reaching optimal decisions under conditions of so called perfect competition. As professors of economics we feel that our duty is to inform students that this is not how the economy works. It is in this context and with the goal of exposing our students to social economics that we have designed what we call a historical/critical/action-learning approach to teaching. In this paper we present and discuss five pedagogical methods that we have introduced in our courses. Before we discuss these pedagogical methods in detail, we feel that it is necessary to review the historical role played by neoliberalism on education in general and on the teaching of economics in particular.\nThe impact of neoliberalism on education and the need for a re-evaluation of the teaching of economics: Neoliberalism is typically represented by proponents and critics alike as a remarkably self-assured and one-dimensional orthodoxy. For example, Harvey (2005) defines neoliberalism as \"a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can be best advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.\" However, several thinkers have criticized these types of interpretations by arguing in favor of more sophisticated explanations that can provide us with a better understanding of the nature of neoliberalism and its impact on society. Brown (2015) argues that we should go beyond the old Marxist interpretation of neoliberalism \"as capitalism on steroids\" and instead engage in a more profound analysis that reveals neoliberalism as a governing form. This interpretation reveals the fundamental transformation of social, cultural, and individual life brought about by the neoliberal reason and, most importantly, how this form of governance dismantles democratic life. For Brown (2015) neoliberalism's true danger to human society is its direct attack on democracy as the idea of rule by and for the people. Peck (2010) also challenges the interpretations that present neoliberalism as a single, unified phenomenon and defines it instead as \"a historically specific, unevenly developed, hybrid, patterned tendency of market-disciplinary regulatory restructuring.\" This interpretation provides a detailed genealogy of neoliberalism, emphasizing its diverse sources and its ceaseless transformation in response to repeated crises. Peck (2010) insists that \"it is necessary to recognize the free-market project's adaptive (and co-optive) capacities, rather than relying on cartoon-like versions of its supposedly invariant essence\" (p. 276). Mirowski (2014) accuses Harvey (2005), and the Left in general, of making two mistakes: identifying neoliberalism and neoclassical economics as the same, and believing that neoliberalism is deeply opposed to state intervention. Mirowski (2014) argues that neoclassical economics dates back to the 1870s and consists of mathematical models based on constrained optimization of utility or a narrow set of doctrines restricted to economics, while neoliberalism dates from the 1940s and is a general philosophy of market society. Regarding the state, Mirowski (2014) argues that a distinguishing characteristic of neoliberal doctrine and practice is that they are all explicitly proposed policies to strengthen the state in order to impose their vision of a society properly open to the dominance of the market. Although Mirowski (2014) is right in differentiating between neoliberal and neoclassical economics, the role played by neoclassical economics within neoliberalism requires us to investigate the role played by ideology in maintaining capitalistic rule. Zizek (1989) criticizes the orthodox Marxist understanding of ideology as the projection of an illusory appearance onto an external reality and argues instead that ideology should be understood as a web of social fantasies, which unconsciously structures social reality itself against a traumatic reality. Following this line of thought Wilson (2014) argues that neoliberalism should be interpreted as a form of obsessional neurosis that creates and recreates a social fantasy which prevents individuals from facing the traumatic reality of actual capitalism.\nReview of the literature on teaching economics: The Harvard Division of Education, concerned about the teaching of economics, noted that \"the aims and methods in the teaching of any subject must be conceived in the light of socially and individually desirable results in the lives of the students, and in the light of the opportunities offered and the limitations imposed by conditions, including the characteristics of the students themselves, their stage of advancement, and their own purposes, and including also the values inherent in the subject as an educational instrument\" (p. 6) as quoted in Harvard University (1917). In addition, the report emphasized the importance of practical projects and exercises. Similarly, Quinn in Anding (2005), asserts that transformational teachers create a great learning environment and are committed to making a difference and they demonstrate a willingness and commitment to challenge ordinary students to do extraordinary things. Singham (2005) in his analysis of student-teacher relationships argues that teachers should rid their classes of authoritarianism exhibited by the rules and language in a syllabus which is a reflection of a lack of trust between the student and the teacher. Singham was concerned that \"trust, respect and good judgment are being squeezed out by an increasingly adversarial relationship between teacher and students\" (p. 53) as quoted in Farias et al. (2010). This type of student-teacher relationship requires an environment of trust in which students and teachers can engage in open dialogue for mutual learning (Farias et al., 2010). Empowering students to manage their own learning and developing mutual respect and trust in teacher-student relationships is a required condition and it is surprising that with centuries of experience with education, and millions of students taught, the search for a more effective model continues (Farias et al., 2010). Creating a learning-centric environment requires empowering students to control their own learning while teachers perform the important role of facilitation (Farias et al., 2010).\nPedagogical methods and social economics: We live in an age of specialization and our educational institutions have focused on preparing students for jobs and not life. Many of the issues we face in the world today from poverty to inequality to climate change can be traced back to a world where self-interest is rewarded and the ideals of a fair and just world with a flourishing humanity are forgotten. Furthermore, we are also seduced by the notion that self-interest is the panacea to all the social, environmental and economic ills of our time. The evidence, however suggests the opposite; poverty is still rampant locally and globally, inequality and violence are rising, climate change poses an increasingly difficult challenge to humanity and world resources are being depleted at unprecedented rates. It is critical to ensure that our students not only learn about these issues, but also deeply care and reflect about them as they make decisions and take action in their lives and their work. On the other hand, the student population in our community college is very diverse consisting of first generation immigrants, low income students, underrepresented students, homeless and food insecure students all of which represent a dispersed engine of social mobility. It is important to provide them with the analytical and critical thinking tools, not only to enhance their own quality of life, but also to contribute to social and environmental justice for current and future generations. In essence we need to help our students become reflective, critical and analytical thinkers and learners. Furthermore, we need to emphasize the larger context - the role of the self in the world where economic, social and environmental injustices are rampant and structurally created even while heeding Freire's (1970) warning that the oppressed not become the oppressor. How do we change or shift this paradigm?\nA historical/critical/action-learning approach to teaching: bringing the real world into the classroom and taking the classroom into the real world: The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), the institution where we teach, located in the heart of New York City with a population of over 25,000 students, provides the perfect setting to teach social economics. This is because the typical student at BMCC and in our classrooms in particular - described by a recent survey as a person of color belonging to a household that earns less than $20,000 a year[1] - come from a socio-economic background that condition them to be more receptive to the critical approach of social economics as they have already experienced some of the negative aspects of capitalism like poverty, unemployment or some other form of economic exclusion. In our approach to teaching economics we recognize that our students' own life experience with poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, homelessness and violence have conditioned them to think critically about the economic system that they were born into. In this context, we agree with Bale and Knopp (2012) and Moll et al. (1992) that our duty as teachers is \"to find as many ways as we can to help students interrogate the nature of capitalism.\" Some of our most important teaching objectives are to enable students to understand through action learning that their social condition is more the result of a history of class struggle where gender and race discrimination plays a major role as barriers to entry and participation in the economy (rather than the choices that they or their families have made) and that their own college education should be seen as part of their own path to liberation. According to Bale and Knopp (2012), \"knowledge is power only if it helps us to have more control over the resources in our communities.\" Students who no longer identify with the ruling class learn to \"read\" and \"see\" the world in a new way and \"that struggle is possible and necessary to confront inequality and to fundamentally change the world\" (Bale and Knopp, 2012).\nConclusion: The twenty-first century undergraduate student has so far been a witness to political upheavals, economic instability, violence, financial crisis, poverty, inequality, climate change, unemployment, food insecurity, border walls, immigration, national security, recession, corruption and the list goes on and on. Has there been a better time in history to teach economics? Is bringing the real world into the classroom and taking the classroom into the real world an opportunity to simplify complex economic theory and engage in pluralistic economics? Events arising out of the financial crisis of 2007-2009 shaking the world, has generated a growing interest in the study of economics (Blinder, 2010). With the interest in the study of economics growing, students are more engaged in the classroom and want to participate in the conversation and action. For economics teachers this should be an exciting time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Teaching complex economic theories can be made relevant through everyday life experiences and current economic, social, and environmental crises can be used as vehicles for student learning. The purpose of this paper is to help students understand that the economy should be seen as a social system that evolves over time driven by conflictive and contradictory forces and enable them to develop the critical thinking skills needed to make better choices for a more equitable and sustainable future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the historical role played by neoliberalism on education in general and on the teaching of economics in particular. A historical/critical/action-learning approach discusses five pedagogical teaching methods that have been implemented in undergraduate economics courses and demonstrates how teaching social economics can be made possible by bringing the real world into the classroom and taking the classroom into the real world.\nFindings: There is an urgent need to rethink the teaching of economics and the economics curriculum from one that stresses self-interest, profit maximization and cost minimization, to one that stresses cooperation, collaboration, fairness, and ethical values rather than economic value, as ways of satisfying society's needs and addressing systemic issues of inequality, power and greed. Bringing teachers and students together in collaborative learning environments, thereby learning from the mistakes of the past and minimizing the impacts of the present so that future generations can also participate, is the much-needed change in how social economics can be taught post-financial crisis.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a response to the special issue on the theme teaching social economics during the global financial crisis. The authors have provided insights into their teaching pedgagogy in the context of this topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Undergraduate students' interaction with online information resources in their academic tasks: A comparative study	[ "Online information seeking behaviour", "Academic information access", "Undergraduate students", "Online information resources", "User studies", "Undergraduates", "Internet", "Information retrieval" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the rapid development of communication and web technologies, scholars in all disciplines have access to an unprecedented wealth of information, tools and services (2008). The internet lies at the center of a global information infrastructure for distributed, data-intensive and collaborative research (Borgman, 2007). Creating and disseminating information online has become possible and desirable with the help of more vibrant, social and participatory Web 2.0 tools (Anderson, 2007); at the same time, it becomes increasingly critical for people to utilize various online information resources as a great deal of relevant information is available only online.Studying the interactions with information resources in people's search or information seeking is part of the study of information (seeking) behaviour (Ingwersen and Kalervo, 2005). Fisher and Julien (2009) describe in their review that studies of information behaviour can be classified based on the studied populations (such as scientists, students, certain occupational groups, or ordinary people in everyday life situations), the employed information sources (interpersonal, social networking, the internet, and libraries), the key contextual aspects and the underlying theoretical frameworks. This classification helps us to establish the research focus of this paper, which can be summarized as: the studied population is comprised of undergraduate students at two universities in the US and China, the examined information sources are a set of internet based information resources, the key context aspects of the study can be described by the fact that students are completing their academic tasks (such as homework assignments, research papers, and exams), and they may perform such tasks individually or collaboratively. In summary, the purpose of this study is to identify undergraduate students' views on the importance of internet-based information resources when they undertake academic tasks. We acknowledge that our research focus covers a very narrow bandwidth in terms of the information (seeking) behaviour spectrum; however, we still firmly believe that our contribution is significant to the information (seeking) behaviour literature.There are several reasons that our study takes the aforementioned research focus. First, although they have been the focus of many previous studies, undergraduate students are a special population. This is because undergraduate students represent a group transitioning from novices in information seeking to users who have more complex and experienced information seeking behaviours (their skills and experience with both physical and digital information resources increases along with their learning and training in colleges and universities). And, as undergraduates are still relatively inexperienced in online search, it is important to study their information seeking behaviour to better support them.Second, the primary motivation for studying internet-based information sources in this study is because students now often obtain their academic information through various online resources. As the OCLC report (De Rosa et al., 2005) states, more and more undergraduates start their information seeking tasks by using internet-based information resources, and they trust more in these online resources. However, information seeking behaviour often happens within a certain context. In a knowledge-rich environment, universities and colleges play important roles in knowledge creation and dissemination. Students, particularly undergraduate students, utilize academic tasks (such as completing assignments, preparing exams etc.) associated with their studies to learn and practice their skills in obtaining information and deducing knowledge. As reviewed in the related work section which follows, there are no adequate prior studies focusing on examining undergraduates' information seeking in their academic tasks.The third reason is that no previous study compares undergraduate students' views on the importance of internet-based information resources between two different populations in two different countries. There are studies on undergraduate student groups in different countries on tolerance for cheating (Magnus et al., 2002), on burnout and engagement (Schaufeli et al., 2002), on culture and gender (Ramirez et al., 2001).The final reason we chose to consider undergraduate students as a special population is their tendency for collaborative information behaviour (CIB). CIB refers to \"activities that a group or team of people undertake to identify and resolve a shared information need\" (Poltrock et al., 2003). As inexperienced and unskilled searchers, undergraduates often view themselves as not competent at performing complex searches (Procter et al., 1998), so collaboration, particularly informal ones, would be helpful in completing their academic tasks such as assignments and group projects (Hodgkinson, 2006).The paper is organized as follows: we first review related work, outline our research questions, and present the research design, which includes the methodology, questionnaire design, participants. The majority of the paper is then dedicated to the analysis of the results and a discussion of the insights and implications. We conclude with some recommendations for future work.\n2. Related work: The study reported in this paper falls into a specific topic within the general research on information seeking behaviour. There have been numerous studies examining how students utilize different types of resources to satisfy their information needs. However, the focuses of these studies are often so scattered that it is difficult to organize them into a coherent scheme (Rowley and Urquhart, 2005). Considering the specific focuses of this study, we organize the review of the related literature into the following subsections.2.1 Studies on the information seeking behaviours of undergraduates\n3. Research questions: As stated, the purpose of this study is to identify undergraduate students' interactions with internet-based information resources as they complete their academic tasks. Our hypothesis here is that undergraduate students would have different preferences or views about the importance of online information resources when undertaking various academic tasks. To conduct our experiments, through a focus discussion group consisting of the authors and several undergraduates, we first identified a set of typical academic tasks for undergraduate students, which includes two collaborative tasks: preparing for group projects and preparing for a co-authored research paper, and seven individual academic tasks that can be further divided into simple tasks - looking for definitions of concepts, looking for books, looking for articles, and looking for answers to a specific question, and complex tasks - preparing for class assignments, preparing for a research paper, and preparing for an exam. Around the use of information sources for completing these tasks, we identified the following three research questions:1. From the perspective of an undergraduate student performing an individual academic task, what is the importance of each commonly-available online information resources to the completion of the task?2. From the perspective of an undergraduate student performing a collaborative academic task, what is the importance of each commonly-available online information resources to the completion of the task?3. From the perspective of an undergraduate student performing an individual/collaborative academic task, in what ways do culture/country factors affect the students' view of the importance of each commonly-available online information resources to the completion of the task?\n4. Research design: 4.1 Research methodology\n5. Results: 5.1 The importance of online resources in individual academic tasks\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Observations on undergraduates' information behaviours in academic tasks\n7. Conclusion: In this paper, under the hypotheses that: undergraduate students would have different views on the importance of internet-based information sources when they undertake various academic tasks, and their opinions will be affected by the country/culture factor, we designed web accessible questionnaires to collect data from participants in two universities in the USA and China. By analyzing the data collected from 347 valid participants, we confirm that undergraduate students have different views of the importance of information resources for various academic tasks. In their tasks, online electronic resources including search engines are the most commonly used resources, particularly for complex academic tasks. Social networking sites are not used as much in the students' individual academic tasks, and traditional resources still play equal or more important roles in some specific academic tasks. When undertaking collaborative tasks, students look for resources which make it easy to share documents. Participants from the two countries also exhibit interesting and important differences in their usage of information resources. The major contribution is that it clearly demonstrates the necessity of considering students' various tasks and country/culture as important contextual factors, and of studying the students' information seeking behaviours under specific academic tasks and country/culture. This study is an invaluable addition to the information seeking behaviour literature.Our future work includes several possible directions. First, there could be many other types of tasks that undergraduate students may perform. As an extension of our understanding of the impact of the academic tasks on students' behaviours, it is important to examine how other types of tasks affect students' behaviour as well. Second, it seems that students' behaviours in individual tasks exhibit patterns different to those in collaborative tasks. Therefore, it would be interesting to further examine the connections and differences between students' behaviours when undertaking individual tasks and collaborative tasks. Third, we want to further explore the limitations and potential of social web tools in students' academic tasks.\nAcknowledgements: This work is partially supported by the National Science Foundation of US under Grant No. 0704628 and 1052773, by the National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 09CTQ026, and by the Supported Project for Luojia Young Scholar of Wuhan University.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to identify the opinions of undergraduate students on the importance of internet-based information sources when they undertake academic tasks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on a set of identified typical academic tasks for undergraduate students, three research questions were designed around the students' usage and views of information resources for completing these tasks. Web-accessible questionnaires were used to collect data from participants in two universities in the USA and China, and the data were analyzed using quantitative methods, which included several statistic methods.\nFindings: - The results confirm that undergraduate students use different information resources for various academic tasks. In their tasks, online electronic resources including search engines are the most commonly used resources, particularly for complex academic tasks. Social networking sites are not used for the students' individual academic tasks, and traditional resources still play equal or more important roles in certain specific academic tasks. Students in collaborative tasks look for resources that make it easy to share documents. Participants from the two countries also exhibit interesting and important differences in their usage of information resources.\nOriginality/value: - This study examines undergraduate students' usages and views of different information resources in their various academic tasks, and pays special attention to the impacts of being from their different countries. The study also considers both students' individual academic tasks and collaborative tasks. This study is an invaluable addition to the information seeking behaviour literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of collaborative decision-making on logistics service performance for container shipping services	[ "Organizational information processing theory", "Logistics information integration", "Collaborative decision-making", "Container shipping firms", "Logistics service performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Globalization has forced firms to increasingly outsource their logistics activities to third-party logistics providers to decrease cost and improve quality. Apparently, multinational enterprises have expanded their supply chain networks to span the world. Organizations thus no longer compete as solely autonomous entities but as supply chains (Christopher, 1998). Facing this dynamic and complex environment of global competition, organizations should conceive methods of effectively controlling their supply chains. The concept of supply chain management (SCM) advocates the close collaboration of partners to provide superior services to the end customers at the lowest cost and also to build a long-term relationship with their partners. Thus, the new prospect of SCM entails the connection or integration of all members and activities within a supply chain, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the entire supply chain.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: 2.1 Organizational information processing theory\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Questionnaire design and measures\n4. Results of empirical analysis: 4.1 Characteristics of respondents and their companies\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Under this uncertain and dynamic logistics marketplace, it is important to share and integrate logistics information with supply chain partners for joint decision-making. This study evaluates the antecedent and effect of collaborative decision-making in the context of container shipping firms. The main findings can be summarized as follows.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The increasing demand for high-quality logistics services has forced container shipping firms to decrease logistics service failure to retain the customers. This study thus aims to apply organizational information processing theory (OIPT) to construct a maritime supply chain collaborative decision-making model and examine its impact on logistics service performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 142 usable questionnaires were collected from questionnaire survey. A two-step structural equation modeling approach including confirmatory factor analysis was subsequently performed to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results show that internal information integration positively impacts external information integration, that external information integration positively impacts collaborative decision-making, and that collaborative decision-making positively impacts logistics service performance for container shipping firms. However, a relationship between internal information integration and collaborative decision-making was not found in this study.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study primarily examines collaborative decision-making from the view of container shipping firms. Future research including other supply chain members is needed to generalize the results and could also incorporate other factors such as relationship quality and culture, into the model to address this issue.\nPractical implications: To decrease the occurrence of logistics failures and improve service quality in the maritime logistics process, it is suggested that container shipping firms apply information technology for acquiring and assimilating logistics information internally and externally across the supply chain to facilitate decision-making.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the knowledge about the antecedents and impacts of collaborative decision-making for container shipping firms in Taiwan. Particularly, in line with OITP, the findings indicate that container shipping firms can facilitate logistics decision-making and strategy formulation through information integration, which in turn enhances logistics service performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International comparison of K-12 STEM teaching practices	[ "STEM education teaching practices", "K-12 STEM education", "Science", "Technology", "Engineering", "Mathematics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last two decades, scholars have increasingly noted the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education in school classrooms (e.g. Thomas and Watters, 2015). With the technological boom and increasing threats to the global environment, it is crucial to provide students with learning opportunities that help them thrive in a changing society. Worldwide, nations are responding to pressure to generate globally competitive students. Countries such as Singapore have implemented technology and engineering initiatives such as robotics as early as early childhood stages (Sullivan and Bers, 2018). In the hopes of creating globally aware citizens, fragmented and varied definitions of STEM create barriers to international understanding and collaborative efforts. Though scholars mostly acknowledge the importance of STEM education, there is little consensus regarding how STEM education is conceptualized and implemented in school classrooms. For instance, Carmichael's (2017) study investigated how policy models in all 50 states in the United States defined STEM education. Carmichael (2017) observed the following STEM definitions: (1) disciplinary STEM (10%), which is content specific, (2) integrated STEM (42%), which integrated more than one discipline area, (3) a combination of disciplinary and integrated STEM (30%) and (d) no definition of STEM education (18%). To advance research and practice, the field needs to operationalize STEM education and clearly define the goals of STEM practices.In this study, we aim to advance research by providing a synthesis of STEM education literature in India, Italy and Singapore. This study is unique in that it compares the conceptualization and K-12 STEM teaching practices implemented in India, Italy and Singapore. This research stands to bolster global K-12 STEM research. Our purpose in choosing these particular three countries is twofold. First, pragmatically, as scholars from the United States, we wish to learn how other countries conceptualize and implement STEM education so as to inform our own research and practice. Second, the three chosen countries prioritize STEM education (e.g. Filippi and Agarwal, 2017; Sullivan and Bers, 2018; Thomas and Watters, 2015), and they represent a diverse range of geographic regions. The research questions guiding our study are as follows: (1) How is K-12 STEM education conceptualized in literature in other countries? (2) Which STEM subject areas are more documented in K-12 STEM literature? and (3) How are K-12 STEM teaching practices implemented?\nLiterature review: Science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) was introduced in 1993 by the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve American education (Sharma and Yarlagadda, 2018). In 2001, the NSF director, Judith Ramaley, rearranged the letters to STEM for aesthetic purposes but also to demonstrate an interdisciplinary emphasis. She explained the new letter order implies science and mathematics provide a meaningful connection of support to engineering and technology (Sharma and Yarlagadda, 2018). The acronym STEM was originally used in a political context to call attention to the demands of the future workforce in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related professions (De Vries, 2018). De Vries (2018) posits:At that time [prior to 2019] STEM meant a set of independent disciplines, each of which was abbreviated by one character. Later, educators saw this as a challenge to seek ways of developing integrated STEM education, in which elements from the four individual disciplines could be used in combination (p. 22).Though international scholars agree on the importance of STEM education (Sokolowska et al., 2014; Sullivan and Bers, 2018), there is currently little consensus regarding how STEM practices should be incorporated in curriculum. Several international organizations recommend teaching and learning practices in each of the content domains (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but current recommendations fail to consider STEM as an integrated concept. For instance, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provides international recommendations for technology-related education, while the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) recommends teaching and learning practices for technology and engineering. These international organizations do important work in creating global content standards, but organizations currently do not treat STEM as an interdisciplinary concept as was envisioned by the early pioneers of STEM education. Furthermore, international organizations often adhere to western philosophies of education, bringing into question whether such organizations represent a global perspective.With little consensus regarding STEM education from an international perspective, it is vital to compare how countries from a variety of geographic regions conceptualize and implement STEM education. STEM education implementation has changed over the course of several decades. Singapore, for example, originally focused on early childhood education in numeracy and natural sciences but progressed into an emphasis on technology and engineering (Sullivan and Bers, 2018). Italy also highlighted technology stating, \"An information society in the foreseeable future will require both specialists [science and mathematics] in narrow fields, as well as educated and informed citizens\" (Sokolowska et al., 2014, p. 41). Australia agreed in a technologically advancing global society, believing education is the \"driving tool for economic well-being, which directly impacts the economic growth of nations\" (Sharma and Yarlagadda, 2018, p. 2000). Comparative studies might provide scholars and practitioners with opportunities to envision a set of international STEM standards similar to those constructed in content-specific domains. It is within this landscape that we analyze the different teaching and learning practices of three countries from different geographic regions so as to create a better understanding of STEM from a global perspective.\nMethodology: We utilized a systematic review methodology (Cooper, 2017) to search for and analyze articles relevant to the research questions. A systematic review methodology consists of four parts as follows: (1) creating search terms based on the research questions, (2) choosing databases in which to conduct the search, (3) conducting the search and gathering articles and (4) selecting articles based on inclusion criteria. We chose search terms according to three domains relevant to our study: countries of interest, content of interest and teaching practices. The specific search terms utilized within each domain are presented in Figure 1. After consulting with an education research librarian, we ran a search in September 2019 utilizing the following databases: Eric EBSCOHost, PsycInfo and Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). The search included each country of interest (e.g. India AND [STEM OR (Science AND Technology AND Engineering AND Math*)] AND (teaching OR learning OR instruction OR education) limiting for peer-reviewed articles written after the year 2000. We chose to limit our search to articles written after 2000 to ensure the literature was relatively recent and still relevant to today's classrooms. The search yielded 96 articles for India, 123 for Italy and 52 for Singapore.We next transferred all articles included in the search to RefWorks to gather pertinent information such as the title and abstract. From Refworks, the articles were transferred to an Excel spreadsheet for screening purposes. We utilized the following criteria to screen articles for inclusion: The study was (1) an empirical journal article or literature review; (2) primarily focused on the concept of K-12 STEM teaching practices in one of the countries of interest and (3) written in English. We took the remaining articles through three phases of screening. First, we screened the title of each article according to inclusion criteria, eliminating 191 articles. Subsequently, we conducted an abstract screen which eliminated an additional 45 articles. Finally, we scanned the full text of each article, eliminating an additional 7 articles. The screening process left a total of 28 articles for analysis. (6 - India, 5 - Italy, 17 -Singapore). All included articles are designated by an asterisk in the references. A PRISMA diagram (Moher et al., 2009) of our search and screening process is shown in Figure 2.Following the screening process, we read each of the 28 included articles and coded them according to a literature review matrix based on the research questions. The matrix and an exemplification from the data are included in Table 1. The articles within each country were compared against each other (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to develop themes relevant to each research question. The following findings section includes a subcategory for each country of interest, and each subcategory is organized to answer the three research questions.\nFindings: India\nDiscussion: This systematic literature review resulted in 28 articles for final examination (see Table 2). Despite the methodical nature of the search and limits, all articles did not address or demonstrate a unifying use of the term STEM. Discrepancies were also found when studying articles within the same country, such as some articles in Singapore discussed ICT, but not all. MST was also a common theme identified in Italy's K-12 STEM education literature, but not all articles discussed ICT. While the terminology between ICT and MST did not mirror the use of STEM, the intent, meaning and implementation of the curricula and programs addressed are the same broad field of study and research.Overarching trends and patterns were identified when comparing an overview of study results (Table 3). The first research question investigated how STEM education was conceptualized in the K-12 classroom setting. Based on findings from this study, the majority of articles did not delineate how they defined the term STEM. Of the few articles that addressed a conceptualization of STEM, a unifying definition was not established. Although a common definition was not accepted or discussed by all research studies examined in this analysis, the majority of articles agreed upon the importance of STEM education and believed in the necessity of the implementation of STEM teaching methods in the K-12 classroom setting.The second research question addressed which STEM areas were most documented in K-12 STEM literature. Interestingly, science was documented in 100% of the articles researched for India and Italy; however, technology and mathematics were the top documented STEM areas for Singapore. The emphasis on technology and mathematics and in the Singaporean education system may have influenced the amount of literature focused on these areas of study. Also interesting to note, technology was ranked in the top two most documented STEM areas of K-12 STEM literature for all three countries. Elevating one dimension of STEM, such as technology, may be a response to equalize the efforts of education to generate well-rounded and prepared students. This finding revealed the importance India, Italy and Singapore placed on technology in their societies. Toward the bottom of the ranking scale, engineering was documented the least in K-12 STEM literature in Italy (0%) and Singapore (18%). The lack of mention of engineering or engineering practices in these two countries, especially Italy, reinforced the finding that STEM education is treated as a splintered concept in the education system.The third research question addressed how K-12 STEM teaching practices were implemented in India, Italy and Singapore. While Italy and Singapore focused on enquiry-based student-centered STEM teaching practices, schools in India mostly utilized student-centered teaching approaches highlighting procedures and drill practice. This difference in teaching methods in India is thought to exist due to lack of technological resources such as computers and training to implement them into the curriculum. Although India's, Italy's and Singapore's conceptualization of STEM education, emphasis on STEM areas and implementation of STEM teaching practices differed, they all acknowledged the importance of addressing STEM education in the shaping of globally aware citizens.Sokolowska et al. (2014) stated, \"An information society in the foreseeable future will require both specialists in narrow fields, as well as educated and informed citizens\" (p. 41). Filippi and Agarwal (2017) echoed this sentiment by describing innovation in STEM fields as, \"imperative to the innovation potential of the world as society begins to face complex problems. These problems include the impacts of climate change, food insecurity, and explosive population growth\" (p. 258). Lim (2008) also contended STEM is an integral part of global citizenship, \"Regardless of our location, we face a common destiny (at least in the mid-term or long term); where the unfolding of an event in one part of the world affects lives in other parts. In such a new world order, education for global citizenship is essential in preparing our children and young people to be agents of change rather than just passive observers of world events; and at the same time, to live together in an increasingly diverse and complex society and to reflect on and interpret fast-changing information\" (pp. 1073-1074). Further calls for investigating STEM (and STEAM) initiatives in education as a means to impact education were articulated by Harris and de Bruin (2018),\" demonstrating secondary education teacher practices configured toward multidisciplinary practices also compels the need for further enquiry into the ways STEM and/or STEAM education initiatives based on collaboration, dialogue, environment can effectively impart knowledge and skills with critical and creativity education at its core\" (p. 170).\nConclusion: Based on the systematic literature review of the international comparison of K-12 STEM teaching practices in India, Italy and Singapore, a homogeneous international set of comprehensive STEM standards did not exist. The current international state of STEM is difficult to discuss due to the lack of uniform definition, implementation and standards. When discussing the progression of research in STEM education, it is important to define the limitations of the current study and delineate recommendations for future studies. Limitations of this study were identified within the parameters of the systematic literature review. The systematic literature review was also not completely comprehensive as the search parameters were restricted to K-12 STEM classrooms within the three countries of interest, empirical journal articles or literature reviews and articles written in English. Further research is warranted beyond the three countries investigated in this study. For example, a systematic literature review of STEM education in other countries or the extension of search terms may provide deeper understanding of the global state of STEM education. By expanding search parameters to include terms such as MST and ICT and including more geographic regions, the field may move closer toward constructing international standards which treat STEM as an interdisciplinary concept.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study analyzed articles from India, Italy and Singapore regarding how science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is conceptualized in the K-12 setting. The research questions that guided our study were as follows: (1) How is K-12 STEM education conceptualized in literature in other countries? (2) Which STEM subject areas are more documented in K-12 STEM literature? (3) How are K-12 STEM teaching practices implemented?\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study utilized a systematic literature review methodology by (1) creating search terms based on the research questions, (2) choosing databases in which to conduct the search, (3) conducting the search and gathering articles and (4) selecting articles based on inclusion criteria. We chose search terms according to three domains relevant to our study as follows: countries of interest, content of interest and teaching practices. Articles researched were (1) an empirical journal article or literature review; (2) primarily focused on the concept of K-12 STEM teaching practices in one of the countries of interest and (3) written in English.\nFindings: Findings from the study revealed few articles addressed a conceptualization of STEM; however, the majority of articles agreed upon the importance of STEM teaching methods in the K-12 classroom setting. Science was documented as the top documented area in K-12 STEM literature for India and Italy, whereas technology and mathematics were the top documented areas in Singapore. Comparing K-12 STEM teaching practices, Italy and Singapore were found to focus more on student-centered STEM teaching practices whereas schools in India mostly utilized student-centered teaching approaches.\nResearch limitations/implications: The parameters of the systematic literature review, such as key terms used in the search and limited scope of countries investigated, were identified as limitations of the study. By expanding search parameters to include other countries or search terms, STEM education can be viewed on a more global scale.\nPractical implications: This study will improve the global perspective of STEM education practices.\nOriginality/value: This study is unique in that it compared the conceptualization and K-12 STEM teaching practices implemented in India, Italy and Singapore.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The rise and fall of stand-alone social reporting in a multinational subsidiary in Bangladesh: A case study	[ "Bangladesh", "Legitimacy", "CSR", "Tobacco", "Case study", "Social reporting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A major area of increased research interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is that of examining and seeking to explain the rise of corporate disclosures on social, ethical and environmental issues (Owen, 2008). However, as opposed to earlier predominantly content analysis-based studies of CSR reporting, current research has moved on to using more direct methods of exploring managerial motivations, such as in-depth interviews with corporate managers (Belal, 2008; Belal and Owen, 2007). Responding to Gray's (2002) and Parker's (2005) calls for more engagement-based research, and in an attempt to seek a richer and more in-depth understanding of social accounting processes within organisations, social accounting researchers have begun to undertake intensive case studies. Prominent examples here include studies of the UK fair trade organisation Traidcraft (Dey, 2007), Landcare Research, New Zealand (Bebbington and Gray, 2001), the Irish Agency for Personal Service Overseas (O'Dwyer, 2005), Total SA, France (Cho, 2009) and Ghana's Volta River Authority (Rahaman et al., 2004). While these much needed case studies provide invaluable insights into social and environmental accounting practices within the above mentioned organisations, it is significant that only Cho's study was undertaken in the context of a traditional commercial organisation. It is, however, the social, ethical and environmental accounting practices of large commercial multinational enterprises which are arguably of the most major concern because of the enormous impact of these organisations' operations on different stakeholders and their lives, particularly in developing countries.\n2. The context of tobacco regulation and control in Bangladesh: The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that more than 80 per cent of total smokers worldwide come from the developing countries where tobacco use is still increasing as compared to developed countries where it is reported to be decreasing (www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/index.html, accessed 12 September 2014). Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world where tobacco use is very high and is considered to be one of the largest markets with an estimated 46.3 million tobacco users (Barkat et al., 2012). According to the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) approximately 43 per cent of all adults (age 15+) use some of form of tobacco in Bangladesh (WHO, 2009). Additionally, Barkat et al. (2012) found that the incidence of cigarette smoking in the country rose by over 40 per cent between 1997 and 2010.\n3. The pursuit of legitimacy in a controversial sector: towards a theoretical framework: In a critical examination of the tobacco giant Philip Morris's \"People\" advertising campaign Metzler (2001) noted that the tobacco industry in general \"is under siege from various publics\" (p. 372). The legitimacy threat the industry faces from global regulation, attacks from the media and intense pressure from anti-tobacco groups has led it to develop and utilise various legitimacy strategies in order to protect its survival. It can be argued that CSR and its reporting are used by the tobacco companies as legitimising tools (Moerman and Van der Laan, 2005) to renew their \"social contract\" in the communities within which they operate. We therefore argue that legitimacy theory provides an appropriate lens for examining the development and subsequent cessation of stand-alone CSR reporting in ABC - a company which operates within a controversial sector and is under intense scrutiny by media, anti-tobacco groups and civil society in Bangladesh.\n4. Research approach: The case study company is a Bangladesh-based subsidiary of a European multinational tobacco company. Currently it provides direct employment to some 1,200 people whilst also providing indirect employment to a further 50,000 farmers, distributors and suppliers in Bangladesh (ABC Annual Report, 2010, p. 3). ABC has a 36 per cent share of the total cigarette market in Bangladesh whilst also dominating the premium cigarette market. It has a long history of CSR reporting initially through its annual reports (1975-2010) and subsequently (commencing in 2003) via the biennial publication of a stand-alone social report.\n5. Stand-alone social reporting in ABC (2003-2010): ABC published its first stand-alone social report in 2003 and its third and final one in 2007. Stand-alone reporting was discontinued in 2009. Keeping this timeline in mind we structure the findings of this paper into two time periods. The first period (2003-2007) captures the rise of stand-alone reporting whilst the second (2008-2010) scrutinises its demise. Before 2003 CSR disclosures were made in the annual reports of ABC with an average annual level of CSR disclosures of 8.2 per cent being made during the pre-social reporting period of 1975-2002.\n6. Discussion: The main aim of this paper has been to examine the underlying drivers for the rise and subsequent fall of stand-alone CSR reporting by the Bangladesh-based subsidiary of a leading multinational tobacco company (ABC). Analysis summarised in Table III suggests that the average level of CSR disclosures within the annual reports during the pre-stand-alone social reporting period (1975-2002) stood only at 8.2 per cent. During the social reporting period (2003-2007) disclosure levels within the annual reports and social reports stood at 19.4 and 40.5 per cent, respectively. Figure 2 indicates that disclosures within the annual report stabilised, to some extent, during the social reporting period (2003-2007) before picking up again in the post-social reporting period (2008-2010) at 25.1 per cent. However, the overall disclosure level has clearly been reduced. While some compensation was sought for the discontinuation of stand-alone reporting via annual report and web site disclosures we observed that there were significant differences in the nature of disclosures provided. The disclosures within the stand-alone social reports are detailed and specific, as opposed to the annual report disclosures which appear to be more general and vague. In addition to report analysis substantial interview evidence has been collected from senior managers of ABC and its various key stakeholders. The interview analysis suggests that the rise and the subsequent cessation of CSR reporting at ABC were driven by a combination of complex global and local forces (Hah and Freeman, 2013; Muller, 2006). Global forces include ABC's head office based in Europe, the WHO and FCTC, CDC, the Bloomberg Initiatives and Path, Canada. Local forces include various government agencies, local media, NGOs and anti-tobacco pressure groups. We now interpret these findings with reference to the theoretical framework, prior research and the contextual insights provided earlier in the paper. We have argued that during the study period ABC moved through different legitimacy phases (Tilling and Tilt, 2010) and used various legitimation techniques with associated different CSR disclosure strategies. This is shown in Table III.\n7. Conclusions, implications, contributions and future research: To conclude, the rise and fall of stand-alone CSR reporting in ABC cannot be attributed to one single factor, rather we argue that it was driven by a complex combination of global and local forces. While the global forces include the influence of ABC's head office, the WHO and various other international institutions local forces include shifts in the government's tobacco policy over time, tightened regulation and a strong local anti-tobacco campaign orchestrated by the concerted efforts of the media, NGOs and anti-tobacco groups.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying drivers for the development and subsequent discontinuation of stand-alone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in a multinational subsidiary in Bangladesh.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research approach employed for this purpose is a case study using evidence from a series of in-depth interviews conducted during the period 2002-2010. Interview data are supplemented by examining other sources of information including annual reports, stand-alone social reports and relevant newspaper articles during the study period.\nFindings: It appears that the stand-alone CSR reporting process was initiated to give the subsidiary a formal space in which to legitimise its activities in Bangladesh where both tobacco control regulation and a strong anti-tobacco movement were gaining momentum. At the start of the process in 2002 corporate interviewees were very receptive of this initiative and strongly believed that it would not be a one off exercise. However, in the face of subsequent significant national policy shifts concerning tobacco control, irreconcilable stakeholder demands and increasing criticism of the CSR activities of the organisation at home and abroad the process was brought to an abrupt end in 2009.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper has a number of implications for policy makers concerning the future prospects for stand-alone social/sustainability reporting as a means of enhancing organisational transparency and accountability. In addition the paper discusses a number of theoretical implications for the development of legitimacy theory.\nOriginality/value: Using the lens of legitimacy the paper theorises the circumstances leading to the initiation and subsequent cessation of CSR reporting in the organisation concerned. As far as the authors know this is the first study which theorises and provides significant fieldwork-based empirical evidence regarding the discontinuation of stand-alone social reporting by a multinational company operating in a developing country. Thus, it extends previous desk-based attempts at using legitimacy theory to explain a decrease (or discontinuity) in CSR disclosures by de Villiers and van Staden (2006) and Tilling and Tilt (2010).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Survival analysis of supply chain financial risk	[ "Resilience", "Disruption", "Supply chain", "Financial risk", "Bankruptcy detection", "Survival analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As supply chains (SCs) continue to become more global in scope, the risk of adverse outcomes increases. To contain these risks, SC risk management techniques are being used to first identify risks inherent in the SC, to estimate their likelihood of occurrence and to determine the magnitude of the impact each risk represents for the SC. Risk management activities can be characterized as a two-stage framework: planning activities followed by execution activities (Kouvelis et al., 2011). Planning activities, in general, involve the identification of specific risks, estimating the likelihood and severity of the risks' consequences and proactively devising risk mitigation plans. Execution activities implement processes that scan for risk occurrences followed by a real-time response process that is ready to deploy. Early detection of risks is crucial to minimizing the SC damages that occur, thereby enhancing SC resilience. According to a recent summary of SC risk research, Ho et al. (2015) find that there is a research gap in the domain of infrastructural SC risks that includes financial risk assessment. The researchers also find that early warning risk monitoring research is lacking and suggest scholars to extend the literature in this area. Therefore, this article focuses on scanning capabilities for sourcing risks that result from interactions with suppliers or customers and particularly the potential for catastrophic outcomes resulting from financial bankruptcy.\nLiterature review: SC risks are classified into the following taxonomy: supply risk, demand risk, process risk, technology risk, logistics risk, information risk and environment risk (Punniyamoorthy et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2013; Wildgoose et al., 2012). The current research focuses on supply and demand risks, as SCs comprise reciprocal pairs of suppliers-customers. Both of these risks pose significant challenges to SC managers because of the severity of the impact and the difficulty of effective mitigation. Scannell et al. (2013) report in their study of 46 companies that supplier reliability is a top risk factor in the SC. Van Miegham (2011) rates the catastrophic loss of a key supplier as a moderate probability with a high effect for aggregate loss severity. Chen et al. (2013) found that demand risks have a direct negative effect on SC performance. This conclusion does not consider the potential for customer financial failure. Financial distress resulting in the failure of a supplier or of a customer is a significant risk to the performance of the entire SC.\nResearch models: Traditional methods for assessing corporate financial health include discriminant analysis (Altman et al., 1994; Reichert et al., 1983) and LR (Luoma and Laitinen, 1991). Newer algorithms have emerged, which include neural networks and survival analysis. The reader is referred to Smith and Gupta (2000) and Kumar and Ravi (2007) for a survey of the application of neural networks in a diverse range of research problems that include financial forecasting. In many of the cases, the neural networks are reported to provide more accurate prediction capability than the traditional parametric statistical approaches. However, the results are often mixed (Tam and Kiang, 1992; Coats and Fant, 1993; Altman et al., 1994; Kiviluoto, 1998). In this research, CPHR is contrasted with legacy approaches that include MDA and LR. CPHR, as applied in this research, is described briefly in the following paragraphs. For a discussion of the MDA and LR models, see Altman (1968) and Agresti (2002).\nExperimental design: There are two significant research questions addressed by this experimental methodology. First, is CPHR, with its focus on predicting survival times, as accurate in identifying SC financial failure events as the legacy methods of MDA and LR, which discriminate objects into groups? If CPHR demonstrates comparable accuracy, then how can SC managers use CPHR output to effectively reduce SC risk? The second question has to do with timing: Can CPHR be used to predict the timing of bankruptcy for a SC member?\nResults: The discussion of results is divided into sub-sections for each of the two research questions. In the first sub-section, the accuracy of CPHR predictions are evaluated relative to the benchmark algorithms of MDA and LR. In the second sub-section, methods are proposed that SC managers can use to analyze CPHR survival curves and effectively mitigate SC risk.\nDiscussion and conclusions: A scanning process is a key activity in the management of SC risks and in enhancing resilience. The nature of the CPHR-based scanning process studied in this research is characterized as short term and dynamic, which is quite different from the structured and static nature of the legacy models reported in the literature. There are also differences in the composition of the sample data used to train the CPHR scanning model. Prior research tends to use data samples that are focused by industry or geographical region (Lane et al., 1986; Luoma and Laitinen, 1991; Honjo, 2000; Cochran et al., 2006; Pereira, 2014). By contrast, a SC scanning model must be able to generalize to a more diverse set of firms. The database for this study includes firms from seven main SIC categories and 102 SIC sub-codes. Another major difference is the need for a SC scanning model capable of recognizing the deterioration of performance over time. The legacy models analyze static cross-sectional data at a single point in time. The CPHR model can process dynamic information trends and provide the probability of survival over an extended time horizon. To be effective, the risk scanning model requires frequent information updating. Annual updates, typical of the legacy models, are replaced in this research with quarterly information updates. A final difference between the CPHR scanning model and the legacy models is the selection of explanatory variables. This scanning model includes a time series of SC activity, the PMI and a set of temporal variables that estimate performance deterioration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply survival analysis, using Cox proportional hazards regression (CPHR), to the problem of predicting if and when supply chain (SC) customers or suppliers might file a petition for bankruptcy so that proactive steps may be taken to avoid a SC disruption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: CPHR is first compared to multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) and logistic regression (LR) to assess its suitability and accuracy to SC applications using three years of financial quarterly data for 69 non-bankrupt and 74 bankrupt organizations. A k-means clustering approach is then applied to the survival curves of all 143 organizations to explore heuristics for predicting the timing of bankruptcy petitions.\nFindings: CPHR makes bankruptcy predictions at least as accurately as MDA and LR. The survival function also provides valuable information on when bankruptcy might occur. This information allows SC members to be prioritized into three groups: financially healthy companies of no immediate risk, companies with imminent risk of bankruptcy and companies with intermediate levels of risk that need monitoring.