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Brand strategies in social media in hospitality and tourism	[ "Social media", "Brand building", "Text mining", "Tourism and hospitality", "Literature analysis", "Brand strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rise of social media with the dawn of the new millennium has provided new ways for exchanging feedback on products and services. Such event has driven a huge increase in customer empowerment (Pires et al., 2006), with customers now having a vast number of instantaneous tools to influence others with their opinions, recommendations or complaints. The incorporation of social media in brands' strategies worldwide is now mandatory for companies to thrive in a smaller world where competition can be next door or in the other side of the world (Tsimonis and Dimitriadis, 2014). Social media can appear in several formats such as social networks, blogs, online channels and online reviews (Leeflang et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Literature analysis\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Literature selection\n4. Results: In this section, the results are shown and discussed. Topic modeling requires that the number of topics is provided as an input. Following the suggestion of Moro et al. (2015), this number was set to 12 for the broader analysis on branding generic concepts to social media and to seven for the specific industry and social platform based analysis. The resulting topical maps are shown on Figure 4 for the former analysis and on Figure 6 for the latter.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present an automated literature analysis to unveil the drivers for incorporating social media in tourism and hospitality brand strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To gather relevant literature, Google Scholar was queried with \"brand\"/\"branding\" and \"social media\" for articles in ten top-ranked tourism and hospitality journals, resulting in a total of 479 collected articles. The methodology adopted for the analysis is based on text mining and topic modeling procedures. The topics discovered are characterized by terms belonging to a dictionary previously compiled and provide a segmentation of the articles in coherent sets of the literature.\nFindings: Most of the 213 articles that encompass a strong relation between social media and branding are mentioning mainly brand building stages. A large research gap was found in hospitality and tourism considering that, besides advertising, no topic was discovered related to known brand strategies such as co-branding or franchising.\nPractical implications: The present analysis concludes that specialized tourism and hospitality literature needs to keep pace with research that is being conducted on a wide range of industries to assess the influence of social media.\nOriginality/value: The automated analysis approach used has no precedent in tourism and hospitality research. By including an innovative topical concept map, it led to identifying and summarizing the topics, providing a clear picture on the findings. This study calls for research by specialized tourism and hospitality publications, eventually leading to special issues on this vibrant subject.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Framework for financial hardship indebtedness management in abandoned housing projects in Malaysia	[ "Islamic home financing", "Abandoned housing projects", "Financial hardship", "Home buyers", "Housing developer", "Indebtedness management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Shelter as a basic human need underlies the efforts exerted by prospective home buyers and other stakeholders in housing development projects. Thus, incomplete home construction projects - technically known in Malaysia as abandoned housing projects (AHPs) - beget issues and challenges, especially to key stakeholders like home buyers, banks, the community, the government and the environment.\nResearch objectives: This paper aims to realize the following objectives:\nResearch methodology: This research employs the qualitative research method using the inductive analysis approach. Data collection involved both primary and secondary data. The primary data included semi-structured interviews, as well as statutory laws, regulatory guidelines and policy documents. Through a series of semi-structured interviews conducted from January 2017 to March 2017 with five Islamic banks in Malaysia, pertinent Shari'ah issues have been identified. The representatives of the five Islamic banks include officers from Shari'ah, legal, recovery, product and finance departments. In addition to these, the President of the Abandoned Property Owners Association Malaysia (Victims) has been interviewed.\nKey findings and discussions: A number of key findings have been identified through the interviews of the participating respondents regarding the genesis of AHP, treatment of the customer by Islamic banks, Shari'ah concepts applicable to Islamic home financing and the relevant legal and regulatory framework affecting AHPs. The key findings from the fieldwork can be categorized into five themes, discussed as follows.\nKey Shari'ah principles: The guiding framework proposed in this research is formulated based on the following three fundamental Shari'ah principles:\nConclusion and recommendations: The paper concludes that acute effects of financial hardship indebtedness arising from AHPs can be effectively managed based on three fundamental Shari'ah principles, namely, justice, public interest and removal of hardship. In view of the findings highlighted above, both short- and long-term solutions have been recommended based on the Shari'ah principles to address the financial hardship of AHP customers and enhance existing practices and the treatment of AHP customers by Islamic banks. The short-term solutions mainly deal with the bank-customer relationship. The long-term solutions comprise policy amendments and enhancements as well as the establishment of AHP customers' protection funds and home completion takaful certificates.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the existing practices and pertinent issues affecting Islamic banks and their customers in abandoned housing projects (AHPs) to ensure compliance with Shari'ah and statutory requirements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study employs the qualitative research method using the inductive approach to analyze both primary and secondary data and sources. Data collection involved a series of semi-structured interviews with five volunteering Islamic banks and a representative of Abandoned Property Owners Association Malaysia (Victims). Statutory acts, regulatory policies, guidelines, directives and standards were also analyzed.\nFindings: The result indicates developer's default, underlying contracts, regulatory arbitrage and bureaucracy, attitudinal disposition of customers and sell-then-build approach as major factors of AHP's conundrum.\nPractical implications: This study has suggested both short- and long-term solutions based on the principles of justice, public interests and removal of hardship to resolve and effectively manage financial hardship indebtedness arising from housing abandonment. Further, part of the proposed solutions would also reshape housing development policies and home financing transactions.\nOriginality/value: The quest for this research demonstrated Islamic banking industry's initiatives to find lasting solutions to perennial issues of AHPs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On the impact of connected automated vehicles in freeway work zones: a cooperative cellular automata model based approach	[ "Connected and automated vehicles", "Cooperative cellular automata model", "Microscopic traffic flow models", "Work zone" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nNomenclature: Gn,t\n1. Introduction: A work zone is a partially closed road section due to periodic maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction, bringing negative impacts on traffic performance, such as, accident, congestion, long travel time and dissatisfaction among road users (Meng and Weng, 2011). The number of the through lanes declines; as a result, the traffic capacity is significantly reduced because of not only lane closure but also lane-changing activities (Laval and Daganzo, 2006; Qu et al., 2015). Vehicles on non-through lanes have to merge into through lanes; otherwise, vehicles need to decelerate or even stop due to the existence of the work zone; in other words, lane-changing maneuvers become compulsory for those vehicles on non-through lanes. It makes the situation even worse when a large number of vehicles merge into a same target lane without cooperation. Indeed, the presence of a work zone can increase not only the possibility of traffic accidents happening but also the travel time due to the boost of density (Wang et al., 1996; Rouphail et al., 1988; Khattak et al., 2002; Garber and Zhao, 2002; Meng and Weng, 2011).\n2. Model development to simulate the movement of the manually driven vehicle: 2.1 Site description\n3. Model development to simulate movements of connected and automated vehicles: 3.1 Following model\n4. Case study: 4.1 Model calibration\n5. Conclusion: Work zones bring negative impact on freeway traffic, and a number of problems emerge, such as long travel time, high speed variation, driver's dissatisfaction and traffic congestion. In this research, for the first time, we develop a CCAM introducing a collaborative component of CAVs to simulate a highway work zone system. Results are collected from different penetration rates for comparison purposes, and positive effects are demonstrated. The average travel time decreases by 25 and 50 per cent when penetration rate reaches 34.1 and 62.25 per cent, respectively. The variability of these indicators also has significant decrease as the penetration rate of CAVs goes up. We also extract some of the trajectories to analyze the reason for these improvements, and it clearly reveals how CAVs harmonize traffic flow dynamics.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Freeway work zones have been traffic bottlenecks that lead to a series of problems, including long travel time, high-speed variation, driver's dissatisfaction and traffic congestion. This research aims to develop a collaborative component of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) to alleviate negative effects caused by work zones.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed cooperative component is incorporated in a cellular automata model to examine how and to what scale CAVs can help in improving traffic operations.\nFindings: Simulation results show that, with the proposed component and penetration of CAVs, the average performances (travel time, safety and emission) can all be improved and the stochasticity of performances will be minimized too.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research that develops a cooperative mechanism of CAVs to improve work zone performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing knowledge in the construction industry through computational generation of semi-fiction narratives	[ "Training", "Knowledge management systems", "Construction industry", "Learning", "Narratives", "Artificial intelligence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Individuals always learn from predecessors to benefit from lessons learnt and to support decision-making processes. McKenzie et al. (2011) proposed a guide for managers to improve their decision-making capability. Garcia-Perez et al. (2015) developed a new approach to elicit knowledge from experts to support decision-making processes in railway industry. The narrative is regarded as one of the important means to facilitate people to reflect from their lives and gain lessons learnt (Biesta et al., 2008). Learning from previous experience is important in high-risk industries, as it is one of most the proactive methods in preventing problems from occurring and preventing potential harm to individuals (Carroll et al., 2002). However, lessons learnt are limited and expensive, as they are formed from the occurrence of accidents which may lead to injuries or fatalities. Investigators usually take three to six months to compile publications with three to six short narrative texts for lessons learnt (Hospital Authority, 2015). The traditional approach to construct narratives for lessons learnt is labor-intensive and a time-intensive task. In high-risk industries, narratives are produced after people suffer from incidents. An alternative method to facilitate construction of narratives regarding lessons learnt is needed nowadays.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Knowledge management in organizations\n3. Methodology: This study attempts to present a novel systematic and semi-automatic approach to facilitate the narrative generation process which aims to generate new plausible narratives from existing narratives and narrative fragments. Figure 3 shows the framework of the computational narrative semi-fiction generation (CNSG) approach. It includes narrative gap identification (NGI), narrative fragment recommendation (NFR) and user construction. A CNSG system is built that is capable of automatically identifying narrative gaps from the raw narrative texts, and suitable narrative fragments are then proposed for generating new semi-fiction-based narratives. The narrative fragments are collected from previous narrative texts, domain regulations and instructions. Suitable narrative fragments are proposed by the CNSG system based on the identified narrative gaps. Users can then select suitable narrative fragments to construct narratives. They may add, delete and replace the original narrative contents to generate new narratives.\n4. Findings: The CNSG approach was developed, and its prototype, the CNSG system, has been built. To evaluate the performance of the CNSG approach in real life, a high-risk industry in Hong Kong was selected as a reference site. The construction industry is regarded as one of the highest-risk industries in the world as realized by its high number of fatalities and accident rate (Yeung et al., 2014; Al-Humaidi and Tan, 2010). The Labor Department in Hong Kong (2014) also reported the highest number of fatalities, and accident rate was recorded in the construction industry based on the latest statistics.\n5. Discussion: Domain experts were invited to evaluate the content of each new semi-fiction narrative in Experiment 1. The findings of Experiment 1 are shown in Tables VII- IX. Figure 11 shows the distribution of the feedback of Q1 to Q17 of the CNSG approach. Based on the findings of Experiment 1, the majority of the respondents agreed that the CNSG approach can generate narratives with appropriate length. The narrative content generated by the CNSG approach was informative, realistic and authentic. The narrative texts generated by the CNSG approach were properly written. The CNSG approach could properly link the events in the narrative. As the new semi-fiction narratives were constructed based on existing narratives or incidents in the construction industry in Hong Kong, the contents of the narratives were veracious and organized with suitable information.\n6. Conclusion: This study presents a review of the narrative generation approach and system. Narratives generated by most of the tools are mainly fiction used for entertainment. Limited numbers of them are developed for learning or teaching novices to make decisions. To develop a cost-effective approach to retain organizational knowledge and generate new narratives to support individuals to gain lessons learnt and learn how to make decisions, this study presents a novel methodology to generate narratives. A CNSG approach and its prototype, the CNSG system, were developed and successfully implemented in a statutory body in the construction industry in Hong Kong. The performance of the CNSG approach is found to be effective in facilitating new narrative generation from existing narrative sources and generates synthetic semi-fiction narratives to support and educate individuals in learning how to make decisions. Domain experts in the construction industry agreed that the new narratives generated by the CNSG approach can help students learn and remember important things and learning points from the narratives. A total of 75 per cent of the respondents agreed that the new narratives generated by the CNSG approach can be classified as a new narrative for training and learning.\nAcknowledgement: The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. PolyU 5,145/09E). The authors would also like to express their sincere thanks to the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for its financial support for this research work. Many thanks are also due to the Construction Industry Council (CIC) of Hong Kong for its technical support of the work (Ref. no. RPKX).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Narratives are useful to educate novices to learn from the past in a safe environment. For some high-risk industries, narratives for lessons learnt are costly and limited, as they are constructed from the occurrence of accidents. This paper aims to propose a new approach to facilitate narrative generation from existing narrative sources to support training and learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A computational narrative semi-fiction generation (CNSG) approach is proposed, and a case study was conducted in a statutory body in the construction industry in Hong Kong. Apart from measuring the learning outcomes gained by participants through the new narratives, domain experts were invited to evaluate the performance of the CNSG approach.\nFindings: The performance of the CNSG approach is found to be effective in facilitating new narrative generation from existing narrative sources and to generate synthetic semi-fiction narratives to support and educate individuals to learn from past lessons. The new narratives generated by the CNSG approach help students learn and remember important things and learning points from the narratives. Domain experts agree that the validated narratives are useful for training and learning purposes.\nOriginality/value: This study presents a new narrative generation process for a high-risk industry, e.g. the construction industry. The CNSG approach incorporates the technologies of natural language processing and artificial intelligence to computationally identify narrative gaps in existing narrative sources and proposes narrative fragments to generate new semi-fiction narratives. Encouraging results were gained through the case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating gender wage gap in employment: A microeconometric type-analysis for Cameroon	[ "Gender", "Self-employment", "Wage gap", "Quantile regression", "Cameroon", "Paid-employment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: At the World level, the labour force participation rates of both women and men have decreased over the last two decades (see World Bank, 2016). However, in some regions (Northern, Southern and Western Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean), the participation rate of women has increased, thereby narrowing the gender wage gap, as such the gender wage gap remains considerable in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and Cameroon in particular (International Labour Organization (ILO), 2016). Wage gap refers to the differences between the wages earned by two groups of individual. It is well established that in paid employment, women earn less than men. This wage differential in paid employment was the subject of several studies (Xin, 1997; Siphambe and Thokweng-Bakwena, 2001; Temesgen, 2006) and raised some questions on the determinants of this wage gap (see e.g. Blau and Kahn, 2000). The first work showed that differences of wage in paid employment are largely due to the difference of endowment in human capital (Becker, 1957), more important to the men as compared to the women. Beside, Juhn et al. (1991, 1993) advanced the argument that this rising wage gap is due to an increase in the return to skills.\n2. Econometric methodology and data: 2.1 Econometric methodology\n3. Empirical results: In our study, we consider the most general case of quantile regression. So, the coefficients of the quantile regression model (QRM) fits for five quantiles (q10, q25, q50, q75 and q95) are used to examine the effects of employment on various wage quantiles. The median-regression quantile (q50) is used to track location changes. Other specific regression quantiles, for example, the 10th and 95th quantiles, are used to assess how a covariate predicts the conditional off-central locations as well as shape shifts of the response.\n4. Conclusions and policy implications: This paper has analysed wage gap in the Cameroonian labour market, while making an innovative contribution using the CHS III. First, we moved beyond investigating wage differentials at mean values in order to consider wage differentials at different points of the wage distribution. To this end, we have employed two decomposition techniques developed by Oaxaca (1973) and Blinder (1973), Machado and Mata (2005) and Melly (2006) to be able to isolate the endowment and returns contributing to wage differentials at different points of the distribution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender wage disparity in paid employment and self-employment. To achieve this objective, the Cameroon Household Consumption Survey of 2007 is used. The main question considered in this paper is why women paid employment and self-employment wages are relatively low. In a whole, what are the underlying factors that generate and explain wage gap between men and women householders in employment?\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the paper uses the Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition to explain wage gap. Thereafter, the Quantile Regression Decomposition using Machado and Mata approach is applied in order to see the gap at different levels of the wage distribution.\nFindings: The main finding indicates that in both methods, the wage gap is due to an unexplained component in self-employment and explained component in paid employment, particularly with strong effects at the extreme of wage distribution.\nResearch limitations/implications: The topic of this paper helps to explain and analyse the functioning of the Cameroonian labour market.\nPractical implications: The findings can be applied to narrow the gender wage gap by eliminating discrimination and approving the principle of equal opportunity, support policies that reduce obstacles preventing women from starting and developing their businesses to encourage more women to become entrepreneurs and achieve harmonisation between work and family life.\nOriginality/value: Using available data survey, this paper is the first to identify and decompose the causes of paid employment and self-employment gender wage gap in Cameroon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Latino Alzheimer's caregivers: what is important to them?	[ "Cross-cultural studies", "Family", "Ethnic groups", "Family roles", "Cultural studies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today an unprecedented number of people are facing the challenge of caregiving due to diseases related to aging, especially Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Currently, an estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages have ADRD (Alzheimer's Association, 2013), and it is expected that the number of people age 65 and older diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease will triple to 13.8 million by 2050. At present, approximately 200,000 Americans younger than age 65 have younger-onset Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). By 2030 the number of adults in the USA who are at least 65 years old is expected to be almost double what it was in 2005 (Institute of Medicine, 2008).\nCaregivers of patients with ADRD: A growing number of Latino caregivers are assuming the demanding role of caring for a relative with ADRD. More than 27 percent of Latino households provide informal caregiving to an impaired friend or family member (Talamantes et al., 2006). The National Alliance on Caregiving (National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2009) has reported that, on average, Latino caregivers spend more time caregiving (approximately 30 hours per week) than non-Hispanic (NH) white caregivers (20 hours per week) (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). The typical Latino caregiver is a 40-year-old female, and more than half of Latino caregivers also have a child younger than 18 years old living at home (Administration on Aging (AoA), 2003). This means that the typical Latino caregiver may be employed outside the home while juggling the demands and stress of work and family caregiving.\nLatino cultural values: This paper reports ethnicity in congruence with the US Census Bureau 2000 guidelines as Hispanic or Latino and NH or Latino (Grieco and Cassidy, 2001). This study compares Latino caregivers with NH white caregivers of patients with ADRD.\nLatino cultural beliefs: In addition to cultural values, cultural beliefs influence a person's perspective on caregiving (see the list below).\nPurpose: The increase in life expectancy and the growth in the Latino population contribute to the increase in the incidence of ADRD for Latinos. Complexities of the culture that influence the Latino experience of caregiving highlights the urgency in understanding the impact of caring for a family member with ADRD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception and psychosocial impact of caregiving for Latino family caregivers of patients with ADRD and compare it to NH white caregivers. Qualitative interviews informed the analysis of survey instruments.\nMethods: Participants\nResults: Analysis of caregiver burden data indicated that Latino caregivers, compared to NH white caregivers, had statistically significantly higher scores on the objective caregiver burden scale (the number of potentially negative experiences) and the subjective caregiver burden scale (appraised distress in response to the experiences) (see Figure 1 and Table IV).\nDiscussion: Regression results indicated that the overall model significantly predicts caregiver stress. While mental health scores were statistically significant predicting stress in Latinos and NH whites, anxiety was a significant predictor in Latinos, and anger-hostility in NH whites. The variables found significant in the two models reflect the different societal outlooks of the two ethnic groups.\nDepression: The current study found higher levels of depression in Latinos when the cut-off CES-D score of 16 was used. However, if the full range of CES-D depression scores were used, Hispanics also had higher scores than NH whites (not statistically significant). There have been mixed findings among studies comparing depression of Hispanic to NH caregivers. Cox and Monk (1990) compared 31 black and 19 Latino caregivers (two-thirds were dementia caregivers). Depression scores were much higher in Hispanics than blacks. These findings were corroborated by Cox and Monk (1996) in a comparison of 76 African-American caregivers and 86 Latino caregivers of ADRD in New York and Baltimore.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the perception and psychosocial impact of caregiving for Latino family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and compare them to non-Hispanic (NH) white caregivers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper opted for a survey design using the Screen for Caregiver Burden, Perceived Stress Scale, Short Form 36 Health Survey, Symptom Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Depression, Sense of Coherence, Coping Resources Inventory, and the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ-85). A total of 202 participants with 53 Latino caregivers (majority were Mexican-Americans) and 149 NH white caregivers also completed an in-depth qualitative interview describing their experience as caregivers.\nFindings: Latino caregivers, as compared to NH white caregivers, have higher subjective and objective caregiver burden and lower general health, social function, and physical function. They also reported higher levels of bodily pain and somatic symptoms. Caregivers experience a great deal of stress that can adversely affect their emotional and physical well-being. Latino cultural values influence the meaning ascribed to caregiving and how caregivers attempt to balance a perceived duty to family.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample was a convenience sample of caregivers responding to an invitation to participate. The Latino sample included primarily caregivers of Mexican-American descent and represented Latinos living in the South West section of the USA. Future research needs to include Latinos of diverse nationalities.\nPractical implications: The paper points out crucial differences between NH white and Latino caregivers. Understanding how Latino cultural values influence how Latinos perform and feel about caregiving duties may facilitate support for caregivers.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study Latino caregiving. Two bilingual and bicultural researchers were part of the research team facilitating the collection and analysis of qualitative data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Clustering of host countries to facilitate learning between similar international construction markets	[ "Knowledge management", "International construction", "Strategic management", "Questionnaire survey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to the Confederation of International Contractors' Association (2018), global construction industry represents a global turnover of US$7 trillion and employs around 120m people. Along with the global market growth, the size of international contracting services is anticipated to increase. It is projected that global market volume will rise to US$650bn in 2023 and to US$bn in the 2030s (TCA, 2017). Major players in the global construction market do not only come from advanced industrialised countries but also from developing countries such as Turkey (Bon, 1992; Dikmen and Birgonul, 2004). As of 2016, the total revenue of the Top 250 International Contractors was US$468.12bn, 5.5 per cent of which was created by the Turkish contractors (Engineering News Record, 2017; Ministry of Economy, 2017).\n2. Brief information about Turkish contractors working in international markets: Turkish contractors started to export contracting services in the first half of the 1970s. The first undertaken project in the international market by a Turkish contractor was in Libya in 1972 (TCA, 2017). Then, Turkish contracting services had extended to other international markets such as North Africa and Middle East. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Turkish contractors entered the former Soviet Union countries and the Central Asian markets during the 1990s. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Turkish contractors began to execute their projects by entering new markets in the Balkans, Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan African markets.\n3. Research objectives and methodology: The companies can transfer the lessons learned between similar markets. In order to facilitate this, in this paper, we aim to demonstrate how similar countries can be categorised by cluster analysis using the data of Turkish contractors, and discuss how the results of cluster analysis can be utilised in practice to foster learning. The research methodology used for this purpose is depicted in Figure 1.\n4. Country evaluation form: The importance level of the country factors for the similarity assessment of countries was obtained by a web-based questionnaire (Ozyurt et al., 2017). Respondents were requested to assign ratings considering the importance level of each factor in determining similarity between the countries from the perspective of transferring the lessons learned. The details and findings of this web-based questionnaire, responded by 84 respondents, can be found in Ozyurt et al. (2017). Based on the findings of this questionnaire, factors were prioritised and an initial draft of the country data evaluation form was prepared. Several face-to-face interviews were conducted with three experts to review and revise the form. All of the experts were civil engineers having Master of Science degree with at least ten years of experience in domestic and international markets. The form was revised considering the comments and suggestions of the experts such as adding new sub-factors and/or changing the evaluation scales of the sub-factors.\n5. Data collection: The information regarding the countries was collected utilising the country evaluation form and through various methods such as face-to-face interviews with experts, receiving responses from experts via e-mail, and searching the available online databases and documents (such as country reports received from Turkish Contractors' Association). Some factors in the form (such as GDP per capita) could be obtained from statistical records or online information systems such as World Bank, whereas information regarding other factors (such as attitudes of local people towards foreign companies, etc.) could only be gathered by utilising subjective judgements of the experts via interviews or surveys.\n6. Hierarchical cluster analysis: The relative importance of each main factor should be taken into account to obtain the data matrix to be used in the cluster analysis as the country factors may not be equally important in determining the similarities of countries. Therefore, previously calculated importance weights of each factor were utilised to reflect the relative differences in the importance level of the factors (Ozyurt et al., 2017). Final values of the country factors were determined by multiplying the values with importance weights. Since the evaluation scale (i.e. range) can be different for each factor, the collected country data had to be standardized. The method of \"normalization between 0 and 1\" was used so that all the country factors had values in the same scale (0-1 range). Then, agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis was performed, which is the most widely used technique between hierarchical clustering methods within the literature (Hand et al., 2001).\n7. Research findings: In cluster analysis, it is generally difficult to determine the most appropriate clustering linkage method and suitable similarity measurement. Applying a different method to the same data results in different clusters; similarly, calculations that are made by using different similarity measurement factors may yield different results. All alternative similarity measurement and linkage methods in SPSS such as \"Between-group linkage method\" and \"Squared Euclidean measurement\" were tried in order to select the most appropriate method, and the outputs of these trials were assessed and compared to obtain the best result.\n8. Validation: Opinions of three experts were sought to validate the findings of this study. The obtained clusters were investigated and interpreted by conducting interviews with the experts who have been working in the Ministry of Economy of Turkey at the Department of Overseas Contracting and Engineering Consultancy Services, and have participated in this research from the beginning of data collection. All interviews for the interpretation of results were conducted using the face-to-face validation technique at regular meetings in the Ministry of Economy. As a result, experts generally agreed that these clusters were representative of the Turkish contractors' experiences considering the objective of the research. They stated that the results generally reflected the majority of the perspectives of Turkish contractors. However, the experts made some additional comments about the clusters. For Cluster A, experts stated that the main reason for the appearance of these countries together could be attributed to their similar characteristics as well as the similar level of familiarity of Turkish contractors with the construction markets of these countries. Furthermore, the experts mentioned that Turkish contractors adopt a way of doing business in Turkey. They are more competitive in the markets where they can use their way of doing business in Turkey. Turkish contractors are successful in the countries that have conditions resembling the conditions in their home country (Oz, 2001). Although the countries are risky, Turkish contractors may feel more comfortable in these countries because they learned how to deal with risk in their home market. Thus, countries in Cluster A are generally the ones that have similar conditions to Turkey.\n9. Discussion: Grouping of countries has been studied by many researchers from different areas and disciplines. However, the studies related to clustering for the aim of transferring lessons learned in global construction projects is limited. A methodology is required for grouping of countries specific to the construction industry, as well as the list of country factors, which affect project success that can be used for similarity assessment in global markets. In this study, a methodology was proposed so that countries can be systematically assessed in terms of their general and market-specific conditions and can be grouped under various clusters.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the global construction industry, experience gained in various countries is a major source of competitive advantage. By transferring the knowledge gained in previous projects using an effective knowledge management strategy, they can increase their competitiveness by adopting best practices and by not repeating the same mistakes under similar conditions. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how similar countries can be clustered to facilitate learning in global markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Initially, country factors that can affect success in international projects and can be used to assess the similarity of markets were identified by an extensive literature review and prioritised by a web-based questionnaire. A country evaluation form was prepared to collect country-specific data to be used in the cluster analysis of 39 countries where the Turkish contractors have been frequently working since the last 45 years. Cluster analysis was performed with SPSS 23.0.\nFindings: Three country clusters were obtained and validated. Ultimately, how obtained country clusters may be used to facilitate learning from international construction projects was demonstrated by using an illustrative example.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings depend on the experience and perspective of Turkish contractors doing business abroad. Thus, the identified clusters are not generic. Moreover, country clusters were not identified considering only the country factors such as economy, culture, politics, etc.; thus, countries in the same cluster do not necessarily represent \"similar\" countries in terms of macro-factors. Clusters were identified so that the lessons learned can be effectively transferred within the same cluster considering construction and project-related factors as well as country-related factors. Although the findings cannot be generalised and clusters are not static, it is believed that the methodology used in this research is repeatable for different countries considering different timeframes.\nOriginality/value: Theoretical contributions include the identification of factors that can be used for similarity assessment of countries for transferring lessons learned as well as a methodology for clustering. Findings may also have a practical value for the Turkish contractors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Testing the market efficiency by mean absolute deviation	[ "Student t-test", "Efficient market", "Forecast accuracy measure", "Mean absolute deviation (MAD)", "Moving average method" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Numerous articles have been written to prove or to disapprove the hypothesis of market efficiency. In this paper, we use a simple filter mean absolute deviation (MAD) to check the validity of the hypothesis. For an independent time series the moving average method with a longer moving period of n, MA(n), will provide a more accurate forecast than that with a shorter moving period of m, MA(m). We can show that the variance for the forecasting errors from applying a forecast MA(k) on independently identically distributed (i.i.d.) time series is (1+1/k)s2, where s2 is the variance of the i.i.d. time series. That is, when n>m, the variance of forecasting errors from MA(n) will be smaller than that from MA(m). From Geary (1936), we also know that MAD is asymptotic to\n2. Literature review: Under the strong form of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), stocks are always in equilibrium and it is impossible for an investor to \"beat the market\" and consistently earn a higher rate of return than is justified by the stock's risk (Brigham and Daves, 2016, p. 68). That is, under strong form market efficiency, the market price will adjust so quickly that there is no time for an investor to receive the new information, evaluate the information, take a position before the market price changes, and then profit from the price change.\n3. Methodology: A simple moving average forecast uses the average of a number of historical actual observations as a predictor of what will happen in future periods. Mathematically, this is expressed as:\n4. Data analysis: 4.1 Results for simulated time series\n5. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that for independent normal distributions with c.v.s equal to 75, 30, 60, and 75, the MAD can clearly show the differences from forecasting methods of MA(1), MA(3), MA(5), MA(7), and MA(9). In contrast, the MAD does little to differentiate between the different forecasting methods when applied to the rates of returns on Johns Manville, Goodyear, Owens Illinois, and General Electric. Therefore, if MAD has the ability to distinguish the difference between MA(1), MA(3), MA(5), MA(7), and MA(9) on i.i.d. time series as shown in Tables I-IV, but cannot distinguish the difference between MA(1), MA(3), MA(5), MA(7), and MA(9) on the rate of returns from Johns Manville, Goodyear, Owens Illinois, and General Electric, it follows that the differences of the rates of returns from Johns Manville, Goodyear, Owens Illinois, and General Electric do not follow an i.i.d. distribution as claimed in Fama's (1965, 1970) papers. There is up to an 83 percent chance that MAD fails to distinguish the difference among MA(1), MA(3), MA(5), MA(7), and MA(9) for these series. We conclude that the differences of the rates of returns from Johns Manville, Goodyear, Owens Illinois, and General Electric studied are not i.i.d. and that the market is not efficient. It refutes what Fama (1965, 1970) has claimed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Numerous articles have been written to prove or to disapprove the hypothesis of market efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to apply the forecast accuracy measure, mean absolute deviation (MAD), to check the validity of the hypothesis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Forecast accuracies from applying different simple moving average methods to independently identically distributed (i.i.d.) or near i.i.d. normal time series are assessed by MAD. When moving period n is greater than m, then the mean of the MADs from the MA with n moving periods will be smaller than the mean of the MADs from the MA with m moving periods.\nFindings: In this study, when different MAs are applied to four near i.i.d. finance time series from Fama's papers, the MAD cannot distinguish the differences among MA methods with various moving periods. This contradiction implies that the four finance time series in Fama's papers may not be i.i.d and implies that the market is not efficient.\nResearch limitations/implications: The finding is only based on simulation and four near i.i.d. time series studied in Fama's papers in 1965 and 1970.\nPractical implications: The study shows that that the differences of the rates of returns from Johns Manville, Goodyear, Owens Illinois, and General Electric studied are not i.i.d. and that the market is not efficient. It refutes what Fama (1965, 1970) has claimed.\nSocial implications: When the market is not efficient, investors may gain profit from the market.\nOriginality/value: Based on the literature review, this is the first study to use the forecast accuracy measure, MAD, for market efficiency.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Successful principalship: the Swedish case	[ "Education", "Sweden", "Leaders", "Leadership", "Schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe Swedish educational policy context: Historically education has been highly centralized in Sweden. Until the mid-1980s, the allocation of resources for each school was decided by the State Regional Boards of Education and principals throughout the country where appointed by the National Board of Education. Educational policy in recent years has been dominated by an active reform process. The structure of responsibility and management has been altered.The present School Act was passed in 1985 by the Riksdag[1]. It decentralised power from the state to municipalities. However, there is still a national curriculum and the state makes decisions about the School Act. The present national curriculum was developed in 1994 with accompanying course outlines, timetables and grading system (Proposition, 1992/93:220).All children between the ages of 7 and 16 are both entitled and obliged to undergo education within the public sector school system or at an approved independent school. Children in need of special support have access to resource schools.Education in Sweden has a dual mandate, one concerned with inculcating traditional knowledge and one concerned with constitutive values that also can be viewed as democratic \"citizenship\". The School Act states that: \"All activity in schools shall proceed in accordance with fundamental democratic values\". The state also guarantees that international declarations and agreements in the field of education are applied in the school sector.Since 1991 the municipality has been the main authority responsible for primary and secondary education in Sweden. Municipalities act as employers to school staffs and are responsible for teacher in-service education. Compulsory schools can be organised in various ways, but they must have a principal in charge and follow the national curriculum.\nWhat is a successful school?: The point of departure for our inquiry about successful principals was the conflict between demands for clearer structure and a better use of resources and the need for basic cultural changes regarding school development and school improvement in the learning of both social and academic goals. We focused on the relationship between structure, culture, leadership and authentic learning for adults and children in three successful schools.Our conception of successful principals depended on their association with a successful school. So our first task was to answer the question: what is a successful school? Such success is defined by a school's output. In Sweden such output includes not only students' academic learning but also social goals associated with the civic mission of the school.Figure 1 shows how a school may be positioned in relation to these two sets of outputs.These alternatives actually represent different ideological views of school success, with the exception of schools in cell D, which no one would define as successful. Some educators would argue that cell A, a combined focus on both social goals and academic knowledge is the only legitimate definition of a successful school. Such schools take full responsibility for ensuring that pupils develop the academic knowledge they require for their own individual welfare, as well as the capacities and dispositions they need to be contributing members of a democratic society. This is what Swedish laws and policy documents describe as a successful school.Others would define as successful those schools in cell C. Their basic mission is individual academic learning and they strive for excellence in such learning. In Sweden, support for this view of school success is quite widespread. Others again would argue that real success occurs when a school in cell B starts to move towards cell A. This means that success is relative to the context and situation, but our study aimed to include schools that fit into either cells A or C in Figure 1. The schools we eventually selected could have been in either cell since they were selected because each had constantly improved student academic achievements in the last four years according to the national ranking system Salsa[2] and at the time of the study ranked significantly better than the average Swedish school.\nStructure, culture, leadership: prerequisites for successful schools?: Researchers have developed increasingly complex models of leadership (Lewin, 1939; Likert, 1961; Blake and Mouton, 1964; Yukl, 2002). The basic pattern of this development has been various combinations of leaders' approaches to the two orientations structure/task and relation/consideration.In the most recently developed models, a leader's focus on change occupies a central position. This is a new dimension rising out of today's demands from the world around organisations. For example, when Yukl revised \"Leadership in Organizations\" (Yukl, 2002, 5th ed.), he entered a passage with the purpose of integrating a framework for classifying leadership behaviour (Yukl, 2002, pp. 64-7). Based on research by Ekvall and Arvonen (1994), Yukl introduced the change dimension as a third orientation for leaders to relate to.Arguably, the multi-dimensional conception of leadership attracting greatest attention over the past 15 years has been \"transformational leadership\" (Weber, 1964; Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985, 1988; Bass and Avolio, 1994; Leithwood, 1992; Mulford and Silins, 2003). This approach to leadership is defined as a method of managing activities based on the leader's ability to change and internalise organizational direction and work methods. Transformational leaders do this by engendering confidence in co-workers and changing the culture of the organization, its values, norms and behaviour. There is strong evidence that a transformational leadership style is a good predictor of organizational effectiveness in many different organizational contexts (Antonakis et al., 2003).Recent Scandinavian research on schools stresses leadership as a reflection of the democratic spirit. In other words, it is vital for leaders to learn about national goals for schools and to put these goals first (Johansson et al., 2000). Such an approach focuses on the leader as an agent for change and standard-bearer for individual, social and comprehensive ideological goals for the school. Many researchers also stress the importance of values, attitudes and actions in the creation of school cultures. These studies demonstrate that effective leaders are able to communicate values and create a common culture (Hodgkinson, 1991; Sergiovanni, 1992; Begley and Johansson, 1998).Reflecting some of these recent views, we conceptualised leadership for our purposes as in Figure 2. Accordingly, a leader's disposition to focus on cultural change, signifying a preoccupation with the personnel needs, values and views, may be combined with a leader's disposition to focus on structural change, which signifies a preoccupation with goals, routines, finances and evaluations in his/her attempt to enhance authentic student learning.Fullan (1999) writes about the importance of associating efforts to change the culture with the introduction of a new structure. In the Swedish context there is an ongoing discussion about the conflicts between a prescribed structure by the governing bodies and the value-based opinions about schooling among teachers and other staff. These conflicts make it difficult for principals to create schools as they would wish and are obliged to according to national policy. In Table I, we sketch some usual dilemmas when trying to develop schools, things that \"the complete leader\" should better handle by way of a transformational leadership.Based on contemporary research in this area, we can establish that in today's scenario schools need leadership with a balanced focus on both the structure of a school and its culture. In spite of this, our experience as leadership trainers has shown that in their daily activities far too many principals focus on structure and stability rather than on improvement and culture. This attitude is probably influenced by the surrounding political and administrative system, which, by and large, demands structure-oriented leadership. On the other hand, in their rhetoric, school ideologues and school politicians want leaders who reflect a democratic spirit and focus on pedagogical leadership and school improvement. A successful school leader, by this view, would bring together, in a coherent manner, both the structures and culture of the school. There are too many examples of principals who have made changes in the working structure, for instance teamwork, but because they have not addressed the cultural aspects, the expected success have not occurred (Johansson, 2000).\nMethods: Our case studies were conducted in three different schools. Two schools were situated in small municipalities and one school were located in one of Sweden's largest cities. All schools had good academic results on the last National Agency test for all schools in Sweden as alluded to above, and these results had improved over the last four years. All schools were junior high schools (grade 7-9 in Sweden). The schools were also selected because they were said by our informants, i.e. National Agency Inspectors and trainers in the National Principal Training Program, to have excellent principals.At the selected schools we interviewed the chairman of the school board, the school superintendent (CEO), the principal and six teachers supportive of their principal. The reason we selected teachers supportive of the principal was that we wanted to map success. We also interviewed six students from each school who were positive about the school and two parents from this group of students. Teachers, students and parents were interviewed individually. We summarize our findings in relation to the three concepts: structure, culture and leadership.\nResults: We describe our results in this section separately for each of the three schools. In the case of each school, we briefly provide basic information about the nature of the school and then report the results of our interviews about their structure, culture and leadership.The River School\nConclusions: From the analysis of our case studies we can present new and interesting findings about Swedish school principals. First, we found that our three principals are changing the structures and cultures of their schools in order to open them to their local communities. Teachers support these changes; they believe they will contribute to their students' academic development and give them opportunities for learning how to deal with different situations. Principals see good relations with the surrounding community as a necessary resource in the improvement of the school.Secondly, we found that our principals are very self-confident and outspoken leaders convinced of their capacity to implement school improvement through changes in both structure and culture. They demonstrated high self-esteem and an internal locus of control which helped them to address challenging problems. As successful principals, they know they have to act, being the one setting limits or drawing the lines with authority and coming to the crucial decision after a democratic dialog with their co-workers. This is a most challenging leadership orientation. On first examination, it may seem odd to combine the word democratic with authority. Principals receive formal authority upon appointment by the school district. But to be able to exercise leadership effectively, they also need their staff, students and parents to believe in the professional authenticity of their role. They need the strength and will to have a continuing democratic dialogue with their staff.Our case studies also began to answer two other questions initially giving rise to the research. Do successful principals attempt to develop both academic and social goals among their students? And, are they aware of the relation between the structure and the culture of their school and do they work to bring coherence to those parts of their organizations in order to achieve success?All three principals work hard to convince teachers, students and parents to develop a two-fold emphasis on academic knowledge and social goals in accordance with the way a successful school is defined in Swedish law and policy. These principals adjusted to the culture of the school district and worked in accordance with the ideology and culture of the district. In all of the case schools this meant expanding the schools' mission to include a focus on the development of social values among students.Our cases do not provide specific instances in which the amalgamation of structure, culture and leadership is apparent. In general, there is considerable interdependence in the schools between structure and culture and the principals' leadership. One obvious example, which can be linked to all of our principals, is the work to build teacher teams in schools and encouragement for teachers to think of their teams as the primary structures for decision-making in their schools. Establishing a cross-disciplinary structure based on teacher teams democratises the culture of schools by institutionalising teacher participation in decision-making. In this way, the organisation of the teachers' work becomes a model of collaboration for students and also gives an interdisciplinary touch to the teaching. The lesson from this example is that principals can successfully work with changes both of school structures - work in teacher teams - and create a supporting school culture among the teachers. When the culture is supportive of the school structure we have the rudiments needed for success for all children in school.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to describe the Swedish compulsory school system and explore a hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - On the basis of earlier research, argues that a principal's success depends on how he or she alters school structures and cultures so as to foster school improvement. A successful school is defined in Swedish law and policy documents as a school that shows high performance both in academic and social goals. Based on this definition, three schools were chosen for this study. All three had increased their academic results in the last four years.\nFindings: - Findings from the study support the hypothesis that principals contribute to the improvement of academic and social goals of their schools by the strategic work they do to change school structure and culture. Furthermore, the principals changed their schools' structures and cultures in directions that were consistent with the opinions and cultures of the school district. Being able to read and work with the culture and structure of the school district was vital for principal success.\nOriginality/value: - Provides information on the important relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing	[ "Marketing strategy", "Interpersonal communications", "Customer relations", "Customer service management", "Customer loyalty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Viral marketing has become the defining marketing trend of the decade. Brands big and small launch viral videos via YouTube, post new product information on their MySpace pages, court the blogosphere and send forth armies of evangelists to spread the gospel by word-of-mouth (WOM). But without customer identification and access to customer data, are viral marketers just blowing smoke?\nThe modern age of viral marketing: Viral marketing is far from a recent phenomenon; before the advent of the printing press, broadcast media and the internet, WOM was the only way to market your goods.The modern age of viral marketing began a bit more recently. In 2003, for example, the Pabst Brewing Company traced the epicenter of a 9.4 percent sales increase of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to Portland, Oregon, where PBR had become the beer of choice for anti-establishment hipsters. Through sheer word-of-mouth advocacy amongst the tattooed and the pierced, PBR sales enjoyed similar spikes around the country; in Chicago, sales spiked by 134 percent. Then in April 2004, quick-service restaurant chain Burger King launched www.subservientchicken.com - a site that allowed users to issue commands to a guy dressed in a chicken suit - and enjoyed 20 million hits. Nobody knew if Burger King tied the chicken to a sales increase, but it did wonders for brand awareness.The Pabst and Subservient Chicken episodes, among others, found marketers in every industry scrambling to analyze and exploit this seeming explosion of viral marketing. With the proliferation of broadband access and its attendant social networks, video-sharing sites and blogs, word-of-mouth now spreads at the speed of thought. Marketers who fear getting run over by the WOM train are attempting to get on board, if not pilot the locomotive, with such of-the-moment tactics as buzz marketing, influencer marketing and crowd-sourcing.The quest to create and measure the ROI of what used to happen quite naturally has led to the development of a growing industry dedicated to managing and influencing word-of-mouth. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) formed in 2004 to define standards, best practices and metrics for this new discipline, has coined such terms as WOMUnits, Polarity, Source Diversity, Clarity and Depth to define and sell WOM marketing services in much the way that the diamond industry created the \"four Cs\" of diamond grading to help promote the value of the stones. Though you might think cynical tech-savvy young adults would avoid branded content, a 2006 Sharpe Partners survey found that only 5 percent of consumers surveyed would refuse to share branded content with friends. Over 40 percent are more likely to forward branded content.\"People like to talk about brands,\" says Andy Sernovitz, CEO of WOMMA and author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. \"We now mention 20 or 30 brands a day in the course of regular conversation. So the word-of-mouth challenge is to get people to talk about your business.\"The bottom line: we are all marketers now - whether we realize it or not. Dave Balter, founder and president of BzzAgent, a Boston, Massachusetts-based WOM marketing firm, describes attending a meeting between an advertising account executive and his client at which they previewed a new television commercial. When the preview ended, the account executive said, apparently with a straight face, \"This spot is viral. The buzz it creates will be better than word-of-mouth.\"It might help the conversation to get our terms straight. The difference between viral marketing and WOM is one of cause and effect. Viral marketing - which might take the form of influencer marketing programs, community-building portals, viral videos and street-level guerilla campaigns - builds awareness and buzz; it's the cause. Positive WOM, which theoretically leads to trial and acquisition, is the effect. The publication of Fred Reichheld's The Ultimate Question and the continued success of such viral promotions as CareerBuilder's \"Monk-e-mail\" campaign, has convinced even the most stubborn marketers that they're only one great viral campaign away from that summer home in the Hamptons they have been dreaming about.\"Marketers think that [WOM] is some new magic bullet,\" says Jim Nail, who also sits on WOMMA's board of directors. \"In fact, it's a lot harder to do right than a television commercial, because word-of-mouth happens all the time whether you do anything about it or not. It really requires a marketer to think not just about the word-of-mouth marketing campaign you're going to do this month, but also to think about the customer's entire experience with the brand.\"While it may not be a magic bullet, there is no doubt that successful WOM campaigns can move the needle. One of the earliest adopters of this discipline, ironically, is corporate giant Procter & Gamble (P&G), which launched its Tremor service in 2001 to help market products to teens through managed WOM techniques. Tremor has since grown to encompass over 225,000 teen agents, and the experience led P&G to launch Vocalpoint in 2005 as a vehicle to spread the P&G gospel to its other core constituency-moms. Vocalpoint now boasts over 600,000 \"connector moms\" who receive coupons and new product samples in the mail and then share their experiences with upwards of 25-30 other women a day (the average mom speaks to just five). According to a May 29, 2006 Business Week article, Vocalpoint promotions have seen unit sales in test locations double.BzzAgent is essentially a smaller, brand-neutral version of Vocalpoint. The company has built an army of 300,000 agent volunteers who receive coupons and sneak previews of new products and then march forth to evangelize. According to the company's own research, each agent shares the client's marketing message with an average of 12 other people - and that's just the first-generation contacts. Who knows how far the message spreads?\"To many clients, the value of what we provide is similar to a decentralized focus group of tens of thousands of consumers who try products and then share their opinions back with us,\" says John Bigay, Vice President of Marketing for BzzAgent. \"We give brands quite a bit of insight into consumer opinions of their products.\"A typical WOM campaign might look like a Fall 2005 promotion conducted by BzzAgent for the Dunkin' Donuts chain, which enlisted 3,000 agents to promote the chain's new Latte Lite drink in four test markets. The volunteers each received six coupons for free Lattes and were charged with self-reporting their mentions of the drink back to BzzAgent over the 12-week test period. The goal was to gauge the impact on sales of the viral campaign versus sales in four control markets that received only radio advertising promotion.The results of the test supported correlation with increased sales, if not causality: sales of espresso drinks in the test markets rose an average of 26 percent versus an 8 percent increase in the control markets. The unanswerable question, of course, is whether the WOM campaign will have staying power. Does a successful WOM event build brand loyalty that translates into increased customer lifetime value (CLV)? Or does it simply deliver a temporary boost on par with other one-off promotions?\"We think about word-of-mouth in terms of generations,\" Bigay says. \"Academics who are measuring the space look at it in the same way. Based on global averages across 300-plus campaigns, we know the average BzzAgent will talk to about 12 people. And those people, whom we call Generation One, will then talk to about four additional people. What we do not yet have is comprehensive ability to measure the effect beyond that second generation.\"\nThis one goes out to the one I love: Measuring the effect of viral marketing may not be quite as fruitless as weighing smoke - but it is akin to navel-gazing. Viral marketers can measure the reach of a viral video, isolate the incremental effect of agented WOM, and determined the polarity of blogosphere buzz. But can they tell you definitively that the viral campaign on which you just dropped a dime led to increased market share? The jury is still out.Consider the underlying problems of the Dunkin' Donuts test: because BzzAgent did not have access to point-of-sale information, they could not isolate Latte Lite drink purchases; they could only measure category espresso drink sales. The imperfect test-versus-control environment saw one control market outperform its companion test market. These are not fatal flaws, but they demonstrate the difficulty viral marketers face in collecting actionable data. And it is not just marketing executives who are dissatisfied with current ROI measurements. Interactive agencies themselves encounter client executives whom they sometimes have to talk down from the diving board.\"Sometimes the VP Marketing or the CMO looks at one or two videos that have really broken out and says, 'Let's do this for our company. You guys just put a cool video out there, it'll get a million hits within a month and we'll make a million dollars,'\" says Michael Wunsch, Director of Interactive Marketing for Louisville, KY-based Leapfrog Interactive. \"Our answer is always, 'OK: it's great that you want viral to become a piece of your overall strategy - but by no means is it going to be the complete strategy.'\"The quest for reliable metrics has led some marketers away from viral tactics that draw short-term attention but little else to individual campaigns to tactics that allow for prospect identification and capture of behavioral data. Swiss computer peripheral manufacturer Logitech, for example, recently punted their viral campaigns for a trio of adver-games hosted on its web site. Players of its Ball Balancer, Jelly Jumper and Jellybattle games are prompted to register their e-mail addresses and receive traceable discount coupons for unlocking higher game levels.\"The ability to measure our results was certainly important,\" says Garreth Hayes, European Marketing Director for Logitech USA, of the switch to adver-games. \"We also felt that viral games were more brand appropriate with a better chance of return as we try to connect with computer users. The effect of viral video generally is much more difficult to measure.\"The dirty secret of the viral marketing industry, then, isn't so secret after all: Outside of subservient chicken-level success or insanely expensive sustained WOM efforts like P&G's Vocalpoint, viral marketing is difficult to execute successfully and measure adequately. A 2006 Millward Brown survey, for example, found that only 35 percent of all U.K. consumers regularly received viral e-mails - and only 13 percent of that group passed the e-mail on. \"Viral ads,\" Millward Brown concludes, \"need a clearly-defined role in the overall marketing plan.\"\nThe mouth that roared: If viral marketing is not the magic bullet, it has at least become a deadly arrow in the marketer's quiver. Going viral confers considerable advantage: you can spread word of a new product or service at light speed; generate buzz at the approximate level of a Hollywood premiere; and leverage brand evangelists to encourage trial and activation. To build true customer loyalty, however, your viral campaign must connect at the front end of your customer strategy, open a doorway into customer data collection, and then connect on the back end to engage your most valuable segments. Viral content that does not encourage identification or dialogue is just mass marketing tarted up for the digital age.\"None of these sophisticated, crazy viral strategies drive conversation,\" says Andy Sernovitz. \"And in some ways we tend to overcomplicate the purpose of word-of-mouth. Your customers have invested in you, they own your stuff, and they really do want to connect with you- so let them. When a company opens up and shows a willingness to listen in an interactive way, that openness alone has an impact.