\nOriginality/value: The current paper proposes a new analytical approach to scanning and assessing the financial risk of SC members (suppliers or customers). Traditional models are able to predict if but not when a financial failure will occur. Lacking this information, it is impossible for SC managers to prioritize risk mitigation activities. A simple decision rule is developed to guide SC managers in setting these priorities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A lean thinking and simulation-based approach for the improvement of routing operations	[ "Vehicle routing problem", "Lean routing", "Transportation efficiency", "Transportation waste elimination", "Value stream map" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The improvement of routing operations performance has been of great concern since the mid 1900s. For instance, one of the first models to optimise the cost, distance and time of routing operations was developed by Dantzig and Ramser (1959). Due to both its practical relevance and considerable difficulty, the vehicle routing problem (VRP) has been one of the most studied combinatorial optimisation problems. In this context, several specific approaches (e.g. Boudia et al., 2008; Chiu et al., 2006; Ropke and Pisinger, 2006; Zhao et al., 2003; Chung et al., 2015) and surveys (Eksioglu et al., 2009; Hasle and Kloster, 2007; Marvel and Standridge, 2009; Masson-Jones et al., 2000; US Department of Transportation, 2009) of different algorithms to solve the VRP with various characteristics and assumptions have been developed and compiled. An important recent trend in VRP research is the movement of what has been called \"rich VRP models\". This movement has been fuelled by the need to solve real-life routing problems. A sample of contributions related to this movement are provided by Simmons et al. (2004), Sternberg et al. (2013), Irnich (2008), Bock (2010), Oppen et al. (2010) and Drexl and Prescott-Gagnon (2010). However, as pointed out by Berhan et al. (2014), both the classical and rich VRP models do not usually capture important aspects of real-life transportation and distribution-logistic problems. This is because several of the problem parameters such as demand, time, distance and others are stochastic in nature, but they are often oversimplified and treated as deterministic (Ak and Erera, 2007). In most of the cases, this is one of the main limitations when addressing the VRP through the traditional operations research and mathematical modelling approaches commonly followed by researchers (Sternberg et al., 2013). As a result, a different movement to improve transport operations has emerged over the last decade.\n2. Literature review: In the current globalised market, transportation and distribution are necessary activities to deliver goods to customers. In fact, although these are recognised as tertiary economic activities (Chase and Apte, 2007), Villarreal et al. (2009b) suggest that they can nowadays be considered as a differentiating factor that adds service value to customers. Despite this characteristic, lean thinking regards transportation and distribution as non-value added activities, for which they are categorised as waste that should be, if possible, eliminated (Womack and Jones, 2003). This has contributed to the development of research which has aimed at transferring the application of lean principles and tools to improve road transportation, particularly, through the three research streams on lean transportation previously mentioned in the introduction section. These research streams are briefly reviewed in the subsequent sub-sections.\n3. Methodology: As indicated earlier in the previous sections, researchers have mainly attempted to improve transport operations using operations research and mathematical modelling methods. Similarly, some researchers have also explored the implementation of lean thinking to address vehicle routing and transportation challenges. However, there is limited evidence of such application in this area, and as a result this research aims to address this research gap by following a lean and simulation-based approach. Hines and Taylor (2000) suggested a scheme to implement lean improvement initiatives that was later modified by Villarreal et al. (2009a, b) to eliminate transportation waste. Later, Villarreal (2012) further modified this original scheme proposed by Hines and Taylor (2000) to adapt it to a specific environment of transport operations, considering efficiency wastes in the procedure. This scheme is now modified in this work to consider the variability inherited in routing operations, see Figure 2. A complete review of schemes for VSM considering variability was recently suggested by Roessler et al. (2014).\n4. Implementation and results: An application of the proposed approach is illustrated in this section through a case study of an international company based in Mexico. The studied organisation is the leading firm in the production and distribution of frozen and refrigerated food in the Mexican market. Its annual sales in Mexico were estimated to be around 4 billion USD in 2013. Its annual turnover in 2013 was estimated to be about 9.8 billion USD. The company has extended its operations to the USA, Central America and Peru. The company has a primary distribution network in Mexico that sends product from plants to central distribution centres (CDCs), and from these to regional distribution centres (RDCs). It also includes a secondary network that takes the goods from the RDCs to the retailing points or stores.\n5. Conclusions: This paper presents an application of the lean methodology to the field of transportation, and in particular, to routing operations. It contributes by combining the previous works of Sternberg et al. (2013) and Villarreal (2012) to propose an alternative approach, based on lean thinking and simulation, to improve the efficiency of warehousing and routing operations.\n6. Discussion and future research: The most important impact of this research on society is on the improvement of the competitiveness of the transportation sector and on environmental issues. Freight transportation by road has become an important element of international trade and supply chains performance (Demir et al., 2014). For example, the US Department of Transportation (2009) concluded that 68 per cent of the total tonnage moved in the USA in 2010 was done by road, whereas 29 per cent of the ton-km of this country's trade with Mexico and Canada was also moved under this mode of transportation. Similarly, the Mexican Transportation Secretary informed that in 2013 nearly 75 per cent of total ton-km was distributed by road (Subsecretaria de Transporte, 2013). In the same line, the European Commission reported in 2008 that the European Union moved 27 per cent of its ton-km by road. However, road transportation has traditionally been stated as inefficient, in European countries (McKinnon et al., 1999; Swedish Association of Road Haulage Companies, 2008), North America (Belman et al., 2005; US Department of Transportation, 2009) and in Mexico (Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, 2004).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The improvement of routing operations performance has been of great concern for organisations. This has led to the development of alternative lean-based methods, however the literature research on the applications of lean thinking in the transportation sector is still considered rather limited. The purpose of this paper is to present a lean thinking and simulation-based approach to improve the efficiency of warehousing and routing operations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the existing literature in the area of lean transportation and then presents and applies a novel approach to improve the vehicle routing operations of a Mexican firm. The proposed approach suggests the classification of wastes into those relevant to transport operations, their identification through a transportation value stream mapping study, and the use of the transportation overall vehicle effectiveness (TOVE) index for the measure of the overall performance of the transport operations.\nFindings: The results obtained from the case study indicate that the proposed approach is an effective alternative for the improvement of vehicle routing operations as the number of routes decreased from 30 to 22 and the distance travelled by 32 per cent. Similarly, the average number of clients served by each route increased by 23 per cent as well as the TOVE index increased from 6.9 to 19.3 per cent. The TOVE component measures of vehicle performance and operating availability efficiencies also increased significantly while quality issues, in the form of number of customers not served per route, were reduced from six to zero.\nOriginality/value: The improvement of routing operations performance has been traditionally addressed through operations research and mathematical modelling approaches. This paper presents an alternative and novel lean thinking and simulation-based approach to improve the efficiency of routing operations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Through the lens of self-construal: Cross-cultural variation in consumers' appreciation of harmony in marketing visuals	[ "Self-construal", "Attractiveness", "Congruity", "Hedonic", "Harmony", "Visual design" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The visual attractiveness of artifacts is thought to be an aesthetic universal (Lidwell et al., 2010), positively influencing consumer response (Veryzer, 1993), even across different cultures (Hardonk, 1999). Visual attractiveness \"emerges from patterns in the way people and objects relate\" (Reber et al., 2004, p. 365) and can be viewed as an aesthetically pleasing subjective experience that is directed toward an object (Kubovy, 2000). Attractiveness can increase liking (Cho and Schwarz, 2010), trigger approach behaviors (Orth and Wirtz, 2014), enhance an offer's value (Chitturi et al., 2008) and, ultimately, impact choice (Creusen and Schoormans, 2005). Regarding marketing artifacts, the positive effects of visual attractiveness have been established for products (Cho and Schwarz, 2010), packages (Orth and Crouch, 2014), logos (Henderson et al., 2004), and even subtle visual cues, such as typefaces (Giese et al., 2014). Studies aimed at understanding what drives attractiveness have suggested that harmony in a stimulus's visual appearance may play a key role (Reber et al., 2004). Harmony, \"a congruent pattern or arrangement of parts that combines symmetry and balance and captures good design from Gestalt perspective\" (Henderson and Cote, 1998, p. 16), is the degree to which the arrangement of visual elements makes the whole composition coherent (Veryzer, 1993), unified (Kumar and Garg, 2010), and aesthetic (Lin, 2013). While harmony usually relates positively to attractiveness (Henderson and Cote, 1998; Orth and Malkewitz, 2008), differences exist in how attractive consumers around the globe find the visual design of products (Desmet and Hekkert, 2007), packages (Limon et al., 2009), and brand logos (Van der Lans et al., 2009). Understanding what, how, and when cultural characteristics impact the harmony-attractiveness relationship should thus help marketers to increase the visual appeal of their offers with specific target audiences. This is where our study aims to make a contribution.\n2. Conceptual framework and hypotheses development: 2.1 A Gestalt perspective on the harmony-attractiveness relationship\n3. Study 1: 3.1 Method\n4. Study 2: 4.1 Method\n5. Study 3: 5.1 Self-congruity as a mediator\n6. Discussion: This study examined how self-construal, a cultural and individual difference variable, impacts the influence of visual harmony on consumer evaluation of marketing artifacts' attractiveness. Adopting a self-congruity perspective shows that the positive effect of visual harmony on attractiveness is more pronounced with consumers holding interdependent self-construals, and with products that are more hedonic. As such, our results provide evidence that consumers' social self impacts their evaluation of marketing visuals across countries and types of visuals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Extending research on cultural differences in aesthetic appreciation, the purpose of this paper is to show how a more interdependent self-construal, a cultural and individual difference variable related to one's social self, impacts the influence of visual harmony on consumer evaluations of marketing artifacts' attractiveness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were obtained via three studies from a total of 1,498 consumers in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, and Italy. Marketing visuals included the design of products, packages, typefaces, and logos. Self-construal was both measured and manipulated.\nFindings: The results indicate that a person's self-construal moderates the effect of visual harmony on attractiveness. Specifically, the positive effect of visual harmony on attractiveness - through self-congruity - is more pronounced with consumers possessing a more interdependent self-construal, and with products that are more hedonic than utilitarian.\nPractical implications: Given the pivotal role attractiveness has in influencing consumer behavior, understanding what differences, at the individual and cultural levels, impact the harmony-attractiveness relationship helps marketers to better match the visual design of marketing stimuli to target audiences.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the first to show how the social-self impacts consumer response to marketing visuals. Further, value stems from adopting a holistic perspective on design, clarifying the process mechanism, and identifying boundary conditions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Betterment: a taxing problem	[ "Value capture", "Value-based recurrent property taxes", "Betterment", "Improvements", "1909 Budget", "Land value taxation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBetterment: the issues: A rise in the price of a property can come about in response to two types of change. First, the owner may have undertaken improvement works. In the case of commercial property, these could increase its income-generating capacity or reduce the risk that the income flow might be interrupted or curtailed in the future, thereby lowering the yield and increasing the capitalised value of the projected rentals. For residential properties, improvements can enhance those characteristics to which households assign greater utility and for which they are prepared to pay a higher purchase price or rent in order to gain access. In essence the owner has invested capital in the improvements and has borne the risk that subsequent owners are willing to pay a higher price or tenants an increased rent. The notion that the owner should benefit from such entrepreneurship is generally not controversial in market economies.\nBetterment: the theory: The idea that betterment resulting from collective action rather than individual investment should be subject to taxation derives from the work of David Ricardo. Ricardo (1821) observed that the term rent is used in two contrasting ways (paragraph 2.2). In an everyday sense \"the term is applied to whatever is annually paid by a farmer to his landlord\". In a technical sense, though, this conflates two quite different ideas, and he was critical of his contemporary economists for doing so. There is what Ricardo describes as being the economic rent, namely \"that portion of the produce of the earth, which is paid to the landlord for the use of the original and indestructible powers of the soil\". However, landlords commonly also provide significant fixed capital used by tenants in the form of buildings, drainage, reclamation works, fencing, internal roads, and the like. What tenants pay for the use of these, using Ricardo's terminology, is a reward for the capital invested by landlords rather than for the use of land. This payment should therefore be regarded as interest on the landlord's capital plus profit as a reward for entrepreneurship and bearing the risk that the investment will not attract tenants or a rental premium. The rent offered by would-be tenants might therefore increase for two distinct reasons. One is that the landlord has undertaken additional investment in fixed capital, thereby making the property more attractive. Alternatively, higher bids by tenants may reflect an increase in demand for scarce land. In this case, the landlord reaps the benefits even though he has contributed nothing towards the creation of the land.\nBetterment: the valuation issues: The valuation problem behind betterment is whether it is possible to distinguish between the rent paid by a tenant for improvements and that paid for the land itself. The problem is similar to whether land value taxation is possible. Land value taxation requires land to be valued periodically whereas betterment requires that it is valued at two points in time with the change in value being subject to taxation. In some jurisdictions land and improvements like buildings can be traded separately, for instance if there are usufructuary rights. Otherwise when people and businesses buy or rent properties they access the land and buildings and fixed capital as a complete package. The problem is that in many areas substantial improvements have taken place over many years so that evidence of the original state of the land has long since disappeared. This makes the basis for valuation artificial and an impossible task (McCluskey, 2005).\nTaxing betterment: a British case: Neither betterment nor land value taxation is new. In the USA, Pittsburgh in 1913 was permitted to tax land values at a higher rate than building values (Dye and England, 2010). In the UK, the earliest experiment in taxing betterment was in the Finance Act 1909-10. This provides an interesting illustration of the practical issues encountered in trying to tax betterment.\nCapturing land value enhancement: The difficulties in estimating land values raises the question as to whether it would be easier to assess changes in land values rather than trying to allocate current property values between land and improvement components (Ingram and Hong, 2012). If there have been no improvements between two dates, then any changes in property values should be due to land value increases or decreases. If the only factor that altered between two dates has been a change in development or land use consents, if infrastructure has been upgraded, or if there has been economic, urban, or demographic growth, it is reasonable to suppose that changes in property values reflect changes in land values.\nConclusions: A distinction can be drawn between increases in property values that are the product of investment in improvements by landowners and those that are result of economic, urban, or demographic growth, changes in land use or development consents, or from improvements in infrastructure. It is reasonable that the landowner should be rewarded for the use of capital invested in improvements and for bearing the risk of these. However, other causes of betterment can be argued to be the product of society and that the community that created them is entitled to a share. The problem is to distinguish between land value and the value of improvements, particularly in jurisdictions where land, buildings and fixed capital are traded jointly. For these there is no direct market evidence as to how property values should be attributed to the different components so that apportionment can be argued to be arbitrary and unsubstantiated. This does raise the question as to whether it might be easier to measure changes in land value than the land value of a parcel at any one point in time. Value-based recurrent property taxes have many of the same requirements as land value taxes in terms of the need to value each parcel and the data this requires. They do not need to apportion value between land and improvements, which simplifies the task. If revalued regularly and at short intervals, most of the changes in property values will be the product of land value changes as no material improvements will have taken place between revaluations. Rather than trying to overcome the inherent problems with land value taxation, it might therefore be more effective to concentrate on developing value-based recurrent property taxes using mass valuation models to make annual revaluations feasible.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the issues involved in land value taxation and betterment and the issues involved in apportioning value between land and improvements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The theoretical and valuation issues in betterment are reviewed and a case study of a betterment tax introduced in the UK is used to illustrate the practical problems in implementation.\nFindings: The idea of land value taxation depends upon being able to apportion property values between land and improvements. This raises both theoretical and practical problems that are difficult to overcome.\nPractical implications: The apportionment property values between land and improvements produces results that cannot be verified by market evidence, suggesting that an alternative approach be adopted through value-based recurrent property taxes revalued at frequent intervals.\nOriginality/value: Much of the literature has concentrated on the theoretical advantages of land value taxation rather than examining the practical problems of implementation. These suggest a different approach with less emphasis on betterment taxes and more on how recurrent property taxes can be an effective instrument for value capture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A re-examination of service standardization versus customization from the consumer's perspective	[ "Perceived risk", "Perceived control", "Consumption goal", "Need for uniqueness", "Service customization", "Service standardization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Should service organizations standardize or customize their market offerings? Consider the following contrasting examples of two restaurants that serve hamburgers. On the one hand, McDonald's represents a classic example of service standardization. Beyond the widely recognized golden arches, employee uniforms and restaurant design, a striking consistency across its outlets around the globe is the similar limited menu (with minor modifications to cater to location-specific peculiarities, such as lamb burgers in India) along with the standardized food preparation methods (Ritzer, 2011). On the other hand is The Counter restaurant, a rapidly expanding chain founded in 2003. Its customers can expect to receive customized service through the construction of personalized burgers that cater to their unique individual tastes and wants (Perman, 2009). Technically, based on the choice of ingredients available, The Counter claims it can offer more than 312,120 different burger combinations. In comparing between the two brands, we note that a fundamental difference lies in McDonald's raison d'etre based on service standardization and The Counter's emphasis on service customization.\nLiterature review on service standardization and customization: A firm's service offerings can range from one-size-fits-all to totally personalized experiences for each customer (Pullman et al., 2001). In this section, we review the relevant literature on standardized versus customized service modes.\nHypotheses development: Study 1: a qualitative exploration of service standardization versus customization\nStudy 2: factors influencing consumers' preference for service standardization versus Customization: Study 2 was conducted to investigate consumers' preferences for waiting time, price and service mode (standardization vs customization) when different consumption goals (utilitarian vs hedonic) were activated (H1-H3). In addition, we wanted to verify the moderating effect of consumers' need for uniqueness on the preference for service mode (H4).\nStudy 3: consumer reactions to service standardization versus customization: The results of Study 2 indicated that consumers' preference for service standardization versus customization depended on their consumption goal. However, it still left several issues unaddressed. First, we have not directly examined consumers' reactions to service standardization and customization. Findings from the qualitative study (Study 1) suggested that the benefits of service customization included greater customer satisfaction. At the same time, however, the drawback of service customization included higher risk perceptions. It is thus imperative to empirically investigate the benefits and drawbacks of service standardization versus customization. Second, as Study 2 examined only one service context (i.e. restaurant), it was not clear if the findings could be generalized to other service contexts.\nGeneral discussion: The present research empirically examined service standardization versus customization from the consumer's perspective. We first conducted Study 1 (a qualitative study) to explore consumer perceptions of standardized versus customized services. The results suggested that consumers were able to distinguish between these two modes of services, as well as understood their pros and cons. Based on the qualitative findings and the literature review, we conducted two experiments to investigate the psychological mechanisms underlying consumers' preference for service standardization versus service customization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pros and cons of service standardization (vs customization) from the consumer's perspective, the key factors influencing consumers' preference for standardized (vs customized) services and the outcomes of service standardization (vs customization).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a qualitative study and two behavioral experiments to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The authors find that the advantages of service customization include greater perceived control and higher consumer satisfaction. The drawbacks of service customization include greater perceived risk. These findings also suggest that consumers' preference for standardized (vs customized) service depends on their consumption goal. Specifically, consumers with a hedonic goal tend to prefer customized services, while those with a utilitarian goal tend to prefer standardized services. These effects are moderated by their need for uniqueness.\nResearch limitations/implications: The qualitative and experimental studies in this research reveal the antecedents (utilitarian vs hedonic goal) on consumer preference for service standardization versus customization, as well as the consequences in terms of perceived risk, consumer satisfaction and perceived control. The experimental studies were conducted with Chinese and American consumers, respectively, which lend credence to the robustness of the findings.\nPractical implications: Results of the present research provide new insights into service standardization versus customization and have significant practical implications. In particular, service organizations should consider designing the appropriate service mode based on consumers' characteristics, particularly their consumption goals and their need for uniqueness. If the customers focus on efficiency and functionality, the organization should try to provide standardized services. In contrast, for customers who are seeking fun and a novel experience, the service firm should try to tailor to their hedonic needs.\nOriginality/value: While previous research identifies \"heterogeneity\" as a key characteristic of services in general, the present findings qualify this received wisdom. In particular, the authors show that consumers' preference for service standardization versus customization is a function of their consumption goal and need for uniqueness. Thus, the present findings refine the current understanding of service heterogeneity, which makes a significant contribution to the services marketing literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of using social network sites on academic performance: the case of Qatar	[ "Academic performance", "Social network sites", "Technology addiction", "Chen’s internet addiction scale", "Usage behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With no doubt, Web 2.0 technologies revolutionized the usage of the internet. Internet users are not inert consumers of information anymore, but major contributors in creating most of today's internet contents. Social network sites (SNSs) have significantly contributed to this phenomenon to become an essential part of many internet users' online activities (Andreassen et al., 2014; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Whether in developed or developing countries, for personal or professional motives, SNS continue to attract an increasing number of users worldwide. According to Statista.com, the number of active SNS users in 2016 increased by 10 percent reaching 2.3 billion users. A number that is on the rise due to the proliferation of fast and reliable internet connections, the ability to access SNS on affordable mobile devices (Ellis et al., 2015; Lin and Lu, 2015) and the variety and perceived usefulness of SNS applications (Mergel, 2016; Lin and Lu, 2011; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). In fact, latest statistics show a global average of 43 percent of the world's population is hooked to SNS. In the USA, eight Americans out of ten use Facebook; 76 percent of them say that they visit the site daily (up from 70 percent in 2015) (pewinternet.org). Similarly, in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, the trends are equally on the rise. According to Hootsuite's report of 2017 (wearesocial.com), the current social media penetration levels in the gulf region are at a worldwide high. The penetration rate reaches 99 percent in the United Arab Emirates and in Qatar, thus achieving the highest penetration of social media in the world. This is compared to the current social media penetrations of 66 percent in the USA.\nTheoretical background: Despite the countless studies and theories on IT use and adoption in order to enhance their productivity (Venkatesh et al., 2012), IT addiction is a relatively recent research stream counterbalancing the norms (Vaghefi and Qahri-Saremi, 2017). Indeed, IT addiction became a major topic discussed in the \"dark side\" of IT (Akter, 2014; Turel and Serenko, 2012; Turel et al., 2011) and several calls for further research were made in this regard.\nResearch model: The CIAS is a self-reported questionnaire composed of 26 four-point Likert scale items. According to Ko et al.'s study (2005), internet addiction is formed by two sub-constructs. These are: the addiction's core symptoms; and the behavioral and physical problems that are associated with overuse. Like Young (1996) and Ko et al. (2005) views withdrawal, tolerance, and compulsive use as the core symptoms indicating a tendency to addiction.\nResearch methodology: For this study, a quantitative approach is followed. It relied on the original CIAS questionnaire to develop our research instrument to collect data. The original questions were adapted to match the SNS case rather than the general use of the internet. The original 26 four-point scale items that divide internet addiction tendency were changed to reflect SNS applications. Additionally, and to match the aim of this study, ten questions were added to the questionnaire. The extra items were intended to capture some demographic data such as gender, home vs international student, field of study, university level (junior, sophomore, senior). Furthermore, items related to SNS usage were added. Preferred SNS, type of devices mostly used to access SNS, and the academic performance reflected by the GPA score were also among the survey items. GPA could only be collected having respondents self-reporting it. Students' academic data are considered classified in the institutions where the data were collected.\nData analysis, results and findings: In this section, results obtained from analyzing the data collected through the web survey were presented and interpreted. The raw data were cleaned and the final data set that was analyzed comprised 273 observations.\nDiscussion: A number of interesting issues discussed for the first time in the GCC region are highlighted in this study. Our results clearly indicate the presence of the serious phenomenon of SNS addiction. Indeed, the SNS usage is considerably higher than the one reported in Ko et al. (2005, 2009) and a significant variation exists in the collected sample. This indicates that SNS usage in Qatar today is much higher than that in china back in 2009. This can be attributed to different reasons. The variety of SNS currently available, the accessibility through mobile devices, and cultural differences may account for the higher levels of SNS usage these days.\nConclusions and future research: This paper presents a study on the usage behavior of SNS among the young generation in the GCC region represented by the State of Qatar. It reveals that addiction to technology is a phenomenon that is well present among university students in Qatar. On the other hand, two other usage profiles are clearly identified: engaged with SNS utilization and passive users who rarely, or never, use SNS. Furthermore, this paper examines the effects of SNS usage levels on subjects' academic performance. SNS usage is evaluated using the CIAS model that is adapted for SNS whereas the academic performance is measured through self-reported GPA scores. Based on these indicators, the hypothesis that a significant negative linear relationship exists between academic performance and SNS usage rate is tested. Although this hypothesis is only supported for the case of addicted users according to Chen's scale, other insights are discovered from the collected data. In fact, data analysis reveals that users engaged in active use of SNS have significant higher academic performance compared to users falling in the other two groups. Furthermore, no significant difference is found between SNS addicted and passive users. This concludes that SNS usage may even conditionally contribute to better performance when used actively and wisely.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social network sites (SNSs) have been common applications attracting a large number of users in Qatar. Current literature remains inconclusive about the relationship between SNS usage and users' academic performance. While one stream confirms that SNS usage may lead to addiction and seriously affect individuals' academic performance, other studies refer to SNS as learning enablers. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it investigates the SNS usage profiles among the young generation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) represented by Qatar; second, it examines the relationship between the identified SNS usage profiles and their respective users' academic performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study follows a quantitative survey-based method that was adapted from Chen's internet Addiction Scale to fit the context of social networks. Data were collected from students of two universities in Qatar, one private and another public. Respondents' grade point average was also collected and compared across the different usage profiles to understand how SNS usage behavior affects academic performance.\nFindings: Results reveal that there is no linear relationship between SNS usage and academic performance. Therefore, this study further investigates SNS usage profiles and identifies three groups: passive (low usage), engaged (normal usage) and addicted (high usage). It was found that engaged users demonstrate significantly higher academic performance than their passive and addicted peers. Moreover, there is no significant difference in the academic performance between passive and addicted users.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is cross-sectional and based on self-reported data collected from university students in Qatar. Further research venues could employ a more general sample covering a longer period, differentiating between messaging tools (e.g. WhatsApp) and other pure SNS (e.g. Twitter), and to cover other aspects than just academic performance.\nOriginality/value: This study complements research efforts on the influence of technology on individuals and on the society in the GCC area. It concludes that engaged SNS users achieve better academic performance than the addicted or passive users. Contradicting the strong linear relationship between SNS and performance, as claimed by previous studies, is the main originality of this paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Image, performance, attitudes, trust, and loyalty in financial services	[ "Financial performance", "Trust", "Customer loyalty", "Executive compensation", "Customer attitudes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Our paper centers on the post-2008 financial crisis period when commercial banks experienced one of their most dramatic declines in corporate image. Vella et al. (2012), Bravo et al. (2009) and Friedricks (2009) present compelling evidence that bank trust fell drastically and that perceived bank corruption levels increased. Not only did certain banks incur financial losses and outright failure during the crisis, a number of them also gave top executives highly lucrative compensation packages, which led to assertions customer loyalty would decline because of the negative impact on bank image (Kuhnen and Niessen, 2011; Skowron and Kristensen, 2012; Friedricks, 2009). In fact, image did decline as customers and regulators became wary of the power banks exert in society and the detrimental effect misuse of that power entailed (Kuhnen and Niessen, 2011; Bravo et al., 2009; Breton and Cote, 2006; Friedricks, 2009). Citizens and bank customers reflect upon bank executive compensation levels in judging bank image as well as efficiency (Bravo et al., 2009). Senior management spends a great deal of time developing and promoting compensation plans, and government agencies scrutinize executive payouts in prescribing public policy actions. Empirical evidence demonstrates customers tend to assess whether executives deserve high compensation levels in value-laden, emotional terms (Kuhnen and Niessen, 2011).\nTheoretical background: Our theoretical framework is based on attitude formation theory and the relationship quality paradigm. Numerous studies conclude that customer loyalty is driven by high quality relationships built on trust (Palmatier et al., 2006). We borrow from this paradigm and explain bank loyalty as a function of customers' underlying beliefs pertaining to their bank, the effect these beliefs have upon hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, and the attitude-trust-loyalty relationship that binds customers and banks together.\nEmpirical methodology: In testing the proposed hypotheses, we conduct two studies employing different methods. In Study 1, using a 2 x 2 quasi-experimental design, we test the effects of ECPI and PFP on hedonic and utilitarian attitudes to address H1 through H4, and on loyalty in H5 and H6. The second study, based on SEM, tests the overall fit of the hypothesized relationships among hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, trust and loyalty and, therefore, addresses H7 through H11. Our SEM analysis in Study 2 demonstrates the extent to which hedonic and utilitarian attitudes relate to bank customers' trust and loyalty. It also establishes the extent to which trust mediates the relationship between hedonic/utilitarian attitudes and loyalty.\nStudy 1: In this study we evaluate the perceived impact of changes in ECPI and PFP upon hedonic and utilitarian attitudes. Follow procedures outlined by Alexander and Becker (1978), ECPI and PFP are manipulated using vignettes to elicit responses about subject's attitudinal perceptions. Chomvilailuk and Butcher (2013) employed vignettes using a similar procedure in a recent publication centered on bank customer service. Therefore, our selection of vignettes as a means to elicit responses from bank customers appears appropriate.\nResults: Manipulation check\nStudy 2: Our results from Study 1 determine that ECPI and PFP do not directly influence loyalty although they may have indirect effects by way of a mediation process. We implement a new approach to mediation analysis (Hayes, 2009; Zhao et al., 2010), which detects indirect effects as mediation regardless of the existence of a direct effect of the independent variable on dependent variable. In our second study, we test whether trust mediates the relationship between attitudes and loyalty. A survey is used to collect our data and SEM (via AMOS version 19) is employed to test the hypothesized relationship between constructs and the relative strength of each variable's contribution to explaining bank loyalty.\nGeneral discussion: In terms of addressing our first objective, the findings show that both emotional and rational elements (i.e. ECPI and PFP) are important in shaping attitudes about banks and banking practices but that they directly impact neither trust nor loyalty. With respect to our second study objective, hedonic and utilitarian attitudes relate to trust but do not directly relate to loyalty. Moreover, hedonic attitudes are negatively related to trust while utilitarian attitudes relate positively to trust. Finally, our findings indicate hedonic attitudes directly impact utilitarian attitudes that, in turn, partially mediate the relationship between hedonic attitudes and trust. Utilitarian attitudes, on the other hand, directly impact trust, which offers support for Schwartz' view that emotions interact with rational/cognitive processes in shaping attitudes and behavioral intentions. The findings have relevance to both academic researchers as well as practitioner/managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to determine the extent to which hedonic and utilitarian attitudes and loyalty are influenced by perceived financial performance (PFP) and executive compensation plan image (ECPI) in financial services; second, the authors evaluate relationships among hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, trust, and loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a quasi-experimental design in Study 1 the authors test the relationship between antecedents (PFP and ECPI) and relational elements (attitudes, trust, and loyalty) to address the first objective. To accomplish the second objective, the authors employ structural equation modeling in Study 2 to test the relationship among hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, trust, and loyalty.\nFindings: Study 1 confirms that PFP and ECPI positively impact both hedonic and utilitarian attitudes but do not directly affect loyalty. Study 2 demonstrates a positive association between utilitarian attitudes and trust, although the hedonic attitudes-trust relationship is negative. Hedonic attitudes are also significantly related to utilitarian attitudes. Finally, trust mediates the relationship between attitudes and loyalty.\nPractical implications: Building customer trust is an important correlate of loyalty, and emphasizing an attribute-based aspect of perceived financial service generates greater trust compared to enhancing a non-attribute aspect (i.e. minimizing negative effects on image of executive compensation plans).\nOriginality/value: The authors link attitude research to service/relationship quality research and discover that attitudes are indirectly related to loyalty through increases in trust. The findings suggest that perceived image and performance of financial services are important to relationship quality when applied to financial services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Commitment-based HR systems and organizational outcomes in services	[ "Innovation", "Organizational performance", "Service industries", "Human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Employees represent a key resource for firms in reaching their objectives because their knowledge and behaviours are essential to numerous organizational processes (Allen et al., 2013). Therefore, these resources have to be managed strategically in order to align employees' knowledge, skills and behaviours with the objectives established by the organization. The strategic human resource management (SHRM) approach differs from traditional research on human resource management (HRM) because it focusses on organizational rather than individual performance, and it emphasizes the combined effects of different practices that make up a coherent system with internal consistency (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Fabi et al., 2014). Within this line of research, scholars have tried to design HRM strategies that favour the complementary nature of the different practices that make up the system. Some especially important practices consist of company policies that collectively display a long-term investment in the employees, that is, a strategy of commitment-based HR practices (Collins and Smith, 2006). In general, it is reasonable to imagine that a long-term investment by the employer would be reciprocated by employees in terms of better performance on the core job and the activities that are beneficial to the organization (Tsui et al., 1997). Therefore, unlike control-oriented HR systems that involve rules, regulations and monitoring, commitment-based HR systems are considered a valuable way to encourage employees to identify with the organizational objectives and make an additional effort to achieve them (Chang and Chen, 2011).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Commitment-based HR systems\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1 Commitment-based HR practices and affective commitment\n4. Method: 4.1 Sample and data collection\n5. Results: Table II reports the means, standard deviations and correlations among the study variables. The exploratory factorial analysis (EFA) performed on the variables affective commitment, innovation and financial performance shows the existence of only one dimension in the scales used. After performing the EFA, the measurement model was estimated with CFA to test the goodness of fit of the scales used to measure the three categories of outcomes considered in this study. The scales show a good level of fit and acceptable psychometric properties (Table AI). Their reliability was evaluated using the Cronbach's a coefficient and the calculation of the composite reliability and extracted variance. The Cronbach's a values and composite reliability are all above 0.90. The average variance extracted (AVE) is above 0.74 on all the scales, surpassing the recommended threshold of 0.50. In the same way, the convergent validity of the scales was compared, given that all the standardized estimators of the regression weights of the latent variable on the indicators are statistically significant, positive and above 0.74. Finally, the discriminant validity was evaluated, checking that the AVE of each construct is greater than the squared correlation between two constructs. To simplify the procedure, the square root of the AVE of each construct was calculated (Table II). As Table II shows, all the constructs have the property of discriminant validity.\n6. Discussion and conclusions: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a set of commitment-based HR practices on three types of organizational outcomes. First, the set of commitment-based HR practices was defined in terms of training and development, remuneration and involvement practices. Next, it was empirically shown that the three sub-dimensions make up a commitment-based HR system. Then, the impact of this system on organizational outcomes was evaluated. The study shows that the implementation of commitment-based HR practices positively influences employees' degree of affective commitment and the introduction of innovations in the firm. Furthermore, these practices are positively related to financial performance through the mediator role of the innovation activity.\n7. Implications: Regarding the theoretical implications, this paper contributes to the literature on SHRM by applying the concept of systems of HR practices to the hospitality sector context. In addition, it contributes to increasing the knowledge about the effects of commitment-based HR practices on three categories of organizational outcomes. Specifically, the study shows that these practices improve affective commitment and innovation, and they influence financial performance through the mediator role of innovation. This mediated effect between HR practices and financial outcomes has already been suggested by previous studies, so that this study provides new evidence in this direction. Future studies should consolidate the mediated relationship.\n8. Limitations and future research: In evaluating the contributions of this study, certain limitations should be kept in mind that could provide possibilities for future research. One limitation is that the HR practices were measured based on the perception of only one informant per company, normally the manager, and the employees' opinions were not obtained. Moreover, this paper analysed practices that are representative of commitment, without trying to be exhaustive. Future studies should include other commitment-based practices identified in the literature. This study found that innovation mediated the relationship between a commitment-based HR system and financial performance, but it found no evidence that affective commitment mediates in this relationship. It would be interesting to examine other mediator variables in the hospitality sector, such as companies' resources or capacities. Likewise, longitudinal studies could shed more light on the topic of this paper. In addition, future studies in the hotel sector could incorporate both commitment-based practices and control-based HR systems, examining possible differences in the results achieved by companies. Specifically, given that the objective of control-based HR practices is to reduce costs and improve efficiency, future research should evaluate the direct effects of these practices on financial performance. Furthermore, it would be interesting to evaluate whether commitment-based practices have an influence on other organizational outcomes. For example, given the high-turnover rates in hotel industry firms and the corresponding associated costs, it is important to analyse whether these practices are able to reduce employees' levels of turnover. Finally, the subjective measure of financial performance represents a limitation due to the possibility of managerial bias.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of a set of commitment-based HR practices and explores their impact on three categories of organizational outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional study based on a survey. Multiple regression analysis was applied to test the hypotheses proposed.\nFindings: The results show that commitment-based HR practices make up a system that presents internal consistency and favours HR performance and operational outcomes, as well as contributing to financial outcomes through the mediator role of innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The HR practices were measured based on the perception of only one informant per company, normally the manager.\nPractical implications: This study makes it possible to draw relevant conclusions in a sector (hotel industry) that lacks references about the role of a system of commitment-based HR practices in achieving organizational outcomes. The use of a sample of homogeneous firms provides managers with valuable and specific information about the sector that can foster the adoption of commitment-based HR practices by hotel firms.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to better know how HR practices based on commitment foster employees' willingness to engage in the strategic objectives established by the organization from the systems perspective. Furthermore the research contributes to the understanding of these practices in an important economic industry, such as it is the hospitality sector, in which research had traditionally placed little emphasis on this kind of analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
TQM dimensions and their interrelationships in ISO certified engineering institutes of India	[ "India", "Educational institutions", "Higher education", "Total quality management", "ISO 9000 series", "Engineering education", "Factor analysis", "AMOS" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Engineering educational institutes in India are increasing at a rapid rate to meet the growing demand for engineering graduates across the globe. There were more than 2,380 approved engineering institutes during 2010-2011. Enrolment in engineering education has also seen a rapid increase in the last decade. Approximately 500,000 engineers are expected to graduate from these institutes during year 2010-2011. Whether all these graduates have acquired necessary knowledge and skills to be employable in the real world is a matter of concern of all stakeholders.According to a report by \"National Association for Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM, 2005)\" of India, only 25 per cent of these graduates are employable by multinational companies. Majority of engineering institutes in India are owned by private societies backed by politicians and business families. As there were no reference models for assuring quality in engineering education processes in India, the Indian National Board for Accreditation (NBA) was established in September 1994 to accredit the programs that fulfil certain criteria. However, many programs in several engineering institutes are being run without NBA accreditation, as it is not mandatory.In manufacturing industry, ISO implementation has been perceived as an effective tool to achieve competitive edge in the market. Quality management system (QMS) model developed by ISO is a generic international process-model that can be adopted by both manufacturing and service industries. Some of engineering institutes in India have initiated implementing total quality management (TQM) principles on their own and have obtained global recognition through ISO 9001:2000 certifications. The main stakeholders of engineering education are students, parents, staff and industry/society. The ISO certification has helped institutes to achieve process orientation, streamline operations and establish evidences for continuous improvement of teaching-learning and administrative processes. In USA, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria guide implementation of TQM in higher education. In European countries a similar TQM model known as EFQM has been adopted both in industry and universities. But in Indian context there is no reference model for TQM implementation in higher education. As ISO 9001:2000 guidelines partially aligns with some of TQM concepts, this study is an attempt to investigate TQM dimensions in ISO certified engineering institutes and examine their validity through multivariate data analysis techniques.\n2 Literature review: Many countries have either embraced ISO 9000 or used it as the basis of their national quality certification systems (Chow-Chua et al., 2003). Gotzamani and Tsiotras (2002) explain that ISO 9000 is a subsystem of TQM which when consciously and consistently implemented by the companies will lead to improvement of the organisation. Both ISO and TQM concepts compliment each other and ISO 9000 should be used in association with TQM to secure organisational success (Magd and Curry, 2003). Increasing competition has forced many organisations to participate in the quality movement and to initiate various quality improvements in their planning and management practices (Arumugam et al., 2009). Hence, the importance of TQM, both practically and theoretically, is highlighted as the ultimate vital factor in the success and survival of manufacturing as well as service organisations (Ooi et al., 2008). As ISO implementation is perceived as the beginning of journey towards TQM, a brief review of literature related to TQM in education is presented in this section. TQM is defined (Besterfield et al., 2008) as the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence. The author expands the definition of TQM as both, \"a philosophy and a set of guiding principles\", that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organisation. The principles of TQM can achieve and maintain excellence in higher education (Ho and Wearn, 1995). The most important TQM dimensions are leadership and customer focus (Anderson and Sohal, 1999). The student is the primary customer of education (Sallis, 1993; Zairi, 1995; Ho and Wearn, 1995); and the student is the recipient of service, acquiring knowledge/information (Zairi, 1995). TQM is believed to be a powerful tool to enhance education quality (Cuttance, 1994) and achieve student satisfaction. The principles of TQM have been successfully adopted by developed nations in the field of higher education (Natarajan, 2000). Several authors have developed a body of work that tries to describe and justify how principles and practices of quality management can help improve universities (Biehl, 2000; Kanji et al., 1999; Weller, 2000). There is a general agreement that a systematic method or framework is needed to put TQM into practice. However, there is no universally accepted TQM framework (Yusof and Aspinwall, 2000), and different approaches coexist in the literature, including consultants-based frameworks (Deming, 1986; Crosby, 1980; Juran and Gryna, 1993), standardised frameworks such as the ISO 9000:2000 series (Askey and Dale, 1994; Tummala and Tang, 1996; Kartha, 2004). ISO 9000 implementation may be seen as a stepping-stone towards TQM (Antony et al., 2002). TQM is more demanding in the area of continuous improvement, while ISO is more demanding concerning the creation of documentation and the rigorous adherence to the requirements of that documentation (Magd and Curry, 2003). TQM presents a strategic option and an integrated management philosophy for organisations, which allows them to reach their objectives effectively and efficiently and to achieve sustainable competitive advantage (Goldberg and Cole, 2002). The MBNQA framework and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model have become templates for most quality awards in many countries (Mackerron et al., 2003). These frameworks are widely adopted by organisations as a means of self-assessment to enhance performance. Some empirical work supports the existence of interrelationships between the enabler agents of the EFQM Excellence Model (Dijkstra, 1997; Eskildsen and Kanji, 1998; Eskildsen and Dahlgaard, 2000; Prabhu et al., 2000; Reiner, 2002; Bou-Llusar et al., 2005), based on the assumption that these criteria are components of the unique TQM philosophy. Vijande and Gonzalez (2007) aimed to determine the impact of the enabler criteria on the results predicted in the EFQM model using structural equation model (SEM). They introduced the results constructs a separate status in the study as the dependent variable influenced by EFQM practices followed by Spanish manufacturing and service organisations. The SEM results showed there are positive causal relationships between enablers and results. Some authors (Calvo-Mora et al., 2005) have empirically validated the relationships between EFQM criteria based on their study at Spanish universities. Higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing that higher education is a service industry and are placing greater emphasis on meeting the expectations and needs of their participating customers, that is, the students (DeShields et al., 2005).\n3 Methodology: The current study is based on the questionnaire survey of a sample consisting of 216 faculty members serving in various ISO 9001:2000 certified institutes of southern states namely Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andra Pradesh of India. The focus of this study was to investigate TQM dimensions, analyse interrelationships and test the proposed TQM model for engineering education.3.1 Design of questionnaire\n4 Data analysis and results: The dataset was analysed in SPSS 17.0 using factor analysis, a multivariate data analysis technique. The term factor analysis refers to a set of statistical techniques that are used to explore the underlying structure among a set of variables to identify those variables, which relate to a factor (Dyer et al., 2005). Subsequently confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out using AMOS 16.0 software and SEM was applied to investigate the relationships between them.4.1 Exploratory factor analysis\n5 Discussion and conclusions: Tables IV and V summarize the results obtained in testing of hypotheses as well as direct, indirect and total effects on dependent variables. First it is evident that the leadership and commitment of top management of the institute acts as the driving force of TQM culture. Leadership significantly influences all other enablers as seen from total effect (Table V). These findings are consistent with the studies of Eskildsen and Dahlgaard (2000) and Wilson and Collier (2000), although in a field different from education. Winn and Cameron (1998) confirm the positive relationship between leadership, policy and strategy, and people and process management in the field of education.Second, the policy and strategy must act as a reference for the setting of staff policy and the management of resources and processes. Reiner (2002) confirms how policy and strategies play a central role among the five enablers. This finding is also highlighted by Ahire et al. (1996) and Eskildsen and Dahlgaard (2000), confirming the relationship between policy and strategy and management of people and resources. This empirical study has confirmed the significant positive influence of \"policy and strategy\" construct on three aspects that include \"people management\", \"infrastructure management\" and \"admin services\".Third appropriate management of admin services depends largely on sound and clear policies (0.676) and leadership (0.537). The study shows weak association (0.102) between people management and admin services. This may be due the separation of admin-tasks from teaching faculty in ISO certified engineering institutes. In the empirical literature, there are several studies that highlight positive relationship between the management of people and resources (Wilson and Collier, 2000; Winn and Cameron, 1998).The success of TQM depends largely on people involvement in continuous improvement activities. Detert and Jenni (2000) emphasize the role of motivation and training as the key factors that help people to perform the job better. The teaching and non-teaching staff must be provided adequate training on new methods, tools and technology as per industry needs to impart relevant knowledge to students. ISO implementation ensures training needs of faculty are identified and fulfilled by management by deputing them to workshops and relevant industries. This factor enhances the effectiveness of teaching and learning process.Finally the causal study confirmed the existence of strong relationship between enablers block and results block according to TQM assumptions. The high value of regression coefficient (0.83) and high proportion of variance (88 per cent) of the \"RESULTS\" construct explained by the enablers indicate that enabler criteria must be implemented in an integrated manner to have an effective influence on results criteria. The top management must take cognisance of this important correlation between TQM practices and results to initiate quality improvement efforts in their organisations. The leaders of those institutes that are already ISO certified must focus on improving \"soft\" dimensions (leadership, people management) of TQM to achieve much better results. The global approach adopted in this study helped to advance the understanding of TQM in engineering education context. Overall the results of our illustrative analysis support existence of ten valid TQM dimensions in ISO institutes. The results obtained from structural modelling and its forecasting ability support the validity of the proposed TQM model. The proposed model can be used as a reference framework for the implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement of quality in engineering education in India.Managerial implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dimensions of TQM, analyse interrelationships and their combined influence on results achieved in ISO certified engineering institutes in India.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study is based on the questionnaire survey of a sample of 216 faculty members serving in various ISO certified institutes of southern states of India. The data were obtained using a questionnaire that is in line with the self-assessment philosophy of European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model (EFQM). The dataset was subjected to exploratory factor analysis using SPSS17.0 program for Windows. The confirmatory and causal analyses were carried out using AMOS 16.0 software.\nFindings: - The factor analysis confirmed the existence of ten important dimensions of TQM that guide ISO institutes in their quality journey. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the developed TQM model. Leadership of top management was the main driving force for establishing an effective quality management system (QMS) in engineering institutes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The main limitation is related to the notion of causality. The study has considered perception data for the predictive analysis.\nPractical implications: - The paper unfolds ten important TQM factors that need attention from education administrators to manage quality in engineering education. The six enablers of the proposed TQM model significantly influence result criteria. The results obtained in this study encourage academic leaders to implement TQM concepts in their institutes to achieve a higher level of stakeholder satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a new contribution to broad understanding of TQM concepts and their impact on performance measures in engineering education in India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cultivating organizational wisdom for value innovation	[ "Organizational learning", "Value innovation", "Market orientation", "Knowledge management", "Organizational wisdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Market orientation is a starting point for a business's ability to learn about markets (Slater and Narver, 1995). The concept of organizational learning has been discussed extensively by numerous studies (Garvin, 1993; Senge, 2006), but there is no theoretical convergence regarding a knowledge taxonomy and types that are more relevant for a company's market wisdom. To our knowledge, the concept of organizational wisdom (OW) has been neglected by marketing scholars. Management literature (Bierly III et al., 2000) recognizes that wisdom is an individual property that can be transferred to an organizational level. Wisdom is \"the pivotal force behind organizational greatness\" (Srivastva and Cooperrider, 1998, p. 4). We assert that a wise company will have exceptional understanding of target markets and refined judgment and communication skills during decision-making. These characteristics drive firms to learn more rapidly than their competitors in the short- and long-term, in other words, sustaining a balance between marketing and sales functions. Learning faster than others is no more than a clear source of potential competitive advantage. Companies need certain capabilities (Day, 1994) and a continuous innovation process (Hlavacek, 2002) to create value for both customers and shareholders. Therefore, a nomological network linking all these concepts is needed. Prior research has validated the impact of marketing capabilities on firm performance (Vorhies et al., 2009) and innovation (Mariadoss et al., 2011). However, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first attempt to integrate previously related constructs in a more comprehensive system. Our model proposes that the effect of OW on marketing capabilities development is moderated by the internal relevance of the marketing function, and due to the possession of the right marketing capabilities, companies will develop higher levels of innovation (i.e. new offerings) and, more important, innovations with greater success in their target markets. We are providing a historical overview of the importance of knowledge-based processes to enhance marketing procedures. In this effort, we decompose the elements of market orientation to demonstrate that its influence on firm performance is indirect (necessary but not enough) and part of a more complex nomological network.\nLiterature review: Market orientation\nConceptual framework: Our proposed conceptual framework, as shown in Figure 2, is organized in the following manner. First, we discuss the concept of OW and provide a formal definition of OW. We then discuss the role of market and learning orientations in the model. Finally, we discuss the antecedents and consequences of OW and the variables moderating the direct and indirect effects of OW.\nManagerial implications and further research: Marketing scholars have highlighted the need to understand learning and knowledge management at the organizational level (Slater and Narver, 1995; Sinkula, 1994). However, this interest decreased gradually till current times, while the marketing function was also losing ground (Verhoef and Leeflang, 2009). During the past decade, much attention was paid to the accountability of marketing activities without the expected results from the practitioner's world. In this sense, Kumar (2015) suggests that marketing educators and researchers should continue working on the positioning of marketing as an integral part of the organization. Essential for this endeavor is demonstrating the value of marketing beyond the customer-finance link. We propose that the neglected area of OW can help bridge this gap by integrating the concepts of market orientation, marketing capabilities and innovation in a broader framework. Moreover, we present the drivers of OW and how the components of market orientation positively influence an organizational system for learning while articulating concrete responses to market needs (i.e. innovation).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Marketing literature, while acknowledging the relevance of organizational learning for a better market understanding, has shown remarkably little effort to develop a framework for organizational wisdom (OW). A learning organization becomes wiser through time. Knowledge acquisition and exploitation are the foundation for differentiation between firms and sustain value creation. Therefore, this paper aims to integrate OW with previously validated marketing concepts in a broader nomological network.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors review extant literature associated to OW and offer a theoretical model to clarify the conceptual domain of this construct.\nFindings: This study develops the theory of OW, arguing that when a firm clusters a specific set of knowledge dynamically through time, the organization reaches a level of exceptional understanding about the market and improves the judgment and communication of decision-making. Moreover, this study partializes the effect of the market orientation construct through its components for better outcomes in the value innovation process.\nOriginality/value: Based on the theoretical support, therefore, the authors provide a framework identifying the properties of OW, as well as the antecedents (a set of organizational knowledge) and consequences of OW (innovation and marketing capabilities development), specifying the moderation role of the marketing function influence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tough times call for collaborative leaders	[ "Leadership", "Conflict resolution", "Partnership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTough times call for collaborative leaders: Current trading conditions demand a high order of collaborative leadership at Board and project management level. With declining order books and greater pressure to deliver complex projects on time and to budget, leaders are required who are adept at leading otherwise disparate groups successfully. Cost overruns, joint ventures and supply chains that collapse into litigation - and all the other predictable symptoms of failed partnerships - simply will not do in a recessionary world.Collaborative leadership is a management style and skill-set that engages all participants by designing constructive processes for working together, convenes appropriate stakeholders, and facilitates and sustains their interaction. In collaborative leadership, the principals of each interest group promote and safeguard the process through shared leadership, rather than taking unilateral action. Collaborative leaders perform their work in coalitions, alliances and partnerships.To meet these aspirations in commerce and industry, at least three key conditions must be met consistently. First, collaborative leadership requires the capacity to form new alliances fast, even with organisations that historically you may have disliked or distrusted. Second, is the ability to repair broken relationships with suppliers and customers; and third, and perhaps most importantly, is the capacity to handle and resolve the inevitable conflicts that will arise when resources are short.There is currently a capability gap in both the public and private sector in this area. Research was carried out by IPSOS Mori1, consisting of interviews with 100 directors across the public and private sector. This research found that 64 per cent of those questioned identified a gap in collaborative leadership skills and senior levels and this rose to 73 per cent of those who worked for companies with more than 5,000 employees.These collaborative leadership skills do not come naturally to leaders who have risen to power in times of growth and opportunity - but they can be learned. The need to develop collaborative leadership capability is moving up high on the priority list for many company boards and their training managers, as they recognise the necessity to have these skills embedded within the organisation, fast.\nConflict comes with the territory: Most organisations see conflict as something to be avoided at all costs. Avoidance and collusion are common coping strategies: people tend to ignore the problem for as long as possible, and if that does not work, they pass it up the line. The underlying fear is that relationships may break down - and possibly result in litigation, which is damaging for all concerned.But in many collaborative ventures, conflict is inevitable. There are a number of reasons for this. For a start, there is often more at stake. However good the contract, the success of a partnership is built on trust between the parties. If conflict escalates and that trust breaks down, you can quickly get into a downward spiral of litigation, delay, and cost overrun.As a collaborative leader, then, you have to be able to handle conflict personally and directly in order to defuse the disputes at the top and provide role models for the rest of the partnership. You also have to be able to help your staff and colleagues in the partnership deal with conflict when it happens.However, few leaders are well equipped to do this. Most of the skills for handling cross-organisational conflict are not in the normal management armoury. Coming down heavily on those who do not toe the line simply does not work. And marching in to solve other people's disputes can be downright counterproductive. At the other end of the scale, over-stressing alignment between partners can leave conflict simmering beneath the surface, storing up serious trouble for the future.Some leaders are naturally more attuned than others to dealing with conflict. If you have had to cope with a lot of arguments in your early life, you may well have developed skills to defuse disputes effectively. However, for many leaders, dealing with conflict requires a set of skills that have to be learned. At the heart of these is a strong awareness of self. You cannot deal with conflict unless you truly understand how and why you are reacting to a particular situation.\nFive leadership skills in dealing with conflict: Sometimes you are part of the conflict and have to negotiate a way through. At other times you are outside it, but you may need to step in and mediate a successful outcome. In all cases we can identify five essential skills or attributes that a leader needs to develop when dealing with conflict in collaborative relationships1. Understanding your own relationship to conflict\nTen tips for conflict resolution: As a leader, if you keep in mind these ten tips you will improve the way you handle conflict and get more from your business-critical relationships:1. Identify your own personal triggers - what tends to push you into bad behaviour? If your partner then does something to trigger it, you may not always be able to prevent your initial reaction, but at least you can plan to deal with the consequences.2. Remember the other side of the coin too - understand what it is that you do that can trigger unhelpful behaviour in your partner, and plan to avoid falling in to those habits.3. Do not overreact to conflict - \"count to ten\" and \"don't make any sudden moves\" are old adages but wise ones.4. Analyse the nature of your relationship and identify the potential points of conflict and the drives that could push these into a full-blown dispute.5. Not all conflicts are equally important to the future of the partnership and its business success. Identify the situations where conflict really matters - and where it does not.6. Intervene fast in those places where conflict matters most and has the greatest long-term consequences for the relationship.7. Seek to understand the motives of all concerned. What do they get from being in conflict at this point and what therefore might be their incentive to resolve it?8. As a leader, do not try to take the conflict away from those involved - it just creates an environment of avoidance or collusion. Make sure the people at the heart of the conflict are also at the heart of the work to find its solution.9. Understand the limits of your own conflict resolution capability - some situations need you to seek help from third parties and from dispute resolution professionals.10. Teach others to manage conflict in a sustainable manner - share your own knowledge, and not just within your own organisation. Your partners probably need to build their conflict-handling capability too.\nIn conclusion: make conflict-handling part of the culture: As a leader you can attempt too much conflict resolution as well as too little. Given that collaborations are likely to spark disputes at all levels, it is important that staff throughout the organisation know how to resolve these conflicts themselves, instead of constantly referring them up the line. Not only does it save management time and effort, it also leads to better resolutions if the issues can be dealt with locally wherever possible. When managers step in to solve conflict below them, they are often not in possession of the full facts, or have been given a one-sided account of the situation. Sometimes different line managers end up attempting to resolve matters separately - creating a new conflict at a higher level.Training staff in the core skills of collaborative leadership and conflict management is well worth the effort. It is particularly useful if you can do this by training in mixed groups with people from all organisations in the partnership. Making conflict-handling part of the culture is enormously powerful. It does not prevent disputes from arising, but it means that conflict is respected, rather than feared - and that means you are much more likely to build a long-lasting and resilient relationship with your business partners.Investing in collaborative leadership capability is a priority for many businesses in these turbulent times. As economic pressures increase the ability to work efficiently with your critical business partners is a necessity. It is all too evident that ineffective collaboration and conflict in business relationships wastes time and money: these days, that is something no-one can afford. The skills we have outlined point the way for training managers to develop key people in their organisations to handle conflict and build effective relationships in tough times and in good.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to discuss the development of collaborative leadership skills to address an identified gap in senior management capability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is based on research carried out by IPSOS Mori consisting of interviews with 100 directors across the public and private sector.\nFindings: - The research found that 64 per cent of those questioned identified a gap in collaborative leadership skills and senior levels and this rose to 73 per cent of those who worked for companies with more than 5,000 employees. The paper highlights a key capability for a collaborative leader - the ability to handle conflict in a productive manner.\nPractical implications: - The paper analyses five areas of development for a collaborative leader with regard to conflict: understanding your own relationship to conflict; understanding the needs of groups; holding difficult conversations; finding the greater good; and mediating in other people's conflict. In each case it proposes practical steps to help leaders and development professionals handle these issues.\nOriginality/value: - Investing in collaborative leadership capability is a priority for many businesses in these turbulent times. As economic pressures increase, the ability to work efficiently with critical business partners is a necessity. It is all too evident that ineffective collaboration and conflict in business relationships wastes time and money: these days this is something no one can afford. The skills outlined in this paper point the way for training managers to develop key people in their organisations to handle conflict and build effective relationships in tough times and in good.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Recruiter political skill and organization reputation effects on job applicant attraction in the recruitment process: A multi-study investigation	[ "Recruitment", "Political skill", "Organization reputation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Generally, hiring is the most important thing organizations do, and to hire effectively, it is necessary to recruit effectively, which refers to \"[...] a broad set of activities that connect applicants to organizations and jobs\" (e.g. Ployhart et al., 2017, p. 293). Ostensibly, who is hired ultimately defines the organization, influencing its effectiveness and long-term viability (Cable and Turban, 2001). As a result, early in the employment relationship, organizations develop and manage various organization characteristics that will increase their chances of obtaining and retaining top talent (Berkson et al., 2002; Reis et al., 2017). Recruitment theory suggests that recruitment effectiveness in organizations is at least partially a function of the characteristics of both recruiters and organizations (Breaugh and Starke, 2000).\nTheoretical foundations and hypotheses development: Recruiter political skill and its impact on recruitment\nConclusion: This multi-study investigation sought to understand how recruiter political skill and organization reputation interact to impact recruitment effectiveness. We found a significant interaction of organization reputation x recruiter political skill. Specifically, we found that increases in organization reputation result in increases in applicant attraction to the organization for those exposed to a recruiter high in political skill. Effects did not material for recruiters low in political skill. These results represent steps in the right direction for improving our knowledge of both recruiter and contextual factors affecting recruitment effectiveness.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Researchers have identified various recruiter and organization characteristics that individually influence staffing effectiveness. In extending contemporary research, the purpose of this paper is to address a straightforward question unexamined in previous research, namely, does recruiter political skill interact with organization reputation to influence applicant attraction in the recruitment process? Specifically, the authors hypothesized that for recruiters high in political skill, as organization reputation increases, applicant attraction to the organization increases. Alternatively, for recruiters low in political skill, as organization reputation increases, there is no change in applicant attraction to the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three studies were conducted to create the experimental manipulation materials, pilot test them and then conduct tests of the hypotheses. Study 1 created and tested the content validity of the recruiter political skill script. Study 2 reported on the effectiveness of the recruiter political skill experimental manipulation, whereby a male actor was hired to play the part of a recruiter high in political skill and one low in political skill. Finally, Study 3 was the primary hypothesis testing investigation.\nFindings: Results from a 2x2 between-subjects experimental study (N=576) supported the hypotheses. Specifically, high recruiter political skill and favorable organization reputation each demonstrated significant main effects on applicant attraction to the organization. Additionally, the authors hypothesized, and confirmed, a significant organization reputation x recruiter political skill interaction. Specifically, findings demonstrated that increases in organization reputation resulted in increased applicant attraction to the organization for those exposed to a recruiter high in political skill. However, the effect was not for a recruiter low in political skill.\nResearch limitations/implications: Despite the single source nature of data collections, the authors took steps to minimize potential biasing factors (e.g. time separation, including affectivity). Future research will benefit from gathering multiple sources of data. In addition, no experimental research to date exists, examining political skill in a laboratory context. This finding has important implications for the growing research base on political skill in organizations.\nPractical implications: First impressions are lasting impressions, and it is very costly to organizations when recruiters lose good candidates due to the failure to make a memorable and favorable impression. This paper supports the use of political skill in the recruitment process and highlights its capability to influence and attract job applicants to organizations successfully.\nOriginality/value: Despite its scientific and practical appeal, the causal effects of political skill on important work outcomes in an experimental setting have not been formally investigated. As the first experimental investigation of political skill, the authors can see more clearly and precisely what political skill behaviors of recruiters tend to influence applicant attraction to organizations in the recruitment process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Expanding social actor-based explanations in labour market dualisation research: A combined macro-micro and micro-macro approach	[ "Inequality", "Labour markets", "Dualisation", "Power relationship", "Social divides" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research on dualisation, segmentation, fragmentation and precariousness points to increasing divides in wages, working conditions and the quality of jobs (e.g. McKay et al., 2012; Gallie, 2007; Kalleberg, 2011). Growing divides in advanced capitalist societies provoke social concern because of the wide-ranging implications for their economies and societies.\nDualisation and beyond: In the 1970s and 1980s, the debate on labour market dualisation focused on the impact of individuals' behaviours and social actors' preferences on segmentation within companies. Accordingly, the differential treatment between a protected \"core\" (primary or internal labour market or insiders) and a less protected \"peripheral\" (secondary or external labour market or outsiders) workforce was considered as a function of a company's economic, political and social resources (Doeringer and Piore, 1971; Lindbeck and Snower, 1988).\nA combined macro-micro and micro-macro approach to studying dualisation: The macro-micro and micro-macro approach can help elucidate key issues in existing dualisation and segmentation studies. For instance, we identify three main drawbacks this approach can help resolve.\nStudying labour market dualisation through macro-micro and micro-macro interactions: We draw on Kalleberg's (2000) claim that labour market institutional change is not only the irreversible, inevitable consequence of pure macro-economic and institutional forces alone, but also the outcome of changing power relationships at work. According to Kalleberg (2000), these relationships shape workplace arrangements, relating to employees' and employers' capacity to control tasks and negotiate the terms and conditions of employment (e.g. regulations covering wages, working time, and training for different groups of workers). On the one hand, understanding the macro-level dynamics driving micro-level outcomes is key to explaining trajectories of labour market change and their effects. On the other hand, these dynamics are the result of micro-level socio-political forces and conditions impacting equality.\nImplications for research design and methodology: Within the contested political dynamics of capitalist economies, dualisation results from the interactions of macro- and micro-levels settings and actors' actions and strategies. As the power relations within, and outcomes of, these interactions are not predetermined, they should be revealed through empirical enquiry (Coe and Ward, 2014; Jordhus-Lier et al., 2015).\nConclusion: Understanding macro-level regulatory influences resulting from legislation, policy and collective agreements on local actors' actions and strategies as well as exploring the contested (micro-level) socio-political processes underlying these regulatory influences are essential for broadening our understanding of how labour market dualisation is produced. However, a key challenge remains in reverse terms, i.e. how to connect the two levels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute conceptually to debate on labour market dualisation by proposing a macro-micro and micro-macro (or macro-micro-macro) analytical approach to integrate actor-based explanations in the study of labour market dualisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper emphasising the need to combine qualitative and quantitative data and methods in studying the nature and incidence of labour market dualisation.\nFindings: To study social divides - as a manifestation of labour market dualisation and, more generally, fragmentation - macro-micro and micro-macro (i.e. macro-micro-macro) relationships need to be established as part of an analytical approach to studying dualisation. This implies considering macro-level institutional and regulatory as well as micro-level workplace and organisational settings as factors in any analysis and interpretation of the determinants of labour market dualisation, i.e. integrating the dynamics of power and strategy as determinants of dualisation, fragmentation and more generally precariousness.\nOriginality/value: The paper points to the need to expand actor-based explanations within the labour market dualisation debate, which remains overly institutionalist in its approach. The authors propose a micro-macro-micro analytical approach as the way to systematise the study of concurrent macro-micro and micro-macro relationships shaping social divides in labour markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a multi-criteria hierarchical framework for maintenance performance measurement (MPM)	[ "Maintenance", "Hierarchical control", "Performance measurement (quality)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Maintenance is vital for sustainable performance of any industrial operation. The modern day asset managers and asset owners need to know the relationship between the output of maintenance process in terms of its total contribution to the business goal and the inputs to the different sub processes. Effectiveness of maintenance and its quality need to be measured for the justification of investment in maintenance. This is realised by implementing and using an appropriate performance measurement system. Criteria for measurement can be quantitative or qualitative. Some examples of quantitative measure can be quality, downtime, output, number of accidents, injuries, number of stops short or long, quality problems, item returned from customer along with costs and risks. Qualitative areas include employees' satisfaction, environmental aspects such as noise, humidity and many others. Furthermore, without any formal measures of maintenance performance, it is difficult to plan, execute, monitor control and improve the maintenance processPerformance of maintenance is dependent on decisions made at various levels, for example strategic, tactical and operational in an industrial organisation. At the strategic level decisions are taken for centralised or decentralised maintenance organisation and in-house or adopting policy of outsourcing. Maintenance budget for individual plants or machineries, skills, inventories and decisions on preventive or condition based maintenance are taken at plant level. Maintenance intervals, inspections, repairs, replacements and overhauls are decided by the maintenance department or at operational level. Any decisions made in these three levels influence the performance of maintenance, which in turn, influences maintenance performance and its quality and ultimately influencing the bottom lines.Maintenance requires significant investment in physical assets and plays an important role in achieving organizational goals (Tsang, 2002). Cross (1988), reported that in the UK manufacturing industry, maintenance spending ranges from 12-23 percent of the total factory operating costs. In refineries, the maintenance and operations departments are very large and each department often consists of up to 30 percent of the total staffing (Dekker, 1996). The maintenance cost for mining industry moves up to 40-50 percent of the total operating cost (Campbell, 1995). Maintenance performance indicators (MPIs) are linked to the reduction of down-time, costs and wastes, and the enhancement of capacity utilization, productivity, quality, health and safety. Therefore, MPIs compare the actual conditions with a specific set of reference conditions (requirements/targets).Development and implementation of an appropriate performance measurement system ensures that actions are aligned to the strategies and objectives of the organization (Lynch and Cross, 1991). Measurement of performance is essential, so that it can be managed properly using corrective and preventative measures. Du Pont used the Pyramid of Financial Ratios and the Return on Investment (ROI) management accounting model as early as in 1903 (Chandler, 1977; Skousen et al. 2001). Various measures are used for various industries. However, there is confusion over terms and criteria for indicators at various hierarchical levels of the organization. In this paper, the authors have defined indicators, various criteria and levels of hierarchy and developed a multicriteria hierarchical framework for effective measurement of maintenance performance.The following is an outline of the present paper. Section 1 provides the background and a brief introduction to maintenance performance measurements. Section 2 provides an overview of maintenance performance measurement frameworks and maintenance performance indicators. Section 3 outlines the various criteria that need to be considered for an effective MPM framework. A hierarchical MPM framework linking maintenance performance indicators for practical application in the real world is proposed in Section 4. In the final section, conclusions of the paper are presented and the scope of future work is discussed.\nAn overview of performance measurement frameworks and indicators: In the past two decades, performance measurement (PM) has received a great amount of attention from researchers and practitioners. According to Ghalayini and Noble (1996), the literature pertaining to PM evolved through two phases. The first phase was started in late 1880s and known as cost accounting orientation phase; helped the managers to evaluate the relevant costs of operation, and the second phase started after 1980, which attempted to present a balanced and integrated view of PM (Augusto et al., 2005 and Gomes et al., 2004). During first phase with a financial focus, the approach was criticized for short term measures and failing to measure and integrate all the factors critical to the business success (Kaplan, 1984).In the 1980s, the term \"productivity\" was replaced with \"performance\", as the criteria of productivity paradigm was unable to satisfy various stakeholders. A number of studies have pointed out the shortcomings of the prevailing PM systems, especially the ones based on the financial measures only (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987 and Dixon et al. 1990). Traditional financial performance measures provide little indication of future performance and encourage short-termism (Hayes and Abernathy, 1980); are internal rather than externally focused, with little regards for competitors or customers (Kaplan and Norton, 1992; Neely et al. 1995); lack strategic focus and often inhibit innovation (Richardson and Gordon, 1980). In order to overhaul the short comings in the existing traditional measures of the systems, organizations total competitive circumstances were taken into consideration (Eccles, 1991; Neely, 1999). Major issues related to this field concern what to measure and how to measure it (Neely, 1999) in a practically feasible and cost-effective way. Organizations need to learn how to cope with a continuously changing business and technological environment in order to remain competitive and be successful (Eccles, 1991). Various researchers stress the need for reflective action concerning measures to ensure that they are effective in coping with the continuously changing environment (Dixon et al. 1990; Ghalayini and Noble, 1996). Improper implementation and management of measurement system development aiming to use new measures to reflect new priorities often lead to ineffective results. This is due to the failure of the organization to discard measures reflecting old priorities, uncorrelated and inconsistent indicators and inadequate measurement techniques (Meyer and Gupta, 1994). Measurement gives the status of the variable, compares the data with target or standard data and points out what actions should be taken and where they should be taken as corrective and preventive measures. The characteristics of performance measures include relevance, interpretability, timeliness, reliability and validity (Al-Turki and Duffuaa, 2003).In late 1980s, various researchers were working to develop a balanced performance measurement framework, which can take care of both financial and non-financial perspectives. Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard leads in these developments. The balanced scorecard, with its four perspectives, focuses on financial aspects, customers, internal processes, and innovation and learning (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). It looks into both tangible (financial) and intangible aspects of the business process. Subsequently, various researchers have developed frameworks considering non-financial measurements and intangible assets to achieve competitive advantages (Kaplan and Norton, 2001). It is observed that companies using an integrated balanced performance measurement system perform better than those which do not measure their performance (Kennerly and Neely, 2003). Gomes et al. (2004) have described the characteristics of a performance measurement system (PMS) linking non-financial information based on key success factors of business. Further, the traditional performance measurement approach is criticized for encouraging local optimisation, for being focused on the past, for not providing adequate information for a productivity measurement and improvement program, for not being externally focused and for failing to measure and integrate all critical factors. Therefore, a PM system needs to have features such as; integrated, which can link all the perspectives in a balanced manner, besides having a holistic approach for the entire organization to achieve the stakeholders' goals at various levels. The authors have examined different frameworks and performance measures and some of the PM frameworks along with measures and indicators developed by various authors and researchers are presented in Table I.\nMulti-criteria hierarchical issues for MPM framework: Measurement of maintenance performance is important for continuous improvement and in identifying and resolving priorities. Different researchers have indicated different criteria for measuring maintenance performance, like; maintenance process, and maintenance task related etc. (Ghalayini and Noble, 1996; Gomes et al. 2004; Kutucuoglu et al. 2001). Performance measurement in organizations is changing from record keeping to looking forward and predicting.Maintenance performance indicators (MPIs) are a set of measures used for the measurement of maintenance impact on the process performance (Wireman, 1998). Allander (1997) defines performance indicators as measures that can be extended to a working environment. Liyanage and Kumar (2002) define a performance indicator as \"a measure equipped with baselines and realistic targets to facilitate prognostic and/or diagnostic processes and justify associated decisions and subsequent actions at appropriate levels in the organization to create value in the business process\". MPIs could be used for financial reports, for monitoring the performance of employees, customer satisfaction, the health, safety, security and environmental (HSSE) rating, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), as well as many other applications. PIs are broadly classified as leading or lagging indicators. A lead indicator is a performance driver which acts like an early warning system. For example; more number of stops or down-time at operational level can indicate less availability of equipment and plant at Tactical (level 2); which can lead to less capacity utilization at the top level. A leading indicator is of the non-financial and statistical type that fairly and reliably predicts in advance the outcome from the process. A leading indicator thus works as a performance driver and ascertains the present status in comparison with the reference one. In maintenance departmental level condition monitoring indicators such as noise, vibration, thermograph, particles in oil can be leading indicator. These would help to understand the health of the asset and act as an early warning system before catastrophic failures. These indicators can be used for monitoring the effectiveness of maintenance actions.Lagging indicators are the outcome measures that provides basis for studying the deviations after the completion of the activities. Cost of maintenance and time between breakdowns can be used as lagging indicators. These are useful for understanding the current performance status and maintenance action required such as maintenance overhaul or replacement needed to meet the planned objective. Estimations of rectification costs would lead to repair or replacement decisions based on previous history and decisions are based on a post mortem of the past to develop preventive measures for the future. For example; the lagging indicator maintenance cost per ton at operational level 3 can be used for monitoring maintenance cost and budget at tactical level 2 and controlling future provision for investment in plant maintenance, a leading indicator at strategic level 1.The maintenance cost per unit or return on investment calculations are examples of lagging indicators. The establishment of a link between the lagging and the leading indicators helps to monitor and control the performance of the process, and the indicators to be linked are selected in line with the chosen maintenance strategy (Kumar and Ellingsen, 2000). A good balanced scorecard should have a mix of outcome measure and performance drivers. Outcome measures without performance drivers' do not communicate how the outcomes are to be achieved. (Kaplan and Norton, 1996).Multi-criteria\nMulti-criteria and hierarchical MPM framework linking MPIs: The effectiveness of any performance measurement system is meant to meet the needs of the operations and maintenance processes. It is important to link and integrate the overall objectives and strategy of the company. The linkage between visions, objectives and strategy and measures of performance such as return on investments (ROI) and health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) indicators are considered in our proposed framework.A logical cause-and-effect structure has been created, while identifying and deciding the different performance indicators for each critical strategic area to measure the maintenance performance. The proposed MPM framework is designed to be balanced considering different criteria, holistic from the entire organizational point of view and integrated as a link-and-effect structure to achieve the total maintenance effectiveness both from external and internal effectiveness, which would contribute to the overall objective of the organization and its business units. The multi-criteria hierarchical MPM framework linking to multiple PIs as proposed in this paper is given in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, the internal and external aspects, which act as parts of a back-end or front-end process, need to be analysed before deciding the relevant criteria at various levels for the maintenance performance measurement. The front-end process is derived from the needs of the external stakeholders, e.g. the shareholders or owners, financers, customers, suppliers and regulating authorities. Therefore, the front-end process needs could include higher productivity, HSSE ratings, timely delivery and quality. The back-end process, which is derived from internal aspects like the capacity and capability of the organization, comprise of the departments, employee requirements, the organizational climate and skill enhancement. The back-end processes are; cost reduction, employee retention and innovation. The MPIs at functional and tactical levels gets aggregated at strategic level. For example, MPIs like: the availability (downtime), production rate and quality at level 3 and 2, under the criteria of \"equipment/process related\", aggregated to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) at the strategic/top management level.The financial indicators shown at tactical and operational level (level 2 and 3) are lag indicators, as they are based on historical data. The lag indicator information can be used for controlling the future performance; for example; if the maintenance cost for the previous week of a plant is $4.3 million instead of budgeted amount of $2.8 million. This necessitates a detailed analysis of various cost components to locate the possible reasons and provide basis for initiating corrective measures.\nConcluding remarks: In this paper, a balanced and integrated multi-criteria hierarchical framework for maintenance performance measurement is proposed for developing and implementing a relevant, timely, reliable, cost effective, and easy to implement, for regular use by stakeholders at various levels. The indicators at the subsystem/component level, plant level and corporate level are linked with the MPIs for the organizational objectives and strategy.Performance of an operation whether it is process or a service is dependent on the output from the process and its quality.. Measuring performance of maintenance is complex as it involves various indicators with multiple criteria at various hierarchical levels. In this paper, the authors have made an attempt to consider various issues discussed in Parida and Kumar (2006) and developed a multi-criteria hierarchical framework for effective measurement of maintenance performance. The indicators at the subsystem/component level, plant level and corporate level are now able to be linked with the MPIs for analysing impact on the organizational objectives. The identified MPIs are used for comparing the MPIs in a process and utility industry and the results are found to be encouraging, which are being published subsequently.There is enough scope for future research in this area. Some of these are as follows:* Development of multi-criteria hierarchical frameworks for maintenance performance measurement for specific industries like: mining, process and other utility industries.* Development of a management system, with interface to relevant information systems, for collection and analysis of data for monitoring and control of maintenance performance.The authors are currently working on some of these areas and the results will be published in the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to develop a multi-criteria hierarchical maintenance performance measurement framework, which is balanced, holistic and integrated to various levels of the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Consolidation of published research and current practices are combined to study, identify and develop this proposed framework.\nFindings: - A framework for maintenance performance measurement is proposed for developing and implementing a relevant, timely, reliable, cost and time-effective and user-friendly system for stakeholders at various levels. The indicators at the subsystem/component level, plant level and corporate level are linked with the MPIs for the organizational objectives and strategy.\nPractical implications: - Management of maintenance performance is critical for long term economic viability of business and industry. Development of an integrated, balanced and holistic MPM system needs to consider various issues to measure the contribution of maintenance towards total business goals. In this paper, a multi-criteria hierarchical MPM framework has been developed. This framework can be used by the operating managers for their maintenance decisions at various levels of an organization.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents a proposed MPM framework, which is integrated, and focuses on both internal and external effectiveness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technological and dietetic characteristics of probiotic acidophilus milk	[ "Milk", "Health foods", "Nutrition", "India" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, a considerable growing interest towards natural and healthy foods has been observed among the consumers throughout the world. Lactobacilli, being the normal resident of the gastro-intestinal tract (Mitsuoka, 1992) and capable of exerting health benefits beyond inherent basic nutrition (Wood, 1992) and restoring the normal microbial balance in the intestine (Garvie et al., 1984), their application during the manufacture of cultured milk products are proposed to exert \"probiotic\" effects in humans (Gilliland, 1989). Bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are purportedly beneficial to human health (Bezkorovainy, 2001) and more than 90 \"Acidophilus-Bifidobacterium\" products are available in the world market (Mortazavian et al., 2006).\nMaterials and methods: Starter cultures\nAnalytical techniques: Technological and dietetic characteristics\nResults and discussion: Technological attributes\nDietetic attributes: Lactic acid\nConclusion: Based on the various technological and dietetic criterion the application of P. freudenreichii subsp. shermanii MTCC 1371 and B. bifidum NDRI as microbial additives with L. acidophilus R during the manufacture of probiotic acidophilus milk with the enhanced prophylactic features is suggested. Probiotic acidophilus milk retained its dietetic characteristics up to seven days of storage at 8+-1 and its consumption may be advantageous over plain acidophilus milk due to its enhanced prophylactic features.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Prophylactic characteristics of plain acidophilus milk could be further enhanced with the incorporation of certain probiotic or beneficial organisms. This research undertakes to evaluate the technological and dietetic characteristics of probiotic acidophilus milk containing Bifidobacterium bifidum and Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii during storage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The effects of incorporation of Bifidobacterium bifidum NDRI and Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii MTCC 1371 as microbial additives during the manufacture and storage of acidophilus milk made from skimmed milk at 8+-1 degC for seven days were evaluated. Probiotic acidophilus milk was evaluated on the basis of various technological (titratable acidity, volatile acidity, diacetyl and acetoin production and extent of proteolysis) and dietetic (lactic acid content, lactose hydrolyzing activity, antibacterial activity, viable population of lactobacilli, propionibacteria, bifidobacteria) characteristics.\nFindings: Probiotic acidophilus milk obtained with the conjugated application of Lactobacillus acidophilus R, Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii MTCC 1371 and Bifidobacterium bifidum NDRI retained its dietetic characteristics up to seven days of storage at 8+-1 degC and its consumption may be advantageous over plain acidophilus milk due to its enhanced prophylactic features.\nResearch limitations/implications: Mineral and vitamin estimation of probiotic acidophilus milk, animal and infant feeding trials must be conducted.\nPractical implications: Conjugated application of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii MTCC 1371 and Bifidobacterium bifidum NDRI as microbial additives during the manufacture of acidophilus milk may be suggested to enhance its prophylactic features.\nOriginality/value: Conjugated application of P. freudenreichii subsp. shermanii MTCC 1371 and B. bifidum NDRI as microbial additives with L. acidophilus R during the manufacture of acidophilus milk is suggested to enhance the prophylactic features of plain acidophilus milk. Consumption of probiotic acidophilus milk as a dietary adjunct can be recommended.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Change agent sensemaking for sustainability in a multinational subsidiary	[ "Sustainable development", "Organizational change", "Change management", "United States of America", "The Netherlands", "Emergent strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Historically, the field of organisation development focuses on improving organisational effectiveness and employee wellbeing through planned change (e.g. Beer and Walton, 1987; Goodstein and Burke, 1991; Cummings and Worley, 1997; French and Bell, 1999; Beckhard, 2006). Although studies based on a planned change approach offer valuable insights, they largely ignore the ad hoc, unpredictable aspects of organisational change. The importance of these aspects is increasingly acknowledged, mainly because change processes that were planned from A to Z have not proved completely effective (e.g. Strebel, 1996; Higgs and Rowland, 2005; Kotter, 1995) and researchers thus question the approach: \"Change is not brought about by following a grand master plan but by continually readjusting direction and goals\" (Beer and Walton, 1987). Therefore, research is needed on organisational change processes that allow emergent patterns to develop and recognises people as agents who construct their work environments (Boonstra, 2000; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002; Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006).Studying emergent change requires understanding local circumstances and how \"actors try to make sense and act coherently\" (Tsoukas and Chia, 2002). Sensemaking is an interpretative process that organisational members use \"to understand and to share understandings about such features of the organisation as what it is about, what it does well and poorly, what the problems it faces are and how it should resolve them\" (Feldam (1989) quoted in Weick, 1995). Internal change agents often play important roles in these processes of sensemaking by articulating and presenting ideas in ways that influence people and implement change in organizations (Caldwell, 2003; Lawrence et al., 2006).This development of recognizing the emergent, unpredictable aspects of change coincides with a shift in recent studies of sustainability implementation in companies. Corporate sustainability is a broad concept and no settled definition is yet established. In line with Van Velsor (2009), McWilliams et al. (2006) and Dyllick and Hockerts (2002), the term (corporate) sustainability is used as a synonym for corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper adheres to contemporary views that assume a \"triple bottom line\" connection among the economic, environmental and social responsibilities of business as expressed by the three P's of profit, people and planet (Cramer, 2003; Garriga and Mele, 2004; McWilliams et al., 2006;). In our case study, the participating change agents use the term \"sustainability\" and our analysis follows their definition of the concept.Implementing sustainability is an interesting process to study because it confronts people with a new reality that influences all activities and departments of the organisation. Often, people cannot rely on existing routines to make sense of new ideas. In organisational change research, as in sustainability implementation, the focus on structured steps and reporting guidelines complements research that emphasizes the importance of developing involvement, belongingness (Aguilera et al., 2007) and internal mental frameworks \"by studying how an organization makes sense of its world\" (Basu and Palazzo, 2008). Previous research by the authors of the present paper indicates that internal change agents play a catalysing role in sensemaking processes to implement sustainability (Van der Heijden et al., 2010). Therefore, in this paper we conduct an in-depth longitudinal study of the sensemaking roles of change agents who implement corporate sustainability.We establish two basic assumptions in the theoretical section of this paper. First we argue that implementation of sustainability means embedding the concept by engaging people throughout the organisation in sustainability efforts. Second, we assume that organisational sensemaking is required to engage people on a wide basis. Based on the theoretical elaboration, we develop a framework to analyse change agents' sensemaking in practice. The empirical work consists of a ten-year longitudinal study that follows the sustainability efforts of change agents in the Dutch subsidiary of Interface, a multinational carpet tile manufacturer headquartered in the US. The paper aims to improve our understanding of implementation processes that achieve corporate sustainability by providing explanatory knowledge about the role of change agents from a sensemaking perspective. The research questions focus on the sensemaking experiences of change agents in the Interface subsidiary. How did change agent sensemaking give rise to embedding corporate sustainability over a ten-year period (2000-2010) in Interface and can we discern long-term trends and effects?We first position our approach within the literature of organisational change agents, emergent change and sensemaking. Based on the sensemaking perspective, we present a framework to analyse the emergent change processes of embedding sustainability. Then we explain our research methods, followed by a thorough presentation of our empirical analysis. Our discussion section explains trends in the long-term sensemaking process for sustainability.\n2. Implementing sustainability: change agents, emergent change and sensemaking: 2.1 Change agents\n3. Framework to analyse corporate sustainability sensemaking: 3.1 Communicating\n4. Methods: 4.1 Research context\n5. Case analysis: falling and rising trends of corporate sustainability sensemaking: In this section we first present a thick description (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) of the findings, which tells the story of sustainability sensemaking through the actions, intentions and experiences of the participating change agents. This detailed account of events and their contexts of time and place are indispensable to our paper because it enables the reader to assess how well the presented knowledge and perceptions may fit other settings (Denzin, 1994).5.1 Change agents' involvement from 2000-2010\n6. Reflection: Following the reflections of the change agents, we apply the framework to the empirical analysis of sustainability sensemaking and further explain the change agent roles in the local subsidiary. We identify two sensemaking trends. After an enthusiastic start that yielded high expectations, a downward trend of sensemaking developed from about 2000 until 2004. But since 2004 the change agents were able to turn the tide toward an upward sensemaking trend when more initiative and authority was taken by (and given to) the Dutch location.First, we elaborate on the downward trend (Figure 1). During that time, the change agents concentrated on preventing waste from products and processes in their local company and were limited to their departments. Additionally, the results of sustainable products and processes were not made concrete. Non-technical change agents and people in other departments did not understand the complex management information that resulted from the impact measurements.In terms of the framework to analyse sensemaking, the local change agents used centrally developed sustainability jargon. For many local people the jargon is a special purpose language that is too abstract because it is not connected to a natural language that expresses their ideas about sustainability. The sustainability results were communicated as management information, in abstract and financial terms. The actions to make sense of sustainability were based on American formats and were limited to their departments. The guidance remained centrally with the CEO and European sustainability directors, and was not translated to the local level. Organisation-wide relationships on sustainability issues did not extend across departments. As a result the change agents perceived the sensemaking process as a downward trend that limited the shared sense of sustainability to small groups in departments and led to disconnected sensemaking.In the subsequent period, from 2004 until 2010, the change agents felt that they gradually gained control over embedding sustainability in their company. The second, upward trend began (Figure 2). Paul and Johan have dived into the development of lifecycle analyses (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the products. Contrary to their experiences from 2000 until 2004, they gradually found ways to deploy the LCA and EPD indicators and results to communicate and determine actions throughout the organisation and the supply chain. In cooperation with the product development and quality assurance departments they used the LCA and EPD results to determine the next steps in product and process development. They pinpointed actions needed in the supply chain. Further, Paul and Johan cooperated with colleagues from the sales and marketing departments to determine how the LCA and EPD indications and results could be used to communicate the environmental performance of products with customers or for tenders.In addition, while in the period from 2000 to 2004 research and development depended on the actions in the US, Johan is now participating in networks for product and process development in the European region.While Paul and Johan developed LCAs and EPDs that make technical product information understandable and usable, Geanne and Luuk focused on initiatives to consolidate and communicate the company's sustainability efforts and results. They developed interdisciplinary local training programmes, a talent management programme and publications describing sustainability achievements. They built relationships internally and externally with supply chain companies and universities, for example.Within the context of the framework the upward sensemaking trend has become visible in the three elements. While the central jargon is still used, the change agents have adapted the language to the local context. The language has become more understandable for people in the organisation.Actions have been increasingly adapted to the local context and become interdepartmental. The change agents have expanded their local initiatives and gained more control over their sustainability actions.There is one European sustainability director who works more in the background than before, on an overall strategic level. The guidance has been largely transferred to local sustainability managers who have created local and regional connections. The local managers have more freedom to take local initiatives that deviate from the central, US-focused approach. Context-related shared sensemaking has developed where relationships exist among departments and external connections are made in the supply chain and with other organisations.\n7. Conclusions: We examine sustainability sensemaking in the Dutch subsidiary of the US-based carpet tile manufacturer Interface from a change agent perspective over a period of ten years (2000-2010) to understand how change agent sensemaking gave rise to embedding corporate sustainability. The theoretical perspective of this study is based on the concepts of sensemaking and emergent change and assumes that embedding corporate sustainability requires a translation of the general sustainability concept to the organisational context.The findings show that embedding sustainability by change agents is typically an emergent change process that consists of small steps and is not predictable. Around 2000, the change agents became engaged with sustainability issues because the subject and the company presentations appealed to them. The change agents were inspired to communicate and take action because they saw the opportunities presented by the guidance and programmes offered to the Dutch subsidiary by top management in the US and the European sustainability directors. They linked the information immediately to their work situation, which motivated them to introduce the sustainability jargon and programmes in the Dutch subsidiary. Their expectations about the result of their actions varied from creating awareness to selling new sustainable products. But from there on the road was unpaved. The change agents started with programmes and tools that were offered by the US management and the European sustainability directors and they kept on developing and adapting new initiatives.The longitudinal setting of the study allowed us to identify two trends in change agent sensemaking for sustainability: a downward trend (2000-2004) followed by an upward trend (2004-2010). The downward trend began when the change agents became aware that their efforts to spread the company sustainability programmes and jargon in the Dutch subsidiary were not as successful as they expected. The sustainability approach had become too complex, abstract and dependent on external guidance, they believed.There are no exact turning points in the descending sensemaking trend, nor are there any marking the ascending sensemaking. The research suggests that the trends are gradual processes that merge into one another. One of the change agents defined the course of events as \"a gradual learning process\". The study shows that change agents are important links in that learning process. Although the process is rather unpredictable and intangible, the agents explained that the perceived downward and upward directions of their efforts were influenced by incentives. Since we did not study the experiences of all change agents in the Dutch subsidiary, our overview of incentives is not complete. However, we did find important incentives that influenced their approach and its power to embed sustainability, with the primary incentive being the growing awareness of sustainability in society. Within the organisation, the pressure of the company's ultimate sustainability target (zero emissions in 2020) increased as time continued. These external and internal developments persuaded top management to expand the change agents' room to manoeuvre and the authority to create local initiatives.This study contributes to the literature of sensemaking and emergent change in three areas. First, the framework of analysis that we developed makes the theoretical concepts of sensemaking and emergent change operational and measurable in practice. Sensemaking in organisations is a process of social interaction that shapes interpretations. This interaction among people occurs through action, in the form of communication and executing activities (Weick, 1995). We fleshed out the forms and use of \"communicating\" and \"acting\", which are central to sensemaking. Weick's sensemaking theory is about interactions but is not suitable for research on the relations among people and how they perceive their efforts to shape new interpretations (Craig-Lees, 2001). Therefore, the framework includes the element of \"building relationships\" derived from the theory of emergent change. In short, the integration of the concepts of sensemaking and emergent change adds an empirical framework of analysis to sensemaking theory.Second, empirical analysis shows the value of the integrative framework for understanding change agent efforts to embed sustainability. It not only displays the mechanism of what change agents undertake and how they deploy communication, but it also indicates whether relationships are built, i.e. if it is anchored to the organisational context. The data suggest that the element of building relationships is crucial for effective embedding. At the same time, internal interpretations of communications and actions are essential conditions to build internal relationships. The change agents have the challenge of grasping such a unified approach to all three elements and sharing it with others throughout the organisation. In that respect, the integrative framework makes a connection between sensemaking and emergent organisational change.The third contribution to theory elaborates on the accuracy of the change agent challenge to create a unified approach to translating sustainability. The findings suggest that translating sustainability requires very precise ways of communicating in the organisation and careful tuning of actions to the local ways of working. Although we already assumed that making sense of sustainability would be more context-related than sensemaking theory suggests, our data show that embedding sustainability at Interface required a more comprehensive context-dependency than we expected. The importance of a company-specific approach exists not only at company headquarters level but throughout the organisation. Company headquarters motivated employees to become involved with sustainability and to take initiatives. However, our longitudinal analysis shows that initially the stimuli from headquarters were meant for initiatives based on the formats developed in the US. Only when - mainly as a result of the above-mentioned incentives - the change agents made their own contextual interpretations of the central sustainability approach did they find they had more control and effectiveness in embedding sustainability. Our results show that embedding sustainability at Interface required local sensemaking in the whole organisational setting. The change agents are involved in a continuous process of creating and sharing contextual interpretations.Implications for practice\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to improve the understanding of implementation processes that achieve corporate sustainability by providing explanatory knowledge about the role of change agents from a sensemaking perspective. The paper also aims to focus on the sustainability efforts of change agents in a multinational carpet tile manufacturer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The theoretical perspective of the paper is based on the concepts of sensemaking and emergent change. The paper examines sustainability sensemaking in the Dutch subsidiary of the US-based carpet tile manufacturer Interface over a period of ten years (2000-2010).