\"The perception in some marketing circles is that viral marketing can somehow replace the hard work of collecting and mining customer data. If viral is Mac Guy - cool, trendy and of the moment - then loyalty marketing is PC Guy - competent, but stodgy and uncreative. But is marketing a zero-sum game? Or can viral techniques become an important part of your loyalty-marketing strategy?A 2006 Nielsen BuzzMetrics white paper advocates just this approach: \"In order to market effectively and intelligently, you need to know your audience. Once you have pinpointed active online consumers, take the time to get to know them and their habits by offering opt-in programs that allow them to engage further. Segment high-value customers and treat them as special ambassadors by offering them loyalty programs, member clubs, special offers and the like.\"\"To succeed in word-of-mouth marketing, you need to find that segment of real ardent fans and create special programs and tools that will empower them to share that enthusiasm,\" says Jim Nail. \"In that sense, I think viral is an extension of the loyalty discipline.\"To integrate viral marketing into your own customer strategy, consider following these Viral Commandments. The marketing resources you save may be your own.Use viral tactics to build awareness and trial\nSmoke gets in your eyes: Is viral marketing the next transformative paradigm that will forever alter the way businesses connect and build relationships with customers? Probably not - but neither is it simply a fad. As marketers strive to improve the ROI of viral marketing campaigns, successful techniques will merge with loyalty marketing efforts to capture and identify prospects at the top of the funnel and build advocacy with high-value segments.\"There is no greater loyalty than that of a customer who is willing to spend time to tell friends about you and share suggestions with you about how to improve your products,\" says Jim Nail. \"If you implement those suggestions and you tell your customers, 'Hey, we listened to you,' that generates incredible loyalty.\"So maybe measuring the success of viral marketing can become more than the equivalent of weighing smoke. Sir Walter Raleigh was a clever guy, no doubt - but he's probably not the best role model. He was, after all, tried and executed for treason. Marketing ROI has to be more than just a way to win a bar bet.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to study examples of emerging marketing trends like word-of-mouth and viral marketing, and attempt to determine their measurability in terms of return on investment (ROI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study examines real life campaigns from well-known companies and attempt to measure consumer response beyond merely viewing or participating in the campaign. How much of an actionable response can be evoked and measured from viral and word-of-mouth campaigns? Testimonials and commentary from marketers practicing these methods and the pundits that attempt to gauge the effectiveness.\nFindings: - The paper finds that word-of-mouth or viral marketing efforts are not always a sure bet. But a well-placed, calculated and provocative campaign can spark a firestorm of buzz that sometimes can be effective for years in non-terminal new mediums like the internet. While the jury is still out on finding hard quantitative ROI measurements for these campaigns, they can produce hefty returns for brand awareness.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Tracking ROI for viral marketing and word-of-mouth marketing campaigns remains an inexact and difficult science.\nPractical implications: - The paper suggest following the included Viral Commandments when creating a word-of-mouth campaign to ensure marketing resources are put to highest and best use. It also suggests focusing on identification of the consumer as a vital step to build advocacy. Viral marketing should not anchor marketing strategy, but when used effectively can be an important ace-up-the-sleeve.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores some recognizable viral marketing campaigns and studies the effects they had on product sales, consumer advocacy and brand awareness. It teaches important factors to consider when developing word-of-mouth marketing: who is doing it well, who is not, what lasting effects can a campaign deliver, and are there any effective ways to measure return on investment?\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The failure of multinational food retailers in Japan: a matter of convenience?	[ "Japan", "Convenience foods", "Consumers", "European Union" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Wal-Mart is battling to survive in Japan\" (Holstein, 2007); \"in Japan foreign retailers have so far had a lacklustre record\" (Reuters, 2007); foreign investment in Japan is not always a \"cakewalk\" for international retailers (USDA, 2006). These comments are typical of media releases relating to international food retailers and their less-than-successful attempts to penetrate the Japanese retail sector:* the French international retailer Carrefour, having entered the market in 2000, sold its outlets and withdrew from the country after only four years, having found that its discount strategy and hypermarket model failed to attract customers emerging from a climate of recession and with increasing concern for style rather than a wide range of standard products at every day low prices (Jiji Press, 2005);* Wal-Mart, having taken over a Japanese supermarket in 2002, has been in deficit for four years. Only recently has it reported that \"Seiyu's (the retailer purchased by Wal-Mart) total comparable store sales for fiscal 2007 were positive for the first time in 15 years\" (Wal-Mart Stores, 2007, p. 10); and* having taken over two small grocery supermarket chains, Tesco has not yet had a significant impact on the food retail scene, and the limited presence enjoyed only modest overall sales growth in 2006 (Tesco, 2007). Nevertheless, Tesco's expansion plans depend on a small store format rather than the typical international hypermarket model (Reuters, 2007).This paper addresses the question, why have these major supermarket chains been unsuccessful? There are plenty of plausible reasons, such as a depressed market, management and employee conflict, and a restrictive policy environment. Also, maybe Japanese attitudes to foreign products are a barrier that prevents foreign retailers from prospering? Or western retailers do not understand the tastes and shopping behaviour of Japanese consumers, and do not offer products with attributes attractive to the Japanese market? It has been argued also that the Japanese consumer has distinct attitudes toward food purchase that may act as an inhibitor for international food retailers (for example, Schmekel and Larke (2002), Sato (2004)). Differences in cultural fit between a major chain and its employees and customers have been cited as a weakness (Holstein, 2007). According to the United States Department of Agriculture, it is demographic changes - specifically the fast-ageing population - more than income growth, which affects the outlook for international retailers (USDA, 2006). But opportunities remain: \"Japan has the second highest GDP in the world, and its retailing market retains much potential, provided that retailers can tap into rapidly changing consumer lifestyles and align their strategies to meet new demands\" (Euromonitor, 2006).There has been little effort, to date, to demonstrate through primary research whether unique characteristics and buying behaviour do exist in the Japanese marketplace. There has been little consideration of structural or other factors that might be acting as barriers to growth. In addition, there is limited consensus from the literature linking consumer behaviour and the retail model in Japan: whether the buying behaviours of Japanese consumers relate to distinct attitudes to food products per se, or whether their food purchase behaviour relates to the traditional form and structure of food retailing. The objective of this paper is to explore reasons for the weakness of international retailers in Japan by investigating what are the driving forces for food shopping behaviour in Japan, and whether they relate to the \"uniqueness\" of the Japanese consumer or to the retail form.The paper is structured as follows. The next section reviews the current food retail environment in Japan, including an evaluation of research on the structure and format of the marketplace, and consumer attitudes and behaviour. An account follows of the methodology used to survey the Japanese food consumer. Following this is a description and analysis of the results, with concluding comments to finish.\nThe Japanese retail environment: The macro environment in Japan\nMethodology: In order to assess the dynamics of the Japanese food purchasing, a consumer survey was conducted among household principal food shoppers across various regions of Japan. The questionnaire was prepared and piloted by the UK-based research team and the survey was administered electronically by NTT Resonant Inc. Respondents were selected randomly from NTT's 200,000 registered consumers, while aiming to collect at least 50 responses from each of five less populated regions in Japan (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu), and at least 100 responses from three densely populated regions (Kanto, Chubu, Kinki).Questionnaire structure and content\nResults and discussion: The results of the survey are presented in two formats. Initially we present descriptive statistics of the main findings. This is followed by the results of cross-tabulation analyses and kh2 tests to assess whether there are significant associations in the sample. The results are also compared against existing research findings in the UK market to explore differences between the Japanese food customer and their British counterparts.\nData descriptions: Shopping frequency\nInferential data analysis: A series of kh2 analyses were conducted to assess whether there were significant differences within the sample, specifically whether demographics factors (such as gender, age, household size) significantly affected food purchase factors, relating to:* frequency of purchase;* importance of in-store characteristics;* nutritional attributes of importance;* product positioning factors;* social product attributes (e.g. environment, animal welfare); and* shopping logistics.The results are presented in Table VI.Gender\nSummary and conclusion: A summary of the attributes tested, evidence found and results of the research are provided in Table VII.The results of the research show there are some clear difference (as expected) between the Japanese food consumer and their UK/EU counterparts. Convenience matters, but means something different to Japanese consumers. Compared with the prevailing \"one-stop shopping\" habit of many western consumers, shopping preferences include:* more frequent food shopping;* more varied outlets used;* the importance of proximity and transport factors; and* the importance of freshness, quality and safety as critical attributes in fresh food purchase.What has become clear from this investigation is that high frequency of purchase does not relate either to small/high density housing (i.e. \"the lack of storage space\" as identified by Flath and Nariu (1996) or lack of car ownership). It does suggest that freshness matters: perishable food shopping is dictated by freshness, safety and taste, with the need for freshness dictating the high frequency shopping - and from this - the desire for ease of access (whether by car or public transport). This therefore leads to smaller stores (compared to the western retail model) providing a small geographic, but relatively high-density, retail hinterland. This suggests that the literature to date on the importance of quality attributes is the most likely factor affecting Japanese food shopping habits, although the convenience factors are important, albeit for frequent purchase of fresh food rather than for logistical reasons. Convenience also matters but in Japan it signifies a preference for \"top-up\" over \"one-stop\" weekly shopping.The results support an argument that the large store \"one-stop shopping\" supermarket format popular in the UK/EU is not and will not be the preferred form in Japan, regardless of suburban development and higher car ownership. Supermarket chains would be better placed in opening a larger number of smaller stores, and concentrating on frequently delivered and high quality products, above all in the fresh foods categories. This appears to be the strategy of Tesco in Japan, rather than the hypermarket format by Carrefour and Wal-Mart.Also, the growing phenomenon of the small \"convenience\" store format in markets such as the UK (Competition Commission, 2007b) and California (Financial Times, 2007) suggests that \"western\" consumers' desires for convenience are becoming more like those of Japanese consumers1.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to address the question of why world major supermarket chains have been unsuccessful so far in the Japanese market. The paper considers arguments from the literature that differences in consumer attitudes and behaviour between the two markets may be the determinants of the success, or otherwise, of the large US and European supermarkets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of literature about Western and Japanese retailing is followed by an account of exploratory empirical research into Japanese consumer grocery purchasing and consumption behaviour.\nFindings: - The results support an argument that the large store \"one-stop shopping\" supermarket format popular in the UK/EU is not and will not be the preferred format in Japan. Convenience, matters, but it is not the same concept as in the UK, for example.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample survey is purposively biased towards younger female shoppers from the working population who will have a significant impact on future consumer behaviour patterns. Results are more inferential than statistically validated hypotheses.\nPractical implications: - Supermarket chains should open a larger number of smaller stores, concentrating on frequently delivered and high quality products, above all in the fresh foods categories. Moreover, the growth of the small \"convenience\" store format in markets such as the UK and California suggests that \"western\" consumers' desires for convenience are becoming more like those of Japanese consumers.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that there has been little effort, to date, to demonstrate through primary research whether unique characteristics and buying behaviour do exist in the Japanese marketplace.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Some recent influences on global consumer culture: Digital networked technologies, emerging market brands and bottom of the pyramid consumers	[ "Global niche brands", "Emerging market brands", "Alibaba-effect", "Patents", "K-Pop", "Bottom of the pyramid", "Social exclusion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: J.B. Steenkamp provides an excellent historical perspective on the threats to global integration that will help us put the current forces against globalization into perspective. He also discusses global consumer culture (GCC) and global brands (GBs) as intrinsically related marketing phenomenon to global integration. He argues that despite roadblocks, GCC will not only survive as a vital cultural influence, but may even become stronger. He also has confidence in the future of GBs despite factors that may undermine their appeal (such as increasing nationalism and a trend toward authenticity). Let me say, to avoid suspense, that I endorse both of these views. Here, I will comment on three developments that make the global landscape very different from before and exert an influence on GCC and GBs: digital networked technologies (DNTs), new brands from emerging markets (EMs) and the digitally connected bottom of the pyramid (BOP) consumers.\nHow are digital networked technologies affecting global consumer culture?: Globalization refers to the \"process of reducing barriers between countries and encouraging closer economic, political, and personal interaction\" (Spears et al., 2004, p. 57). From a sociocultural perspective (Tomlinson, 1999), globalization is regarded in terms of \"complex connectivity\" that widens, deepens and accelerates the social interactions across the planet. DNTs such as the internet, mobile communications and social media make this connectivity possible. Such complex connectivity in one form or another is impacting the lives of everyone in the world (Beynon and Dunkerley, 2000, p. 3). Individuals from remote parts of the World, from EMs and even from the BOP see how others are living, experiences they are sharing and products they are using. DNTs are redefining the globalization phenomenon and accelerating global integration to a level never witnessed before. Indeed, the impact of globalization is now free from the constraints of temporal and spatial chasms (Ger et al., 2018).\nHow are brands from emerging markets affecting global consumer culture?: The second development that influences GCC is the recent success of brands from EMs. Based on our research (Chattopadhyay et al., 2012), we have argued that the new generation of emerging-market multinational companies (EMNCs) and their brands represent a trend that will transform the global economy. Here, after six years of the publication of our book, I go one step further to believe that they will transform the GCC as well. First, these EMNCs are no longer content to play a secondary role in their industry. They have, \"the ambition, vision, and confidence to want to become global giants themselves\" (Chattopadhyay et al., 2012). Indeed the 2018 BrandZ(tm) Global rankings list by KantarMilwardBrown, have two Chinese brands in the top 10, Tencent-5th and Alibaba 9th, and 15 Chinese brands in the top 100, with an additional seven brands from Asia (excluding China) in the top 100. Second, just like their Western counterparts, many of these brands develop their own ecosystem to serve consumer needs and influence how they shop, entertain, play games and socialize on digital media. For example, Tencent added new features to WeChat, its popular social media site with a billion monthly active users to expand its ecosystem. AliBaba's AliPay, has invested heavily in blockchain, especially mobile payments. Now Alipay complements the AliBaba ecosystem as a mobile and online payment platform with 870m active users (600m in China and 270m rest of the world) (Schulze, 2018). Third, these EMNC brands extend their influence beyond their home markets with mergers and acquisitions. In another example from Tencent, the company purchased a large share in Snap, owner of the messaging service Snapchat in 2018.\nBottom of the pyramid and global consumer culture: Globalization, GCC and GBs are also affecting and to a lesser extent are being affected by BOP consumers. More than four billion people live at the BOP on less than $2 per day (Prahalad, 2005). Back in 2005, C.K. Prahalad noticed that the BOP consumers are getting connected and networked. They are rapidly exploiting the benefits of DNTs. Contrary to general assumptions, the poor are very brand-conscious and also extremely value conscious by necessity (Prahalad, 2005). Thus, the BOP consumers are actively engaged in a dialogue with each other, and increasingly with the firms from which they wish to purchase goods and services. Any positive or negative information about a product or service is shared readily among these groups not only locally but across borders as well, making established and emerging brand managers pay greater attention to this segment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to build on Steenkamp's reflections, and introduce emerging and important developments that are shaping the global landscape and influencing global consumer culture (GCC) and global brands (GBs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is a thought piece.\nFindings: The implications for GCC and GBs are discussed in the context of digital networked technologies, new brands from emerging markets and the digitally connected bottom of the pyramid consumers.\nOriginality/value: The paper suggests areas where research value can be added within the GCC and global branding literatures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Global boundaries, task processes and IS project success: a field study	[ "Information systems", "Project management", "Project teams", "Team working" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Information system (IS) projects increasingly involve global teams as organizations seek to make the most of internal and external resources that are globally dispersed. IS project teams often consist not only of domestic employees, but also of employees and outsourcing personnel from other countries. While such \"global\" work contexts often afford proximity to clients and skilled personnel, they make it more difficult for team members to communicate task information and coordinate task execution and increase project complexity, which can undermine IS project performance (Xia and Lee, 2004, 2005). Therefore, one of the key challenges for IS organizations today is to find ways to make their global project teams work effectively and to deliver quality systems on time and within budget. Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited knowledge of why and how global IS projects succeed or fail, partly because of the difficulty in understanding how various global barriers jointly affect IS project success.Global teams working on IS (Orlikowski, 2002) and other projects (Drucker, 1993; DeSanctis and Poole, 1997) are often divided by multiple boundaries, including time zones, geographic distance, and cultural differences, which present substantial challenges for team members who need to bridge the \"discontinuities\" caused by the presence of these boundaries (Chudoba et al., 2002). Past studies have mainly focused on just one or two boundaries, often ignoring other important boundaries (Watson-Manheim et al., 2002a). Because global boundary variables often co-vary, the respective effects of a given global boundary variable on IS project success can be confounded if the effects of other global boundary variables are not accounted for (Espinosa et al., 2003). In the present study we attempt to fill this gap by empirically investigating the simultaneous effect of these various global team boundaries on various dimensions of IS project success and by identifying the most effective processes for bridging those boundaries. We draw on prior research on global teams, virtual teams and IS success to formulate and empirically validate our framework for global IS project success, which extends prior frameworks suggested for virtual teams research (Powell et al., 2004) by including additional processes specifically implemented to effectively bridge global boundaries. This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature and therefore cannot completely tease out all the various effects. Nevertheless it represents the first attempt to empirically investigate which global boundary variables have the strongest effect on IS project success when considered jointly. Our findings contribute to research and practice by helping us understand how dependencies across global boundaries can be managed more effectively.Our two research questions are, therefore:RQ1. When considered jointly, which global boundary variables have the strongest effect on global IS project success, and how?\nTheoretical framework: The research framework for this study follows the \"input-process-outcome\" (I-P-O) model widely used to study group effectiveness (McGrath, 1984; Hackman, 1987). Powell and colleagues (1996) used an I-P-O framework, illustrated in Figure 1, to conduct an extensive literature review on global teams and further categorized process variables into socio-emotional and task processes. The research framework for the present study is based on Powell et al.'s I-P-O framework.The inputs in the I-P-O model in the present study are global boundaries and other project context variables. With respect to process variables, our study focuses on task processes because we are interested in learning what global teams do to accomplish their IS project goals. We build upon and extend the Powell et al. framework by: distinguishing between general task process that traditional teams use to carry out their teamwork and coping processes utilized to bridge global boundaries; focusing more specifically on the latter; including cognitive process variables. The outcome variables represent IS project success variables and other outcomes. The extended framework adopted by this study is further discussed and illustrated in the following sections.Outcomes: global IS project success\nResearch methodology: Research context and sample\nResults: Outcomes: global IS project success\nDiscussion: This study found that in IS projects with multiple global boundaries, time separation was by far the most significant barrier, followed by cultural differences, whereas distance alone did not appear to be a major obstacle. This finding suggests that it is not so much face-to-face interaction that is vital to global IS project success, but rather the ability to interact synchronously and interactively when needed, which is not affected by distance, but severely hampered by time separation. This is particularly true for more complex projects with highly interdependent tasks, which require the initiation of more communication incidents (Maznevski and Chudoba, 2000). Time separation is a special global team boundary variable because it can affect project performance both positively and negatively. When activities can be well coordinated and synchronized, time separation can be used advantageously. Generally speaking, time separation can work well when tasks are well defined and when task programming mechanisms can provide effective coordination. On the other hand, time separation becomes a substantial collaboration barrier when the tasks are less well defined and more uncertain, thus requiring frequent interactive communication. While distance is still a barrier, it was no longer considered to be a major factor by many of our participants. People have learned to handle geographic distance from their experience with projects involving multiple locations, relying extensively on suitable collaboration technologies. This study suggests that in most cases, the problems involving geographic distance often correlate with the presence of other global boundary variables (e.g. cultural differences, time separation, etc.). Once all these other boundaries are accounted for, the effects of pure geographic distance diminish substantially.It is interesting to note that despite the risks that result from multiple global boundaries and despite the fact that one-third of the projects were failing at some point, 21 of the 22 projects were deemed successful in the end. This surprising finding suggests that the aggressive push to meet corporate expectations inspires project managers to implement effective coping processes that overcome global barriers at some point during the project, resulting in ultimate project success. These coping processes involved task programming, communication and team cognition. Specifically, project teams made special efforts during the initiation phase to create a common development environment and common understanding as well to organize development tasks in order to reduce dependencies across development sites. While some projects implemented these coping processes early on and were successful throughout the duration of the project, others were not so successful at the beginning, but later made adjustments and implemented some of these strategies to save failing projects. Those adjustments included processes that facilitated communication -, e.g. more frequent communication, more flexible work schedules to increase work overlap hours - and processes that reduced the need to communicate synchronously -, e.g. more detailed documentation, more effective use of task programming mechanisms and tighter project controls.Coordination through task programming was the most frequently discussed process adopted to overcome the barriers imposed by global boundaries. Task programming mechanisms are generally more useful when tasks are certain, unambiguous, structured, and routine. But they are also used quite effectively in distance-separated contexts to minimize task dependencies, reduce the need to communicate, and increase accountability. Communication was the second most frequently discussed coordination mechanism employed to bridge global boundary variables. Communication is particularly effective when tasks are uncertain, ambiguous, unstructured, and less routine. Because communication is hampered by global boundaries, teams employed special communication approaches in the early stages of their projects, such as:* communicating more frequently or regularly;* communicating as clear as possible and employing more detailed documentation and formal communication processes; and* establishing a common platform for global collaboration, which included common procedures, tools, and technologies to reduce the need for global communication.While technology-mediated communication is now commonplace, many participants still felt that there is no substitute for face-to-face communication. Early face-to-face meetings were especially effective when global project teams consisting of people from different cultures were working on critical, complex tasks.This study has confirmed the two types of processes associated with the I-P-O framework we presented in Figures 2 and 3. The first are the traditional task processes that teams use to get the work done, identified by Powell and colleagues (2004). These processes are often negatively impacted by global boundary variables. However, effective teams implement special coordination and cognitive processes (e.g. regular meetings, frequent travel, detailed specifications, developing shared knowledge early, etc.) to overcome potential deficiencies in the traditional task processes when bridging global barriers.Organizations often experience problems in global IS projects because of their lack of awareness about the effects of global boundaries, particularly when managers have little experience with global projects. Once managers become aware of the impact of these boundaries, they implement special processes or mechanisms to bridge them. These processes are geared towards raising awareness about several task-related issues, including cultural diversity awareness, presence awareness (i.e. who is where and when), task awareness (i.e. what has been done and when), and local context awareness.Global barriers are often overcome with coping processes suited to the task context, but with additional costs, effort and stress. For example, in time separated contexts with little or no working overlap, teams may implement a 24 hour-a-day availability policy. Teams also implement other tactics like: frequent travel; relocation; communication and collaboration tools; extreme attention to detail in documents, requirements, and specifications. All of these additional measures come at additional financial cost and burden on personal lives. The hidden costs associated with the additional time and effort required to work across global boundaries reduce the attractiveness of global IS projects. Given the current trends in offshore outsourcing, we were surprised that we did not hear from many project managers that global collaboration arrangements were established primarily to reduce costs. Quite the contrary, our findings suggest that global collaboration, regardless of outsourcing and off-shoring arrangements, adds costs that are not always captured in the project budget and contract.\nLimitations: Our study has limitations. First, the sample is relatively small, consisting of 22 interviews. Nevertheless, we managed to achieve theoretical saturation in the text data (i.e. the last few interviews did not contribute new insights) and obtain very rich accounts about the effects of various global boundary variables and about the processes that are most effective in overcoming these global barriers. Second, our study is limited by inherent problems of interview research, such as lack of statistical validation and interpretation bias. Further quantitative studies are needed to develop a better understanding of the factors leading to global IS project success. Finally, our findings may be limited to the idiosyncrasies of the companies that were studied. This limitation potentially weakens the generalizability of our findings to a broader population of organizations. However, although our sample did not represent all industries and organizations, it included interviews with project managers from seven different companies, covering a variety of IT settings.\nConclusions: Despite these limitations, this study makes an important contribution to the literature on global IS project teams because it is the first study to investigate the relative effects of multiple global boundaries and other input variables on global IS project outcomes and how different processes mitigate these effects. Time separation and cultural differences were found to have the most significant impacts on global project outcomes. Working in global contexts is a difficult undertaking and thus IS projects have the potential to fail. Despite multiple global barriers, many projects have succeeded by employing task programming, communication and cognitive processes that are custom-fit to alleviate the problems and challenges presented by these barriers. Future research is needed to quantitatively validate our findings and further investigate the complex inner workings of global IS projects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to better understand how global boundaries affect global information system (IS) project success and which mediating process variables increase the chance of success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the literature on IS success and global teams, an input-process-output framework is adopted to develop the research model for the study. This research is based on semi-structured interviews with 22 global IS project managers. An attribution analysis is used to identify common themes and patterns of the interview results.\nFindings: - Global IS project managers identified time separation and cultural differences as the most significant barriers to project success. Our findings suggest that effective teams were able to overcome these barriers to achieve success, but this success was achieved through the implementation of special coordination, communication and cognitive processes tailored to help teams overcome global barriers and through considerable additional cost and effort.\nPractical implications: - This study furthers understanding of the global boundaries affecting global IS project success and the most effective processes that teams use to overcome global barriers.\nOriginality/value: - Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how global IS projects succeed or fail. The present study, investigates not only how multiple global boundary variables (e.g. geographic dispersion, time separation, language differences, cultural differences, etc.) affect IS project success, but also which processes teams use to cope with the challenges presented by these global boundaries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance and dividend policy in Indonesia	[ "Corporate governance", "Indonesia", "Dividend", "Outcome theory", "Substitution theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This research aims at examining the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy in Indonesia. Mitton (2004) argues that dividend is an important issue for investors, especially among low ranking corporate governance practice countries. Based on agency theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) there are conflicts between principal and agents because they act on self-interest. However, agency conflict in emerging market happened between the majority and minority shareholders (Claessens et al., 2000; La Porta et al., 2000; Tabalujan, 2001). The majority shareholders tend to expropriate minority shareholders. One of the mechanisms to protect minority shareholders is good corporate governance practice.\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: One of important rights for investors is dividend. Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that managements tend to pursue self-interest on firms management. This behaviour will of course harm investors. There is a conflict of interests between the management and investors. However, in emerging markets, agency conflicts also happen between the majority and minority shareholders (Claessens et al., 2000; La Porta et al., 2000; Nam and Nam, 2004; Tabalujan, 2001, 2002a, b). To protect minority shareholders' rights, i.e. dividend, good corporate governance mechanism is important. Kumar (2006) shows that corporate governance mechanism influences dividend policy.\n3. Research methods: We select our sample from firms listed at Indonesian Stock Exchange that announce dividend from 2004-2006 periods. In order to measure corporate governance practice, we use the transparency and disclosure index (TDI) developed by Kowalewski et al. (2008). This index is divided into three sub-indexes:\n4. Analysis: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Conclusion: The result of this research shows that corporate governance practice in Indonesia is still low. The TDI score is only 32.75 per cent of the maximum points. Indonesian firms tend to compensate their poor corporate governance through higher dividend payment. There is a negative effect of corporate governance on dividend payment. Therefore this research confirms the application of substitution theory in Indonesia rather than outcome theory. Subsequent analysis shows that: poor structure and procedures in the board of commissioners, and poor disclosure practices are negatively related to dividend policy, while shareholder rights does not. From the fundamental factor test, growth and firm profitability are positively associated with the dividend policy while firm size is not.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims at examining the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy among Indonesian companies. There are two theories of the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy: substitution and outcome theory. Substitution theory argue that corporate governance have negative effect on dividend policy, while outcome theory argue that corporate governance have positive effect on dividend policy. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy in Indonesia. This study aims at examining the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy among Indonesian companies. There are two theories of the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy: substitution and outcome theory. Substitution theory argue that corporate governance have negative effect on dividend policy, while outcome theory argue that corporate governance have positive effect on dividend policy. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy in Indonesia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample of this research comprises 248 firms from Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2004-2006. This research using Transparency and Disclosure Index (TDI) to measure corporate governance in Indonesia\nFindings: We find that TDI are low among Indonesian firms, with a score of 32 per cent out of the maximum point. This score indicates that Indonesian corporate governance is still low. The results show that there is a negative relation between corporate governance and dividend policy in Indonesia. Thus, the Indonesian companies pay more dividends when corporate governance practice is low. This result confirms applicable of substitution theory in Indonesia.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research focuses on manufacturing industry in Indonesia. Therefore, the conclusions of this research apply on the manufacturing companies in Indonesia\nPractical implications: This research shows that companies with poor corporate governance pay dividend higher than companies with better corporate governance. Thus, investor can use this information to make investment decision.\nOriginality/value: This research provides evidence on the negative effect of corporate governance on dividend policy in Indonesia (substitution theory).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When size matters: What multinationals should look for in a professional coaching service	[ "Coaching", "Multinational companies", "Employees", "Performance measures", "Management gurus" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIt isn't politically correct to say it, but size does matter!: In the UK and Europe the debate rumbles on regarding the creation of criteria for what constitutes a professional coach. However, one conclusion is clear. Provider organizational factors are the most important ones to consider. For multinational companies, big really does mean best.Professional coaching can make a major difference to the performance of key executives and managers. Outward confidence is not an indicator of inner self-belief. Skilled help to overcome the loneliness, insecurity and anxiety that go with the territory can unlock the effective corporate warrior within. But if you're out there shopping around for an executive or management coaching service, as in the souk or the bazaar, \"buyer beware.\"\nBig coaches: There are some very large firms out there providing coaching services. For the corporate buyer this is a comfort. If it all goes wrong, and money is wasted, few lose their jobs for gambling on the market leader - the corporate world is littered with hard luck stories from those who gave a little guy a break. For the risk averse, this is heaven sent.Yet there is more to it than mere security for those with posteriors to cover. The carefully selected big provider can genuinely provide the international or global reach that may be desired, and handle volumes of coaching in a reasonably consistent fashion. Further related services are likely to be available too - 360 degree feedback for example, or psychometrics and succession planning.There can be drawbacks too, of course. A packaged approach may be one size that doesn't fit all. A more customized approach may well lead to better results. And the individual coach must have the space to make judgment calls. Superficial diagnosis may well be revealed as just that once consultation commences.\nLittle coaches: It must be something to do with the personality type of those drawn to the coaching profession, but going solo seems to be a very popular option. We rarely, in fact never, hear of a herd of coaches or even a flock.It's a fragmented market place with many, many one man (or woman) bands. On the plus side, a solo coach is likely to offer a tailored responsive service - and at lower cost. A word of caution though. Potential pitfalls include a propensity not to carefully define the boundaries of the coaching intervention and confusing coaching with consulting, both of which may be on offer. And, like Oscar Wilde's death, reports of global reach may be greatly exaggerated.If deciding to go for a solo, check out areas of their dedication to professionalism, for example, their commitment to their own continuing professional development (CPD). In particular, make sure that the solo coach has access to \"supervision.\" This is the process by which coaches replay the coaching confidentially to a specialized professional. Among other things, it provides the acknowledged professional framework in which coaching advice can be assessed.\nMid-sized coaches: So what of the mid-sized players - the boutique providers?They do have many structural quality advantages. Boutique coaching providers are large enough to avoid the pitfalls of the soloists, but small enough to be flexible. Many are part of a larger conglomerate, while being a mid-sized business unit providing coaching services. Often they use skilled freelance or part-time associates, extending reach and client choice. A good atmosphere is likely to abound, as the team size is conducive to a highly responsive, well-attuned coaching culture.The quality drawbacks however stem from the same root - that their size is so well adapted to team culture. There are many recognized coaching approaches - inner game, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic and the rest. Watch out for organizations that only use one or maybe two approaches. Guru-ism is rife and followership common. Beware the group-think that accompanies these phenomena. One size may not fit your all, and the potential snake oil salesman knocking on your door may not always have the cure to your corporate ills.So there we have it. To an extent you pay your money and take your choice. It is a largely unregulated industry with claims of results hard to verify.What are the key lessons we should learn? Primarily, that while the relationship between client and coach is primarily responsible for the many benefits that good coaching brings, when making your choice think scale. Make sure one-on-one occurs more than once. Check out potential providers with care, but don't miss the opportunity to think big.\nComment: This is a review of \"Coaching professionalism and provider size\" by Geoffrey Ahern. The article essentially provides an opinion piece, but has value as it is based upon the author's longstanding experiences in the industry. It is accordingly somewhat limited in scope, and claims are occasionally unsubstantiated. The advice is simple, but good advice very often is. The article is very practical in its approach and provides insights that will be helpful both to coaches and those who hire them. The messages for corporate purchasers are buyer beware and be very clear on your needs. Check out the professionalism of your potential coaching services provider and, if you're a multinational company, make sure the provider is big enough to cope with all of your needs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Scans the top 400 management publications in the world to identify the most topical issues and latest concepts. These are presented in an easy-to-digest briefing of no more than 1,500 words.\nFindings: - It isn't politically correct to say it, but size does matter! In the UK and Europe the debate rumbles on regarding the creation of criteria for what constitutes a professional coach. However, one conclusion is clear. Provider organizational factors are the most important ones to consider. For multinational companies, big really does mean best.\nPractical implications: - 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" } ]
From knife to paper: an audit of surgical communication	[ "Training", "Quality (assurance", "Improvement", "Structures", "Strategies", "Frameworks)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The operation note (\"op note\"), traditionally written by the operating surgeon after a procedure, serves as a key tool of communication. This communication not only conveys specific instructions to healthcare professionals caring for the patient in the postoperative period, it also serves as a reference tool with medicolegal implications.\nMethods: Consecutive elective and emergency general surgical operations over a six-week period from September 2011 to October 2011 at a district general hospital were retrospectively retrieved using an electronic theatre database. The six-week period was chosen to account for any surgeon absence through leave or sickness. Non-retrieval of operation notes, typed notes and endoscopies were excluded.\nResults: A total of 404 operations were retrieved in the six-week period. 45 patients were excluded (28 unavailable notes, five endoscopies, one wrong specialty, four typed notes, seven incomplete legibility scores). Operation notes were written by 12 consultants and 11 registrars.\nDiscussion: Numerous studies have highlighted poor documentation in operation notes. These studies have shown that indication for the operation (7 per cent) and blood loss (2 per cent) were commonly omitted (Morgan et al., 2009; Wauben et al., 2010). Several of these studies introduced a programme of education and a checklist which increased compliance with guidelines at the time of re-audit. Our study shows that the same areas are being neglected, suggesting that awareness of the guidelines is still limited.\nConclusion: The quality of handwritten notes varies. Registrar notes are more comprehensive and legible. Clinical seniority and specialty training may improve the interpretation of handwritten operation notes.\nConflicts of interest: None declared.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to assess the quality (content and legibility) of handwritten operation notes and the reader's interpretation of legibility by clinical seniority.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Consecutive elective and emergency general surgical operations over a six-week period from September 2011 at one hospital were retrospectively collected. Non-retrieval of operation notes, typed notes and endoscopies were excluded. The content of each operation note was assessed against a 26-item checklist. Legibility was assessed by 4 readers (2 Foundation Doctors and 2 Registrars in General Surgery) using an original objective scoring system.\nFindings: A total of 404 operations were identified; 45 were excluded following review of operation notes. Operation notes were derived from 12 consultants and 11 registrars. Analysis of the content score suggested that time of procedure (1 per cent), ASA grade (1 per cent) and blood loss (5 per cent) were poorly reported. Clinical indication and post-operative instructions were documented in only 52 per cent and 66 per cent of operation notes respectively. Registrar notes had a higher content score compared with consultant notes (15.8 vs 13.5, p<0.001). Legibility scores were reported to be higher for Registrar readers, compared with Foundation Doctor readers (OR 1.95, 95 per cent CI 1.75-2.18, p<0.001). Registrar-written notes had higher legibility scores compared with consultants (OR 19.0, 95 per cent CI 11.6-31.2, p<0.001).\nResearch limitations/implications: The quality of handwritten notes varies. Registrar-written notes are more content-rich and legible.\nPractical implications: Clinical seniority and specialty training may improve the interpretation of handwritten operation notes. This study adds to growing evidence supporting the widespread adoption of a computerized immediate operation note.\nOriginality/value: An objective scoring system to assess legibility of operation notes written as freehand was used. Also, legibility according to the reader's seniority in clinical training was evaluated.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Variations of quality of work life of academic professionals in Bangladesh: A discriminant analysis	[ "Quality of work life (QWL)", "Academic professionals", "Human resource", "Need satisfaction", "Spillover", "Academic staff", "Human resource management", "Bangladesh" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Determining quality of work life (QWL) of employees is an important consideration for employers or management who are interested to improve the employees' job satisfaction and commitment. It involves the interplay between and among the employees, job content, and job context. So, every organization tries to achieve its vision, mission and objectives through effective utilization of human and material resources. Among the resources, the human resources are the important which determine organizational success. To make the best use of human resources, an organization must give more attention to the human network (interpersonal relationship), the nature and content of their jobs being performed. The job design of organization can have a significant effect on organizational performance (OP) and thereby, the proper attention needs to be given to the quality of work life (QWL).\nOverview of Bangladesh and university system: Bangladesh is a developing and agro-based country in South East Asian region. The total population is 160 millions of which 82 percent are Muslims and the rest are Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and so on. As per World Bank classification, Bangladesh categorized as lower - income country with per capita income in 2010 was less than $1,000. The GDP growth in Bangladesh economy is 6.4 percent.There are 31 public universities and 52 private universities under the University Grants Commission (UGC), a regulatory body of Bangladesh government, which provides the tertiary education in Bangladesh. In any country, the tertiary education exerts a direct influence on the productive capacities of the country which largely determines the level of economic development and its ability to compete in the global economy. Sustainable economic development is not possible without contribution of an innovative tertiary education system.Research purpose\nReview of the literature: Work is an important constituent and integral to the life of all human beings. An individual's experiences in the workplace and his QWL influence the satisfaction at work and non-work life which ultimately affects organizational outcome. Researcher explained the QWL in different perspectives and have tried to identify the factors that determine such an experience at work (Bagtasos, 2011; Kalra and Ghosh, 1984; Mirvis and Lawler, 1984). Given the many perspectives by these researchers, the questions remain, what constitutes a high quality of work life? Generally the persons who are happy with their work are said to have a high QWL and those who are unhappy or unfulfilled by their work are said to have a low QWL.A high QWL is essential for organizations to continue to attract and retain skilled employees. May et al. (1999) pointed out that companies offering better QWL and supportive work environments would likely to gain leverage in hiring and retaining valuable people and companies with high QWL enjoy exceptional growth and profitability (May et al., 1999). The reality is that in the organization the sharing of social understanding and the participation of all parties concerned would constitute positive attitude for better QWL and higher productivity. Enhancing QWL will result in productivity improvement and gains from productivity improvements in turn will strengthen QWL (Walton, 1972; as cited in Sadique, 2007).Robbins (1999) stated that QWL is a process by which an organization responds to employee needs by developing mechanisms to allow them to share fully in making the decisions that design their lives at work (as cited in Islam and Siengthai, 2009). According to Straw and Heckscher (1984) QWL is a philosophy, a set of principles, which holds that people are the most important resource in the organization as they are trustworthy, responsible, capable of making valuable contribution and they should be treated with dignity and respect. QWL consists of opportunities for active involvement in group activities or problem solving that are of mutual benefit to employers, based on labor-management cooperation (Cunningham and Eberle, 1990). Hence, QWL is a comprehensive construct that includes work experiences that are rewarding, fulfilling and devoid of stress, and other negative personal consequences (Shamir and Salomon, 1985). According to Hanefah et al. (2003), QWL is a multi-dimensional construct comprised of seven dimensions, namely growth and development, participation, physical environment, supervision, pay and benefits, social relevance and workplace integration (as cited in Daud, 2010). Heskett et al. (1997) proposed that QWL which was measured by the feelings that employees have towards their jobs, colleagues and companies would enhance a chain effect leading to organization's growth and profitability (as cited in Daud, 2010).QWL has been viewed from different angles. In line with the scholarly search for QWL, two approaches can be traced in the literature, such as: the need satisfaction approach; and the spillover approach. The need satisfaction approach is based on need-satisfaction models developed by Maslow (1954), McClelland (1961), Herzberg (1966), and Alderfer (1972). The basic assumption of this approach is that people have basic needs that they seek to fulfill through work. Extending this viewpoint, Sirgy et al. (2001) mentioned that employees derive satisfaction from their jobs to the extent that their jobs meet these needs. Whereas the spillover approach pointed out that satisfaction in one area of a person's life extends into other areas of life. Moreover, the spillover approach proposes that employees' experience on the job carryover in other life domains and influence his personal life (Schmitt and Bedian, 1982). This approach also signifies that dissatisfied employees are likely to experience unhappiness in non-work activities, whereas satisfied employees will also be happy of the job (Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991). Based upon these two approaches, Sirgy et al.(2001) proposed a new definition of QWL and they defined QWL as the, \"Employee satisfaction with a variety of needs (such as health and safety needs, economic and family needs, social needs, esteem needs, actualization needs, knowledge needs, and aesthetic needs) through resources, activities, and outcomes stemming from participation in work and the workplace.\"The key concepts captured in QWL include job security, better reward system, higher pay, opportunity for growth, and participative groups among others (Havlovic, 1991; Straw and Heckscher, 1984; Scobel, 1975). Walton (1972) proposed the conceptual categories of QWL. He suggested eight aspects in which employees perceptions towards their work organizations could determine their QWL were: adequate and fair compensation; safe and healthy environment; development of human capacities; growth and security; social integrative constitutionalism; the total life space and social relevance. Sadique (2007) indicated that the designation, experience and age of sugar mill employees in Bangladesh did not alter their rating of the existing and expected QWL.Padala and Suryanarayana (2010) have proposed that the QWL dimensions be broadly divided into: classical dimensions and contemporary dimensions. Classical dimensions include physical working conditions, employee's welfare, employee assistance, job factors, and financial factors. Whereas contemporary dimensions include collective bargaining, industrial safety and health, grievance redress procedure, quality circles, work-life balance, and workers' participation in management. Researchers have argued that the different dimensions of QWL programs have a strong correlation with productivity and also a positive correlation between work and non-work life (i.e. areas of life outside the work) and vice versa (Bagtasos, 2011; George and Brief, 1990).Recently, every organization provides four necessary resources (such as good work environment, job requirements, supervisory behavior and ancillary program) to satisfy their employees' needs. Further, satisfaction with work life domain spillover to other life domains and thus influence overall life satisfaction of employees (as cited in Rathi, 2010). Available evidence indicates that satisfaction of employees' needs positively influence their health, psychological well-being, commitment to work, productivity and profitability of an organization (Bagtasos, 2011; Cheung and Tang, 2009; Daud, 2010; Jagannathan and Akhila, 2009; Pranee, 2010; Rathi, 2010).There are number of studies that were undertaken on QWL. But there is no empirical study, which has been conducted using the inferential statistical tool (i.e. factor analysis and discriminant analysis) to analyze the QWL and its university-wise variations of academic professionals in Bangladesh. This research gap induces the researcher to undertake the present study.\nMethods: Sampling procedure and sample size\nFindings: The findings of the study have been discussed under the followings headings.Sample profile\nDiscussion: The goal of this study was to identify the key factors/workplace issues in order develop effective strategies to address the issues regarding the improvement of QWL. The importance of QWL has been examined thoroughly within the literature as a determinant of satisfaction of academic professionals at work place. This is one of the first studies to examine the factors that influence on QWL of academic professionals in the context of Bangladesh.The study demonstrates that the job design of an organization can have a significant impact on its organization performance and thereby, the need to give proper attention to QWL. It is observed from the results of the study that there are positive relationship between QWL and employee's job satisfaction and commitment. In addition, the result of this study reveal that the significant association between QWL and job satisfaction may lead to feelings of happiness and commitment within the academic professionals in Bangladesh. Moreover, these findings of happiness of commitment extent into other life domains which further lead to an increased performance at different levels (individual, group, and organization). These findings of the study are well supported by spillover hypothesis and carryover effect (Schmitt and Bedian, 1982; Schmitt and Mellon, 1980) which asserts that an individual experiences in work life domain carryover in other life domain's and hence influence his or her personal life.The present study found significant differences between academic professionals of public and private universities in Bangladesh on two factors like \"creativity of outside work\", and \"payment for work\" out of four factors of QWL. As private universities of Bangladesh are quite younger than public universities that is why most of the private universities still do not have permanent campus. Private universities do not have service rules, career development programs, scholarship facilities, conducive working environment, research facilities, and the like for their academic professionals. On the other hand, except adequate financial facilities, the academic professionals of public universities of Bangladesh have been enjoying autonomy, high job security, avail national and international scholarships, research facilities, and excellent career advancement opportunities. So, it is clear that the academic professionals of private universities are only in better position than those of public universities with respect to remuneration.Finally, an emphasis of QWL can contribute potentially not only in building an effective organization but it is also likely to facilitate training and development/HRD activities which is essential for formulation of healthy society and nation in upcoming days of Bangladesh.Limitations\nConclusion: The findings of the present study have provided answers to the research questions and may greatly contribute to the literature of QWL in Bangladesh and other developing countries. The findings also provide some insights in the efforts of improving the QWL. The suitable policy formulation based on the study findings, to the best interest of the academic professionals as well as of the country will go a long way to open a new era in the field of the country's human resource development. Moreover, the exploring factors can be used in the strategy to improve the QWL and also may be used to formulating strategy for the retention of the academic professionals in Bangladesh. The present study explains the role of QWL in managing human resource which determines the success at different levels (individual, group and organizations). To make the efficient use of human resource managers need to give proper attention to the QWL as well as HRD activities. It is also expected that the outcome of this research will be beneficial for policymakers, planners and development economists to formulate effective strategy of human resources development in Bangladesh and other emerging and developing countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main purpose of this research was to analyze the key issues related to quality of work life (QWL), which have become increasingly important to HRD scholars and practitioners. In addition, the significant differences between the academic professionals of public and private universities in Bangladesh in terms of QWL were also addressed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total number of 202 academic professionals were selected as a sample based on stratified and random sampling techniques. Questionnaire survey method was used to gather primary data. Sirgy et al.'s survey instrument was adopted in this study. Discriminant analysis was utilized to differentiate QWL among academic professionals of the study sample and tested the hypotheses.\nFindings: - The study findings show that the job design of an organization can have a significant effect on its organizational performance (OP) and hence the need to give proper attention to the quality of work life (QWL). Moreover, the two factors like \"creativity of outside work\" and \"payment for work\" were significantly differentiated between academic professionals of public and private universities in Bangladesh.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The main limitation of this paper is the relatively small sample size of only academic professionals in Bangladesh with regard to data concerning QWL, which limits the generalizability of the findings. However, the author feels that the outcomes of this research will be beneficial for policy makers and planners to formulate effective strategy of HRD in Bangladesh and other similar countries.\nOriginality/value: - The paper discusses the role of QWL in managing human resources which determines organizational success. To make the best use of human resources, organizational leaders need to give more attention to the human network (interpersonal relationship), the nature and content of jobs performed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Feeling documents: toward a phenomenology of information seeking	[ "Information retrieval", "Computers", "Aesthetics", "Information seeking", "Affect", "Desire", "Pornography" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: How do people seek information, particularly in information systems, whether analog, digital, personal and/or institutional? How do people evaluate documents - either the documents themselves or representational surrogates in various kinds of retrieval systems - in their consideration of what to read, view or listen, and in their subsequent use? What are the consequences in the design of information systems based on these practices?\nInformation and cognition: Brookes casts two fundamental phenomena into relationship with each other: cognition and information. Before and since the cognitive turn, we have spent significant effort trying to describe the eponymous phenomenon of \"information science/studies,\" a quest spent in part to help define the field itself, including its areas of research, degree programs and curricula. For a review of this work, the reader is referred to the work of Buckland (1991) and Furner (2010) (3 Information pieces).\nNarrow models of cognition: As useful as it is, the turn toward psychological relevance is almost nearly always described in relatively narrow cognitive terms relating conceptual, topical or propositional content. This continues to be the model in for many in the field of information science, for example, White (2011), where the cognitive effects he describes are conceptual mental constructs. Citing Wilson (2007), White says \"A cognitive effect occurs when an input of newly presented information interacts with a context of existing assumptions in one of three ways: by strengthening an assumption; by contradicting and eliminating it; or by combining with it to yield a new conclusion - one derived from neither the new information alone, nor the context alone, but from the new information and the context combined.\"\nSocial aspects of cognition: As witnessed through the synecdoche of relevance, the cognitive turn demonstrates a re-orientation toward humans in information studies. The cognitive turn of the mid-1970s in IR research was crucial, in our opinion, to developing fuller models of information seeking of which much has been accomplished in the last two decades. Much of this research has emphasized social and cultural approaches to the study of interactions with information, and has expanded the field's implicit theory of mind. However, the social approaches have generally proceeded without a strong recognition for a more expansive theory of cognition, one that incorporates notions of affect and embodiment. Arguing for a more complete model of cognition and of the person in human-document interaction, particularly the role of affect, is not a refutation of social approaches that have taken root in the last two decades, nor does it reject the comparative and historical approaches to the study of information use or organization that have long been a part of the field. Socio-cultural approaches have, in our estimation, been significant for advancing the study of information.\nA broader notion of cognition: The over-reliance on a narrow conception of cognition is consistent with a confusion present in the general literature. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1999, p. 12):Confusion sometimes arises because the term cognitive is often used in a very different way in certain philosophical traditions. For philosophers in these traditions, cognitive means only conceptual or propositional structure. It also includes rule-governed operations on such conceptual and propositional structures [...] Most of what we will be calling the cognitive unconscious is thus for many philosophers not considered cognitive at all.\nAffect: Lakoff and Johnson's project is concerned with embodiment and unconsciousness, and the use of metaphor in thought. However, we still find one shortcoming: affect is not present in his present definition of cognition. Cvetkovich (2014, p. 13) says \"'Affect' names a conceptual problem as much as a tangible thing. As such, it is best understood as an umbrella term that includes related, and more familiar words such as 'feeling' and 'emotion,' as well as efforts to make distinctions among them.\"\nEmbodiment: The neglect to examine embodied responses to information may reflect an assumption among some information scholars (like Belkin et al., 1982; Belkin, 1990) that the experience of information is fundamentally cognitive. Yet the perception of information cannot be reduced to a question of knowledge, just as sensation cannot be equated with \"the reflective consciousness of sensation,\" as Shaviro points out. Shaviro (1993, pp. 26-27) writes:The Hegelian and structuralist equation suppresses the body. It ignores or abstracts away from the primordial forms of raw sensation: affect, excitation, stimulation, and repression, pleasure and pain, shock and habit. It posits instead disincarnate eye and ear whose data are immediately objectified in the form of self-conscious awareness or positive knowledge.