\nFindings: - The findings show that embedding sustainability by change agents is typically an emergent change process that consists of small steps and is not predictable.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper focuses on the emergent, unpredictable aspects of change. More research is needed on processes of adapting the general concept of sustainability to local organisational contexts.\nOriginality/value: - The paper examines sustainability sensemaking by change agents in one organisation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Audit committee pre-Enron efforts to increase the effectiveness of corporate governance	[ "Audit committees", "Corporate governance", "Financial reporting", "Auditors", "Boards of Directors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years instances of fraudulent financial reporting have increased with such frequency and in such dramatic ways that stakeholders at all levels have been astounded. Even before the Enron collapse (late 2001) started the spate of front-page accounting scandals, audit committee activities were being questioned. It was more than a decade ago when an increasing number of stakeholders began to suggest that instances of fraudulent financial reporting could be decreased by improving the effectiveness of audit committees (NCFFR, 1987; POB, 1993; Levitt, 1998). A common thread that runs through suggestions from these different sources is that audit committees need to assume greater responsibility with respect to corporate governance by overseeing financial reporting and internal control matters.Beginning with the 1999 Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees (BRC), more formalized approaches were taken to develop and publish explicit recommendations that audit committees could address to improve their effectiveness. By 2002, the occurrence of the Enron, WorldCom, and other accounting frauds influenced the US Congress to enact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) (see Hamilton and Trautmann, 2002) containing specific provisions concerning audit committees[1]. In 2003 the SEC issued more stringent regulations for audit committees of publicly traded companies. Table I compares the specific calls for audit committee reforms from the 1999 BRC, the 2002 SOX legislation, and the 2003 SEC regulations. The effectiveness measures advocated by these three major sources in 1999, 2002, and 2003 are strikingly similar.The Blue Ribbon Committee was comprised of representatives of the NYSE and NASD, who directed ten recommendations to NYSE, NASD, SEC, AICPA, and/or to listed companies. The first two recommendations defined independence for audit committee members and recommended that listed companies have an audit committee whose members are independent.The remaining eight effectiveness steps were designed to meet the goal of \"making the audit committee more effective\" (BRC, 1999, p. 12). The third step suggests that listed companies of a certain size have an audit committee and further specifies that the audit committee should be comprised of at least three financially literate members. The fourth step encourages audit committees to adopt a charter and to review it annually for adequacy. The fifth, sixth, and seventh steps stipulate provisions that should be included in the audit charter; these provisions concern disclosure, responsibility for auditor relations, and discussions with auditors about auditor independence, respectively.The eighth step is directed to outside auditors and recommends that outside auditors discuss the quality \"not just acceptability of the company's accounting\" with the audit committee (BRC, 1999, p. 15). The two final steps recommend that the annual report and interim financial information be audited, reviewed by the audit committee, and discussed with management.The elements of SOX (2002) related to audit committees mirrored the majority of the BRC effectiveness steps and added a requirement that audit committees establish fraud reporting and whistleblower provisions. The SEC (2003) adopted the majority of BRC and SOX provisions, including the fraud reporting procedures. They added a regulation that audit committees be properly funded. Thus, SOX and SEC are in agreement with the concept of audit committee effectiveness, put forth by BRC.Although BRC effectiveness steps did not have the weight of SOX legislation or SEC regulations, they were well-publicized and it was possible for companies to address many effectiveness steps before the Enron collapse and before the 2002 SOX legislation and the 2003 SEC regulations.Access to detailed information concerning audit committee efforts during 2001 enabled us to learn about US audit committees' efforts to improve their effectiveness in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse and to respond to calls for research that elucidates audit committee processes and activities (Beasley, 1996). Such information was obtained with the assistance of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) from 296 chief internal audit executives (CAE) from US companies with audit committees from 11 different industry groups. In addition to data on audit committees' efforts to improve effectiveness, this information also details some of the topics of regular communication between audit committees and the organization's CAE. This information is used to investigate the following specific research questions:* What was the level of audit committee efforts to improve their effectiveness in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse?* Are audit committees that adopt more efforts to improve their effectiveness more likely to interact with internal auditors and what form does this communication take?* Are audit committees to which chief audit executives report (functionally) more likely to have adopted more efforts to improve their effectiveness?This study adds to the literature by providing information on audit committees' efforts to increase their effectiveness in the period immediately preceding the Enron accounting scandal. Past research on audit committees has focused on the characteristics of audit committee members in the manufacturing industry (Raghunandan et al., 2001) and the interaction of audit committees and external auditors (e.g. Carcello and Neal, 2003). Our study examines audit committees from companies of various sizes in 11 different industry groups with internal audit departments of various sizes. Additionally, our study examines the effect of a possible on-going organizational relationship between the audit committee and chief audit executive (CAE)[2], where the organizational status of the CAE calls for a functional reporting line between the audit committee and the CAE. Our study also reports on the prevalence of communication between audit committees and CAE with respect to 15 different sub-topics that audit committees might typically discuss with CAEs that could improve audit committee effectiveness.This paper is organized as follows. The next section provides further background and develops research questions on audit committees' efforts at improving their effectiveness in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse, the type of interaction that might normally occur between CAE and audit committee, and the organizational status of CAE with respect to audit committees. The third section describes the research method. The fourth section reports results, and the final section summarizes conclusions.\nBackground and research questions: Audit committees' efforts to improve their effectiveness\nResearch method: In order to learn more about audit committee activities, we obtained information with respect to audit committee activities in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse. The information was contained in the IIA's GAIN database. The IIA developed the GAIN database to allow CAEs to benchmark their department's performance against other departments in their industry. The GAIN database for 2000/2001 contained self-reported information supplied by the CAEs from 296 different US organizations with audit committees in eleven different industry groups[6]. CAEs are a good source of information because they are part of the corporate governance structure (NCFFR, 1987).Characteristics of companies in sample\nResults: Implementation of effectiveness steps\nConclusion: Based on responses of 296 chief internal audit executives, we found that audit committees' responsiveness to each of the eight effectiveness steps was surprisingly high in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse. The percent of audit committees addressing each effectiveness step ranged from a low of 88.5 percent for appropriate proxy statement disclosures to a high of 93.6 percent for discussing quality of company accounting with auditors. Audit committees that addressed a larger proportion of the eight effectiveness steps were more likely to interact more frequently with internal auditors. This study was the first to utilize the data found in the GAIN database and provides specifics about 15 different topics that CAEs might bring to audit committees for discussion The sub-topic audit committees most frequently (95.9 percent) discussed with CAEs, \"significant internal audit findings\" came from the topical area we designated as secondary in importance. The topical area discussed least often was the area we designated a primary in importance. Based on our examination of the topics of discussion, we recommend that audit committees focus more on big picture/strategic concerns in their discussions with CAEs.There appears to be an increase in the number of audit committees with financially literate members in the period studied. While this time period roughly coincides with the year after the BRC published its findings, one cannot conclude that the BRC recommendations caused these findings. Rather, a more plausible explanation lies in the self-selection bias of the sample companies studied. Recall that all 296 companies studied had internal audit functions and that all of the internal auditing functions were headed by CAEs who paid a fee and took considerable time to complete a fairly exhausting questionnaire. These are the types of companies one would expect to have more effective audit committees.A limitation of this study is that only companies with internal audit functions were studied and thus, it would be a mistake to assume that the results of this study extend to companies without an internal audit function. Nevertheless, this paper sheds light on audit committee processes by studying audit committee efforts to increase effectiveness in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse. It appears audit committees were trying to accept more responsibilities for corporate governance even before they were required to do so by SOX and SEC. Perhaps subsequent accounting scandals were actually ongoing problems that came to light sooner than they might have partially as the result of increased diligence on the part of audit committees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study of audit committee effectiveness, performed in the period immediately preceding the Enron collapse, seeks to determine whether audit committees were beginning to accept more responsibility for corporate governance before such behavior became mandatory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The period studied was approximately two years prior to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and roughly one year after the Blue Ribbon Committee published its recommendations on audit committee effectiveness. The efforts of 296 audit committees to improve their effectiveness as reported by Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) to the Global Audit Information Network (GAIN) database maintained by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) were investigated.\nFindings: - It was found that audit committees' responsiveness to each of eight effectiveness steps was surprisingly high. For instance, almost all (w99.6 percent) audit committees meet with CAEs. It is recommended that audit committees focus more on big picture/strategic concerns in their discussions with CAEs.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study's chief limitation is that only companies with internal audit functions were studied and thus the results cannot be generalized to companies without internal audit functions.\nOriginality/value: - This study was the first to utilize the GAIN database and provides specifics about 15 different topics that CAEs might bring to audit committees for discussion. Topics of communication more often focused on specifics such as \"significant audit findings\" (95.9 percent) and less often dealt with big picture/strategic concerns such as \"overall corporate control environment\" (68.9 percent).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring intersectionality and the employment of school leaders	[ "Leadership", "Racial discrimination" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research underscores the need to increase the racial/ethnic and gender diversity of school leaders (Khalifa et al., 2016). Rationales for increasing leader diversity include evidence that leaders of color positively influence a range of outcomes for teachers and students of color. Most directly, leaders of color are more likely to employ teachers of color (Grissom and Keiser, 2011; Grissom et al., 2015) who, in turn, have positive impacts on students of color. For example, an increase in the percentage of teachers of color employed in a school is associated with a reduction in differential discipline outcomes for students of color, an increase in the likelihood of placement into gifted education programs for students of color, the disproportionate placement of students of color into special education, an increase in graduation rates for students of color and improvements in the overall achievement for students of color (Grissom et al., 2015).\nPersonal characteristics and employment as a school leader: Gender\nState context: The state context of Texas is critical to understanding the importance and generalizability of this study. There are seven aspects of Texas that are important to consider, including the number and characteristics of students, the demographics of teachers and the state policy context.\nData sources: We used data from the Texas Education Agency that included all individuals obtaining principal certification in Texas from 1993 through 2013, the year in which they obtained certification, the SLPP from which they graduated, and their personal characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, and gender). Data also included public school employment information for all individuals between 1993 and 2014, which allowed us to identify if a person was employed as a school leader - either an assistant principal or principal - in a particular year as well as the number of schools and the annual percentage change in the number of schools in each labor market.\nMethods: Because we examined the impact of both the characteristics of individuals and SLPPs, our data are nested (individuals are grouped together in specific SLPPs), which creates several analytic issues. First, individuals within a SLPP are likely more similar to each other than individuals randomly selected from the population of aspiring leaders, thus violating an important assumption of random sampling - independent errors (Heck et al., 2012). If the nested nature of the data is not accounted for statistically, the results would lead to underestimation of the standard errors and, hence, increase the odds for making a Type I error. Second, employment of a single-level model would weigh SLPP characteristics based on the number of graduates from the SLPP rather than the number of SLPPs. In doing so, we would overestimate the precision of SLPP characteristics.\nFindings: Intersectionality and the production of school leaders\nDiscussion and policy implications: In this study, we have examined the production and hiring of beginning school leaders by the intersection of the race/ethnicity and gender of individuals as well as the impact of personal- and SLPP-characteristics have on the odds of an educator obtaining employment as an assistant principal, principal or school leader within five years after certification. We find greater racial/ethnic and gender diversity in both the percentage of individuals obtaining principal certification and the percentage of individuals hired as beginning school leaders. Moreover, we find these trends are driven primarily by decreases in the percentages of white men and increases in the percentage of Latina educators. We also find the intersection of racial/ethnic and gender characteristics influences the odds of educators obtaining employment in all three job positions and these relationships differ depending on the job position used as the dependent variable. Importantly, we find women and men of color still have lower odds of becoming a principal relative to white men despite the relative rapid diversification of assistant principals. Finally, our results suggest personal characteristics exert a stronger influence than program characteristics on the odds of an educator obtaining a job. Indeed, once we considered the impact of personal characteristics, there were only minimal differences across programs in the odds of an educator finding employment in any of the three positions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is growing recognition of the importance of educator diversity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the production, placement and employment of school leaders as assistant principals, principals and school leaders in Texas by the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender over 23 years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a quantitative study that employs multilevel logistic regression analysis to examine using 25 years of educator employment data from Texas.\nFindings: The authors find descriptive evidence of an increase in diversity of school leaders driven by a decreasing percentage of white men educators and an increasing percentage of Latina educators. Important differences, however, emerge when examining assistant principal vs principal positions, particularly with respect to the odds of being hired. The authors find black male and Latino educators are more likely than white male educators to be hired as an assistant principal but are less likely than white male educators to be hired as a principal. Women educators, regardless of race/ethnicity were less likely to be hired as assistant principals or principals relative to white male educators. Women of color had the lowest odds of being hired in any position relative to white male educators. With respect to school leader preparation program accountability, the authors find few program characteristics associated with placement and differences between programs explained very little of the variation in placement rates, bringing into question efforts to hold programs accountable for such outcomes.\nOriginality/value: A longitudinal examination of racial/ethnic and gender intersectionality over 25 years is a unique contribution to the study of inequitable access to school leadership positions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Top management team characteristics and firm growth: Evidence from a sample of listed companies	[ "IPO", "Firm performance", "Small firms", "Alternative investment market", "Firm growth", "Top management team characteristics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: An initial public offering (IPO) is one of the most significant phases in the firm's evolution process and one of the most important entrepreneurial settings since it is characterized by high levels of uncertainty. An IPO involves major managerial, strategic and organizational changes since it represents the evolution towards a public company. Firms undertaking an IPO and entering the public offering arena face several challenges and pressures such as acceptance and monitoring by a range of different stakeholders and changes in their ownership and governance structures.\n2. Theoretical framework and hypothesis development: The literature shows a growing interest in entrepreneurial features as critical factors shaping firm performance. Among the determinants of growth, entrepreneurialism is assumed to play a relevant role as an intangible asset that promotes spillovers of knowledge, crucial for building firms' innovation capabilities and strengthening learning skills. The role of entrepreneurship in firm performance has been analyzed at various levels. Some of the entrepreneurship literature focuses on the role of founders and the firm's management team, and shows that human capital in the form of knowledge and skills, has a positive impact on firm growth (Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1990; Storey, 1994; Timmons, 1999; Birley and Stockley, 2000; Weinzimmer, 1997). Other studies focus on the firm's entrepreneurial behaviour at the organizational level and show that an important aspect of such behaviour is the propensity for risk taking including financial risk in the form of borrowing, commitment of a large proportion of resources to high risk-high return projects and exploration of unknown markets (Baird and Thomas, 1985).\n3. The AIM: AIM is considered the most successful secondary market in Europe and has been used as an exemplar by stock exchanges in mainland Europe trying to (re)launch second-tier markets. AIM is the London Stock Exchange's market for smaller and growing companies, which, according to the corporate life cycle model, are firms that are in their entrepreneurial phase, are characterized by high levels of innovativeness and entrepreneurial creativity but also uncertainty. There are no formal criteria for listing on AIM. Companies do not need to demonstrate a particular financial track record or trading history. There is also no minimum requirements in terms of size or numbers of shareholders. Listing on AIM is related to new business ideas, the main factor underlying the creation of entrepreneurial capital. Audretsch and Keilbach (2004) argue, that entrepreneurial capital is demonstrated in the creation of new firms by entrepreneurs willing to shoulder the risk of new firm creation, and investors keen to share in the associated risks and benefits. Firms on AIM operate in both science and non-science based industries. Accordingly, compared to new stock markets, AIM allows more extensive analysis with no industry specificities.\n4. Empirical evidence: 4.1. Data set and sample\n5. Empirical results: Table V presents the pairwise correlation matrix; Table VI presents the results of the econometric estimations. The pairwise correlation matrix shows that there are no strong correlations among the variables included in the empirical model. However, the three groups of independent variables are added successively (Table VI). Model 1 includes the risk-related variables, Model 2 adds the education-related variables and Model 3, the complete model, includes also the capabilities-related variables. The coefficients of the variables included in the model are consistent in all the implementations, confirming the robustness of the estimations.\n6. Discussion and policy implications: The determinants of business performance were inferred based on a broad range of variables (e.g. accounting information, CEO and board member age, educational background, past experience). Our results confirm that both human capital and organizational factors are important for shaping the performance of firms listed on AIM. In particular, we found that AIM companies follow an S-shaped pattern of growth, and that age and size have negative effects on firm growth, which is consistent with life-cycle theory. It seems that CEO's education level and age are critical for firm growth after the IPO, providing support for the resource-based view of the firm. In contrast, we found no evidence of the influence of CEO's previous board member experience on firm growth. It seems that individual attributes such as creativity, intuition and alertness, which are associated with young CEOs have a greater impact on post-IPO rate of growth than capabilities accumulated through experience. Similarly, our findings confirm that while the firm funder's entrepreneurial features are a critical resource for firm start-up, it is the individual characteristics of the CEO that are critical for effective firm leadership post-IPO.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting the growth of companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the London Stock Exchange market for young and growing companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author investigates post-initial public offering (IPO) growth for a panel of 665 companies listed on the AIM between 1995 and 2006. The empirical model uses the generalized method of moment-System (GMM-SYS) estimator.\nFindings: The findings confirm that small companies listed on the AIM grow more quickly after the IPO. It seems that both human capital and firm characteristics are important determinants of their rapid growth.\nPractical implications: The results of this study have some implications for policy. Policy makers should take account of the relevance of an efficient financial system. It is important also to consider the process of transformation of the cultural and behavioural attitudes of various countries towards entrepreneurship.\nOriginality/value: This paper analyses the determinants of firm growth in a particular entrepreneurial setting, that is, IPO on the AIM, the sub-market of the London Stock Exchange.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A discriminant model for measuring competition intensity of construction market	[ "China", "Market competitiveness", "Construction competition", "Concentration", "Multivariate discriminant analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Competing for survival is an ongoing fact of life for business to operate in an industrial context. The selection rule of competition drives firms to orient business to the external changing market situations, and it has been accepted as a cornerstone of market operation (Greer, 1992). Therefore, properly measuring and predicting the intensity of competition are foremost and paramount tasks to undertake in the formulation of both industrial competition policies and competition strategies. According to Porter (1980), there are five market forces that can determine competition intensity in a collective way, namely the threat of substitute products, the threat of established rivals, the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of customers. Subject to the combined effect of these forces, the measurement of competition intensity is daunting. One of the primary reasons is that some of the forces may exert overwhelming influence on business competition in a market, while others may not.\nTheories of DA: Competition intensity is a relative term that reflects the level of rivalry within a given market environment (Ramaswamy and Renforth, 1996). The relativity is usually presented by making comparison between different markets over a period of time or between different periods of time for a same construction market (Ye et al., 2009). This relativity attribute suggests that the intensity of competition in an observed market can be indicated by situating it into a set of markets that have competition features in common. In light of the work by Kim et al. (2008), the technique of DA was therefore adopted for model development in the study. DA is a useful approach for classifying a set of observations into predefined groups. Dating back to the 1920s, this approach has deserved much attention in the areas of biology, business, education, engineering, and psychology (Huberty and Olejnik, 2006). DA plays two roles in the study. One is for descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA), which elaborates how well the selected variables separate a set of observations into groups and which specific latent variables (discriminant functions) can provide the most suitable group discrimination. The other is for predictive discriminant analysis (PDA), which focusses on the prediction of group membership. PDA and DDA variables are interchangeable. Predictor variables in PDA (independent variables) are response variables in DDA (dependent variables), while PDA's criterion variables (dependent variables) are DDA's grouping variables (independent variables).\nModel development: Predictor variables\nEmpirical analysis: Empirical data from the Chinese construction industry were collated to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed MDFs (Equations (2)-(4)). To ensure the reliability of MDFs, the sample size should be 10-20 times the number of variables, and the numbers of cases per group should not be insignificantly different (Guo, 2002). Therefore, China's local construction industries were adopted to ascertain sufficient samples.\nDiscussion: In this study, MDFs were developed as alternatives to traditional approaches in measuring competition intensity in the construction context. The developed MDFs encompass one criterion variable and eight predictor variables, namely BD, MEB, MG, MS, MSD, PT, TE, and WG. Using the empirical data of China's construction industry, it was found that DA has the efficiency in measuring the intensity of competition in the construction market. Specifically, of all the eight predictor variables, MS, MSD, and PT are identified as the elements of MDFs in China's local construction industries. These three predictor variables were found effective to facilitate the classification of China's local construction markets into three groups - high, moderate, and low level of intensive competition. Arguably, it could be the case that other variables will eventually be key attributes in the discriminant model when examining other construction markets. Different variables included in MDFs in different construction markets mirror the changing combined effect of five market forces on competition intensity.\nConclusions: The construction market is characterized by fierce competition, requiring construction firms to carefully identify the markets where they can find competitive advantages by understanding the competition intensity between markets. Traditional approaches for analyzing market competition intensity have found limitation in application. The discriminant model proposed in this study offers an alternative solution to this limitation. The model consists of MDFs which quantify the intensity of competition in a construction market by classifying the market into some predefined groups that have known competition intensity. The values of the variables in these functions can be obtained from statistical data which are commonly available. Therefore, the discriminant model is effectively applicable in measuring the intensity of competition in the construction market. The application of the model helps professionals in the construction industry understand competition situations in a construction market. Thus, both competition strategies and policies can be formulated in due ways. The proposed model is a development of the literature in examining competition intensity. Nevertheless, it is appreciated that the empirical analysis of the proposed model is based on data which were collected from local construction markets in China. Therefore, the applicability of the model in other construction contexts needs to be further studied.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: \"Competition intensity\" is a factor in addressing competitiveness. The understanding on competition intensity is prerequisite to the formulation of industrial competition policies as well as firms' competition strategies. In the construction context, whereas competition intensity can be measured using a number of traditional approaches (e.g. competitor number, concentration), the measurement is often criticized for poor efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model for measuring competition intensity in light of the theory of discriminant analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed model is composed of predictor variables concerned with market operation as well as criterion variables that classify markets into a few predefined groups based on the values of competition intensity. Empirical data of China's local construction markets were collected to verify the proposed model.\nFindings: The research findings indicate that the model can offset the drawbacks of traditional measures in the construction market.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is recommended using the proposed model to predict the competition trend of construction market especially when data for the traditional approaches are poor or not readily available.\nOriginality/value: The proposed model is a development of the literature in examining competition intensity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From transactions to cooperation: Developing supply chain of ancient grains between relationships and joint interests	[ "Cooperation", "Supply chain management", "Ancient grain", "Joint interests", "Relationships among stakeholders" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, consumers prefer food production sites that are close to them, as they do not require long transportation, and it is easier to gather correct information about the production (Matzembacher and Meira, 2019). Consequently, short supply chains (SC) are preferred, as they imply stronger interactions between the stakeholders. This is not a matter of transactions between producers and customers, or producers and retailers; rather, it is a matter of engaged stakeholders inclusion in the process of value creation (Greenwood, 2007; Greenwood and Van Buren, 2010; Freeman et al., 2010), thanks to the shift from transactions to relationships. The literature highlights the importance of finding an equilibrium (Venkataraman, 2002) between all the stakeholders' interests, which represent conflicts to balanced (Freeman et al., 2010) through network creation (Venkataraman, 2002; Boiral and Heras-Saizarbitoria, 2017; Fassin et al., 2017). Thus, relationships - not transactions - should develop between and among stakeholders to create an effective cooperation process, in which high degrees of communication and resource sharing exist along the SC (Sautter and Leisen, 1999; Dawkins, 2005; Greenwood, 2007; Fassin et al., 2017; Boiral and Heras-Saizarbitoria, 2017).\nStakeholders' interactions in supply chain management (SCM): from transaction to cooperation: During the last 30 years, several authors have addressed the concept of SC and its management (SCM). Mentzer et al. (2001) provided an extensive literature review, highlighting that the term has been frequently used to describe executive responsibilities in corporations and that different levels of complexity characterise the SC networks that may be considered, mainly, similar to strategic alliances. The degree of this complexity changes with the numbers of stakeholders involved and the links between the SC and the agents operating in its external environment. However, such a complexity of supply networks may represent, if not well managed, a threat for stakeholders themselves and does not arise just from the number of interdependencies or the heterogeneity of organisational and information-technological infrastructures (Bullinger et al., 2002). In addition, networks are permanently subject to (external) changes of business environment, e.g. market demand, competitors, etc. (Bullinger et al., 2002).\nSCM, sustainable SCM and stakeholder theory: Freeman et al. (2010) highlighted the relevance of transaction costs, where effective management is necessary to protect and sustain the creation of value at firm level (Foss and Foss, 2005), which the strict neoclassical view of \"standard account\" may instead hinder (see also Venkataraman, 2002). The stakeholder model (Freeman, 1984)[1] identifies the real keys of long-run success in the relationships between organisations and their stakeholders, in contrast with the so-called Input-Output Model (Donaldson and Preston, 1995), which is considered obsolete by the current literature. According to the stakeholder model, all the stakeholders of a certain organisation are no longer \"contributing inputs\" (Donaldson and Preston, 1995, p. 68), but they are partners linked to the organisation by mutual relationships. Freeman's model is of particular interest to introduce the concept of sustainable SCM (SSCM). Indeed, this model is descriptive - inasmuch as it presents corporations as sums of both competitive and cooperative interests -, instrumental - as it creates a framework for the analysis of connections between stakeholders - and normative - as it asks for mediation between the legitimate interests of the stakeholders (Figure 2).\nAncient wheat supply chain and the stakeholder theory: On the bases of what has been developed as stakeholder theory fits with the definition of \"strategic supply chain\" (Fawcett et al., 2008). Moreover, all these elements have a direct validation in short and simple (or direct) SCs, which are gaining momentum, especially in recent years (Arfini and Mancini, 2018). These are characterised by a high degree of communication between players (Kottila and Ronni, 2008) and by a high degree of resource sharing (skills, knowledge, networks, etc.) between partners, which, according to Fawcett et al. (2008), represent the most important base for success.\nMethodology: To understand whether the SC of ancient grains - einkorn in particular - can activate the virtuous mechanisms that enable the pursuit of a new equilibrium based on relationships and joint interests, this paper analyses only one case of Mulino Marino, considering the Eisenhardt and Graebner (2007) theory, according to which a deep analysis of just one case can be relevant and representative. Mulino Marino, indeed, is the only mill processing ancient grains in Piedmont, an Italian region, with strong agricultural tradition and vocation. According to the regional farmers' association (Coldiretti), Piedmont grew wheat on 84,000 hectares in 2018, of which about 5,000 were devoted to ancient grains. In such a context, the SC of ancient grains represents a relevant and interesting case to study. Moreover, the presence of only one mill renders the analysis of the case particularly robust, as potential confounding factors deriving from fragmentation are reduced. Of course, the presence of a monopsony-monopoly may have some negative aspects for the SC; this section will also address this issue.\nFindings: The results are interpreted in the frame of Donaldson and Preston's (1995) typology of stakeholder theory that includes the following three aspects: descriptive accuracy, instrumental power and normative validity.\nImplications and discussion: The analysis of the Mulino Marino case helps in depicting both theoretical and managerial implications, as follows.\nConclusions, limitations and further steps: Despite being limited to a peculiar market defined in just one territory, the einkorn SC in Piedmont Region is an interesting case for analysing whether and how the stakeholder theory - and of course its model under the Donaldson and Preston's (1995) perspective - can be applied in a short, local and direct SC, which aims at delivering a product that is more sustainable because of its production, nutritional values and properties. This analysis leads to a straightforward result: to be effective, SC players have to find the right equilibrium among their physiologically conflicting interests (Venkataraman, 2002; Freeman et al., 2010; Boiral and Heras-Saizarbitoria, 2017; Fassin et al., 2017). Furthermore, it represents an attempt towards defining bridges to an effective management, confirming, basically, some of Fawcett et al. (2008) findings in terms of bridges for an effective SC management, as the importance of players' integration and the transparent information among all the SC stakeholders, including final consumers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add understanding to whether the supply chain (SC) of ancient grains, einkorn in particular, may activate the virtuous mechanisms that enable pursuing a new equilibrium based on relationships and joint interests.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study adopts the single case study as a methodological approach. More precisely, it focusses on the SC of ancient grains in Piedmont (Italy) examining in detail Mulino Marino. Interviews with the management of this single player and to some farmers' local associations were carried out.\nFindings: The einkorn SC in Piedmont Region is an interesting case of short, local and direct SC because it aims at delivering a product that is more sustainable in terms of production, nutritional values and properties. In addition, this study confirms previous studies according to which for an effective supply chain management (SCM) it is important to implement the following conditions: the right equilibrium among SC players' physiologically conflicting interests, players' integration and transparent information among all the SC stakeholders, including final consumers.\nPractical implications: The study offers implications for food managers involved in the (short) SCM.\nOriginality/value: Elements of originality can be identified in this research to the extension of studies on SCM in the ancient grains industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimal in-store inventory policy for omnichannel retailers in franchising networks	[ "Omnichannel retailing", "Analytical model", "Inventory optimization", "Store fulfilment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The proliferation of sales channels and ongoing digitalization has changed the retail landscape dramatically in recent years (Verhoef et al., 2015). Retailers' search for synergy in their multiple channels and their goal to provide their clients with a seamless shopping experience motivates them to move from a multi-channel to an omnichannel retailing model (Brynjolfsson et al., 2013; Rigby, 2011). Hansen and Siew Kien (2015) define omnichannel retailing as \"an integrated multichannel approach to sales and marketing.\" Verhoef et al. (2015, p. 176) develop this approach as \"the synergetic management of the numerous available channels and customer touch points, in such a way that the customer experience across channels and the performance over channels are optimized.\" The adoption of an omnichannel strategy creates opportunities for retailers to optimize their firm-level performance by leveraging the assets of one channel for other channels and by coordinating their operations across channels (Cao and Li, 2015). For example, store-based retailers may use their in-store inventory to fulfill orders from other channels to gain several advantages. The advantages are, on the firm side, that store fulfillment generates store traffic, providing retailers with opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell (Neslin et al., 2006) and to form a relationship with their customer base, which they cannot do when sending parcels. In addition, this strategy allows retailers to use their in-store inventory efficiently and reduces the need for in-store markdowns (Elnaz et al., 2015). On the customer side, store fulfillment provides customers with the freedom to use different channels in different situations (e.g. buying online but picking goods up in-store) (Berry et al., 2010). This strategy also allows online and mobile consumers to save postage costs and to receive orders sooner than when an order is sent from a centralized distribution center (DC) (Elnaz et al., 2015).\nAnalytical model: We consider the store-level inventory replenishment and allocation control of a single product for an omnichannel retailer in a franchise network. The franchise contract stipulates that the inventory for any franchised store should respond to two types of demands: those from the clients who buy in-store (offline channel) and pick up the product in-store from the franchisee; and those from the clients who buy online from the franchisor and pick-up the product in-store from the franchisee. The franchisee replenishes and allocates the in-store inventory for customers who buy through either online or offline channels. Once the inventory has been allocated, it is not shared across channels, i.e., if there is sufficient inventory for one channel, consumers from the other channel cannot access its inventory (Hobkirk, 2016). We study a periodic review system with a finite horizon of length T. At the beginning of each period, the retailer needs to make a replenishment decision and an allocation decision. We assume that the franchisor charges the same price for the same product whether bought offline or online, as most multichannel retailers tend to set the same price across channels to avoid their customers perceiving an inconsistency and being dissatisfied (Cao and Li, 2015; Davis et al., 2000; Schramm-Klein and Morschett, 2006; Golgeci et al., 2018). The selling price is denoted by p, and the unit purchase cost by c. Let h be the unit holding cost per period. To make the sales profitable, we assume that pc. We further assume that the ordering lead time for the franchisee is negligible. We argue this assumption from the perspective of power-based behavior in supply chain management. Golgeci et al. (2018) suggest that the quick response to a franchisee's requirement to replenish stock is an important source of the franchisor's power vis-a-vis its franchisee in supply chains. Given that the franchisor's power in the franchisor-franchisee relationship is critical to solving channel conflicts, the franchisor is motivated to reduce the franchisee's ordering lead time by optimizing its local DC and/or adopting new technologies. Thus, the ordering lead time can be very short and was even negligible in our study. From the same perspective of power-based behavior in supply chain management, we set our study in the scenario where, at the beginning of each period, the franchisor sends out a vehicle full of enough inventory to make a tour and stop at each retail store. Therefore, we assume there is no fixed ordering cost. Furthermore, the franchisor provides incentives to encourage the franchisee to use his stock to satisfy a portion of the online customers (Steinfield et al., 2002; Cao, 2014; Payne and Frow, 2004). Given the revenue-sharing policy is used as an effective practice to solve channel conflicts (Koulamas, 2006; Zhao et al., 2016), we assume that the franchisor pays the franchisees a revenue share equal to r (r<p) for each unit sold in order to incentive the franchisees to serve customers who buy online but pick-up their orders in-store. In a generic period t, 1 t T, offline and online demands, denoted, respectively, by D1 and D2, are stochastic and independent of each other. They follow known distributions F1([?]) and F2([?]) with means of m1 and m2, respectively. However, it is worth noting that our results can be easily extended to cases where offline and online demands are correlated.\nOptimal policy: In this section, we investigate an optimal ordering and allocation policy. First, we introduce the concepts concavity, supermodularity and Le-concavity.\nMyopic policy: P2 indicates that there is a state-independent optimal base-stock level for ordering and an optimal allocation level that is non-decreasing in the inventory on hand. To make the levels easy to implement, it is important to study how to calculate the optimal base-stock level and the allocation level. In this section, we consider the myopic optimization solution of the model. Myopic means looking only at the \"current\" one-period problem. A policy is said to be myopic if it is the optimal policy for a single period model that is defined explicitly in terms of the original model parameters.\nDiscussion: A special case of the model occurs when the store only sells products to the customers from one channel, either online or offline. This problem can be formulated by simply modifying the constraint 0zy in Equation (3) to z=y if only offline sales are considered or z=0 if only online sales are considered. It is straightforward to see that concavity is maintained and that a base-stock ordering policy is optimal.\nNumerical study: In this section, we provide two numerical examples to illustrate the optimal allocation policy and conduct a sensitivity analysis to gain insight into how the optimal policy changes with the relevant parameters. The two examples are based on a basic apparel product and a home appliance product. We test T=10 and assume a=1. Offline and online demands are Poisson distributed with a mean of 5 in each period. The other parameters are given in Table I.\nConclusion: Increasing retailers use their in-store inventory to serve customers who buy online but pick-up the product in-store in order to provide to the customers with seamless shopping experience (Verhoef et al., 2015). This store fulfillment strategy allows retailers to gain important advantages. However, it may produce also channel conflicts, especially for retailers in franchise networks. To reduce the tensions between franchisor and franchisee, this study suggests considering the optimization of an omnichannel retailer's inventory management from its franchisees' perspective (in-store inventory management), instead of from its own perspective (firm-level inventory management). This research is trigged by several managerial studies (ENC, 2016; Hobkirk, 2016) which suggest reserving a certain percentage of the in-store inventory for online orders as a good store inventory allocation practice, but have clarified not yet how store managers can decide on the amount of inventory to replenish and the percentage to reserve for online orders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to characterize the optimal ordering and allocation policy for a store replenishment decision in the context of an omnichannel retailer in a franchise network. The authors further show that a myopic policy is optimal, which circumvents the curse of dimensionality for the multi-period inventory model and help store managers optimize their decisions about the amount of inventory to stock for both online and offline demands and the percentage of inventory to reserve for online orders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is trigged by several managerial studies which suggest reserving a certain percentage of the in-store inventory for online orders as a good store inventory allocation practice for omnichannel retailers in a franchise network. The authors used an analytical model to develop this practice by clarifying how store managers can decide on the amount of inventory to replenish and the percentage to reserve for online orders.\nFindings: This study develops a finite horizon, periodic review inventory model to identify an optimal and dynamic replenishment and allocation policy. The analysis uncovers the system's fundamental structural property concavity. The research shows that, due to this property, the optimal replenishment policy is a base-stock policy. The latter is due to the base stock level being independent of the initial inventory at hand, and the optimal allocation level being non-decreasing on the base-stock level.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes to the literature on store inventory management for omnichannel retailers in a franchise network by investigating their optimal store inventory ordering and allocation policy. Nevertheless, the zero-lead time and zero-setup cost assumptions limit the findings.\nPractical implications: Insights into an optimal store inventory policy may guide franchisee store managers to decide on the amount of inventory to replenish and the percentage to reserve for online orders.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in its focus on in-store inventory management for omnichannel retailers in a franchise network. The findings are helpful for franchisor retailers to implement the omnichannel strategy at the level of in-store inventory management. Beyond using incentive systems, the franchisor should leverage legitimate powers by mentioning a relevant measure in their contracts with their franchisee to minimize their channel conflicts and ensure their customers have seamless shopping experiences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors involved in the success of Hong Kong construction and property entrepreneurs	[ "Hong Kong", "Entrepreneurs", "Construction industry", "Property", "Culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Hong Kong's economic success in the world's financial markets in the past few decades has captured the attention of aspiring entrepreneurs as well as scholars. Popular literature and weekly magazines such as Asian Week and The Economist frequently publish individuals' \"rags to riches\" success stories as examples for others. Most previous research has centered on attempting to describe and explain the mechanisms of this success, and sometimes on predicting Hong Kong's future (Wong, 1996; Yu, 1997, 2000). Lines of inquiry often go back to the post-World War II period when Hong Kong's economy began its rapid growth, and have commonly attributed this success to the \"Chinese entrepreneurial ethic\" (Wong, 1996; Yu, 1997). Claims are that Chinese entrepreneurs' organizational and management skills in establishing and expanding industries are what has propelled Hong Kong to its current high standard of living and economic influence in the world. These \"taipans\" (from the Chinese colloquial term for \"big boss\") have played a significant role in making Hong Kong what it is today and are likely to influence its future.Construction and property is regarded as the most influential industry in Hong Kong. Given the high population density and the need to use land wisely, the industry is critical to the economy and does encourage innovative entrepreneurial behaviours in terms of the use of capital, labour and design. Therefore, since the 1970s, many Hong Kong millionaires have developed businesses relating to construction and property. According to government statistics from 1980 to 1999, the construction industry has contributed an average of 5.6 per cent of the total GDP each year[1]. Even in the years of global economic turmoil since 1997, the contribution has not dropped below 5.8 per cent. The gross value of the total construction work performed increased almost ten times from 23.2 to 226.7 billion Hong Kong dollars in the 1980-1999 time period. Contrasting with this increase in gross value, the number of manual workers engaged actually decreased, from a high of 90.5 thousand in 1980 to a low of 55.9 thousand in 1993. In other words, the contribution made by each labourer kept climbing as Hong Kong's economy grew.For the few people who own and manage the business, the job is difficult. These construction and property leaders are real \"taipans\" who have played a significant role in making Hong Kong what it is today. They are influenced by their own perceptions when making decisions; each decision they make not only affects their own business, but can also cause a chain reaction for the entire Hong Kong economy. In addition, the economic climate that has in part been created by their own previous decisions has to be taken into account when making subsequent decisions! Thus, looking in-depth at their viewpoints and experiences can bring new insights into the \"factors\" involved in the success of Hong Kong construction and property entrepreneurs.The purpose of the study presented in this paper was to apply a more systematic and methodical approach to tease out the commonalities in the success stories of particularly successful individuals in the construction and property field. This paper deals with their experience and reports the factors they see as contributing to their success. The abundant business, psychological and sociological literature on personality traits, decision making, and risk attitude were reviewed to produce in-depth interview questions, which were then applied to six Hong Kong high-profile professionals in the construction and property field. Criteria for inclusion in the study included holding the position of Chairman or Director of a company, as well as widespread recognition as being at the top of their chosen field. All were multi-millionaires or even billionaires. These six individuals agreed to participate as long as strict confidentiality was maintained. Therefore, no names or revealing details will be shared in this report. It is hoped that the data collected from these extremely high-powered and successful Hong Kong businessmen will contribute to a better understanding what factors contribute to their success.\nLiterature review: The literature reviewed in this paper focuses on two aspects. First, to better understand and access the right people for the study, the concepts of \"entrepreneurs\" (and \"intrapreneurs\"), with reference to the specifics of the construction and property industry in Hong Kong, have been articulated. Second, the widely accepted explanation of Hong Kong's economic success - the \"Chinese entrepreneurial ethic\" - has been re-examined, and this has provided a starting point for studying Hong Kong construction and property entrepreneurs.Entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs)\nMethods: The sample: successful construction and property entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs)\nResults and discussion: Analysis of the in-depth interviews with the six construction and property entrepreneurs/intrepreneurs revealed two themes. These were the \"commonly held values\" and \"distinctive strategies used\", which explained how the Chinese entrepreneurial ethic warrants their success. Commonly held values refer to the moral (or cultural) values and personality traits which have been emphasized across the six respondents regarding their success, and distinctive strategies refer to the strategic actions which are meaningful to the respondents in response to specific business situations.Table II summarizes the factors identified by the interviewees as being critical to their success. It can be seen quite clearly that there are several factors which were mentioned by all six of the interviewees: they all indicated that they were motivated by a strong interest in work, they all cited hard work and analytical skills as qualities needed to reach the top, and along the way they had learned the value of humility and confident behaviour. All six mentioned the distinctive strategy of being conservative in assessing situations before taking risks. All except one mentioned commitment to their respective fields as a motivator for doing well in business. Similarly, all but one mentioned the ability to \"see the niche\" is a strategy that contributed to their success. The following section will describe in more detail the respondents' feelings and beliefs with respect to these critical success factors.Commonly held values\nConclusion: Looking into the success stories of six high-profile entrepreneurs in the Hong Kong construction and property field is interesting. This study focuses on exploring the \"factors\" which these successful entrepreneurs regarded as contributing to their success. Although the literature suggests the concept of \"Chinese entrepreneurial ethic\" which gives credit to how people come up with sets of cultural values and/or strategizing behaviour in their entrepreneurial undertakings and maximize the possibility of success, there is always the question of what exactly is involved in this ethic that makes it work. The responses of the six entrepreneurs interviewed in this study suggest that it is a combination of personal and interpersonal Chinese cultural values and the careful application of strategies that contributed to their success in the business environment. Commonly held values are the moral (or cultural) values and personality traits which the respondents emphasized as being critical to their success, and distinctive strategies are the strategic actions which they used in response to specific business situations. Values are rooted deeply in people's beliefs; strategies are selected to respond to the rapidly changing business environment. The results of this study have suggested that it is the strong interest and commitment to the field that motivated the respondents to do well in business, along with being hardworking and analytical. This was combined with the attitude of being humble while behaving confidently towards other people that they had learned in their entrepreneurial undertakings. The respondents also described an adaptive style of creativity that was practical for it required people to produce ideas at the right time in the right place, but at the same time to assess potential risks even if it was not immediately apparent that a situation required caution.Returning to the research focus of identifying the aspects that have made the Chinese entrepreneurial ethic so successful, the \"factors\" can be summarized as follows. Interest and commitment are motivators for devoting ideas, thoughts and obligation in business; they are sufficient and necessary to the achievement in entrepreneurial undertakings. Working hard and being analytical nourish success, since continual learning and updating with new information, knowledge and skills favours appropriate decision-making. Being humble is a virtue to honour. Behaving confidently with other people is equally important, and sincerity, responsibility and integrity are the routes. Creativity is important, and even for those who are not naturally creative, it is trainable through concentrating on asking questions, inquiring and producing solutions to the business problems at hand. Taking risks is common but careful assessment of whether the risk is \"manageable\" and detailed research and analysis are required even when it may appear that the situation does not warrant it.The focus of this paper has been to explore the factors which six successful Hong Kong construction and property entrepreneurs regarded as contributing to their success, it adds knowledge to the discussion of whether success can sensibly be explained. The work reported here, on one hand, echoes many studies of the values that are commonly held among Chinese even though these values might at surface level appear to be contradictory to strategic actions for achieving success in business. While the data collected in this study were restricted to the construction and property industry, it makes sense that the same combination of values and strategies would be an essential factor contributing to success in other industries. A further exploration of this is, therefore, warranted. Future research is encouraged to learn more about the important interplay between people's moral (or cultural) values and personality traits, and the strategies that lead to success in business.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report a study investigating the success stories of six entrepreneurs in the Hong Kong construction and property field.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Through in-depth interviews, participants shared their experiences and the factors they perceived as contributing to their success.\nFindings: - Evidence obtained from the interviews suggests what scholars mean by the Chinese entrepreneurial ethic is best understood as a combination of cultural values and strategizing behaviours.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Data collected in this study were restricted to the construction and property industry. However, the same combination of values and strategies would be an essential factor contributing to success in other industries, and therefore further exploration of this is encouraged.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explores the factors which successful Hong Kong construction and property entrepreneurs regarded as contributing to their success, it adds knowledge to the discussion of whether success can sensibly be explained.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The visually impaired and consumption in restaurants	[ "Restaurant management", "Visually impaired", "Consumption", "Disabled people", "Blind people", "Hotel and catering industry", "Hospitality services", "Customer orientation", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Although studies that focus on people with disabilities (PWDs) as representatives of a market segment still little explored by businesses are becoming more commonplace, such works still deserves greater attention (Van Harten et al., 2007). In the Brazilian Census (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica, 2000), over 24 million people - approximately 14.5 percent of the population - reported some type of disability. In general, although they account for a sizeable share of the market, PWDs have problems exercising almost all social roles, including that of consumer. In a direction counter to inclusion, there still reigns a certain disbelief regarding PWDs' potential as customers able to generate profits for companies (Baker et al., 2007), and this disbelief has proven difficult to overcome.\n1. Literature review: 1.1 People with disabilities in the role of consumers\n2. Methodology: The dynamics of the research involved the collection of empirical material via multiple methods (Creswell, 1998; Hartley and Muhit, 2003). For Turmusani (2004), studies that aim to understand what is important for consumers with disabilities should employ methods that involve direct contact between researchers and their subjects. White (2002) believes that such contact is necessary so that the disabled can validate the relevance of the study.French and Swain (1997) advocate emancipatory research in studies with PWDs, a framework that calls for the full participation of the disabled from the point of genesis onward. In designing the study, individuals with visual impairments and staff members from the Centro de Vida Independente (Independent Life Center), an institution that works on behalf of people with different disabilities, were interviewed. The individuals validated the relevance of the problem and the focus on restaurants.Braithwaite and Thompson (2000) warn that the stereotypical way in which scholars have portrayed PWDs has hampered carrying out new research because people become resistant and tend not to want to participate. In this study, too, such resistance was encountered. Many people invited to the focus groups were reluctant and even refused to participate in the survey: they were tired of doing interviews and not seeing anything change in their day-to-day lives. To try to overcome the resistance, we sought to clarify that academic research per se does not have the power to change reality, but can help pave the way to possible change.The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage consisted of exploratory research using focus groups; the second consisted of a survey using a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of people with visual impairments.2.1 Stage 1: focus group research\n3. Results: 3.1 Results of Stage 1\n4. Final considerations: The main objective of the study was to determine the relative importance that the visually impaired give to attributes of restaurant service during leisure outings, and the relative utility they allocate to the various levels of these attributes. The menu, ambience, customer service, shape of the table and access to the server were identified as the most important attributes with respect to the consumer experience of the visually impaired when patronizing restaurants on leisure outings. Access to the server had the highest relative importance, and the solution offered by the subjects themselves was to use a button to activate a bell.The study results may be useful to restaurant managers in relation to serving consumers with visual impairments. Simple changes, such as the availability of pagers to summon waiters can attract consumers with visual impairments who consider restaurants as a main leisure option. Changes like these could also benefit other consumers without this type of disability, for example, people who are shy or reserved. Paging systems would also facilitate access to waiters in restaurants that are busy or physically expansive, where, due to volume or traffic, ordering is not always a simple matter. Several other specific recommendations also emerge from the study. For example, sharp corners on square or rectangular tables should be absent in order to prevent accidents. The necessity of waiters and service providers to receive special training and tips on how to deal with PWDs was also highlighted, albeit a waiter's empathy in regard to the consumer with disabilities seems to be perceived as more important. Unfortunately, in several of the restaurants visited by the researchers, not even minor details are taken into account. The results also reveal the necessity of further governmental efforts in order to guarantee the observation of accessibility laws and the changes they require.The results can also contribute to garnering more interest from marketing researchers with regard to this important market segment, one that has, thus far, received little attention from academia.The study presents certain acknowledged limitations. With specific regard to the focus groups, participants could influence each other, which could lead to a false sense of unanimity (Bill and Olaison, 2009). With respect to the fractional factorial design, a loss of information due to the elimination of factors is a limiting factor. In regard to the survey conducted with the visually impaired, a limitation of the study stems from the use of a non-probabilistic sample, which limits the ability to generalize the findings. Lastly, all questionnaires are subject to errors inherent in the interpretation of each respondent. In this study, this limitation was mitigated by the use of computer-assisted questionnaires.To develop studies in business administration with a focus on PWDs, researchers must be prepared to engage them as research subjects. Hence the need arises for methodology-based studies seeking effective ways to address such subjects as informants or respondents. In the present study, it was necessary to make adjustments both for conducting the focus groups and administering the questionnaires, given the visual impairment of the subjects. The need to learn from the disabled themselves as to how they can contribute to research is another question that warrants consideration.This study's findings suggest several avenues for future research. There is a need to study how service attendants are trained to deal with the visually impaired and to develop guidelines that can help restaurant managers prepare their staff. Also, studies that aim to investigate the adaptation of \"consumptionscapes\" to the visually impaired are also in great need, in line with the works of Kaufman (1995) and Kaufman-Scarborough (1998, 1999) on mobility-disabled consumers. In addition, disabled consumers merit more attention from researchers in other servicescapes, such as hotels and other tourism facilities. Given the important part played by governments regarding the implementation and enforcement of changes focusing on the social inclusion of PDWs as consumers, further research in the public administration field about this subject could also be relevant. Much work remains to be done to improve the satisfaction of disabled consumers with services in hospitality organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The objective of this study is to determine the relative importance that the visually impaired give to restaurant service attributes during leisure outings, and the relative utility they allocate to the various levels of these attributes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage consisted of exploratory research using focus groups; the second consisted of a survey using a structured questionnaire administered to 203 visually impaired consumers; conjoint analysis was used.\nFindings: - The ideal restaurant profile for survey respondents is one in which: the menu is read by the server; service is provided by empathetic servers; low-intensity light and sound are used; round tables are preferred over rectangular tables; and the server can be summoned using a button.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The use of a non-probabilistic sample may limit the generalizability of findings.\nPractical implications: - This study's results can be useful to restaurant managers by improving their understanding of the needs of visually-impaired consumers.\nSocial implications: - The study contributes to the inclusion in society of the visually impaired as consumers by giving them a voice to express their needs and wants.\nOriginality/value: - Previous studies have not considered the relative utility conferred to restaurant attributes by consumers. The use of conjoint analysis allows the evaluation of the relative importance of these attributes and their levels, while at the same time shedding light on tradeoffs made by the visually impaired consumer in selecting restaurant attributes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Vertical versus horizontal line extensions: a comparison of dilution effects	[ "Line extension", "Rice discount", "Perceived fit", "Brand concept", "Brand dilution" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In response to an increasingly competitive marketplace and the high costs associated with developing and launching new products, an increasing number of apparel brands are extending parent brand names to new product offerings (Goetz et al., 2014; Keller, 1993). Parent brands can either extend through brand extensions by developing new product categories under the same parent brand name (Keller and Aaker, 1992) or can extend through line extensions by offering new products (e.g. different flavors, colors or varieties) within the same product category as the parent brand (Kirmani et al.,1999; Randall et al., 1998). Line extensions are the most common among apparel brands, and within this classification, brands can either extend their parent brand using the same price and quality level (i.e. horizontal extension) or at a lower price and quality level (i.e. vertical-downward extension) from their parent brand (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Kim et al., 2001). For instance, a brand may extend horizontally to a new category by offering their brand at the same price and quality level, or it may extend vertically within a similar product category, by offering lower-quality products at a discounted price. While vertical-downward line extensions allow brands to attract additional price-conscious consumers (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Magnoni and Roux, 2012), such line extensions could potentially harm the brand's equity and dilute the parent brand's image (Heath et al., 2006; Kim and Lavack, 1996). Parent brand dilution, which occurs when positive beliefs and specific attributes (e.g. quality, performance) associated with the parent brand image are decreased (Loken and Roedder John, 1993), is especially crucial, as the parent brand generally generates the highest profit for an apparel company (Thorbjornsen, 2005). In such a high-risk/high-reward situation, there must be a clear understanding of which factors leave a brand at greater risk of negative parent brand evaluations (i.e. brand dilution). Such an assessment is vital, as extension is a primary brand growth strategy (Aaker, 1991); yet, previous studies have not compared the effects of horizontal and vertical-downward line extensions on the parent brand. Instead, previous studies have been more concerned with factors that impact the extension itself (Burnaz and Bilgin, 2011) or the product image (Arslan and Altuna, 2010), than with factors that that impact consumers' evaluation of the parent brand.\nTheoretical foundation: This study is based on two fundamental theories that provide an understanding of post-extension consumers' brand image perceptions. Categorization theory (Sujan and Dekleva, 1987; Sujan and Tybout, 1988) provides an explanation for product classification and explains how inconsistency between a parent brand and a line extension can cause dilution to the parent brand. Additionally, the cue scope framework (Purohit and Srivastava, 2001) provides an explanation that certain factors may emerge as important variables that impact parent brand dilution.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Factors that influence brand dilution\nMethod: Following the procedure outlined by Dall'Olmo Riley et al. (2013), Ralph Lauren and Lee were selected to represent a premium brand and value brand, respectively, in a pre-test administered to 39 students from a university in the Southeastern USA. Although the students were highly familiar with both brands (1 = very unfamiliar, 7 = very familiar; MeanLee = 5.89, MeanRalphLauren = 6.87, F = 0.52, p = 0.473), their perceptions of the brands' prestige differed significantly (1 = not very prestigious, 7 = very prestigious; MeanLee = 3.11, MeanRalphLauren = 5.79, F = 2.92, p < 0.05). Thus, there was a clear distinction between the brands in terms of perceived brand concept.\nResults: Manipulation checks\nDiscussion: A popular growth strategy among apparel brands are to offer line extensions, either horizontally by offering a product at a similar price and quality as the parent brand, or vertically downward by offering a product at a lower price and quality than the parent brand. To overcome the high costs associated with new product development and to capitalize on brand equity built over time, line extensions offer enticing opportunities for apparel brands; however, this strategy is not without risk, the most prominent being dilution to the parent brand. To address research gaps in the extension literature and identify which factors contribute to parent brand dilution, this experimental study investigated how aspects of line extensions (i.e. extension direction, parent brand concept, line extension price and perceived fit between the brand concept and line extension price) impact parent brand dilution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many apparel brands use growth strategies that involve extending a brand's line horizontally (same price/quality) and/or vertically (different price/quality). While such opportunities for growth and profitability are enticing, pursuing them could dilute a highly profitable parent brand. Categorization theory's bookkeeping model and the cue scope framework provide the theoretical framework for this study. The purpose of this study is to test whether specific attributes of a line extension (i.e. direction of extension, brand concept, price discount and perceived fit) make a parent brand more susceptible to dilution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This experimental study manipulates brand concept (premium or value brand) and price level (horizontal or vertical: -20per cent, -80per cent) and measures perceived fit to test effects on parent brand dilution. ANOVA and t-tests are used for the analysis.\nFindings: Vertical extensions dilute the parent brand, but horizontal extensions do not. Dilution is strongest for premium (vs value) brands and when line extensions are discounted (i.e. -20per cent or -80per cent lower than the parent brand), regardless of the perceived fit between brand concept and brand extension price. Overall, brand concept is the strongest predictor of parent brand dilution in the context of vertical-downward extensions.\nOriginality/value: This study establishes which factors emerge as important contributors to parent brand dilution. Although previous studies on brand dilution are abundant, few studies have compared the effects of horizontal and vertical extensions on brand dilution. This study offers strong theoretical as well as practical implications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Construction of a one-stop document supply service platform	[ "China", "Document delivery", "Interlending", "Consortia", "CALIS", "CALIS Document supply service platform (CDSSP)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: China Academic Library and Information system (CALIS) provides academic libraries with a system for acquiring external resources, effective service policies and subsidy support that, in turn, promotes the development of interlibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery (DD) service among academic libraries nationwide. The ILL and DD service has gradually become one of the most important information services in academic libraries and is a significant means of obtaining scarce resources for users (Yao and Zeng, 2012).\nCDSSP overview: CDSSP provides a powerful resource and gateway for document supply services. After logging in through a unified authentication process, users are able to find what they need through the CALIS resource discovery system and request materials through their library's interlibrary loan service. What's more, with the CALIS ILL scheduling system, they are able to access resource collections from all over the world. The seamless interoperability between service systems creates a user-friendly document supply environment. The document supply system is illustrated in Figure 1.\nFuture development: System improvement\nConclusion: CALIS needs to build on past achievements to strengthen communication and cooperation with other document supply institutions and database providers at home and abroad. This will expand the range of resources available to member libraries and their users. Meanwhile, new services should be created, such as print on demand. In the future, CALIS will continue to develop its service systems. Access to subject and special collections should be included, and a new service center for providing access to these specialized collections should be established. The goal of deeply integrated document supply, reference and subject services will then be realized.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed overview of the China Academic Library and Information system (CALIS) document supply service platform (CDSSP) - its historical development, network structure and future development plans - and discuss how its members make use of and benefit from its various components.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors provide a first-person account based on their professional positions at the CALIS Administrative Center.\nFindings: CDSSP comprises five application systems including a unified authentication system, Saas-based interlibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery (DD) service system, ILL central scheduling and settlement system, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service system and a service integration interface system. These systems work together to meet the needs of member libraries, other information service institutions, and their end users. CDSSP is widely used by more than 1,100 libraries based on a cloud service strategy. Each year more than 100,000 ILL and DD transactions are processed by this platform.\nOriginality/value: The development of CDSSP makes it becomes true for CALIS to provide one stop information retrieval and supply service. At the same time, it promotes the resource sharing among member libraries to a great degree.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Blindsided by linearity? Curvilinear effect of leader behaviors	[ "Leader behaviours", "Curvilinear relationship", "Subordinate outcomes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The notion of linear relationships has been challenged as limiting theoretically and potentially misleading empirically in recent conceptual work in both psychology and management (Grant and Schwartz, 2011; Pierce and Aguinis, 2013). In line with calls for better specification of empirical relationships, we theorize and empirically examine a curvilinear relationship between positive and negative leader behaviors and subordinate job satisfaction. This research departs from and expands previous work in two ways. First, we test a curvilinear model to examine the extent to which positive and negative behaviors relate to employee job satisfaction in ways not discussed in past research. Methodologically, this entails specifying regression analyses with non-linear terms. Theoretically, if non-linear relationships are supported, there is conceptual enrichment through increased model specification. Managerial benefits follow, with more pointed interventions derived from a more precise model. Second, we expand previous research examining leader - subordinate relationships by focusing on subordinate hardiness (Kobasa et al., 1982; Maddi, 1999, 2005) as a means to identify if the non-linear relationship between positive and negative leader behaviors and subordinate job satisfaction is differentially modified for high- and low-hardiness individuals. Specifying boundary conditions with greater precision also increases model precision and subsequently broadens the scope of practical interventions.\nTheoretical model and study rationale: In numerous theories, leaders are seen as a central influence on subordinates' attitudes, behaviors, and work effectiveness. Leaders communicate organizational ideals and values via behaviors and influence subordinate sense-making processes (Peterson et al., 2003). More importantly, leaders leverage their formal power (organizationally granted legitimate authority) and informal power (e.g. expertise, knowledge of the job) to influence subordinate behaviors and attitudes (McGregor, 1960; Raven and French, 1959). Such influence processes are understood primarily as a function of employee's perceptions of leaders as representatives and agents of the organization (Coyle-Shapiro and Shore, 2007; Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002).\nStudy hypotheses: Positive leader behaviors and subordinate work satisfaction\nMethods: Sample and procedure\nResults: Descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations are presented in Table I. Based on recommendations of Judge et al. (2010) we analyzed all the linear, non-linear, and moderated relationships using multiple regression. In support of H1, positive leader behaviors had a linear positive relationship with subordinate work satisfaction (b=0.45, p<0.01). Consistent with H2, the squared term of positive leader behavior was also significant, providing evidence for a non-linear effect on employee work satisfaction (b=-0.25, p<0.01, Adj. R2=0.40). The concave form of the curve can be determined by taking the second derivative of the prediction equation, which is determined by the (negative) sign of the b coefficient for the squared term, thus providing further support for this hypothesis. Stated differently, an increase in positive behaviors from the leader have a diminishing return on employees' work satisfaction.\nDiscussion: We empirically investigated curvilinear relationship between leader behaviors and employee work satisfaction based on previous calls in the literature (e.g. Kerr and Schriesheim, 1974; Judge et al., 2004). We demonstrated that the relationships between both positive and negative leader behaviors and subordinates' work satisfaction followed a U-shaped curve. Specifically, we found that work satisfaction increased as leaders displayed positive behaviors, but beyond the inflection point, the trend was less pronounced. Similarly, the linear relationship between negative behaviors and work satisfaction was not observed below the inflection point. Furthermore, we found that individual hardiness moderated the curvilinear relationship between positive leader behaviors and work satisfaction such that the inflection points after which the relationships disappear were lower for low hardiness than they were for high hardiness. Also, the curvilinear relationship between negative leader behaviors and work satisfaction was moderated by hardiness such that the inflection point was lower for low hardiness than they were for high hardiness.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to posit and empirically demonstrate that positive and negative leader behaviors have a linear relationship with subordinate outcomes. The authors challenge this notion, and test a model where leader positive and negative behaviors have a curvilinear relationship (inverse-U shaped) with subordinate job satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional design, based on a sample of 131 employees working across organizations and industries in the USA. Subordinates provided information on all study measures.\nFindings: The authors show that higher levels of positive and negative behaviors from the leader will not generate a corresponding linear increase in employees' satisfaction. Instead, the relationship is non-linear, with diminishing returns in subordinate job satisfaction for positive leader behaviors and higher ones for negative leader behaviors. In addition, subordinates with high levels of hardiness are more satisfied with positive leader behaviors, and report less dissatisfaction with negative leader behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations are cross-sectional design, self-reported data, measurement of a limited number of leader behaviors as representative of leader positive and negative behaviors, and focus on only one dependent construct (subordinate job satisfaction).\nPractical implications: Above a certain point, leaders' positive behaviors have limited effect on increasing subordinates' job satisfaction. Likewise, leaders' negative behaviors decrease subordinates' job satisfaction only above specific levels of leader behaviors.\nOriginality/value: The authors challenge this notion of linearity by theorizing and demonstrating that subordinates' job satisfaction is influenced by leader positive and negative behaviors in non-linear relationship characterized by an inverse-U-shaped and a specific increase and decrease pattern.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumption of graham snacks in after-school snack programs based on whole grain flour content	[ "Nutrition", "Children (age groups)", "Cereal foods", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasing scientific evidence, policy statements ( USDA/USDHHS, 2005a, b) and regulatory guidelines (Food and Drug Administration, 1999) all recommend a higher intake of whole grain foods to reduce risk for heart disease ( Mellen et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2007 ), type 2 diabetes (Kochar et al., 2007; Priebe et al., 2008) and overweight / obesity ( van de Vijver et al., 2007; Harland and Garton, 2008). Whole grains are rich sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phenolics, phytoestrogens, and other compounds that help prevent chronic diseases ( Adom and Liu, 2002).Despite the health benefits of whole grains, little research has been conducted to examine effective ways to increase children's whole grain intake through school meals. A study by Chan et al. (2008) suggests that products containing partial amounts of whole grain flour may replace their refined counterpart in a school meal. The consumption of a pizza crust consisting of 50 percent white whole wheat and 50 percent refined (50:50 blend), providing one serving of whole grain, was accepted as well as a refined wheat flour pizza crust (Chan et al., 2008).A pilot-study of children participating in an after-school snack program indicated that there was no difference in mean consumption for graham crackers made with a partial amount (5 g per serving) of white whole wheat flour versus the refined grain counterpart (Sadeghi and Marquart, 2009). However, the graham product containing a high level of whole grain content (26 g per serving) was not highly consumed and requires additional research and development to meet the sensory demands of mainstream consumers. Based on this study, which investigated the consumption of graham snack products containing whole grain flour currently available in the marketplace, the question arises, what is the level of whole grain content per serving between 5 and 26 g that is acceptable to children?Mueller et al. (2004), examined a blending treatment consisting of mixing nonpreferred food into preferred foods in various ratios (e.g. 10 percent nonpreferred/90 percent preferred, 20 percent nonpreferred/80 percent preferred) for two participants with severe food refusal. Although these results reported increased consumption for the nonpreferred foods, these studies were limited to individual cases and special populations. However, extrapolating from these cases would indicate that blending of nonpreferred with preferred foods may be a potential approach to increase consumption of nonpreferred foods in the general population. Therefore, pairing refined flour with whole wheat flour may potentially contribute to children's liking of foods with high levels of whole wheat flour that are otherwise less accepted.The purpose of this study was to determine whether whole grain flour delivered in a graham snack ranging from 5 g up to a full serving (16 g) is acceptable as tested among children participating in an after-school snack program through the use of plate waste, taste tests, and focus group sessions.\nMaterials and methods: Schools/subjects\nResults and discussion: Participants\nConclusions: Several measures of product acceptability suggest that the graham snacks used in this study are a promising vehicle for delivering whole grains to children participating in after-school snack programs. The plate waste, sensory and focus group data indicated that consumption and liking of the four graham snacks with different amounts of whole grain per serving was comparable. After-school snack programs may serve as an integral approach to increase exposure, and eventual intake of whole grain foods among elementary school children. The approaches and findings can be used by industry as a means to devise strategies for developing product formulations that might increase whole grain intake in this population.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that children consume at least three daily servings of whole grains. Data from a pilot after-school program indicated that graham snacks, containing 5 g whole wheat per serving, were consumed in the range of 73-88 percent, similar to the refined grain counterpart. This paper aims to examine whether a full serving (16 g) of whole grain delivered in a graham snack is acceptable as tested among children participating in an after-school snack program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Subjects included ~100 children (grades K-6) participating in after-school snack programs. Over eight weeks, children were offered graham snacks containing 5, 8, 12, and 16 g whole wheat flour per 30 g serving. Plate waste was used to measure graham snack consumption, as children placed their unfinished snacks in a receptacle and waste was measured after each session. At week nine, a subgroup of children participated in taste tests and rated each snack for liking on a nine-point hedonic scale. Another subgroup was enrolled in group interviews to provide input about their perceptions of the products' quality and suggestions for improvement.\nFindings: - Consumption for the 5, 8, 12, and 16 g graham snacks was 80, 76, 79, and 80 percent, respectively. The taste tests results showed no significant difference in rating of the four-graham snacks. The focus groups indicated that overall, the products are well-liked, particularly for texture.\nOriginality/value: - This paper suggests that graham snacks can contribute a significant dietary source, nearly one full serving of whole grain when offered in children's natural environment through an after-school snack program.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
LQAS usefulness in an emergency department	[ "Accident and emergency", "Quality indicators", "Sampling methods", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Improving emergency department (ED) service quality is considered a fundamental task for health system efficiency and effectiveness since EDs represent a main access to healthcare. Half the population may use EDs during each year (Tudela and Modol, 2003) and the need to establish an early diagnosis is one of the main characteristics of ED clinical care. The need to assure a good quality service makes the use of evaluation procedures a priority. Detecting improvement opportunities and evaluating the effectiveness of changes carried out to improve services, therefore, are important.Using the right indicators is essential in the process of evaluation. They must be valid, relevant and feasible in order to be useful to staff who manage these departments (Lindsay et al., 2002). Traditionally, indicator-based evaluation systems require large samples to be conclusive, as well as information systems capable of providing data related to the compliance of the proposed indicators (Husk and Waxman, 2004; Birkinshaw et al., 1998). Nevertheless, most EDs in our area do not have the technological resources needed to develop suitable information systems - the reason why new tools capable of monitoring easily and cheaply are required.Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) is an industrial quality assurance technique that evaluates part of a lot of a certain product (i.e. a sample), which will be either accepted or rejected. This method cannot estimate the exact quality level, but it is capable of detecting quality problems and its easy application allows periodic re-evaluation and with relatively small random samples (Andreo et al., 2000; Corbella Jane and Grima Cintas, 1999; Valdez et al., 1996; Core Group, 2003; Carolina Population Center, 2007; NGO Network for Health, 2001). In our study, we wanted to assess the feasibility of using LQAS to monitor a series of ED quality indicators in the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon (HGUGM).\nMethod: We used descriptive observational research in HGUGM's ED in which 200,000 visits are handled each year. Generally, patients older than 15 years attending the ED with a diagnosis of dyspnoea, chest pain, urinary tract colic, or bronchial asthma from December 2005 to May 2006 were included. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation or acute meningitis, according to the hospital's data surveillance system (CMBD), admitted during 2005, were also included. Specifically, LQAS requires (Saturno, 2000):* Defining quality specifications or indicators for review. In our research, several ED quality indicators were defined. These ED indicators were designed by experts after reviewing ED literature (Lindsay et al., 2002; Harvey et al., 2003; Cullen, 2005).* Defining a lot (shown in Table I).* Establishing a sampling plan according to the lot characteristics and the indicator's expected frequency. We used our professional experience and the literature (Lindsay et al., 2002; Saturno, 2000) since the actual frequency is unknown because of a lack of studies. The upper (acceptable quality level (AQL)) and lower threshold (rejectable quality level (RQL)) were established. Lot sampling accepts some risks of a type I or a error (rejecting a lot when results should be accepted) of 5 per cent and type II or b error (accepting a defective lot) of 20 per cent. These errors were defined by expert consensus in which ED and quality management department experts took part. Considering a and b and the upper and lower thresholds, the sample size and the minimum number of observations are defined according to Lemeshow et al. (1992) charts (Table II).* Calculating when the frequency of an indicator in a lot is below the minimum number of required observations - the lot is rejected. If the frequency of an indicator is higher than the minimum number of required observance then the lot is accepted.* Homogeneity of observed periods. Two periods were considered; for the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute meningitis indicators, January to December 2005 was used. For other indicators, the observed period was December 2005 to May 2006. These periods could be considered similar because there were no major changes in ED staff and nurse and physician workload has maintained quite stable.\nIndicators, information sources and data collection: For dyspnoea, chest pain, urinary tract colic and bronchial asthma indicators, information was obtained from discharge reports and ED nursing registration forms. All discharged patients' medical and nursing reports were reviewed, starting in December 2005. Records were randomly selected until the required sample size was reached. Medical reports are filed in the ED while nursing reports, which are usually destroyed, were saved for our study. For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation and acute meningitis indicators, information was obtained by reviewing selected patients' clinical histories. Based on the hospital's CMBD data surveillance system, from January to December 2005, a random sample of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation or acute meningitis was selected. The international classification of diseases codes (ICD-9) selected for each process are shown in Table III. In both cases, the sample was obtained from patients presenting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation or acute meningitis as the principal diagnosis. Patients with acute meningitis as the second diagnosis were also includes if the principal diagnosis was human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.\nResults: Table IV shows the results. Indicator frequencies were calculated using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). Consequently, bronchial asthma and urinary tract colic were excluded because the required sample size was not reached in time. These lots could have been good quality, but the necessary data was not recorded. Among the others, only one lot (dyspnoea) was accepted with a number of 40 cases compliant with the quality indicator, more than the 39 required. Three others lots (chest pain, exacerbated CPOD and acute meningitis) were rejected because the minimum number of indicator-compliant cases was not reached.\nDiscussion: The LQAS's applicability and usefulness for evaluating ED quality indicators can be assessed using the sampling method's advantages and disadvantages. The LQAS method allows smaller sample sizes, which means saving time and costs compared with other sampling methods. It, therefore, allows a greater number of indicators to be measured for a given evaluation budget (Abad Corpa et al., 2004; Lopez-Picazo Ferrer, 2001). Also, the LQAS method simplifies case recording and identification. In our study, great effort was made to achieve sufficient sample sizes and to evaluate the selected indicators. This brings into question whether LQAS is practical for monitoring ED healthcare quality. This sampling method, therefore, may not save resources if suitable health service information systems have not been developed. If we introduce good ED information systems for evaluating indicators and if patient registers are computerized then LQAS allows us to detect and prioritise quality problems and improve services.The LQAS neither determines the exact level of the quality nor establishes precise measurements or confidence intervals. In our research, LQAS could only be considered a method for detecting ED quality problems. It should be used in conjunction with other sampling methods. Lot quality assurance sampling must be abandoned if problems such non-compliance or when there are structural changes (e.g. incorporating new staff) that may cause variations in the degree of compliance of the indicators (Carrasco, 2000). In these cases it is necessary to use other evaluation studies to set the standard and the threshold according to real observance of the indicators and to implement an improvement cycle.\nLimitations: The method's most important limitation is its validity. To investigate the technique's validity (sensitivity and specificity), it is necessary to obtain results from the study population, or at a minimum, larger samples. These values could be taken as a reference or gold standard and used to compare results using LQAS. It is possible that our study population is not sufficiently homogeneous to carry out LQAS. In the case of chest pain, even though exclusion criteria were defined, the population coming to the ED may not be representative. We evaluated the indicators only during one year's first semester. Therefore, we cannot assume that our results represent the rest of the year, since not only the incidence of the described pathologies may change but also the medical staff working in the ED at that time are more experienced. Therefore, indicator results apply only to the first semester of the year.We needed to know indicator levels before carrying out LQAS (Corbella et al., 2000). When the true indicator level is below RQL, or over AQL, there is a high probability of an appropriate lot classification. On the other hand, when the level of observance is placed in the area between RQL and AQL (middle category) then the LQAS validity is lower. Knowing the indicators' actual occurrence allows us to set AQL and RQL levels. The LQAS is in fact a monitoring technique and to be effective the indicator's true level must reach a standard. We did not know the indicators' true level, therefore, the criteria used to define a standard and a threshold needed further study. According to the literature and expert opinion, we probably set the standards too high without knowing the real degree of compliance in our ED. That may be the reason why most lots were rejected.Up to now, the LQAS is neither useful nor feasible in the HGUGM's ED since previous research on the indicators' true levels is lacking. Besides, there is not a suitable information system for selected indicators that allows us to obtain the information rapidly and precisely. However, this kind of sampling method could be applied to clinical audits in which the real level of compliance is known and the level of quality is kept constant (over 90 per cent in our hospital). In such a setting, this method could significantly reduce resources needed to monitor quality indicators.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) applicability and usefulness in the evaluation of quality indicators in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to determine the degree of compliance with quality standards according to this sampling method.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Descriptive observational research in the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon (HGUGM) emergency department (ED). Patients older than 15 years, diagnosed with dyspnoea, chest pain, urinary tract colic or bronchial asthma attending the HGUGM ED from December 2005 to May 2006, and patients admitted during 2005 with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or acute meningitis were included in the study. Sample sizes were calculated using LQAS. Different quality indicators, one for each process, were selected. The upper (acceptable quality level (AQL)) and lower thresholds (rejectable quality level (RQL)) were established considering risk a=5 per cent and b=20 per cent, and the minimum number of observations required was calculated.\nFindings: - It was impossible to reach the necessary sample size for bronchial asthma and urinary tract colic patients. For chest pain, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute meningitis, quality problems were detected. The lot was accepted only for the dyspnoea indicator.\nOriginality/value: - The usefulness of LQAS to detect quality problems in the management of health processes in one hospital's ED. The LQAS could complement traditional sampling methods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does environmental leadership affect market and eco performance? Evidence from Korean franchise firms	[ "Performance", "Foodservice", "Environmental orientation", "Environmental leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, corporations are increasingly implementing environmental practices, including energy conservation, recycling, eco-design, green purchasing, ISO 14001 and total quality environmental management (Graves et al., 2013). As society has progressed to emphasize on sustainability issues, foodservice firms have shown an increased interest in initiating environmental marketing activities (DiPietro et al., 2013). Concepts such as green practices and/or green marketing (Namkung and Jang, 2013) have evolved and acted as a bridge between foodservice enterprises' activities and the satisfaction of various stakeholders, namely, governments, consumers, employees, communities and business partners (DiPietro et al., 2013). Additionally, green practices have not only enhanced the economic performance of foodservice enterprises but also reduced the negative influences of their operations on the natural environment (Tan and Yeap, 2012). Hence, the adoption of such green practices is a win-win situation for businesses, society and ecosystems (Fraj-Andres et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 Leadership styles\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Profile of participating firms\n5. Discussion: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of two types of environmental leadership in the context of the South Korean foodservice franchise industry. This study also investigated whether a company's environmental orientation, internal and external, played a role in enhancing market and eco performance. Based on the empirical findings, this study provides several insights into how a franchisor's top management can contribute to its performance and orientation through environmental leadership styles. At present, the foodservice industry not only uses a significant amount of non-biodegradable packaging and resources (water, electricity, livestock, fish, vegetables, etc.) but also generates food waste and greenhouse gases, as well as causes water contamination. Today's global trend of environmental responsibility has fostered the introduction of green business practices into the foodservice industry and, as a result, has led to an increase in the number of green foodservice enterprises (Namkung and Jang, 2013). The franchise system guarantees both economic and environmental advantages for green foodservice enterprises under a same franchisor because of the economies of scale. To be successful in the green foodservice business, the top management may need to establish and retain a strong brand image for its franchisor and franchisees. Because South Korea has a hierarchical culture (Lok and Crawford, 2004), most decisions are made at the franchisor's top management level and then given to its franchisees to implement. Thus, additional research is needed to further investigate results emerging from environmental leadership styles and environmental orientation as applied by foodservice enterprises in Korea and should be assessed using both market and eco performance (Chiou et al., 2011). Foodservice franchise firms need to keep in mind that the environmental leadership provided by a franchisor's top management may have a substantial impact on the green orientation and green activities of franchisees, which in turn enhance two aspects of the firm's performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: External economic and social forces compel foodservice enterprises to be environmentally friendly, bringing environmental issues to the forefront of managerial policies. Reflecting on this phenomenon, this paper aims to investigate the role that the environmental leadership of the top management at the franchise headquarters and the companies' environmental orientation play in enhancing the company's market and eco performances.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research model was tested based on responses from 196 regional foodservice franchising headquarters in South Korea. Structural equation modeling, namely, confirmatory and path analysis, was the primary method of data analysis in the study.\nFindings: Results indicate that the top management's environmental transformational leadership influences the internal and external environmental orientation of a foodservice franchise firm. Also, the two types of environmental orientation improve the market and eco performances of the firm. Finally, two dimensions of environmental orientation, internal and external, act as full mediators of the relationship between environmental transformational leadership and the performance of the firm.\nPractical implications: The positive link between environmental leadership, environmental orientation and market performance seems to indicate that individual franchisees may be receptive to rules and regulations associated with green practices and be willing to incorporate the green business procedures of their franchisor into their day-to-day operations.\nOriginality/value: Given the lack of empirical research that investigates environmental policies in the foodservice industry in the international context, this study contributes to an understanding of how foodservice franchising firms view the environmental leadership of the company's top management and its impact on a company's environmental orientation and market performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A case-based generalizable theory of consumer collecting	[ "Consumer research", "Hedonic consumption", "Collecting behaviour", "Collector typology", "Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis", "Motive" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Collecting is a hedonic, highly involving passionate consumption, which differs from other types of consumption because it involves the formation of what is seen to be a set of items that are removed from ordinary use (Belk et al., 1991). From a psychoanalytic perspective, Formanek (1991) reviews collecting behaviour and explains its links to Freud and later relational-model theories. From a sociological perspective, Belk (1995) looks at the social impacts of collecting behaviour on the individual collector, the collector's household and the society as a whole, while McIntosh and Schmeichel (2004) examine collecting from a social psychological perspective by identifying eight phases of collecting behaviour.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Collecting behaviour typologies and traits\n3. Method: 3.1 Data collection and sample\n4. Analysis: 4.1 Examining P1: motive configurations for traits of collecting behaviour\n5. Conclusions and implications: In this paper we explore how combinations of motives may synergistically lead to certain types of collectors. Contrary to the existing literature that focuses on the net effect estimation and treats motives separately and as competing with each other in explaining collecting behaviour, the present study suggests that potential motives should not be seen in isolation, but as combinations. In this direction, we consider how financial and non-financial motives can jointly influence collecting behaviour - an issue for which very little is currently known from the existing literature. Based on the established collecting behaviour traits, proposed by Long and Schiffman (1997), we derive an empirical typology of collectors. Our aim is to identify the alternative and sufficient combinations of financial and non-financial motives that lead to each one of the four collector types of our proposed typology.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Collecting behaviour is a special type of consumption, which consists of several traits, such as \"completion\", \"perfection\", \"caring\" and \"cooperation\". The purpose of this study is to shed light on this complex consumption behaviour, by effectively developing an empirical typology of collectors and explaining their motivation to engage in collecting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 208 questionnaires were collected among Thai collectors. A set-theoretic comparative approach was implemented - namely, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The value of the proposed approach over conventional correlational methods, is illustrated through an examination of a set of relevant research propositions.\nFindings: The study develops an empirical typology of collectors, on the basis of the various collecting behaviour traits. It has been suggested that different combinations of motives are sufficient for identifying collector types accurately, and the proposed typology is stable and generalizable across collectors of different demographic characteristics. Specifically, \"expert professionals\" are mainly driven by adventure and social motives, while the role of idea motive is crucial for \"introvert focusers\". Adventure and social motives are necessary conditions for \"extrovert altruists\", while gratification has a deleterious role. The presence of social motive is necessary for \"hobbyists\", while the absence of value motive is also required.\nPractical implications: The brand collectible market is booming, and the collectibles can be a strategy for brands to maintain existing users and reinforce loyalty levels. Global brands, such as Swatch and Coca-Cola, have been acquired for collection rather than typical consumption purposes. Marketers and brand managers should therefore monitor the motivation behind this complex consumption behaviour. The mosaic of motives to engage in collecting behaviour varies across different types of collectors, and therefore specifically tailored strategies are proposed.\nOriginality/value: The study tackles the lack of literature specifically focussing on collecting behaviour in relation to motivation. This is the first attempt to empirically derive a collectors' typology and provide a nuanced coverage of how financial and nonfinancial (hedonic) motives and their combinations affect different collector types.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Graduates' perception of university training in light of occupational attainment and university type: The case of Lebanon	[ "Lebanon", "Higher education", "Labour market", "Graduates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: University graduates in Lebanon, and more generally the Middle East, face the daunting task of finding their skills compatible to the actual demands of the labour market. In turn, graduate recruiters highlight personal transferable skills that graduates are required to possess, such as the ability to work in a team, make informed decisions and have commercial awareness (Graham and McKenzie, 1995; Hart et al., 1999). These educational requisites for job attainment have not been easily integrated within the university curriculum in Lebanon and other Arab countries. Moreover, many universities are still entrenched in traditional pedagogical practices that pivot around the instructor and the textbook (Abouchedid, 1997) with little practical training and preparation for life after graduation. Several questions are raised as to the compatibility of university education and training with that of the labour market needs. For instance, what are the factors that facilitate graduate entry into the market place? Do the skills and training acquired at the university differ significantly between private and public universities? Is occupational attainment related to the perceived skills that graduates received at the university? This study seeks to examine the extent to which university graduates in Lebanon perceive the utility of university education and training in light of their current occupations.\nSatisfaction and quality service in higher education: Research on training quality is one of the most understudied areas in higher education in the Middle East. In fact, the plethora of job satisfaction studies in the West has exclusively focused on non-academic settings. According to Oshagbemi (1996), there are at least 3,000 peer reviewed articles and dissertations on this topic. Despite the abundance of literature in the area, there are no works that attempt to investigate the extent to which graduates have benefited from their university training and education in the practice of their current occupations.Studies on quality service in scholarly journals take a different angle than the present study; some have sought to provide formative evaluations of courses in terms of teaching and learning, whilst other studies employ a summative evaluation approach to assess students' academic experiences (Aldrige and Rowley, 1998). In reviewing the extant literature on higher education and training in the Middle East, we found no studies that linked work experience with perceptions of training and education in higher educational institutions. As stated by Aldrige and Rowley (1998), the quality service experience of higher educational institutions is a relatively recent field of inquiry and the need to follow through with university graduates is part of the process for assessing the service quality that equips students with the appropriate skills needed for the labour market.Broadly, quality service is a measure that is based on a perceived expectation of service by customers (Pariseau and McDaniel, 1997). Quality is a general attitude whilst, satisfaction is linked to an operation completed through a series of transactions dealing with an assessment of quality. University graduates may think of how well a service faired given they have some notion of a perceived quality of the service. Buttle (1996) and Aldrige and Rowley (1998) question the appropriateness of service quality or job satisfaction measures that can be used in the field of education. In fact, traditional instruments that measure satisfaction of occupational outcomes may not be that appropriate for other use. Graham and McKenzie (1995) have rightly argued that university students are really working for themselves, whereas at work they will have a manager or director to report to. This difference is critical in the application of instruments that measure quality service in an educational institution where the individual is making the effort to bring forth the quality desired. In addition, these instruments have been used to measure satisfaction in the context of work settings. There are no studies however, that measure satisfaction of university training. Among other things, the overall evaluation of a university should look at the quality of the service in terms of how well it prepares university graduates for the dynamics of the market place. Hence, our approach was to develop questions based on graduates' perception of their university education and training.Graduates' perception of their overall university experiences is a function of many factors, including socialization, studying, dealing with the administration, professors, colleagues, and their own expectations with respect to the first employment (Redpath, 1994). In addition, students' own assessment of education and training at the university is based on the expectation of how and what they have learned during their college education. To date, several studies (Pariseau and McDaniel, 1997; Oshagbemi, 1996; Aldrige and Rowley, 1998) have questioned graduates' perception and whether they were satisfied with their higher education training with respect to their occupational experience after graduation. Other studies have related pedagogy to satisfaction such as the link between good teaching and student satisfaction (Broder and Dorfman, 1994; Feldman, 1993), and subsequently the retention of students (Johnson, 1994). In reviewing studies conducted in the Middle East, we did not find studies addressing student satisfaction with university training in light of their current occupation.In light of occupational attainment, we considered differences among public and private university graduates. Private universities (for example, the American University of Beirut, Notre Dame University, the Lebanese American University, or Saint Joseph University) are esteemed for attracting affluent students who, after graduation, are more likely to occupy prestigious positions in the labour market than their public university graduate counterparts. Based on this, graduate perceptions of university education and training in relation to the needs of the labour market may show how universities in Lebanon reproduce and pronounce the social and political mosaic of Lebanon where elite groups occupy higher and prestigious positions in the labour market than graduates from the only public, non-tuition based, university. Thus, this study contributes to the literature of university graduate satisfaction with training and education in light of their current occupational experiences and university training in public and private universities.\nLiberal versus vocational education: Debates over the differential outcomes of university education have been compelled by two struggles of cultural and functional values. The two debates reflect a conflict between education that functions in a purely symbolic discourse to transfer knowledge, and that of vocational education that provides specific skills transferable and amenable to the work place. The distinction between vocational and liberal education in Lebanon is not clear. Faculties within universities do not separate themselves from being translators of knowledge with those whom provide techniques and methods directly applicable to the field. Graham and McKenzie (1995) suggested ways of learning in higher education, are gradually getting closer to the needs of the real world. Universities in Lebanon have been predominantly theoretical in their teaching approaches with little preparation of students for the labour market. Within this framework, we hypothesize that graduates' satisfaction with their education and training received at the university reflects a match to their current occupational position.\nMethods: Sample\nResults: Table AI shows the factor structure. The explanation of the principal varimax rotation and reliability Cronbach's alpha results are presented in the Appendix.Factor analysis results for the questionnaire produced a three-factor structure. All meaning of these factors is deduced from the factor loadings - these are computed in the factor analysis. The loadings are correlation of the item variables with the factors. All factors are validated against external criteria as university/training or university influence in getting a job all preconceived notions of the amenability of university training to their current occupational roles. The first factor had a high loading (>0.40) (bold marked in the table) which constituted items measuring how graduates think about the closeness of their education and training received at the university and the skill requirements of their current occupations. The second factor is a dimension that helped graduates obtain a job; this was called \"influence in getting the job\". The third factor loaded high on three items, explaining 5.6 per cent of the variance in the data. This factor appeared to be the influence of the university grades and degree type in getting the job. The third factor was called \"university's influence in getting a job\". The first factor labelled as \"education/training\" showed that university education and training had higher loading than factor two; \"influence in getting a job\". In other words, university graduates had higher loading on the serviceability of the theoretical and technical preparation received at the university in their current occupational practice. This high loading either reflects a pattern for which a general dimension appears to coalesce with the university training and occupational mobility. Despite this important mathematical result, three items appeared to load on a third factor which we did not conceptualise in a priori and appeared to be a factor that respondents perceived as university influence in getting a job. Our results established factor dimensions related to university graduate attitudes to the utility of university training and education in the performance of their current occupations.Mean rating results\nSummary and implications: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of university education and training to graduates current occupational needs. The key finding suggested that education and training was the most important factor in obtaining a job. Significantly, lower OAI perceived education and training as providing them with the opportunity for success in their current job. Also significantly, private university graduates rated higher their education and training received at the university than graduates from the public university sector.The findings suggest some important implications for universities, specifically public universities, in both Lebanon and the Middle East more generally. Public universities should be able to provide a competitive educational system to that of private universities. The Lebanese university, which is the only public university in Lebanon, suffers from fiscal deficit, which often draws the university to cut on operational fees of the university. For instance, a recent report televised by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) on 13 June 2002 contended that public university students were forced to take exams in the parking lot due to a lack of adequate examinations halls at the university premises. The university's administrative ineptness to accommodate for students' education and training needs, will inevitably face harder times in the future, particularly when the expected increase in student enrolment is approximated at the 30 per cent level. On the contrary, university graduates from the private sector of education documented favourable attitudes towards the positive effects of university training and education in facilitating their current job performance. These results attest to the higher service quality rating of university graduates from the private sector than those from the public one. Moreover, university graduates from private universities registered more benefits from education and training at their universities in practising their current occupation than graduates from the public one; hence a positive perception of the junction between education/training and occupation than university graduates from the public university sector. Certainly, national higher education policymakers and national think tanks should commence a long-range evaluation program of the curriculum, facilities, and academic programs for assuring quality of education in the public university.The findings also suggest that private university graduates are receiving better education at soft skills training than those from the public university sector. The perceived importance of \"soft skills\" such as language skills, communication, and computer literacy within the labour market, suggests that public university policymakers place more emphasis on transferable intellectual skills. In addition, the public university should start to work on the development of scholastic majors within business administration and computer science majors in order to provide graduates with the opportunity to find their skills transferable to the market place (Nabi, 2003).There is ample evidence in Lebanon that universities over produce engineers and general physicians, whilst there is a short supply of graduates in the liberal arts that could effectively take important roles in the labour market. Part of this is due to social stereotypes, where parents request their sons to enrol in engineering and medicine majors and their daughters to enrol in soft sciences majors compatible with their \"feminine personalities\". In fact, both private and public universities in Lebanon should work hard on changing the mindset of the gendered stereotypic society in order to provide majors that are needed by the labour market. In addition, offering students study-work programs can vastly change the way students perceive the university in providing training and certainly in its perceived educational outcomes. The current perception of graduates of public universities remains deficient in providing the appropriate training when compared to private universities. Attention to the type of university training and possible outcomes should be a key component for the future assessment of public higher education in Lebanon.Finally, given the lack of empirical research on university graduates' perceptions of the usefulness of university education in relation to the labour market needs, it would be too early to make appropriate recommendations for practical decisions regarding curriculum or higher education development. However, the present results provide a benchmark for future research on higher education and the labour market. Our next step in this line of research is to obtain perceptions of faculty in their belief of quality. In addition, we have to look at the employers' perception of their newly hired graduating students in order to construct a model for higher education causally linked with the occupational attainment of university graduates.