\nNarrow, medium and broad channels of cognition: Ultimately we think of cognition like a river with three regions. In the middle, at the surface, there is a narrow channel of swiftest water, surrounded by a middle band of slower moving water. And the third channel of slowest water running along the shore and river bottom is the largest by volume. Of the total cognitive system, conscious prepositional thought is only that narrow visible band, existing and embedded in a larger context of affect, all of which takes place in a larger system of perception. We are positioned to observe directly only the middle channel, and only the surface and infer the rest, even though that middle channel only represents a portion of the total river. We engage the world, including the informational and documentary universes, through all three channels, and yet we have heretofore characterized the interactions primarily with a concern with only the smallest - albeit the most visible - component.\nDocument assessment: We began our critique of affectless models of cognition with a review of the contribution of a cognitivist position on relevance. As we begin to illustrate, the concept of relevance expanded over time from a narrow concept used in IR system evaluation to a concept used to understand how people judge information, sometimes expressed as part of the document selection or information-seeking process. Here, we get some inkling of affect as an aspect of the information-using subject. Among other things, an overly restrictive notion of cognition - one that omits affect - means that we have not understood the role of emotion in the document-selection process. As noted above, we have seen traces of the concept in previous research on relevance, but our restricted notion has generally blinded us to the presence of affect. Within librarianship and information studies we have long characterized documents regarding their informational value, for example, by what they have to say about a range of particular topics. Users are characterized as learning on a topic, and their motivations are often described as needs or problems, or as gaps in their knowledge.\nUse: the case of pornography: Any single-word search on Xtube, an online video host for porn, inevitably produces a set of images tagged with an array of sequenced descriptors. For instance, an inquiry for all items designated as \"bear\" returns images and videos also labeled as twink, bareback, trucker, beefy, daddy, hairy, piercings and mature. Following the sequence to \"twink\" materials introduces blond, vintage, love, kissing, 18, breed, smooth, bubble, perfect, chub, Latino, strip, amor, college and interracial. A new search for \"domination\" returns materials tagged as Asian, Thai, Japanese, worship, control, humiliation, black, pussy, skinny, whip, BDSM and transsexual. The relationship between some of these tags probably seems, if not natural, at least familiar - in porn terminology hairy is a characteristic feature of bear. Other tags, however, create unexpected associations and wondrous juxtapositions - bear would often exclude twink, smooth bubble conjures the fluid permutations of a lava lamp, while the national identity Japanese precedes worship without the adjectival modification common to a syntactical relationship. While these unusual indexes may look disorderly, in fact, they evidence the process by which viewers and algorithms interact to arrange digital materials housed in archives of amateur pornography. These arrangements, according to Keilty (2017), take shape according to patterns of browsing that enact carnal desires. The carnal aspects of browsing pornography refract both affect and embodiment as sexual desire (or disgust), creating a conjoined relation between subject and object via embodied engagements with the documents and information systems that organize and represent them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present two models of human cognition. The first narrow model concentrates on the mind as an information-processing apparatus, and interactions with information as altering thought structures and filling gaps in knowledge. A second model incorporates elements of unconsciousness, embodiment and affect. The selection of one model over the other, often done tacitly, has consequences for subsequent models of information seeking and use.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A close reading of embodied engagements with pornography guided by existential phenomenology.\nFindings: The paper develops a phenomenology of information seeking, centered primarily around the work of Merleau-Ponty, to justify a more expansive concept of cognition. The authors demonstrate the roles of affect and embodiment in document assessment and use, with a prolonged example in the realm of browsing pornography.\nOriginality/value: Models of information seeking and use need to account for diverse kinds of human-document interaction, to include documents such as music, film and comics that engage the emotions or are perceived through a broader band of sensory experience to include visual and auditory components. The authors consider how those human-document engagements form virtual communities based on the similarity of their members' affective and embodied responses, which in turn inform the arrangements, through algorithms, of the relations of documents to each other. Less instrumental forms of information seeking and use - ones that incorporate elements of embodiment and affect - are characterized as esthetic experiences, following the definition of the esthetic provided by Dewey. Ultimately the authors consider, given the ubiquity of information seeking and its rhythm in everyday life, whether we can meaningfully characterize information seeking as a distinct human process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is it the more the merrier? An exploratory study into the growing problem of information overload	[ "Information management", "Business performance", "Tourism", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Information has long been recognised as one of the four important corporate resources alongside physical, human and finance (Johnson et al., 2006). Businesses rich in physical, human and financial resources can channel them into making a more secure future. Does the quantity of information have a similar effect on corporate survival and growth?The answer to this question is not as straightforward as it seems. In today's information age, corporate performance depends on sound business decisions made in a timely fashion, which in turn depends on accurate and relevant information from a variety of sources such as suppliers, customers, markets and competitors, etc. Whilst insufficient information will result in poor decision making, too much of it, ironically, can also have the same consequence. When there is too much information, additional resources, especially, time, will need to be deployed to process it.There is a growing body of anecdotal evidence pointing to the existence of information overload. A simple search on Google using key words such as \"tourism industry\" and \"international tourism industry\" usually returns entries numbered in millions. As can be seen in Table I, even if only 1 minute is spent on each item it will take a person over 20,000 working days (over 55 calendar years) to sip through all the information. Any decisions made afterwards would be irrelevant as things would have long moved on. Table I also shows that the use of more specific terms such as \"international tourism industry\" and \"Chinese tourism industry\" significantly reduces the volume of search results.This example may be simplistic in nature but is indicative of the situation facing all individuals and organisations - too much information competing for the time available to process it. The frustration with this growing problem has led to the development of consumer web sites such as \"moneysupermarket.com\" and \"confused.com\" designed to bring together relevant information in a structured and more accessible manner. Can the same approach be developed for business users of information?Set in the information-intensive tourism industry in China, an exploratory study was carried out in 2008 seeking to answers three questions:1. How prevalent was information overload?2. What were the likely causes?3. What could the problem be overcome?\nResearch to date: Research into the problem of information overload dates back to the 1970s when Milgram (1970) first identified the need for more effective information handling (Eppler and Mengis, 2004). Since then, more research evidence has come to light. According to Barkow (2004), an average employee spends more than 40 per cent of his/her time in a typical working day processing work-related information which includes e-mails, instant messages, phone and conference calls. Whilst data storage needs are rising by 60-70 per cent annually over half of the stored information is seldom accessed (Kirwan-Taylor, 2007). Moreover, the increasing availability of home internet connection has blurred the boundary between work and life with many working individuals accessing work e-mails outside office hours (Vernon, 2007). Are these examples indicative of information overload?Information overload: fact or fiction?\nThe Chinese tourism industry: In the tourism industry in China, whilst a growing number of private travel agencies are now authorised to operate, the key players remain state owned. A large state-owned travel agency typically has three core business units, namely, inbound tourism, outbound tourism and domestic tourism, which are, respectively, concerned with receiving tourists from abroad, sending tourists to overseas destinations and moving people about within the country.It was not until the early 1990s that the outbound tourism business started to take off with licenses granted by the government gradually. Although even to this date outbound tourism offers only limited destinations, the size of the business is growing very rapidly. With only a small number of licensed operators, there is a lot of pressure to accommodate the growing demand. For the top operators, the outbound tourism business generates the most revenue and naturally employs the largest number of staff.The growth of the Chinese outbound tourism business\nResearch methods: Focus of research\nFindings and discussions: How prevalent is information overload?\nConclusions and further research: Findings of this exploratory study suggested that information overload was a problem growing in significance both to individuals and to organisations in the Chinese tourism industry. From the operatives' point of view, externally, the seasonality, the diverse and changing consumer demands and the intense competition have contributed to the problem of information overload whilst, internally, the low level of job standardisation and fluid team structure added to the problem.However, perception of the size of the problem and how it should be tackled differed. Those in managerial positions tended to view this problem with less severity than those they managed. This might be the case in the tourism industry but is it also the case in other service and manufacturing industries? Further research is clearly needed to gain a better understanding on this issue.Communicational tools such as MSN were seen as instantaneous and cost-effective methods to manage the growing information load but they could sometimes add to the problem due to poorer quality of information obtained through these channels. Effectiveness of using these improved with experience which occurred over time. Training was identified as a useful means of more effectively coping with information load. This is likely to be more pertinent to the tourism industry due to the large of proportion of young and less experienced staff employed.As information flow underpins the essence of a functioning organisation how it is structured will affect how information flow is managed within it and thus add to or lessen the problem of information overload. Constrained by the limited time, it was not possible to examine this issue in a meaningful manner within this exploratory study. Designing the structure of an organisation in a way that closely reflects the nature of its business and its internal and external communication needs and effectively minimise or eliminate the circulation of information to those who do not need it could be the most effective way to tackle the growing problem of information overload and thus enhance corporate performance.It must be recognised that an organisational design and its underpinning information flow system may work in one industry at a certain point in time. Its effectiveness may not be found in a different business environment or diminish due to changes in the internal as well as external environments in which the organisation operations. In order to substantiate the preliminary findings of this exploratory study, considerable amount of further research will need to be carried out involving organisations of different sizes and forms operating in difference industries across different countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research seeks to uncover some empirical evidence on how prevalent the problem of information overload has become, how it has affected the performance of organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Set in the context of the information-intensive tourism industry, this exploratory study examined the top two state-owned tour operators in China. Using semi-structured group interviews supplemented by a questionnaire survey, the empirical evidence gathered was examined to identify key themes concerning information overload.\nFindings: - The problem was felt more by the front line operatives than those who managed them. Increasing tiredness, high stress levels and more mistakes made at work were amongst the symptoms. Factors specific to the tourism industry included poor clarity in job division and task procedures, low standardisation of job contents, inter-team work, and loose team structures. Experience, training and staff motivation were identified as possible ways to address the problem.\nResearch limitations/implications: - To fully appreciate the strategic impact of the problem of information overload on corporate performance, considerable further research needs to be carried out involving organisations in different sizes and forms operating in difference industries across different countries.\nPractical implications: - This paper adds practical value by providing some empirical evidence to complement the growing body of anecdotal evidence demonstrating how information explosion especially through the internet is having an adverse impact on corporate performance.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the growing phenomenon of information overload is affecting corporate performance, especially in the information-intensive industry of travel and tourism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Designing a demand chain management framework under dynamic uncertainty: An exploratory study of the Chinese fashion apparel industry	[ "China", "Supply chain management", "Fashion apparel industry", "Demand chain management", "Dynamic process alignment", "Strategic fit of the alignment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: China's apparel market represents one of the largest growing retail markets in the world. Attributed to the booming e-commerce and digital technology, there is a proliferation of domestic consumptions from not only the big metropolis but also the large number of inland cities (Fung Business Intelligence Centre, 2014). The rising demand for clothing is also fueled by the stable increase in household income. Improved living standard of people in the country has shifted the focus from basic apparel to more diverse fashion products (Lu and Dickson, 2015). According to the forecast made by Euromonitor, annual apparel sales in China will reach $333,312 million by 2019, an increase of 25 percent from $267,246 million in 2014 (Euromonitor International, 2014). However, confronted with growing dynamism, traditional fashion apparel (FA) companies have encountered a series of disruptive difficulties, such as rising labor cost, outdated product lines and large over-stocks, which finally led to supply chain (SC) breakdowns (Yuan and Xu, 2010; Chao and Lu, 2015). Despite the dramatic changes and the dynamic market uncertainties, research on how Chinese FA companies adapted to disruptive changes is limited.\nLiterature review: From SCM to DCM\nA proposed DCM conceptual framework underpinned by the alignment theory: Upon comparing the various SCM frameworks and identifying their inadequacies, this study proposes a conceptual DCM framework to bridge the research gap (Figure 1). Emphasizing a holistic alignment among intra- and inter-organizations, the proposed framework comprises three DCM scopes, including demand activities described by demand elements, supply activities described by supply elements and strategic management described by management components. This study adopts the strategic fit of the alignment theory (Chorn, 1991) as the underpinning theory and the administration-integration-production-development (A-I-P-D) logic sets (Chorn, 1991; Gattorna, 1998), which was originally applied to organization activities, are extended to apply to supply and demand activities so as to gage the alignment relationship between the internal operation and external situation.\nMethodology: According to Yin (2013), case studies are particularly suited to explore complex dynamic phenomena in their natural settings. As the research questions and the context of this study are largely exploratory, a multiple case study using the inductive quality methodology was adopted (Eisenhardt, 1989). According to Daymon and Holloway (2010), interpretive (qualitative) methods are particularly suited to explore people's intentions, motivations and subjective experiences. Tewksbury (2009) also states that knowledge gained through qualitative investigation is more informative, richer and offers enhanced understanding compared to that obtained via quantitative research. Golicic et al. (2005) illustrate that a qualitative approach provides researchers with access to deeper levels of understanding of new or complex phenomena by yielding a high level of detail. This lends further justification for using the qualitative approach in this study. To obtain a holistic picture of the FA industry in China, five FA companies, each with a different firm size, SC model and ownership type, were selected for investigation. They were all major players in the trade identified from the industry database published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China published in 2014.\nFindings and discussions: The within-case analyses reveal the responding actions taken by the five investigated companies to the impacts of the latest economic transition in China from the perspective of the 15 internal elements. Matching against the interview data in Table II, a logic code was assigned to each of the elements observed in the five investigated companies to enable evaluation of alignment across the different cases (refer to Appendix 1). The within-case analysis findings are summarized in Tables IV-VII, respectively. Table VIII compares across the five cases their levels of alignment externally with the business environment and internally among the three scopes.\nConclusions: This study has put forward a conceptual DCM framework underpinned by the alignment theory and applied it to explore an industry with dynamic demand uncertainties. Five representative FA companies in China with different sizes, ownership types, and business models were selected to investigate how they restructured their internal capabilities and resources in response to the impacts brought by the country's economic changes. The findings of this research corroborate the underpinning alignment theory that firms with a higher alignment among its demand, supply, and organization management scopes can achieve better performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to put forward a demand chain management (DCM) framework underpinned by the alignment theory and applies it to investigate the fashion apparel (FA) industry in China under the impacts of the latest economic transition.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory multiple case study methodology involving five Chinese FA firms, each with a different business model and ownership type, was employed. Semi-structured interviews, onsite observations and review of company documents were conducted to collect information for analysis.\nFindings: Using a conceptual DCM framework as a guide for analysis, the study finds that companies with a higher level of alignment with the external market situation and among the three internal DCM dimensions, namely, market management, supply chain management (SCM), and organization management, appear to perform better under the rapidly changing economic conditions in China.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes to knowledge by reviewing thoroughly the literature on SCM evolution and develops a DCM framework based on alignment theory that represents the state of the art in this area. By extending the administration-integration-production-development (A-I-P-D) logic set adopted in the alignment theory, this study has also equipped the proposed framework with an empirical tool to measure alignment.\nPractical implications: By applying the framework to examine the Chinese apparel industry under the impacts of the latest economic transition, this study provides practitioners in the industry with a framework to help formulate strategies and a tool to measure alignment. The findings of the case study also offer insights to the industry to thrive in the rapidly changing businesses environment with dynamic uncertainties.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the application of the A-I-P-D logic set under the alignment theory to the SCM field. This endeavor successfully transforms the proposed DCM framework from a theoretical concept to a practical tool to help evaluate empirically the alignment and strategic fit of a firm and potential relationship with firm performance. As the Chinese FA market has increasingly evolved under the impact of the globalization, the findings of this study not only assist the local FA companies in coping with the dynamic uncertainties but also shed light on the future developments of the global FA industry. Besides, the alignment measurement tool embedded in the proposed DCM framework can help enhance the chances of business success during implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does switching trading venues create value? Evidence from Hong Kong	[ "Stock liquidity", "Growth enterprise market", "Main board", "Trading venue", "G14" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Trading venue choice has drawn significant attention in recent years. Considerable evidence from the United States shows that positive abnormal announcement returns resulted when firms switched from Nasdaq/Amex to NYSE and from Amex to Nasdaq (Sanger and McConnell, 1986; Kadlec and McConnell, 1994; Tse and Devos, 2004; Jain and Kim, 2006). The positive announcement effect is mainly attributable to the enhanced liquidity and lower trading costs after switching the trading venues (Amihud and Mendelson, 1986, 1988; Merton, 1987). Kadlec and McConnell (1994), Elyasiani et al. (2000), Tse and Devos (2004), and Jain and Kim (2006) find that firms that switched from Nasdaq/Amex to NYSE experienced higher trading volume and lower bid-ask spread.Outside of the U.S. market, Lamba and Ariff (1997) investigated firms (involuntary) switched from Section 2 to Section 1 of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and find that firms with lower liquidity in Section 2 have the most to gain in price and trading activity. Bacmann et al. (2002) study the market reaction when stocks from a lower segment switch to the main segment in the French Stock Market. Liao and Yu (2013) study Taiwan firms moving from the GreTai Securities Market (GTSM) to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE). They find that the stocks earn abnormal positive returns, and the liquidity of the stocks improves after the switch.More recent studies focus on the corporate governance aspect of exchange listing (Coffee, 1999; Stulz, 1999). They propose the \"bonding effect\" by listing on an exchange with higher regulatory standards (e.g., the NYSE and the Main Market of the LSE) and a firm can signal to investors that it is committed to higher standards of disclosure and corporate governance, thereby justifying a lower cost of capital. Carvalho and Pennacchi (2012), Jenkinson and Ramadorai (2013), Campbell and Tabner (2014), and Kim (2014) find that firms moving to more regulated markets experience positive announcement returns and an increase in trading volume. Interestingly, Park et al. (2016) find that Korean firms experience deterioration in trading-related market quality (increase in bid-ask spread and decrease in volume) following the switch from KOSDAQ to the more regulated KOSPI.Hong Kong stock market has ranked fifth and third in the world and in Asia, respectively[1]. Due to different structures and characteristics across various markets, extending this area of research to the Hong Kong stock market is thus of value, and as far as the authors are aware, this study is the first to do so. Like other markets, increasing stock liquidity is a typical motive quoted by the management of firms in Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) to switch to the Main Board (MB). Therefore, the authors investigate the market reaction to switching announcements and the post-switching price effects, and also examine whether there are any changes in trading activity and liquidity following the switch. The results show that market reactions to the switch announcement depend on the liquidity of GEM firms. High liquidity firms have no significant market reaction around the announcement. On the contrary, low liquidity firms experience a much larger positive market reaction. The results also show that the switch is accompanied by a long-term increase in stock price only for low liquidity GEM firms. High liquidity firms underperform with persistent negative excess returns after moving to the MB, while low liquidity firms reverse the transient negative excess returns gradually. The results further show a significant increase in trading activity following the switch for low liquidity firms while there is a significant decline in both trading activity and liquidity in firms with high liquidity. Therefore, management and investors should be cautious that moving to the MB is beneficial for low liquidity GEM firms but detrimental to high liquidity firms.The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a brief review of the Hong Kong stock market. Section 3 describes the sample data. Section 4 presents the methodology. Section 5 reports the empirical results, and the last section concludes the study.\n2. The structure of the Hong Kong stock market: The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) operates two markets on which firms may choose to list their shares: the Main Board (MB) and Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). The two markets are segmented completely from each other. Each market targets different types of firms and has different listing requirements. It is unambiguous that the MB is more highly regulated than GEM.Table I shows a brief comparison of the listing requirements between the MB and GEM during the sample period in this study[2]. In brief, the MB has a higher profit or other financial standards requirements for firms to raise funds in the market. Both the MB and GEM are employed in the same order-driven auction system--Automatic Order Matching and Execution System (AMS) without the involvement of dealers or market makers. Different from the U.S. stock exchanges where NYSE-listed firms can list concurrently on the NASDAQ (e.g., APA), firms cannot be dually listed on both the MB and GEM.With effect from 1 July 2008, GEM has been repositioned as a second board and a stepping stone toward the MB. Different from the involuntary switching procedure in the Japanese stock market, there is no automatic transfer mechanism from GEM to the MB. A GEM firm can apply for a transfer of listing to the MB, and the relevant conditions, requirements, and procedures are set out in the Main Board Listing Rules Chapter 9A--Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board. In brief, it requires that a GEM-listed issuer meets the Main Board admission criteria, has been listed on GEM for a full financial year, and is not a subject of disciplinary investigations by the Exchange for serious or potentially serious rule breaches during the preceding 12 months[3].\n3. Sample and data: The initial sample consists of 101 GEM firms that switched to the MB during 2002-2016. The announcement date of a GEM firm switching application and the effective date of the switch to the MB are both of interest. The authors collect the effective dates of GEM firms switched to the MB from the HKEx Fact Books and check back the announcement dates of the application for the switch to the MB from HKExnews (http://www.hkexnews.hk/index.htm). Daily data on stock price, trading volume, number of shares outstanding, and Hang Sang Index are collected from Thomson Datastream.The final sample is constructed after some firms are excluded due to the following reasons. Six GEM firms with less than a year of trading history before applying for the switch to the MB are excluded. Second, five firms having less than 50 days of price and volume data during the estimation period (from 150 days to 26 days before the announcement) are also excluded. Finally, after excluding four firms having at least five consecutive nontrading days over days -20 to +20 around the announcement and the actual switching days, there are 86 firms in the final sample.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Stock price reaction on the switch announcement\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Stock price reaction on the switch announcement\n6. Conclusion: The HKEx operates two markets: the Main Board (MB) and Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). Over the past decades, more than 100 firms have voluntarily switched from GEM to the MB. Using an event study, the authors find that the market reactions to the switch announcement depend on the liquidity of GEM firms. Firms with high liquidity have no market reaction around the announcement. However, firms with low liquidity experience a much larger positive market reaction around the switch announcement. The results also show that the switch is accompanied by a long-term increase in stock price only for low liquidity GEM firms. High liquidity firms underperform with persistent negative CARs after moving to the MB, while low liquidity firms gradually reverse the transient negative CARs. Further, the results show a significant increase in trading activity for the low liquidity firms following the switch, while there is a significant decline in liquidity for firms with high liquidity. Therefore, the management and investors should be cautious that moving from GEM to the MB is beneficial to low liquidity firms but detrimental to high liquidity firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study whether switching trading venues create value in the Hong Kong stock market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By using an event study, the paper investigates the abnormal returns (AR) earned by firms in the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) relating to switching to the Main Board (MB). Two measures, turnover of the stock and Amihud's (2002) illiquidity ratio, are used to examine the liquidity effects.\nFindings: The switch is accompanied by a long-term increase in stock price for low liquidity firms only. High liquidity firms underperform with persistent negative excess returns after switching, while the transient negative excess returns in low liquidity firms reverse gradually. The results further show a significant increase in trading activity for low liquidity firms following the switch, while there is a significant decline in both trading activity and liquidity in firms with high liquidity. The overall results suggest that moving from GEM to the MB is beneficial to low liquidity firms but detrimental to high liquidity firms.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to investigate whether moving from GEM to the MB creates value in the Hong Kong stock market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value co-creation, dynamic capabilities and customer retention in industrial markets	[ "Value co-creation", "Qualitative research", "Business strategy", "Customer retention", "Dynamic capabilities", "Industrial marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In business markets, value \"is the worth in monetary terms of the technical, economic, service, and social benefits a customer company receives in exchange for the price it pays for a market offering\". (Anderson and Narus, 1998, p. 54). However, the constantly changing and complex business environment we are living in makes it difficult for a single company to maintain great technical, economic and social progress in those benefits (Vargo et al., 2008; Lee and Qualls, 2010). Therefore, companies need to adapt to current circumstances, and cooperation with customers, suppliers or other agents becomes an important competence for managers to foster (Sawhney, 2006; Omil et al., 2011). Such partners can provide new insights and useful knowledge to attend to customers' business problems (Ustuner and Godes, 2006). The systematization of this process is known as value co-creation, defined by Reichwald and Piller (2009, p. 52) as:\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Social exchange theory and the co-creation processes\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research approach\n4. Findings: This section highlights findings from the interviews, including those most illustrative quotes for each topic and our interpretation. In particular, we explain in detail those quotations where the analysed constructs have a prominent place and summarize those processes where informants tended to behave in a similar way. This systematization has made it possible to bring together those responses that are thematically close and identify common behaviours and opposing positions, providing a faithful reflection of the results. At the end of each sub-section, we have included a proposal as a corollary. Findings start with the overall social experience of co-creation, then analyse in detail the micro-processes developed during co-creation and close with the effect on customer retention[1].\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore how value co-creation processes can influence the generation of dynamic capabilities and the retention of industrial customers. The authors explore this influence with the support of social exchange theory and resource-based view.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology applied was qualitative research, based on 29 semi-structured in-depth interviews with owners, managing directors and technical managers with previous experience in co-creation processes. The research was performed in four different European countries and is focused on the mobile crane industry.\nFindings: The findings suggest that co-creation processes promote the generation of dynamic capabilities linked to adaptation, knowledge, innovation and relationship management. In addition, the closer contact with customers and the availability of their expertise favour the development of solutions that better meet their needs, bridging the cognitive gap which often exists between partners. Regarding customer retention, the results show that co-creation processes foster customer predisposition to buy and cross-sell.\nOriginality/value: Although value co-creation is a topical subject, research in industrial marketing literature analysing the effects of co-creation processes has been scarce up to now. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by analysing how the co-creation of value can influence the generation of dynamic capabilities in companies and how it affects the retention of industrial customers. Based on social exchange theory and dynamic capabilities, the researchers have been able to address how value is developed and its influence in customer retention proxies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A mechanisms-driven theory of business incubation	[ "Ethnography", "Theory", "Business incubators", "Social mechanisms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to Gartner (1985), new venture creation is the organizing of new organizations. There is growing awareness that new venture creation is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, where aspects relating to the entrepreneur, the new firm and the environment interact in complex ways within the dynamic system of new enterprise development (Lichtenstein et al., 2006; Davidsson and Gordon, 2010; Shepherd, 2011). Public policy directives require the accelerated creation of new ventures through a variety of interventions designed to curb new venture failure rates. Out of a myriad of such interventions, it has been suggested that business incubation most comprehensively resolves the issues surrounding the venture creation process (Aernoudt, 2004; Hackett and Dilts, 2004a; Phan et al., 2005).\n2. A review of business incubation process literature and theoretical framework: In this section, previous incubation process-related literature is critically examined for the purpose of assessing the relevance of a variety of theoretical approaches when studying social processes such as incubation. Following Hackett and Dilts' (2004b) approach, who in developing a \"real options-based theory of business incubation\" considered a variety of theories[1] as alternatives for grounding their incubation process model, in this section, a similar result is achieved by assessing the viability of new venture creation theory, the RBV, social network theory, dyadic theory, real options theory and finally, in the synthesis section, a case is made for the suitability of social mechanisms theory. While Hackett and Dilts (2004b) confined their discussion to general definitions and possible conceptual outcomes, this review goes further and explains the merits and drawbacks of specific applications of theoretical frameworks to understand business incubation.\n3. Methodology: The primary aim of this research is to advance a new and empirically grounded social mechanisms-based conceptualization of business incubation. Achieving this aim is conveniently possible in a pragmatist philosophy. Scholars regard pragmatism as an interpretivist approach (Benton and Craib, 2001; Bjorn, 2004) that is not committed to any one system of philosophy and reality, the focus is on the research problem and all available methods to derive knowledge about the problem (Creswell, 2009). The spirit behind the study was to present an insider's account of the lived experiences of the research's participants, thus, the study was subjective and non-experimental in nature. The approach was exploratory where the overall purpose was to provide insight into a complex and dynamic incubation process.\n4. Analysis of data: 4.1 The significance of norms\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Contribution to literature\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Following recommendations by scholars for further research on the business incubation process, the purpose of this paper is to build new theory on incubation using the social mechanisms approach - a well-developed body of theory on social processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A critical review of dominant theoretical approaches in the area highlighted that researchers in the past have not studied incubation as a social \"process.\" In order to study a social process such as incubation, a case is made for the value of social mechanisms theory. In order to study incubation as a social mechanism, an inductive-qualitative research design based on ethnography was used. Data were collected over six months each at two Dublin-Ireland-based business incubators.\nFindings: Results highlight the significant role of a positive relational bond between the incubator manager and client entrepreneurs. Incubation is triggered in a sophisticated normative environment under the prevalence of ground rules, subtle signals and the interplay of personal histories. These contribute to the incubation mechanism's non-linearity, thereby, making the prediction of outcomes difficult.\nOriginality/value: A contribution of this research comes in the form of a new conceptualization of incubation based in mechanisms reasoning. The mechanisms approach was found to be versatile and helped in extending the work of previous researchers who proposed advancements in the area based on dyadic theory, social capital theory and social network theory. Further, a new, and it is argued, more fruitful direction for incubation process-related research is also highlighted; one which takes on board the often glossed over idiosyncrasies of incubation as a social mechanism for promoting early stage entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A theoretical framework for assessing managing and indexing the intellectual capital	[ "Intellectual capital", "Assessments", "Index", "Intellectual capital management", "Value drivers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the last two decades, the ever-increasing competitive environment has forced organizations to devise strategic measures in order to enhance their value creation process. In addition to the traditional assets, as defined in the classic economic theory, other powerful resources have shown to be able to successfully impact on firms' results, the intangible assets (IAs), which are actually considered as crucial for reaching the prefixed target (Brooking, 1996; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Hall, 1992; Stewart, 1997). In the opinion of many authors, IAs and intellectual capital (IC) elements are specific of each organization and are strictly dependent on the organizational context as they play a relevant role univocally interacting with the tangible assets in achieving a competitive position (Miller, 1994; Teece and Pisano, 1994; Peppard and Rylander, 2001; Cuganesan, 2005; Marr, 2005; Cricelli and Grimaldi, 2008). Academics and practitioners have dealt with several research topics and case studies about the complexity of IC and have looked at the investigation of the IC management to pursue straight and efficient approaches.\n2. Theoretical background: Many factors have enhanced the importance of IC and most of them are related to the rapid changing of the world economies, such as the development of the information technology and the information society; the even more growing importance of knowledge and the knowledge-based economy; the modification of interpersonal activities and the network society; the emergence of innovation as the principal determinant of competitiveness.\n3. The framework for assessing and managing the intellectual capital (AMIC): The present framework highlights the advantages of AMIC resources of organizations by focusing on the value creation approach. Accordingly, it is centred on the disclosure of sources of value creation and how these sources influence current and future value creation of organizations. To this purpose, the present framework aims to provide managers with a procedure capable of identifying the IC elements and their relationships and to facilitate more effective managerial interventions to the achievement of the value propositions. Consequently, it is necessary that decision makers of organizations participate directly in assessing and managing the value creation process. In fact, since no reliable valuation can be carried out without taking into consideration the context, the strategic management challenge and their personal opinions, it is necessary that managers and decision makers cooperate during the most relevant phases of the value creation assessment process. Subsequently, the framework takes into consideration manager's concept of value and the IC elements which constitute and influence value in order to give managers the effective procedure to improve or reorganize the value creation process of their organization.\n4. Conclusions: The framework presented in this paper offers answers to the research questions reported in Section 1 in that it provides managers with an innovative support for the decision-making process in AMIC. More in particular, the framework enlightens the contributions to the value creation process of the three identified characteristics (impact, cross-impact and performance) inherent in the IC VDs by disclosing their stock, flows and inter-relationships. Further, by making use of the method of interviewing managers the framework would make a point of their opinion as the deep knowledge about organization gathered by managers represents a benefit not to be forgone. By merging information derived from the combination of the values of impact, cross-impact and performance the proposed framework leads to the definition of a synthetic index, the AMIC index. This index helps trace the organization's value creation dynamics and allows for adjustments consequent to changes in the internal and external environment. Too, the structure of the operational framework presented here shows features of general applicability and, at the same time, ensures the systematic assessment and management of the IC.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework which defines, analyses and assesses the intellectual capital (IC) value drivers (VDs) to increase the value creation of an organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed framework is composed by an arrangement of procedural steps. In the first step IC VDs are selected by reason of their relevance and of their occurrences in recent literature. Then, an assessment of the VDs is carried out on the basis of their strategic importance and of their inter-relationships with otherVDs. Finally, an index is constructed from the combination of the static and dynamic characteristics of the selected VDs.\nFindings: This integrated framework provides managers with the possibility of monitoring the response of IC performance to their strategic decisions and helps them to adjust and improve measures to reach the prefixed objectives. Managers' perception is the fundamental input to the assessment of the contribution of the IC to the value creation process.\nOriginality/value: The modality of building the proposed synthetic index innovates the assessment of IC from a quantitative point of view. The framework offers a high degree of flexibility both in defining and managing IC and in assessing each IC value driver in dependence of any variations in market scenery and of any external or internal input of innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management, intellectual capital, structural holes, economic complexity and national prosperity	[ "Knowledge management", "Intellectual capital", "Economic complexity", "National prosperity", "Non-price-based competition", "Structural holes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nNational prosperity: Prosperity is a function of the value that an economy can both create and retain. Key drivers of national prosperity have been argued to be well-functioning institutions (North, 1990), good institutional infrastructure, capital accumulation, free trade, efficient markets, personal initiative, and appropriate role for government (Smith, 1776).\nEconomic complexity: Economic complexity analysis has been developed as a method to identify current export capability as well as predict future economic growth (Hidalgo and Hausmann, 2009; Hausmann and Hidalgo, 2013; Hausmann, Hidalgo, Stock and Yildirim, 2014). EC analysis has been used at a global level (Hausmann, Hidalgo, Bustos, Coscia, Simoes and Yildirim, 2014; Felipe et al., 2012), the national level (Hausmann and Hidalgo, 2013), the sub-national state level (Reynolds et al., 2017), and at the city level (Nepelski and De Prato, 2015).\nStructural holes: The ability to generate and embody new knowledge into offerings (i.e. the ability to innovate) has a higher dependency on network structures within the economy the higher the economic complexity of the economy. A single company cannot innovate a new complex product offering, like, e.g., a conventional submarine, on its own but is instead highly dependent on the network of which the firm forms part. This network needs to be large, i.e. have the ability for any network participant to reach many other participants due to the size (number of participants) in the network. This size provides scale (Ahuja, 2000), speed (Moreira and Markus, 2013), complementarity (Richardson, 1972; Arora and Gambardella, 1990; Richardson, 2003; von Raesfeld et al., 2012; Broekel and Brachert, 2015), and knowledge sharing (Berg et al., 1982).\nNon-price based competition: Non-price based competition is most commonly observed in high-cost production locations. Firms operating in such locations have developed a series of inimitable strategies in response to price-based competition. Inimitability can be achieved by a combination of: customisation through co-production; superior service experience; design-based innovation; art-based innovation; reverse-hermeneutics-based innovation; science and technology-based innovation, normally in combination with a global niche strategy. Some insights from the literature (Piore and Sabel, 1984; Lohse and Spiller, 1998; Bagchi-Sen, 2001; Rugman and Verbeke, 2002; Tokatli, 2004; Bryson and Rusten, 2010; Bryson and Taylor, 2010; Tokatli, 2011; Mulhall, 2013) around this have been summarised in Table I.\nIntellectual capital: The field of intellectual capital has its origins in practitioners and consultants and has, according to Dumay (2013), progressed through three phases.\nKnowledge management: Knowledge management have from its inception as a domain suffered from an epistemological confusion of the relationship between knowledge and information. It is necessary to outline the relevant epistemological paradigms to put to use the insights from the discussions in the previous sections.\nConclusion: Findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to tie together the insights from the body of research relating to economic complexity theory, structural holes, non-price based competition, and knowledge management. The insights relating to generating national prosperity are synthesised through an intellectual capital lens.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses literature review combined with insights from an Australian project on state-based economic complexity.\nFindings: The connectivist and autopoietic epistemological paradigms are found to be most aligned with the need to manage transformation between organisational and human resources that will achieve causal ambiguity and hence inimitability. This inimitability forms the basis for achieving non-price based competition and if there is a rich network of economic agents that, both individually and collectively through collaboration, have these characteristics a large share of the economy can operate on the basis of non-priced based competition. If all these agents have an export focus the economic complexity of the economy will be high, and likely increasing, which will enable both the creation and the appropriation of large amounts of value and hence result in increasing national prosperity.\nResearch limitations/implications: Findings are only relevant for OECD countries given the origins of the data used.\nPractical implications: Managerial implications are outlined as are major implications for public policy.\nOriginality/value: This is the first time that these concepts are linked.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integrating social science research into wildland fire management	[ "Natural hazard", "Quantitative analysis", "Prescribed fire", "Social science research", "Wildland fire management", "National forests" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Natural resource managers recognize that the social sciences can be used to support the formulation of management decisions with accurate and timely information (Allen et al., 2009). Understanding how the general public perceives a specific decision is critical for success in communicating and implementing management plans acceptable to the public (Burtz and Bright, 2007). This is an important component of wildland fire management, those activities required for the protection of burnable wildland values, such as property, structures, and natural resources, and the use of prescribed fire to meet land management objectives (National Wildfire Coordination Group (NWCG), 2012). One purpose of prescribed fire is the reduction of hazardous fuels to reduce risks to human communities (National Interagency Fire Center, 2013). As research continues on the interactions between the mountain pine beetle (MPB), fires, and fuels (Hicke et al., 2012; Jenkins et al., 2013; Wells, 2012), agencies are interested in the public's perceptions of management responses to the recent MPB infestation.\nMethods: Conceptual framework\nResults: Attitudes about fuels management (prescribed burning)\nDiscussion: This study examined public perceptions of the MPB's impact on wildland fire management. Results suggest that, in general, respondents favor the use of prescribed fire, understand the role of fire on the landscape, and support management practices to reduce the risk of wildland fire. The results regarding the use of prescribed fire are similar to the findings of a literature review conducted by McCaffrey and Olsen (2012). Their review found that in the majority of studies, 80 percent of respondents accept some level of use for both prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. Factors which have been found to influence the level of acceptance include familiarity with the technique, trust of the implementing agency, beliefs about treatment outcomes (e.g. potential for prescribed fire escape), local values and context, perceptions of wildfire risk, and citizen involvement in decision making (McCaffrey et al., 2013).\nConclusions: In summary, respondents viewed prescribed burning favorably and understand the natural role of fire on the landscape. Results also suggest respondents support management of forest conditions to decrease the effects of a wildfire. In general, respondents believe individuals are primarily responsible for protecting homes near national forests, disagreeing that people who build near national forests have a right to expect their home to be protected from fire by land managers. However, respondents do not agree with restricting home building near national forest land. The study's methodology, and use of the results by agencies and an executive-level task force, demonstrates how social science research can support the development of science-based management recommendations and actions in disaster prevention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social science research is used to support the formulation of natural resource management decisions with accurate and timely information. Due to risk and potential impacts, this is important in wildland fire management. The purpose of this paper is to identify the respondent perceptions of a natural disturbance agent's impact on fire management in Colorado and Wyoming.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methodology included a self-administered questionnaire completed by a random sample of respondents in three study locations adjacent to national forests. A quantitative analysis was conducted to identify attitudes about fuels management (prescribed fire) and beliefs about fire and fire management.\nFindings: Respondents viewed prescribed fire favorably and they understand the natural role of fire on the landscape. While results suggest respondents support management of forest conditions to decrease the effects of a wildfire, they do not feel that individuals have a right to expect their home to be protected from fire by land managers, nor do they agree with restricting home building near national forest land.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research should continue the longitudinal assessment of attitudes toward prescribed fires, incorporating respondent distance to the national forest or identifying respondents living within the wildland-urban interface.\nOriginality/value: This paper illustrates how applied, social science research can meet the needs of agencies and public officials. Results of this paper have been presented to state and federal forestry officials, and members of an executive-level task force in Colorado studying wildfire insurance and forest health.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of thermal pasteurization on jambolan tropical juice bioactive compounds	[ "Enzymes", "Anthocyanins", "Phenolic compounds", "Thermal treatment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The jambolan (Syzygium cumini Lamarck) is a plant that belongs to the Myrtaceae Family; it is also known as jamblon, jambul, jamelao, jamun, jamman, Indian black plum or Java plum and it is an edible fruit from a widerwide tropical tree. It is native to India, but is commonly found today in different regions of Brazil. Jambolan is used as an ornamental tree, and its fruit resembles a black olive with only one large purple seed and it has a bitter taste. Researches carried out in India with jambolan plant, presents longstanding reports, related to a large number of disease treatments (Carvalho-Tavares et al., 2016).\nResearch method: Feedstock, biometric analysis and yield\nResults and discussion: Biometric characterization and yield of jambolan fruit\nConclusions: The study of the optimization of parameters (time and temperature) in the thermal pasteurization process, with the aid of a desirability function, showed that the best condition to obtain the maximum retention of total phenolic, total anthocyanin, antioxidant activity and complete enzyme inactivation was a temperature of 91.65degC and time for 69.45 to the jambolan tropical juice. The application of technologies is important for the conservation of fruits as jambolan, because they are not yet consolidated in the market, and it is a way to add value to this fruit, as well as to provide food with high biological potential as the jambolan juice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Jambolan has be used as a diabetes-treatment aid, and it has become quite popular; studies have been carried out over the years on this fruit because it presents high activity against superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals due to the bioactive compounds that may play an important role against oxidative stress. No studies have been reported on the effects of pasteurization on the bioactive compounds of jambolan tropical juice. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For evaluation of the effects of pasteurization on jambolan juice bioactive compounds, a complete compound and rotational experimental design was carried out by varying temperature (80-90degC) and time (45-75 s). The bioactive compounds (total phenolic, total anthocyanin and antioxidant activity) and the enzymatic activity of enzymes (enzymatic browning) were assessed.\nFindings: The study of bioactive compounds in the pasteurized juice of jambolan, showed that the total phenolics (TP) and ABTS antioxidant activity presented statistical significance (p<0.05). The action of enzymes causing enzymatic browning was only observed in the standard sample. The optimization of the pasteurization process with the maximum bioactive compound retention was 91.65degC for 69.45 s. The optimal point found is in agreement with studies on thermal treatment that recommend using short times at high temperatures for better retention of food constituents.\nOriginality/value: The incidence of chronic diseases in humans has increased significantly over the years, some bioactive phytochemicals present in fruits may help against these diseases, so the production of tropical jambolana juices can help to nourish and regulate the consumer health. Therefore, studying the maintenance of bioactive compounds present in this product could be an alternative for the production of healthier foods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perfectionism in occupational science students: occupational therapy implications	[ "Occupational therapy", "Occupational science", "Health implications", "Perfectionism", "Occupational science", "Perfectionism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In autumn of 2015, approximately 20 million students in the USA were expected to begin postsecondary education, and three million students were predicted to begin postgraduate education programs; this number is projected to increase by 21 per cent by the year 2025 (National Institute for Educational Statistics, 2015). Perfectionism is common among college students, with some previous research including college samples with more than half of participants being classified as perfectionists (Canter, 2003; Grzegorek et al., 2004). Although perfectionism is defined in several ways, it is typically understood that perfectionism is \"a personality style characterized by striving for flawlessness and setting excessively high standards for performance accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations of one's behaviors\" (Stoeber and Otto, 2006, p. 2). Perfectionism is commonly classified as adaptive or maladaptive. Adaptive perfectionists have reasonable standards and can feel content with their achievements, despite having a desire to excel. In contrast, maladaptive perfectionists cannot feel satisfaction from their achievements, have unattainable standards and their self-worth is contingent upon their performance (Rice et al., 2014). College students who are perfectionists may exhibit healthy and/or unhealthy behaviors related to their academic performance and other occupational areas of their lives.\nLiterature review: In psychology literature, perfectionism has been studied in relation to procrastination, stress, alcohol abuse and mental health conditions including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as eating disorders (Ashby et al., 2006; Bardone-Cone et al., 2007; Chik et al., 2008). Perfectionists may be at greater risk of developing psychosocial problems including psychological disorders because of their increased levels of stress. Current research has shown that prolonged stress alters the brain by spurring the growth of myelin, disrupting the brain's communication system (Chetty et al., 2014). This process also increases the growth of oligodendrocytes in the hippocampus, which regulates emotions, increasing the risk for anxiety and mood disorders (Chetty et al., 2014). Perfectionism has also been examined in relation to how perfectionists are perceived by others. Adolescents who are classified as maladaptive perfectionists have been viewed less favorably by their peers than adaptive perfectionists (Gilman et al., 2011). College students who are maladaptive perfectionists may be viewed similarly as the adolescents in this research.\nMethods: A descriptive study using a survey component was conducted with undergraduate Occupational Science students during the autumn of 2015 semester. Survey research permits gathering data from a larger number of participants compared to other methods, such as in-depth interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in this research. Mixed methods research combines both approaches and provides a greater degree of understanding than can be achieved by using a single approach to answer the research question (Creswell, 2014). This study was approved by a University Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the study setting through an expedited review process. Expedited applications are for research that demonstrates no greater than minimal risk for participants and involves non-invasive data collection or research on group characteristics or behavior (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). This research category involves review by a subset of the IRB but does not require a full review by the majority of IRB members.\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: More perfectionists (n = 41) than non-perfectionists (n = 3) were identified in the study sample. The data reflect no difference in time spent in productive, pleasurable and restorative occupations between perfectionist and non-perfectionist Occupational Science students for this study's participants. These results held true for the adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists. While no true time differences were found in this study, it is possible that time-use may be perceived differently among these groups. For example, previous research has shown that when perfectionists exhibit workaholism, they have difficulty enjoying time spent in non-productive tasks (Bovornusvakool et al., 2012). Even if perfectionists spend a similar amount of time in occupations that are non-productive, such as leisure and restoration, this time may not be fully experienced as enjoyable or relaxing by perfectionists. Future research should examine how perfectionists perceive time spent in categories of occupation compared to non-perfectionists, as experience of time-use could be more meaningful for health and well-being than actual amount of time spent in various occupations.\nConclusion: The intent of this research was to examine how time-use and human occupation were influenced by perfectionism for a class of junior Occupational Science students. More students were identified as perfectionists than non-perfectionists within the study sample. Perfectionists spent a similar amount of time engaged in productive, pleasurable and restorative occupations compared to students who were identified as non-perfectionists. Similarly, no significant differences in time-use were found between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists. Perfectionists expressed both positive and negative health consequences related to their perfectionism. Identifying how perfectionists and non-perfectionists experience time-use could have important implications for health and well-being. Continued research on this topic would be of interest to occupational scientists and occupational therapists, as the implications for these students moving forward directly relates to their health and future success in the Occupational Therapy profession.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to categorize perfectionism and determine how perfectionism impacts the occupations and perceived health of students in a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Science program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A descriptive study with a survey component was conducted. Participants were categorized as perfectionists or non-perfectionists using the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R). Time logs were collected to compare categories of time-use between groups over a one-week period. An online survey was conducted with a sub-sample of the perfectionists.\nFindings: More students were categorized as perfectionists (N = 41) than non-perfectionists (N = 3). Both groups spent similar amounts of time engaged in productive, pleasurable and restorative occupations. Some perfectionists reported that perfectionism supported health, but others reported negative impacts on well-being.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study included a small sample size limited to one Occupational Science program in the USA.\nOriginality/value: Results demonstrated positive and negative health impacts because of perfectionism. The majority of participants were identified as perfectionists; rigorous academic programs may attract students with perfectionistic qualities. Findings are relevant for Occupational Therapy, as these students will become future occupational therapists after completing a Master's program in Occupational Therapy and may be susceptible to negative outcomes associated with perfectionism such as workaholism and poor health.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impacts of ISO 9000 on Greek SMEs business performance	[ "Quality", "ISO 9000" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Owing to the trend toward globalization and increased customer expectations, many companies and organizations have begun implementing quality management systems (QMS) under the ISO 9001 standard. ISO 9001 has been considered as one of the most important quality assurance programs to come about in the last few decades (Djofack and Robledo Camacho, 2017). This is largely because ISO 9000 implementation is a first step in establishing a quality-oriented environment and in certifying organizations' quality levels, while at the same time it represents the first step toward adopting a total quality management (TQM) philosophy (Anderson et al., 1999; Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002; Goetsch and Davis, 2015; Lewis et al., 2006; Magd, 2008; Martinez-Costa et al., 2009). The effective deployment of ISO 9000 QMS has been widely recognized in recent years as a means to build sustainable competitive advantage in the market place (Chow-Chua et al., 2003), continuous improvement, profit improvement and marketing benefits (Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002), as well as how to better run organizations, given that it helps organizations to enhance quality and efficiency (Martinez-Costa et al., 2009), improve communications (Casadesus and Gimenez, 2000), increase market shares (Magd, 2008), reduce costs (Corbett et al., 2005) and achieve a higher stock price (Casadesus and Karapetrovic, 2005; Koc, 2007). A clear measure of ISO 9001 success is its increasing use worldwide (ISO, 2016).\nLiterature review: Over the years, a growing number of firms have come to understand and accept the importance of quality management and seek to certify the quality of their products, services or processes. In an internationalized environment, the aim of QMS is to standardize procedures and roles (Braun, 2005; del Castillo-Peces et al., 2017), reduce or better eliminate obstacles within company practices and enhance trade and exchange on an international level (Heras and Boiral, 2013). Standardization seems to offer the right platform for such actions, with the most widespread standard being the ISO 9000 which is nowadays perceived within companies as a benchmark of quality. The ISO 9001 is an international standard that applies to quality management which aims to assist companies and organizations to develop and implement quality, to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customers' requirements and that quality is consistently improved; it can be used by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity and is based on a number of quality management principles, a strong focus on customers, engagement of people, leadership, process approach and improvement (ISO, 2017). Srivastav (2011) notes that the number of managers who support the tangible effects of the ISO 9000 series has grown rapidly, and this is further demonstrated by the ISO (2016) survey which states that by the end of 2016, 1,643,529 companies had become certified worldwide. What follows below is a review of the main studies in the area of the ISO 9000 that have been carried out regarding the motives for adopting ISO 9000 certification and possible benefits in a brief but precise manner.\nMethodology: Research design\nFindings - benefits in various aspects of business management: The classification of benefits follows the categorization presented in Table I into internal and external. It proceeds a step further into a more detailed classification by modifying the framework presented by Hillary (2004). More specifically, Hillary (2004) states that internal benefits are positive outcomes from ISO 14000 implementation which relate to the internal operation of an SME and include: organizational benefits, financial benefits and people benefits. In the same context, Hillary (2004) explains that external benefits are positive outcomes from ISO 14000 implementation that relate to the external interactions of an SME and include: commercial benefits, environmental benefits, and communication benefits. A detailed presentation of the research findings is provided in the following subsection, and a summary of this information is given in Table III.\nDiscussion: Internal benefits\nConclusions: This study explores the association between ISO 9000 certification and SME business performance in the F&B sector. The results of this study provide evidence that ISO 9000 is associated with both internal and external benefits to the companies examined. More specifically, the findings showed that ISO 9000 is directly associated with significant improvements in systematization; quality awareness; traceability; increased productivity; increased personnel participation and collaborative attitude; improved commercial performance; improved corporate image and credibility. General improvements in the companies as a whole were also observed. However, no direct financial benefits were noted. Overall, it appears that ISO 9000 certification can be implemented as a valuable strategic initiative for organizations, since it positively affects several dimensions of both the internal and external environment through enhancements of business processes. Therefore, firms that are not certified but are considering ISO certification are likely to achieve benefits from attaining ISO certification. However, it may be argued that all these internal and external benefits can be gained without ISO 9000 implementation (Benner and Veloso, 2008; Kuo et al., 2009; Prajogo et al., 2012). Nevertheless, it seems that ISO 9000 certification is a matter of commitment, or as one of the interviewed managers said, \"you either believe and go for it, especially if you pay or you don't, there is no in between, it is important that you determine beforehand what you want to get out of such a certification.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between ISO 9000 certification and business performance for small-to-medium enterprises in the food and beverage (F&B) industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research employed a qualitative approach based on case studies to investigate in depth how companies perceive ISO 9001. More specifically, four enterprises were examined, and a total of 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with top and middle managers from the companies. Questions were validated by experts and through pilot interviews. In total, 45 documents of a broad range related to the quality management system were examined. Personal observation and non-structured consultation with personnel were also used to evaluate the possible impacts and livelihood outcomes.\nFindings: Research findings showed that the certified companies in the F&B industry gain a number of both internal and external benefits, including: quality awareness, increased productivity, increased personnel participation and efficiency, improved image and penetration into new markets. Regarding the financial benefits of certification, the findings are not as convincing, as one company reported no financial benefits, and the rest reported that financial benefits are indirect and intangible. Conclusively, it can be said that SMEs that wish to pursue certification should certainly expect benefits.\nPractical implications: Although many studies have concentrated on analyzing the impact of the implementation of ISO 9001 certification, there is still a clear need for research in specific sectors. Practicing managers and researchers will be able to examine findings in order to evaluate benefits and weaknesses from certification, thereby identifying and acting before and after certification.\nOriginality/value: Although the F&B industry has shown a great preference for the ISO 9000 standard and has adopted it extensively, scant empirical evidence has been recorded on the subject. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the benefits for implementing the ISO 9001 certification and to the analysis of its application to the ever-important F&B industry in Greece, a country whose economy is particularly supported by SMEs and has been severely hit by the economic crisis. Researchers will therefore further their knowledge, understand benefits but also acknowledge weaknesses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technical product-service systems: some implications for the machine tool industry	[ "Services", "Industrial services", "Economics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: At present, most of the machine tools (MTs) companies use the traditional business model that starts with the cash in advance followed by building and selling the machine and finally the service contract. This involves three main stakeholders: MT supplier, customers and financial institutions (Azarenko et al., 2007). However, in the vibrant market, customers' demands and vast concurrence require to be more flexible in the delivery of products/service to the customers (Evans et al., 2007). As a result, changes, which take into account existing and future demands, need to be made now. For this purpose three scenarios are presented.The market analysis shows that shifting into technical product-service systems (t-PSS) is a big challenge for companies. The Cranfield University's product-service systems (PSS) research community has been contributing essentially into this particular domain (Baines et al., 2007a, b; Shehab and Roy, 2006; Evans et al., 2007; Cook et al., 2006), and the scope of work within Cranfield is progressively developing. Moreover, for the t-PSS (PSS with emphasised technical aspect) a lot of attention has been given during the last two years. There are two definitions that are used within Cranfield regarding PSS and t-PSS:Product-Service Systems can be defined as \"a system of products, services, network partners and supporting infrastructure that is economically feasible, competitive and satisfies customer needs. It offers dematerialised solutions that minimise the environmental impact of consumption\" (Baines et al., 2007).In a series of papers, Aurich and Fuchs (2004) and Aurich et al. (2006) research group at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany has played an important role into t-PSS development by designing technically oriented business scenarios, where the physical core of the system is prevalent in terms of cost and design. The key definition that is used by them is as following:Technical Product-Service System emphasises the physical product core enhanced and customised by a mainly non-physical service shell the investment character of all PSS components, the relatively bigger importance of the physical core of PSS and the relation between PSS manufacturers and customers.The main definition that is used for the t-PSS by Cranfield is broader; actually, it is very similar to Aurich's and Baines's ones, but it depicts the idea more clearly:[...] t-PSS is an integrated product and service offering that delivers value in use.A customised expansion of the definition that accentuates a special aspect of the product is required. The technical side of the proposal is emphasised; nevertheless, taking into account legal and environmental current and future requirements.The number of the successful PSS examples is continuously increasing. The main aims are not just how to design different scenarios for various products, but, also how to change the society's culture into servitisation. A detailed consideration and evaluation of the knowledge included into PSS aspects, such as cost estimation, process optimisation, and knowledge management and sharing is needed. The number of contributions exploring the PSS/t-PSS is increasing. Also, real-life case studies prove the new service proposals' viability.The manufacturers try to improve their business and gain maximum profit from the production process. Nowadays, when the world market offers a broad range of machine tools from countries where labour and materials cost notably less than in Western Europe, the new business approaches and products represented are vital (Baines et al., 2007a, b). Inherently, lower prices often mean that some technical characteristics are decreased by Factor x. The BoX(r) has increased machining speed by Factor 10 when compared with the previous grinding machine OAGM 2500 (Shore et al., 2005); that leads to fewer human, maintenance, transportation and workshop resources by Factor <=10 which is essential for mass production. However, the correlation of cost/technical characteristics is often equal and the customer's choice is dependant on the manufacturing/business focus.The target of the new system is to convert cost/technical characteristics to a cost/service output (Shehab and Roy, 2006). In order to achieve this, designers, who have usually focused on material products, aid in the design and development of such systems. The system building process is holistic as it involves a product life-cycle (PLC) design, and infrastructure design, which is supposed to assist and maintain PLC as an ongoing closed process. Therefore, the shift to t-PSS is a challenge for designers, who have now to expand their competence and to develop new methodological tools.Three main factors need to be taken care of in developing the business models for t-PSS: risk, property rights and incentives. The shift towards t-PSS typically represents a transfer of risk from the customer towards the manufacturer (Aurich et al., 2006). For example, the customer takes increasing responsibility of maintenance and availability of the assets. t-PSS also implies the change in property rights and ownership. In an extreme case of t-PSS, the assets will continue to be the property of the manufacturer even after the sale (Tukker, 2004). t-PSS also aims to align the incentives of customers and manufacturers by trying to improve the overall system performance and reduce the overall system expense. The aligned incentives suggest better interaction between stakeholders and understanding in business matters (Aurich and Fuchs, 2004). This alignment of incentives is reflected in the service level agreement between the stakeholders at the early stges.The three t-PSS scenarios which can incur a greater value gain from the existing products (MT) and the latest available technology are presented. This along with a closed loop product life-cycle for more effective and \"greener\" parts utilisation/re-use will complement the t-PSS scenery for the MT industry.\n2 Development of t-PSS business models for machine tool industry: One of the t-PSS principles is to gather and reuse information on the way for ongoing system's enhancements. The closed loop data and experience transferring is shown in Figure 1. The understanding of all the chain stages nature and issues is necessary in order to optimise the processes (Brax, 2005). Moreover, a vigorous cooperation between all levels of staff, company's departments and branches create the internal effective infrastructure which should expand its interaction to external system's participants such as customers and stakeholders (Gebauer et al., 2005). This principle (Figure 1) is one of the key aspects on which the t-PSS design relies.There are three main PSS categories which could be applied for the capital MT industry. The descriptions are given by Tukker (2004), Cook et al. (2006) and Morey (2003). In spite of the minor dissimilarities in them, the key ideas can be defined as follows:1. Product-oriented service. The provider sells a product, and at the same time he/she also offers a pack of activities such as service, consumables management and monitoring. Additionally, a take-back agreement is available when the product reaches the end of life point.2. Use-oriented service. The provider keeps the property rights of the product and has the responsibility for its utilisation conditions (timely install, maintain, upgrade, etc.) during a given period of time. The lessee pays a regular fee for the use of the product and has sole access to it.3. Result-oriented service. Functional result. The provider agrees with the customer to deliver the result with much lower human and material resources.The selected descriptions of the models give an idea for the direction towards which the design needs to be focused so as to create alternative business approaches which will fulfil customised demands. The findings reveal the relevance of stakeholders' responsibilities, financial dependence, benefits and shortcomings of the proposed models.2.1 Product-oriented model\n3 Evaluation of the t-PSS business models: The three main PSS categories have been described. They have been customised for the capital MT industry mostly depending on the technical aspects of the system (t-PSS). The BoX machine has been used as an example; however, the scenarios are designed with an extent to the capital MT industry.3.1 Product-oriented model\n4 Validity of the t-PSS businees models/case study: All the three scenarios are feasible and somehow are being used in the MT industry. Continuing the investigation within the t-PSS domain the three scenarios have been assessed and validated by five experts (by semi-structured interviews and a workshop) who are related to MT industry, PSS, product development, sustainable design and manufacturing. The focus of this validation is on BoX machine.The product-oriented model has a strong position as a business approach, whereas the other two are really dependent on many factors which need to be organised, optimised, launched and supported throughout the life-cycle. Also, the environmental aspect has been taken into account, and it can be concluded that the MT suppliers can meet easily the legislation requirements in terms of pollution and consumption; however, they do not want to surpass the limit as it is costly. The interviewees have given some constructive points that t-PSS will face.4.1 Product-oriented t-PSS\n5 Conclusions: The three main PSS categories have been analysed in this paper for the BoX machine. It has been validated that the t-PSS can exist in its three variations under different conditions. Currently, the product-oriented scenario is the most popular; however, the competition from low-cost economies and the need for improving productivity are the core objectives that are pushing for the use- and result-oriented models. The use-oriented t-PSS can be used by a company that currently uses the product-oriented scenario, but can switch to the new model with well-known customers as the high-level of trust between stakeholders is essential. Based on the analysis presented in this paper, the result-oriented scenario is the most appropriate for the BoX machine (high value, low volume) when the machining is not the customers' core business objective. In this case, the t-PSS provider can be unique in the market by providing high-value and high-quality machined parts within short periods of time. Also, the IPR will be fully secured as the \"drain\" of the production technology is zero. The findings for BoX machine can be transferred to other high-capital/high-performance machine tools. The analysis provided in this paper can give an initial understanding to other related (technical) industries of how different cash flows, share of responsibilities, maintenance and monitoring approaches, etc. can have an impact on the business.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a technical product-service systems (t-PSS) for the BoX(r) (Big OptiX) ultra precision free-form grinding machine which has been designed and developed at Cranfield University. BoX is a new machine concept where advanced mass production and ultra precision technologies are combined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This work utilises the machine as a demonstration case study to investigate t-PSS for the machine tool providers. It develops three t-PSS business models for the BoX machine: product-, use- and result-oriented.\nFindings: - The paper discusses the stakeholders' responsibilities, cash flows, application sectors, and consequently benefits and shortcomings of the three business approaches.\nPractical implications: - The enhancement of competition from low cost economies, vibrant market requirements and increasing customer demands cannot be addressed merely by the latest achievements in technology. As a response to this, the modern manufacturing industry is shifting its orientation towards t-PSS. t-PSS is an integrated product and service offering that delivers value in use.\nOriginality/value: - The novelty of this paper lies in identifying and analysing the key implications of t-PSS on machine tool industry using the BoX machine as an example case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality improvement pilot program selection based on dynamic hybrid MCDM approach	[ "Automotive industry", "Dynamic multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method", "Dynamic triangular fuzzy weighting average (DTFWA) operator", "Pilot program", "Quality improvement procedure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With increasing fierce competition on the automotive industry around the world, excellent quality and customer-oriented strategy become the competences of auto factories and continuous quality improvement programs tend to be drivers that increase successes and reduce failures (Bhuiyan and Baghel, 2005; Donauer et al., 2014). The Chinese domestic auto factory shows soaring interests on quality improvement activities and continuous improvement methodologies on products and production processes (Bilgen and Sen, 2012; Zhou, Wang, Lin, He and Zhou, 2016), which leads to positive advantages on business competitive position and customer satisfaction (Sharma and Gadenne, 2008). Quality practices based on Six Sigma, 8D, total quality management (TQM) and other quality management techniques are employed and developed by researchers and practitioners to promote product performance, service quality and brand reputation (Talib et al., 2011; Kumar et al., 2009). The concentration of customers' feedback becomes valuable references to stimulate quality improvement initiatives (Putri and Yusof, 2008), especially within the warranty period (Zuo et al., 2000; Murthy and Blischke, 2006). Automotive industries that can convert unconformity and deficiency to success by learning from past experience through quality improvement pilot program will be the triumphs and pioneers.\n2. Literature review: The continuous quality improvement program evaluation is regarded as a typical DMCDM problem. The literature review is presented in this section including quality improvement practice in automotive industry and MCDM method development.\n3. Dynamic QIP program selection model: In order to figure out the quality improvement program within an investigated period for its dynamic fluctuation, the dynamic QIP item selection model is developed in this section by extending the hybrid multi-criteria decision-making method with DTFWA operator.\n4. Case study: This section presents a practical case in a Chinese auto factory (CA Co. Ltd), located in Chongqing, China. The company provides a variety of products worldwide, such as cars, vans, sport utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles, and it is CQIP in CA organization that assists the quality department to improve the product quality and service reputation relying on its GQRS. Since the dynamic characteristics of quality information for each part/component/subsystem, the quality index like R/1000 is calculated in each MIS via GQRS. The quality improvement program evaluation and selection should take the quality performance of three episodes into consideration.\n5. Conclusions and managerial implications: The quality improvement procedure has become strategic operation for Chinese domestic automotive industry to quality enhancement and reputation promotion, and quality pilot program turns the strategy into realization. Pareto analysis subjects to single attribute can establish the critical part or subsystem of a motor, while it fails to improve other indicators. In addition, multiple criteria including R/1000 and TGW/1000 indicators are constructed to describe and represent the products' performance, and the roadmap of these indicators reflects the dynamic performance and the effect of improvement. The dynamic quality improvement pilot program selection and establishment based on mutative information by customers' feedback aroused our interests.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Driven by motivation of quality enhancement and brand reputation promotion, automotive industries try to improve product quality and customer satisfaction by performing quality pilot programs continuously. The purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic model to select the improvement quality pilot program from competitive candidates based on dynamic customers' feedback.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An extended dynamic multi-criteria decision-making method is developed by embedding dynamic triangular fuzzy weighting average operators into fuzzy VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method, and the novel evaluation indicator \"z\" is introduced to reflect prioritization performance.\nFindings: The two evaluation indicators (Q and \"z\" ) assist quality managers to identify the best program with respect to multiple conflicting criteria and the best choice based on these two indexes shows high conformity. Besides, ranking sequences obtained by \"z\" can avoid the dilemma that there are several candidates with top priority calculated by comprehensive group utility value Q.\nPractical implications: The dynamic MCDM method has been applied into the quality improvement procedure in Chinese domestic auto factories and contributes to highly efficient promotion.\nOriginality/value: Few dynamic models on pilot program selection for quality improvement based on dynamic customers' feedback, this study deals with the dynamic promotion by an extended fuzzy VIKOR method and presents a case application.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What's wrong with IVR system service? A spatial theorisation of customer confusion and frustration	[ "Navigation", "Automated menus", "Call centres", "IVR systems", "Spatial metaphors", "Virtual service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Everybody knows and dreads them: automated telephone systems that seem more apt to confuse and frustrate callers than to assist them in getting their questions answered (Suhm and Peterson, 2009, p. 1313, emphasis added).\n1. Introduction: The layperson might not know them by their official name, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, but there can be few people in the contemporary world who are not familiar with using this technology during service interactions. As the opening quote suggests, there is widespread dislike of them. This dislike and personal frustration prompted a British man to set up a dedicated website - Please Press 1 - to help customers of many UK companies by providing short-cuts of the number prompts sequence required. The website lists a Rage Index of the worst IVR systems (Winch, 2013). Three particular IVR systems were singled out to indicate their complexity - between 29 and 74 menu options across six levels in two cases, and 78 options spread across seven levels in another instance (Salkeld, 2013). A similar website, GetHuman, exists in the USA for the same purpose. IVR systems originated in the call centre sector to enable customers to self-route calls but they have since been widely adopted by smaller firms and businesses. Their role has expanded to enable the completion of service transactions and tasks. IVR systems are also of broader importance for information access and dissemination, especially in poor or developing countries, because of the much wider availability of telephone than internet services (Asthana et al., 2012) and low literacy rates (Patel et al., 2010). The worldwide market for IVR systems increased from $1.2 billion in 2005 to $2.7 billion in 2009 (Hong, 2006) and is expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2015 (Global Industry Analysts Inc., 2012). In short, IVR systems are important from both a business and societal perspective, and have become a ubiquitous element of telephone-based service delivery worldwide.\n2. Understanding IVR systems and IVR system research: Given the dearth of service research on IVR systems, a broader search for literature on IVR systems was conducted in an attempt to identify studies situated within other academic fields which might offer potentially valuable insights or findings to assist in understanding IVR systems in a service context. This section identifies key themes from the industrial relations, operations management, and HCI fields as a basis for understanding the context of use of IVR systems. Thereafter, usability studies broadly situated within the HCI field are examined to articulate key findings and insights of relevance for an investigation into the customer experience of IVR systems.\n3. Conceptual background: figurative and conceptual (spatial) metaphors: Most of us are familiar, to varying degrees or to a different extent, with the power of metaphor. Each of us uses metaphors to help illuminate or explain things that we experience or encounter in everyday life. They bring life to conversations and help us to communicate our ideas and feelings to others. This is because metaphors are figurative, we can use one thing, activity, or idea to explain another one. For example, in the award-winning film Forest Gump, Tom Hanks sat on a bench to recall his life, and to one passer-by noted, \"My momma always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get'\". This is a figurative metaphor which effectively communicates how the uncertainty of getting a truffle, toffee, or strawberry cream, is similar to the unpredictability of the events, situations, and experiences that each of us will endure during our time on this planet. Thus, figurative metaphors are intentionally used to serve a specific purpose - using the characteristics or experience of a well defined, simple situation, or experience (getting a chocolate from a box) to illuminate a less clearly defined, more complex, or abstract one (the experience of life).\n4. The representation of IVR systems in the popular and trade press: The purpose of this section is to examine how the IVR system and customers experience of it are represented in non-academic work. To identify articles, an internet-based search was conducted on IVR systems, call centres, and the customer experience. To ensure different sources were represented, the search focused upon identifying commentary on IVR systems in the popular press, such as online newspapers and magazines, and in industry-based internet sites in the call centre and customer service domain. This search revealed critical reports on customers' experiences of IVR systems. The nature of these articles is interesting because they are frequently based upon customer \"horror\" stories, which involve the direct recollection of customers' experiences, often with direct quotations from customers to illuminate how they felt. Moreover, reporters use headline catching statements and observations to attract the attention of readers. A cursory reading of such articles therefore leads the reader to a quick and simple conclusion that customers dislike IVR systems and that they do not appear to be effective at supporting service in call centres. However, if we simply read such articles as a layperson interested in stories that resonate with our own personal experiences, we risk ignoring the deeper meanings embedded within the language used to describe the IVR system and the associated insights that they may reveal. A closer inspection of these stories reveals an interesting phenomenon, the common use of metaphors embedded within descriptions of the IVR system and customers' experience of it.\n5. Reinterpreting design and usability issues from a spatial perspective of IVR systems: Academic research also uses both figurative and conceptual spatial metaphors to describe the IVR system, for example, Suhm and Peterson (2009, p. 1313) highlight the importance of \"whether the menus successfully guide callers to the right place\" (emphasis added), while Suhm and Peterson (2002) note that customers may get trapped in \"voice mail jail\" or \"touch-tone hell\". Jail (and hell!) are again enclosed (and isolated) physical spaces, within which you held prisoner and cannot easily escape from. Similarly, it is argued that IVR systems \"should be streamlined to reduce the feeling of being trapped inside the system. An out option should be added to the menu, and overly long auditory menus should be shortened\" (Dean, 2008, p. 605). But the objective of this section is not to recount the arguments and evidence developed in the previous section. The finding that popular and industry commentary on IVR systems implicitly involve spatial metaphors to describe the user experience provides further support for the theorisation of frustration and confusion proposed by Ellway (2014a). But how does this particular spatially informed theorisation help us to understand the usability and design issues identified by existing research (human memory, linearity, minimal feedback)?\n6. Discussion: Space, language, and service\n7. Conclusion: what does the future \"hold\"?: This paper aimed to re-examine the question originally posed by Dean (2007) - What's wrong with IVR self-service? The main objective has been to extend a spatial conceptualisation of the IVR system experience and in doing so develop an alternative theoretical argument for precisely why customers become so frustrated and confused while using them. Building upon a previous analysis of language used to represent the IVR system by customers and employees (Ellway, 2014a), this paper has strengthened the spatial theorisation of virtual navigation in IVR systems in two ways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the important question of what is wrong with interactive voice response (IVR) system service by expanding a spatially informed conceptualisation of virtual navigation which recognises the experience of movement within and through space.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, previous research on IVR systems is reviewed to highlight key themes to a service audience. Second, the metaphorical aspects of language used by the popular and trade press to describe IVR systems is examined. Usability and design issues are identified from previous research as a basis from reinterpreting them from a spatial perspective of navigation.\nFindings: Both figurative and conceptual spatial metaphors are used to describe the IVR system as an enclosed physical space, within which customers enter, feel stuck, get lost, or try to escape from. The usability issues of human memory, linearity, and feedback, can be reinterpreted from a spatial perspective as a basis for explaining confusion and frustration with IVR systems.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since the paper is conceptual, further research is needed to empirically investigate different types and features of IVR systems. The possible influence of age and culture upon the spatial nature of experience is especially interesting topics for future study.\nPractical implications: The paper identifies the absence of space as an inherent limitation of IVR systems. It subsequently recommends that firms should provide spatial resources to support customer use of IVR systems, which is supported by the recent emergence of visual IVR.\nOriginality/value: The paper introduces the broader literature on IVR systems to the service field as a basis for raising awareness about this ubiquitous technological component of telephone-based service delivery. It applies and develops a highly abstract conceptual perspective to examine and interpret the representation and experience of IVR systems, as a basis for explaining the confusion, frustration, and dislike of them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The practical application of an entrepreneurial performance training model in South Africa	[ "Teaching methods", "Skills flexibility", "Entrepreneurs", "Training management", "Performance measures", "South Africa" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Despite the increase in the amount of research conducted into the area of entrepreneurship training and education, many entrepreneurship training initiatives do not actually address the real needs of entrepreneurs. There is often a significant gap between the perceptions of the training providers and those of the entrepreneurs in terms of training needs, for what sometimes appear as key problem areas to the trainer may have little importance for the entrepreneur. As the need for entrepreneurship education and training programmes increase, more and more training models are being developed. These models provide the foundation on which these programmes are based. Each of these models include constructs that the developer perceive as being important but there is a lack in measuring the impact of such training models by practically applying the constructs to the training interventions.This paper addresses this mentioned shortcoming by practically applying the entrepreneurial performance training model to three different training interventions, known as the business start-up, basic entrepreneurship and advanced entrepreneurship programmes. The business start-up programme assist respondents to start businesses, respondents attending the basic entrepreneurship programme are guided on how to run and manage their micro businesses more effectively and respondents on the advanced entrepreneurship programme are assisted to grow their established businesses. Mentorship is also a part of all three programmes and the content of the mentorship programme depends on the needs of the respondents from the three different training programmes. The purpose of the paper is threefold:1. to introduce the entrepreneurial performance training model;2. to practically apply the constructs of the model to three different training interventions; and3. to measure the impact of the training model by presenting results from three different training interventions.The structure of the paper is as follows, a theoretical framework for entrepreneurial training models is presented followed by the literature review on the entrepreneurial performance training model used in this study. Thereafter, the business start-up, basic entrepreneurship and advanced entrepreneurship programmes are explained and practically applied to the E/P training model. The research methodology is explained from which research objectives and hypotheses are presented. The final section of this paper refers to the findings, the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument as well as several statistical tests. The paper is complete with the discussion of the findings and a conclusion.\n2. Entrepreneurial performance training model: An entrepreneurship training model can be defined as a structure or layout of constructs that form the framework of an entrepreneurship training intervention. A model includes all of the training elements that are presented when the training is carried out. Pretorius et al. (2005, p. 420) define such a model as a structure that is used as the guideline for the compilation of entrepreneurship training programmes. Two existing models were independently developed for entrepreneurship programmes in South Africa. Several other entrepreneurship training models exist worldwide, but for the purpose of this study the Entrepreneurial Performance Training Model (E/P model) only will be discussed.2.1 Entrepreneurial Performance Training Model (E/P model)\n3. The basic entrepreneurship, business start-up and advanced entrepreneurship training programmes: Business start-up programme\n4. Research objectives: 4.1 Primary research objective\n5. Research methodology: A literature review and empirical research are presented. Quantitative research was conducted, using nine validated research questionnaires as the measuring instruments. In this paper non-probability sampling was used that indicates that specific respondents who fit the sampling frame of all three groups, identified are included in the samples. The factors that were taken into consideration when each sample was selected are known as the sampling frame and included the following:1. Business start-up:* Determinant 1 - Respondents that have a business idea but has not operasionalised it.* Determinant 2 - At least a Grade 12 qualification.* Determinant 3 - Start-up entrepreneurs whose training needs matched the training content of the Start-up programme.1. Basic entrepreneurship:* Determinant 1 - Respondents that have a micro business but lack entrepreneurial and management skills.* Determinant 2 - At least a Grade 12 qualification.* Determinant 3 - Small-scale entrepreneurs whose training needs matched the training content of the basic entrepreneurship programme.1. Advanced entrepreneurship:* Determinant 1 - Respondents that have established businesses and want to grow their businesses.* Determinant 2 - At least a Grade 12 qualification.* Determinant 3 - Established entrepreneurs whose training needs matched the training content of the advanced entrepreneurship programme.A total sample size of 450 was obtained including respondents that were tested with the validated instruments for each of the three training interventions. The sample consisted of 135 Basic entrepreneurship programme, 247 Business start-up programme and 68 Advanced entrepreneurship programme respondents.5.1 Research design\n6. Hypotheses: It should be noted that experimentation provides the most powerful support possible for a hypothesis of causation. In this paper it was decided to state hypotheses rather than propositions, due to the fact that a hypothesis is a proposition that is empirically testable (Cooper and Schindler, 2001, p. 136). The following hypotheses are stated (null hypothesis is H1o):H1o. The constructs of the entrepreneurial performance training model cannot be applied to three different training interventions, namely the basic entrepreneurship, business start-up and advanced entrepreneurship training programmes.H2o. The respondents of the three different training programmes did not enhance their entrepreneurial business performance indicators after the training programmes took place.H3o. The respondents of the three different training programmes did not increase their performance motivation after the training programmes took place.H4o. There are no significant differences regarding the entrepreneurial skills gained by the respondents after the training programmes took place.H5o. There are no significant differences regarding the entrepreneurial skills gained by the respondents after the training programmes took place.The acceptance or rejection of the above hypotheses will be presented under the discussion of the findings in the paper.\n7. Findings: 7.1 Demographic information\n8. Conclusion: The literature review introduced various important elements within the field of entrepreneurship and specifically in the context of education and training programmes and models.Several skills transfer factors were identified in this paper and it was pointed out that the three training group respondents improved significantly regarding these factors after they attended the training programmes. The Chi-square tests performed indicated that the business performance indicators increased within all three the training programmes.The empirical findings indicated that the constructs (E/S, B/S, M and E/P) identified in the entrepreneurial performance training model were practically applied within the Business start-up, Basic entrepreneurship as well as the Advanced entrepreneurship programmes.Finally, it is necessary to revisit the hypotheses stated earlier in the paper. Based on the empirical findings, all the null hypotheses are rejected and it was statistically proved that the respondents' business performance indicators as well as their performance motivation increased after the programmes. Furthermore, the paper highlighted that entrepreneurial and business skills transfer took place after the programmes and the respondents gained or increased these skills.8.1 Limitations of the paper\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper sets out to apply practically the constructs of the entrepreneurial performance training model to three different training interventions, known as the business start-up, basic entrepreneurship, and advanced entrepreneurship programmes. Furthermore, the paper aims to measure the business performance indicators and skills transfer that took place after the training interventions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Quantitative research was conducted, using three validated research questionnaires. The research design consists of a pre-test, post-test and post-post test (ten weeks after the training interventions took place). Factor analysis was done, descriptive statistics arising from opinions and expressions are presented and statistical tests such as the Chi-square test and ANOVA provide inferential statistics.\nFindings: - The business performance indicators improved for all three training groups after they attended the training interventions. Furthermore, it was proved that skills transfer took place after the respondents attended the training interventions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The training groups can be measured again after 18 months of three years to really determine the impact of the training interventions. The results of the three training programmes can be compared to see whether the basic entrepreneurship groups gained more skills and their business performance indicators increased more than the business start-up or advanced entrepreneurship programmes.\nPractical implications: - The outcomes and implications of this research paper emphasise that it is imperative to design training programmes based on training models that have been tested. This paper highlights some aspects of how constructs used within the training models can be tested.\nOriginality/value: - The entrepreneurial performance-training model was practically applied and provides a set of expectations for other entrepreneurship models as well as presenting a benchmark against which programme performance can be measured. A unique teaching methodology is portrayed that contributes to the overall effectiveness of the training model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intangible dynamics in financial services	[ "Knowledge management", "Financial services", "Big data", "Competitive intelligence", "Intangible dynamics", "Intellectual capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Interest in various types of intangible assets and their impact on competitiveness has taken many forms in recent years. A variety of disciplines have looked at different intangibles from different perspectives. While generally acknowledging each other, these disciplines and their scholars often fail to rationalize them, fail to reconcile the differences into a consistent and logical whole. In this paper we look to take some steps toward drawing together different fields in a way allowing us to make sense of the value and potential for better aiding strategic decision making.\nConceptualization: This paper examines several issues regarding knowledge assets, these other related intangibles, and their management in the context of financial services. Based on the literature review just developed, we will look specifically at what we know about the different levels of application of knowledge, CI, and big data in these industries. Clarifying the knowledge development and knowledge protection circumstances provides opportunities for better strategy regarding investment in and use of systems to manage such intangibles. Further, by investigating more deeply the interplay between the types of intangibles (what we are calling intangible dynamics), we believe we can help to better clarify how firms do manage their portfolio of knowledge and related assets to best effect. Financial services are so unique as to add particular insights we are unlikely to obtain in other industries.\nMethodology and results: As mentioned earlier, IC chiefly concerns cataloging and measuring knowledge assets, so we do know quite a bit about trying to assess organizational knowledge. Sveiby (2010) has collected over 40 different metrics with some degree of credibility, differentiating between those trying to measure knowledge from the bottom up or from the top down. The former case usually involves assessing human, structural, and relational capital in firms, through specific metrics like size of labor force, education, training, etc. Added together, all the components give a sense of the overall level of knowledge in the entire firm (Lev and Radhakrishnan, 2003; Marr and Schiuma, 2001).\nDiscussion: What do these data tell us? Initially, to put them in perspective, it is important to reinforce the results from the full/global (2005-2009) database. Financial services, in general, had lower than average KM (cap/book and cap/asset) scores. Much lower in most cases. The results suggest little knowledge development, little interest in knowledge assets, and relatively few knowledge assets held by the firm. But the industry, as a whole, had higher than average CI scores for the same period. The metric reported here is slightly different than that used for the entire database, but CI levels were noticeably high relative to other industries (Erickson and Rothberg, 2012).\nConclusions: How do we summarize the intangible dynamics based on this evidence? In short:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine a range of metrics concerning knowledge and related intangible assets in financial service industries. The metrics are then analyzed according to theory from several disciplines so as to better understand intangible dynamics, the relationship between different intangibles. Guidance is provided in terms of valuing knowledge and pursuing competitive intelligence (CI) based on the unique characteristics of financial services intangibles.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are drawn from a large database and supplemented with other sources. The primary database includes a considerable collection of publicly available financial results combined with proprietary data from a CI consultancy. Results on knowledge asset-levels and CI activity, by industry sector, are presented as well as the degree to which big data is employed.\nFindings: Financial services show high levels of big data, low levels of knowledge assets, and high levels of CI activity. In some ways, these differing valuations of intangibles by different parties are counterintuitive, but they can be explained with reference to theory and a deeper understanding of the intangible dynamics.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results allow a deeper understanding of the relationship between data, information, knowledge (explicit and tacit), and intelligence in a specific industry. Given the uniqueness of the financial services results, these findings provide considerable insight into how intangibles strategies and applications can differ by industry.\nPractical implications: These results provide direction to financial services decision-makers concerning investment in knowledge management systems (limited), CI initiatives (aggressive), and big data (aggressive).\nOriginality/value: The paper brings unique data to the table and brings together theory from a number of disparate fields of study, providing a different perspective on the interplay of knowledge, intelligence, and data in financial services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Management competencies: a comparative study between Thailand and Hong Kong	[ "Management skills", "Competences", "Master of business administration", "Thailand", "Hong Kong" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Currently, graduates from Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in Asia need the ability to adapt to the dramatic changes in the new global business context. Essentially, they need to be equipped with the management competencies required in order to succeed as future business managers. However, there has been a widespread concern about the quality of higher education, particularly MBA programs. In many Asian countries, especially Thailand, the MBA degree has become too easily obtainable. For this reason, academic researchers have frequently criticized the performance value of education provided in the MBA (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005; Elliott et al., 1994). With this perspective, this paper will investigate how MBA students in Thailand and Hong Kong differ in respect to the management competencies gained from the MBA program. The paper will also examine whether the past experience and cultural values of MBA students have any significant influence on their management competencies.\nDefining management competencies: Two factors of management competencies, i.e. work management competency and interpersonal management competency, will be explored in this paper. The concept of the management competencies originates from Dale and Iles (1992). These competencies are considered behavioral, and specify the skills \"required\" of a person in a specific task. Competencies are related to the performance required of MBA graduates hired by businesses. A key to successful management competencies is measurability. According to Boyatzis (1982), the ability of a person that meets a job demand is both behavioral and measurable. For this reason, this paper will focus on management competencies which can be measured. It will assess the differences in management competencies of graduate students gained from the MBA in Thailand and Hong Kong and analyze the implications for effective MBA programs in Asia.Based on the behavioral concept of management competencies, relevant literature has been reviewed. Two sets of required management competencies have been identified from the research on various competences. Ultimately, 11 management competencies are categorized by two factors. These are work and interpersonal competencies. A brief definition of each of the 11 management competencies is elaborated in Table I.\nResearch hypotheses: In Thailand, there is a widening gap between the existing management competencies of Thai managers and the competencies required by the business sector in order to become more competitive. Most, Thai university graduates are insufficiently competent in management approaches. One of the reasons to this is a weak Thai higher educational system. According to the Institute of Management Development in Switzerland, Thailand is ranked, out of 49 countries, 46th for quality in higher education and 47th for overall competitiveness of the education system.In contrast, Hong Kong is in the top ten in the ranking of university education (Weesakul, 2004). This reflects the genuine commitment the Hong Kong Government has given to the quality of education. An analysis of Hong Kong Government statistics reveals that \"the market for business and management education has more room for expansion\" in Hong Kong (Selmer, 2001). Acknowledging this, the Hong Kong Government has been investing substantially in education related to business and management to prepare its students to be globally effective managers in response to the rapidly changing world. For this reason, the MBA programs in Hong Kong have more educational support from the government than the MBA students in Thailand. The likelihood is that Hong Kong MBA students should possess higher management competencies than their Thai peers. This is explored in the following hypotheses:H1. Hong Kong MBA students will score significantly higher than Thai MBA students for work management competencies.H2. Hong Kong MBA students will score significantly higher than Thai MBA students for interpersonal management competencies.\nResearch methodology: A survey was conducted to collect data on the differences in management competencies gained through MBA programs in Thailand and Hong Kong. The data of both Thai and Hong Kong MBA students were collected in person to avoid a low-response rate. Data on response rates for international mailed surveys indicated that Hong Kong had a 7.1 percent average response rate, the lowest among the 22 countries studied (Harzing, 1997). For this reason, the questionnaires were distributed in two ways:1. with the permission of their instructor, the MBA students were asked to complete the questionnaires in the classroom before class; and2. the questionnaires were given directly to MBA students on campus to complete voluntarily.Instrument development\nData analysis: The sample characteristics were examined and used to explain results from the data analysis. Factor analysis was used to identify the structure of the variable sets for 11 management competencies. The MANOVA test was also used for the analysis of the differences in the data on the two factors of management competencies between the MBA students from Thailand and Hong Kong. Finally, STEPWISE-regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship of the personal background and cultural factors to management competencies.Sample characteristics\nDiscussion on management competencies: Results from the data analysis suggest that Hong Kong MBA students have more work competencies (e.g. planning, making decisions, and solving problems) than the Thai MBA students, but also have high level of interpersonal competencies (e.g. communication skills, adaptability, etc.). There are several explanations for this result.First, the comparatively weak work competency level of the Thai MBA students may be attributed to the limited quality and standard of the Thai higher education in comparison to Hong Kong. The government in Hong Kong has in the last decade adopted a new educational policy to improve the quality as well as the \"international competitiveness\" of its universities and students (University Grants Committee, 2004). This initiative has paid-off. The MBA programs of Hong Kong universities are currently well-recognized internationally. For instance, the MBA program of the University of Hong Kong is globally ranked 39th among the top 100 MBA programs by the economist intelligence unit. These rankings are based on surveys of MBA students and graduates regarding careers advancements, personal development, educational experience, etc. (The University of Hong Kong, 2007). The MBA program of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2007/2008) has been granted accreditation by the UK-based association of MBAs (AMBA) in 2006. Only about 120 business schools worldwide have received this status from AMBA.The universities in Thailand do not meet the international criteria of quality. Thailand is still at an early stage of educational standard enhancement (Commission on Higher Education, Ministry of Education of Thailand, 2005). None of the MBA programs of the Thai universities is internationally accredited nor recognized by the global business community. This difference in quality explains why work competency proficiency of the Thai MBA students is not as high as those of the Hong Kong MBA students, who have been trained in internationally, standardized business schools.Second, the difference in the work competency between Thai and Hong Kong MBA students can also be explained by the cultural differences. According to the analysis, social power has the most significant impact on work competency. Social power, e.g. authority, dominance, influence, etc. can be effective in the Asian workplace if it is not abused. In a culture where social power prevails, it is natural to see that a social distance is maintained between the superiors and their subordinates based on authority. For this reason, managers can manage their job efficiently. This is the characteristic of Hong Kong where people are considered task oriented. Hong Kong MBA graduates have better work competencies in part because they are \"assertive, decisive, and aggressive,\" and able to make decisions on their own (Onishi, 2006).Individual success is another cultural factor which has a positive influence on work competency. This result is supported by the study of Rodsutti (2002) who explains that managers with self-actualization are able to see the value of their work. The notion of individual success is important to these managers, and they know how to use their skills and capabilities to explore new ideas and achieve results. These managers who live in a culture that is achievement oriented are expected to be decisive and capable of making decision on their own (Onishi, 2006). This culture is also the characteristic of Hong Kong MBA graduates.Finally, a third explanation can be viewed in term of the differences in the background characteristics of the Thai and Hong Kong MBA students. Out of three background variables most relevant to management competencies - age, job title, and work experience - job title has a significant impact on work competency. People with high-job responsibilities need to possess not only work but also interpersonal competencies to get their job done efficiently and effectively. This is reflected by the result from the regression analysis (Tables VI and VII) which shows that job title has a coefficient b=0.19 in relation to work competency and b=0.12 in relation to interpersonal competency. Essentially, the majority (around 60 percent) of the Hong Kong MBA respondents are professionally experienced in middle and top management. Most Thai MBA respondents are, however, at the staff level and have lesser job responsibilities than the Hong Kong MBA students. For this reason, the result shows that Hong Kong MBA students have high level of proficiency in both work and interpersonal competencies.Additionally, the result of the dummy variable \"country\" from the regression analysis confirms that the MBA students in Hong Kong, on the whole, have higher level of work competency than the MBA students educated in Thailand. The variable, however, has no significant relation to interpersonal competency. It is also indicated from the results that work experience of the MBA students has no significant influence on both work and interpersonal competencies.The findings from ANOVA, nevertheless, demonstrates that there are significant differences in work competency (sig.=0.00) and interpersonal competency (sig.=0.05) in relation to the level of work experience. For example, MBA students with only up to five years of work experience have lower levels of both work and interpersonal competencies (4.91 and 5.09, respectively) than those MBA students with higher years of work experience. The MBA students with work experience ranging from 16 to 20 years have the highest level of proficiency in work and interpersonal competencies (5.46 and 5.45, respectively). These results are shown in Table VIII.On average, the Hong Kong respondents have more than ten years of work experience, while their Thai peers have worked only for six years. According to the ANOVA analysis, MBA respondents with work experience over ten years have significantly higher levels of management competencies than those with lesser years of work experience. Based on this fact, it can be implied that, with the combination of MBA study and more years of work experience, Hong Kong MBA students possess more capabilities to develop both work and interpersonal competencies required of a manager.For interpersonal competency, the result from MANOVA test shows that both Thai and Hong Kong MBA students have a high level of interpersonal competency. This can be explained from the cultural point of view. Thailand is \"relationship-oriented\" with high value for social and interpersonal interactions (Onishi, 2006). They prefer \"a nonassertive, polite type of personality,\" expressed through interpersonal approaches, e.g. communication, interpersonal skills, and adaptability. For this reason, MBA graduates in Thailand and Hong Kong should be able to attain a high level of interpersonal competencies.\nImplications of management competencies for MBA programs: The findings of this study have important implications for MBA programs offered in business schools in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Thailand. Essentially, the study finds that both Thai and Hong Kong MBA students are already proficient in interpersonal competencies. However, work management competencies are found to be limited in Thailand.One of the implications for business schools in Thailand is to improve the value of their MBA programs. They will need to put more emphasis on the work competencies in their curricula in order to enhance such management competencies, e.g. ability to implement work strategically, to plan and organize, etc. in the Thai MBA graduates. They will need to improve their learning delivery of these competencies and redesign their curricula to serve the needs of the global business. They will need to augment their instruction with extensive practical experience in the development and implementation of these required work competencies as described in Table I.Unlike Thailand, Hong Kong business schools have been more successful in teaching their MBA students the required work competencies or \"hard skills\", e.g. abilities to make decisions, solve and analyze problems (Graduate Management Admissions Council, 2005). Practical learning experiences are offered in the MBA program through series of workshops (e.g. team building), in which processes of team interaction are used to improve such work competencies as planning and organizing, problem solving and group decision making. At the University of Hong Kong, an interactive and innovative learning experience is provided through the \"Leadership challenge\" workshop, which enhances the MBA students' full leadership potential, so that they are equipped to take senior management positions upon graduation.Additionally, Thai business schools will also need to reconsider their selection relating to the overall qualification of MBA applicants. From the survey, the sample characteristics of Hong Kong MBA students show that they are professionally experienced with higher job responsibilities than their Thai peers. Hong Kong business schools are able to cater their professionally experienced students with in-depth knowledge of management skills as required for middle and top managers. In Thailand, the majority of MBA students are support staff. These students are moving from entry level specialized positions to those with broader responsibilities. To provide these less experienced students with specific management capabilities, Thai MBA program will need to separate these students from their more professionally experienced classmates and place them in classes that focus more on work competency. For MBA students who are managers, Thai business schools will need to offer a flexible MBA program, from which these experienced students can select additional electives that provide management competencies specifically required by their work and career development.\nConclusion: This study contributes to the literature on management competencies needed in Asia, based on MBA programs, especially in Thailand and Hong Kong. Understanding the relative importance of the required management competencies is critical for the successful development of managerial talent in the students. The MBA programs should emphasize the relevancy of work and interpersonal competencies in developing their curriculum in order to better align the management educational experience with the needs of globalized business.Business schools in Hong Kong have been better in preparing the students with the competencies needed because they meet global standards. However, the MBA programs in Thai universities must place greater emphasis in providing a higher level of work competences to their MBA students. To determine which particular competencies are presently required in the MBA program in Thailand, the \"competency gaps,\" between proficiency levels of MBA students' existing competencies and the competencies required of future managers in Thai business corporations should be assessed. More importantly, Thai MBA programs should attain international standards or accreditation to match the level of business education in Hong Kong.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the management competencies required by a Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate to succeed as a global business manager in an increasingly competitive business environment in Asia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper analyzes the differences in management competencies of nearly 600 MBA students from 13 universities in Thailand and Hong Kong. In the questionnaire, the MBA students are asked to indicate the levels of the management competencies which they have gained from studying the MBA program.\nFindings: - The findings indicate that the work competency of the Hong Kong MBA students is significantly higher than the Thai MBA students. The levels of interpersonal competency do not, however, differ significantly between the Thai and Hong Kong students. The findings also show that there are significant relationships between the background variables, e.g. job title and cultural values - namely individual success and social power - and work and interpersonal competencies.\nPractical implications: - To improve the value of the MBA programs in Thailand, business schools will need to put more emphasis on the work competencies in their curricula. More workshops that actively stimulate work competencies must be emphasized in the Thai MBA programs.\nOriginality/value: - The study of management competencies in Asia representing Thailand and Hong Kong is rare. New management development approaches are proposed for business schools to train their business students to become world-class global managers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wine with geographical indication - awareness of Croatian consumers	[ "Wines", "Consumer behaviour", "Country of origin", "Croatia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Geographical indications (GIs) are intellectual property rights that identify a good as originating in a certain territory or a region where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin (Addor et al., 2003). The most established GIs are found in the wine industry.According to The Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (World Trade Organization, 1994), an additional protection for wine and spirits is provided.There are two main elements of special protection for wine and spirits:1. legal means to prevent the use of a GI identifying wine and spirits not originating in the place indicated, even if the true origin is indicated or accompanied by words such a \"kind\", \"type\", \"style\" or imitation\"; and2. legal means to refuse to register or invalidate trademarks for wines or spirits that contain a GI not originating in the territory indicated at the request of an interested party.In the TRIPS Agreement, GIs on wine are further protected against \"homonymous indications\" as well as by a multilateral system of notification and registration. In last years the role and significance of GIs has fundamentally changed.GIs are valuable to producers from particular regions because they identify the source of a product. They are at the same time indications of quality, business interests and, as they are intellectual property right, they are relief from unfair competition. Advertising is a very important thing but not sufficient to create a public perception of quality of certain product.To develop a GIs reputation many years are needed. GIs can increase sales of a wine only if the term has a certain positive reputation in the mind of the consumer in the respective market.Speaking about the wine, there is always link between place and product. Producers who have products with GIs want to develop niche markets, at least among consumers who wish to purchase such products. These niche markets are certainly limited but they can be economically lucrative.On the other hand, GIs help consumers to distinguish between premium-quality and low-end products. GIs are not trade marks although both have function as quality and origin indicators (trade marks as commercial and GIs as geographical origin). GIs differ from trade marks because they are descriptive as regards the geographical origin and they can be used by all traders for goods which emanate from the relevant geographical location and which comply with the production practices of that region.GIs are not brands because brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or service and it is not linked with geographical origin. Trust in GIs is the reason why consumers may be willing to pay more for wine with GIs.But, do the consumers recognize wine with geographical indication? Can the results help to develop market strategy based on the GI wine offer taking into account that GIs give added value to the product? That were the main questions we tried to answer carrying out this research. Although there are few market research studies in Croatia (Radman et al., 2004; Kovacic et al., 2006; Kovacic and Radman, 2003), neither of them is completely oriented on the role and market significance of GI of wine. There is an evident lack of information in this field.Wine is a very specific product whose quality depends, more than quality of any other product, on climate and soil characteristics of the vine growing area. Considering additional factors as adequate vine variety, cultivation methods, winemaking methods and sensorial characteristics result is one very complex product. All mentioned factors make it possible to obtain geographical indication (GI) for wine, which, in the end, should improve recognisability of wine on the market. Consumers, as the final link of the chain, give their opinion by choosing (buying) or not particular wine.In Croatia, wines with GI are classified as quality and top quality wines and have a large share (59 per cent) on the Croatian market. The mentioned was one of the reasons for defining the subject of the research as well as marketing possibilities regarding the fact that Croatia is a well known tourist destination regarding the fact that about 20 per cent of the total GDP is coming from tourism.