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The study examines the level of satisfaction amongst Lebanese university graduates on their training/education in light of their current occupational level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Focus groups were interviewed to understand factors that helped graduates in their occupation. These factors were turned into a Likert-scale questionnaire in which a large sample (n=604) of university graduates from public and private universities in Lebanon were asked to report the utility of their university education and training required for their current job.\nFindings: - Findings showed that graduates from private universities documented greater satisfaction in their education and training, especially in the fields of engineering, medicine, and information science, than did graduates from the public sector of higher education. Graduates in the low occupational status category perceived university education as important in the performance of their occupation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was intended to find if graduates' were satisfied with their university education. Satisfaction in that sense is used as a proxy for quality. The need to refine the concept of quality in higher education is recommended in any future study to provide a possible measure of value to higher educational training.\nPractical implications: - Importantly, public higher education in Lebanon need to compete aggressively with private institutions to provide key \"soft skills\" needed at the work place.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers some empirical data in an under-researched field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Designing for public sector innovation in the UK: design strategies for paradigm shifts	[ "Service innovation", "Public services", "Design industry", "Service design" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"In a world beset by change, design does not remain untouched\" (Heskett, 2001, p. 25). With the advent of the so-called \"knowledge economy\" and increased global competitive pressure, the UK Design Industry[1] has gone through a gradual transformation, following changes in demand patterns. While Design is increasingly recognized as a driver of competitiveness and value creation (Verganti, 2009; Esslinger, 2009; Martin, 2009), challenges have been recognised in the limited understanding, integration and strategic use of Design, as well as its fragmentation, commoditisation and narrow association with manufacturing (Cox, 2005; DTI, 2005). However, limited evidence-based studies have explored propositions for its future development (Cooper et al., 2009). Exception is an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project \"Design2020\" explored future scenarios with the UK design practitioners, design buyers/clients and design policy-makers, suggesting the need for diversified design consultancy business models and professional roles and the ability to work beyond artefacts (Williams et al., 2009). The public sector and public procurement in particular have been indicated as strategic areas for the application of Design (DTI, 2005), while it seems that \"designers have a narrow view of what constitutes a client and tend to overlook the public sector\" (Williams et al., 2009, p. 45). This paper aims to contribute to discussions about the future development of the UK Design Industry, in particular of the Design Consultancy sector, by focusing on the strategic role of Design for the public sector.\n2. Public services: towards a paradigm shift: There is a general agreement that the current government and public sector structure and modes of operation belong to a different age, where society was characterised by a homogeneous and relatively static population, with uniform demand for services and products (Mulgan and Albury, 2003; Mulgan, 2007; HM Government, 2012). The \"one size fits all\" approach is now in contrast with a dynamic, demanding and extremely diverse population. Not only this, but the changes in demographics, health conditions, level of people's expectations and, lately, the hit of economic downturn in most of the developed economies are challenging the contemporary welfare state models.\n3. Design for public service innovation: The end of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of a society and economy based on knowledge, experience and services (Rifkin, 2000; Levy, 1994). Consequences of this transformation are the dematerialisation and increased fluidity of the object of design (Manzini, 2006). Design is increasingly seen as an \"attitude\" (Boland and Collopy, 2004) rather than as a pure profession; it is investigated as a way of thinking and doing (Kimbell, 2011a) that can be applied to different kinds of \"products\" (i.e. objects, signs, interactions, services and systems) and be adopted by various disciplines (Buchanan, 1992).\n4. Research methodology: As an exploratory study, this research has used a qualitative field-based study of Service Design agencies in the UK (Lee, 1999). The author has collected data both from primary and secondary sources. In particular, data collection included interviews and archival data. The main source of data are seven in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted between August 2012 and July 2013 with a selection of Design agencies all founded in the past 10 years, working in the UK and chosen because of their specialisation in public sector innovation.\n5. Design strategies for paradigm shift: 5.1 Innovation approaches and exemplar projects\n6. Discussion and conclusions: This exploratory study has provided an overview of Service Design work for the UK public sector. The author has illustrated how these agencies are adapting to ongoing transformations in public sector demand, working at different levels and with different strategies to support the paradigm shift in the way the government relates with citizens that is called New Public Governance, aiming for structural change. This initial study is not sufficient to develop scenarios for their future development, but is reflecting on how the changing context is affecting Service Design professionals' work and what this can say for their future development.\n7. Limitations and future research work: This exploratory study has discussed the role and strategies design agencies are playing for public sector transformation based on an initial sample of seven design studios and selected projects. It has highlighted ongoing transformations in the agencies' work practice following changes in market demand. The author has chosen to focus her reflections mainly on the key paradigmatic shift from NPM to NPG models, as background for case study development and analysis given its call for alternative innovation approaches and impact on service delivery; possible continuation of this initial study would require integrating these insights with existing foresight studies into policy and public sector development to identify relevant drivers or barriers for change together with in-depth studies on representative projects to document and compare the illustrated design strategies, as well as to evaluate their actual impact on public service quality improvement and transformation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this work is to provide an initial picture of how some design agencies are contributing toward a paradigm shift and how they are developing in the future to better inform design policies and interdisciplinary work. There is a general agreement that the current government and public sector structure and modes of operation need radical transformation. In this scenario, a shift from New Public Management towards New Public Governance paradigm has been auspicated. Design has attracted attention as a potential approach to support this transformation, but research into Service Design, as well as discussions on its future development, for public sector innovation is limited. This paper is an exploratory study into the individual work of seven representative UK design agencies operating for and within the public sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper reviews literature on public sector reform and innovation to inform comparative studies of contemporary design agencies working for public sector reform. Interviews with seven designers from NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, Participle, Innovation Unit, Uscreates, Collaborative Change, Futuregov and Snook are conducted to review their perceived role for public sector reform, their design approaches, exemplar projects and main challenges.\nFindings: Emerging design strategies for Public Sector reform are: a collaborative design approach that considers all stakeholders as equal co-creators of public value; operating at different complementary levels to aim at systemic change; designing from the inside out (innovation culture) and outside in (market change). These different strategies imply the development of possible different business models. Existing creative tensions appear between embedding and outsourcing strategies, acting as facilitators vs designers, developing both designing and service delivery roles.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is based on a limited sample of design agencies, and it is not a systematic study into the impact of their design work, which should be the object of a following study.\nPractical implications: This paper brings Service Design practice into public sector innovation debate to inform future interdisciplinary research and innovation policies. It positions existing design innovation strategies within the wider picture of public sector reform to support a more informed design practice.\nOriginality/value: Few studies have looked at the UK design agencies for public sector innovation and discussed their possible future developments. This paper provides an original and holistic description of design for public sector innovation with considerations on how it should be interpreted when developing supporting innovation and design policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of contextual factors, brand loyalty and brand switching on purchase decisions	[ "Purchasing", "Brand loyalty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: To better understand why and how people engage themselves in certain behaviours and refrain from risky habits, various behaviour models have been developed. Behavioural intentions are seen as a key ingredient in many such models (for an overview, see Dick and Basu, 1994; Sheeran and Abraham, 2003). Furthermore, translation of intentions into purchase decision is presently regarded as a central challenge for consumer research (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Sniehotta et al., 2005).This study focuses on three important research issues which are critical to the phenomena of behavioural intentions and purchase decisions that have been researched in isolation at most times. First, in most previous studies related to behavioural intentions, overall satisfaction was integrated as a key determinant of purchase intentions (for a review, see Spreng et al., 1996) which, in turn, affects brand loyalty or switching behaviour. However, overall satisfaction construct may not effectively capture the true behavioural effects as it is a reflection of context an individual is represented by (Sniehotta et al., 2005). Furthermore, few studies have incorporated the impact of contextual factors on behavioural intentions (Neelamegham and Jain, 1999). Therefore, the incorporation of contextual factors into the behavioural intentions model at the disaggregate level may enhance the determination of the causality involved in purchase intentions.Second, in many earlier studies, behavioural intentions have been assumed to be principally determined by the consumers' attitudinal assessment regarding product or service with little consideration to marketing mix variables such as advertising and promotional efforts. For instance, extent studies focused on determinants of behavioural intentions such as self-image (Wong, 1997), perceived risk (Snoj et al., 2004), variety seeking (Roehm and Roehm, 2004), level of product importance (Beckett et al., 2000), and personality (Gupta et al., 2004).Third, earlier studies have explicitly divided consumers into groupings of loyals and switchers (Dekimpe et al., 1997; Yim and Kannan, 1999). However, most studies have not looked into both the impact of contextual factors and choice criteria simultaneously. The interaction effects between contextual factors, behavioural intentions and purchase decisions would help us better understand the overall behaviour.This study aims to attend to the above-mentioned three issues by first exploring the concept of contextual factors and its impact on behavioural intentions such as brand loyalty and switching using the context of young adults market. Secondly, the study seeks to discover the effect of choice criteria on behavioural intentions. Thirdly, it will investigate the effect of contextual factors as well as behavioural intentions on purchase decisions. The paper is structured as follows. In the next section relevant literature is discussed providing the build up for the proposed model. Methodology and results are discussed thereafter leading to conclusion and future directions.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The young adults market and importance of contextual factors\n3. Research methodology: The research was conducted in two phases. At first, secondary research was carried out forming the foundation of the literature review and methodology, exploring the topic areas, theories and concepts to enhance the validity of the primary research (Chisnall, 2004). It helped in forming concepts and ideas in the subject area. The secondary research was followed by three focus groups in the Sussex county of the UK with young adults to determine their loyalty and switching behaviour as well as purchase decisions. The characteristics that the segment possessed were also analysed in order to understand their purchase decisions. These focus groups were the exploratory part of the research and provided with qualitative research allowing an in depth understanding of the topic (Malhotra, 2004). Each focus group consisted of eight members and took approximately one and a half hours to complete. This enabled the variables to be tested qualitatively and hypotheses to be developed through the integration of the literature and the actual sample frame.Several of the literature based variables for individual characteristics; loyalty and switching were re-validated by the focus group members. However, it was observed that without deeper probing participants did not provide as exhaustive list of variable as found in literature. Table I provides details of the matching of variables between literature and focus group.The primary research was conducted using structured, self-administered questionnaire, which is one of the most widely used data collection techniques (Saunders et al., 2002). A pilot questionnaire was designed and administered to 24 young adults. This outlined a number of potential areas that needed to be improved and worked upon. More than 380 questionnaires were administered resulting into 340 valid responses, with an overall response rate of 89.47 per cent. The output generated for each hypothesis was analysed for multicollinearity. There was no danger of multicollinearity within the analysis as the correlation between each of the independent variables was below the threshold figure of 0.7. Tolerance value was found below 0.10 and no VIF value above 10 in the coefficients analysis. This means that the predictor variables each correlate highly with the dependent variable but correlate minimally with each other. The data was also examined for Outliers and Normality as suggested by Pallant (2001).3.1 Construct validation\n4. Results: The second stage of the analysis was an assessment of the structural model. The proposed model was analysed via the maximum likelihood estimator of LISREL8.70 by using the covariance matrix of the measured variables as input. Table II reports the results of the structural model with standardized parameter estimates, respective t-values and goodness of fit indices.From the above table it can be observed that all goodness of fit indices were above or very close to the recommended level [GFI=0.90, AGFI=0.89, CFI=0.92, NFI=0.90, RMSEA=0.048, kh2 (328)=580.26 (p < 0.001)]. The results clearly show that the model fits the data well on all fit measures, except the chi-square statistics. Fornell and Larcker (1981) expressed doubts over using the chi-square statistics in isolation, as it is considered to be an excessively stringent test of model fit. Its use is generally recommended only in comparative model testing (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993). Satisfactory GFI (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993) and RMSEA (Browne and Cudeck, 1993) values observed above represent absolute fit for the model. Furthermore, CFI value was also satisfactory (>0.9) representing incremental fit for the model. Hence, the final model satisfactorily passes the criteria to determine goodness of fit for the model.As shown in the Table II, contextual factors have a significant influence on brand loyalty (p < 0.001) supporting H1. As proposed in H2, significant positive influence of contextual factors is observed on brand switching (p < 0.001). The findings support H3 where significant positive relationship is observed between contextual factors and purchase decisions (p < 0.001) as well as brand loyalty criteria and purchase decision (H4; p < 0.001). However it was found that brand switching criteria do not have a significant impact on purchase decision.\n5. Discussion and implications: The study examines our prior knowledge regarding influence of contextual factors, and behavioural intentions (brand loyalty and brand switching) on the purchase decisions. Using extensive literature review combined with exploratory research involving focus groups with young adults separate scales were identified and validated for individual characteristics, brand loyalty and brand switching. To assess the strength of the hypothesised model, a survey of young adults was conducted. The segment was chosen particularly for their spending habits, trend setting attitude, and approach to buying. Analysis provided support for the hypothesized framework. The remainder of the discussion is focused on a concise review of the implications of the findings of this study and a series of recommendations for future studies.While earlier scholars have studied contextual factors (Dick et al., 1996; Ness et al., 2002), brand loyalty (Dick and Basu, 1994), brand switching (Wood, 2004; Shukla, 2004) and purchase decisions (Baltas, 1997; Ehrenberg et al., 2004), researchers such as Reichheld and Schefter (2000) have called for further evidence with regard to the link between behavioural intentions and purchase decisions. This study constitutes a response to such calls for further research. Furthermore, it has also been observed that all the constructs measured in this study are dynamic in nature and need a re-examination from time to time. The findings clearly show the influence of contextual factors on consumers' purchase decisions and highlight the complexity of links between these concepts providing useful insights for researchers and managers. Consumer decision making being a complex phenomenon itself, the findings of this study highlights the importance of testing complex associations via holistic frameworks such as one presented in this study.Overall this study makes the following contributions to the body of knowledge in the area purchase decisions:1. It reveals that brand loyalty and brand switching are significantly influenced by the contextual factors.2. It also highlights what influences purchase decision process and what does not.3. It incorporates multiple constructs into a single framework.Consumers have many defining contextual traits and this study has determined the impact of these characteristics on brand loyalty and brand switching. While looking through each variable, primary reference group especially friends had the highest influence on consumers' loyalty behaviour. The product type and image as well as what supermarket they shop had moderate effects on loyalty. However, many consumers in the focus groups who shopped at supermarkets did not consider it an important factor that influenced their brand loyalty. This highlights the problem of what consumers perceive they do compared to the behaviour that they display.The strength and magnitude of associative links in the measurement models provide further implications for managers. Brand loyalty is affected by a number of independent choice variables and the factors that are most influential include product image as well packaging. The strength of the brand name is an important factor in creating loyalty to products. The findings find common ground with Veloutosou et al. (2004) who implied that products with a strong brand name and image would create more loyal followers. Surprisingly advertising as an influencer of brand loyalty was ranked very low by respondents. Therefore, managers aiming to create greater levels of brand loyalty through more advertising would fail to capture this segment's attention. This finding finds common ground with Ehrenberg (1988) who stated that advertising would only slightly increase purchase frequency in some categories. It was also found that products with added features or improvements influences brand loyalty within this segment. Therefore, organizations focusing on continuous innovation and line as well as brand extensions will be able to generate higher value within this segment. The value derived from the product were found to have moderate impact on purchase decision, however, this can be argued on the front of the products being discussed as a frame of reference for the study (see the appendix). Factors such as past usage, expectations and convenience were not significant contributors that contradicts the findings by Wood (2004). These findings highlight the need for creating a positive image (share of mind and heart) of the product in the consumer minds. The tangible contact (packaging) was also found to be of importance, therefore managers should focus on how the consumers engage with the product in the real-life environment and through active observation decide on the best packaging alternative.Similar results were also observed from the brand switching measurement model. In-store promotion (the tangible connection point) was found to be the most important factor affecting brand switching. It was also observed that promotions which were advertised in various media such as television, radio and others had low impact on consumer brand switching behaviour. These findings support Jenkinson's (2000) view that immediate in-store deals would have a lasting effect on consumers. Dick et al. (1996) stated that low price strategy can increase switching between brands and so a low price store strategy could also influence this behaviour. However, the findings contradict the earlier assessment as price was not found to be significantly influential factor in switching brands. Young adults do not consider other factors such as curiosity, increased choice as influential factors for switching between products. The most surprising of this is price which is not rated as an important reason for brand switching even though it is heavily tied with in-store promotions. However, it can be assumed that consumers look for the volume promotion instead of value (price) based promotions. Managers, instead of focusing on advertising purely as a communication medium and price as a switching mechanism should look out for the possibility of active engagement with the consumers in store were loyalty behaviour is highly vulnerable on either ways.The study provides insights into what factors influence young adults' loyalty behaviour as well as purchase decisions. It also provides managers with an understanding that how this large and influential segment of consumers make their choices and decide on purchasing a product or service. Contextual factors have a strong influence on loyalty and switching behaviour as well as purchase decisions. This brings forward the need for managers to segment young adults market on the basis of contextual factors. It is interesting to note that brand switching criteria do not affect consumers purchase decisions as switching is largely found to be an impulsive phenomenon. This finding further highlights the importance of tangible contact (in-store campaign).The study also provides a broader contribution to existing knowledge regarding purchase decisions. While earlier research in the area of behavioural intentions provides interesting insights, most researchers have neglected the general contextual factors (such as the ones included in the current study). In that regard, the findings of this study contributes towards the effect of contextual factors on behavioural intentions. While understanding the link between behavioural intentions and purchase decisions is important, practical value exists for managers in understanding what role is played by management controlled factors in the same. The present study offers an empirical contribution in this regard by providing a greater understanding of the nature and dynamics of purchase decisions and factors influencing the same.While the study generates considerable theoretical and practical contributions, such findings should be approached with caution. The limitations of this study however form the basis for future studies. While this study employed a holistic framework, the parts of which had been tested partially by researchers earlier, the tentative directionality of the relationships between the constructs was partially observed. However, it would be interesting to see a study that uses longitudinal research design and tests the framework, reconfirming the validity and reliability of these complex relationships. Furthermore, this study focuses on single segment and specific set of product categories in a single market. Therefore, comparative studies focusing on multiple segments with multiple product categories and multiple markets will be a welcome endeavour in this regard.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The consumer culture in recent times has evolved into one of the most powerful ingredients shaping individuals and societies. Although the behavioural intentions and purchase decisions related models continue to dominate research and managerial practice, a deeper look indicates that most studies do not take the complete picture in account and study parts of the above mentioned phenomena. Furthermore, consumers operate in a dynamic and ever-changing environment which in itself demands a re-examination of their behavioural intentions and purchase decision influences from time to time. This paper aims to focus on these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using the context of the young adults market, this study looks into how contextual factors vis-a-vis loyalty and switching impact consumer purchase intentions. The study involved both qualitative and quantitative research methodology.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that contextual factors have the strongest influence on purchase decisions. Furthermore, contextual factors influence the brand loyalty and switching behaviour.\nPractical implications: - The findings provide important insights with regards to the factors on which practitioners should focus to better tailor their content and approaches.\nOriginality/value: - The study supplies unique learning to managers and researchers alike, through conceptualising and subsequently empirically verifying the issue of purchase decision, brand loyalty and switching with regard to contextual factors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Contemporary Islamic philosophy response to reality and thinking outside history	[ "Egypt", "Epistemology", "Philosophy", "Islamic philosophy", "Religion", "Reform", "Secular", "Secularization", "Arab philosophy", "Liberal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It is risky, no doubt, to design a critical, epistemological map of contemporary Islamic philosophy. Although philosophy was initiated more than two thousand years, there are differences in specifying the definition of the term. The problem is compounded when one deals with contemporary Arab thought and/or Islamic philosophy. Is it thought pure and simple, or profound enough to count as philosophy? This assumes that intellectual activity is relegated to a lower level than that of philosophy and that philosophy is different from thought. Is creativity in philosophy confined to presenting integrated philosophical systems in the Western sense? Or does philosophy cover theoretically based intellectual accounts even if the presenter does not belong to the formal discipline of philosophy? Is it imperative to have definitive answers to ontological, epistemological and axiological questions? Or does giving an in-depth answer to the problems and challenges of the time qualify the agent to enter the heavenly domain of philosophy? Should there be answers to issues such as colonialism, dependence, backwardness, despotism, the relation with the other (especially the west), attitude towards minorities, relation between state and religion, unity whether on the national or Islamic levels, the form of government, the relation between science and religion and attitude towards tradition. And finally, is the thought or philosophy that has been produced in this part of the world Arab or Islamic?\nThe evolution of contemporary Islamic philosophy: Arab philosophy went into a state of hibernation for four centuries after Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406). It is not true that this period started after Al-Ghazali's (1058-1111) attack against philosophers in his book Incoherence of the Philosophers. Islamic philosophy continued to develop after this and reached its peak with Averroes (1126-1198) and Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406). Al-Ghazali's attack was only directed against Greek theology and their Muslim followers such as Al-Farabi (870-950) and Avicenna (980-1037) among others. His attack was not against logic, physics and astronomy. He focused his attack on the attitudes of these particular philosophers, but not against philosophy itself as an intellectual activity.\nIslamic philosophy in the academic domain: The first appearance of modern academic philosophical studies in the Muslim world occurred with the establishment of the Egyptian University (now Cairo University). Professor of Islamic philosophy at this university, Sheikh Mustafa Abdel-Raziq, later became Head of Al-Azhar. His book Preface to the History of Islamic Philosophy played a crucial role in clarifying the fact that Islamic philosophy is an eminent creative endeavor, which is not simply a traditional domain confined to the philosophy of Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Tufayel, Ibn Baja and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), who fell under the influence of Greek philosophy. Islamic philosophy, as he sees it, includes Islamic jurisprudence ('Swl lfqh). He is absolutely justified since jurisprudence is the field of knowledge that focuses on the philosophy of law with all the exemplary criteria of philosophy. Muslims were genuine thinkers in this field more than they were in the other traditional fields of philosophy. Indeed, their creative contribution in jurisprudence cannot be compared to their contributions in any other philosophical domain. Those who do not regard jurisprudence as a philosophic area of study did not simply read enough in this field of knowledge and shamefully confuse it with the study of fiqh, religious rules.\nExtensions of Western trends in the Islamic world: As a result of the deteriorating conditions which the Islamic nation suffered from, there was a wave during which the Arabs were under the influence of any trend that came from the west. Thus, pragmatism, Marxism, existentialism, logical positivism, structuralism, deconstruction and contemporary hermeneutics entered the Islamic world. Many books about these trends were translated in addition to all the research papers conducted on them. They also have had a tremendous effect on the philosophical visions and stances of a number of thinkers.\nIntellectual projects involving tradition and renewal: Some modern Arab thinkers presented a philosophy or an intellectual vision instead of simply conducting academic research, such as Osman Amin, Abdel Rahman Badawi, Youssef Karam, Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Murad Wahba, Rene Habashi, Badie Al-Kasm, Yahya Hweidi, among others. There are also those, living or recently deceased, who had intellectual projects such as Adonis, Tizini, Mahdi Aamel, Hassan Hanafi, Al-Jabri, Arkoun, Muruwa, George Tarabishi, Muta Safdi, Hesham Djait, Hesham Sharabi, Al-Messeri, Muhammad Hussein Fadl- Allah, among others. There are thinkers who belong to the eastern part of the Muslim world in Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Iran. Without reference to their disciplines, there is, for instance, Muhammad Iqbal, Ahmed Khan, Ameer Ali, Muhader Muhammad. Waheed Khan, Al-Sayyed Muhammad Baqer Al-Sadr, Abdel Karim Seroush, Muhammad Mojtahid Shebstri, Mohssen Kedever, Mustafa Malikan, Hashem Aghagri, Heidar Muhammad Kamel Hob-Allah, Jawadi Amely, Sadiq Larijani, Mosbah Al-Yazdi, Muhammad Taqqi Jaafari, Muhammad Al-Sayyed Tabtaba'ei, Ammed Wa'ezi, Sadr Ed-Deen Taheri, Al-Sayyed Mahmoud Al-Hashemi, Baqer Al-Irawani, Muhammad Ali Al-Taskheeri, Nasser Makarem Al-Sherazi, Al-Hakimi, Mahdi Al-Mahrizi, Ahad Qaramalki among others. Since the subject and context of the paper cannot allow for dealing with them all and as the efforts of some were viewed previously, some examples of those who have what is known as intellectual projects will be referred to.\nTowards the future: This is an age with divergent routes for the contemporary Arab thought which exhausted its energy in searching for a theoretical philosophy. It is torn between tradition and modernity, and while it could not retrieve its tradition, it is not coping with the modern age. It actually failed in facing contemporary challenges. The most obvious proof is the condition of the Arab nation now and the deplorable condition of the Muslim world. This may also be evident in the fact that all the efforts exerted by the contemporary Arab and Muslim thinkers do not have any impact on reality, which means that they float in a space of abstract intellectual structures detached from historical reality, lacking the philosophy of action.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a \"vision\" of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.\nFindings: There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.\nPractical implications: This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.\nOriginality/value: This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace inequality, trade unions and the transnational regulation of the employment relationships: The case of Europe	[ "Europe", "Industrial relations", "Labour", "Multinational companies", "Equality", "Trade unions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is widely argued that employment relationships have become increasingly unstable in industrialized countries and this instability is undermining the regulatory regime of organized and governed labor markets and employment relationships in much of the last few decades (Stone and Arthurs, 2013). Under rapid and extensive changes in technology, markets and management strategies we assist to that job tenures, and the social benefits associated with them, are forth shortened and stripped away altogether. Likewise we experience that in many countries trade unions density and collective bargaining regulatory structures and coverage are shrinking. This is particularly evident in Europe where we assist to a steady and dramatic decline in trade unions density since the last decades, particularly in the period of crisis, and as the result of the increase in the use of fixed-term contracts, the continued expansion of part-time employment, as well as the fact that many young people have delayed their entry into the labor market, or have been longer unemployed, while employment among older age groups in the labor force has been stable or even growing (Industrial Relations in European Commission, 2014).\nDevelopments in the European space: Employment systems and social policy developments in Europe continue to pass through a period of remarkable transformation. Change is being propelled by two related developments, each of a genuinely epoch-making character. First, since the late 1970s the societies of the industrialized West have been in the grip of a far reaching and complex structural change, the pace of which has accelerated during the last 30 years. Among the main features of this development are: the conjunction of a number of technological revolutions, in particular in the field of communication, technology and information; rapid growth of regional and global economic links; and changes in corporate structure and scale, and the organization of work. Second, the political process of the \"European opening\" has enforced rapid change within (and across) member states. This process has had a twofold character: the development of a Single Market (SEM) in 1992, and the ending of the economic and political isolation of Central and Eastern Europe since 2004. Following the Single Market Program and the immediate transformation of the East-West relations, 1991 saw the agreement on the Maastricht Treaty, which indicated the establishment of the European Union, with its project of the creation of a single European currency by 1999. The inclusion into the Treaty, which came into force in the autumn of 1993, of competencies for justice and home affairs, foreign and security policy, the introduction of an EU citizenship, and other substantive and institutional changes were intended to add a political dimension to the previously essentially economic process of European integration. Further elements in the fundamental economic and political development of Europe are the agreement between the European Community (EC) and the European Free Trade Association on the creation of an European Economic Area. The latter sustains structures similar to that of the single market, and the accession of a number of other Western and Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union from the beginning of 1995.\nMultinationals, power and inequality: Traditional research into multinationals has focused on studying the influence and changing role of management headquarters. Some scholars (see e.g. Hymer, 1970) predicted that the greater geographical dispersion of multinationals would lead to greater concentration of decision-making power at the center. In this picture the role of subsidiary-level actors, such as local managers, trade unions and employee representatives, were mostly seen as adapting rather than formulating strategies within the \"contested contexts\" (Morgan, 2006) that transnational corporations represent. Conversely, as put more succinctly by Belanger and Edwards (2006), multinationals are key strategic and political actors, using their power \"to shape the conditions under which they conduct their local productive activities\" (Belanger and Edwards, 2006, p. 24), and interacting with local and national authorities, politics and interest groups (Edwards and Belanger, 2009).\nThe case of transnational employment regulation: The analysis conducted so far shows how, within an economic context where long-term financial, employment and customer relationships are gradually declining - shareholder values and profit maximization provide the explanation for the increased prevalence of corporate benchmarking strategies by multinational firms. These companies prefer to decentralize decisions at the local and national levels where concessions are more flexible and working conditions can be easily negotiated with the local works councils and trade unions by using the threat of job losses. Local concessions are usually extracted in the wake of \"inter-plant coercive comparisons,\" the mechanism currently used by multinational corporations to maximize profit through restructuring in order to capture market gains, hence contributing to enhance instability and inequality.\nTransnational employment regulation and trade unions: In this section we focus on the power resources trade unions can use to respond to management strategies of benchmarking. We draw from the Wright's (2000) dispositional dimension of associational power, referring to the union resources and capabilities developed through collective organization (Frost, 2000; Levesque and Murray, 2010). Within this perspective, associational power includes not only unions and political parties but also a variety of other forms, such as legal recognition of trade union action or the institutional representation of workers on boards of directors or work councils. It is thus related to the institutional arrangements that generate collective resources for workers more generally.\nWorkplace inequality, union strategy and the role of transnational employment regulation via EFAs: Co-operation and coordination across different unions and works councils within a transnational framework of employment regulation can contribute to generating a process of internal negotiation which may influence the configuration of actors and the bargaining with local management on important aspects of working conditions, such as wages and employment security. Thus, the crucial question is not \"what is the second best option\" for unions when hostile environments constrain their capacity to guarantee job security (\"making concessions\"); it is, rather, how union and works councils are able to create around themselves the requisite infrastructures (resources) for providing support, when needed, in the negotiation of long-term security for the employees. The existence of a transnational regulation for employment relationships in Europe, through EFAs, can became a strategic resource for the local unions particularly during times of economic difficulty.\nConclusion: The paper claims that trade unions' ability to act on workplace inequality, in terms of constraining multinationals' strategies of benchmarking and transnational flexibilization, depends on their capacity to reinforce coordination at the cross-border level in Europe, particularly for bargaining purposes. Accordingly, establishing and particularly using transnational structures for the regulation of employment across borders in Europe, such as the EFAs negotiated by the ETUFs and developed through EWCs, is considered crucial.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on research on the strategies of inequality at the workplace level of multinational corporations within the context characterized by the weakening of traditional bargaining and representation structures. Through which specific strategies multinational corporations foster inequality across different workplaces across borders and how do trade unions in Europe respond to it?\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a conceptual one and it is based on existing qualitative comparative research developed by the author.\nFindings: The regulatory regime of organized and governed labor markets and employment relationships is undermined by the employment relationships becoming increasingly unstable in most industrialized countries in Europe. The breakdown in the collective structures for employment regulation, particularly collective bargaining, has led to growing insecurity and inequality among working people. At the workplace level of multinationals inequality is fostered by strategies of flexibilization and benchmarking which force trade unions to negotiate concessions regarding the working conditions of different workers. Trade unions are seeking effective responses to increasing labor market instability and inequality. The paper argues that the transnational regulation of employment relationships through the European Framework Agreements (EFAs) can serve the purpose of constraining benchmarking, while containing workplace inequality.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers an in-depth view that the EFAs can constrain the multinationals' strategies of benchmarking and workplace inequality. This is because EFAs can potentially spread across countries the positive gains of local negotiations where unions are able to negotiate on employment protection to other local subsidiaries where unions may struggle to do so.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Expanding horizons and expatriate adjustment: Perceptions of Western expatriate managers in multinational companies in the United Arab Emirates	[ "Expatriates", "UAE", "Expatriation management", "Global assignment", "Multinational companies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the fast pace of globalization, international assignments have become a regular feature for the employees of MNCs. Thus, a more thorough understanding of the challenges of working and living in a foreign country has become all the more crucial. One reason for expatriates' failures has been referred to as the incapability of these expatriate managers and their spouses to adjust to the new host country culture (Tung, 1988). Substantial financial and social costs tend to be linked to the unsuccessful adjustment of expatriates in the host countries. Tung (1982) described expatriate failure as an incapability of the expatriate to perform successfully, resulting in them either being recalled back home or being asked to resign from the company. In general, previous studies (e.g. Selmer, 2005) show that the scale of failure of expatriate managers has a reported range of somewhere between 10 and 80 percent; costing MNCs between US$40,000 and US$1 million for each unsuccessful international assignment. In order to accelerate and advance the research on the expatriation process and to deepen our comprehension of this relevant and critical area, further research is needed, especially from a non-western setting like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), because the majority of previous research studies (see Qi et al., 2005) that were undertaken on this issue have been conducted in the west.\n2. Relevance to the UAE: In the UAE, oil was discovered in the late 1950s and until then most of the UAE population were Bedouins who, for the most part, depended on pearling, nomadic fishing, agriculture and herding. After a long series of very lengthy negotiations an agreement was finally reached between the rulers of seven of the Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain) and the country named the UAE was formally created in 1971 with a population of 209,243 (Al Abed and Hellyer, 2001). The total population in 2010 was estimated to be slightly over eight million (Bealer and Bhanugopan, 2014) and by 2016, the projection was that it would cross the milestone of 9.5 million. This growth rate of 112 percent in six years has come about because of strong economic development, and that has pulled in expatriates from all around the world (UAE-Interact, 2016).\n3. Theoretical background and framework: Cultural differences between the UAE and five Anglo-Saxon countries\n4. Research methodology and design: Research methodology\n5. Results: In this section, we present and deliberate the results from the empirical analysis and classify the key elements of the expatriation experience of Western expatriates in the UAE.\n6. Limitations of the present study and avenues for future research: For western MNCs planning to enter the UAE market, the study presented herein ought to provide valuable insight into both the Western expatriates' and the Western MNCs' experiences in the UAE. However, it should be understood that the results of this purely qualitative study based on a small sample size cannot be generalized as being illustrative of the norms and practices of all the Western MNCs in the UAE. These findings simply state the views and perspectives of this group of expatriates concerning their selection, pre-departure CCT, adjustment in the UAE, and the support and repatriation plans employed by their companies for doing business in the UAE. To this end, the study is limited, as it only investigates the expatriates' views of their adjustment. It does not investigate the local employees' perceptions of their expatriate supervisors' adjustment.\n7. Managerial implications: On a closing note, it should be pointed-out that the attractiveness of doing business in emerging countries such as the UAE has increased in recent years. In order to gain first mover advantage, MNCs need to nurture pools of expertise among their expatriate managers who are proven to be able to work and function successfully on overseas assignments such as the UAE. Consequently, the need to identify the elements required for successful adjustment, in order to be able to plan and design well-developed programs accordingly, should be given more significance and should simplify the process of expatriate adjustment.\n8. Conclusions: Expatriation, defined as an intentional, impermanent relocation of a person abroad for a commitment with an eventual return to his/her home country, assumes ever increasing prominence in international business activities undertaken by MNCs globally. Expatriate managers who can work successfully in different countries and accomplish their company's objectives are ever more sought after as a source of competitive advantage. Almost 98 percent of employees in the public sector in the UAE are UAE citizens. This trend opens up numerous positions for expatriates in private sector jobs. Accordingly, the expatriate population has expanded extraordinarily as of late in order to fill these challenging private sector positions. Because of the robust international influence in the UAE, there is always an expanding need to fill key management positions, because UAE nationals frequently do not have the experience, capability or qualities expected to successfully undertake the work and duties required in those key leadership roles.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Expatriate management is a popular theme in the field of international human resource management in light of the fact that expatriates play a crucial role in a MNC's global operations. The purpose of this paper is to explore how MNCs select, train, deploy and support expatriate managers during and after their international assignment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with 22 Western expatriate managers who are presently based in the UAE. However, in order the ensure a diverse sample among the participants with regards to their age, professional experience, gender and nationality, purposeful sampling was utilized while selecting the participants.\nFindings: The results of the present study cast light on many shortcomings of the overall expatriation process as they are implemented by MNCs in the UAE. Accordingly, there is a pressing need for MNCs in the UAE to develop strategic expatriation processes, involving the following critical factors: the selection of the right person for the right job; specific and relevant pre-departure and post-arrival cross-cultural training (CCT); practical support for the expatriate employees and their trailing spouses in the host country; and lastly, a clear repatriation strategy to mark a successful conclusion of foreign assignments in the UAE.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is acknowledged that the results of this purely qualitative study, based on a relatively small sample size, cannot claim to represent the management theories, practices and realities of all the Western MNCs in the UAE. Moreover, these findings narrate the views and perceptions of this particular cohort of expatriate executives with relation to their selection, pre-departure CCT, adjustment in the UAE and the support and repatriation policies utilized by their companies for doing business in the UAE.\nPractical implications: This study points to the fact that technical skills are mostly considered to be the predominant selection criteria for the expatriate selections in the MNCs. Other abilities, such as language skills and relational and perceptual adjustability are considered to be less important and do not feature overtly in the selection criteria for expatriate positions. The results demonstrate that distinctive features of adjustability, which include expatriates' willingness to communicate, their social orientation, dynamic anxiety resistance and openness ability are all critical to the adjustment in the host country and should be given more emphasis.\nOriginality/value: Regardless of the presence of numerous MNCs in the UAE, it is indeed surprising to see that the topic of the expatriation management process in MNCs in the UAE has received little research attention. The objective of this study is to address this deficiency. Additionally, it is hoped that these findings may also be valuable to MNCs and consultants who are preparing expatriates for international assignments, especially in the Middle East and in particular in the UAE.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research on emerging technology selection and assessment by technology foresight and fuzzy consistent matrix	[ "Forecasting", "Fuzzy logic", "Research and development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: National industry and enterprise competitiveness are mainly reflected in R&D inputs and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements - that is, the success ratio of technology commercialization and industrialization. Technology commercialization and industrialization represent a complicated system, in which the assessment of the industrialization potential for a technology is a key issue. In particular, with the development of information technology, biotechnology and other technologies, new technologies have emerged rapidly, and their impacts on human society are becoming more and more significant and far-reaching. How to grasp, identify, select and assess emerging technologies is an important issue for companies, enterprises and governments. Emerging technologies are different to traditional technologies due to their uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity, so the selection and assessment of emerging technologies are much more difficult as compared to traditional technologies.At present, emerging technology selection and assessment is a research focus. In order to study, from the perspective of the industrialization potential of emerging technologies, the selection and assessment of emerging technology, this paper presents a technology foresight method to build an industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies based on a Delphi survey and a fuzzy consistent matrix to select and assess emerging technologies. To demonstrate the process, a specific case study is presented for the development of the proposed method on nine different emerging technologies. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies based on technology foresight, and to propose a new method of using a fuzzy consistent matrix to assess the industrialization potential of emerging technologies.The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the literature review. Section 3 proposes the framework of emerging technology selection and assessment by technology foresight and the fuzzy consistent matrix. Section 4, a case study of assessing the industrialization potential of nine different emerging technologies, is provided to illustrate the application of the method. Finally, section 5 concludes the paper.\n2. Literature review: Emerging technologies are developed from scientific innovation. They may create a new industry or change an old industry (Day et al., 2000). Emerging technologies have major impacts on society and the economy. But emerging technologies are uncertain and complex. It is difficult to select and assess them.Technology selection is concerned with choosing the best technology from a number of available options. The criteria for a \"best\" technology may differ depending on the specific requirements of a company. Gregory (1995) suggested that technology selection involves \"gathering information from various sources about the alternatives, and the evaluation of alternatives against each other or some set of criteria\". He suggested that evaluation was concerned with \"the notions of cost, benefit, and risk\". Stacey and Ashton (1990) described technology selection as a process of prioritising technological investment alternatives, implying that the choice of technology should take into account the business and technological risks involved in fulfilling an organisational objective. This wider technological and business context of technology selection was echoed by Matthews (1992), who viewed it as a major component of technology strategy development. Technology selection is a \"process\" that is closely linked to other business processes, and is associated with the broader technological, organizational, and business environment (Shehabuddeen et al., 2006).Technology selection processes also require the analysis of a large number of economic (tangible) and analytical (intangible) factors in a decision support environment. Many fuzzy methods for technology selection have been developed. Chan et al. (2000) presented a technology selection algorithm to quantify both tangible and intangible benefits in a fuzzy environment. The algorithm described an application of the theory of fuzzy sets to hierarchical structural analysis and economic evaluations. A fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method was used to integrate various linguistic assessments and weights to determine the best technology selection (Prabhu and Vizayakumar, 1996). Van Laarhoven and Pedrycz (1983) proposed a systematic approach to technology selection using the concepts of fuzzy set theory and hierarchical structure analysis.The concept of technology assessment (TA) was first developed in the USA in the late 1960s. As early as 1976 Joseph F. Coates defined TA as \"the name for a class of policy studies which attempt to look at the widest possible scope of impacts in society of the introduction of a new technology. Its goal is to inform the policy process by putting before the decision maker an analyzed set of options, alternatives and consequences\" (Coates, 1976), and as recently as 2001 he redefined the concept along that line as \"a policy study designed to better understand the consequences across society of the extension of the existing technology or the introduction of a new technology with emphasis on the effects that would normally be unplanned and unanticipated\" (Coates, 2001).Fleischer et al. (2005) posed the problem of assessing emerging technologies and argued that emerging technologies present considerable challenges for \"classical TA\", which focuses on the outcomes or impacts of a technology and thus can be performed only at later stages of technology development when societal implications can easily be identified and determined. Guston and Sarewitz (2002) presented the concept of \"real-time technology assessment\" as a new technology assessment framework in the twenty-first century, which integrates natural science and engineering investigations with social science and policy from the outset into a research program. Recently, many technology assessment approaches include road mapping, technology development envelope and scenario methodology were used to assessing emerging technologies in the system development environment (Gerdsri, 2005; Wiek et al., 2009).Technology foresight is part of the field of futures studies. Martin uses the term \"technology foresight\" in the following sense: \"the process involved in systematically attempting to look into the longer-term future of science, technology, the economy and society with aim of identifying the areas of strategic research and the emerging generic technologies likely to yield the greatest economic and social benefits\" (Irvine and Martin, 1984). Another definition has been given: technology foresight is a systematic, participatory, future intelligence gathering and medium-to-long term vision building process aimed at present-day decisions and mobilizing joint action (Georghiou, 2003).Technology foresight mainly has the following aspects:* Long-term vision is focused on the future exploration of the process system. The general time frame is from five to 30 years.* Foresight is not only concerned about the promotion factors of science and technology, but also on the pulling effect of the market. That is, it not only includes both the opportunity of science and technology, but also includes the identification of economic and social-related needs.* The object of foresight is new technology - that is, in pre-competitive stage technology. The aim is to obtain the greatest economic and social interests (Martin, 1996; Martin and Johnston, 1999).As regards literature analysis and the characteristics of emerging technologies, to study the emerging technology selection and assessment, this paper, from the perspective of the industrialization potential of emerging technologies, constructs an industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies by introducing technology foresight into the selection and assessment of emerging technologies, and presents the general procedures to assess industrialization potential of emerging technologies based on technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix.\n3. The framework of emerging technology selection and evaluation by technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix: 3.1 Establishment of an industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies based on technology foresight and Delphi survey\n4. Case study: 4.1 Case background\n5. Conclusion and recommendations: Due to the uncertainties and complexity of emerging technologies, this paper puts emerging technology selection and assessment into the large-scale systems of technical, economic and social development to be considered, and constructs an industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies by combining technology foresight and a Delphi survey. General procedures to assess the industrialization potential of emerging technologies based on technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix is proposed. An empirical study of the assessment of nine different emerging technologies is adopted to illustrate the practical application. The results show that Technology 1 has the best performance in terms of industrialization potential, and Technology 2 has better performance in terms of industrialization potential.The process of calculation shows that the fuzzy consistent matrix method can better reflect the comprehensive situation of each index and provide the basis for scientific decision-making. The general method of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation needs to establish appropriate membership functions, but the establishment of membership functions is often very difficult and inevitably more subjective. A fuzzy consistent matrix only in accordance with the rules of coefficient values can establish a priority matrix, avoiding the determination of the relationships of membership. As a result, a fuzzy consistent matrix has a separate transmission; the integrated fuzzy consistent matrix obtained is still a fuzzy consistent matrix, which ensures the reasonableness of the optimization results. However, as the assessment data is obtained from the scores of experts scoring, it will have a certain degree of subjectivity. In order to improve the credibility and effectiveness of the assessment data, effective control measures should be taken in the assessment process. Future studies could involve developing expert decision-making system software in the process of emerging technology selection and assessment.Taking into account the characteristics of emerging technologies and technology foresight thinking, in order to ensure the accuracy and applicability of the assessment results, it is necessary to do the following:* give full consideration to the uncertainty and risk of emerging technologies;* the market factors and technology factors, and at the same time the industrialization factors and the policy factors, should also be considered (Georghiou and Keenan, 2006); and* combine the subjective assessment of stakeholders and experts with patents and other objective data.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a new hybrid approach based on technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix to select and assess emerging technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Through introducing technology foresight into emerging technology selection and assessment, an industrialization potential assessment indexes system of emerging technologies is constructed, and general procedures to assess the industrialization potential of emerging technologies based on technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix are presented.\nFindings: - In this paper, assessment of the industrialization potential of nine different emerging technologies is provided to illustrate the application of the method. These results show that technology 1 has the best performance on industrialization potential, and technology 2 has better performance on the industrialization potential.\nPractical implications: - This paper is of interest for emerging technology selection and assessment practitioners and policymakers at the industrial and government levels.\nOriginality/value: - This paper proposes a new hybrid approach of emerging technology selection and assessment based on technology foresight and a fuzzy consistent matrix.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Search effort and retail outcomes: the mediating role of search disconfirmation	[ "Search", "Retail outcomes", "Retail search", "Search disconfirmation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The concept of consumer search has long been an important issue in the marketing literature. External search effort is \"the degree of attention, perception, and effort directed toward obtaining environmental data or information related to the specific purchase under consideration\" (Beatty and Smith, 1987, p. 85). Search is the shopper's pursuit of a product or product-related information. Search behavior is an important area of concern for retailers, as a large amount of search has the potential to slow down or prematurely end the customer's path to purchase. Increased search can drive customers away from the retailer (Miller, 1993). Previous research regarding search focuses on what factors drive customers to engage in increased search behaviors. For example, research shows that customers are driven to engage in increased external search (Senecal et al., 2005; Chaudhuri, 2000) and retail information search (Laroche et al., 2000) by both individual and environmental factors. The internet is increasingly being used in shoppers' product search, especially by younger and more educated shoppers (Ratchford et al., 2003; Klein and Ford, 2003). Additionally, search effort can be impacted by situational and personal factors (Laroche et al., 2000).\nHypothesis development: Expectancy disconfirmation theory describes an individual's reactions following an event, such as a shopping experience or using a product. According to expectancy disconfirmation theory, individuals enter an event with some expectations of how it should occur. After the event, the individual evaluates the event and compares it to the expectations he/she had prior to the event. During this evaluation, the individual determines if the event was better than, worse than or exactly as he/she expected it to be. These positive and negative evaluations will impact the individual's attitudes and subsequent behavioral intentions (Oliver, 1980, 1981).\nMethodology: To test the proposed hypotheses, a survey methodology is used. Students enrolled in a marketing class at a large, southeastern university was asked to recruit individuals over the age of 19 to take an online survey in return for course extra credit. The use of student recruiters has been used successfully in prior research (cf. Gremler and Gwinner, 2008; Gillison et al., 2014). Students did not take the survey themselves. The students did not personally administer the survey; students only recruited respondents for the survey by supplying the respondents with the survey URL. Students supplied the names and e-mail addresses of the recruited respondents to the researchers, and approximately 30 per cent of respondents were randomly contacted to validate the sample. No problems with the data were indicated in the validation e-mails.\nResults and discussion: Linear regression analysis is used to investigate the hypothesis that search disconfirmation mediates the effect of search effort on retail outcomes. The four-step (Baron and Kenny, 1986) process is used to test H1-H6 such that the following steps are used: Step 1: search effort is regressed onto each dependent variable; Step 2: search effort is regressed onto search disconfirmation; Step 3: search disconfirmation is regressed onto each dependent variable; and Step 4: search effort and search disconfirmation are regressed onto each dependent variable.\nImplications: This research makes several important contributions to our existing knowledge of shoppers' in-store search behaviors by further exploring the cognitive processes at play during the search process. First, in this research, the concept of search disconfirmation, or search behaviors that exceed the shopper's anticipated level of search activity, which is rooted in expectancy disconfirmation theory, is introduced. The role of search disconfirmation in the search process is explored. Search disconfirmation is found to be a unique construct that is different from but related to search effort and search regret. The results of this study show that search disconfirmation is important in understanding the in-store retail search process. The degree to which search is negative for shoppers is a function of how much search they expected to engage in prior to the shopping trip. As such, understanding the shopper's degree of search disconfirmation is important for retailers in understanding negative search experiences.\nLimitations and future research: As with any research, this study has several limitations. First, a survey methodology is used to test the hypotheses. Future research might use experimental methods to establish a true temporal sequence in testing the hypotheses. Second, respondents were asked to recall a shopping event. Because a time lapse between the shopping event and the survey exists, responses may not reflect immediate emotions and reactions. Although techniques were used to minimize these recall effects such as having respondents describe the event in detail to prompt memories of the shopping trip, future research could survey respondents immediately following the shopping experience to help minimize these recall effects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how shoppers' expectations regarding the amount of search and disconfirmation of these search expectations affect outcomes of the shopping trip.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey of shoppers is used to test the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: Survey results indicate that search disconfirmation is conceptually distinct from but related to search effort and search regret. The results show that negative search disconfirmation mediates the relationship between search effort and shopper satisfaction, hedonic and utilitarian shopping value, choice confidence, search regret and negative word-of-mouth intent.\nOriginality/value: The findings underscore that search effort itself is not negative for shoppers. However, when search effort is perceived as excessive compared to shoppers' expectations, negative retail outcomes can occur. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revealing the impact of operational logistics service quality on omni-channel capability	[ "Logistics service quality", "Dynamic capabilities", "Consumer perception", "Structural equation modelling", "Multi-channel management", "Omni-channel management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, retailers need to make a greater effort to provide integrated, consumer-focused technology in order to transform the \"channel\" experience into a total retail experience (PWC, 2014). These require the establishment of an integrated and effective omni-channel strategy, a trend spreading across the retailing industry (Beck and Rygl, 2015; Brynjolfsson et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015; Picot-Coupey et al., 2016; Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2014; Verhoef et al., 2015). This total retail and \"channel\" experience, called \"omni-channel retailing,\" is considered as an evolutionary aspect of multi-channel retailing (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2014; Verhoef et al., 2015). It aims to provide a seamless shopping experience to consumers using advanced and integrated IT in each channel (Verhoef et al., 2015). In an omni-channel strategy, the retailer uses data to guide the consumer's purchases across all channels (Beck and Rygl, 2015). This provides an uninterrupted, independent shopping experience for end users and ensures product availability in multiple channels (Kozlenkova et al., 2015). A major advantage of this strategy is the capacity to provide services targeted at particular consumer segments (Bell et al., 2013).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Omni-channel retailing\n3. Research design: 3.1 Methodology\n4. The factor structure of omni-channel capability: 4.1 Exploratory factor analysis\n5. Hypothesis development: Currently, consumers can simultaneously connect with companies through numerous channels (e.g. physical store, online store, mobile application, or social media). While beneficial for consumers in terms of the convenience and flexibility provided to their shopping experience, it causes many operational challenges for retailers due to the many different options for reaching the same information and products (Dijk et al., 2005).\n6. Hypothesis testing and results: This section reports first on construct operationalization and data analysis before explaining how CFA analysis was used to measure the research constructs (omni-channel capability, relational LSQ and operational LSQ), in addition to validating the factors of omni-channel capability. Finally, SEM was used to test the hypotheses developed in the previous section.\n7. Discussion and conclusion: The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it introduces a new term, \"omni-channel capability,\" to reveal consumer perceptions of retailers' omni-channel strategies. It explores and validates the three elements of omni-channel capability: channel consistency, cross-channel and social media. Accordingly, retailers should ensure consistent performance across all channels (e.g. product variety, product availability, delivery time and price). Besides, they should ensure effective delivery and collection options across channels. Finally, retailers should provide continuous social media support.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper introduces the term \"omni-channel capability\" and tests its validity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of logistics service quality (LSQ) on omni-channel capability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey was used to evaluate the new concept of \"omni-channel capability\" and LSQ from the consumer's perception. A two split sample technique was used to validate omni-channel capability and test the impact of LSQ on it through structural equation modeling. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to introduce, test and validate omni-channel capability, and test the study's hypotheses. Consumers who had previously shopped from both the online and physical stores of a particular retailer completed a self-administered survey.\nFindings: The findings supported the use of the term \"omni-channel capability,\" which has three elements: channel consistency, cross-channel and social media. The results also revealed the positive impact of operational LSQ on omni-channel capability.\nPractical implications: Taking consumer perceptions as a reference point, this study reveals major issues that retailers should focus on while pursuing an omni-channel strategy. The findings also highlight the need for retailers to ensure operational LSQ to implement an omni-channel management strategy.\nOriginality/value: To improve on the limited theoretical understanding and empirical grounding of omni-channel management, this study described the three elements of omni-channel capability. The impact of operational LSQ on omni-channel capability gives empirical support for the theorized hierarchy of dynamic capabilities (zero- and first-order capabilities).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The existence of buyer power in the Italian fresh milk supply chain	[ "Oligopsony", "Market competition", "Buyer market", "Fresh milk", "Price transmission" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent decades, buyer power has dramatically emerged as a relevant issue in the policy agenda throughout the world and in the presence of both perfect and imperfect competition among sellers.\n2. The Italian milk sector: The weight of the dairy sector in the Italian food gross domestic product is remarkable. In 2012, the value of dairy production in Italy amounted to 27.8 billion euros (Pieri, 2013). The quota of dairy products distributed by retailers is equal to 41 per cent of the total.\n3. The econometric model: The theoretical approach proposed by McCorriston et al. (1998, 2001) and Lloyd et al. (2009) was used in this study in order to verify the existence of buyer power in the Italian fresh fluid milk supply chain. Basically, the Lloyd et al. (2009) model is a \"first-pass\" test that only allows us to identify the presence of market power, but it is unable to estimate the level of this power. Theoretically, the model is based on estimating the role of some exogenous shocks in conditioning possible buyer power along a supply chain and taking into account both upstream and downstream prices.\n4. The data: The data were collected from different statistical databases provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics and are reported in Table I. All of the involved variables are monthly price time series collected from January 2000 to December 2013 (providing 168 monthly observations). The time series were re-indexed, adopting the base year 2000.\n5. Results: The first step was to estimate the order of integration and the stationarity properties of the univariated time series involved in the Lloyd et al. (2009) model. The test was affected in order to verify whether all variables are integrated of the same order (stationary or integrated of order zero) because the Equation (4) can be estimated through OLS only in a case in which all time series results are stationary (or integrated of order zero).\n6. Discussion: A few applications of the Lloyd et al. (2009) model to food products have appeared in the economic literature (Li and Saghaian, 2014). Substantially controversial findings have been found in testing the existence of a buyer market in an agro-food supply chain. This might depend on the real absence of distortive buyer behaviour in the market, but the lack of data or the use of non-explicative variables can affect the test's efficacy.\n7. Conclusions: In this paper, we tested the presence of buyer power in the Italian fresh milk supply chain. The application of the Lloyd et al. (2009) theoretical and methodological model allowed us to estimate that the hypothesis of perfect competition can be rejected, implying that buyer power may exist in this market. Therefore, the spread between the retail price and the milk producers' price is not solely explained by the physiological differentials that occur along the price transmission in a supply chain, but it is also derived from a buyer's market that permits retailers to obtain more favourable conditions from sellers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Buyer power can be defined as the ability to obtain trade terms more favourable than a supplier's normal trade terms. The purpose of this paper is to estimate existence of buyer power in the Italian market of fresh milk. The sector is characterised by high industrial and retail firms concentration and a significant gap between the downstream and upstream prices exists.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors applied the \"first-pass\" test proposed by Lloyd et al. (2009) on a set of monthly price indexes series from 2000 to 2013 in order to estimate if a buyer power exists in this sector. This in order to verify how prices are transmitted along the supply chain and to determine if buyer power contributes in conditioning the retail-producer price spread.\nFindings: Estimated results suggest that buyer power exists in the Italian fresh milk supply chain and oligopsonistic behaviour affects the spread between downstream and upstream prices.\nOriginality/value: The paper gives a contribute on estimation of buyer power in the agro-food supply chains. However, more research needs to be carried out in order to precisely evaluate the nature and the causes of presence of buyer power.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A closer look at the skilled labor demand increase in Brazil	[ "R&D expenditures", "Technical change", "Homothetic technology", "Skilled labour", "J24", "O15" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The macroeconomic stability seen in Brazil after the Real Plan in 1994 led to sustained economic growth. This improved Brazilian labor market but with uneven effects on workers. The share of unskilled workers in total employment and wages has fallen since the mid-1990s. The proportion of the labor force with less than basic (fundamental) education (seven years or less) was 72.9 percent in 1995 and reached 56.5 percent ten years later. In manufacturing, skilled workers became the most important category from less than 30 percent in 1996 to around 40 percent of manufacturing employment in 2003. At the opposite side of the skill scale, the share of unskilled workers fell 15 percentage points over that period, accounting for less than 30 percent of manufacturing employment in 2003.\n2. Employment trends according to skill levels and data description: This section describes the major characteristics in the Brazilian labor market in manufacturing from 1996 to 2003. We classify workers according to three educational groups. Workers with up to seven years of schooling are classified as unskilled (US); those who finished primary and high school are denoted as semi-skilled (SS) and those with some college education as skilled (SK). This differs from previous studies on Brazil. For instance, Giovannetti and Menezes-Filho (2006b) classify as unskilled those who did not finish very basic education (i.e. up to the fourth grade). Our procedure can be justified by the effective increase in the number of workers with four and seven years of schooling and by the strong sheepskin effect as pointed out in the Brazilian literature on earnings (Crespo and Reis, 2009).\n3. Exploratory analysis using decompositions: In order to explain the remarkable reduction in the number of unskilled workers vis-a-vis the increase in the number of skilled ones, researchers have turned to the skill-biased technical change (SBTC) hypothesis in developing countries. Conversely, for the case of Brazil, one can argue a simpler argument, namely strong skill supply shifts. Yet, small movements in relative wages suggest a role for demand shifts, such as SBTC or trade liberalization.\n4. Labor demand framework: Our empirical model follows a standard labor demand model by skill type (Hamermesh, 1993), assuming cost minimization in a static choice problem (or with high costs for intertemporal adjustments) and a variable cost function in which capital is assumed as fixed (or separable) input. The production function and the associated labor demand functional form must include factors related to technological progress, potentially non-neutral in the sense of Hicks and be general enough not to impose separability and/or homotheticity (Machin, 2001; Baltagi and Rich, 2005).\n5. Employment demand estimates: The system of labor cost shares estimates described in Section 4 produce a large number of parameters. To make the presentation easier, we focus the analysis on elasticities and present the complete set of coefficient estimates in the Appendix. Our results differ by estimation method (with and without instrumental variables) and different technological change proxies, for robustness analysis.\nConclusions: One of the major changes observed in the Brazilian labor market since the trade liberalization and market reforms of the 1990s has been the increase in the share of skilled worker employment, with a simultaneous decrease in the share of unskilled workers employed. Over the years under study (1996-2003), there were significant shifts in the supply of skilled workers. This contributes to explain the increase in the share of skilled employment. The period was also characterized by a decrease in skilled/unskilled relative wages. Yet, the magnitude of the relative wage shifts is too small to be explained by supply shifts only under usual labor demand elasticities values (Hamermesh, 1993). Demand shifts are required to account for the employment and wage movements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate skilled labor demand determinants in Brazil, considering alternatives explanations: changes in relative wages, non-homothetic technology output growth and skill-biased technical change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study relies on a rich and unique matched employer-employee data set for manufacturing sector, from 1996 to 2003. The analysis considers a translog functional form labor demand system estimated using seemingly unrelated regression and instrumental variables to control for possible measurement errors and wages and output endogeneity.\nFindings: The demand function estimates suggest that: labor demand underlying technology is non-homothetic, research and development investment is biased toward skilled workers, the non-homothetic technology is not skill biased so output changes contributed positively for skilled labor increase, relative wages played a significant role and international trade has little explanatory power explaining labor demand shifts.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper that considers alternative explanations for the increase in the demand of skilled workers for manufacturing in Brazil simultaneously: changes in relative wages, output changes with non-homothetic technology, skill-biased technical change and, to a lesser extent, international trade. The study challenges current empirical evidence that considers trade and trade liberalization as the main factor explaining labor demand shifts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Multi-criteria decision-making approach to evaluate optimum maintenance strategy in textile industry	[ "Decision making", "Analytical hierarchy process", "Textile industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Maintenance system plays a key role in achieving organizational goals and objectives. It contributes in reducing equipment downtime, improving quality and increasing productivity. Selection of best maintenance policy is important as the maintenance management is complex and the output of maintenance is hard to measure and quantify (Mechefske and Wang, 2001). The maintenance cost varies from 15 to 70 percent of total production cost. The maintenance costs are usually high due to the high cost of restoring equipment, secondary damage and safety/health hazards inflicted by the failure. Penalty costs are associated with loss in production and corrective/preventive maintenance. Corrective maintenance action is taken to restore the functional of failed equipment. This is a reactive and unscheduled event of an equipment failure. Reliability centered maintenance is developed when the failure cannot be prevented by overhaul (or) preventive replacement action and also the failure modes are different (Tsang, 1995). In contrast, condition-based maintenance can be a better and more cost effective than time-based maintenance (Yang, 2003). The inadequate maintenance can result in higher levels of unplanned asset failure, which has many inherent costs to the organization including rework, labor, fines for late order, scrap, and lost order due to unsatisfied customers (Moore and Starr, 2006). The maintenance policy selection is very important task for engineering industries. Improper selection may adversely affect operating budget of the company due to unplanned maintenance cost thereby reducing productivity as well as profitability. Evaluation of maintenance policy selection is approximated with few factors makes the decision unrealistic. Luce (1999) used Weibull law to evaluate the maintenance management method using maintenance cost and production loss. de Almedia and Bohoris (1995) suggested a maintenance decision-making model based on decision theory. Triantaphyllou et al. (1997) stated the demand for multi criteria decision making (MCDM) tool. Bevilacqua and Braglia (2000) have described an application of AHP for selecting best maintenance strategy for a newly proposed integrated gasification and combined cycle (IGCC) plant in an oil refinery industry. Ramadhan et al. (1999) described the use of an analytical hierarchy process in determining the rational weights of importance of pavement maintenance management system. Chan (2003) reported the ranking of the AHP is not precise enough. Hwang and Yoon (1981) proposed TOPSIS as a new multi criteria decision-making tool. This technique is based on positive and negative ideal solution, which are determined in respect to the distance of each alternative to the best and worst performing alternatives respectively. Considering the shortcomings of AHP in the selection of maintenance policy, it is necessary to develop a new evaluation scheme. The aim of this paper is to propose the combination of AHP and TOPSIS to select suitable maintenance policy for a textile spinning mill ring frame unit.The paper is organized as follows: the significance of maintenance in textile industry is briefed in section 2. Evaluation framework for maintenance strategy is detailed in section 3. AHP methodology and application of TOPSIS are illustrated and explained in following sections. Final section concludes with the inferences on the research undertaken.\nMaintenance in textile industry: The spinning mill transforms the cotton into yarn (the raw material to produce clothes in the weaving section). The spinning mill is placed in the area 15,000sq.m and produces 10,000 kg of yarn per day. In a recent investigation by the south Indian textile research association, it was found that poor maintenance was one of the major causes for low yield of yarn. It has given a report that there is considerable improvement in productivity through planned maintenance. Textile technology in spinning covers blow room, carding, draw frame comber, speed frame, ring frame, winding, fiber testing, yarn testing. Spinning is the single most costly step in converting cotton fibers to yarn. Currently 85 percent of the world's yarn is produced on ring-spinning frame. The investment cost for the ring frame is highest in a spinning mill. Because the working performance and power consumption of the ring frame depends on the specification like lift, ring dial, number of spindles. The ring frame complex machines require optimal maintenance policy in order to increase the availability of plant, reduce the maintenance cost. Each piece of machinery may have different sources energy electrical, mechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic, inertia. That need to be controlled any repair (or) maintenance work is attempted. The facility should identify energy sources, provide necessary equipment and train personnel to ensure that all the hazardous energy sources are turned off while working on equipment. In spinning mill some of the machines breakdown will affect the operation of the plant, some will concern higher maintenance cost. To shortcoming of the problem different maintenance strategy can produce the best results. Success of business is to maximize the profit choosing the right maintenance policy mix is required for different machines.\nMaintenance strategy evaluation framework: The work involves selection of maintenance policy in a ring frame unit to convert yarn-raw material is used as input to the weaving. An analysis should be made such that which maintenance policy should be selected in order to achieve the objective i.e. improving the plant availability and reduce the number of failures. The attributes and sub attributes have to be most prevalent and important in the maintenance policy selection process. Choosing the possible criteria for the maintenance policy selection involves decision-making process, which includes experts from various functional activities of the organization. Conducting survey has chosen the attributes and sub attributes involved in the maintenance policy selection. The selected attributes and sub attributes are given in Table I. During the literature survey, the selection of maintenance strategy is not listed based on TOPSIS. Therefore, a formal multi criteria decision making based approach is proposed. The evaluation of this study consists of three main steps as summarized in Figure 1:1. Identifying the maintenance strategy selection criteria, sub criteria.2. After constructing the hierarchy diagram, calculating the criteria weights by applying AHP method.3. Conducting the TOPSIS method to achieve the final ranking results.Comparing criteria\nAHP methodology: The AHP was developed first by Saaty, 1980. It is a powerful and flexible multi-criteria decision-making tool by structuring a complicated decision problem hierarchically at several different levels where both qualitative and quantitative aspects need to be considered. The AHP combines both subjective and objective assessments into an integrative framework based on ratio scales from simple pair wise comparisons and helps the analyst to organize the critical aspects of a problem in to a hierarchical structure. It has the following advantages:* it can measure the consistency in the decision maker's judgments;* instead of quantifying weights. The pair wise comparisons allowing to derive weights of criteria and scores of alternatives from comparison matrices; and* the AHP can help the decision makers to organize the criteria and sub criteria of a problem in to hierarchical structure similar to a family tree.The AHP not only helps the analyst to arrive at the best decision but also provides a clear rationale for the choices made. The technique has the advantage of being simple and thorough in handling difficult real-life problems. Briefly, the step-by-step procedure to build and evaluate the AHP structure is the following.Establishment of a hierarchy structure\nEvaluating maintenance policy by TOPSIS: TOPSIS is based on a simple and intuitive concept, it enables consistent and systematic criteria, which is based on choosing the best alternative having the shortest distance from the ideal solution and the farthest distance from the negative ideal solution. The ideal solution is regarded as the maximal benefits solution. It consists of taking the best value of alternative and the negative ideal solution is treated as the minimal benefits solution, it is composed of all worst value of alternatives. Subsequently the alternatives are ranked with respect to the relative closeness to the ideal solutions. The calculative procedure of the TOPSIS is as following.Determination of the ideal and negative ideal solutions\nResults and discussion: The hierarchical structure of the problem of the paper with the alternatives and the identified criteria is shown Figure 2. The decision model consists of four levels, the objective of the problem, criteria, sub criteria and alternatives are positioned at the high level, second level, third level and the last level respectively. The maintenance policies considered in this work are Predictive Maintenance (PM), Condition based Maintenance (CBM), Preventive Maintenance (PVM) and Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). As mentioned, the AHP methodology requires the pair wise comparisons of the criteria and sub criteria in order to determine their relative weights. These pair wise comparison matrix and consistency ratio for the pair wise comparison matrix as shown in Tables IV and V. The normalized global priority weights among four main criteria and nine sub criteria have been shown in Table VI. From the second column of Table VI, it is shown that the environment conditions related criteria has a weight of 57 percent, component failure 24 percent, training required 13 percent and flexibility 0.5 percent. The global weight of the sub criteria is shown in the Figure 3. The global weighted normalized decision matrixes of the alternatives are calculated by multiplying the normalized decision matrix and the weights are represented in the fifth column of Table VI.The computed distance between ideal solution and negative ideal solution for each maintenance policy is shown in Table VII. The ranking of the alternatives according to their relative closeness to ideal solution as shown in Figure 4. Finally predictive maintenance is the most desirable maintenance policy among four alternatives with the performance value of 0.691; Reactive Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance and Reliability Centered Maintenance have obtained at the second, third and fourth ranks with 0.4382, 0.1814 and 0.190 as the final performance values.\nConclusion: In a textile industry tremendous adoption of equipments due to proliferation of advance machines in the market needs optimal maintenance policy. The total operating budget of the firm directly influenced by the maintenance policy. The new maintenance policy is considered, when the maintenance characterization factors are changed. The maintenance strategy selection involves multifaceted factors; it needs multi criteria decision-making to evaluate the strategies. An optimal maintenance policy mix can improve availability levels of plant equipment and also avoid unnecessary investment in maintenance. Considering the imprecise ranking of AHP, the TOPSIS is used to obtain ranking of different maintenance strategies. This study services to scrutinize the critical equipments and give the most accurate decision when choosing a maintenance policy and also the case study shows that the AHP combination with TOPSIS is applicable as an evaluation technique for maintenance strategies selection problem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to select an optimum maintenance strategy for a textile industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The relative importance of multiple evaluation criteria and the extension of the TOPSIS are prioritized using AHP. The TOPSIS method is applied to compensate for the imprecise ranking of the AHP in the selection of a maintenance policy mix.\nFindings: - An efficient ranking of alternatives can be achieved for maintenance strategy selection through the combination of AHP and TOPSIS.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights a new insight into multi-criteria decision-making techniques to select an optimum maintenance policy for a process industry with the use of a case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the social and entrepreneurial development of women through Microfinance in Indian context	[ "Microfinance", "Decision making", "Women empowerment", "Entrepreneurial skills", "Self-help group" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Empowerment is the process that works on both levels that are individual and collective. Women should be acknowledged as a political force that ensures equal participation in decision making and equal control over the resources (Vasanthakumari, 2012). However, women can only be truly empowered when they are financially independent. Situation of women in India has been on the decline. The women in the labor force represent only 29 percent which has come down since 2004 when it was 35 percent. Percentage of Indian women owning valuable assets under their name is very low and even though 40 percent of agricultural labor comprises of women still only 9 percent of them have control over the land (Anon, 2018). As per the statistics, the access to account at a financial institution for women in India is much lower than that of men. Only 43.13 percent of female have access to the financial services compared to 62.76 percent in case of male (Mohan, 2017). When the women become financially independent, it also empowers them to speak for themselves and fight against the ill-treatment that they are faced with. Plight of women with no education in India is known to all and many initiatives have been taken by the agencies to improve the situation. Women usually lack the awareness and access to resources to get rid of their poverty. Due to the social customs and values, male dominance and family responsibilities, women lack the exposure of the outside world and it is a hindrance in the way of women taking up entrepreneurial activities. In fact, quite often women are not paid equally as men would be paid for the same work. Gender inequality is another challenge that needs to be dealt with in order to facilitate women entrepreneurship. Earnings of women can significantly contribute to covering the daily expenditure of the family and meeting their basic necessities. Entrepreneurs require funds for the business and mostly in case of women they do not possess collateral security to mortgage against the loan and therefore end up paying higher rate of interest to the non-institutional money lenders.\nLiterature review: Empowerment could be at the personal as well as collective level. Empowerment has been seen as a tool to measure for upliftment of the poor and marginalized section of the society (Rowlands, 2010). Empowerment relates to the perspective that unequal distribution and access to resources is the reason for social problems (Zimmerman, 2000). Empowerment would be measured by women's participation in decision making in the household and their control over the assets and income (Ali and Hatta, 2012).\nMethodology: The aim of the research is to understand the effectiveness of microfinance in upliftment of women in the underprivileged society. The area for research was the National Capital Region of India. People from across India migrate in search of job and settle in this region. Specially, women from underprivileged society, who do not have any social network and any identification to get loan from the formal sources are benefitted from the Microfinance program. It proves to be of value when the women are willing to undertake any income generating activity or they are in need of funds for household requirements. The idea was to get an understanding of the advantages of micro loans given by the Microfinance institutions. We identified Super Fine Microfinance Institution Pvt Ltd working in different suburban regions of national capital region of India. Executives from the institution were contacted to gain whereabouts of the women entrepreneurs associated with the Microfinance institution. The women were personally interviewed to obtain information required for the study. Purposive random sampling was used for data collection.\nData analysis and discussion: Factor analysis\nConclusion and policy implication: Microfinance from the larger picture has a significant impact on the economic and social aspects on the lives of women. Although the benefits are not so prominent in the short run, they are more evident in the longer run. It is successful in providing employment to women who earlier had no way of earning for themselves. However, just getting access will not lead to empowerment, the loan has to be adequately utilized for productive purpose to attain the true sense of empowerment. In the true sense, it is to be considered whether the loan is being utilized and controlled by women herself or by the male member of her family. Through Microfinance they are economically empowered which paves way for social empowerment. The study reveals that Microfinance helps women to develop Entrepreneurial skills and run their own micro-enterprise. Microfinance increases the self-confidence of women and enhances their social capital. Microfinance also enables women in their personal development. They usually have increased self-confidence and self-worth. They gain more awareness and possess increased knowledge.\nScope for future study: It was a difficult task to get the true information from the women of underprivileged society. The questionnaire consisted of in-depth questions to study the impact on women's life, for such questions the responses from few women could not be obtained as they were reluctant to give personal information. Also, in some cases women might have not shown us the clear picture of the scenario which prevented us from reaching the depth of the situation and hence impacted the final result. Due to limited access, the sample size was also limited. Future studies can target the greater sample size for deeper observation. The study mainly takes into account the development of women at individual level and mainly within the household, the larger picture of standing of women in the society can be taken for further study. This study can further be conducted in different cities and different cultures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Microfinance is seen as the tool for poverty elimination. It provides loan to that particular section of the society which is not included in the mainstream financial system. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of Microfinance on the lifestyle of women. The study is undertaken to address the question whether the Microfinance actually reach to the root of poverty and improve the standard of living for women who are considered to be the poorest of poor. This paper also aims to acquire the deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial skills which may or may not be inculcated with the help of Microfinance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on empirical data. The data were collected through structured questionnaire and purposive sampling was used. The respondents were the women beneficiaries of the Microfinance Institutions in the National Capital Region. Total of 117 women were personally interviewed to obtain the response for the questionnaire.\nFindings: Microfinance helped to develop entrepreneurial skills among the women as acquiring loan helped them start their own microenterprise and support themselves and their family. Microfinance enhanced the participation of women in the household decision-making. As a result, after obtaining Microfinance, women were found to be more socially developed and empowered. Also, the gender gap seemed to have narrowed as a result of Microfinance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of the study are limited to the National Capital Region.\nPractical implications: Microfinance will be beneficial for women and lead to their empowerment when they have control over the usage of the loan. Microfinance institutions play an important role in facilitating women to become self-reliant. With the help of this paper, one can understand the role of Microfinance in uplifting the marginalized section of the society.\nOriginality/value: The research work is authentic and original as per the understanding. This paper gives an insight into how Microfinance can not only eliminate poverty but also help women develop the entrepreneurial skills. The paper explores into the issue of how gender inequality can be addressed through Microfinance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dangerous solutions: case study of a failed e-project	[ "Complexity theory", "Electronic commerce", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: To stay competitive and improve responsiveness to changing customer demands, organizations have to think about more creative ways of using and integrating technology into their business processes (Czuchry and Yasin, 2003; Birkhofer et al., 2000). However, due to the complex nature of many e-business initiatives and a failure to take a holistic view of the impact of technology on organizational life many of these initiatives fail (Doherty and McAulay, 2002). This paper will take a critical view of a recent e-business initiative (referred to as 'eCRM') undertaken by a global technology solutions organization. The initiative was designed to link the sales, marketing, fulfilment, manufacturing, and distribution systems together in order to reduce supply chain stock levels, increase responsiveness to customer demands, and increase profit margins by providing a direct link to customers (circumventing business partners for some product lines). Unfortunately, after significant financial investment (approximately US$300 M ), and three years of development, the project was deemed a failure. The eCRM project was downgraded and re-focused on simply delivering a web-interface for on-line sales and product enquiry. The program failed to deliver against its original objectives but certain lessons can be learned about development of an e-business strategy framework. It is the contention of the author that this framework should be considered by organizations for their future complex e-business initiatives.This paper will look at how the project measured up to a set of e-business success imperatives identified by the author through comparison of success and failure factors relating to complex change around e-business initiatives as outlined by Gartner Research Group (2000), Kanter (2001) and Kotter (1995).\neCRM: a case study: The overall aims of the eCRM system were certainly ambitious, and very much in line with driving a flexible customer focused e-strategy (Leader and Sethi, 1988). The eCRM project would look to channel stock in the supply chain pipelines out to business partners and customers, and improve profitability by providing a direct route to end customers for some of the high-value products. The eCRM model would drive improvement by focusing on six key areas of performance. Not only would profit levels increase and stock cost levels decrease, but eCRM would drive significant transformation across all aspect of the business. The six key transformation areas are outlined in Figure 1.Success in these key areas, or processes, is critical if the business is to progress up the e-business evolutionary curve from an information/transaction-based organization to a transformational e-business (Gerbert et al., 2001). The project had to be managed and deployed in the correct sequence. It is no use developing the manufacturing capability if its basis for competition has not changed to allow the marketing and selling of customised products and offerings (Johnson and Scholes, 1999). Each of the areas in Figure 1 must be planned, developed and deployed in a manner that bests suits the overall business strategy and demands from the market place. Because of this, the project was managed centrally. The main project development was driven out of the North American headquarters, with input sought from the other geographies (Europe/Middle East/Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America). The geographies had responsibility to respond to the central team on local aspects of the eCRM project. The central team had responsibility for the overall scope of the project and the back office, or the eCRM 'engine', whilst the geographies had responsibility to ensure the system, once deployed, considered local and cultural aspects of how the organization interacted with customers and business partners.After three years and significant investment, the organization stopped the eCRM project with no elements of the system online or even near completion. The project was still on the drawing board with no clear date for testing or deployment. The reasons for stopping the project were based on a number of factors; the failure to deliver any working components after three years of development, the failure to provide realistic delivery dates, and the failure to prevent significant project drift due to constantly changing requirements; all aspects of change that need to be managed in order to stand any chance of embedding a successful complex change (Royal Academy of Engineers, 2004; Boddy et al., 2002).Why did the eCRM project fail to be implemented? Certainly, the aims of the project were ambitious, but this was a global technology solutions company whose business was selling complex technology-based business solutions.Although the eCRM delivery mechanism was heavily dependent on technology there were cultural, strategic, and stakeholder (employee and customer) capability issues that would also need to be considered (Strebel, 1996; Davenport, 1994).\nResearch context and methodology: The research methodology follows a critical theory approach in identifying best practice for the development and implementation of organization-wide, complex e-business solutions. The research is exploratory in nature and a case study methodology is used to support this line of inductive theory building. The findings presented in this paper are based on data collated within and across the organization's customer fulfilment, sales, marketing, and supply chain groups. The authors surveyed over 346 individuals working across those business groups directly affected by the eCRM program. A direct questionnaire was used to target as many employees as possible throughout the European, Middle East and African (EMEA) organisation. As the eCRM system is an organization-wide initiative, its success would be dependent on its acceptance not just by one group of users but by the organization as a whole (Strebel, 1996; Boddy et al., 2002).The target population for the survey covered the following groups:* Sales and marketing - throughout EMEA.* Fulfilment organisation - throughout EMEA.* Service and support organisation - throughout EMEA.* Manufacturing organisation - main site based in the UK.Out of the 1,141 individuals contacted, 346 responses were received within 10 days of the initial mailing, a 1 in 3 response rate. The breakdown in responses across the organization is shown in Table I.The author used a semi-structured questionnaire to map out the organizational landscape across which eCRM was to be deployed to help gauge why the project failed certain aspects of employee engagement and buy-in. These included as a bare minimum the following:* level of employee awareness of the eCRM system;* employee buy-in;* employee confidence in eCRM system; and* employee awareness of barriers to successful implementation.The analysis of the data has been used to understand why the project failed to deploy and meet the organization's initial success indicators. The analysis also identified where existing understanding of e-business project success factors for consideration can be refined to produce a set of new implementation imperatives. From these imperatives the author proposes a framework for developing and deploying future e-business projects.\nConsidering the cultural aspects of eCRM: On reviewing the documentation surrounding this project, it was clear that the organization took a 'systems' approach to managing this significant change event. To develop a framework for future e-business projects and preclude similar failures, one needs to consider the broader aspects of change, in particular, the nature of cultural change (Kotter, 1995; McCalman and Paton, 2000). Kotter (1995) identifies eight common errors that every organisation should strive to overcome in order to survive within a change environment, as Table II shows.The findings in Table II can be summarised as follows:* A sense of urgency has been established by the general manager.* A clear vision has been communicated, but only at a high level.* Coalition to drive implementation is strong, but is it made up of the right players? In the case of eCRM the main players are IT specialists who are not part of the Strategic Business Units (SBUs); Sales, Fulfilment, Marketing etc.* Main obstacles are not being removed because the SBUs responsible for their own process changes are too removed from the eCRM system development to react and remove the main obstacles. This is compounded by poor communication throughout.Certainly this initial view of the eCRM project from a cultural change perspective raises key points for consideration. However, this research aims to do more than identify the failure points from a cultural change perspective. We want to develop a framework that considers these failure points as part of a broader view of change. To that end it is important to consider other aspects of project failure.\nCriteria for successful e-business implementations: The main purpose of critically reviewing the eCRM project is to determine if there are any lessons other organizations can learn. Is there a set of imperatives that organizations can follow in order to improve the probability of success for their e-business initiatives? Gartner Research Group (2000) developed a set of ten imperatives that organizations' need to consider if they wish to drive a successful e-business project:1. Understand the context of e-business.2. Assign accountability.3. Identify suitable opportunities and threats.4. Evaluate your position amongst your peers.5. Identify competitive advantages and core competencies.6. Strategies and prioritise.7. Consider alternative business models.8. Identify impact on all parties.9. Recognise need for infrastructure investment.10. Aggressively lead and execute.Gartner Research Group's (2000) list of imperatives is certainly relevant, but does it fully encompass the key aspects of e-business project development? Kanter (2001) has also identified certain barriers to successful e-business implementation. What the author needs to find out is if these imperatives are relevant and complete. Before comparing the Gartner Group's list against the eCRM project, the list was compared against a list of e-business development and deployment barriers outlined by Kanter (2001), shown in Table III.All of these are very real issues that organisations need to address to provide an e-business solution in step with the needs of the business.By comparing them to perspectives on what makes an e-business implementation a success, and also considering Kotter's perspective on driving successful cultural change (Kotter, 1995) we get three additional imperatives: the identification of a suitable change agent, the need to consider the importance/benefits of strategic alliances, and the development of suitable skills to match the task. These new imperatives can be combined with the original Gartner Group list to provide an updated list of e-business imperatives (Table IV).It is against the modified list of Imperatives that the eCRM project was assessed. The questionnaire was developed to specifically target employee responses to the modified imperative list.\nA workforce perspective on eCRM: Based on the initial questions outlined in the methodology section, the survey results provided these insights on how the workforce perceived the eCRM project.Employee awareness of barriers to successful implementation\nConclusion: How does any organisation know that the information system, once delivered, still supports the business requirements? The development of an e-business strategy or solution must be reviewed in the same light as the development of any business strategy. There must be room to manoeuvre and change because change will happen (Kanter, 2001; Bensaou and Earl, 1998; Kotter, 1995). The frequency and nature of that change depends on the dynamics of the business environment and the ability of the organisation to identify and respond to the change (Hofstede, 1991; Davis and Meyer, 1998). Therefore, simply building an e-business system does not guarantee its success.Although IT is being used to drive significant and rapid organizational change, the main components for ensuring success are in this case based on the stakeholder's capabilities, the fit between technology solutions and strategy and cultural fit. Within each of these components there will be resistors. Therefore, the effective and timely management of the resistors is vitally important.The research supports the belief that complex solutions need buy-in at all levels, and must support the understood business objectives of the organization. If not, confusion over objectives, deliverables, involvement, and resources will negatively impact the project's chances of success. Considering the complex nature of the change that eCRM, involved, is it practical for organizations to consider such large initiatives, and how can they better determine their chances for success? From the research the author has identified the need to consider ten imperatives that will help organizations consider the wider aspects of such complex change projects.If an organisation uses the e-business framework in conjunction with the ten imperatives to measure their existing e-business strategy, it will help highlight key areas which need to be addressed. Unmanaged, these areas will cause problems with acceptance within the organisation, the solution's fit with the overall organisation strategy, and the fit between the technology being used and the actual requirements of the task.It is not enough to consider the imperatives as separate success factors since they are linked to each other as part of an overall e-business framework model connecting technology readiness, stakeholder competency, cultural fit, and strategic fit. For an e-business solution to result in successful implementation, all components of the e-business framework model must be considered.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This purpose of this paper is to take a critical look at a recent e-business initiative (eCRM) undertaken by a global technology solutions organization. After significant time and money invested in the initiative, the project was cancelled. This paper will identify factors that the organization should have considered as part of the development and deployment of the initiative.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is explorative in nature, and based on the case study methodology. The data was collected via an on-line questionnaire of over 300 employees across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) involved with the delivery of eCRM.\nFindings: - The research highlighted ten imperatives organizations must consider when embarking on major e-business projects. The imperatives support an e-business strategy framework that was developed through the research findings.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research was conducted across one organization only. Although the organization was large (in excess of 300,000 employees) the research findings have not been corroborated through comparative research across other, similar organizations.\nPractical implications: - The findings have allowed the organization to refine the way they define and develop future e-business projects.\nOriginality/value: - The findings as presented in this paper are a result of looking at theory relating to change, technology, strategy, and knowledge enablement. This holistic view has allowed the author to identify a broader set of impact factors for consideration when driving significant technology integration. It is the belief of the author that these impact factors (imperatives) can be applied to other organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding value creation in cultural industries: strategies for creating and managing meaning	[ "Valuation", "Meaningfulness", "Cultural product", "Culturization", "Selection system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The artwork \"Molecular Structure\" by Damien Hirst was sold at Sotheby's in London for PS285,000. An anonymous buyer paid more than PS1,000 for two Hirst-designed ashtrays in a sale of fixtures and fittings from the former Pharmacy restaurant in Notting Hill. The ashtrays were expected to sell for about PS30. - The Independent, Wednesday, 20 October, 2004\n1. Introduction: Contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst keep raising eyebrows. Their artwork, which seems to many people quite unremarkable, commands enormous prices and achieves astonishing valuation in the art market - \"it is remarkable that people would pay $9.6m for what is basically a load of old shop fittings\" (The Independent, 2004). The question that puzzles people is why one piece of artwork that does not appeal to most people so sought after by others? Why, despite conflicting opinions, do they still achieve extraordinary success? The essential question boils down to this: where do these massive valuations of these artwork come from?\n2. Characteristics of cultural products: Cultural products are \"nonmaterial goods directed at a public of consumers, for whom they generally serve an aesthetic or expressive, rather than a clearly utilitarian function\" (Hirsch, 1972, p. 641) and they are consumed in acts of interpretation (Lawrence and Phillips, 2002). These products such as film, music, visual arts, fashion, video games and performing arts, although vary greatly in their forms, share important common characteristics, which have direct implications for their valuation.\n3. Selection systems and valuation of cultural products: Value ambiguity, quality uncertainty and nearly infinite product variety, all make the valuation of cultural products rather difficult. In circumventing these difficulties, the valuation process of cultural products takes place through what are referred to as selection systems (Beckert et al., 2017; Wijnberg, 1995; Wijnberg and Gemser, 2000).\nManaging organizations engaged in cultural production: Because of the uniqueness of cultural products, managing in cultural industries is, therefore, not about efficiently producing a product but about creating and maintaining an organization that can produce and sell meaning. Managers must, therefore, deal with a new form of organization: not a capital intensive or knowledge-intensive organization, but a symbol intensive organization. These organizations are characterized by the need to manage the process of symbol creation and the continuous innovation associated with cultural production (Lawrence and Phillips, 2002).\nConclusions: Management scholars can no longer afford to ignore the cultural industry as its size and societal importance keeps growing. This industry because of its distinctive characteristics, requires a different approach to adequately understand its dynamics and to successfully manage its organizations. The growing trend in \"culturization\" of traditional products makes the task even more urgent because most organizations lack the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with this new challenge. Management scholars should, therefore, take the commercial production of culture more seriously (Lawrence and Phillips, 2002).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the valuation of cultural products and explores what this process means for organizations involved in their production and marketing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors develop the arguments using a number of mini-cases and industry examples.\nFindings: The main thesis is that the meaningfulness and value ambiguity of cultural products shift the focus of valuation away from the products themselves towards how certain agents in the socio-cultural environment identify and certify these products. This paper discuss how valuation takes place via selection systems and how the nature of cultural products drives the dominance of one selection system over others.\nResearch limitations/implications: Theories on value creation needs to take consideration of the critical role played by the selection system instead of just the firms that produce these products.\nPractical implications: Organizations engaged in producing highly symbolic products need to manage selection systems and related industry dynamics to establish an enduring competitive advantage.\nSocial implications: Value creation is a collective social efforts. Every member of the society can play a central role in this process. Better engaging various member of the society to enable them actively participate in the value creation process is what organizations today need to consider, instead of just treating individuals in the society as a \"customer\" who only passively consume. This research calls for the true empowerment of every member of the society to facilitate collective creativity and participation in the value creation endeavour that benefits the entire society as a whole.\nOriginality/value: It is the first paper that has created a conceptual link between the type of selection system and product categories. In other words, it takes existing literature on value creation and selection system one step further by creating the alignment or match between types of selection system and types of product categories. Therefore, it offers academics and practitioners a much detailed understanding on how value creation is conducted across different product categories.