\nReview of literature: A wide range of food and agricultural products are known by their quality attributes, place of origin, or other specific local factors (Raustiala and Munzer, 2007; Mattiacci and Vignali, 2004).The GIs do not protect products or production methods as such, but rather confer to all producers from a given geographical area the exclusive right to use a distinctive sign to identify their product (Addor and Grazioli, 2002). The protection of the indications of the geographical origin of a product has evolved in different ways under different national and international laws (O'Connor, 2003). There could never be the same level of protection for all intellectual property rights and geographical indications are a very good example of it (Almeida and Francisco, 2005).GIs essentially contribute to product safety as producers can more easily be identified and held responsible for their product (Felzensztein and Dinnie, 2006, Brookes, 1993). There is a consideration (especially in developing countries) that GIs would add value to local production and would bring in more income than the products without GIs.Increasingly, GIs are seen as valuable marketing tools (Svensson et al., 2009; Kelly et al., 2005, Felzensztein et al., 2004) and various regions are now trying to protect their position (Banks et al., 2007; Getz and Brown, 2006; Tregear et al., 2007).According to the Almeida and Francisco (2004), geographical indications have also function of quality guarantee and besides satisfying consumers' interest, they are at the service of producers and traders.According to the Barker (2006) the country-level GIs are legally possible. National territory, including a country, can be a geographical indication taking into account two basic qualifying requirements: it must identify a good as originating in the stated national territory and a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the wine must be essentially attributable to its geographical origin.Ebihara et al. (2009) has explored the impact of GIs on wine consumption in Japan. They have found that, because of the increasing incidence of fraud and false labelling, Japanese consumers are increasingly sensitive to the origins of food and agricultural products, and they tend to prefer wine with certified origins. Stasi et al. (2009) have reported that the scope for change in the demand for wine in Italy has several important implications for trade and agricultural policy. As patterns of Italian wine consumption shift to higher quality wines, small wineries have sought to differentiate their products by adopting appellations signalling adherence to specified production methods.Geographical indication on the label is very important for Austrian consumers because it indicates higher quality of wine and consumers are ready to pay more for wine with GIs (Schwab-Matkovits et al., 2009).\nMethods: Exploratory research was undertaken to examine consumers' perception with regard to the consumption of GI wines what is inevitably related to the examination of the basic characteristics of total demand on the Croatian wine market. In this way, besides the notion of the extent to which the examinees from the survey sample recognize wines with GIs and how much attention they pay to such wines, we have obtained very interesting details about overall preferential position of wine on Croatian drinks market.Respondents' sample\nResults and discussion: The paper, primarily, examines wider perception regarding the consumption of wines with GIs under Croatian circumstances. Besides this motive, the questionnaire examines general demographic and socioeconomic elements as well as their influence on the definition of demand, consumption and wine market in the Republic of Croatia based on the respondents.Structure of wine consumers\nConclusions: The recognition of GIs as a means of differentiating products in a crowded marketplace will doubtless continue to increase. Correspondingly, this will lead to a greater push for their further protection.The results of the research conducted on the area of Republic of Croatia have shown high correlation degree between higher socioeconomic status of examinees and preferences for wine with GI.It can be concluded that examinees with higher level of education are more familiar with GI wines and have as well higher culture of wine consumption. The fact that 72.07 per cent of examinees emphasise GI as very important and quite important for choosing the wine, supports designation of wines with GI and building up image (reputation) of wine with GI.GIs need many years to develop reputation and only if they are recognizable on the market, the producers can benefit from them. The results show that consumers in Croatia are aware of GIs and their positive reputation. That could help producers by their further marketing activities and their positioning on the market. Developing marketing strategy based on GI offer through tourism could be suggested.It has to be emphasised that both sexes are very interested in reading the label. 73.6 per cent of men and 72.9 per cent of women stated that reading the label is obligatory for them. Regarding wine consumption, men mostly drink wine once to twice a week (36.1 per cent) and every day (20.8 per cent). Women drink wine sometimes (33.6 per cent) and very rarely (24.3 per cent).Using factor analysis three factors have been examined: familiarity with GI wines, importance of trust and tradition considering wines with GI and importance of the price and quality of GI wines. Together these factors explain 60.14 per cent of the total variance of consumers' awareness. Likewise, categories with the higher ability for payment are willing to pay up to 30 per cent more for wines with GI.According to the above-mentioned it can be concluded that advertising is necessary in order to make consumers more familiar with GIs wine and there will always be niche markets for those who can and will pay more for GIs wine. Such niche markets are certainly limited but they can be economically profitable.As the sample is made of expert groups from institutions and therefore not the real representative of wine consumers in Croatia further research with enlarged sample is needed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Quality and top quality wines (wines with geographical indication (GI)) have a larger share (59 per cent) on the Croatian market and this was one of the reasons for defining the subject of the research. Although there are a few market research studies, none of them is completely oriented on the role and market significance of GI of wine. There is an evident lack of information in this field. This paper aims to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The population of the basic group is a high-qualified population for reviewing different aspects of wine as a complex product. Stratification of the units from the sample has been made on the sample (n=200). Data were analysed using univariate statistics, bivariate correlations and multiple factor analysis.\nFindings: - Results have shown a high correlation degree between the higher socioeconomic status of examinees and preferences for wine with GI. It might be concluded that examinees with a higher level of education are more familiar with wine with GI and also have a higher culture of wine consumption.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample, including only expert groups from institutions, could be understood to be a limitation of this study although they are a highly-qualified population for reviewing different aspects of wine as a complex product. Further research is needed to analyse other consumer groups and to determine possible differences in attitudes.\nPractical implications: - Research results indicate a need to increase consumers' familiarity with GI wine. Overall positive attitudes towards wine with GI should be reinforced and consumers could be influenced through targeted advertising.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents some Croatian consumers' opinions about the importance of GI of consumed wine. Extracted are the main impact factors regarding the wine selection.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can enhanced performance management support public sector change?	[ "Qualitative research", "Organizational change", "Performance management", "Public sector", "Adaptability to change", "High performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: High performance organizations are characterized by an ability to anticipate, respond and adapt to changing circumstances (de Waal, 2010; Pickering, 2008); with employee adaptability to change a critical element of this (Popovich, 1998). However, despite a great deal of research into how to undertake successful change, the majority of change initiatives fail (Grady and Grady, 2013; Higgs and Rowland, 2010). In addition, despite the plethora of research into organizational change antecedents, processes and consequences (for a meta-analysis see Oreg et al., 2011), few studies have examined the impact of performance management on change. The studies that have been undertaken tend to focus on the relationship between performance measurement and change management (Bourne et al., 2003; MacBryde et al., 2012) or how change management processes could affect organizational performance (Agyemang and Ryan, 2013; Parker et al., 2013; Sanger, 2008). There is a dearth of research into how individual performance management can be used as a strategic tool for affecting change management. We will argue that strategically used performance management can play a major role in enabling or impeding change capacity. A performance framework recently developed from data collected in the Australian Public Service (APS) has highlighted key areas for improving implementation which, we suggest, if implemented could underpin more effective change processes or programs. Our primary goal is to suggest that current conceptualizations of the relationships between change management and performance management are incomplete and, potentially, working in the wrong direction.\nThe quest for high performance: Enhancement of government performance has been the focus of public administration and management research, policy and reform for many years (de Waal, 2010). The quest for enhanced performance has been underpinned by a crisis of confidence in some governments, with doubts regarding their ability to cope with the changing demands of their domestic and global environments (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). Such concerns have led to waves of reform, including the move to New Public Management (NPM) (Hughes, 2003; Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). The term NPM is a shorthand expression coined by Hood (1991) and regularly used by scholars and professionals to describe the global reorganization of public sector organizations that occurred throughout the 1980s and 1990s (Aucoin, 1995; Dunleavy and Hood, 1994). This movement was prevalent in certain Anglo-Saxon countries and international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Hood, 1995). One of the key elements of NPM was a stronger performance orientation, with emphasis on higher labor productivity, establishing explicit standards and measures of performance, and a focus on outcomes rather than inputs (Hood, 1991; Lynn, 1998; Osborne and Gaebler, 1992; Pollitt, 1993).\nDifficulties with change implementation: Despite the prevalence of change, the majority of change initiatives are unsuccessful (Grady and Grady, 2013; Higgs and Rowland, 2010). A common reason given for failure is employee resistance to change (Andrews et al., 2008; Coram and Burnes, 2001; Trader-Leigh, 2002), which emerges from feelings of uncertainty (Coram and Burnes, 2001). Employees may feel unsure about the reasons for change, the future direction, sustainability and viability of the organization, outcomes of the change effort, employees' job security, future promotion opportunities and what employees' future job responsibilities and functions will be (Andrews et al., 2008). A study by Bordia et al. (2004) found that uncertainty regarding job responsibilities had a negative impact on employees' feelings of lack of control, with control also having a negative relationship with psychological strain. Both factors had a powerful impact on employees' ability to deal with and adapt to organizational change. Moreover, when change is imposed upon employees, due to circumstances outside their control, the pressure leads to a sense of powerlessness and stress among employees, resulting in a propensity to withdraw from the stressful environment (Rush et al., 1995).\nPerformance management as an enabler of change: The role of human resource management in the success and failure of organizational change has been acknowledged (Doorewaard and Benschop, 2003). During the NPM era, the shift to an outcomes-based approach led to the utilization of performance management systems as a means to influence employees to behave in ways that supported the attainment of organizational objectives (Walker et al., 2010). However, some argue that performance management impedes change through being inconsistent with the aims and strategies for change, acting as a disincentive for employee behavior change: e.g. encouraging individualistic behavior and thus not supporting the desired teamwork-oriented culture (Gill, 2002).\nMethodology: This research was designed to explore both how performance management could support the achievement of high performance and whether such a focus was likely to support successful change implementation. The context of this study was the APS which supports the Australian Federal Government. In June 2012 the APS was made up of 101 organizations of which 23 were classified as large (>1,000 APS employees), 31 as medium (251-1,000 APS employees) and 47 as small (20-250 APS employees) (Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), 2012). These organizations employed 154,307 ongoing staff (permanent) and 14,273 non-ongoing. Of the ongoing employees, 109,472 were employed at the operational level (APS), 42,049 were employed at the middle management level (EL) and 2,786 were employed at the senior management level (Senior Executive Service) (see APSC, 2012).\nFindings: At the time of this study, several case study organizations were undergoing continuous change, often initiated by changes to the political agenda (however, this was prior to the current focus on budget reduction). Because \"change is constant\" (Middle manager, Agency B), organizations had to adjust their operations, revisit their priorities and increase efficiencies where appropriate. Despite recognition that adaptability to change was fundamental to the achievement of outcomes, issues emerged regarding organizational ability to adapt to changing circumstances. These included growing cynicism toward change and general feelings of \"change fatigue. People just get tired of the constant changing, changing, changing\" (Operational, Agency A). Initially, it appeared that the continuous nature of change was an impediment to successful implementation, however, it emerged that it was the change implementation which led to undesirable outcomes. This paralleled the notion that it is often poor performance management implementation that contributes to poor outcomes, highlighting that performance management implementation might be an interesting way to conceptualize change. We now present each of the principles and foundation elements of the performance framework in Figure 1, presenting possibilities for effective change implementation. As a reflection of the limited space available in an article we use illustrative quotes to demonstrate the data findings.\nImplications and conclusion: In this paper we have suggested that change implementation is a performance management issue, arguing that strategic utilization of the performance management process may better enable effective change implementation. The application of Blackman et al.'s (2013a, b) performance framework indicates that consideration of the principles and foundation elements provides organizations with an analytical tool to encourage employee buy-in and readiness to adopt the new ideas and behaviors required for successful change. While we recognize that this research has been limited to seven organizations within the APS, it does reveal interesting implications in terms of the potential role of performance management in both developing change capacity and supporting espoused outcomes. First, this research highlights some of the challenges associated with poor change management in terms of the inadequate preparation of employees and how performance management can be seen as a potential solution to address this. Second, the potential role that performance management can play in supporting effective change implementation has been identified. Good performance management, as identified by the participants, permits an individual to recognize the desired outcomes and behaviors, and the means to achieve them. The performance framework discussed in this paper can support this process through acting as a planning tool for effective change. Performance management can enable employees to cope better with the change through clearly defining what will constitute high performance in the change context; ensuring employees have a clear role purpose and are provided with sufficient mechanisms to adjust this as change occurs; and ensuring employees are aligned with the organizational direction. Third, the importance of tracking progress as a change function is highlighted, the argument being made that although staging of change is frequently discussed in change models, how this is translated to individual performance is not well developed in the literature. Fourth, our research addresses a gap in the literature demonstrating that there is a relationship between organizational change and individual performance management. Future research could undertake further in-depth empirical research into the impact of different aspects of performance management on change outcomes in different contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the potential role that performance management could play in enabling employees' adaptability to change and, therefore, successful change implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research adopted a qualitative case study research design, focussed on seven case studies within the Australian Public Service (APS). This study utilized documentary analysis, semi-structured individual and group interviews.\nFindings: The findings of this research demonstrate that adaptability to change is integral for high performance; however, the constant change faced by many public servants is disruptive. The authors posit that applying a performance framework developed by Blackman et al. (2013a, b) to change implementation will help overcome, or at least mitigate, these issues. The authors argue that applying this framework will: enable adaptability to change; and provide an ongoing management function that enables change to occur.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research has been limited to seven organizations within the APS, yet it does reveal interesting implications in terms of the apparent role of performance management in both developing change capacity and supporting espoused outcomes.\nPractical implications: This research identifies the potential role that performance management can play in supporting effective change implementation through enabling employees to cope better with the change through enabling clarity, purpose and alignment with the organizational direction.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper stems from the synthesis of different strands of literature, specifically high performance, performance management and change management, and empirical research in the public sector to provide a new way of looking at performance management as a change enabler.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Persistence of change: fume hood campaign lessons	[ "Change management", "Individual behaviour", "Sustainability, Persistence", "Laboratories", "Behaviour", "Energy", "Safety", "Fume hoods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Background: 1.1 Persistence of change in environmental initiatives targeting behaviour\n2 Methods: 2.1 Campaign components\n3 Results: 3.1 Sash-closing patterns\n4 Conclusions: The \"Just Shut It!\" sash-closing program was effective in changing lab user behaviour during the campaign; however, there was limited persistence of changes among users. Specifically, sash-closing rates rose from 3.1 percent pre-campaign to 61.3 percent while the competition and awareness campaign were in effect. Eight months after the program ended, sash-closing rates of 14.5 percent were measured, indicating that behaviours had largely, but not completely, reverted to pre-campaign levels post-campaign. Likewise, sash heights dropped substantially during the campaign (from 11.6'' down to 4.9''), but mostly rebounded when volunteers visited eight months later (8.9''). In contrast, most survey respondents had indicated they would continue sash-closing after the campaign. It is uncertain whether the discrepancy represents the disconnect between self-reported intention and behaviour, or whether the small survey sample represented a self-selecting group of program enthusiasts.Although the campaign lasted for four months, during which time many lab users regularly closed their sashes, and the reminder stickers were not taken down at the end of the campaign, most users did not develop a lasting habit. The reversion in sash heights might result in part from lab turnover, with new members joining the lab who have not experienced the sash-closing program. However, this is unlikely to be the primary cause, as a majority of participants were PhD students who typically spend over four years on their thesis. Second, had the sash-closing habit been maintained among veteran members, one would expect new lab members to follow the prevailing social norm.Since measurements were not obtained in the interim, it is not clear how quickly behaviours reverted. It is possible that sash-closing persisted at reasonably high rates for a few months post-campaign. If this is true, it is possible that running a campaign every semester would sustain somewhat consistent behaviours over time. Since staff time is limited, this campaign would need to be shortened, perhaps to a month. It is uncertain whether shortening the duration of the campaign will also reduce the persistence of sash-closing behaviours. Encouragingly, findings by Staats et al. (2000) are suggestive that a brief (four-week), annually recurring intervention might have a positive cumulative effect. Further research is warranted.Although the campaign appeared to include the ingredients for persistence (described in Section 1.4), in retrospect, a number of components were missing or non-optimally delivered, and at least one aspect of the program may have adversely affected the results. First, the program did not require lab users to make an initial commitment to participate. In a series of studies, Richard Katzev and colleagues demonstrated that pledges/commitments are capable of changing behaviour lasting beyond the period of intervention (Bachman and Katzev, 1982; Pardini and Katzev, 1983-1984; Katzev and Pardini, 1987-1988; Katzev and Johnson, 1984) and this has been reviewed in detail in Dwyer et al. (1993). Staats et al.'s (2004) aforementioned EcoTeams* program may have benefited from implicit commitments; in volunteering to join EcoTeams, participants signalled to peers their intention to engage in environmentally-responsible behaviours. The \"Just Shut It!\" program, conversely, targeted all lab users without their signing up. Note that commitments work best if they are made in writing, publically (Pardini and Katzev, 1983-1984), and by individuals, rather than groups, if the groups are not highly cohesive (Katzev and Wang, 1990).Second, while feedback was a key component of the campaign, monthly results were exclusively posted on the campaign web site. The second focus group participants indicated that they did not visit this site frequently, most visiting once or never. It is likely that more lab users would be reached by simply sharing the results through posters or e-mails. A combination of paper-based and e-mail-based feedback was found to be very effective at MIT (Wesolowski et al., 2010).Third, it is uncertain the campaign succeeded in cultivating a social environment supportive of conservation. Despite evidence that lab users were engaged and promoted participation by labmates, and that some respondents indicated they felt pressured by labmates to close sashes, individuals might have felt their peers were motivated by competition and/or prizes, rather than energy conservation. An intriguing possibility is that using facilitated discussions, instead of simply giving lab presentations, would have increased buy-in and visibility of peer approval. Discussion participants are more likely than lecture attendees to change attitudes (Werner and Simone, 2008) and adopt recommended behaviours (Lewin, 1947), even if given identical information. An even more effective technique may be to recruit a volunteer representative to promote the desired behaviour within each lab. Such an approach was found highly effective in creating desired social norms regarding recycling (Hopper and Nielsen, 1991).One factor which might have negatively affected persistence was the prize-giving., Most survey and focus group participants stated that the safety and environmental benefits were greater motivators than prizes, after the campaign, some lab users indicated that they no longer felt they had any incentive to close their sashes. This is consistent with studies which have found that providing performance-based rewards can reduce performance, consistent with the hypothesis that extrinsic motivators for behaviour oppose intrinsic motivators (Lepper et al., 1973; Gneezy and Rustichini, 2000). As a result, rewards ultimately undermine the durability of interventions, or even turn an appealing activity into an unappealing one (De Young, 1993). Therefore, it is possible that lab users were less motivated by the safety and environmental benefits of sash-closing because they had received prizes for it!It is also possible that lack of motivation to continue sash-closing resulted in part from the campaign's emphasis on both environmental and safety benefits, rather than placing the most emphasis on safety. Most survey respondents also indicated that they had prior knowledge of the safety issues, and almost all indicated that both energy and safety were important reasons to close the fume hood; however, respondents represented a small sample, and results were potentially skewed by a self-selection bias favouring program enthusiasts. In theory, improved lab safety may be more persuasive, as it is of direct benefit to the sash-closer, while protecting the environment is a more altruistic motivator, and may therefore be less powerful. On the other hand, neither motivator may be particularly strong, given that the benefits of both are generally intangible to lab users. That is, even if lab air quality is compromised by open hoods, any health consequences are unlikely to be detected for a long time and would be difficult to link causally to lab air. While environmental benefits are more easily quantified, they are not observable to the users, so they can be easily forgotten or dismissed. Further research would be required to determine whether placing more emphasis on either environment or personal safety would be effective in this context.Ultimately, although the \"Just Shut It!\" campaign was effective, the results only partially persisted. Therefore, running a short-term campaign may only be worth the effort if it is repeated regularly. Alternatively, a more streamlined, continuous campaign which focuses on providing labs with feedback (Wesolowski et al., 2010), would require less effort and would possibly be more effective.Even an effective feedback-based campaign is only likely to last as long as it is carried out (Staats et al., 2004). In contrast, a campaign that succeeds in creating pro-environmental social support has a better chance of creating enduring change (Staats et al., 2004). In the context of labs, integrating short \"safety and environment\" discussions to regular lab meetings could enhance the sense that these issues are a priority for peers and authority figures. Additionally, it may be useful to seek public commitments from lab users, principal investigators, and departmental administration to operate in an environmentally-responsible and safety-conscious manner.Regardless of the methods chosen, if an institution does not intend to run a program long-term, its positive effects may not persist. Any short-term campaign should be assessed for persistence to evaluate whether the efforts of campaign organizers are worthwhile, or whether a modified strategy is required.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Sustainability initiatives typically operate for a limited time period, but it is often unclear whether they have lasting effects. The purpose of this paper is to examine a laboratory fume hood campaign, in order to identify factors that might contribute or detract from long-term change persistence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The University of Toronto Sustainability Office ran a fume hood sash-closing campaign in one building for a four-month period. The campaign had two components: awareness-raising, where the safety and energy benefits of sash-closing were explained through posters, presentations, and a website; and a competition where participants received raffle tickets when their sashes were in compliance during unannounced inspections. Sash heights were recorded six and a half months before the campaign, throughout the campaign itself, and eight months after the campaign. Surveys and focus groups were used to assess participant attitudes and experiences.\nFindings: - The campaign was effective in substantially reducing sash heights while it was in effect. Several months after the campaign, it appeared that sash-closing behaviours had mostly - but not entirely - reverted to pre-campaign levels.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research does not examine differences in responses across users, and it is possible that the campaign was very effective in persuading some individuals.\nPractical implications: - When running short-term behaviour-change campaigns, attention should be given to strategies that enhance or detract persistence of changes. Competitions and prizes could, perhaps counter-intuitively, reduce long-term effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: - Persistence is often overlooked in the design of sustainability campaigns. This paper offers important insights into what does not create lasting change and what might.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sender outcomes of online word-of-mouth transmission	[ "Social media", "Catharsis and emotional homeostasis", "Drivers emotions and motives", "Exaggerations", "Online Word of Mouth", "Sender Outcomes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the ongoing development of the Internet and mobile technologies, online consumer-to-consumer (C-to-C) word-of-mouth (WOM) communications have become increasingly prevalent. To consumers, the internet represents a rich and easily accessible platform for sharing consumption experiences and assessing such experiences from others (Verhagen et al., 2013). Given the huge and continuously growing amount of online WOM activities and their strong impacts on consumers' buying behaviors, companies would naturally want to leverage them for marketing purposes (Rosario et al., 2016).\nLiterature review: Research on antecedents to online word-of-mouth\nResearch methodology: Focus groups were employed to gain more thorough and deeper insights into individuals' online WOM transmission behaviors. Focus group methodology is suitable for research in which the shared experiences of a group of people are of interest and researchers want to participate in that shared understanding (Hines, 2000). When it is well designed and facilitated, focus group can offer insights that cannot be obtained by personal interviews or ethnographic observations (Yin, 2002).\nResults and propositions: Next, we report our exploratory focus group findings on sender outcomes of online WOM participation. Inspired by these findings and based upon prior research and relevant theories, we propose a conceptual model on sender outcomes of online WOM participation. The conceptual model, in relation to past research, is shown in Figure 1.\nConclusions: Theoretical contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the importance of online word-of-mouth (WOM) communication to senders, receivers and concerned companies alike, a surprisingly limited amount of research exists on the impacts of online WOM participation on the senders themselves. Motivated by an attempt to fill this significant gap in the literature, this paper aims to investigate the sender outcomes of online WOM participation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors draw on insights from focus group studies and psychological theories of emotions, catharsis and regret and the signaling theory to develop a conceptual model linking the drivers and content characteristics of online WOM participation and sender outcomes.\nFindings: The findings show that sender outcomes from online WOM transmission differ by the types of drivers stimulating the online sharing activity and the level of exaggeration in the senders' self-generated contents. Specifically, online WOM triggered by emotions leads to catharsis and emotional homeostasis among the senders, while that stimulated by motivational drivers such as altruism, reciprocity, self-enhancement and belongingness leads to sender happiness. Exaggeration in self-generated WOM contents by the senders, in turn, leads to delayed outcomes of sender regret and reduced sender trust in general online WOM contents.\nResearch limitations/implications: The most important contribution to online WOM research lies in the study of the outcomes of WOM transmission from a sender's point of view. By drawing on our exploratory findings and psychological theories of emotions, catharsis and regret and the signaling theory, the authors develop a conceptual model linking the drivers and the exaggeration nature of online WOM participation and sender outcomes.\nPractical implications: Managers should realize that the most fundamental way of ensuring positive consumption experiences is to listen to customer voices, including even the most negative of feedback shared privately or publicly, and use that information to improve essential customer experience aspects. The finding on the effects of online WOM exaggerations on sender regret suggests that companies and consumers alike should work on ensuring producing more accurate and complete online customer reviews. The finding on the negative effect of online WOM exaggerations on sender trust raises an important question on the meaning of high quality reviews from the company's perspective. To pursue high quality reviews, merchants should not only aim at receiving the highest possible numeric ratings but also encourage most truthful accounts of purchase and usage experiences. In turn, online platforms such as Amazon should also factor the quality of online ratings more effectively into their product recommendation algorithms.\nSocial implications: In further consideration of consumer welfare implications, online WOM transmissions should be more recognized as a tool for allowing consumers to cleanse their emotions associated with marketing stimuli.\nOriginality/value: Overall, the qualitative study and proposed conceptual model contribute to a more thorough and deeper understanding of individual-level sender outcomes of online WOM participation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Why do banks continue to waste talent?	[ "Management accountability", "Hierarchical organizations", "Job grading", "Careers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Although a recent McKinsey Quarterly (24 July 2008) claims there is \"a talent shortage for European banks\" this is not the issue. The real issue is there is a shortage of banks that actually know how to manage the talent equation.\nBut are only financial services companies at fault?: In 2007 I ran a WebCast for the New York Conference Board on the subject of the link between organization design and leadership.In answer to a poll question, 72 percent of participating companies (about 40, mostly North American) indicated they felt they had too many layers of management and did not know what the right number should be.And yet they were all spending (wasting?) huge amounts on leadership development.If companies do not know how many value-adding layers of management they need several other problems follow. They cannot identify the top (100) jobs; therefore they cannot construct reliable career paths for developing leaders and of course they are very wasteful organizations. They squander talent and add unnecessary millions to the cost base.Most companies are not short of talent. The evidence suggests they invariably have too many leaders and are wasting talent.How can this be so? There are three common drivers of talent-waste in most large organizations.\nHeavy hierarchies: If a company does not know how many value adding layers it needs there are two likely scenarios. Either it has too few layers - which occasionally occurs. Or there are too many layers of hierarchy; more leadership roles than were required - which frequently occurs.Surprisingly in the twenty-first century this is still a common failing. Most companies are hierarchy heavy.Worse than this though is the fact that even if companies become aware of their unwieldy structure they do not know how to fix the problem. If they do not know how many layers they need they do not know which ones are currently wasting talent. Good people cannot perform in a non-job. Thus top management cannot determine whether they have a talent problem since they cannot identify who is performing well and who is not.It is too tempting to say: \"our results are not as good as they should be therefore we must have a talent problem, which is not surprising since we know talent is in short supply!\" Thus the circular myth is born and propagated, to the comfort of mediocre CEOs and HRDs.\nMisuse of grading systems: Grading of jobs is another major issue[2]. Grading systems were originally implemented to help design equitable pay systems. They were never intended to be instruments of organization design and talent development. But most companies in the public and private sector have misused job evaluation schemes in this way.Many organizations, especially in the public sector, are grade driven. The pursuit of grades by way of \"promotion\" encourages the insertion of non value adding layers in the hierarchy. It is not uncommon to see situations where nearly every layer of management in an organization is given a separate grade - this amounts to grade driven organization architecture. It is based on the need for administrative promotions (a change in grade) rather than real promotions based on a change in accountability.The recent popularity of broad-banding of money into wide pay bands has led, in some cases, to too few grades. If there is no underlying logic or set of principles driving the pay bands then grade to grade (or band to band) reporting results which creates an accountability blancmange. Broad-banding only works if is based on sound principles of accountability which are then priced in the talent marketplace[3].\nCareer dead ends: If an organization cannot identify its genetic code of decision zones it cannot build an architecture of accountable jobs. Fieldwork over the last 20 years has established that only one layer of management is needed for each decision making level above the front line. Without this laser an organization cannot identify its top 100 jobs. It relies on guesswork. This in turn means there are no reliable career paths for developing leaders.Most so called career paths in hierarchy heavy, confused organizations lead to a dead end. A clear indication of this is narrow average spans of control, the number of people an individual directly manages. These are often smallest in middle management. An average span less than eight correlates with over layering.This means the organization is also likely to be carrying millions of dollars of excess cost. Waste of talent is always associated with waste of money.This waste of talent produces bonsai managers.\nBonsai managers: This is why they have inadvertently built a cadre of bonsai managers[4]. A bonsai plant is one that is capable of growing to its full height but remains stunted and undeveloped because it is kept in a small container that blocks it from growing. A bonsai manager is one who is unable to grow to full potential because he/she has been placed in a cluttered, top-heavy hierarchy of hollow jobs leading to career dead ends.In a forest of bonsai managers a company does not know whether it has a talent problem or not. Such companies lack clear accountability, their structures are ineffective and as a result they cannot reliably assess the true capability of their management, despite a plethora of bureaucratic leadership and \"competency\" models. They need a key to unlock this situation. They are wasting their talent. An aggressive hiring and firing regime will not solve the problem. The problem is the cluttered hierarchy of non jobs, the \"current of the river\", the \"bonsai container\", not the talented manager, the fit salmon or the new oak sapling.\nThe \"fat or muscle\" test: Much of the world is effectively now in recession. This is already evident in the behavior of a significant number of CEOs who are hell-bent on cost reduction because their top lines are not growing and their margins (and bonuses!!) are being squeezed.But any fool can cut costs in a large organization. That is not the challenge. The trick is knowing where and when to stop cutting and why.Before setting out down this cost reduction path a CEO should ask him or herself this question:Am I cutting fat or muscle?If he or she (or the HRD) cannot answer that question with any certainty they should not start. Otherwise experience suggests they are going to damage the talent in their business. Culling bonsai managers does not do much for the growth prospects of those who remain.\nAccountability is the answer: Most CEOs and HRDs are weak in the area of organization development (OD). By \"OD\" I am not referring simply to \"training and development\", which is the understanding of OD in the USA. I am referring to the agenda that entails the successful linking of purpose, strategy, people and organization design.There are four critical components of effective OD that facilitates talent development.1. An accountable job.2. An organization structure with a minimum number of such jobs.3. An individual with the requisite skills and abilities capable of discharging the accountabilities of the role in question.4. A reliable and valid way of identifying whether that individual has potential to move to a higher level of accountability.These four factors require an approach that can identify discrete levels of accountability in an organization. The decision making accountability solution set provides the platform for the first two. The second two require a competency model that can identify the behaviors needed to succeed at each level of accountability. The behaviors must be linked to the components or \"elements\" that make up the levels of accountability[5].The problem in reality is most CEOs are long on platitudes in this area but short on comprehension of the issues involved. Most cannot describe and identify the different shades of accountability in their companies. Effective organization development is a black hole for many CEOs. They are at their strongest when working on the back of an envelope.If you think I am being too harsh on our beleaguered colleagues then ponder this question. \"Why is it that the virtually every large organization you can think of is over-managed and under-led?\"The secret of success in the knowledge age is the management of talent. That is widely accepted. But the number one talent problem today is not a shortage of talented people - arguably there have never been so many educated people available - but a shortage of organizations, which know how to manage and harness their talent. Too many are wasting talent.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to respond to a claim in a recent McKinsey publication (24 July 2008) that European banks are short of talent. The paper argues that banks generally waste talent. They are not short of talent. It argues, based on the author's book The Accountable Leader, also published in July 2008, that accountability is the key to effective leadership and management of talent.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The material is based on case study work done in a number of banks. The paper is therefore a blend of viewpoint, case study material and concepts. Although the initial focus is financial institutions, the theme is applied to other organizations. Supporting evidence of this viewpoint is provided from a 2007 Webcast for The Conference Board of New York. Case study material based on 40 years' experience in 70 countries, provides evidence of key concepts outlined: hierarchy heavy organizations, their misuse of grading systems and the reality of career dead ends as a result.\nFindings: - The paper demonstrates how the above problems lead to the stunted development of bonsai managers. This is a metaphor to illustrate the extent and reason for the waste of talent in banks for example, the root cause of which is their inability to accurately define accountability.\nOriginality/value: - The paper sets out four pre-requisites for effective leadership. It argues that most CEOs do not know how to establish the first - an accountable organization. It debunks the superficial but popular myth about the shortage of talent. The real problem is the shortage of organizations, which know how to manage talent. They have too many leaders, not too few!\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using data mining to segment healthcare markets from patients' preference perspectives	[ "Data analysis", "Market segmentation", "Patients", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Data mining interest and application are increasing because it enables businesses to extract hidden information from large amounts of data so that they can better understand their customers (Chopoorian et al., 2001). In healthcare, data mining has also been used to improve diagnosis and treatment or to better understand patients' waiting behaviors (Milley, 2000). However, this technology is seldom applied to customer management or marketing within healthcare organizations (Milley, 2000). Therefore, this study is designed to provide an example about how to use data mining techniques for:1. conducting market segmentation with respect to patient preferences for healthcare attributes; and2. exploring the patient segment demographic characteristics.Segments are subgroups with similar patient preferences in the whole healthcare market. Successfully identifying demographically well-defined consumer segments can assist hospital managers develop long-term business strategies and offer an optimal mix of products and services that meet customer needs and preferences (Woodside et al., 1988; Ross et al., 1993).This study's contribution is its data mining method efficiency and effectiveness, specifically cluster analysis, for understanding patient healthcare preferences. Clustering/segmentation are fundamental data mining analysis tasks (Peacock, 1998). Although many statistical tools can perform cluster analysis, data mining provides numerous and irreplaceable benefits. First, the software is easy to use and unlike traditional statistical methods and tools, data mining does not require sophisticated statistical knowledge and data preprocessing (Chen and Sakaguchi, 2000). Thus, advanced statistics training is not necessary for managers or administrators. Second, data mining tools automatically provide more informative tables and visual charts, which present data analysis results from various perspectives to facilitate understanding. Hence, data mining techniques can better support decision-making processes. Third, data mining's most attractive function is that it can be used as a knowledge discovery in database (KDD), which means that data mining is a process of discovering hidden patterns in large consolidated databases. Nowadays, businesses often face the challenge that too much data are collected, but too little information is extracted. In general, traditional statistical models only can handle a limited data and test the existing hypotheses (Chopoorian et al., 2001). Thus, the KDD function in data mining can be used to face the challenge and increase business competitive advantages. On the one hand, data mining can easily handle large data. On the other, it facilitates both uncovering relationships hidden in complex data and identifies unknown problems and opportunities.Because data mining has such powerful data analysis functions, it has been used in a variety of businesses among which healthcare and pharmaceuticals account for only 4 percent of all users (Calderon et al., 2003). Moreover, among all data mining applications, marketing occupies only five percent (Calderon et al., 2003). In healthcare organizations, data mining is mainly used in diagnostic fields (SAS Institute Inc., 2002). Only two published studies used data mining in marketing (Rafalski, 2002; Cheng et al., 2005). That is, Rafalski (2002) vertically integrated multiple databases through data mining tools to identify healthcare organizations' key trends and marketing opportunities. His study focused primarily on building and employing a data warehouse - not on model building. Similarly, Cheng et al. (2005) applied data mining to conduct a cluster analysis. However, their cluster analyses manipulated simple variables like length of stay. Therefore, our study's contribution is to employ data mining techniques to conduct healthcare market segmentation using complicated psychographic variables and to reveal the benefits of data mining to understand customers' psychological needs for improving healthcare services. Another contribution from our study is that cluster analysis is conducted using two different processes. First, cluster analysis is performed on all healthcare attributes using general statistical software. Second, survey instrument factor analysis is conducted before basing cluster analysis on factor scores. Cluster analysis is performed by the popular data mining software, Enterprise Miner. Results gathered from these two processes are compared, which provide insights for practitioners about how to choose appropriate procedures for conducting an accurate cluster analysis. Previous authors studied patient preference from one of three aspects:1. individual patient's involvement in medical decision making (Thompson et al., 1993);2. patient's benefit-seeking preferences (Woodside et al., 1988); and3. preference for healthcare attributes (Fletcher et al., 1983; Ross et al., 1993; Morrison et al., 2003; Finn and Lamb, 1986; Gabbott and Hogg, 1994).Our study focuses on healthcare attribute preferences. There are several differences between our and previous studies. First, our instrument was developed from an extensive literature search; in-depth exploratory interviews and focus groups, while instruments in previous studies were adopted from already existing instruments or were based on limited literature. Ross et al.'s (1993) six dimensional healthcare service attributes were adapted from Ware et al.'s (1983) Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. Finn and Lamb (1986) identified their items from the Altschul (1983) and Marquis (1983) studies. Gabbott and Hogg (1994) used the SERVQUAL model to develop their scales. Although Morrison et al.'s (2003) instrument was developed both from a literature review and an exploratory study, their goal was to understand a general practitioner service while ours concentrates on inpatient services. Additionally, Morrison et al.'s sample was chosen from all residents in one region whereas ours is from several hospitals. Most studies mentioned so far conducted market segmentation. However, we are the first to use a commercially available data mining tool to illustrate how these approaches benefit healthcare market segmentation.\nLiterature review: Previous literature tends to define data mining narrowly. Interesting but non-obvious patterns hidden in databases can be automatically discovered or viewed from a much broader scope in which the relationships are confirmed or tested through discovery processes (Peacock, 1998). The KDD process is viewed from the broadest scope that incorporates wide-ranging activities:* data collection;* data cleaning;* data analysis;* scoring the database;* decision-making support; and* model refinement (Peacock, 1998).We discuss data mining applications from a broader scope, which has some important applications in customer relationship management or marketing:* comprehending customers' needs and predicting their responses to new products/services and communication programs* identifying customers' loyalty levels and making marketing strategies to retain vulnerable customers* recognizing unprofitable customers; and* market segmentation and products/services differentiation (Peacock, 1998; Cheng et al., 2005).These applications can be realized by specific data mining functions and techniques. Table I summarizes functions, tools and software commonly used in data mining (Peacock, 1998; Cheng et al., 2005; SAS Institute Inc., 2002; Thelen et al., 2004). In this table there are five fundamental functions identified:1. summarizing;2. classification;3. prediction;4. segmentation; and5. link analysis.Under each function several analytical tools/techniques can be used. Moreover, a great number of data mining products have been developed by independent vendors. Among these products, Intelligent Miner, Darwin and Enterprise Miner are the most frequently used software (Calderon et al., 2003). The latter software was the one we chose.Since data mining is synonymous with knowledge discovery processes, procedures should not be restricted to model building. Peacock (1998) noted that KDD processes include ten steps:1. data funneling;2. preprocessing;3. exploratory data analysis;4. recording and transformation;5. data mining discovery;6. data mining confirmation;7. model validation;8. model scoring;9. reporting results; and10. recalibrating models.Among these the first two were used for cleaning and preparing data for further analysis. Exploratory data analysis offers a glance at data patterns, trends, dispersion, etc. The remaining steps are mainly used to build, assess and refine the model, and to report the final results. Our study, on the other hand, adopts the following five steps to perform data mining process:1. objective setting;2. problem translation;3. data cleaning;4. model building; and5. model assessment (Figure 1).Our objective is to understand whether and how the healthcare market is heterogeneous in terms of patient preferences. Cluster analysis is then chosen to segment the market. The last three steps are discussed later.Patient preferences and demographic characteristics\nMethod and data: Our data were derived from US non-profit healthcare group inpatients in 2006. Our questionnaire was administered through telephone interviews with 2,000 subjects. Almost 17,000 usable questionnaires were obtained, which were then evaluated using data cleaning techniques:* screening using two criteria - hospitalizing in the past 12 months and older than 18 years; and* removing interview subjects giving systematically-biased answers, such as all 7s and missing values, leaving 1,561 questionnaires for analysis.Measures\nData analysis and results: Our purpose was to demonstrate the application of data mining to healthcare market segmentation. We used two data analysis procedures:1. segmentation variables - the patients' evaluations of 24 healthcare attributes; and2. the statistical tool \"R\" for analysis.In the second procedure, 24 attributes were initially extracted into five dimensions using exploratory factor analysis, followed by factor score cluster analysis. We then tested the segments' demographic profiles and tests demographic characteristic differences between these clusters through a contingency table.Data analysis procedure\nDiscussion: Conducting cluster analysis on the five factors (procedure II) instead of the original twenty-four variables (procedure I) produced results that provide more clear and reliable explanations about preferences (Tables III and IV). Previous studies demonstrated similar arguments. It is not practicable to keep and compare all cluster analysis attributes, but to adopt factor analysis to reduce a large number of variables for modeling purposes (Garson, 2002; Morrison et al., 2003). Our factor analysis extractions explain most of the total variation in the original variables, while the arbitrary selection of the cut-off values (in this case 0.35 and -0.5) in procedure I, may leave out important information (Garson, 2002). For example, factor analysis results clearly show that all three attributes identified in cluster 2 (determined by procedure I) measure the same dimension: communication and empowerment, which indicates that cluster 2 is focused upon communication and empowerment. On the other hand, procedure I does not generate correlations between attributes and hence cannot conclude a preference for cluster 2. As such the following discusses procedure II generated results.Data mining in healthcare market segmentation\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to provide an example of how to use data mining techniques to identify patient segments regarding preferences for healthcare attributes and their demographic characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were derived from a number of individuals who received in-patient care at a health network in 2006. Data mining and conventional hierarchical clustering with average linkage and Pearson correlation procedures are employed and compared to show how each procedure best determines segmentation variables.\nFindings: - Data mining tools identified three differentiable segments by means of cluster analysis. These three clusters have significantly different demographic profiles.\nPractical implications: - The study reveals, when compared with traditional statistical methods, that data mining provides an efficient and effective tool for market segmentation. When there are numerous cluster variables involved, researchers and practitioners need to incorporate factor analysis for reducing variables to clearly and meaningfully understand clusters.\nOriginality/value: - Interests and applications in data mining are increasing in many businesses. However, this technology is seldom applied to healthcare customer experience management. The paper shows that efficient and effective application of data mining methods can aid the understanding of patient healthcare preferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Crossing the great divide: critiquing the sacred secular dichotomy in accounting research	[ "Accounting", "Ethics", "Religion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This themed section is associated with the recent special issue of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability on Theological Perspectives on Accounting (Vol. 17, No. 3). As we pointed out in the editorial of that issue, we received a considerable number of submissions and unfortunately could not fit all the papers and poems that made it through the review process into one publication. The three papers presented in this collection are therefore, the overflow from the special issue. They were selected for this themed section not only because they are any less intellectually rigorous but also because they focus on a common concern: the sacred secular dichotomy that has been employed in studies of accounting in religious organisations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To introduce the three papers in the special section, an overflow from a recent special issue of the journal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Provides a brief review of the papers.\nFindings: - The three papers focus on a common concern: the sacred secular dichotomy that has been employed in studies of accounting in religious organisations.\nOriginality/value: - This introduction focuses on papers that encourage interdisciplinary research in accounting that draws specifically on theological insights.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Neural imprints of national brands versus own-label brands	[ "FMRI", "Consumer behaviour", "Consumer neuroscience", "National brands", "Own-label brands" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Manufacturers' branded products and retailer branded products compete on the supermarket shelves. Do consumers have a decision-making process that outputs the winning choice between these two brand categories or do these two types of brands elicit different processes? The former supposition is more plausible but, although there has been extensive research done in the field, there is no scientific evidence of such a process.\nMethod: General design\nResults: Comparing selling prices\nDiscussion: Considering just the stage product, where the participants visualised a photograph depicting a branded product, this experiment does not find significant clusters that represent a difference between national brands and own-label brands. Also, considering the finding in Hurley et al. (2013) study, differences in brain patterns activation would be expected because there were differences between the observation times for national and own-labels brands, respectively. However, our results do not support the claim that national and own-label brands share the same brain pattern. First, there were active and deactive clusters. They just did not survive the step where the correction for multiple comparisons was applied, specifically the use of random field theory, whose premises herewith have to be considered. Second, the possibility that this effect results from the design of the paradigm cannot be discarded. The arrangement of this study was based on blocks, and the inherent structure of the blocks was constant during the study, although the categories of the blocks (national brands marked with market prices, national brands marked with prices obtained from own-label marked products, own-label brands marked with market prices, own-label brands marked with prices obtained from national marked products and overseas brands marked with market prices) varied and were randomly sequenced. Blocks may produce habituation effects that may disguise and/or bias cognitive processes (Amaro and Barker, 2006). Third, when the element price is added, there are significant differences between national brands and own-label brands, as per the results in Table III and Figure 4. One might have to admit that studying separately the elements that resulted from the disassembling of a whole unit separately may not deliver the correct depiction of the original unit. This may be the case for the own-label brands, which were tightly connected to lower prices, as considered in the introduction.\nLimitations and future directions: One limitation of the present study is that subjects made buying decisions without having felt the effect of the cost. This was due to ethical considerations. All the subjects were paid equally, independently of the quantity of buying decisions and irrespective of the product-price considerations.\nConclusions: This study may be included in discovery research or pure research science categories, aiming to contribute to the construction of a brain-based model of brand perception. The findings reported here suggest that the actual assumptions and theories cannot fully explain the observations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore brain-based differences in national and own-label brands perceptions. Because price is a differentiating characteristic, able to discriminate between national and own-label brands, its influence is also studied.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses the Save Holdings Or Purchase (SHOP) task with functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the differences in brain functioning for national versus own-label branded products.\nFindings: For the same product, the higher priced national brands and the lower priced own-label brands lead to more buying decisions. It is also found that there are brain structures that are more active/deactive for national than for own-label brands, both marked with real market prices. Price is a powerful driver of buying decisions and has its neural correlates. Parietal regions activate when brand information is subtracted from brand-plus-price information. The most surprising finding is that visual and visual associative areas are involved in the contrasts between branded products marked with switched prices and marked with real market prices.\nOriginality/value: The activation/deactivation brain patterns suggest that accepted models of brain functioning are not suitable for explaining brand decisions. Also, to our knowledge, this is the first time that a study directly addresses the brain's functioning when subjects are stimulated with national versus own-label brands. It paves the way for a new approach to understanding how such brand categories are perceived, revealing the neural origins of the associated psychological processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Who wins in a complex buyer-supplier relationship? A social exchange theory based dyadic study	[ "Case study", "Buyer-supplier relationships", "Social exchange theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and research motivation: It is widely agreed among researchers that successful buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs) are critical to firm's performance because firms increasingly utilize other organizations' capabilities and resources. Some BSRs involve close collaboration in both product and process development, and a lot of people from different functions (R\n2. SET: 2.1. Scope, basic assumptions and concepts\n3. Methods: We collected and analyzed, in the context of a multiple, case study-based, theory-building approach qualitative data from 43 in-depth interviews with representatives from two buyer and six supplier firms that formed six dyads. The unit of analysis being a dyadic BSR, our data provided six cases, which we analyzed to answer the following research question: What explains exchange asymmetry in BSRs?\n4. Within-case descriptions: Table I provides basic information for the six dyads. We describe first the three supplier relationships of MobInfra, a global provider of infrastructural equipment for mobile telecommunications networks. Based on market share, this firm is one of the top five telecommunications technology providers in the world. All three suppliers selected for our study also rank in the top five of their respective industries worldwide. We then describe the three supplier relationships of PharCo, a European R\n5. Results: Moving to the relationship-building phase of case study methodology (Stuart et al., 2002), we conducted cross-case analyses of the six dyads from a SET perspective. We clarify and discuss the SET constructs presented in Table III, and present a set of propositions based on the patterns identified across the dyadic relationships. This analysis was intended to reveal how the benefits of the exchange were distributed between buyer and supplier, that is, the exchange asymmetry (Molm, 1997), and what explained the exchange asymmetry. To determine how benefits were distributed in the relationship, we calculated the weighted average (using respondents' perceived importance of each item as weight coefficient) of the answers to the structured questions concerning buyers' and suppliers' perceived value of the relationship (see Appendices 1 and 2). In three dyads, the buyer seemed to realize more benefits than the supplier. In two dyads, the relationship appeared to be balanced. Only in one dyad did the supplier appear to benefit more than the buyer (Table III). Potential explanations for these observations are offered in the following section.\n6. Discussion and conclusions: This study examines what determines how the value created in complex BSRs is divided among its parties, and what explains the imbalance in the benefits gained in the relationship, which SET calls exchange asymmetry. We analyzed six dyads using the main SET constructs - exchange structures, average power, power balance, exchange frequency, perceived value, primacy, trust, and attractiveness - and presented three new propositions that address the relations of these key variables in BSRs. We found that self-awareness about the determinants of attractiveness, use of power-balancing mechanisms, and primacy can explain exchange asymmetry in the BSR. In the following we will discuss our findings and their contribution to the literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In complex buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs), contracts are always incomplete and many of the exchanges non-contractual. Because they occur over a long period of time and include unspecified obligations, non-contractual exchanges might be asymmetrical. The purpose of this paper is to examine BSRs with the aim of identifying the mechanisms that lead to asymmetry in exchanges.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author conducts an analysis, based on social exchange theory (SET), of six buyer-supplier dyads using the main SET constructs. From this multiple-case analysis the author develops a set of propositions explaining the exchange asymmetry in complex buyer-supplier relations.\nFindings: The results indicate that self-awareness of the determinants of attractiveness, use of power-balancing mechanisms, and primacy can explain the exchange asymmetry in BSRs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The analysis is limited on the explanations for exchange asymmetry that are based on SET.\nPractical implications: The study highlights the importance of firms using the power-balancing mechanism in order to gain value from supply chain partners. The results show that firms can use attractiveness strategically to influence supply chain partners, but the author also observe that firms generally are not well aware of the determinants of their attractiveness in BSRs, which ignorance may pose a major obstacle to using attractiveness strategically.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides the first systematic and comprehensive insight to social exchange mechanism in complex BSR. In this paper the author makes a major effort to clarify the basic assumptions and scope of the useful concepts and theoretical constructs of SET, and through a multiple-case study the author form a piece of substantive theory of SET in BSRs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Time variation paths of risk sensitivities of bank stocks in the past two decades	[ "Flexible least squares", "Risk sensitivity", "Time variation paths" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The most significant event in the past two decades was the 2008 financial crisis that triggered the largest economic recession since the Great Depression. The financial crisis was the result of multiyear reckless mortgage lending by many banks (Krinsman, 2007; Mian and Sufi, 2009; Zimmerman, 2007) and abuse of financial derivatives committed by many financial institutions (Hull and White, 2010; Keys and Mukherjee, 2010). After the crisis, economic conditions and regulatory environment for banking business changed dramatically: housing prices collapsed, lending criteria tightened, unconventional monetary policy adopted and a rigorous new regulation, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed. Those changes can definitely affect banking activities and risk sensitivities of bank stocks in a very significant manner. Properly understanding market discipline, especially equity returns of bank stocks, can be beneficial to not only investors but also regulators to enhance the prudential regulations of banks. Examining time-varying curves of various risk sensitivities of bank stock returns in the past decades can provide some insights into this important issue.