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Education for sustainable development beyond attitude change	[ "Education", "Sustainable development", "Attitudes", "Behavior change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The United Nations has declared 2005 to 2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and among other initiatives has, through the United Nations University, established Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) around the world. Although different countries define sustainable development differently, one frequent focus is on preservation of the natural environment. With respect to this goal of sustainability, RCEs are attempting to encourage, through education, a global population knowledgeable about and actively pursuing sustainable environmental practices. This aspect of ESD is the primary focus of the present paper, although other goals of sustainability such as social or economic development can also benefit from this general discussion.\nThe importance of attitude and intention change: Changing the attitude of world citizens is, in many cases, a necessary prerequisite to behavior change. And, although we do not always act in ways that are consistent with our expressed beliefs and attitudes, changing attitudes can sometimes alter behavior (Nickerson, 2003). For instance, there is evidence that beliefs about what is affected by environmental conditions, and about whether individual actions can alleviate such threats, influence pro-environmental behavior (Joireman et al., 2004; Stern, 2000). Thus, scientific knowledge of the consequences of environmental degradation, and public information campaigns that educate citizens about the benefit of individual action, can potentially influence behavior.Furthermore, ecological sustainability must be valued so that the effortful changes that are necessary will be undertaken and tolerated. \"People who believe... that the problem of environmental change is a fiction are unlikely to be motivated to act in environmentally beneficial ways, at least if doing so is at all inconvenient.\" (Nickerson, 2003, p. 88; see also Heath and Gifford, 2006). As will be discussed later in the paper, many necessary behavioral changes will be very inconvenient and effortful, and thus convincing people that such changes are in our collective (and perhaps personal) best interest is important.For example, changes such as reducing our use of fossil fuel for transportation, heating, and the long-distance distribution of food will require considerable delay of gratification and potentially some degree of discomfort. Delaying gratification is never undertaken without motivation, either the promise of greater reward after a period of restraint, or the threat of undesired consequences if such restraint is not shown (Mischel and Ayduk, 2004). But, even in the face of such motivation, we are not very good at postponing our immediate gratification, especially when gratification has become common, as is typically the current case in developed countries.\nIntention - behavior correlation: The view that changing attitudes or intentions will, by itself, accomplish behavior change has been common in psychology as well as in applied areas (Abraham et al., 1998; Austin and Vancouver, 1996; Dahlstrand and Biel, 1997; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993). However, a recent meta-analysis of studies that measured changes in both intention and subsequent behavior found that a medium-to-large change in intentions (d=.066) is associated with only a small-to-medium change in behavior (d=0.36; Webb and Sheeran, 2006). This means that, although behavior change was associated with intention change, behavior did not change in response to intervention as much as expressed intentions did. In other words, we do not always do what we wish or say we will do.An examination of international affairs suggests that stated intentions and actions also do not always match at the level of nations and international groups, in that it is frequently difficult to get signed treaties, such as the Kyoto Accord, enacted, monitored, or enforced. Thus, even when interventions are successful in altering values and intentions, they are not always successful at changing the related behavior. Observations such as these indicate that attitudes and intentions are not the sole, or perhaps even the primary, influence on behavior. Thus, ESD programs will be more successful if behavioral factors in addition to attitudes are addressed (Stern, 2000).\nFactors that influence the association between intentions and behavior: Research, such as that conducted by Stern, Schultz, Sheeran, and their colleagues indicates that several factors influence the strength of association between intentions and behavior (Guagnano et al., 1995; Schultz and Oskamp, 1996; Sheeran, 2002). The most widely researched factors include the specificity of intentions, contextual barriers to the intended behavior, and perceived control over the behavior or its consequences. These factors are related to two general causes of behavior, attitudes and context (Stern, 2000). As discussed in the introduction, attitude change is frequently the target of ESD programs. However, some of the characteristics of attitudes and intentions that most strongly influence behavior, such as concreteness and specificity, are often not addressed in ESD programs. With respect to pro-environmental behavior, changing contextual barriers often requires changing the attitudes of policy makers and regulators (including university boards and administrators), so attitude change programs are also necessary for this category of causes, and transferring these attitudes into action is even more important than for general citizens. Other factors that influence behavior change, either independently or in combination with attitude, are personal resources and habits (Stern, 2000). Behavioral change programs are often more successful when several of these factors are addressed, and thus each will be discussed in some detail.Attitudes\nAction plans: education beyond attitudes: Some of the factors that influence whether changed intentions lead to behavior change are likely to be influenced by education directed at attitudes and values. For instance, some barriers to action, such as social norms, will undoubtedly be reduced by education efforts. However, not all of these factors can be overcome by attitude change. Thus, in addition to directing educational efforts at values and attitudes, ESD programs should also plan education aimed at helping people translate their intentions into action. One public example of such efforts is the \"Nature Challenge\" program of the Suzuki foundation in Canada (www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge). In general, such education should have two targets: changing the public context for environmentally sustainable behaviors, and helping individuals to develop personal management plans. With respect to university communities these two targets involve infrastructure management groups, such as university boards and administrators, and ESD programs and classes.Infrastructure management\nConclusion: Knowledge of ecological maintenance processes and their interference by human activities is important, especially to motivate changes in values, attitudes, and behavior associated with ESD. However, because there is a weak correlation between intention and behavior, education related to factors that influence behavior, regardless of our attitudes and intentions, can make the efforts of ESD educators more effective. Such strategies may serve to more quickly move us toward the goal of global sustainability.This paper reviews several streams of psychological research that indicate factors which influence whether attitude change will translate into behavior change. These factors include intention specificity, action difficulty, contextual support, and habitual behavior, and each can be influenced by education. Thus, both public and university-based ESD programs should include specific strategies, such as selecting particular behavioral targets or providing model actions, to target behavior change as well as attitudes and values toward the natural environment.Weak intention-action correlations indicate two things:1. that changed intentions do not always lead to changed actions; and2. that sometimes there is behavior change in the absence of changed intentions.For those who have attitudes favoring sustainable action, ESD programs that include strategies targeting personal characteristics or the specificity of intentions can help to more successfully translate intentions into actions. Furthermore, changing the context to make environmentally sustainable behavior easier and/or more rewarding will increase behavior change regardless of one's attitudes. Thus, directing ESD efforts to decision makers who can change institutional infrastructures, regulations, and incentives such as financial benefits or social approval will have the greatest impact on sustainable behavior. For these individuals, targeting specific changes, highlighting the value of those changes, and providing support for altering habitual policy practices is particularly important. Universities, as a primary source of knowledge generation and application, are in a position to provide strong leadership in the development of sustainable communities, both through their own management and through ESD programs for the students who will be our future leaders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Many education for sustainable development (ESD) programs are designed to change attitudes and values toward the natural environment. However, psychological research indicates that several factors in addition to attitude influence behavior, including contextual support, social norms, action difficulty, and habitual behavior. Thus, if attitude change is to translate into altered behavior, education must extend beyond attitudes to assist people to act in ways consistent with their values. The purpose of this paper is to review the psychological research showing weak correlation between attitudes and behavior, the factors that mediate this relationship, and to describe the implications of these findings for university institutions and ESD programs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is organized as a review and editorial article, describing relevant research, and outlining implications and suggested actions.\nFindings: - The results of the reviewed research indicate that attitude-behavior correlations are mediated by several factors, including contextual conditions such as inconvenience and personal factors such as habits.\nPractical implications: - The implications of these findings are that ESD programs should specifically address factors that mediate the attitude-behavior relationship, including contextual changes and the development of personal management plans. Examples for each type of change are suggested.\nOriginality/value: - The implications of these findings for ESD programs have not previously been highlighted. Specifically, to achieve sustainable development requires attention to these mediating factors as well as to knowledge generation and attitude change. Thus, the value of this paper is to encourage ESD developers to expand their programs to encourage contextual change and personal behavior management plans.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Labor market performance of dropouts: the role of personality	[ "Education", "Dropout", "Unemployment", "Personality", "Employment", "Income" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Aggregate statistics and previous studies in economics have shown that education and degrees have labor market consequences in terms of earnings, employment, and labor supply (e.g. OECD, 2011, pp. 116-157). There are two main explanations for this phenomenon. First, education increases productivity and, therefore, leads to higher earnings and employment. According to this explanation, education increases individuals' human capital (Becker, 1964). Second, screening theories of education suggest that education serves as a signal of greater productivity, and this is rewarded in the labor market (Spence, 1973). The screening theory also implies that individuals with a diploma have greater labor market success than their peers with the same number of years of schooling who do not possess a diploma (the so-called \"sheepskin effect\"). Empirical studies provide support for both of these explanations. As illustrated and reviewed by Oreopoulos (2007), there are significant returns to education for those who are required to remain in school longer because of compulsory schooling laws. Supporting the second explanation, and particularly the sheepskin effect, Card and Krueger (1992), Jaeger and Page (1996), and Ferrer and Riddell (2002) report significant earnings advantages related to diplomas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on labor market careers of dropouts with various levels of education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper compares the labor market careers of dropouts and non-dropouts between ages 15 and 50 by using longitudinal data. The paper analyses how the results change when the authors control for differences in personality characteristics.\nFindings: The paper finds that dropping out diminishes one's success in the labor market but this connection is reduced when the model is augmented with personality. Dropouts seem to have or lack certain personality characteristics that are associated with labor market success. These findings suggest that dropping out is either an adverse signal of non-cognitive skills and, thus, work performance and productivity, or personality characteristics are related to preferences toward career and work orientation, or both.\nOriginality/value: The paper analyses how the impact of dropping out on labor market outcomes changes when differences in personality characteristics are taken into account. The broad definition enables us to investigate how dropping out in general is related to labor market success.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wroe Alderson, IMP and the evolution of theory	[ "Transvection", "Distribution", "Marketing", "IMP", "Alderson", "Evolution of theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The third of the workshops preceding the symposium celebrating IMP's 40th anniversary was devoted to \"theories and methods in an interactive business world\". The overall ambition with this paper is to contribute to that theme by illustrating the evolution of a particular theoretical approach. The paper focusses on the models and concepts generated by Wroe Alderson (1898-1965), who is \"credited with the honorific title \"father\" of modern marketing\" (Shaw et al., 2007, p. 448). Alderson's reputation as the founder of modern marketing was primarily attained through the two books that summarised his contributions: \"Marketing Behavior and Executive Action\" (Alderson, 1957) and \"Dynamic Marketing Behavior\" (Alderson, 1965).\n2. Alderson's theoretical apparatus: This section comprises a short review of Alderson's contributions to marketing theory. Considering the volume of his publications, this expose describes a minor part of Alderson's work and is far from complete. The selection is based on other scholars' analyses of the impact of Aldersonian theory. The review covers two parts. First, we provide a brief outline of the key areas in which Alderson influenced marketing theory. Second, we bring up some of the main concepts in his theory.\n3. Why Alderson was abandoned by researchers in marketing: Blair and Uhl (1976, p. 1) referred to Alderson's strong reputation in the 1960s, but concluded that \"Alderson's writings no longer represent modern marketing theory\". This statement appears amazing considering the praising of Alderson's contributions to what was perceived modern marketing theory only ten years before. The major reason for the fall of Aldersonian thinking can be found in two evolving schools-of-thought: the first representing \"marketing management\" and the second the \"behavioural and social approach to channels\" (see e.g. Jones and Shaw, 2002; Wilkie and Moore, 2003; Gadde, 2016). Again, we are faced with a surprise in the finding that the enhanced attention to these issues undermined Alderson's thinking. This outcome is somewhat confusing because he had been highly significant in laying the ground for these two schools-of-thought.\n4. Why IMP researchers adopted Alderson's framing: It is most likely that IMP researchers were attracted by Alderson's theoretical thinking because \"the essence of this approach [...] is holism and dynamism\" (Hostiuck and Kurtz, 1973, p. 144). These aspects were central to IMP in the ambition to develop relevant perspectives on business processes.\n5. The IMP approach and Aldersonian theory: As mentioned above, both Alderson and IMP searched for new theoretical approaches, with particular emphasis on the need to modify the view of economic efficiency. In these efforts, both perspectives called for holistic theories that could better explain business reality than prevailing atomistic models, based on fairly unrealistic assumptions. In this section we discuss how concepts from Alderson can be identified in the three central aspects of IMP's ARA model - activities, resources and actors.\n6. Alderson and the evolution of theory: In this section we discuss the third objective of the paper by bringing up issues related to the evolution of theories on the basis of experiences from the study. Previous sections indicated the significance of Alderson's contribution to the development of marketing theories. The main impact of Alderson's theoretical structure was the integration of aspects from the perspectives applied in the three dominating schools-of-thought. The functional perspective emphasised the marketing activities, the institutional perspective focussed on the organisations involved in the activities, while the commodity perspective took the point of departure in the features of the products and services exchanged between buyers and sellers. Alderson combined these views in his \"total systems approach\", in the striving for a holistic perspective on marketing and distribution. In these efforts he linked and coupled framings with various points of departure to contribute to enhanced understanding of market and marketing phenomena.\n7. Concluding remarks: The overall aim of this paper is to illustrate and analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields; why and how they emerge and why they eventually become less attractive. The study focussing on the theories of Wroe Alderson and the IMP approach provides three contributions in these respects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields: why they receive attention and why they eventually become less attractive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a literature review and focusses on the theoretical structure developed by Wroe Alderson. His contributions were highly appreciated and generally considered as \"the\" marketing theory. However, in few years his broad perspective was more or less neglected within the field where it was developed. At the same time, Alderson's basic thinking was adopted by the evolving IMP approach. The specific objective of the study is to analyse why researchers in marketing abandoned Alderson, while IMP adopted many of his ideas.\nFindings: The paper illustrates significant aspects of the evolution of theories. First, the paper shows how well-established conceptualisations, like Alderson's total systems approach, may lose impact when the focus of research shifts. Alderson's holistic framing was found too broad and all-encompassing to be useful when research attention was directed to specific aspects of marketing management and the socio-behavioural approach to distribution. Second, the paper shows in what respect IMP found support in concepts and models presented by Alderson in the challenging of fragmented mainstream framings of the business landscape.\nOriginality/value: This paper relates the rise and fall of Alderson's concepts and frameworks to the evolution of theories of other schools-of-thought. Furthermore, the study shows how Alderson's ideas were adapted to other research fields than where it was originally developed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Website quality and internal business factors: An empirical investigation in the Italian wine industry	[ "Marketing strategy", "Regression", "Survey research", "Website quality", "Econometric model", "Internal business factors", "Italian wine industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The rapid diffusion of the internet and of digital technology, over the past few years, has brought about a gradual change in the business marketing orientation of companies, which in the past was almost exclusively directed towards achieving the most profit and acquiring relevant shares on the market (Crescimanno et al., 2015). At present, marketing is primarily directed towards the satisfaction of the customer's needs and capturing a high level of customer's trust (Dominici, 2009), necessary for intensifying competitiveness on the market. Exploiting the growing popularity of the internet, which results from the rapid expansion of public access to this medium, numerous businesses have redefined their marketing strategies to establish their presence on the World Wide Web (Brychan et al., 2004), to develop a brand reputation, to make transactions with and give services to customers or simply for public relations purposes (Liao et al., 2006). As numerous empirical researches suggest, strategies of Web marketing have been widespread in various economic sectors, as they offer not indifferent opportunities for businesses.\nLiterature review and hypotheses: The wide range of opportunities offered by the internet has generated crucial changes in the business models of firms. The Web in particular has become one of the most important tools for companies which have shifted their business strategies towards e-business strategies (Oztamur and Karakadilar, 2014). E-marketing and e-commerce are two subsets of e-business strategies. The first would be also defined as a mixture of all the activities of advertising, promotion, publicity, deciding the look and feel of the product and deciding how it will be sold and sent to the customer, among others (Joseph, 2008). On the contrary, e-commerce provides the capability of not only buying and acquiring information and services but also selling products on the internet (Kaur et al., 2015).\nMethodology: To respond to the aims of this study, a two-step survey was carried out in Sicilian wineries. The reference universe consisted of 245 Sicilian companies engaged in the production of wines from grape, according to the classification of economic activities NACE 2007 (code 11.02). Starting from this population, wineries were contacted, and a questionnaire was sent to each of them via e-mail or submitted face-to-face to capture information on both the wineries (such as size, trade, organization, management and resources) and managerial characteristics (age, education level, skills and experience). A total of 104 valid questionnaires were obtained (registering a response rate of 42.4 per cent), but only 84 of these included wineries that had a website, and this subset was used for the second step of our analysis. To analyse each company's website, a questionnaire was developed taking into account the WAI proposed by Buenadicha et al. (2001) and validated by other authors (Miranda et al., 2015; Sanders and Galloway, 2013; Hernandez et al., 2009; Miranda et al., 2009; Miranda et al., 2006; Miranda and Banegil, 2004). As previously explained, this index is based on four broad categories as the basis for a quality website such us accessibility, speed, navigability and site content. All the categories and factors were weighted based on a total of 100 points that have been assigned according to the study of Miranda and Banegil (2004). In particular, as can been seen in Table I, a rating of 50 points was assigned to the content quality, 20 points to the navigability and accessibility, respectively, and 10 points were allocated to the access speed.\nResults and discussions: Our study shows a prevalence of wineries that use the internet and their own website as simply a means of communication (78.3 per cent), to promote their image, to increase their visibility online, bringing down communication costs but neglecting other possibilities that the Web may offer. Simple tools that contribute to the improvement of browsing and usability of the site are frequently neglected, as are tools for interaction with Web users. This result shows that the use of the Web by Sicilian wineries is at an early infancy stage. As many authors emphasize, this could be linked both to the difficulty of recognizing the potentialities and benefits that the Web may offer (through the interaction with users), and to the lack of specific competencies linked to the management of information technology. The number of websites through which it is possible to purchase directly online (21.7 per cent) is not negligible, considering the modest diffusion of e-commerce in the Italian food industry that, according to data of Casaleggio Associati, was 1.3 per cent in 2014 (Casaleggio Associati, 2015).\nConclusions, implications, limitations and future research: In recent years, several firms in different sectors have adopted e-business models exploiting the potential offered by ICT and particularly by the internet. Websites represent an integral part of the e-business strategy, and as suggested by numerous studies, their adoption offers some benefits which are linked to overcoming spatio-temporal limits and cost limits which are characterized by traditional means of communication. Despite the growing adoption of e-business models by several firms in different sectors, little attention has been paid to the quality of wineries' websites. In the paper, we compare e-marketing and e-commerce websites of Sicilian wineries, as e-business strategies, using the WAI model, and explore the existence of a relationship between website quality and some internal business characteristics, linked both to the firms and to the manager. Results show that the website quality is higher in e-commerce websites than in e-marketing websites, and that business revenue and the educational level of managers have a positive influence on the websites' quality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is dual. The first is to assess the quality of websites of Italian wineries, using the Web Assessment Index (WAI), and compare e-commerce and e-marketing websites. The second is to verify the existence of a relationship between the website quality and business revenue, on one hand, and the characteristics of managers, on the other.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-step survey was carried out to respond to the aims of the study. First, a sample of wineries was contacted to capture information on both the wineries and managerial characteristics. On the basis of the observed data, a second step of the analysis was performed taking into consideration 84 wineries having a website. The website quality has been evaluated by WAI, and afterwards, it has been related to the internal business factors previously identified.\nFindings: Findings show that the website quality is higher in e-commerce websites than in e-marketing websites, and that business revenue and the education level of managers have a positive influence on the websites' quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results of the study need to be interpreted within the context for which this research was designed and cannot be applied generally to all businesses.\nPractical implications: Findings have some theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical point of view, this study validates the WAI model in the wine sector. From a managerial perspective, results are useful both for wineries creating an online presence for the first time, and for those already existing which, and for system designers of websites.\nOriginality/value: Very few empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between website quality, business performance and managerial characteristics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the antecedents of online disinhibition	[ "Behaviour change", "Behaviour", "Virtual community", "Socio-technical theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Online communication frameworks are showing rapid usage and growth over the last decade; computer bulletin boards, instant messaging, video chats, and social networks are just a few examples of that. Such frameworks have become convenient for larger groups of internet users, who can connect with one another from their home computer, laptop, or mobile smartphone. One phenomenon that has been shown to be characteristic of online communication participants is the online disinhibition effect, defined as a lowering of behavioral inhibitions in the online environment (Alonzo and Aiken, 2004; Chesney et al., 2009; Hollenbaugh and Everett, 2013; Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012, 2015; Reinig et al., 1998; Udris, 2014). Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has since been found to have a correlation with uninhibited behaviors among users (Kiesler et al., 1985). Many of the human behaviors displayed online (including violence, incitement, flaming, and verbal attacks, on the one hand, and self-disclosure, kindness, and the dispensing of help and advice, on the other) may be attributed to the online disinhibition effect (Suler, 2004).\nLiterature review: Toxic disinhibition\nResearch model and hypotheses: Our model is based on six internet psychological characteristics that are mediated by deindividuation through its effect on toxic disinhibition. Also, we regard subjective norm, descriptive norm, inner containment, and outer containment as important predictors to influence toxic disinhibition. We developed the research model shown in Figure 1.\nResearch methodology: Sampling\nData analysis and results: structural model: The PLS is considered an appropriate analytical tool when the research model is in the exploratory stage and where content and variables have not been extensively tested (Chin, 2010; Hulland, 1999). The goal of this study was to build an integrated research model that synthesizes different aspects to explain the relationship between toxic disinhibition. Additionally, PLS offers significant advantages that it has minimal demands on measurement scales, sample size, and distributional assumptions (Hair, Sarstedt, Hopkins, and Kuppelwieser, 2014). On the basis of the above reasons, hypothesis testing was conducted through PLS regression analysis using SmartPLS M3 with bootstrapping as a resampling technique (5,000 random samples) that was used to estimate the structural model and the significance of the paths (Hair, Hult, Ringle, and Sarstedt, 2014). All the path coefficients and explained variances for the model are shown in Figure 2. All hypotheses are supported, with the exception of five (H3, H5, H7, H8b, and H9b). Dissociative anonymity and invisibility explain 13 percent of the variance in deindividuation. Furthermore, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, minimization of status and authority, deindividuation, social influence, and containment theory explain 33.8 percent of the variance in toxic disinhibition.\nConclusions and discussion: Drawing upon the integrated perspectives of the psychological, social, and environmental dimensions, this study developed a conceptual model to examine the influential factors in antisocial behavior online. Unlike much of the research regarding anti-normative behavior, our study provided more integrated aspects as we developed our model. We found that the psychological factors of dissociative anonymity are partially mediated by deindividuation. Additionally, asynchronicity and dissociative imagination have a positive effect on toxic disinhibition.\nImplications: Academic applications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to integrate psychological dimension, social dimension, and environmental dimension - six internet psychological characteristics (dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimization of status and authority), deindividuation, social influence (subjective norm and descriptive norm), and containment theory (inner containment and outer containment) - to propose an innovative model which can make up for deficiencies in previous studies of the toxic online disinhibition effect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: On the basis of 530 valid responses collected from an online survey questionnaire, partial least squares technology was used to examine the research model.\nFindings: The result shows that dissociative anonymity has a significant impact on deindividuation and toxic disinhibition. In addition, asynchronicity and dissociative imagination have a direct effect on toxic disinhibition. Besides, in social influence, the authors found that subjective norm is a stronger predictor of toxic disinhibition than descriptive norm. Moreover, in containment theory, the result shows that inner containment can effectively reduce toxic disinhibition but not outer containment.\nOriginality/value: This study can provide academics and practical side empirical evidence as to what factor would cause toxic disinhibition and provides an innovative view regarding the relationship between social influence and containment theory on toxic disinhibition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysis of the behaviour of the users of a package of electronic journals in the field of chemistry	[ "Electronic journals", "Information research", "Information retrieval", "Chemistry", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The ease with which it is currently possible to gather information on the behaviour of users in their use of electronic information resources has stimulated the interest of librarians in gathering statistical data for a variety of purposes.Firstly, this is useful information for assessing the results obtained from the investment in electronic resources. On the one hand, the information provides arguments for the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of the new models of acquisition. On the other hand, it is useful for the management of the collection, because it makes it easier to obtain quantitative indicators for decision-making. Simultaneously, these data can be used to justify increases in budgets for acquisition of electronic resources.Statistics of use of electronic products and information on the type of use that is given to them are also of interest for the design of library web sites (which can, for example, give greater visibility to the least-used products) and for the organisation of training activities for users (which can, for example, give priority to certain lines of action according to the observed consumption) (Duy, 2004, p. 112).The data on the use of electronic products can also be used to carry out several types of comparative studies in areas such as the use of different electronic products in different institutions, the consumption of scientific information in different areas of knowledge, and how electronic publications are used in comparison with their printed forerunners.Finally, the statistics of use are not only of interest to librarians, but also for other actors involved in the process of scientific communication: authors, publishers and members of editorial boards of publications (Peters, 2002, p. 42).As an example of the interest in the analysis of the demand, use and reading of electronic databases and journals, Tenopir (2003) has made an exhaustive bibliographic review of over 200 studies on the use of electronic resources in libraries published between 1995 and 2003, which on the whole show the rapid acceptance of this type of products and services, and the existence of differences in their use according to variables such as the discipline and the age of the users.More recently, Jamali et al. (2005) described the advantages and drawbacks of log analysis and reviewed the conclusions of over ten works that have used this methodology to study the use and users of electronic journals. In general, these jobs have offered contradictory conclusions on the volume of use of subscriptions through Big Deals, but they have shown a high degree of concentration in the use of titles and a preference for the pdf format rather than html. They have also provided interesting information on the pattern of behaviour of users and the increasing preference for searching to the detriment of browsing as a means of accessing information.Some of the most exhaustive works carried out so far are those of the Ciber group, which recently analysed the results of a deep log analysis over six months of Blackwell Synergy (Nicholas et al., 2005a). This was a particularly broad analysis in terms of the number of journals, the number of users and the geographic and disciplinary diversity. These results were complemented additionally with those obtained from the analysis of the digital library of Emerald (Nicholas et al., 2005b). The results show the differences in behaviour between scientists according to their discipline and the variation in use between heavy and light users. In other works this group has analysed the degree of obsolescence of the information consulted according to the year of publication (Nicholas et al., 2005c) and the use of value-added services (Nicholas et al., 2006).Following this line of work, in previous studies we have analysed the temporal evolution of use, the dimension of the \"consortial gain\" (understood as the level of use of products that previously no library had subscribed in paper format) and the degree of dispersion of the use of four packages of journals contracted by the Consortium of Academic Libraries of Catalonia (Urbano et al., 2004).The great availability of data on the use of electronic journals - especially compared with that of journals on paper - has not, however, led to a perfect situation. Two basic problems arise in the use of statistics on use for the above purposes: the lack of standardisation in the process of collection and the difficulties in determining the value of a product according to its use.With regard to the lack of standardisation, one must take into account that libraries are not now self-sufficient in the process of collecting data on use of electronic resources, but depend on a second level: the publishers. Though a library may obtain information on how the users browse through the web site, or which resources are most popular, once users leave the website to connect to an electronic resource, the library loses track of them and depends on the supplier to provide statistics on how the users consume the products that the institution has licensed.The problems stem from the fact that the different publishers do not observe uniform practices in collecting data on the use of electronic products and supplying it to libraries. The different publishers supply different data that are therefore not comparable, and it is not clear what is being offered due to the lack of definitions clarifying the specific meaning of the information supplied. Initiatives such as the COUNTER Project (www.projectcounter.org), that bring together publishers and librarians, must put an end to the coexistence of definitions, formats and periods of collection that are not very or not at all standardised, thus enormously hindering the real use of the data.In addition to the problem of the lack of standardisation, there is a second drawback that limits the use of data on consumption of electronic resources for managing the collection: the difficulty in determining the value of a product according to its use. This problem is aggravated by the fact that we are attempting to interpret data on the use of an electronic product when we have little information on the use of its printed forerunner.One must take into account that the raw data on use cannot be read directly, but, as stated by Hahn and Faulkner (2002, p. 217) they must be interpreted in some context and relativised according to the quality, content and price of the product. In this sense one must go beyond the simple data of use to attempt to obtain information on the value of the products as an aid in the process of managing the collection. The data of use say nothing of the quality of the resources or the type of use that is made of them (Duy, 2004, p. 126). Just as low figures of use may simply indicate that a resource is invisible to some of the users, high figures do not indicate that the users are necessarily satisfied with what is being offered to them. For example, an article may be downloaded many times because it is on the reading list for a subject, but this does not indicate that it is a more valuable text than one that is only viewed by a small group of specialists (Luther, 2001, p. 3).Furthermore, one must take into account that the volume of consumption of scientific information varies from one discipline to another, that the data on use of a publication may be incomplete because an article may be available through alternative channels to online consultation of the journal (a paper subscription, a full-text database, an author's website, etc.), and that the use of the journals may be affected by the time that they have been available, by the breadth of the electronic archive, by the design of the interface, etc.Finally, the data on use offered by some publishers say little on the use that is made of their products. Most publishers offer quantitative data on consumption by titles, but rarely incorporate information on, for example, the paths followed by users to reach the products or how they browse through the different options, and it is difficult to make a thorough study of the individualised behaviour of users who are concealed behind aggregate statistics.One of the strategies for overcoming this limitation is to consider the data of consumption by IP address to be representative of the behaviour of individualised users, though this is an equivalence that does not always hold. In this line, Davis and Solla (2003) made an analysis at IP level of the data on consumption of 29 journals of the American Chemical Society (ACS) during a period of three months in order to draw inferences on the behaviour of the users. Later, Davis (2004a) analysed the referral of URLs to ACS journals in order to find out the ways in which users accessed journals. More recently, he analysed the consumption of titles of HighWire in 16 institutions in 2003 in order to confirm the existence of a predictive relationship between the number of article downloads and the number of users (Davis, 2004b).This work analyses the data on use by IP address of 31 journals of the ACS at the University of Barcelona in 2003. It analyses the data of sessions, articles downloaded and abstracts viewed. This study has two aims. Firstly, it analyses the use of the package in order to obtain information on the behaviour of the users - dispersion in the consumption of individuals and titles, preferences for the use of the pdf and html formats, differences in the consumption of full-text articles and abstracts, etc. It also aims to determine whether the results obtained coincide with or differ from those obtained in other works, with the added value that the data are from a geographical area different to the habitual one, in which no studies of this type have been made previously. Most works on consumption of scientific information based on log analysis have been made in the Anglo-Saxon area and very few have been made in other contexts, with a few exceptions such as Taiwan (Ke et al., 2002) and Italy (Gargiulo, 2003).The results show that a minority of users consume a great amount of information and that most of the users make little use of the titles. A greater dispersion of the consumption of electronic information than that existing in the paper world is also observed. Finally, it is determined that the consumption of abstracts may be a good indicator of the number of regular users of a journal.\nMethodology: This study analyses the data supplied by the publisher on the use of 31 journals of the ACS at the University of Barcelona in 2003. The list of journals can be found at: http://pubs.acs.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/about.html. The publisher offers the libraries subscribing to its publications data on use by title and by IP address of all the journals and of the ACS Journal Archives, which include the articles published from the first number of a publication to a given date. The list of journals included in the ACS Journal Archives and the period covered for each title can be found at http://pubs.acs.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/archives/. Thus, given that it is not strictly a title, to carry out this study the data of user sessions (SES), articles downloaded (FTD) and abstracts viewed (ABS) corresponding to the ACS Journal Archives were eliminated.The population of potential users of the set of titles comprises the 4,500 lecturers and researchers and 63,000 students of the University of Barcelona. However, due to the specialisation of the package of journals analysed, it is to be assumed that its main target users are the lecturers, researchers and students of the Faculty of Chemistry, which comprises almost 250 lecturers and researchers belonging to 29 research groups assigned to the Faculty, in addition to 2,000 students. They also include students of chemistry subjects on other degree courses such as Biology, Geology, Medicine or Pharmacy.For each journal we have the data of user sessions, articles downloaded (in html or pdf format) and abstracts viewed broken down by IP addresses. As stated above, in this study we considered each IP address to be equivalent to a user, though they are not equivalent concepts. In fact, an IP address represents a single computer, so sometimes - especially in the case of computer classrooms, libraries or proxy servers - the IP addresses conceal multiple users.Log analysis offers important advantages for analysis of use and analysis of the characteristics of electronic journal users. As stated by Jamali et al. (2005), it is mainly a method for gathering data automatically, non-intrusively and without filters. However, it also has some drawbacks. Firstly, as stated above, it is difficult to identify the users, because an IP address need not correspond to a single user. However, for the period in which the data were obtained, the computers of the University used static IP addresses, thus avoiding at least the distortions produced by dynamic addresses assigned by DHCP, which means that users continually change their IP address and that two different users share an IP address at different times. One must also bear in mind the existence of a proxy server that represents the aggregate consumption of a set of users who can also consult information from IP individual addresses. This problem was considered, for example, in a study by Ke et al. (2002, p. 269) on search processes in the ScienceDirect package of journals. The fact that almost half of the full-text views were made from the 100 most active IP addresses showed that many users were concealed behind a proxy. Finally, one must bear in mind the difficulty of correctly measuring the use made through the cache options of browsers.\nResults: Sessions\nDiscussion and conclusions: Log analysis offers very interesting information about the consumption of electronic products that is useful for managing digital libraries: acquisitions, organisation of the resources, marketing, etc.In spite of the problems inherent in the use of this methodology - associated with the inability to establish an exact correspondence between an IP address and a user and the effects of proxies and cache options - the results obtained by analysing the consumption of a package of chemical e-journals at the University of Barcelona has provided the opportunity to better understand users' behaviour as they consume e-journals in this institution and to establish that this behaviour does not vary significantly from that observed by studies undertaken in other geographical contexts.The consumption of information is concentrated in a small group of IP addresses\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to analyse the behaviour of the users of a package of electronic journals using the data of consumption per IP address.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper analyses the data of consumption at the University of Barcelona of 31 electronic journals of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2003. Data of sessions, articles downloaded and abstracts viewed were analysed.\nFindings: - Most of the consumption was concentrated at a few IP addresses, and most of the users made little use of the information available. There was found to be a greater dispersion of the consumption of electronic information than of information on paper. Finally, it was determined that the number of abstracts viewed is a good predictor of the number of regular users of a journal.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers new data on behaviour in the consumption of electronic information and presents a method for determining the number of regular users of a journal from the number of articles viewed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The contested instruments of a new governance regime: Accounting for nature and building markets for biodiversity offsets	[ "Governance", "Accounting for biodiversity", "Biodiversity offsetting", "Ecological accounting", "Social studies of marketization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Biodiversity loss has been recognised as one of the most serious aspects of the ongoing environmental crisis in both academic and policy literature (MEA, 2005; Pimm et al., 2014; Seto et al., 2012; TEEB, 2008, 2010; Yule et al., 2013). Scientists, policymakers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses and civil society groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the rate at which biodiversity is being lost. The scale of the problem is extremely serious: for example, the November 2015 update of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species indicated 23,250 species threatened with extinction, out of a total of 79,837 species assessed (IUCN, 2015). In this context, there is growing interest in policies which aim to reduce biodiversity loss, especially around governance initiatives. Commenting on this issue, Liverman (2004) identified three main questions for the future of environmental governance regimes: who governs; at what scale; and at what price. Agents, spaces and values are thus three important dimensions in the evolving governance of biodiversity. This paper argues that equally important to the discussion are the assemblages in which agents, spaces and value come together to govern biodiversity: the mechanisms by which agents calculate the value of biodiversity at a given scale. In particular, the paper explores how accounting for biodiversity can be employed as a mechanism for creating market-like biodiversity governance mechanisms, but also the tensions and contradictions it suffers.\nMarkets and accounting: governance, calculation and contestation: The creation and expansion of markets as governance mechanisms has been characterised as a fundamental aspect of the neoliberal project (Birch and Siemiatycki, 2015; Peck, 2012). Two aspects appear intrinsic to the neoliberal project (Barnett, 2005; Brenner et al., 2010): first, that neoliberalisation is the result of a deliberate collaboration between capital and states. Neoliberalisation advances by rolling back existing regulations which go against the interests of capital, and rolling out new regulations which promote the process of capital accumulation (Castree, 2008; Pawliczek and Sullivan, 2011). Second, that because markets favour the interests of capital, the neoliberal project would advance through the marketisation of hitherto-unmarketed aspects of economic and social life (Castree, 2011; Robertson, 2004, 2006, 2007). This view suggests that the origin of markets can be found in the political project to use them as the key tool for governance practice. Ontologically, this perspective assumes that markets can be conceptualised as independent objects, to be created according to the agency and objectives of political and economic actors. In contrast, research in the fields of economic sociology and social studies of science has suggested an alternative view, which sees markets as embedded in economic sciences. Rather than simply describing the economy, economics is responsible for imagining it and producing the tools which contribute to its creation, guiding agents' actions in the process (Callon, 1998b, 2007). Markets are, in this view, socio-technical constructions, originating from the discourses, data, models and tools produced by the discipline of economics (Garcia-Perpet, 2007; MacKenzie, 2007). This thesis of the performativity of economics implies that to understand markets requires researching how the agents, entities exchanged and rules of exchange are constituted (Breslau, 2013; MacKenzie, 2009c). Of particular interest is the concept of calculation.\nResearch approach: The empirical materials for this paper are drawn from a single case study (Yin, 2009), of an existing economic experiment in the creation of a biodiversity offsets market, the Biodiversity Offset Pilots scheme in England. The case study approach was selected for two reasons: first, it provided a broader, contextual analysis of the phenomena explored. Case study research allows complex phenomena to be analysed with reference to the socio-political and economic context within which they take place, understanding how and why social phenomena take place (Yin, 2009). The analysis followed what Sayer (2000) described as an intensive research approach: focusing on how causal processes work in a limited number of cases, and understanding the action of individual agents within those causal contexts. Second, the case study approach allowed for the use of multiple sources of evidence to converge the data and corroborate findings, in a process of methodological and data triangulation (Stake, 1978, 2000; Yin, 2009).\nResearch findings: The failure to build a market: politics, knowledge, and commodity\nConcluding comments: The project to implement biodiversity offsetting in the UK sought nothing less than to fundamentally reorganise the relationship between the environment, the economy and society. In particular, it attempted to subordinate the governance of biodiversity to the economic imperative of efficiency, streamlining planning and helping deliver economic growth. In the event, the political project of market creation failed to account for the resistance posed by biodiversity itself: as an externality, the living, moving biodiversity proved resistant to attempts to commodify it. The most sophisticated standards of ecosystems accounting could only measure and quantify biodiversity, but failed to separate it from the restricted contexts of space and time which it depended on. These contexts are not only biophysical - the irreplaceable habitats highlighted by critics of offsetting (Bull et al., 2013; Burgin, 2008; Devictor, 2015; Gordon et al., 2011); they refer also to the (local) political and cultural aspects which constitute important dimensions of biodiversity. The calculative devices developed proved incapable of accounting for those dimensions: They could calculate (some of) the biological components of a given ecosystem, but could not abstract or valuate the social, cultural and political dimensions of that ecosystem. Due to its complexity, biodiversity consistently resisted attempts to frame it as a commodity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the processes involved in the creation and eventual demise of a market for biodiversity offsets in the UK. The reasons for the failure of this market to take hold as a governance mechanism are considered, and its subsequent effects examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research examines a single case study of the creation of a pilot market for biodiversity offsets in the UK. Data include policy and industry papers, complemented with interviews with biodiversity offset practitioners, regulators and non-government organisations.\nFindings: The case study demonstrates that a market for biodiversity offsets was piloted with the intent to contribute to the reform of the UK planning regime. However, disagreements about this political project, uncertainties in the knowledge base, and continued entanglements with existing biodiversity meant it was impossible to stabilise the assemblages necessary to support the market, leading to its eventual demise. However, the principles and devices of offsetting have proved more resilient, and have started to combine with the existing arrangements for the governance of nature.\nPractical implications: The paper presents a situation where a political project to reform governance arrangements through the creation of a market was not successful, making it of interest to researchers and policymakers alike.\nOriginality/value: While biodiversity offsetting has been widely discussed from scientific, legal and political perspectives, this paper addresses it as a market, explicitly designed to become a part of a governance regime. It also advances the understanding of the mechanisms by which similar processes of marketisation can fail, and suggests avenues for future research in those contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving service quality through customer journey analysis	[ "Customer journey", "Customer experience", "Service quality", "Empirical study", "Service improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Providing customers with quality experiences has been proven to be a sustainable, competitive advantage with a clear financial impact for companies (Fornell et al., 2006). With the rise in the service economy, the success of service providers now depends on their ability to provide customer-centric services (Gustafsson and Johnson, 2003). The importance of perceived service quality (Edvardsson, 1998, 2005) and customer experience (Walter et al., 2010) is widely acknowledged. However, customers' encounters with service providers often represent fragmented and frustrating experiences that manifest as repeated customer service inquiries, low customer satisfaction, and lost revenues (Meyer and Schwager, 2007).\nBackground: Interactions between a customer and a service provider are conceptualized and portrayed differently across academic disciplines. With the growing demand for high-quality service, the concept of customer experience has become increasingly essential. However, there are diverging views on the interpretation and scope of customer or user experience (Palmer, 2010; Johnston and Kong, 2011; Law et al., 2009). One reason for this might be that user experience can be viewed as a phenomenon, a field of study, and a practice of designing user interfaces (Law et al., 2009). A service encounter always results in an experience, regardless of how ordinary or mundane the service may be. Thus, customer experience should not be attributable only for experience-centric services that are designed to engage (Sandstrom et al., 2008; Johnston and Kong, 2011). In fact, a customer's experience can be satisfying by virtue of being trouble-free and, hence, reassuring (Meyer and Schwager, 2007). User experience research shows that experiences may vary over time depending on the user's internal state and the context in which the artifact is experienced (Law et al., 2009). Consequently, an experience is subjective, dynamic, and context-dependent. Despite the growing activity in user experience research, methodological challenges in capturing the dynamic nature of experiences remain to be resolved (Karapanos et al., 2009). In particular, these methodological challenges concern the need to take into account both the contextual aspects of the service, as well as the sequencing of the events in the service process and how these are perceived and interpreted by the customer (Palmer, 2010). Moreover, because multichannel perspectives on digital services are not prominent in the human-computer interaction (HCI) literature (van Dijk et al., 2007), there is a need to broaden the perspective when addressing long-term experiences in multichannel service environments. The customer journey construct, which focuses on the customer's experiences and explicitly addresses the multichannel nature of services, should therefore be especially suited for the analysis of service quality in multichannel environments.\nThe customer journey framework (CJF): Principles and modeling approach\nCustomer journey analysis (CJA): CJA has been developed for empirical investigations of service delivery processes from the customer's perspective, and it adopts CJF's concepts and modeling approach. CJA draws on a case study approach (Yin, 2009) involving an examination of experiences and phenomena in their natural context using multiple data sources, and it emphasizes qualitative data and analysis (Lazar et al., 2010). The CJA procedure is divided into five phases, as illustrated in Figure 3. Phases 1 and 2 establish a common understanding of the target of the analysis, and to identify and model planned journeys. Phases 3 and 4 concern data collection and reconstruction of the corresponding actual journeys. Finally, Phase 5 is devoted to systematization of results and deviations across the study.\nApplication of CJA for service improvement: Telenor serves customers through several parallel channels such as retail stores, call centers, websites. Some of the onboarding journeys are complex, as they involve multiple channels and take place over an extended period of time. Since 2009, a number of CJA studies have been conducted in Telenor to establish the \"as-is\" picture of the service delivery as a foundation for service improvements and future redesign. The motivation behind most studies has been to reveal reasons for a high number of customer inquiries, or a high churn rate.\nDiscussion: In this paper, we have introduced CJA as a novel approach for the analysis of service delivery processes, supporting comparisons of the delivery process as planned by the service provider with the delivery process as experienced by the customer. Furthermore, we have presented CJF, which provides the conceptual basis for CJA.\nManagerial implications: Service provisioning through multiple electronic channels has become a permanent requirement for most service companies. One of their main challenges is to prevent service delivery channels from being run as isolated units with separate organizational and technical structures. To mitigate these challenges, we have introduced CJF as a lens for viewing services from the perspective of customers. Through case studies in a global telecommunication company, we have exemplified how CJF can be used to model and examine service delivery. In particular, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of CJA in revealing inconsistencies during service delivery through a longitudinal analysis of customer experience on an individual level. CJA, by modeling individual journeys, reveals systematic deviations in touchpoint sequences, the occurrence of ad hoc touchpoints, the occurrence of failing touchpoints, and correlations between these.\nConclusion and future research: We have introduced CJA, a novel approach that integrates existing methods from usability and HCI for the purpose of analyzing individual service experiences over time in a multichannel environment. CJA differs from other process-oriented methods in the following ways: it is based on a formalization of the process steps, supporting precision, and reliability; it enables analysis of individual service experiences in comparison to planned service delivery, and it supports analysis of how service experiences are shaped in time by capturing both concurrent and retrospective customer experiences. CJA has proven to be effective in detecting inconsistencies during service delivery, and reveals systematic deviations in touchpoint sequences, the occurrence of ad hoc touchpoints, the occurrence of failing touchpoints, and correlations between these.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework based on customer journeys for a structured portrayal of service delivery from the customer's point of view. The paper also introduces customer journey analysis (CJA) for empirical investigation of individual service experiences in a multichannel environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents case studies for onboarding new customers on broadband services. CJA starts with modeling of the service process in terms of touchpoints. The individual customer journeys are reconstructed through methodological triangulation of interviews, diary studies, and process tracking.\nFindings: The paper provides empirical insights into individual customer journeys. Four types of deviations during service delivery are identified: occurrence of ad hoc touchpoints, irregularities in the sequence of logically connected touchpoints, occurrence of failures in touchpoints, and missing touchpoints. CJA seems effective in revealing problematic and incoherent service delivery that may result in unfavorable customer experiences.\nPractical implications: For a service company, the proposed framework may serve as a unifying language to ease cross-departmental communication and approach service quality in a systematic way. CJA discloses the gap between the planned and actual service delivery and can be used as a tool for service improvement.\nOriginality/value: The framework provides concepts, definitions, and a visual notation to structure and manage services in terms of customer journeys. CJA is a novel method for empirical studies of the service delivery process and the associated customer experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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