\nData and methodology: There are some statistical methods, such as various GARCH models, that can identify the time-varying nature of coefficients; nevertheless, only the FLS method can generate a series of coefficient estimates over time. It is one of the most effective methods to examine time variation paths of risk sensitivities of bank stock returns. The FLS method used in this study is developed by Kalaba and Testfatsion (1988, 1989, 1990). This study uses R, a free statistical computing and graphics software, to program the FLS approach and then apply it to the three-factor model. Essentially, the FLS approach releases the restriction of time constant imposed by the ordinary least squares (OLS) during the estimation process, and therefore, can recursively measure paths of the time-varying coefficients, that is, the sequential coefficient estimates which minimize not only the sum of the squared regression residuals but also the sum of the squared coefficient variations or squared dynamic errors. The time-varying paths of risk sensitivities of bank stock returns depicted by the FLS approach allow us to visibly examine how bank stock returns change the sensitivities to the three risk factors over time.\nConclusion: To examine changes in risk sensitivities of bank stock returns in the past two decades in which the USA experienced a very serious financial crisis, this study programs the FLS approach (Kalaba and Testfatsion, 1988, 1989, 1990) with R to estimate the three-factor model developed by He and Reichert (2003) to trace time variation paths in risk sensitivities over the period of 1990-2014.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to trace time variation paths in risk sensitivities of bank stock returns over the period of 1990-2014, which covers one of most serious financial crises in the history of the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study programs the flexible least squares (FLS) approach (Kalaba and Testfatsion, 1988, 1989 and 1990) with R, a free statistical computing and graphics software, to estimate the three-factor model developed by He and Reichert (2003) to examine changes in risk sensitivities of bank stocks to the stock market, bond market and real estate market.\nFindings: Both FLS and ordinary least squares (OLS) results indicate that the bond market (interest rate) sensitivity of bank stock returns experiences dramatic changes. It is significantly positive before the 2006 subprime mortgage crisis (11/1990 to 5/2006), reduces to insignificant in a short period of 11/2006 to 10/2008 and turns into significantly negative during the period of 11/2008-11/2014. Further, results of this study indicate that bank stocks negatively respond to changes in housing prices in the period of 11/1990-1/1994 and after that the sensitivity turns into significantly positive. The significant shifts in risk sensitivities of banks stock returns coincide with alterations in long-term interest rates and monetary policy, especially the enormously stimulative monetary policy after the financial crisis in 2008.\nOriginality/value: This study programs the FLS approach with R and uses the FLS approach to demonstrate the time variation paths of risk sensitivities of bank stocks over a period that covers the 2008 financial crisis. The OLS results verify the significant shifts in risk sensitivities suggested by the FLS estimates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Literature on organizational innovation: past and future	[ "Literature review", "Learning", "Capabilities", "Leadership", "Organizational innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance of innovation to competitiveness is acknowledged. On the other hand, understanding the meaning of innovation is a little more controversial, mainly in the academic sphere (Birkinshaw et al., 2008), in which research is largely focused on technological innovation to the detriment of other types of innovation. This is because innovation is not one simple isolated act of companies; on the contrary, it is completely dependent on several mixed new or changed actions so that the company really increases competitiveness.\n2. Conceptual background: The environment in which companies are embedded is increasingly dynamic (Hollen et al., 2013) and demands that firms pass through organizational changes, mainly using innovation (Knight, 1967). As it became important for companies, innovation also became relevant as a field of research; thus, it has developed strongly in the past few decades (Damanpour and Aravind, 2012).\n3. Method: Bibliometric analysis relies on the counting of publications for the development of science; for this, technical parameters of performance are used as a proxy for the measurement of scientific production (Narin et al., 1994). A step forward is knowledge domain visualization (KDViz), which, according to Chen (2004), allows one to detect and monitor the evolution of a certain scientific field through the creation of maps that ultimately reflect the social construction of a field via its members (Nerur et al., 2008). This type of approach has been used to map research on the strategic management field (Ramos-Rodriguez and Ruiz-Navarro, 2004), the dynamic capabilities view (Vogel and Guttel, 2012) and the ambidexterity concept (Nosella et al., 2012).\n4. Results: 4.1 Co-citation analysis: the theoretical foundations\n5. Conclusion: Our findings provide, by means of bibliometric analyses, a broader view of both a historical theoretical frame (through the analysis of co-citations) and the current stage of research (through coupling analysis) on organizational innovation. The cluster analysis revealed the streams of research within both sides. In addition, we presented a research agenda based on the current research perspectives identified where we can look forward. Moreover, it is worth highlighting some points from the results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine what are both the main theoretical basis and the recent perspectives within the organizational innovation literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have conducted a bibliometric analysis reviewing the research on organizational innovation from 460 articles published in the period from 2007 to 2016 and indexed in the Web of Science through co-citation and bibliographical coupling analyses.\nFindings: The clusters analysis results show that the main theoretical foundations are learning and evolution; implementation of innovation; and leadership, creativity and learning. Regarding recent perspectives, the clusters indicate studies on core concepts, knowledge and capability, learning for resource development and human resources for innovation.\nOriginality/value: This study organizes the knowledge basis for future research on organizational innovation, and, unlike most literature reviews, this study provides the current trends on the topic and presents a comprehensive research agenda.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Conceptualising tourist experiences with new attractions: the case of escape rooms	[ "Leximancer", "Netnography", "Escape rooms", "New attractions", "Playful consumption", "Tourist experiences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The development and delivery of experiences is the essence of tourism and a theme of growing importance (Morgan et al., 2010; Ritchie and Hudson, 2009; Tung and Ritchie, 2011). The evolving tourist is a hedonistic experience-seeker who is a discerning individualistic participant, seeking authentic experiences and value for money. As such, they demand the development of new products, attractions and events which can fulfil such expectations and offer a variety of new experiences and experimentation with new offerings (Dwyer, 2008). The imperative to develop new experiences in tourism is, thus, a high priority. The literature on tourist experiences has recently evolved in diverse reviews and complex frameworks which comprehensively conceptualise this construct within and beyond tourism (Caru and Cova, 2015; Jaakkola et al., 2015; Prebensen et al., 2014; Walls et al., 2011; Ryan, 2010; Ritchie and Hudson, 2009; Caru and Cova, 2003). These developments are impressive, yet there are still substantial research gaps within the field which require the further attention of researchers. The majority of studies, namely, refer to established (traditional, cultural) attractions, whereas new and non-traditional attractions are neglected. Lack of experience studies is also evident in regard to the future developments of attractions (Postma, 2014) and specific types of tourism like special interest tourism (Trauer, 2006) and urban tourism (Ashworth and Page, 2011). To redress these gaps, the paper theoretically and empirically explores visitors' experiences with several top-rated escape rooms in the USA and Europe. For this purpose, tourists are understood mainly as special (i.e. playful) interest/attraction visitors. In regard to the relevant notion of tourism of particular relevance is the definition of casual leisure, which refers to \"immediate and intrinsically rewarding, relatively short-lived pleasurable activity, requiring little or no special training to enjoy it\" (Bartram, 2001, p. 5, cited in Trauer, 2006). The recent phenomenon of \"real-life\" escape rooms is, namely, a typical example of a novel attraction, which perfectly fits this definition. Escape rooms in addition are \"shared\" among tourists and residents, what is yet another characteristic of urban tourism (Ashworth and Page, 2011).\nTheoretical background: novelty in tourist experiences: The first theoretical issue addressed is the question of how the definition and essence of the experience concept relate to the notion of novelty. Despite the manifold definitions of tourist experiences, some authors assert that this concept is still poorly defined and that it is unclear what exactly constitutes them (Caru and Cova, 2003; Poulsson and Kale, 2004). Palmer (2010) notes the paradoxical use of the term customer experience in the literature, where on the one hand, an experience describes a process of direct participation, apprehension and learning, while on the other hand, an experience refers to novelty, uniqueness and exceptionality. Based on an overview of multiple definitions in the tourism literature, Cutler and Carmichael (2010) and Walls et al. (2011) suggest that tourist experiences are impressions which are significant for the individual, subjective, peak, affective and long-lasting. Poulsson and Kale (2004, p. 270) more explicitly define (commercial) an experience as \"an engaging act of co-creation between a provider and a consumer wherein the consumer perceives value in the encounter and in the subsequent memory of that encounter\". Rather than the essence, Otto and Ritchie (1996) specify the domain of the experience construct with the following dimensions: hedonic, interactive, comfort, safety, simulation and novelty. Some conceptualisations, thus, suggest that novelty is the constitutive component of the customer/tourist experience, implying that researchers need to be attentive to whether tourists designate the visit to a particular attraction as a new experience.\nEscape games and playful consumption experiences: Understanding the essential and specific aspects of experiences with a game-based attraction like escape rooms requires an adequate conceptualisation. Escape rooms are essentially a game and a form of play. Games and play are, by definition, an activity pursued for its own sake, which requires active engagement (mental and/or physical) and where expected rewards are self-oriented (Grayson, 1999). While play might encompass various activities which do not conform to any rule or are even \"rule-breaking\", games typically provide enjoyment by successful following of the rules. The rules, structural elements and game outcomes further define types of game. Typical categories of games are competitive games (e.g. sport), games of chance (e.g. dice, bingo), group activities (e.g. dance) and vertigo activities that \"alter consciousness\" (e.g. skydiving) (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Escape rooms combine chance and group elements, yet are based on various puzzles which are situated within the plot of the game - with added time pressure. As they are transferred from the video realm of interest, there are also concepts from this domain which address players' motivations, game characteristics and outcomes. Prensky (2001) lists the following properties of video games which makes them the \"most engaging pastime of our times\"; they are a form of play and fun - which provides enjoyment; they have rules and goals - for motivation; they are interactive and adaptive - which enables flow; they have challenges, outcomes and feedback - for adrenaline and ego gratification; and they incorporate problem-solving and story-telling - for creativity and emotions. Holt (1995) also emphasises the importance of a social component of playful consumption, which is essentially interpersonal in nature. Grayson (1999) also stresses the importance of social roles that are expected (or forbidden) during playful activity. Empirical studies of interest investigated how playful experiences depend on various game- and participant-related factors (Holbrook et al., 1984; Yang et al., 2012). In a similar manner, we can expect that the key structural elements, activities and social aspects of escape rooms affect visitors' experiences. Possible influences, relevant dimensions and outcomes of experiences are summarised in a conceptual model (Figure 1), which serves as the theoretical frame of the study.\nResearch goals and methodology: To provide an in-depth insight into how visitors experience and evaluate escape rooms as a tourist attraction, an exploratory study was conducted. More detailed research goals were defined by the following questions:\nResults and findings: The initial (manual) overview of extracted reviews indicated that visitors are delighted with the escape rooms, as shown by typical descriptions like \"great/amazing/awesome [...] experience\" and \"brilliant/good/pure [...] fun\". Further (automated) analysis assured a holistic, objective and more in-depth insight into the visitor experiences. Leximancer provides several key indicators for this purpose, namely, the count/relevance concept (Table I), themes (concept co-occurrences - Figure 2) and verbatim citations, which were all used to interpret the relevance and meaning of the identified concepts. A concept map (Figure 2) provides a summary picture of the concepts and their co-occurrences (themes). Themes are \"heat\" coloured, whereby more relevant (frequently occurring) themes are coloured with warmer colours and less relevant themes with colder ones.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically explore tourist experiences with the niche-like, yet global phenomenon of escape room attractions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory empirical study of visitors' experiences with selected top-rated escape rooms in the USA and Europe was carried out by means of netnographic research and automated content analysis.\nFindings: The results show that this attraction provides new, peak, unique and fun experiences through the challenging activities and social component of the game play. The findings provide an insight into both the authenticity of experiences with novel attractions and the group aspects of fun and flow concepts.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings are restricted to online reviews on the TripAdvisor website and are possibly biased because of the use of a non-random sample.\nPractical implications: Theoretical implications are discussed and explicated as future research questions. They are relevant for the conceptual development, research and management of playful experiences within urban and special interest tourism. Societal implications are also addressed.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a preliminary in-depth examination of the escape room phenomenon from the customer experience standpoint. It is of relevance for the conceptualisation and improvement of tourist experiences with new and fun attractions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using the ARDL-ECM approach to investigate the nexus between support price and wheat production: An empirical evidence from Pakistan	[ "Pakistan", "ARDL", "Support price", "Wheat production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Agriculture sector has a dominant role in the economy of Pakistan and it directly supports the population of the country. It has about 26 percent contribution to the economic GDP. The arable land of Pakistan is about 22.45m hectares, out of which 6.34m hectares land is irrigated with canal water, about 12.52m hectares land is cultivated through tube wells and other water sources, and remaining 3.59m hectares is not associated with the water (GOP, 2013). Wheat is considered to be the main staple food in many countries including Pakistan as it is the important cereal crop and the sustainable production of wheat is the major concern of many countries (Rehman et al., 2017a, b; Rehman, Jingdong, Kabir and Hussain, 2017). The Government of Pakistan is still paying attention to improve different varieties of wheat by providing the agricultural credit support to boost the production (Chandio and Jiang, 2018; Rehman et al., 2017a, b; Rehman, Jingdong, Kabir and Hussain, 2017). Previous research on wheat crop in Pakistan has shown that the farmers are deliberate to introduce new varieties to promote cultivation (Iqbal et al., 2002; Chandio and Jiang, 2018). During 1997, about 1m hectares area was used for the production of wheat crop in the country, which is near about 51 percent of the entire wheat producing region (Smale et al., 2002). Although the production of wheat has doubled in the past three years, the country has imported a huge quantity of wheat to meet its rapidly growing population needs. During 2007-2008, the country imported 8.5-15.9 percent wheat (Ahmad and Farooq, 2010). Wheat is the key food crop in Pakistan because it is widely used as a source of food in everyday life and also a low-cost source of animal feed (Chandio et al., 2018). In the past several decades, the usage of pesticides and fertilizers has increased potentially, playing a chief role in many countries to boost the production of wheat. However, if the cultivated farmland meets the recent climatic potential, it can also boost the wheat production up to 70 percent, mainly through improved irrigation and fertilizer (Mueller et al., 2012). Due to huge variations in the geographical conditions and under comparable climatic conditions, there are vast yield gaps in many countries, indicating inconsistent increase in wheat yield (Licker et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2007, 2013). In different arid regions, the rain water harvesting has been practiced successfully to collect to runoff water and transport it to planting areas (Qiang et al., 2006). The adoption of suitable water harvesting techniques is required to boost production, and micro-basins can increase the efficiency of water (Zakaria et al., 2012). When it is covered with the pliable, the wheat grain production increases by 87 percent (Yazdi et al., 2011). Wheat is the major food source in Pakistan which is used daily. In Pakistan, a number of researchers such as Hussain et al. (2012), Buriro et al. (2013), Ahmad et al. (2015), Chandio et al. (2018) and Chandio and Jiang (2018) have examined the impact of credit on wheat productivity, technical efficiency of wheat and determinants of the adoption of improved wheat varieties. Thus, this empirical study differs from earlier studies by attempting to examine the effect of support price and non-price factors on wheat production in Pakistan over the period 1971-2016 by using the ARDL approach and to suggest policy guidelines for high wheat production in Pakistan.\n2. Existing review of literature: The security of food is the major issue in today's world. United nation and other international organizations are very pessimistic about the current food situation in the world. The food situation is also serious in Pakistan. Wheat and other food prices rise steeply. In addition, the price rises in the energy, transportation costs, housing, health and education costs also have eroded this situation and made the lives of poorest segments of society unaffordable (Mahmood, 2008; Niaz, 2008). In the production of wheat crop, the water management strategy for the past five years has got the attention to increase the production rationalization of irrigation water. In the study of simulation, the water productivity and wheat crop have improved (Timsina et al., 2008). The authorization of wheat support prices from the agencies is considered as legal in Pakistan. The major purpose of announcing support prices or property prices is to limit the price of bulk commodities so that they should not exceed the distributed support price levels. If the price exceeds this level, the government is prepared to buy goods that support the price. If the price is much higher than the target price, the growers sell their output on the open market (Farooq et al., 2001; Schiff and Valdes, 1992; Thiele, 2003). Wheat is considered to be famous food crop in Pakistan. However, the invasion of weed is a major bottleneck in increasing wheat yield and accounts for more than 48 percent of potential wheat yield losses (Khan and Haq, 2002). Wheat yields may also vary among farmer farms with similar topographical characteristics and access to various input resources. The main differences in the management practices employed by these farms are considered to be the major source of variation in the productivity. Furthermore, it is necessary to identify the technical level of wheat farmers and to identify important factors for wheat production, as most of the farmers are poorly resourcedeither they do not have the right knowledge regarding production or cannot follow the production practices (Ahmad et al., 2002; Hussain et al., 2011). The yield losses are severe when the resources are limited and crops production occurs simultaneously (Shehzad et al., 2013; Hussain et al., 2015). The yield of crops decreases when weed competition increases, which results in strong struggle and competitive pressure on crops (Fahad et al., 2014). The wheat crop which is considered the traditional crop is planted in the flat basin submerged in the irrigation water. However, such type of irrigation causes huge water losses. The losses caused by vanishing and deep seepage exacerbate severe water shortages, which contribute to further groundwater over-exploitation. In addition, different methods and techniques are necessary to boost the production of crops by employing agricultural technology (Rehman et al., 2015, 2017a, b; Rehman, Jingdong, Kabir and Hussain, 2017). The rain water also plays a vital role in the production of food crops and about 80 percent of the world agricultural land is associated with it. The agricultural risk of rainwater feeding is higher on the land receiving rain. Rainfall in semi-arid areas is insufficient for cash crop growth. Therefore, when rainfall does not meet the crop's appropriate soil moisture conditions, supplemental irrigation is used (Oweis, 1999; Oweis and Hachum, 2009). The research by Chandio et al. (2018) on short-term loan and long-term loan revealed that short-term loans have high positive effects on wheat production in Pakistan. Similarly, Chandio and Jiang (2018) suggested that, among other considerations, formal education and farming experience of the heads of households, access to credit, extension contact, landholding size and tube-well ownership are the main determinants of the adoption of improved wheat varieties by wheat farmers in Sindh, Pakistan.\n3. Data and methodology: 3.1 Data description\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis\n5. Conclusions: This study examined the long-run and short-run effect of support price on wheat production in Pakistan over the period 1971-2016 by using the ARDL approach proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001). The order of integration of the study variables is tested by employing ADF and PP unit root tests. The outcomes reveal that the calculated F-tests in the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration were greater than UCB at 1 and 5 percent of significance levels, as adopted from Pesaran et al. (2001). Consequently, this empirical study concludes that all explanatory variables stimulate wheat production in the long run. This study also observed that the elasticities of area under cultivation, support price and fertilizer consumption toward wheat production were positively and statistically significant influenced in both the long-run and the short-run periods. Furthermore, through timely announcement of support price, being minimum guaranteed price sustained for wheat before the beginning of planting season, one can ensure that the production of wheat can be obtained in order to meet the increasing demand of the consumers at different levels like local, national and international.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of support price on wheat production in Pakistan during the period 1971-2016.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To capture the effect of support price on wheat production, the authors estimated the long-run linkage by using the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration.\nFindings: This study confirmed the presence of a positive and long-term effect of area under cultivation, support price and fertilizer consumption on wheat production through ARDL bounds test. The results showed that both in the long run and short run, support price plays an important role in the enhancement of wheat production. The authors also found that the coefficients of the area under cultivation and fertilizer consumption variables were statistically significant and positive both in the long run and short run.\nOriginality/value: The use of the ARDL approach that examines the long-run and short-run effects of support price on wheat production in Pakistan makes the current study unique. An emerging economic literature suggests that only limited research has been conducted in this area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Principals' leadership styles: the role of emotional intelligence and achievement motivation	[ "Emotional intelligence", "Leadership styles", "Achievement motivation", "School principal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leadership styles such as task- and relationship-orientation affect a follower's attitude, motivation and behaviors (Bass, 1990). To illustrate, an abundance of studies have also found that transformational leadership style and charisma positively influence performance (Bass, 1990; Shea and Howell, 1999), organizational citizenship behavior (Humphrey, 2012) and organizational commitment (Dai et al., 2013), and bring positive effects (Deichmann and Stam, 2015; Jacquart and Antonakis, 2015; Nohe et al., 2013; Wells et al., 2014; Yucel et al., 2014). Regardless of the number of investigations in the area of leadership style, the transformational and transactional style emerged from the task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership approach (Bass, 1990). The effect of some leadership styles on employees' behavior and attitude has been well documented (Bass, 1990; Shea and Howell, 1999; Jacquart and Antonakis, 2015). However, there is a paucity in understanding the antecedents of one's leadership style.\nLiterature review: Task-oriented vs relationship-oriented leadership\nMethod: Participants\nResults and discussion: Results\nConclusions: This study found that EI significantly predicted school principals' task- and relationship-orientation leadership. In contrast, AM did not add any incremental values to both leadership styles. This finding suggested that EI was a significant predictor and added incremental value to the principals' leadership styles at schools. In contrast, no significant effects of AM on both leadership styles were found.\nLimitations and future research directions: In this study, the scales were designed to specifically capture the school principal's leadership styles (i.e. the task- and relationship-orientation style). Albeit all the measures reached the acceptable psychometric standard, further investigation is encouraged to improve the psychometric property of the scales. Therefore, future studies should advance the validity and reliability of the scales.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) and achievement motivation (AM) on elementary school principals' leadership styles. This study investigates the contribution of EI and AM on the two major leadership categories: the task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a quantitative study with the implementation of correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. The surveys (i.e. EI scale, AM scale, leadership style questionnaire) were sent randomly to 280 elementary school principals in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and 90 of them completed the survey (mostly male=77.78 percent).\nFindings: Principals' EI significantly predicted both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership. In contrast, the principals' AM yielded non-significant results in predicting both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership style. The results also suggested that the effect of EI on two major leadership styles (i.e. task- and relationship-orientation) outperformed the leader's AM.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study did not consider the principals' performance in the analysis. Future studies should also address this issue by considering leadership performance as well as different culture and context. On the other hand, the authors developed new measures rather than using preexisting measures. Although the measures have been constructed according to the scale construction principles and reached an acceptable standard, future research should advance the psychometric property of the scales.\nOriginality/value: This study discusses the effect of EI and AM on task- and relationship-orientation leadership. In addition, this study has also brought a new insight into understanding leadership styles in collective culture such as Indonesia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating students' perceptions on laptop initiative in higher education: An extension of the technology acceptance model	[ "Laptops", "Portable computers", "Higher education", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: At an increasing number of universities, laptop computers have become a requirement for incoming students in preparation for their career success. Employers value extensive experience with information technology and are expecting their higher education graduates to be computer literate (Rola and Building, 2002; Tomek and Muldner, 1999). Previous researchers have shown that laptop computers in the classroom can lead to positive educational outcomes (Finn and Inman, 2004; Fouts and Stuen, 1997; Gottfried and McFeely, 1998; Varvel and Thurston, 2002).Students' use of laptop computers is becoming more prevalent in today's universities. This more ubiquitous use of technology has caused several universities to uncover and manage new perceptual issues in addition to some of the more familiar issues from the era of computers found only in university labs.Higher education laptop initiatives are still in the early stages of development. Several universities are still reluctant to implement such initiatives (Finn and Inman, 2004). To successfully implement the laptop initiative, it is essential that university students, as a whole, willingly support such a program. Defining the acceptance factors necessary to successfully implement a laptop initiative becomes a critical need towards the success of such a program.\n2. Background overview: The need for information technology access on a daily basis continues to grow. Some of the more apparent needs include portability, digital unity, and support. The light-weight, portable laptop enables users to work anywhere and anytime, thus having increased in popularity among personal computer users. Digital unity may be seen as a requirement in order to successfully implement a laptop program (Finn and Inman, 2004). A prior study suggested that it was important for students to have the same technology base, such as hardware and software upon which to build their computer skills. Support services for students and faculty should facilitate teaching, learning, and education-related administrative tasks (Lehner et al., 2003).A decision to require students to own a laptop is not unusual among higher education institutions. Universities are initiating programs in which students purchase laptop computers while universities offer computing and networking facilities. Such programs can include web-based resources, access to library catalogs, field-based portable computing and graduate degree programs. Within a short amount of time, higher education has reached a ubiquitous electronic presence.Positive effects of supporting such ubiquitous electronic environments are numerous. Wake Forest University has had a laptop program in place since 1997. It reports that providing 100 percent computer access has led to better communication and collaboration, which in turn has enhanced teaching and learning (Olsen, 2001). Faculty and students at Acadia University are using laptops and the Internet in the classroom to support active learning and interdisciplinary projects in the social sciences (Watters et al., 1998).The laptop initiative has given students a better education and made them more competent in using technology. Students' perceptual base regarding a laptop initiative are related to several key issues:* academic and social use of laptops;* e-mail and instant-messaging;* faculty utilization;* web uses;* comparisons with desktops;* cost;* library use;* problems;* family utilization;* service and help;* convenience;* network access;* worry; and* hardware and software (Demb et al., 2004).Prior studies reported that in order for technology in education to effect the most positive change, educators themselves must be open to such changes. The more an educator remains receptive to, is primed for, and is capable of adapting to change, the greater the impact of the technology (Rieber and Welliver, 1989). Another research studied 94 classrooms from four states in different geographic regions of the country (Baylor and Ritchie, 2002). Their findings included several predictions for the success of laptop programs that stemmed from educators' openness to change. Such predictions included:* educator's technological competency;* integration of technology in their curriculum;* technology impact on content acquisition; and* technology impact on higher-order-thinking skills.Another leading factor related to successful technology integration was the constructivist use of technology (Baylor and Ritchie, 2002). Educator morale and technology impact on higher-order thinking skills were predicted by the constructivist use of technology. Since students' perceptions of the usefulness of technology are influenced by the instructional methods employed by their professors, it is important that faculty implement technology integrated strategies in their classes. Two trends exist in regards to educators identifying incentives for integrating computers in their teaching:1. student accomplishment, rather than educator external rewards; and2. students being able to use computers as a tool for their own purposes.Barriers towards integrating technological advances within educators' teaching exist (Baylor and Ritchie, 2002). The most noted barriers were:* too few computers and peripheral equipment;* not enough time to prepare computer-based lessons; and* challenges with scheduling enough computer time for different teachers' classes.The barriers of limited hardware and scheduling enough computer time for different teachers' classes would be eliminated with a laptop initiative.This study centers on the needs and perceptions of the students regarding a laptop initiative. It is important for a university to understand what perceived factors can influence students' collective decisions to support or reject a laptop program before implementing such a program. Such an understanding leads to a more successful program to students and administrators within universities.\n3. Theoretical framework: A review of prior studies suggested that the technology acceptance model (TAM) was widely used to study the users' acceptance of the new technology. The TAM has received great respect in the information technology and information systems literature (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989). The model was proposed in 1986 to address the question why users accept or reject information technology. The key purpose of TAM is to trace the impact of external variables on internal beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. The TAM suggests that two factors - perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness - are the two main factors in explaining system use.Perceived usefulness is defined as the prospective users' subjective probability that using a specific application system will increase his or her job performance within an organizational context (Davis et al., 1989). This factor has a significant effect on usage intention (Agarwal and Prasad, 1999; Davis et al., 1989; Venkatesh, 2000; Venkatesh and Davis, 2000).Perceived ease of use is defined as the degree to which the prospective user expects the target system to be free of effort (Davis et al., 1989). This factor plays a crucial role in understanding individual response to information technology (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Chau, 2001; Hong et al., 2001). Research over the past decade provides evidence of the significant effect perceived ease of use has on usage intention (Agarwal and Prasad, 1999; Venkatesh, 2000; Venkatesh and Davis, 2000).The TAM has several strengths, including its specific focus on information system use, its theory base of social psychology, as well as the validity and reliability of its instruments. Overall, the TAM has received wide spread support based on a meta-analysis of 22 articles. The model is successful in predicting about 40 per cent of a system's use (Legris et al., 2004).In order to investigate students' perceptions on the laptop initiative, this study utilizes the TAM as the theoretical framework. The initial research model is shown in Figure 1.\n4. Methodology: A direct survey was used to collect the data for this study. The survey questions were compiled from previous study questions pertaining to information technology innovation as well as suggestions from researchers and students (Demb et al., 2004; Luarn and Lin, 2004; Moore and Benbasat, 1991). These questions were designed to gather data on students' perceptions toward the laptop initiative, as well as their demographics. To validate the clarity of these questions, three professors and three students were asked to read through the survey questions. Revisions to the survey were made based on the feedback received (see Appendix).A total of 68 items were used as five-point Likert scaled questions with end points rating from \"strongly disagree\" to \"strongly agree\". Survey items Q1 to Q28 were used to collect demographic data. Survey items Q29 to Q67 measured students' perceptions on the laptop computer initiative. Survey item Q68 measured students' willingness to support a laptop initiative.4.1 Data collection\n5. Discussion: Extensive research has been carried out on the TAM to better understand the behavioral intention of individuals to accept and use technology. The TAM's primary factors are perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The results in this study revealed that the TAM may miss other important factors in measuring students' acceptance of a laptop initiative. In addition to the two factors presented in the TAM, perceived change was discovered as a new TAM factor.This finding points out that although students may believe that a laptop computer is useful and easy to use, they are also aware of the changes that will occur with the implementation of laptop initiative. Their perceptions of changes, such as \"I believe that if all students have laptops, professor will create active learning environments\", seem to encourage them to accept the laptop program.Based on the results of this study, the new factor, perceived change, suggests that universities educate students on the changes accompanying the implementation of a laptop program. The more knowledge the students have about positive changes a laptop program can lead to, the greater chance they will support such a program.\n6. Conclusion and implications for future research: The initiative for the use of laptop computers in higher education may be viewed as useful and even easy to use, due to the increasing use of technology in primary and secondary education. However, it should be noted that other considerations go into the decision process.This initial study is exploratory in nature and provides some interesting findings that warrant additional research. The results reveal the existence of two new factors, perceived requirements and perceived change, in addition to the two factors proposed by the TAM. However, only one of these two factors, perceived change, provides a significant impact on students' acceptance of a laptop initiative.The three factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived change) can play a major role in determining the acceptance of a laptop initiative. These results appear to be contributing factors to technology acceptance and warrant further investigation. Future research should include faculty, staff, and administrators before any generalizations can be made.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine students' perceptions and their acceptance towards implementing a laptop program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Extensive research has been carried out on the technology acceptance model (TAM) to better understand the behavioral intention of individuals to accept and use technology. Therefore, the TAM was adopted as the theoretical framework. Data analysis consisted of factor analysis according to the TAM model's two primary constructs, followed by T-tests to determine the impact of the discovered factors on participants' attitudes on a laptop initiative.\nFindings: - This study analyzes survey questions related to the two factors in the TAM model, as well as the discovery of a third factor, perceived change. By understanding what factors are of main concern to students, a laptop program can be made more useful to students and universities.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research was limited to one particular university. Suggestions for further research are to adapt and conduct the suggested survey tool in other university settings, according to the constructs of the TAM model as described in this paper.\nPractical implications: - The laptop initiative questionnaire contains questions that focus on all three TAM model factors. This provides a comprehensive base of questions for those needing to conduct similar lines of research within their universities.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides a tested survey based upon the widely accepted technology acceptance model with an added factor pertinent to the exploration of technology acceptance within the university environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Food safety compliance approaches: Case study of a primary authority partnership between E.H. Booths Ltd and Preston City Council	[ "Autonomy", "Compliance", "Food safety", "Risk", "Collaboration", "Co-regulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In April 2009, the UK Government's Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) that, since 1 April 2016, has now become part of a new government directorate Regulatory Delivery set up the primary authority scheme (PAS) with the objectives of ensuring consistent regulation, improving the professionalism of front-line regulators, and giving businesses a say in their regulation (BRDO, 2016).\n2. Methodology and methods: 2.1 Methodology\n3. Findings - results: 3.1 Interviews and questionnaires\n4. Summary of findings and conclusions: The case study demonstrates the importance of trust to gain the necessary levels of cooperation and collaboration between all parties engaging with each other to achieve the desired outcomes of compliance through co-regulation is clearly demonstrated as described by Hawkes and Buse (2011) (see Section 1.1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This case study follows the history of the personal and experiences, viewpoints, and attitudes of the key actors from both parties over the period of setting up and implementing a primary authority partnership. It is one of a series research papers and case studies that study approaches to improve compliance with public and private regulations through cooperative and collaborative approaches. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It is a grounded qualitative study of what a number of individuals said in the course of a number of interviews. The aim and objectives being to obtain, from the key actors, their personal viewpoints, attitudes to and experiences of the partnership. Unlike some grounded approaches the research was based on the priori themes of cooperation and collaboration using semi structured interviews. At one stage, because of difficulty of access to the key actors caused by major re-development of the company, questionnaires replaced interviews.\nFindings: The authors found that barriers to achieving a successful partnership included an initial reluctance, by all parties concerned, to cede some of their management autonomy to others and experiences of uncooperative behaviour between the public and private sectors in the past. They were largely overcome as the implementation of the project progressed resulting in improved food safety compliance management based on mutual trust. Other benefits for Preston City Council were immediate cost savings for Preston City Council in their use of human resources. For E.H. Booths, Ltd no initial cost saving was made, but there is potential longer term savings to be made through better risk based targeting of resources. These benefits only being made possible by the collaborative effort and support from all parties and individuals involved.\nOriginality/value: On its own this case study research is limited by its size and scope but the emerging topics and findings highlight the difficulties and barriers faced in setting up partnerships between public regulators and businesses. Therefore, the results can be of value to similar studies and other areas where cooperation, collaboration, partnership, and co-regulation are significant contributory factors to successful compliance strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Outsourcing of knowledge processes: a literature review	[ "Knowledge management", "Outsourcing", "Literature review", "Knowledge processes", "Knowledge-based firms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: Among the most extensive business trends in recent years is outsourcing (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 2002). Outsourcing has been defined as transferring a business activity or function from a company to an external contractor who takes control of the activity's inputs and then performs that function, selling it back to the company (Tadelis, 2007).\nMethodology of literature review: In the review process, the authors adopted the principles of a systematic review as recommended by Jesson et al. (2011), namely:\nPresentation and discussion of findings: Among the 24 papers that formed the basis for this analysis, the oldest publication is from 2003 and the most recent ones are from 2013 (three papers). One of the papers was published in 2007. Four papers were published in 2008, three in 2009, two in 2010, four in 2011 and five in 2012. No papers were published in 2004-2006.\nConclusions: In view of the increasing significance of outsourcing of knowledge processes, a better understanding of this topic is essential and can contribute to a better management of the upsides and downsides regarding this specific type of outsourcing. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper was to review research on KPO to establish the current body of knowledge regarding this topic. To do so a systematic literature review was conducted to identify suitable articles. The 24 papers, which formed the basis of the analysis, were classified into five themes: outsourcing of knowledge processes, outsourcing and collaborative agreements between knowledge-based firms, factors affecting successful knowledge outsourcing, KM and knowledge outsourcing and other outsourcing issues.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review research on outsourcing of knowledge processes to establish the current body of knowledge and, on this basis, to identify gaps in our understanding. This action will justify further research activities and clarify where no future research is currently needed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study consists of a systematic review of 24 refereed empirical articles on outsourcing of knowledge processes.\nFindings: Five themes were identified: outsourcing of knowledge processes, outsourcing and collaborative agreements between knowledge-based firms, factors affecting successful knowledge outsourcing, knowledge management and knowledge outsourcing and other outsourcing issues. There seems to be a lack of understanding concerning knowledge process outsourcing.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study may not have enabled a complete coverage of all empirical articles in the field of knowledge process outsourcing. Yet, it seems reasonable to assume that the review process covered a large share of studies available.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no systematic literature review on this topic has previously been published in academic journals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Community leadership and the Triple Helix model as determinants of the constitution of science parks: A Brazilian experience	[ "Innovation", "Triple Helix", "Brazilian Science Parks", "Community leadership", "Fourth Helix" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The metaphor of the Triple Helix innovation model that suggests an interaction between three specific environments: university, business and government has gained popularity in recent decades in the academia and governmental instances. It enriches the conceptual and empirical dimensions of innovation as a systemic phenomenon, seeking to fill the gaps in the innovation systems and to propose alternatives to innovation environments committed to regional development. It is widely used as a reference for designing policies and programs aimed at improving local conditions for supporting innovation (Etzkowitz and Zhou, 2006, 2018).\n2. The Triple Helix model: university, enterprise and government interactions for innovation: The interactions between the universities, the enterprises and the government, as exposed by Etzkowitz and Zhou (2006), are \"the key to improving the conditions for innovation in a knowledge-based society\" (p. 24). The model is part of an interaction that moves like a Triple Helix, linking the three actors into innovative process actions. The university segment is active on knowledge generation, where it offers support structures for new ventures and it assumes a leadership role in the Triple Helix model. The government segment includes the legal, fiscal and financial incentives for science, technology and innovation activities. The enterprise segment represents the locus of production and wealth generation (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Etzkowitz and Zhou, 2017).\n3. Method: In view to achieve a more realistic research perspective, with the objective to establish a new dimension of analysis to the Triple Helix model, the research process was designed to construct a theory, by using Stake's (1978) and Eisenhardt's (1989) cases study theories, which refers to: get started; select cases; create instruments; enter the field; analyze data; shape hypotheses; enfold the literature and; reach closure. The research strategy relies both on a non-linear process of research and theory-building, not intended to disregard a consolidated theory such as the Triple Helix model, but to present a substantive theory that helps to understand and explain a social phenomenon, from the reconstructions of the research subjects' experience (Strauss and Corbin, 1998).\n4. Characterization of the science parks: Science parks are built in different ways and are adapted to suit different realities. Characteristics of the local context and institutions involved become determinant in the creation of those environments (Etzkowitz and Zhou, 2018).\n5. Conclusion: The study about the constitution path of the science parks in the State of Rio Grande do Sul was able to identify the different roles played by the university, government and business actors, as initially proposed by the Triple Helix model (Etzkowitz and Zhou, 2017). However, an in-depth exploration of each dimensions of the model allows to understand its origins and questions the elements that motivated any actions. The outcome confirms the presence of a new dimension of analysis in the State of Rio Grande do Sul: community leadership.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze and understand the condition that lead to a constitution's path of Brazilian Science Parks, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, and consequently to propose a new dimension of analysis to the Triple Helix.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was used to elaborate a descriptive and exploratory research design, where a case study method was applied on six science parks.\nFindings: The use of the Triple Helix model could not explain the Brazilian Science Park development realities. A new element, related to the innovation model, was considered as a determinant in the constitution of the Brazilian parks, and is represented as the community leadership category, as the Fourth Helix.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since it is a qualitative study, the results obtained have a strong relation with the local, cultural and historically constructed contexts. Bias from the researchers' subjectivity in the data collection procedures is present, although the validity and reliability measures were performed.\nPractical implications: The construction of designed and implemented specific \"fertile models,\" which are capable of developing the necessary conditions for the constitution and the consolidation of science parks in Brazil.\nSocial implications: Such empirical contribution comes from data referring to spontaneous and endogenous local community development movements.\nOriginality/value: The identification of a new element of the Triple Helix innovation model is represented as the community leadership category and is considered as a key determinant in the constitution of the Brazilian Science Parks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The modes of music information in a compositional process: a case study	[ "Case studies", "Music", "Music information", "Information representations", "Musical semiotics", "Musical composition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For centuries the act of professional music composing has been held as pinnacle of creative music behaviour within the Western cultural sphere. Moreover, knowledge production \"in, through, and with art\" (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 44) has been under an intensive debate in the recently emerged discipline of artistic research. However, little is known regarding the information substance of the act of musical composition. In his work on musical semiotics, Tarasti (1994) examines the different systems of description relevant to musical communication. According to Tarasti (1994, p. 4), musical knowing transpires within diverse sign systems of which some are inherently non-conceptual, such as gestural language of music making and aural experiences of music. It is not self-evident how these modes of music information should be defined when examining the information substance of professional music composing. Studying the information substance of musical composition could help to understand the complex creativity behind this quintessential music behaviour. Prior to the present article, studies focussing on information substance of musical composition have been scarce (see, however, Zembylas and Niederauer, 2018).\nMusic information typology: In their works on musicology and musical semiotics, Bengtsson (1977) and Tarasti (1994) examine the different systems of description relevant to musical communication. According to Bengtsson (1977), the concept of tone may refer to a notated tone, a measurable frequency or an aural experience. Tarasti (1994, p. 4) adds also the gestural language (i.e. performing music with instruments), which is needed to transform a notated tone into both a measurable frequency and an aural experience. Musical knowing therefore transpires within varied sign systems, some of which are inherently non-conceptual (Tarasti, 1994). Yet, according to Tarasti (1994, p. 4), it is insufficient to state that musical knowledge is merely transmitted through the musical non-conceptual sign systems. As no sign system works in a vacuum, but in interaction with other systems, also verbal sign systems have had an important role in transmitting musical tradition (Tarasti, 1994, p. 4). The mere multitude of differentiated information representations relevant to music poses a challenge to approaching them in research focussing on information behaviour.\nRelated studies: So far, information science lacks studies examining musical composition processes from the viewpoint of information substance. Information behaviour of professional composers has also been rarely investigated, with few exceptions, such as Hunter's (2006) study of electroacoustic composers. As with latter studies and those regarding information seeking of music scholars (Brown, 2002) and performing musicians (e.g. Kostagiolas et al., 2015), the approaches so far have been based on second hand information sources, such as literature and audio recordings of music. Source-based approaches are often limited as they do not reveal how previously acquired knowledge and musical experiences affect creative musical processes. Moreover, the notions of information of previous studies are one-dimensional in that they omit the roles of the diverse modes of music information in these processes.\nFindings: The enactive modes: playing and listening to sounds\nDiscussion: Specificity and sufficiency of the music information typology in the context of musical composition\nConclusion: This study examined the modes of music information present in a professional composer's verbal description of a compositional process. The current frameworks of music-related information were revised to more accurately reflect information entities relevant to musical composition. New knowledge regarding the nature and dynamics of the music information modes within different stages of the compositional process were created. The core compositional knowledge proved to be processual, perceptual (audial, visual), and embodied. The study demonstrated the pivotal but partly inadequate role of the third enactive mode (shaping music) of music information. While being the crucial information mode and the driving force in generating the performative power in the musical structures, the facilitation of the aesthetic frame of information (first and second enactive modes, iconic mode, second symbolic mode) was required to create the germinal ideas and to design the formal structure of the piece. Moreover, in order to fix the compositional ideas and structures into a permanent record prolific notational work (symbolic-iconic mode) was needed. The ability to shape sounds into appropriate and meaningful musical structures charged with performative power that are fixed into a score indicative of a musical performance is the core know-how of a composer. It is learnt by doing, by practising the enaction of composing. Further studies are needed to both validate relevant information entities for various knowledge-intensive musical processes within different genres and to further understand the information behaviour of professional composers in general.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate an actual compositional process that entails a diversity of music information modes and describe the way these modes contribute to the creative aspirations of a composer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The music information typology proposed by Rousi, Savolainen and Vakkari is used as a point of departure for defining the different modes of music-related information. First, relevant music information modes are identified from the composer-informant's verbal description of a compositional process. Then, their proportions and dynamics are examined.\nFindings: The findings suggest that the music information typology may be applied within the context of musical composition, that is, all of its five modes of music information could be identified from the composer's verbal description of the compositional process. However, two additional significant information modes were identified: shaping music as the third mode of enactive representations and genuine iconic representations.\nResearch limitations/implications: The purpose of this case study is not to claim that the results regarding the significance of individual music information modes apply to all compositional processes within diverse genres of music.\nOriginality/value: This study introduces a new mode of music information indicative of the artistic capacity of expressiveness: shaping musical structures as the third mode of enactive representations was the means whereby the composer made musical structures work for himself and hence created performative power in his music.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between customer value and pricing strategies: an empirical test	[ "Pricing", "Value for the customer", "Conjoint analysis", "Durable consumer goods", "Washing machines", "Regression analysis", "Pricing", "Electrical goods", "Italy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recent studies (Hinterhuber, 2008) report of successful adoption of value based-pricing strategies in diverse businesses such as pharmaceutical, information technology, wireless internet service provision, airlines, automotive and biotech. However, although the benefits of value-based pricing have been widely acknowledged (Monroe, 2003), its application seems to be limited yet, due to practical obstacles, the main being the actual value assessment of products for the customer (Ingenbleek, 2007; Hinterhuber, 2008).This paper aims to contribute in filling a gap concerning empirical studies on value-based pricing in durable consumer goods. An analysis is carried out on the relationship between value for the customer and market prices in the washing machines market.The study is based on the application of the conjoint analysis methodology to assess the importance of different washing machine attributes. The results allow to assign a value for the customer to a sample of 129 washing machines sold on the Italian market. The value for the customer is then compared to the actual market prices: the empirical study shows a limited alignment between prices and value for the customer, revealing that overpricing and underpricing of products are common phenomena.The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 provides a background on the customer-value based approach to pricing and on the washing machines industry. The research methodology is described in section 3, as well as the research sample. Section 4 illustrates the results of the empirical study. The conclusions emerging from the study and future research directions are discussed in section 5.\n2. Customer value-based approach to pricing: 2.1 Customer value-based pricing\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Empirical research framework\n4. Empirical findings: 4.1 Step 1: value for the customer of product attributes\n5. Conclusion: Although the literature points out the benefits of value-based pricing policies (Cannon and Morgan, 1990; Monroe, 2003; Ingenbleek et al., 2003; Docters et al., 2004), their diffusion is still limited in business practice: as well, very few empirical studies in durable consumer goods are reported in the literature assessing value for the customer and pricing policies. We aim to contribute in filling this gap and add to the body of research on value based pricing in durable consumer goods with an empirical study in the washing machines market.To our knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to assess the alignment between the value for the customer and the actual market prices on a large sample of durable consumer products. Our methodology is based on an estimation of the value for the customer, through the conjoint analysis technique, of attributes other than price (brand, energy consumption, water consumption, spin dryer speed) and on a regression analysis to assess the relationship between actual prices and value for the customer.The empirical results show some alignment in one subsample (5 kg loading capacity), that is not confirmed in the other subsample (6 kg). This constitutes additional evidence supporting the claim that the customer-value based approach, despite the benefits acknowledged, is still not established as a prominent practice in durable goods markets (Hinterhuber, 2008; Carricano et al., 2010).Moreover, our study sheds some light on the sources of value for the customer in the product category studied, as pointed out in Table II. Besides price, customers give a high importance to the energy consumption, showing an increased awareness about both the environmental and financial lifecycle impact of durable goods: energy-efficient washing machines, indeed, will consume less environmental resources and generate lower usage costs during their lifecycle compared to less efficient ones. Although specific of one kind of product, our findings contribute to the discussion about the role of environmental attributes in customer choices and their relation with pricing policies. In line with other studies (Sammer and Wustenhagen, 2006; Mills and Scleich, 2010; Deutsch, 2010, Ward et al., 2011) our work shows that customers attach value to environmental factors when purchasing durables and this should be taken into consideration when adopting value-based pricing policies. Moreover, customers trade-off the environmental impact of product attributes with their economic impact over the lifecycle. On the latter aspect results from previous research are contradictory (do customers value attributes such as energy efficiency less or more than the monetary savings achievable during the product lifecycle?, see e.g. Ward et al., 2011; Deutsch, 2010). Interpreting the results of this study we can raise an observation about the relation of environmental attributes with the perceived product quality. Customers give a very different importance to energy and water consumption of washing machines: they seem to attach both environmental and financial savings (with no impact on product quality) to reduced energy consumption. On the other hand, they do not attach monetary savings to lower water consumption (due to the low cost of water) and trade-off the environmental savings with a perceived reduction in product quality: in fact, 46 percentof the customer sample attached a lower value to lower water consumption. This point leads to another issue: the role of information/communication in influencing the customers' perceived value (Ward et al., 2011) and thus perceived price fairness (Cockrill and Goode, 2010). Increasing customer awareness on e.g. the impact on product quality of lower water consumption, or the energy label or consumption knowledge and its cost saving effects (Mills and Scleich, 2010), may influence the value for the customer of such attributes.Finally, interpreting the findings from this study, we can suggest an additional obstacle to value-based pricing to the ones evidenced by the literature. The misalignment between prices and value for the customer could derive from a limited market sensing ability, but also from the very market structure. In an industry characterized by intermediation (retail chains sell to final customers washing machines made by manufacturers) and concentration at both the manufacturing and retail level, price pressures are induced and price promotions at the retail level are very common. These factors influence substantially the actual market prices, even in presence of a declared \"value pricing orientation\" by manufacturers.This study also has some managerial implications. First, as remarked in section 2.1, one of the main obstacles to the implementation of value-based pricing policies is given by value assessment. Conjoint analysis, a rigorous technique to assess value for the customer, has a relatively low diffusion, due to its complexity, the perceived difficulty in administering the survey and the limited market orientation of companies. This study provides an example and guidelines to practitioners on how to implement a customer value assessment and check the alignment of their companies' pricing policies to customers' value perceptions.Moreover, our findings give to practitioners in the studied industry a picture of the alignment of prices with customer value, providing them a deeper understanding of the consequences of misaligned pricing. In fact, setting prices without considering the customer value, could bring either to lost sales (effect of overpriced products) or to lost margins (underpriced products): understanding the value attached to the different product attributes allow \"value for money\" to be given to the customers, better exploiting the profit potential of the products and eventually increasing customer satisfaction and market shares.Besides its merits, this paper presents some important limitations, too. First of all, the results of the study refer to a specific product category and a specific national market, although their representativeness as a mature durable in a mature market suggests a broader value of the findings. Moreover, both the conjoint analysis and the regression analysis are based on limited samples, that prevent the discerning of a statistical basis if the different brands adopt different approaches to pricing, as suggested by our analyses. Finally, it is important to notice that our empirical research lacks explanatory power about the reasons of the misalignment between price and value for the customer in the investigated sector. Some interpretations of results in this sense are provided, but they are based on the knowledge of the industry by the authors and their personal judgment.These research limitations clearly indicate some directions for future research: to increase the sample sizes, the product categories and geographical markets investigated, to involve company managers in qualitative research to investigate the pricing policies and processes they adopt. Moreover, the research implications reported above also pave the way for future research on the perceived value of product attributes in durables, with particular emphasis on their environmental and life-cycle cost impacts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to fill a research gap that concerns empirical studies on value-based pricing in durable consumer goods. It aims to analyse the relationship between value for the customer and market prices in the washing machines market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The customer value of a sample of 129 washing machine models is assessed through the conjoint analysis technique. It is then compared through a regression analysis to the market prices of the products.\nFindings: - The regression analysis reveals that the alignment between price and value for the customer is limited (only one of the two subsamples presents a positive dependence among the variables).\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study lacks explanatory power about the reasons for the misalignment between price and customer value in the investigated sector. The results, moreover, refer to a specific product category and a specific national market, although their representativeness as a mature durable in a mature market suggests a broader relevance of the implications. The size of the samples of the empirical research is also limited.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides an example and guidelines to practitioners on how to implement a customer value assessment. It provides practitioners a deeper understanding of the consequences of misaligned pricing, and of the potential of understanding the actual value sources for the customers.\nOriginality/value: - The study empirically assesses the relationship between value for the customer and market prices of a category of mature durable goods. The results support the claim that value-based pricing, although believed to be superior to other pricing policies, is still not established as a prominent practice. Moreover, the findings contribute to the discussion on the value of environment-related attributes and their lifecycle monetary impact on the customers. It also identifies another possible obstacle to the adoption of value-based pricing, i.e. the structure of the market, to be added to the ones reviewed in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers' beliefs, attitudes, and loyalty in purchasing organic foods : The standard learning hierarchy approach	[ "Attitudes", "Loyalty", "Organic foods", "Beliefs", "Standard learning hierarchy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The global organic food market represents a multi-billion dollar industry that has continuously grown over the last few decades (Organic Trade Association, 2011). Although the organic food market has seen a steady increase in sales over the years, it is still considered relatively small in comparison to the global food market overall (Hughner et al., 2007). According to the Organic Trade Association, organic groceries only make up approximately 4 percent of universal food and beverage sales (Organic Trade Association, 2011). While it has been predicted that the global organic food market will continue to grow through 2015, statistics show that its pace has begun to decelerate (Datamonitor, 2010a). Studies have shown that while consumers generally express positive attitudes toward organic foods, they tend to purchase them less often than conventional foods (Magnusson et al., 2001; Roddy et al., 1996). Several researchers have provided insights as to why consumers are hesitant to purchase organic foods. First, buyers perceive organic foods as being \"pricier\" than the conventional foods (Padel and Foster, 2005). Second, some grocery buyers state that they are satisfied with conventional food options or that they do not see the value in organic food items (Magnusson et al., 2001). Third, consumers state that organic food products are limited in terms of availability (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002). Other issues include the distrust of product guarantees and lack of promotions with regard to edible organic goods (Worner and Meier-Ploeger, 1999).\nTheoretical background: Conceptual framework\nMethod: Data collection and sample\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion: Conceptually guided by the standard learning hierarchy, this research was designed to investigate how beliefs (i.e. health and ecological welfare benefits), utilitarian attitudes, and hedonic attitudes influence loyalty to organic foods. Major findings are discussed in greater depth in the following section. Two of the most important beliefs found in the current literature, health and ecological welfare benefits, were incorporated into the conceptual model as cognition. Health benefits showed a significant effect on utilitarian attitudes whereas ecological welfare benefits were not significant determinants in developing utilitarian attitudes. In terms of health benefits, if consumers form a belief that organic foods are beneficial to health, they develop attitudes on the basis of whether purchasing organic foods fulfills their goals. In this sense, consumers' attitudes toward purchasing organic foods seem to be formed through cognitive judgments first. However, consumers' belief about organic foods in terms of ecological welfare benefits had no relation with their development of utilitarian attitudes. One reason might be that believing organic foods are good for the human, animals, and the earth elicits affective responses (positive feelings or hedonic attitudes) rather than cognitive appraisals (utilitarian attitudes). It offers little explicit benefit to a person whether organic foods are produced in a way that protects the environment and concerns animal welfare, which might make it hard for consumers to establish utilitarian attitudes. Given that emotion and affective responses (e.g. fear, guilt) are known to be strong drivers for pro-environmental behavior such as recycling (Aertsens et al., 2009; Elgaaied, 2012), it is possible that ecological welfare benefits of organic foods directly influence hedonic attitudes, not through utilitarian attitudes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply the standard learning hierarchy to the study of organic foods. More specifically, this research is intended to examine if cognition in the form of beliefs and utilitarian attitudes, affect in the form of hedonic attitudes, and behavior in the form of attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty occur successively.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 725 consumer panel data were obtained through a web-based survey. A two-stage structural equation modeling with AMOS graphics version 18.0 was used to validate the measurement models and test the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: While health benefits positively influenced utilitarian attitudes, no significant effect of ecological welfare benefits was detected. The results also indicate that utilitarian attitudes had a significant and positive relationship with hedonic attitudes, which in turn led to attitudinal loyalty. Lastly, the relation between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty was significant and positive.\nResearch limitations/implications: Global attitudes and loyalty toward organic foods were examined in this research. Thus, future research could investigate more domain-specific attitudes and loyalty to various organic food items.\nPractical implications: The development of positive attitudes toward organic foods among consumers is important for the long-term success of organic food products or brands.\nOriginality/value: There is a little research that adopts an established theory or theoretical approach to explain a purchase behavior of organic foods. For this reason, the standard learning hierarchy was incorporated in order to study how cognition, affect, and behavior are formed when a purchase decision involving organic foods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing entrepreneurial resilience: implications for human resource development	[ "Resilience", "Entrepreneurial resilience", "Entrepreneurship development", "Entrepreneurial failure", "Resilience development", "Resilience model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leadership development has attracted much research attention within the human resource development (HRD) community. However, little scholarly effort has been made to focus on a special group of leaders - entrepreneurs. This article aims to fill in this knowledge gap in HRD literature by taking a close look at entrepreneurial resilience, a key ability of entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and adapt to uncertainties. The need for this research was prompted by the increase in the number of new entrepreneurs at the rate \"reversing a downward trend over the past few years\" (Fairlie et al., 2015, p. 9). For example, according to USA Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014), in the USA, approximately 530,000 entrepreneurs started a business each month in 2015; however, 50 per cent of these startups fail within five years, and only 30 per cent can survive after ten years. If the projected return on investment (ROI) was used as the measure of success, then more than 95 per cent of startups would be considered failure (Gage, 2012). These statistics show that most of the startups are exposed to the high risk of failure.\nPurpose and significance: The overarching goal of this research is twofold: to identify key factors affecting entrepreneurial resilience and to propose a conceptual model to guide entrepreneurial resilience development. Specifically, this research was guided by three questions:\nResearch method: To address the three research questions and construct a conceptual model that can serve as the basis for theory building and testing (Callahan, 2010), we adopted an extensive narrative literature review and critical conceptual analysis as the primary research methods. To select literature for analysis, we followed the recommendations by Callahan (2010, p. 302) who noted that to suggest theoretical frameworks, researchers must use \"carefully selected literature consistent with the premise of the manuscript\", instead of a systematic and thorough review of studies on the selected subject. Following Callahan' guidance, we set one key parameter for our literature search, that is, we included only empirical studies in peer-reviewed journals published between 1990 and 2017, in the English language. This decision was based on four rationales. First, we were interested in empirical evidence generated in the real life instead of a simulated context. Second, refereed publications reflect rigor of research, which makes them more reliable than non-refereed articles. Third, our focus on only English literature was due to the consideration about the difficulty in accessing non-English publications, as well as the potential cost and quality issues associated with translating them into English. Lastly, we bounded our search to empirical studies published from 1990 and 2017 because of the dramatic increase of academic interest in entrepreneurship research for the past two decades. The literature search was conducted in two stages: exploratory search and focused search.\nThe concept of resilience: In this section, we discuss the concept of resilience. Specifically, we examine how resilience has been defined and studied by researchers.\nFactors affecting entrepreneurial resilience: Resilience is a dynamic process, and it can be developed or inhibited owing to the interactions among protective and risk factors (Bonanno, 2004; Masten, 2001). According to Rutter (1985, p. 600), protective factors refer to \"influences that modify, ameliorate, or alter a person's response to some environmental hazard that predisposes to a maladaptive outcome\". Protective factors operate to facilitate individuals' resilience. On the contrary, the existence of risk factors indicates a higher probability of a mental disorder associated with individual, families and environmental aspects (Masten and Garmezy, 1985). Protective and risk factors interact with one another in the similar way of driving and restraining forces in the force field analysis, which results in the state of individuals' psychological and physical homeostasis - resilience (Bonanno, 2004). Researchers in the field of psychopathology tend to focus on reducing or eliminating risk factors.\nImplications for HRD: Findings from this research and the newly constructed model will benefit multiple stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, policymakers, management educators, trainers, HRD practitioners and researchers. However, in response to RQ3, we focus our discussion on the implications for the HRD community who plays a critical role in leadership development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Leadership development has attracted much research attention within the human resource development (HRD) community. However, little scholarly effort has been made to study a special group of leaders - entrepreneurs. This paper aims to fill in this knowledge gap by taking a close look at entrepreneurial resilience, a key ability of entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and adapt to uncertainties.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper conducted an extensive literature review using conceptual analysis as the primary method. Enablers and inhibitors affecting entrepreneurial resilience development were identified from the selected empirical studies.\nFindings: From the analysis of empirical studies, a set of enablers and inhibitors was identified, and the effects on entrepreneur resilience were explored. Based on identified enablers and inhibitors, an integrative model of entrepreneurial resilience that serves as a building block for entrepreneurial resilience theory building was proposed.\nOriginality/value: Findings from this research and the newly proposed model will not only contribute to the much-needed entrepreneurial resilience theory building but also serve as a useful guide for human resource professionals and trainers in designing leadership development interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Use of fuzzy AHP for evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decisions in a supply chain	[ "Supply chain management", "Analytical hierarchy process", "Decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: Supply chains are now more aptly described as \"supply networks\", or \"supply webs\" and can involve extremely complex configurations. These complex configurations, which are usually ranging from the dyadic chain to the multi-channel network (Samaddar et al., 2006; McLaren et al., 2002; Huang et al., 2003), require different information needs and create different environments for information sharing.There are many factors that may affect the information-sharing capabilities of partners, such as product and market structure, inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) infrastructure, relationships among partners, intra-organizational coordination structures (centralization, decentralization and distributed), and single and multiple-sourcing (Shore and Venkatachalam, 2003). However, evaluating these factors require focus on two key parameters. They include collaborative relationships and IOISs that contribute information-sharing (Lee and Whang, 2000; Shore and Venkatachalam, 2003).Supply networks heavily depend on participants' relationships and information-sharing capabilities between the various organizations. The closeness of relationships between the various parties through the network may range from adversarial relationships to partnership or collaborative relationships (Mentzer et al., 2000b). However, collaborative relationships are characterized by greater information exchange than adversarial relationships. This increases the need for integration and coordination of activities across organization boundaries. Thus, collaborative supply networks bridge the barrier between partners by focusing on the efficient exchange of information.Collaborative supply networks are examining the value of information-sharing not only for opportunities to reduce inventory level, and supply chain costs but also for opportunities to improve the flow of goods, services and information and serve their customers better, which benefits the overall network (McLaren et al., 2002; Mentzer et al., 2000a; Li et al., 2006; Samaddar et al., 2006). However, a critical issue is how much information can be shared between partners of a supply network. Even though, IOISs, such as extranets, electronic data interchange (EDI), and electronic marketplaces provide the ability to share information easily, firms may not share information for various reasons (Premkumar, 2000). Information-sharing brings concerns of security, privacy, costs, and intellectual property (Li et al., 2006). Therefore, there are strong disincentives to share information unless supply chain managers are able to understand that shared information is equally beneficial to all parties of the supply network.A number of studies have attempted to evaluate the information-sharing problems with the use of various theoretical and analytical based models. In the theoretical studies, total benefits of information-sharing decisions in collaborative supply networks are generally derived by using IOISs. Li et al. (2006) studied the effect of IOISs strategies on firm level performance under both stable and volatile market conditions. Samaddar et al. (2006) presented a theoretical framework to contribute the current research on inter-organizational information-sharing and design of supply networks. Premkumar (2000) provided an integrated perspective of supply chain management and inter-organizational systems and showed that all organizations in the supply chain could gain benefits from sharing information by reduction of supply and demand uncertainties. Huang et al. (2003) reviewed the impacts of sharing information on supply chain dynamics and concluded that the leveraging information can be beneficial to all supply chain partners involved. Anand and Mendelson (1997) discussed the relationship between intra-organizational coordination structures and information-sharing and applied it to a firm that faces demand uncertainty in multiple horizontal markets. In the analytical studies, some of the mathematical approaches are developed to understand the behavior of the established models and the effects of information-sharing on supply chain performance. In a statistical/probabilistic approaches by Lee et al. (1997a, 1997b) they concluded that sharing real demand information across the supply chain members reduces the demand variability (bullwhip effect) and uncertainty. Yu et al. (2001) investigated the benefits of supply chain partnerships with information-sharing and concluded that both the retailer and manufacturer can obtain performance improvement with an increasing level of information-sharing. Moinzadeh (2002) studied the benefits of information-sharing in a supply chain and showed how the supplier can benefit from using information about the retailer's inventory levels. In addition, Chen (1998), Cachon and Fisher (2000), Lee et al. (2000), and Gavirneni et al. (1999) used stochastic and capacitated models to evaluate the supply chain performance with emphasizing on the benefits of information-sharing. In these studies, researchers have investigated various types of information such as capacity, inventory levels, demand, and costs. Recently, researchers have attempted to use simulation (Zhao and Xie, 2002; Zhao et al., 2002) and fuzzy based decision making approaches (Shore and Venkatachalam, 2003; Chantrasa, 2005) in order to evaluate the information-sharing potential of supply chain partners.It can be seen from the literature that most of the analytical studies are at conceptual level, and focused mainly on movement of materials and inventory cost savings through collaborative supply networks with optimization and simulation of activities. In addition, most of the studies focused only on sharing of specific type of information such as demand forecast, inventory information, and operational information. However, many information-sharing decision problems can not be expressed by analytical models and algorithms, or they may lack complete or certain data. In addition, as shown in the published literature, there is a lack of research to deal directly with evaluating the benefits of various types of information shared by the participating firms. The availability of multiple criteria and the involvement of decision makers will expand information-sharing decision problems from one to several dimensions, and hence it will increase the complexity and effort. For this reason, we need a new approach, which could handle multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems, and to support these types of complex evaluation problems (Buyukozkan, 2004). Therefore, the integration of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the fuzzy synthetic extent analysis method (fuzzy AHP) (Chang, 1992; 1996) is proposed. Fuzzy AHP is a relatively new methodology introduced by Van Laarhoven and Pedrycz (1983) that extends the AHP for decision making to cases conducted in uncertain and fuzzy environment. So, it has the ability to deal with the uncertainty of human judgments in evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decisions in a supply chain. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present the employment of the fuzzy AHP approach to evaluate the benefits of information-sharing decision problems. In addition, understanding the benefits of information-sharing may help managers to make decisions on which types of information they should share with their supply chain partners. Furthermore, the use of proposed model is illustrated in Turkish manufacturing firms.The paper is organized in five sections. The importance of selection criteria and information-sharing decisions in a supply chain is explained first. The third section describes briefly the fuzzy AHP methodology. The fourth section discusses the application of the fuzzy AHP to information-sharing decisions. Finally, the last section contains some concluding remarks and perspectives.\n2. Selection criteria and information-sharing decisions: Evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decisions is not a well defined or structured problem in literature. As stated earlier, apart from the research studies on information-sharing decisions to date, to our knowledge, only Chantrasa (2005) and Shore and Venkatachalam (2003) proposed a fuzzy based decision making approach for information-sharing decisions. However, evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decisions has some special characteristics. First, the benefits of information-sharing decisions are intangible in nature. Second, different decision makers assign the benefits of information-sharing decisions and their importance differently. For this reason, these benefits can only be measured subjectively. Therefore, an appropriate evaluation methodology and evaluation criteria have to be identified.In this paper, fuzzy AHP methodology is used to identify evaluation criteria for information-sharing decision problem. For this purpose, we have conducted a literature survey (mainly based on the studies of Muckstadt et al., 2001; Huang et al., 2003; Angerhofer and Angelides, 2006; Samaddar et al., 2006). Then, three different levels of information-sharing benefits criteria, namely strategic, managerial, and operational benefits, are identified through the related references, which will be detailed in the following parts. The benefits criteria are further refined by interviewing a group of 13 managers (i.e. decision makers) from different Turkish manufacturing firms regarding the logistics, production or information technology management. Then, the focus shifts to partners and their willingness to reveal which information should be shared in order to provide long-term success for collaborative relationships. Four decision alternatives, namely operational, planning, customer requirement, and financial information, are chosen to evaluate information-sharing decisions. Then, the influences of various benefits criteria on the goal criteria have been evaluated. The goal of our framework is to evaluate the degree to which types of information should be shared with supply chain partners for Turkish manufacturing firms.2.1 Strategic benefits (SB)\n3. Fuzzy AHP methodology: The paper proposes a fuzzy AHP approach to represent decision makers' comparison judgments and to decide the final priority of different information-sharing decision alternatives. In the following, the literature review on fuzzy AHP methodology is firstly given and then the extent analysis method on fuzzy AHP that will be used for the application of this method on information-sharing decision problem is presented.3.1 Literature review for fuzzy AHP\n4. Application of the fuzzy AHP to information-sharing decisions: In this study, decision makers' comparisons are described by linguistic terms, which are expressed in triangular fuzzy numbers. The comparison of the importance of one criteria, sub-criteria, or alternative over another can be done by with the help of the questionnaire (Appendix 2). The responses collected from the questionnaires are input to the fuzzy AHP model. Fuzzy AHP combines these comparisons obtained from the answers' averages to analyze criteria and alternatives weights. Based on this approach, the weight vectors are calculated, and then the normalized weight vectors can be determined. As a result, the evaluation matrices are obtained showing the final set of scores of information-sharing decision alternatives. The method of calculating priority weights of the different information-sharing decision alternatives using fuzzy AHP is discussed below.4.1 Evaluation of criteria weights\n5. Conclusion: In a competitive environment, the success of organizations will increasingly depend on their information to share with partners in their strategic decisions. However, managers are often uncertain about how to share the key information to enhance their business. This research proposes a methodology for both managers and a group of organizations in a supply chain to make decisions on which types of information they should share with their partners.Fuzzy AHP allows managers to answer a variety of questions such as which information has the biggest impact on evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decisions or how to guide partners who want to improve shared information in a collaborative relationships area. Use of fuzzy AHP methodology offers a number of benefits. Firstly, it is a more systematic method than the other MCDM methods and it is more capable of capturing a human's appraisal of ambiguity when complex multi-criteria decision making problems are considered. Because of this ability, managers can use this method in making their strategic decisions in case of uncertain and imprecise data. Secondly, since humans are comparatively efficient in making qualitative forecasting, fuzzy methodology is an excellent tool to handle qualitative assessments about information-sharing decision problems. However, fuzzy AHP is a highly complex methodology and requires more numerical calculations in assessing composite priorities than the traditional AHP and hence it increases the effort. That drawback certainly limits its applicability to real world problems.In this study, qualitative assessments of fuzzy AHP methodology are developed based on integrating the total benefits of information-sharing with various types of information for Turkish manufacturing firms. Our evaluation framework demonstrate that the customer requirement and operational information alternatives are the preferred key decisions, which all supply chain partners might agree to share with each other. Further, we can also conclude that the planning and financial information alternatives have almost the same importance. As a result, successful organizations will use these results in managing, benchmarking and continuously improving their supply chains.For the future research, fuzzy methodology could be extended with the other MCDM methods such as Analytical Network Process (ANP), TOPSIS, ELECTRE and DEA. These methods have been recently developed to use in a fuzzy environment. Further research may be the application of these methods to the information-sharing decision problems and the comparison of the results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a good insight into the use of fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (fuzzy AHP) approach that is a multi-criteria decision-making methodology in evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decision problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this study, the integration of AHP with the fuzzy synthetic extent analysis method (fuzzy AHP) is proposed in evaluating the benefits of information-sharing decision problems as a framework to guide managers.\nFindings: - Findings demonstrate that the customer requirement and operational information alternatives are the preferred key decisions, which all supply chain partners might agree to share with one another. Further, it can also be concluded that the planning and financial information alternatives have almost the same importance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Fuzzy AHP is a highly complex methodology and requires more numerical calculations in assessing composite priorities than the traditional AHP and hence it increases the effort. In addition, fuzzy methodology could be extended with the other multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods such as Analytical Network Process (ANP), TOPSIS, ELECTRE and DEA techniques in solving such a problem.\nOriginality/value: - There is a lack of research in the literature to deal directly with the uncertainty of human judgements in evaluating the benefits of various information-sharing decisions in a supply chain. Therefore, fuzzy AHP is an appropriate methodology to select the various types of information and has the ability to be used as a decision-making analysis tool since it handles uncertain and imprecise data. In addition, the paper is especially of interest to managers as they make decisions on which types of information they should share with their supply chain partners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Proposal for a framework for quality measurement to the SPB - Brazilian Public Software	[ "Maturity models", "Action research", "Digital ecosystem", "Free software", "Soft system methodology", "Software process improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Brazilian Public Software (BPS) (Software Publico Brasileiro (SPB), 2013) is an innovative experiment in public administration. It combines characteristics of the free software production model with the concept of public property and is delivered via a portal that brings different people and interests together. The BPS portal is a virtual space for the dissemination and improvement of software tools. In some communities, the development of new functionality or even new versions of tools is occurring. As such, software development processes also occur, although there is still no process in place for certifying quality. There are several types of studies on quality processes for free tools, however, the goal of this research is to create an approach that takes into account the quality of an ecosystem (Chang and West, 2006) like that of BPS.\n2. Conceptual aspects: The conventional capacity models generally focus to improve the quality of a linear and well-delimited process. In the BPS case, the conventional view of a capacity model is not suitable and therefore it is necessary to construct a theoretical ground in various areas that define the research object, in order to think of the elements of a maturity model designed for this ecosystem. Furthermore, considering the research objective, which proposal is to introduce quality elements based on software process improvement in digital ecosystems production, the necessity to understand topics such as theory of complex systems, system thinking, digital ecosystems and maturity models emerges. This section intends, in a synthesis effort, to create a theoretical framework that grounds and guides the research developed in this study. The conceptual aspects review was executed in three steps: an overview; focussed view and detailed view.\n3. Research methodology: Among the several taxonomies used to describe the types of research, the one used in the present paper was suggested by Miguel et al. (2010) and is presented in Figure 1. The taxonomy introduces three criteria to characterize the scientific research. These criteria refer to the nature, the goals, the methodological approach and the research method. Regarding to the nature of the research, it can be classified into basic or applied, and its objectives, into exploratory, descriptive, explanatory or normative. In turn, the approach can be classified as quantitative, qualitative or combined. Finally, the method types can be classified into one of the following types: experiment, modeling, simulation, survey, case study, AR and SSM (Miguel et al., 2010; apud Alves, 2013).\n4. Research moments: This section describes the research stages, which objective is to use the logic of the development of maturity models to design elements of the maturity/capacity model framework for an ecosystem of software production. By ecosystem of software production, one can understand that is the BPS, and the collaborative, cooperative and shared environment of software production with differentiated features of production environments of companies with intensive software development activities. These environments are controlled and have well-known and defined boundaries. The research was conducted during two years, being the field data collection performed in the first year and the consolidation of the generated knowledge, through publications in seminars, in the second year. The research was divided in parts denominated \"research moments.\" Figure 2 presents the complete sequence of the research methodology.\n5. Research questions: 5.1. The main research question\n6. Conclusions: The maturity models traditionally aim to improve the quality of a linear and well-defined process. In the case of a virtual network, whose design is closer to a cloud, with no defined boundaries, roles that change, mutant settings, the conventional view of maturity model is not appropriate. The same goes for the BPS. To think a maturity model for the BPS was necessary to use concepts from the CTT. This approach allowed us to build an overview of the BPS and how the variables interrelate and interact. The analysis of the systemic map and critical variables identified the BPS learning cycles that defines and sets its internal dynamics. The maturity levels were defined based on the learning cycles. The reference model of the BPS ecosystem is a model built to drive the evolution of the ecosystem as well as to allow a new user construct an integrated view of the various elements that compose it. The constructed model ecosystems can be generalized to PSEs and incorporates an innovation: the model has incorporated the dimension of multiple views of the level of maturity. The model allows evaluating the maturity of ecosystems with an emphasis on cooperation and connection, unlike the maturity model known and used by organizations which are based on command and control. The positive results from the four initial and partial validations performed so far gave enough confidence that this systemic maturity model is going in a promising direction. For SPICE community the process performed and the current results could be used for the emergent ISO/IEC 33000 requirement for process measurement framework. In the other hand, this systemic maturity model should use these ISO/IEC 33000 requirements, when they be published, as a reference for this model future consolidation.\n7. Contributions: The contributions of the present research can be summarized in the following topics:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the development of a conceptual framework to drive and assess the quality of software production in the digital ecosystem domain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research used action research paradigm, the soft methodology SSM and the framework PRO2PI-MFMOD. The methodologies were applied at Brazilian Public Software Ecosystem.\nFindings: The results of this research shows: the dimension of the capacity, as suggested by ISO/IEC 15504, is insufficient for quality treatment in certain domains; SSM methodology is suitable for scope and domain clarification in digital ecosystems; and PRO2PI-MFMOD framework is suitable to create a reference model process for digital ecosystems software production.\nResearch limitations/implications: A complete SSM cycle was conducted, but with only one research cycle. In that sense, the results obtained in this research can be interpreted as boundaries to reflections regarding the learning occurred in the system.\nPractical implications: The research offers an empirical contribution, mapping and defining maturity framework elements that can be used by the software production digital ecosystems, aiming the description and understanding of the phenomenon through the theoretical views of complexity theory, systemic thinking, digital ecosystems and maturity models.\nSocial implications: The contributions can be summarized in the following aspects: the maturity models evolution, shifting from command and control basis to cooperation and connection basis; the maturity models scope, drifting from organizational units to collaborative networks of software production; the assimilation and broadcast of digital ecosystems concept by MCTI; and the maturity levels introduced in the research can be used as a particular case of capacity dimension of the further ISO/IEC 33000 standards.\nOriginality/value: Through the results obtained with systematic revision of the literature, one can notice the absence of publications that approach all the four axes that ground this research simultaneously. The proposed subject is original and relevant to the software community in the matter of software process improvement and to the current and further public digital ecosystems of software development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of adoption of relational contracting practices on relationship quality in public projects in Singapore	[ "Performance", "Contracts", "Public sector organizations", "Private sector organizations", "Collaboration", "Social interaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Public projects are generally needed for national development and economic growth. Hence, it is imperative that these projects be executed and delivered in a timely manner, within budget and at an acceptable quality.\nRelationships (Y): The presence of various stakeholders means that different relationships are present in a construction project. The relationships may be arm's-length or embedded relationships, or a combination of both.\nRC (X): As this study's objective was to investigate interpersonal relations (dependent variables) that are significantly affected by RC practices (independent variables), this section reviews the literature relating to the independent variables (X), operationalized from Macneil's (1980) Relational Contract Theory. This theory is chosen to develop the framework because it recognizes that in construction projects the relationship of exchange continues over a significant period of time. The strength of this theory is that it identifies the norms and behaviour that contracting parties are expected to adhere to and which they expect adherence from other parties (Macneil, 1980). The weakness of Macneil's (1980) framework is that it does not specifically address the imbalance of power among the contracting parties, or their relative position in the supply chain.\nGap in knowledge: Several studies had investigated relationship quality and relational norms of stakeholders in public projects. Ning and Ling's (2014) Singapore-based study, and Ling et al.'s (2013) Hong Kong-based study of public projects were conducted at the construct/factor level, and not at the detailed RC practices level. At the construct level, Ning and Ling's (2014) Singapore-based study yielded non-significant associations between relationship quality and the following RC norms: joint problem solving; trust; contractual solidarity; propriety of means; harmonization within the social matrix; flexibility; and role integrity. One possibility for this finding is that they did not study the detailed correlation between relationship quality and each RC practice. Ling et al.'s (2013) Hong Kong study and Ling and Tran's (2012) Vietnam study showed some significant association between relationship quality and RC practices, but it is not known to what extent the findings of Hong Kong and Vietnam would be applicable to Singapore.\nResearch method: The research was undertaken via a two-pronged approach. The first research prong used a structured questionnaire survey as the primary data collection instrument. Data were collected from industry practitioners with experience in public projects.\nCharacteristics of respondents and projects: Of the 1,440 surveys sent, 104 responded to the survey, thereby giving a response rate of 7.2 per cent. The characteristics of the respondents and their firms are shown in Table I. Respondents' designation ranged from professionals to top management. The majority have more than five years of working experience and the average is 16.1 years. The almost similar proportions of contractors (32 per cent), consultancy firms (40 per cent) and government entities (28 per cent) suggest an equal consideration of the three contracting parties' perceptions. The mean number of employees in the respondents' firms is nearly 2,179 and the majority of the respondents' firms (63.5 per cent) have <1,500 staff, indicating that the results would be more applicable to medium-sized organizations.\nResults: Table IV shows that the quality of the relationships between public clients and contractors (Y\nDiscussion: The results in Table IV show that contractors' flexibility when situations change (X\nLimitations: Several limitations have been identified which may have an impact on the findings. The responses to the questionnaire survey may not entirely reflect the actual experiences on site due to the subjective nature of answering a questionnaire survey. In addition, as the research was done retrospectively, the respondents and interviewees may not recall every single detail that took place throughout the course of the project as certain projects could have taken place many years ago.\nConclusion: The t-test results in Table IV show that RC practices are generally adopted to a significant extent notwithstanding the need to adopt arm's-length relationships among contracting parties in public projects in Singapore. Most of the RC practices have been significantly adopted in Singapore (see Table IV) other than ongoing social relationships between stakeholders (X\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational contracting (RC) practices that give rise to higher quality interpersonal relations between these pairs of stakeholders at the end of public projects: clients and contractors; contractors and consultants; and clients and consultants. It developed models to predict the level of quality of interpersonal relations between the stakeholders at the completion of public projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a set of questionnaire, data were collected from randomly selected construction industry practitioners who have had experience in public projects in Singapore. The data were analysed to identify association between the use of RC practices and quality of interpersonal relations between stakeholders. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted.\nFindings: It was found that when certain RC practices were adopted to a larger extent, public projects also have significantly higher quality of interpersonal relations between clients, contractors and consultants. Three mathematical models were developed to predict the relationship quality between stakeholders at the end of the public project.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations include the subjective nature of the Likert scale that was used in answering the questionnaire survey and the limited number of interviews. The effect of existing good relations among stakeholders was not taken into account.\nPractical implications: Suitable RC practices for adoption by public clients, contractors and consultants in public projects are recommended. These include developing deeper mutual trust and understanding, sharing project information, and having real gain-share/pain-share among contracting parties.\nOriginality/value: RC practices that are significantly associated with relationships among contracting parties in public projects in Singapore are uncovered. Contracting parties may use the recommendations to help enhance their relationships with one another in a public project.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nineteenth century public relations: Siam's campaign to defend national sovereignty	[ "Public relations history", "Public relations campaign", "International diplomacy", "Anti-colonization", "King Rama V", "Thailand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Thailand, a nation state situated in Southeast Asia, was known as \"Siam\" in the past. Siam was the term used by the Portuguese for the area around the Chao Phraya River in Central Thailand which was inhabited by people from various racial and ethnographic origins such as Thais, Laotians, Mons, Khmers, Indians, Malays, Chinese and other tribespeople (Wongthes, 2005). King Rama IV of the current Chakri dynasty gave the order to name the country \"Siam\" to promote national unity and to be used as a national name for treaty arrangements with governments of other lands. Siam was later renamed Thailand in 1939 (Wyatt, 2003). As the industrial revolution began in Europe during the 19th century, Western nations sought new resources and colonies. Imperialism gained momentum and was on the rise in Asia. Siam was confronted with the threat of Western imperialism toward the end of the reign of King Rama III (1824-1851). The situation worsened over time under the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V, respectively. Foreign relations became an important factor during this period of turmoil. Siam began negotiating treaties with foreign countries during the rule of King Rama IV (1851-1868). The signing of the Bowring Treaty with Great Britain in 1855 gave rise to agreements (many of which were unjust) with other countries such as the USA, France and 12 other countries (Bunnag, 2010). During the subsequent reign of King Rama V (1868-1910), additional treaties were signed with other European countries and Japan. The countries that caused the most issues for Siam were Great Britain and France, which had been competing to expand their influence in Indochina. Siam at that time held a position as a buffer state between the two powers. Though Siam lost a number of its territories to France and Great Britain during this period [1], it remained the only country in Southeast Asia which was not colonized by Western countries (Wyatt, 2003).King Rama V, widely known as King Chulalongkorn, was the fifth king of the Chakri dynasty. The threat of foreign imperialism reached its height in his reign. The King worked to develop the country by a similar means to his father, King Rama IV or King Mongkut, who equipped him with a broad education including the study of Western ways of thought [2]. During his reign, the two-phase reforms were established [3]. The reform process gave King Rama V the authority to set the direction in various areas of foreign and domestic policies. One of the King's greatest social reforms, widely welcomed within the country, was the abolishment of slavery which the King himself saw as a hindrance to the modernization of Siam as it violated human rights and the principles of democracy (Bunnag, 2010). The slavery system was gradually abolished over a period of 30 years without major upheavals. In terms of international diplomacy, the abolishment of slavery helped promote the image of Siam as a civilized country and a modern nation-state (Wyatt, 2003; Bunnag, 2010). King Rama V attempted to save Siam from colonization by managing foreign relations to balance the interests of the Western states with minimal losses for Siam. As part of these efforts, he visited Europe twice over a 10-year period, first traveling in 1897 and then again in 1907 (Bunnag, 2007; Duke, 2011).This article develops on earlier research on the development of public relations (PR) in Siam in the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Tantivejakul, 2015, 2019a). Tantivejakul (2015) provided a broad and general picture of PR throughout the course of the monarch's administration with evidence of activities similar to modern press relations and also of the monarch becoming the focus of media interest during his two trips to Europe. Furthermore, Tantivejakul (2019a) studied the national image-building of the monarch ahead of the first visit in 1897, focusing on the administration's preparations before the trip took place with a limited investigation of the diaries and letters of the administration's key personnel [4]. This article therefore aims to show in some detail that the Chakri monarchy very ably planned and carried out a PR and diplomatic campaign using concepts and methods that are well recognized in international relations and negotiations today. These included a sophisticated media relations campaign targeted at major European newspapers, which made use of new communication technology as the method of reporting to key domestic audiences and to European political leaders. Finally, it also aims to provide examples of King Rama V's efforts to reach out to Europe in protecting Siam from Western colonialists.\nLiterature review: Public relations in global history\nThe research methodology: This study's nature is narrative and is typified as a development of national PR history, one of the three different types of studies in PR history distinguished by Bentele (2013). The other two types are specific histories of companies, industries and individuals and PR historiography with focuses on meta-theoretical or methodological levels. It could also be classified by its nature as a descriptive typology (Watson, 2013), using a fact-based and event-oriented approach (Bentele, 2013).This study employs a qualitative methodology. Historical evidence was gathered through primary and secondary data sources. Primary data sources consist of both unpublished and published original documents. Unpublished documents used are kept in the form of microfilms and special documents at the National Archives of Thailand. Unpublished documents including governmental announcements, royal writings and correspondences which are in Thai are kept in Prince Devawongse's personal collection in the National Archives of Thailand, with the archive code \"sorbor 16\" - Published documents consist of official and royal writings and announcements. Those relating to the King's first visit to Europe were gathered in the form of a book compiled by the National Archives of Thailand (1980) available at Thailand's National Library and Chulalongkorn University Library. Other important published documents include the book \"The Annals of Somdet Kromphraya Damrongrajanubhab: The Royal Private Trip to Europe in 1891,\" which includes letters of correspondence sent between the monarch, Prince Devawongse and Prince Damrong found in Chulalongkorn University Library and Prince Damrongrajanubhab's Library.Important secondary sources include those written by Tips (1992, 1996a, 1996b) located at the Thailand and ASEAN Information Center (TAIC). The books illustrate Siam's international politics context and the roles of the monarch, Gustave Rolin-Jacquemyns, Prince Devawongse and Prince Damrong, in defending Thailand against Western ambitions. Other sources include Watanangura and Kasikam's (2010) analysis of European documents, transcripts and news reports regarding the 1897 royal state visit [5]; Rak-ngam and Tienkam's (2012) study of the collections of the monarch's news from French magazines published between 1893 and 1903 [6] and Nana's (2006) review of the collections of King Rama V's pictures and photos published in various European publications. As the topic of the study dates back more than a 100 years, some rare primary sources, especially those kept at the National Archives of Thailand and in the rare books section at the National Library of Thailand, cannot be photocopied or are not in a good enough condition to be read. Secondary sources including books, research reports and journal articles were compared carefully with the originals and compiled documents to ensure data accuracy. The analysis was conducted in light of Siam's unique historical circumstance.\nFindings: In investigating primary and secondary sources, the study found two sets of evidence of PR campaigns during the administration of King Rama V in the late 19th century. First, the evidence suggests that the royal government of Siam actively engaged in press relations activities in the international arena. Second, the evidence reveals the administration's intention to project the image of Siam as being a civilized nation-state during King Rama V's 1897 trip to Europe. The key men assisting the King with this regard from the beginning were his brothers who worked in his cabinet, notably Prince Devawongse, Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prince Damrong, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior, and Gustave Rolin-Jacquemyns [7] who became an adviser to King Rama V in 1892 (Tips, 1996b). The four worked together on shaping foreign diplomacy, communicating domestic and legal reforms to the world and campaigning to defend Siam's sovereignty. These two sets of evidence support the notion that Siam's administration worked intently to influence international public opinion through interpersonal and mass communications which effectively helped prevent Siam from being colonized.Siam's efforts in international press relations activities\nConclusion and implications: Lamme and Russell (2010) suggested that PR with specific purposes existing across cultures and nations existed before the 20th century. This article details Siam's PR efforts under the leadership of King Rama V at the end of the 19th century, which were similar in design and purpose to those of modern PR. Most importantly, it also reveals the success of Siam's PR in enhancing its visibility among the global community and on protecting Siam against the threat of colonialism.Building on the media relations strategy previously implemented by King Rama IV, well-organized press relations efforts that were in operation under King Rama V's administration comprised press monitoring, news clippings and prearranged press interviews (Tantivejakul, 2014b, 2015). In terms of national image-building, this article adds to earlier research by Tantivejakul (2015, 2019a) in demonstrating King Rama V and his administrative board's intentions to put the King forward as a public personality to boost public awareness of Siam in the global community during his first state visit to Europe. The analysis of corresponding documents also shows their intention to create the impression of Siam as a civilized country based on a Western view of civilization. The monarch's methods demonstrate his deep understanding of the importance of other countries' perceptions toward Siam as stated by Hofstatter (1957 as cited in Kunczik, 1990, p. 47) that \"[t]he closer the image a nation has of the other is to its image of itself, the better two nations understand each other.\" This strong intention to influence international public opinion toward Siam confirms the significance of the role of persuasion through interpersonal and mass communication.In the international relations arena, modern nation-states, PR and the media play important roles in image cultivation and reputation building (Ndoye, 2009). Even though this study's sources are from more than 100 years ago, the implications demonstrate the interplay between the persuasive acts of nation-state and the roles of the media or the press in shaping and building the national image of Siam. With its campaign's persuasive nature and the employment of modern mass communication, Siam's communication practices in the 19th century could therefore be regarded as a clear instance of PR being used on the global stage prior to the advent of the term. This article finally affirms the stance of Siam's PR in King Rama V's reign as being an anti-colonization effort which is a rare example found within PR and illustrates the interesting role of PR during the era of colonialism.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research aims to identify the use of the public relations (PR) methods implemented by King Rama V and his administration to counter the threat to Siam of imperialism in the late 19th century. It also seeks to demonstrate the interplay of the communication strategies used in international diplomacy to enhance Siam's visibility among major European nations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a historical study using both primary and secondary sources. It is a development of the national PR history methodology using a descriptive, fact-based and event-oriented approach.\nFindings: The main findings are that (1) a PR strategy drove international diplomacy under the administration of Siam's monarch incorporating strategies such as governmental press relations activities; (2) the strategy in building Siam's image as a civilized country was successfully communicated through the personality of King Rama V during his first trip to Europe; (3) with a close observation of the public and press sentiments, the outcome of the integrated PR and diplomatic campaigns was that Siam defended its sovereignty against British and French imperialists' pressures and was therefore never colonized.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research adds to the body of knowledge of global PR history by demonstrating that PR evolved before the 20th century in different countries and cultures with different historical paths and sociocultural, political and economic contexts.\nOriginality/value: This study from an Asian nation demonstrates that PR was being practiced in the late 19th century outside the Western context, prior to the advent of the term. It is a rare example of PR being developed as a part of an anti-colonization strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stress among public middle managers dealing with reforms	[ "Stress", "Middle management", "Public hospitals", "Attitudes towards change", "Job demand", "Job resource" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Stress is an important topic in contemporary public management and health organization literature (Lee et al., 2011; Schaufeli and Peeters, 2000; Wickramasinghe, 2016). Furthermore, stressful situations are more likely to occur in contexts of public organizations' reforms (Liu et al., 2015). In this vein, it is valuable to investigate which kinds of organizational factors might impact stress perception (SP) in public organizations facing organizational and managerial changes. This paper is dedicated to this very issue. The original contribution of this paper lies also in the investigated population: middle managers in public hospitals. Even if studies with respect to middle managers are not scarce as we will demonstrate beneath in the literature review, this specific population has been understudied thus far, compared, for instance to street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky, 1980). Furthermore, studies dedicated to stress are numerous, but few of them (see for instance: Buchanan et al., 2013) have explicitly tried to identify antecedents of SP among public middle managers dealing with reforms' processes (Kelliher and Parry, 2015). In addition, few or no studies dedicated to this population have been developed in the Swiss context. Recent literature also demonstrates that organizational change may create stress because of uncertainty (Rafferty and Restubog, 2016; Yu, 2009). Drawing upon the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of stress (Bakker, 2015), the first objective of this paper is to identify several job characteristics which could be understood as resources that employees might use to cope with stressful situations. The second objective of the paper aims to investigate whether perceptions of change among our population of middle managers might mediate the relationships between the job characteristics and SP. Individuals experiencing positive appreciation of reforms would probably be less inclined to express concerns with regard to stress (Morin et al., 2015). The main research questions are therefore:\nLiterature review and theoretical framework: Job stress and middle managers\nToward detailed research hypotheses: Job resources\nMethod: Context of the study\nResults: If we look at the Pearson's correlation coefficients between all the variables included in this study, we can make some initial comments. First, we can note strong correlations between SP and all our independent variables, and most of them, except for PDC, correlate with PATC, indicating that we cannot reject the hypothesis of mediation. Second, it is important to note that correlations between the predictor variables are weak, indicating that multicollinearity is not a concern in the present study. Third, we can also underline that individual characteristics (gender, age, organizational tenure) are not related to SP. A first interesting result comes from the correlations associated with PATC. In fact, it can be noted that older respondents express a greater PATC compared to their younger counterparts. Moreover, physician managers are more willing to declare a low level of PATC among our study population.\nDiscussion: According to SP, relationships with and support from their colleagues (RSC) are important for middle managers' ability to manage difficult and complex situations in a changing environment. This result confirms that social support is a potentially important job resource for middle managers (Bakker et al., 2008; Johnson and Hall, 1988), and it gives support to H5. In fact, without the collaboration of their colleagues and also subordinates, middle managers are barely able to perform their work and to reach their objectives. This specific result gives support to the scientific literature which underlines the centrality of professional identities and professional norms in the functioning of healthcare organizations (Andersen, 2009; Ingo et al., 2014). In period of changes, work identity and professional identities really do matter. If RSC is significantly and negatively related to SP, then RSS is negatively but not significantly related to perceived stress. In other words, surprisingly, this study does not bring any support to H4. This result seems to suggest that RSC, a variable related to professional activities, are more important resources to cope with stress than RSS, a variable related more specifically to managerial activities. But further research is needed to confirm such a finding.\nConclusions: Our findings yield important information for practitioners as well as well scholars. First of all, we demonstrate that SP is not primarily a psychological state related to individuals' characteristics, but rather organizations and their leaders can manage stress by ensuring certain important job conditions for middle managers. According to this study, the degree of TA middle managers benefit from, the flexibility they have in the organization of their working time, and the quality of their relationships with and support from their colleagues are all important when it comes to dealing with demanding situations. These results are consistent with the self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000). According to this theory, individuals will develop higher levels of autonomous motivation provided that they can satisfy three psychological needs. \"The need for autonomy refers to individuals exercising control over their own actions and behaviors, or engaging in actions on their own volition rather than in response to external forces. The need for competence involves feeling effective or having mastery over one's work, and having an effect on one's outcomes. The need for relatedness is associated with having a sense of belonging and being connected to others and of being important to other persons\" (Gould-Williams, 2016, p. 771). Indeed, our results suggest that RSC (need for relatedness), TA (need for competence - having mastery over one's work), and FOWT (need for autonomy) are important resources for middle managers in order to deal with demanding situations. Therefore, high-involvement work practices (Lawler, 1986), aiming to decentralize control and to give individuals the opportunity to self-manage and engage in problem-solving activities could be appropriate work conditions in order to tackle stress.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify social and organizational antecedents of stress. This paper also investigates whether attitudes toward organizational changes and reforms might explain stress perception (SP) and mediate the relationships between social and organizational job characteristics and SP.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach is used to identify the relationships between the research variables. The investigated population is composed of middle managers working in Swiss public hospitals (n=720), which are currently being confronted by major reforms.\nFindings: The findings show that perceived social support (work relationships with and support from colleagues), as well as several job characteristics (autonomy in performing tasks, flexibility in the organization of working time, degree of conflict) are significantly related to SP. Moreover, positive attitudes toward change are negatively related to stress, and mediate the relationships between perceived social support as well as job characteristics and SP.\nPractical implications: This paper sheds light on several job characteristics which could contribute to mitigating SP among middle managers. The findings could therefore guide HRM specialists in their efforts to create a favorable work environment so as to facilitate middle managers' activities.\nOriginality/value: The innovation of this paper is grounded in the specific population the author investigate, as the empirical inquiry concerns middle managers working in public hospitals. Moreover, this research highlights the central role of job characteristics and attitudes toward change in explaining SP.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Scenario planning for climate strategies development by integrating group Delphi, AHP and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps	[ "Global warming", "Forecasting", "Delphi method", "Fuzzy logic", "Analytical hierarchy process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The detection of key organisational areas and technologies that can have a positive impact on climate-related issues is a constant challenge for academics, practitioners and policy makers. On the one hand there is a desire for the exploitation of new market opportunities and achievement of sustainable competitive advantage; on the other there is the extenuation of pollution and negative industrial impacts on nature. The inappropriate behaviour of industrialised societies and the over-exploitation of natural resources have brought evident unnatural climate changes that embrace global warming and the ozone hole.In the following sections we present a common use of the Delphi method, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps for the development of a future scenario as a learning device. The article in general presents and analyses the application of referring methods within the scenario methodology in correlation with climate warming. Therefore it should not be understood as a complete problem-solving framework for climate-related issues. Such a framework would furthermore have to include a broader panel of experts from different scientific fields.The application of different methods based on expert judgements, has its advantages in comparison to methods that are based on statistic analyses of past data, such as extrapolation and econometrics, regarding long-term scenario development. In the former experts can adjust their judgements on the basis of recent events whose effects are not yet evident. Statistical methods are not capable of such adjustment and are therefore more appropriate for short-term predictions (Armstrong, 2001).The article is structured in four basic parts. In the second part the theoretical basis of the Delphi method, multiplicative AHP and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps are presented. The third part describes the application of referring methods based on the example of the future scenario related to climate warming. Based on the simulation performed, the fourth part offers some directions for organisational and technological change, which could foster organisational competitive advantage in the future. In the final part some findings from the application of referring methods are discussed.\n2. Theoretical implications: 2.1 The Delphi method\n3. Global scenario: development and content: 3.1 Description of the workflow\n4. Discussions of results to lead organisational and technological changes for sustainable development: According to the insights that were acquired through the simulation we suggest some organisational and technological changes that companies should make in order to achieve competitive advantage. It should be pointed out that simply executing these changes is not enough for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. According to Porter (1985), a company can achieve sustainable competitive advantage only by being unique. This uniqueness is evident when a company offers special benefits to its stakeholders. This signifies the fact that when referring changes are adopted by the majority of companies in certain branch, they become standards. After that point they cannot represent a source of competitive advantage. They should be adopted in order to survive in the industry.The first orientation to emerge from the described development scenario is an orientation towards the knowledge economy, which is, compared to the industrial economy, more environmentally friendly and less dependent on natural resources. The processes of knowledge management - the creation, transfer, storage and application of the knowledge - require fewer natural resources in comparison to product manufacturing. The profitability of resources in the knowledge economy is also higher than in the production economy due to higher added value. However a knowledge-era organisation cannot be defined in terms of the organisation's products, structure, systems or any other organisational characteristic. Rather, a knowledge-era organisation is one that exhibits a sense of pride and commitment. In a knowledge-era organisation people know and care why the organisation exists. An industrial-era organisation can transform itself into a knowledge-era organisation if it can go beyond the strategy-structure-systems trilogy to establishing a sense of purpose (Ghoshal et al., 1999).The next proposed orientation is to become the proactive part of a knowledge network that is supported by information and communication technology. These networks are reshaping classical and rigid organisational borders with their exact definition of who/what forms the constitutive part of the organisation and who/what is the subject of the external environment (i.e. competitors, suppliers, consumers, etc.). In a traditional supply and demand market economy, all the subjects mentioned competed individually on the market in order to buy as cheaply as possible and to sell as expensively as possible. In the knowledge network this rule does not work any more. Different organisations represent different parts of the network and they interact with each other in order to develop new knowledge. This knowledge is now not the private property of certain organisation, but presents the property of the whole network. Such examples of cooperation can be found nowadays in different companies, where suppliers and consumers cooperate closely with the organisation in the process of new product development. Such cooperation can be effective only when the knowledge flow is not in any way interrupted between the group members, even if they are members of different organisations. For that reason, trust is the essential element of a successful network. A higher stage of cooperation within the knowledge network is represented by a sort of open code solutions. At this stage the knowledge network is by definition boundless and unlimited. Everyone who has interest can take part in the development process. Basically this presents an extended concept of communities of practice that is beyond the boundary of one or more organisations. A knowledge network can be defined as a self-organised community, which has the intention to form and develop new knowledge on the basis of common interests.The referring orientations correspond to the concept of human capital. This concept is not focused solely on implementing traditional human resource policies (employment, promotion, awarding of employees). It is focused on stimulating and creating a social environment where employees can gain new knowledge, develop their own ideas from basic concept to prototype development, and grow as people. To establish such a social environment we need to transform traditional organisational structures into more flexible forms of cooperation on the basis of common interests and development projects, i.e. we need to move from formal organisation or units to \"informal\" communities. Nevertheless the hierarchical structures in companies should not be abolished; they are present in every natural or social system. Hierarchical structures should only be minimised in order to avoid negative selection. Negative selection is evident when certain employees are promoted in spite of their incompetence, solely because they smoothly assent to any idea and decision of their superiors. On the other hand, employees who are creative and who firmly defend their ideas can be punished and are not promoted. In the future a different type of employee is required: employees need to be more educated, more flexible to adapt to quick and radical changes, and prepared to take responsibility for their decisions and actions. Above all they need to have the desire to learn and to gain new knowledge.\n5. Conclusions: In this paper a hybrid approach to scenario planning by integrating group Delphi method, the analytical hierarchy process and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps has been proposed. Due to the importance of sustainable development for the future of the world we tried to contribute to understanding of the issue and to propose some possible changes that organisations can make to improve the actual situation.According to Li et al. (2002), the driving forces for using hybrid approaches are:* to achieve methods enhancement, as we wish to avoid the weaknesses of individual methods while combining their strengths; and* to achieve multiplicity of application tasks, as no single method is adequate to deal with different sub-problems of the given task.In the authors' opinion, this hybrid approach extends the limits of all three isolated methodologies for supporting scenario development. Nevertheless, this approach has also some limitations, especially in when a larger number of factors are involved. This is because of the large number of pairwise comparisons we need to perform. Besides this, it can be also difficult to design measures for all involved factors in a way that measures properly represent a relationship between cause and effect. Sometimes is also difficult to define a starting value for a factor as not all values are available especially for some qualitative measures.Hopefully the proposed approach will be applied by other researchers on climate related issues and in this way some new knowledge related to this critical issue for all people will develop.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to present the common use of the Delphi method, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps for the development of a future scenario in correlation with climate warming.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A combination of the Delphi method, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps was employed to construct a future scenario as a learning device.\nFindings: - Based on the data, the future is not going to be so bad but also not very attractive even if it is assumed that human consciousness about global warming issues will remain high. After a few years or so it will be possible to stop negative climate processes but not possible to fix the problem in the sense that the situation we have now can be substantially improved.\nPractical implications: - This paper is of interest for foresight practitioners and policy makers who want to employ a hybrid approach to scenario development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is the first to try to use a combination of different methods for scenario development related to climate change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
School-NGO interaction: case studies of Israel and Germany	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Schools", "NGO" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The increasing involvement of third-sector organizations in the public education system is a global phenomenon. In recent decades, such organizations have become a major source of social influence in developed as well as in developing nations. The increase in the numbers and involvement of these voluntary and philanthropic organizations demarcates the development and expansion of neo-liberal policies in the education system. Such policies include contradictory trends. On one hand, through decentralization and privatization, school principals are increasing their independence and control of internal matters and decision-making processes in the schools, while on the other hand they are facing growing pressures to improve student achievements and meet government-mandated standards (Goldring and Schuermann, 2009; Inbar, 2009; Lubienski, 2003; Lubienski et al., 2013; Schoen and Fusarelli, 2008). On the other hand, over the past two decades, education is perceived as major factor in ensuring national economic growth and competitiveness in a globalized world. These trends have exposed school staff to a complicated array of pressures that impact their work methods and ability to function, but have also provided school leaderships with opportunities to act autonomously, to encourage some amount of innovation and to lead changes in their schools - including the opportunity for new players (mainly commercial entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)) to take active part in formal education systems.\nTheoretical framework: Schools in the twenty-first century\nResearch methodology: This study's main objective is to characterize the process by which the interactions between schools and NGOs in the Israeli and German education systems, emerge; the motivations of each of the involved stakeholders; how stakeholders perceive the interaction and the power relations between the involved stakeholders. Using case studies, we examine how the relationships between the formal education system and the external entity are formed, reveal the motivations and strategies of the stakeholders involved in the interaction (school principals, regulatory agents, and the non-profit organizations' leadership), and investigate the partnerships' development process in the two different educational systems studied. Such exploration enables us to present the establishment and maintenance of the interaction pathway between the external entity and schools.\nResults and discussion: The following section is organized according to the main themes that emerged from the analysis of the interviews with stakeholders in Israel and Germany, as well as the relevant documents reviewed. The findings reveal a complex picture, considering that the Israeli and German education systems operate in a similar manner regarding the interaction between schools and NGOs. Accordingly, the interviews with stakeholders in both countries revealed two major themes based on the interviewees' concurring perceptions of: the interaction as an entrepreneurial venture where school principals and NGOs can be regarded as \"Contextual Entrepreneurs\"; and NGOs are perceived by all interviewed stakeholders as providers of \"educational activity\" that teachers cannot provide.\nConclusion: The present study investigates school-NGO interactions in Germany and Israel from the lenses of the stakeholders involved. Two similar NGOs that offer content-matter excluded from the schools' formal core curricula were selected: one operating in the Israeli school system and the other in the German school system. The study demonstrates the phenomenon of isomorphism in public education policy in globalized, neo-liberal education systems. Thus, it appears that similar broader phenomena occur in both countries as reflected in three major conclusions drawn from the study: first, in both countries examined, all the stakeholders involved perceive the school-NGO engagement to be an entrepreneurial venture. The school principals' and the NGOs' activities are defined by proactivity, striving for innovation, and risk-taking behavior. In this context, in both countries the parties directly involved in the entrepreneurial action (the schools and the NGOs) can by classified as \"contextual entrepreneurs\". Thus, it appears that in the context of the interaction, the school principals and the NGOs in both countries operate as entrepreneurs who are required to assess the different players, to understand the power and influence of each, and, accordingly, to adjust their own actions and decisions. They make the most of the existing situation's advantages, utilizing the lack of one clear model or system to integrate NGOs in schools. Moreover, they make the most of the autonomy granted to them in this situation by transforming themselves into active participants in the process of creating the partnership. This entrepreneurship can be categorized under the umbrella term of social entrepreneurship which represents a range of innovative international praxis and discourse in the social sector, which have an impact on societies around the globe (Nicholls, 2006). Referring to social entrepreneurship Nicholls (2010) suggests a fourth type of isomorphic pressure - \"reflexive isomorphism\" which in contrast to the other three types of isomorphism (as mentioned above), this type of isomorphism favors agency over structure and suggests that organizations can shape the legitimacy of an emergent field to reflect their own institutional norms and logics; second, the entrepreneurial action that is by definition not institutionalized (as it was created in order to break through the school system's institutional boundaries) is becoming institutionalized in the education system in both countries. This institutionalization takes place precisely due to the context in which this entrepreneurialism occurred, characterized by the absence of any clear division of responsibility or definition of roles of each relevant player, alongside great uncertainty regarding the partnership's creation process. This institutionalization is reflected in the study's findings, which show that NGOs in both countries can integrate in schools in various ways, all of which the relevant stakeholders consider to be legitimate. In bestowing such legitimacy and encouraging the integration of entrepreneurship in the education system in many ways, the interacting stakeholders contribute to the process of institutionalizing their partnerships within the system; and third, all parties to the entrepreneurial action in both countries (including the German and Israeli MOEs, which embraced the NGOs' activities) claim that schools themselves cannot provide for all the students' needs with the existing resources at their disposal. Moreover, stakeholders argue that teachers cannot truly \"educate\" the students and provide them with the skills they will need throughout their lives[10], and to this end, they require input from external entities. The activities related to the core academic curriculum remain the responsibility of the teachers, but consensus exists that \"education\" activities need to be reinforced by external agents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction between schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Israeli and German education systems from the perspective of the stakeholders involved: school principals, the NGOs' leadership, and regulatory authorities in each country.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study documents the process by which the interactions between schools and NGOs emerge, the motivations of each of the involved stakeholders, how stakeholders perceive the interaction and the power relations between the involved stakeholders. The study was conducted using the qualitative \"grounded theory\" methodology, which the authors applied to develop a concept that is anchored in data collected through the research and systematically analyzed.\nFindings: Using case studies, the authors examine how the relationships between the formal education system and the external entity are formed, reveal the motivations and strategies of the stakeholders involved in the interaction, and investigate the partnerships' development process in the two different educational systems studied. Findings from the study leading to the conclusion that school-NGO interaction is based on entrepreneurial activities on the part of the school principals and the NGOs, which is gradually becoming institutionalized.\nOriginality/value: Through this study, the authors have developed a new empirical based theory on the interaction between schools and NGOs as entrepreneurial activity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the impact of relational capital on customer performance in the SME B2B sector: The moderating role of absorptive capacity	[ "Relational capital", "Absorptive capacity", "Open innovation", "B2B", "Small- and medium-sized enterprises", "Customer performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The main motivation behind this study stems from the evidence that firm success is strongly driven by the ability to focus on customers' needs and meet their requirements (Theoharakis et al., 2009). Within this context, relational resources that span firm boundaries have been identified as being critical for achieving competitive advantage (Theoharakis et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: 2.1 Relational capital and SMEs\n3. Research method: 3.1 Sampling and data collection\n4. Empirical analysis and results: 4.1 Factor analysis\n5. Discussion: Within the stream of research regarding open innovation, academic studies provide ample evidence that inter-organizational relationships strongly contribute to the achievement of a competitive edge in the global market. Adopting a broader point of view, the purpose of this paper was to expand this perspective by considering relational capital, which is made up not only of the set of relationships with external actors but also of marketing capability, technological reputation and brand, in order to shed more light on the determinants of CP. In addition, this paper also tests the role of the organizational dimension of absorptive capacity in moderating the relationship between the different components of relational capital and CP.\n6. Conclusions: This study provides useful implications both for the academic and the managerial community. As far as the academic implications are concerned, first our work contributes to the scarce literature dealing with relational capital (Kijek and Kijek, 2007) which is often an under-investigated issue due to the difficulty in identifying and measuring it (Lopes, 2014). Moreover, although relational capital might reduce organizational costs (Kijek and Kijek, 2007; Siddiqui and Asad, 2014), and thus increase the overall firm profitability, we specifically looked at its effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty. By investigating how relational capital and absorptive capacity affect CP, this paper responds to an explicit call for research (e.g. Wu et al., 2013) combining the internal-external knowledge and resource mix perspectives and it reveals useful insights on how a firm can be successfully customer oriented. Furthermore, by focusing on SMEs in B2B industries, it enhances our knowledge on how to strengthen the relationship between the firm and the customer, which is still under-investigated (Kumar, 2010). SMEs often have a reactive approach, characterized by an emotional decision-making process rather than a long-term strategy, and are not inclined to invest much money in building strong relationships with customers through marketing resources, brands and reputation. Frequently customer satisfaction and loyalty are achieved thanks to the personal and social relationships of the entrepreneur, without making investments either in marketing resources or in building strong brands or reputation. On the contrary, our findings show that SMEs might reap some benefits from a more planned organization of relational capital, paying particular attention to the dimensions of marketing capability, open innovation toward business partners and technological reputation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence that different components of relational capital (marketing capability, open innovation with business and scientific partners, technological reputation, brand) have on customer performance (CP). Moreover, the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on such relationships is tested.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the direct relationship between the different components of relational capital and CP is analyzed through a linear regression model. Then, to test the moderating effect, two distinct regression analyses are conducted into two sub-samples, defined according to the level of absorptive capacity. The authors carried out these analyses on a sample of 150 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the medium- and high-tech B2B context.\nFindings: Results of this study prove that CP is enhanced through firm marketing capability, open innovation with business partners and technological reputation, while brand and open innovation with scientific partner do not have an association with CP. In particular, the impact of marketing capability and open innovation with business actors on CP is greater for firms with higher absorptive capacity.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper, highlighting the relevance of relational capital and absorptive capacity in improving CP, enhances our knowledge about the factors that help to strengthen the relationships with customers, which is an under-investigated issue especially for SMEs competing in B2B industries, and extends our knowledge on open innovation practices.\nPractical implications: Findings of this paper suggest that, to achieve better CP, managers should pay special attention to nurturing their marketing capability and high-quality relationships with external actors and invest in absorptive capacity to enhance the positive effect of such linkages.\nOriginality/value: This work, combining the external perspective of relational capital and the internal organizational dimension of absorptive capacity, provides valuable insights about the knowledge and resource mix that firms might rely on to achieve better customer satisfaction and loyalty.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of brand schematicity on the importance of product cues: self-purchasing versus gift-giving situations	[ "Quality", "Consumer behaviour", "Brand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Imagine you had to buy one product for yourself and another as a gift. Would you choose the same product? Would you place the same importance on product cues in reaching your decision? The answer is far from sure. Several previous studies have observed differences in consumer purchasing behaviour when the product is to be presented as a gift rather than to be used by the purchaser themselves (Gronhaug, 1972; Vincent and Zikmund, 1976; Ryans, 1977; Coney and Harmon, 1979; Clarke and Belk, 1979; Heeler et al., 1979; Warshaw, 1980; Gillison and Reynolds, 2016). These authors found that purchasing a gift involves more time and money than when the same product is to be consumed by the buyer. Selecting a gift is also a more involving task than buying for personal use (Belk, 1982).\nTheoretical background: Gift-giving purchasing versus self-purchasing\nHypotheses: When choosing a product, quality is a very important criterion for consumers (Szybillo and Jacoby, 1974). The role of perceived quality was defined by Aaker (1991) as \"the customer's perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives\". Furthermore, consumers perceive quality through a two-stage process. First, consumers choose cues or attributes of product quality from an array of product-related cues or attributes. Second, consumers integrate their evaluations of the individual cues or attributes into an overall judgment of product quality (Olson and Jacoby, 1972). Quality cues are informational stimuli that are, in the consumer's eyes, related to the quality of the product and can be ascertained by the consumer via the senses prior to consumption. Quality attributes are benefit-generating product aspects and cannot be observed prior to consumption (Steenkamp, 1989). When choosing an \"experience product\", consumers evaluate perceived quality on the basis of quality cues. These quality cues may be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic cues are part of the physical product (Jacoby et al., 1971; Valenzi and Andrews, 1971). They cannot be changed or experimentally manipulated without also changing the physical characteristics of the product itself (Olson and Jacoby, 1972). In contrast, extrinsic cues are related to the product but are not physically part of it (Jacoby et al., 1971; Valenzi and Andrews, 1971, Olson and Jacoby, 1972). Price and brand name are extrinsic cues because even if they are changed, the physical product remains identical.\nMethodology: To test these hypotheses, two studies were conducted, one on wine and the other on whisky. According to the web site \"mon-vigneron.com\", 89 per cent of French consumers buy wine to offer their guests when they invite them into their homes, and 85 per cent buy wine as a gift for a birthday party. In other words, wine may be purchased for self-consumption or to be offered. Wine plays an important role in shared moments in French life. Whisky is another product which may be bought for self-consumption or offering for Christmas and at other events. However, purchasing wine (or whisky) is perceived as a complex process because it is an \"experience product\", where the product's intrinsic characteristics are hidden (Nelson, 1970).\nThe data collection procedure: Two purchasing situations were proposed in a random presentation. Participants read the two following instructions:\nStudy 1: Wine data collection was conducted online using a Qualtrics panel of respondents of 285 French wine consumers. The data collection procedure follows the description above. More than 60 per cent of the respondents were under 54 years old, and the majority of respondents are women. More than 90 per cent of respondents lived outside the Bordeaux region (Table I).\nStudy 2: To confirm the results obtained on wine, another alcohol product category was examined. The data collection procedure is the same as for wine product category. It was conducted online using a panel of 139 French whisky consumers. In total, 80 per cent of the respondents were under 54 years old, and the majority of respondents were women. Because of the survey characteristics, our sample could be considered a representative sample of the French population. All respondents in the whisky study lived in the Valence region (Table IX).\nGeneral discussion: Intrinsic cues have a greater influence upon quality perception than extrinsic cues (Valenzi and Andrews, 1971; Jacoby et al., 1971, Szybillo and Jacoby, 1974). Confirming these previous results, regardless of the purchase situation (self or gift) and the product category, consumers use intrinsic cues to make their choice.\nConclusion: The results of these studies contribute to a better understanding of the influence of brand schematicity and purchase situations, extending the findings reported by Puligadda et al. (2012). Brand schematicity would appear to have a greater influence when the commercial brand cue is not salient. In that situation, whatever the purchasing situation (self- or gift-purchasing), the commercial brand name is a more important cue for brand-schematic consumers than for brand-aschematic, which fits with the findings of Puligadda et al. (2012) and shows the validity of the schematicity scale.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of self-purchasing versus gift-giving situations on the importance of product cues and the moderating effect of brand schematicity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected via an online survey of 285 French consumers for wine and 139 French consumers for whisky. The interaction effect of the gift-giving situation and brand schematicity on the importance of product cues was then investigated.\nFindings: The results differed, depending on the importance of brand cue. For the whisky category (high brand importance), brand schematicity had no influence on the importance of cues. For the wine category (low brand importance), brand schematicity moderated the influence of the gift-giving situation on the importance of extrinsic cues such as commercial brand. Brand schematicity and the situation of gift-giving also influence the number of important cues which consumers take into account when making their choice. In low-involvement purchasing situations, brand-aschematic consumers use fewer choice criteria than brand-schematic consumers, whereas in high-involvement purchasing situations, regardless of their level of brand schematicity, consumers use the same number of criteria to make their selection.\nPractical implications: When the commercial brand is a salient cue and regardless of the purchasing situation, it is important to provide information on the brand to consumers through any format, such as social media, leaflets, flash codes, in-store digital display, etc. When the commercial brand is not a salient cue, brand schematicity may be relevant to a segment of consumers because this consumer profile may need more information and will focus on the commercial brand. Brand managers could develop a specific approach to schematic consumers based on brand content, for example, brand managers could provide marketing materials (e.g. leaflets, flash codes, mobile apps) to retail store managers explaining the origin and value of the commercial brand. Consumers could also be provided with digital devices (such as tablets), which they could use to search for information according to these cues before choosing their product. Social media and online brand community could also provide more details about the brand and may provide an interactive area for discussions with consumers.\nOriginality/value: There has been little research on the effect of brand schematicity on the importance of product cues. To the authors' knowledge, the interaction between brand schematicity and purchase according to product category has not previously been studied. The influence of brand schematicity changes depending on the importance given to brand cues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A narrative study of newly graduated registered Swedish nurses' establishment in the profession and the portrayal of a healthcare organisation	[ "Narratives", "Job satisfaction", "Qualitative research", "Nurses", "Healthcare organization", "Newly graduated nurses" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The current shortage of nurses is an issue that has had a major impact on healthcare systems worldwide (Buchan, 2002; Oulton, 2006) and is also portrayed in the media as a problem (Blomberg and Stier, 2015; Tierney, 2003). Some of the suggestions for solving this problem include the local recruitment of nurses (Tierney, 2003) and the improvement of nurses' working conditions, e.g. with a more reasonable workload and flexible hours to improve job satisfaction (Coomber and Barriball, 2007). The focus in this paper is how a healthcare organisation embraces and retains newly graduated registered nurses and how they perceive this.\n2. Background: When planning the study, it was important to include three perspectives on the newcomers' establishment in the profession/workplace in order to capture what facilitated this from different angles. The participants were, therefore, selected due to their identities as newly graduated nurses, managers and colleagues. Another reason for including participants with different positions in the workplace is that their stories can contribute to a more accurate portrayal of the healthcare organisation. As people use stories naturally in communicative situations and the fact that members in organisations have contemporary and historical repertoire of stories, a narrative approach is regarded as most appropriate for creating mutual understanding when making sense of organisations (see Czarniawska, 1997, 2011). Ever since the linguistic turn in social science in general, and in organisational studies in particular, the focus on language - to more reflectivity deal with spoken and written words when analysing organisations has increased (Alvesson and Karreman, 2000; see also Yiannis, 2015). This means a research interest to provide other forms of knowledge in organisational studies than that commonly used in organisation theory and practice (Czarniawska, 1997), e.g. generating knowledge to understand and analyse professional identity and working career (Mishler, 1999), or how people legitimatise their organisation through their language use (Rhodes and Brown, 2005). This study is departing from social constructionism, which entails studying how language uses constructs reality - in this case how the participants' accounts of past and present events in the workplace create reality and accomplish social actions (Potter, 1996; Wetherell et al., 2001). Whenever people speak they are doing things in the given situation, such as entertaining, blaming, praising, justifying, etc., i.e. accomplishing actions that have implications for the construction of identity and, thus, the creation of the workplace (Potter, 1996). In line with other organisational studies using a narrative approach, it is about revealing how an organisation's workplace is made and negotiated by its members in continuously produced narratives (Alvesson et al., 2008; Czarniawska, 1997; Rhodes and Brown, 2005). Put differently, how members retrospectively tell their stories where the work culture/organisation reveals itself through their individual stories (Czarniawska, 1997; Mishler, 1999). The theoretical and methodological framework focuses on the production of reality, how members of the organisation, with their diverse stories, convey how their healthcare organisation can be understood.\n3. The study: 3.1 Aim\n4. Findings: Initially, the transition period and the social actions described in the narratives are presented. Thereafter, the focus is on what is conveyed in the narratives concerning support, demands and work relationships.\n5. Discussion: This study sets out to reveal what is conveyed when newly graduated nurses, managers and nursing colleagues narrate their experiences of \"newcomers' establishment in the profession\" and how their telling portrays the organisation. When placing their actions in relevant narratives the parties identify themselves as newly graduated nurses, managers and nursing colleagues and convey their perspectives on the respective roles (Czarniawska, 2011; Mishler, 1999).\n6. Limitation: As previously indicated, the limitations of the study are the findings that cannot be generalised or make theory-driven claims (Meyer, 2015). Another limitation is the difficulty of translating Swedish data into English for the purpose of this paper. A native English speaker, who is also a professional language editor, was therefore consulted about equivalent English expressions. In addition, the findings may be applicable to other cases with similar circumstances (Schwandt, 2007).\n7. Conclusion: First, this study suggests that in order to define, which skills newly graduated nurses are required to have and how the theory-practice gap can be reduced, the educational institution and the healthcare organisation need to co-operate to a much greater extent (than they already do) and have a continuous and mutual dialogue. Second, in order to create a sustainable and satisfying workplace it is important to build trust between the organisation's members. A formal way of creating trust is to have daily evaluation sessions and to involve and acknowledge everyone as equally important. An informal way of doing this is to use mutual dialogs in the everyday interactions in order to strengthen the work relationships. In the process of creating trust, the staff may feel vulnerable, in that trust is something that takes time to develop.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the participants talk about their experiences as newly graduated nurses, managers and nursing colleagues in the context of \"newcomers' establishment in the profession\" and to identify how they portray the healthcare organisation in their narratives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A narrative approach is used to reveal and illustrate three perspectives on the topic \"new-comers' establishment\". In total, 14 interviews are conducted with 4 managers, 4 nursing colleagues and 6 newly graduated registered nurses. The focus of this study is how a healthcare organisation embraces and retains newly graduated registered nurses and how this is perceived.\nFindings: The newcomers' establishment is facilitated by an orientation programme and an orientation period, individual support provided by managers and colleagues, and the creation of trust to boost confidence in nursing situations. The organisation is portrayed as struggling with high workloads, nursing shortages, high levels of responsibility and showing concern and an interest in the newcomer. The parties criticise the university for not teaching the most basic knowledge, thereby revealing the existence of a theory-practice gap.\nOriginality/value: The research shows how building trust amongst the organisation's members is essential for creating a satisfying workplace and the retention of newly graduated registered nurses. Empirical descriptions of newly graduated nurses, managers and nursing colleagues experiences of \"newcomers establishment\" are rare, which is why the description of such \"establishment\" in this research increases the value of the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Articulating the fashion product life-cycle	[ "Sales forecasting", "Inventory management", "Newsvendor model", "Bass model", "Product life-cycle" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe fashion inventory management problem: Sales forecasting literature and practice are focussed on the use of historical sales data to predict the future behaviour of consumers (Mentzer and Moon, 2005). Time series analysis techniques, based on regression and correlation analysis (Cowpertwait and Metcalfe, 2009), attempt to identify underlying long-term demand trends and cycles. These techniques, however, require temporal stability across seasonal markets and assume consistency in consumer behaviour from one season to another to be effective. This is clearly not the case with fashion (Anson, 2010; Fung et al., 2007; Tokatli, 2008).\nThe models: Bass model\nNewsvendor model: The Newsvendor model (also called single-period or perishable model) is a classic analytical tool from the operations management community (Brandimarte and Zotteri, 2007). The model determines the optimal amount of inventory that a business should carry over a fixed period given a perishable product that cannot be easily replenished in season. Interestingly, like groceries and newspapers, fashion garments can be viewed as perishable items. A fashion garment only has value to a fashion consumer in season. Once that season has passed, the garment is obsolete, bound for landfill or recycling.\nIllustration through a worked example: The Newsvendor model is best understood through a worked example to appreciate the algebra. Imagine a business that spends PS70 per unit developing a fashion garment for market. Development costs include market research, consultants' fees, manufacturing, and various logistic costs. The business calculates that they need to sell each garment for PS100 to justify the development costs and guarantee a fair return for the business' investors[2]. The chief merchandiser for the business has negotiated a deal with a garment discount company to take any unsold garments at the end of the season. The discounter will pay PS61.50 for each unsold garment. Under such a scenario Cu is PS100-PS70, the PS30 that would have been generated by a sale if there was a garment to sell. The Co is PS70-PS65.50, the PS8.50 lost because of poor stock management. To avoid incurring Cu or Co the business needs to maintain a stock level where the probability of Cu is equal to the probability of Co. That is, the probability of making PS30 needs to be equal to the probability of losing PS8.50. More stock is ordered while the chance of making an additional PS30 dominates. Less stock is ordered while the chance of losing PS8.50 dominates. Intuitively, in this example, an inventory manager would tend to overstock rather than understock. The probability of losing PS8.50 is more attractive than the probability of losing a potential sale and the PS30 that would result from that sale. Clearly, there is a critical ratio between Cu and Co that guarantees no loss of revenue. Therefore, the optimum amount of stock a business carries, call it Q, requires a probabilistic forecast of demand that maps likely demand to the critical ratio where Cu and Co are equal. The problem therefore is: what are the chances that demand will match Q so that there is no overstocking or under stocking.\nSimulating a probabilistic forecast: A probabilistic forecast of demand can be generated, as observed above, with qualitative market research tools. This paper advocates a computer simulation method based on a Bass process.\nDiscussion: The advantage of the Bass and Newsvendor models is their relative simplicity. They provide a framework for small fashion enterprises, who cannot justify the purchase of commercial product life-cycle management systems, to reason about optimum stock levels by exploring \"what-if\" scenarios created by manipulating a few modelling parameters: m, p, q, u, n, Cu and Co. It is relatively straightforward for a competent computer programmer to implement these models in a spreadsheet application. Furthermore, the models themselves should appeal to fashion marketing and merchandising professionals educated in qualitative methods. The qualitative challenge is to anticipate the shape of the demand profile for a particular product's life-cycle. This is done by exploring different values for m, p, q, u and n.\nConclusion: Fashion is clearly an artistic product determined by culture and social conditions (Blumer, 1969). However, the production and distribution of fashion garments is experienced by operation managers as life-cycle waves of demand articulated by the complex interactions between marketing decisions and resource constraints that need to be managed. The advantage of the Bass model is that it succinctly summaries this complexity with a simple curve that captures the insights of fashion professionals who may use qualitative tools to determine demand and the appetite of consumers for particular designs. Coupled to this, the Newsvendor model contemplates, using simple costing ratios, the profitability of the design and the number of units to produce.\nFuture studies: The Bass and Newsvendor models are theoretical. It would be useful to test these models, employing the simulation method described above, against real-world scenarios. The difficulty here is the commercial sensitivity of historical sales data from which empirical demand models can be constructed. Retailers are reluctant to share sales information with researchers who are obliged to place knowledge into the public domain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a framework for predicting the seasonal demand for fashion based on the Bass Diffusion model of demand and the Newsvendor inventory management model. Sales and inventory management simulations based on these models have been implemented in the Julia programming language to demonstrate how theoretical models can be made operational using open-source software for the benefit of small- to medium-scale enterprises with limited resources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper employs simulation models implemented in the Julia programming languages to explore the use of theoretical models of demand on the seasonal management of fashion inventory.\nFindings: The research demonstrates that further exploration of the framework described is worth undertaking.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper employs theoretical models and is therefore conceptual in its outlook. Nonetheless it provides insights that could be explored further if real-world sales data would become available.\nPractical implications: The framework provides simple models for predicting the demand for fashion that allows \"what-if\" scenarios to be constructed based on the manipulation of a few model parameters.\nSocial implications: The framework provides low-cost analytical tools that support small fashion enterprises with regards to market understanding and the operational management requirements necessary to support those markets.\nOriginality/value: The analytical use of the Bass model of demand with the Newsvendor model of inventory management within a fashion context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between organizational commitment, knowledge transfer and knowledge management maturity	[ "Knowledge management", "Organizational commitment", "Knowledge transfer", "Modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the current scenario, based on the competitiveness and the new management forms, organizations through their human resources policies, seek to establish a link with their employees and, in a way, aim to influence these employees' behaviour and involvement in the organizational environment (Rocha and Ceretta, 2013).\n2. Literature review: The human resources and the knowledge management have considered the two most important factors within an organization that help it achieve a competitive advantage. In this sense, the organizations must care about the human factors to increase their commitment to organizations to take the full advantage knowledge they possess (Obeidat et al., 2014). The organizations are increasingly interested in promoting a commitment among their employees on the various benefit basis associated with the improving employee performance (Lew, 2011), improving the performance mediated by affective commitment (Razzaq et al., 2018), also improving the use of knowledge also mediated by affective commitment (Ouakouak and Ouedraogo, 2018) and reducing the employee turnover and increasing the knowledge transfer rate (Martin-Perez and Martin-Cruz, 2015).\n3. Methodology: From the methodological point of view, this work is characterized as a descriptive, field and quantitative research, as it exposes the characteristics of a certain population (Vergara, 2006). It was carried out at a Federal University of the Minas Gerais State, in Brazil- whose studied population is 997 teachers and 815 administrative technicians.\n4. Results and analysis: Regarding to the demographic variables, the sample was mostly male (53.25 per cent), with the most frequent age groups being 31 to 35 years (21.36 per cent) and more than 50 years (20.74 per cent). Regarding to the marital status, 47.68 per cent of the interviewees were married and 34.37 per cent were single. The most frequent schooling was doctoral or postdoctoral (29.10 per cent) and masters (19.20 per cent). Most of the participants are administrative technicians (62.85 per cent, but teachers (37.15 per cent) also participated in the research. The sample also had diversified participants in relation to the organization time, with the majority, 27.55 per cent in the range of 1 to five years.\n5. Final considerations: This article sought to analyse the relationship between the organizational commitment, the knowledge transfer, and the knowledge management maturity at a university of higher education in Brazil, starting from a suggestion for a study proposed in the work of Martin-Perez and Martin-Cruz (2015). To reach this objective, it was used an exploratory factorial analysis and the structural equations modelling.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the relationship between the organizational commitment, the knowledge transfer and the knowledge management maturity at a Brazilian public university. As indicated in the literature, the organizational commitment and the influence on knowledge management in the public sector, especially in developing countries, configures an important gap to be filled (Razzaq et al., 2018).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research has a descriptive and quantitative nature, and to run the analysis, an exploratory factorial analysis was conducted and after that a structural equations modelling was carried out.\nFindings: The results indicated a significant relationship between the organizational commitment to the knowledge transfer and, consequently, to the knowledge management maturity.\nOriginality/value: In the first place, the model including all dimensions of commitment: affective, calculative and normative with knowledge transfer and knowledge maturity was not tested before. Second, data on the public sector in developing countries are still rare and studies in this field encouraged (Razzaq et al., 2018). In this case, the present study contributes in this field, specifically in the education sector. Finally, understanding the individual commitment profile helps to understand the extent to which that person contributes both to the knowledge transfer, and therefore, in the same analogy, to the knowledge management maturity level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of gay-friendly recruitment statements and due process employment on a firm's attractiveness as an employer	[ "Recruitment", "Sexual orientation", "Diversity climate", "Job pursuit intentions", "Organizational attraction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The workforce will increasingly include employees of greater sexual orientation diversity (Bell et al., 2011). A growing number of US firms are promoting non-traditional forms of compensation in order to promote a welcoming climate for sexual orientation diversity (Button, 2001). For example, 62 percent of Fortune 500 firms offer domestic partner-benefits (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2013) compared to 57 percent in 2009 (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2009). Additionally, 88 percent of Fortune 500 firms have corporate policies that protect sexual minorities from discrimination at work (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2013).\nLiterature review: Early recruitment\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Statements were included at the end of the surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the ad diversity manipulations and instrumental job attribute manipulations presented. Further analysis confirmed that the manipulations were successful. Similar to Avery (2003), I performed an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to determine if job-seeking status exhibited any statistically significant effect on the dependent variable OA or JPI. There were no significant effects for job-seeking status on the dependent variables indicating that active and inactive job seekers responded similarly. A simple regression was also performed to determine if sexual orientation or religious fundamentalism exhibited any statistically significant effect on OA or JPI. There were no significant effects for either, therefore, both variables were omitted from the analysis of the full model.\nDiscussion: The current study contributes to the literature covering early recruitment by demonstrating the effect that GLBT diversity recruitment statements have on the recruitment efforts of a firm. Recruitment ads containing statements regarding work diversity induced weaker JPI than ads without diversity statements. They also weakened the effect that perceived due process had on OA. Additionally, strong heterosexist attitudes influenced the effect of diversity statements on JPI, but not OA.\nConclusion: This study examined how potential job seekers pursue, or are attracted to firms based on how they identify themselves via in-(out-) group status when a firm's recruitment statements promote GLBT employee diversity. Results demonstrated that GLBT recruitment statements overall weaken the JPI of job seekers, and that individuals may forego due process in order to avoid working at a firm that supports sexual minorities. Signaling theory suggests that job seekers must interpret any available information about a company when there is limited information available (Spence, 1973). Hiring strategies that include both termination policies and diversity statements in recruitment literature may be used to repel undesirable job seekers. An implication of these findings is that it may enable human resources managers to create cultures of tolerance within their workforce by better understanding who their recruitment methods target. The way termination policies are promoted or governed, in some regards, may serve as a filter to sort out intolerant job seekers. More research is needed in this area to identify what other types of recruitment statements result in unexpected outcomes when combined in recruitment literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Using early recruitment and workplace diversity literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how employee recruitment statements regarding employment-at-will moderate the effect that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT)-supportive recruitment statements have on job seekers' job pursuit intentions (JPI) and attraction toward a firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A between-subjects, cross-sectional experimental design was used where subjects answered self-report questionnaires after viewing mock recruitment web ads. The ads included statements where the condition for job security or at-will employment and GLBT-supportive or equal opportunity employment climates were manipulated.\nFindings: The paper provides empirical insights about how gay-friendly work climate perceptions impact the organizational attractiveness and JPI of job seekers. Furthermore, the results suggest that the combination of recruitment strategies affect subjects differently based on their individual level of heterosexist attitudes.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because of the chosen research approach, research results may lack generalizability and be affected by social desirability effects. Because a cross-sectional design was used, causality cannot necessarily be inferred. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.\nPractical implications: The implications of these findings will assist human resources managers in creating cultures of tolerance within their workforce by helping them better understand who their recruitment methods target, and how to effectively use statements in recruitment literature to attract tolerant workers.\nOriginality/value: There is limited research that investigates the effects that diversity statements supportive of sexual minorities have on job seekers. A major contribution of the current study is the empirical evidence supporting the understanding of how individuals are affected by recruitment literature containing statements in support of sexual orientation employee diversity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reassessing retailers' usage of partially comparative pricing	[ "Price comparisons", "Partially comparative pricing", "Replication research", "Pricing", "Competitive strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Early examinations of reference pricing demonstrated that comparative price claims can enhance consumers' perceptions of the featured product's pricing and value (e.g. Biswas et al., 1993; Compeau and Grewal, 1994; Grewal et al., 1996; Lichtenstein et al., 1991). These findings seemingly supported the wisdom of retailers' unconstrained usage of price comparisons. However, this research focused on how price comparisons affected consumers' judgments about the comparatively priced products without considering whether these comparisons might also influence consumers' judgments about the non-comparatively priced products offered by the retailer.\nStudy 1: Method\nStudy 2: Method\nStudy 3: Method\nStudy 4: Method\nGeneral discussion: Heeding the frequent call for more replication research (Brown and Coney, 1976; Evanschitzky et al. 2007; Hunter, 2001; Madden et al. 1995; Monroe 1992a, b; Reid et al. 1981), four attempts were undertaken to reproduce Barone et al.'s (2004) findings concerning the effects of partially comparative pricing. Consistent with their results, price comparisons describing the featured retailer's price advantage over its competitor enhanced beliefs about its pricing superiority for those products receiving such comparisons. Thus, our findings reinforce their conclusions about the benefits of partially comparative pricing.Where our results diverge is with respect to the potential liabilities of this pricing strategy. Barone et al. (2004) repeatedly observed that price comparisons not only boosted price beliefs about the comparatively priced products, they also hurt price beliefs about the non-comparatively priced products, causing the retailer to be perceived less favorably in its price competitiveness for these items. We did not, however, observe this detrimental influence until participants were prompted to consider the possibility that the absence of a price comparison signaled a pricing disadvantage on the part of the featured retailer. For some reason, consumers' spontaneous suspicions of why only some products are compared to a competitor's prices, so evident in Barone et al.'s research, were absent in our assessments. Thus, our results indicate that the previously documented liability of partially comparative pricing may no longer exist. At a minimum, they show that this liability is far less likely to manifest itself than indicated previously.Importantly, our findings should not be viewed as dismissing the role played by suspicion, when present, in determining the effects of partially comparative pricing. Indeed, Study 4's findings of activating suspicion adversely affecting price beliefs about non-comparatively priced products reinforces its potential importance in shaping consumer response to partially comparative pricing. At the same time, however, our results do question whether such suspicion will necessarily be activated by retailers using price comparisons for a subset of their offerings.In so doing, they raise the question as to why suspicion was spontaneously expressed by so many of Barone et al.'s (2004) participants, but not by those participating in our studies. Given that we followed their measurement procedures, we can safely dismiss this methodological feature as a potential source for these variations. More generally, our adoption of nearly all of their methodological features suggests that the explanation lies elsewhere. One clear difference between the investigations is in the populations from which the participants were drawn. Whereas students were recruited at a university located in the southeast for Studies 1-3 and from the northeast for Study 4, Barone et al. enlisted students attending university in a different part of the country. Although it is unclear why these geographical variations would account for such dramatic differences in consumer response to partially comparative pricing, their existence is acknowledged.Another possibility may stem from the time in which these various studies were conducted. Nearly a decade has passed since the publication of Barone et al.'s (2004) research. As such, it might be tempting to attribute our diverging results about consumers' suspicion of partially comparative pricing to an increasing familiarity with its usage and a greater understanding of the practical challenges faced by retailers that make non-comparatively priced products an unavoidable reality over this time period. Nonetheless, we need to point out that Study 1 was conducted in 2004, two years after the execution of Barone et al.'s studies. Studies 2 and 3 were undertaken shortly thereafter, whereas Study 4 was recently conducted in 2012. Thus, whatever change that occurred among consumers that accounts for suspicion's disappearance, it occurred not very long after Barone et al.'s investigation and has persisted through our most recent assessment.Regardless of the reason or reasons for this apparent change in consumer suspicion, it would appear that the reservations about using partially comparative pricing suggested by Barone et al.'s (2004) investigation may no longer hold. At a minimum, the current findings should at least encourage retailers to test which pattern of effects (i.e. those reported originally versus those reported here) best characterizes their particular situation. More generally, this investigation offers another demonstration of the potential value of replication research and the risks any discipline incurs when preliminary empirical findings are not subjected to further assessments of reliability and generalizability.\nLimitations and future research: There are certain limitations that should be acknowledged. Both the current and original investigations examined only university students. As such, it is unknown if their responses would be the same as individuals from other population segments. Another limitation is that the reported findings, like those of Barone et al. (2004), come from controlled, experimental settings devoid of real world distractions during information processing that directed participants to pay careful consideration to the information they were given, a level of consideration that may not be typical for consumers during many shopping trips. In-store research would clearly provide the most ecologically valid assessment of partially comparative pricing.An obvious issue for future consideration is the apparent change in consumers' propensity to respond suspiciously to a marketing tactic. Understanding such changes is germane to not only those interested in the effects of partially comparative pricing, it may also be relevant to other research in which suspicion has been implicated as an important determinant of consumer response (e.g. Campbell and Kirmani, 2000; Darke and Ritchie, 2007; DeCarlo, 2005; DeCarlo and Barone, 2009; Main et al., 2007; Romani, 2006). If consumer suspicion proves to be something that may change quickly in the marketplace, then marketing tactics that evoke suspicion at one point in time may not do so at another (and vice versa) and, as such, may require different recommendations about a tactic's usefulness with the passage of a relatively short amount of time. In this regard, efforts to replicate other research in which suspicion about something in the marketplace plays a central role (e.g. as in Main et al.'s, 2007 investigation of consumers' suspicions about the motivations underlying a salesperson's compliment) may be warranted.That partially comparative pricing no longer appears to evoke the suspicion that was once so prevalent may also have some relevance to Main et al.'s (2007) findings about the automaticity of consumer suspicion. From a marketer's perspective, they present a rather discouraging view of consumer suspicion, one in which consumers may automatically experience suspicion even when circumstances do not warrant its existence. While the current findings certainly do not refute the potential automaticity of consumer suspicion, they do suggest the possibility that the automatic activation of suspicion may be more characteristic of particular marketplace encounters (e.g. interacting with salespeople, the focus of Main et al.'s research; consumer skepticism of advertising in general, see Calfee and Jones Ringold, 1994) than others (e.g. viewing comparatively and non-comparatively priced products), a possibility perhaps worthy of future exploration.That we did not observe partially comparative pricing to spontaneously evoke suspicion does not preclude the possibility that it still may, at least under certain circumstances. As indicated by the findings of Barone et al.'s (2004) Study 3, the extent to which consumers are patrons of either the featured or comparison retailer may strongly influence their responses to this pricing tactic. Those loyal to the competitor may indeed be more likely to be suspicious of the featured retailer simply cherry picking its pricing advantages while remaining silent about its disadvantages. There are potentially a number of factors that may moderate the propensity for suspicions to arise. Our research is silent about these possibilities.Finally, the reader is cautioned from concluding that the benefits of partially comparative pricing are limited to simply enhancing the relative price beliefs formed about a retailer's comparatively priced products observed here and elsewhere. Although this has been the only benefit reported thus far, existing efforts have been limited by their neglect of the impact of price comparisons on the relative price beliefs formed about non-comparatively priced brands within the same product category in which a price comparison appears. Indeed, both the present and previous investigations have only considered such effects across product categories (i.e. how a price comparison for a brand in one product category affects beliefs about non-comparatively priced brands from different product categories). To the extent consumers are more willing to generalize a price advantage from one brand to other brands within the same product category, the full story about the benefits of partially comparative pricing may yet to be told.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to assess the robustness of effects found by Barone et al. that partially comparative pricing enhances consumers' relative price beliefs about its comparatively priced products, but risks adversely affecting these beliefs about the retailer's non-comparatively priced products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Research uses an experimental methodology in which the presence or absence of a price comparison is manipulated and the effects on relative price beliefs about non-comparatively priced products are assessed.\nFindings: - Four studies replicated Barone et al.'s findings that a competitive price comparison enhances consumers' relative price beliefs about comparatively priced products, but did not replicate their findings that these beliefs about the non-comparatively priced products are affected adversely unless suspicion was induced experimentally. Otherwise, consumer suspicion about the lack of price comparisons, found to be a driver of the adverse effects in Barone et al., did not spontaneously emerge in the current research.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Research examines only university students in a controlled setting devoid of real-world distractions. Like Barone et al., effects focus on non-comparatively priced products in categories lacking any price comparison rather than the non-comparatively priced products residing within the same category as the comparatively priced product. Findings reinforce the value of replication.\nPractical implications: - The potential risks to retailers of using partially comparative pricing appear far less prevalent than observed previously.\nOriginality/value: - The paper raises questions about the stability of consumer response, particularly those involving consumer suspicion, to pricing tactics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The evolution of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes: a call for mixed evaluation methodologies	[ "Community-based rehabilitation", "Photovoice method", "WHOQOL-BREF" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy for general community development that addresses the rehabilitation, equalization of opportunities, poverty reduction and social inclusion of all persons with disabilities [1]. It is a rights-based and development-oriented approach aimed at improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in low-income countries. The main aim of CBR is to improve access to services for persons with disabilities in remote rural areas and enhance their quality of life, although the strategy is also utilized in urban areas. Currently, CBR is implemented globally in over 90 countries [2].The CBR strategy was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be included as part of PHC programs and is accepted as the best way of promoting an efficient way of making services more accessible to persons with disabilities in developing countries and bringing rehabilitation services closer to people with disabilities, especially in low-income countries [3]. As the global implementation of CBR programs increased, the manner in which CBR was conceptualized, initially as a medical care model, evolved in many ways. Other UN agencies, such as the International Labour Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Children's Fund developed a CBR Joint Position Paper, recognizing the need for a transition to include a multisectorial approach.Since 2004, the CBR approach has evolved from healthcare service delivery to community development as well as moving toward the social and human rights model of disability [1]. In 2006, with the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the human rights model for disability service delivery was adopted. In the same vein, in 2010, WHO adopted the CBR Guidelines [4] which further mandated member states to use the rights-based approach to include the active participation of persons with disabilities. These WHO CBR Guidelines clearly explain CBR as a multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach with five interrelated components including health, education, livelihood, social mobility and empowerment [4]. Currently, CBR does not only focus on the individual's impairments but also addresses experiences of persons with disabilities regarding poverty, reduced opportunities and social exclusion [2].Researchers have been urged to provide more evidence on the benefits of CBR that can help to convince governments and donors of the potential value and impact of CBR [5]. For the past four decades, there has been some form of CBR evaluation across all countries implementing the program. However, there is currently no evidence of a consensus on the most suitable CBR evaluation methodologies. To this end, this study aimed to provide a narrative review on CBR evaluations and the potential of the photovoice method when used alone and when used in combination with the quality of life assessment tools as primary CBR evaluation methodologies. The main research question was - what value does the photovoice method provide when used alone and when used in combination with the quality of life assessment tools in CBR evaluation?\nMethodology: A narrative review was undertaken but included some aspects of the scoping review methodology. Articles were purposively selected from the following databases: PubMed, EBSCOhost including MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Academic Search, Education Source, Health Source and Sage Publication, ScienceDirect and Web of Science. The three search terms used to find the relevant articles were \"CBR evaluation methodologies\", \"CBR and photovoice\" and \"photovoice and quality of life assessment tools for persons with disabilities\".The inclusion criteria were all articles or papers that described CBR evolution, CBR evaluations, photovoice and quality of life assessment tools for persons with disabilities. Articles or papers published from 1995 to 2018 were considered. The search was conducted in July 2018. Articles or papers not in English, grey literature and those for which the full text was not available were excluded. From the articles and papers retrieved from the first round of searches, additional references were identified by a manual search among the cited references.\nResults: The initial search yielded 5,564 articles of which 5,514 did not meet the inclusion criteria and 50 were retained for review. The final 33 articles and papers were included for review (Figure 1). The articles and papers included: six discussion papers of CBR evolution and evaluation, four reports on disability CBR programming, seven reviews on CBR monitoring and evaluation, three guidelines/manuals on CBR framework/models for evaluation, three manuals/guidelines on World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF, nine original articles with aspects of CBR monitoring and evaluation and one book chapter on CBR framework/models for evaluation.A narrative discussion of these results is presented below.\nDiscussion: This study aimed to investigate CBR evaluations and the potential of the photovoice method when used alone and when used in combination with the quality of life assessment tools as valid methodologies for CBR evaluation. The result and discussion of this narrative review will be presented as follows: an overview of CBR evaluation; the use of the photovoice method in CBR evaluation and the use of the photovoice method in combination with quality of life assessment tools in CBR evaluation.Overview of CBR evaluation\nConclusion: The evolution of CBR evaluation as a result of changes in the disability models from a priority health model, to a social and human rights models, calls for changes in CBR evaluation methodologies. The use of mixed methods has been recommended to capture both the experiences and quality of life of persons with disabilities. This resonates with a growing body of CBR literature that calls for a mixed-method approach in CBR evaluative frameworks. Thus, CBR evaluation methodologies should embrace the diversity among persons with disabilities in interpreting life experiences and quality of life. CBR programs built and modified on empirical evidence contribute to the country's health system being strengthened thus improving the quality of life of people with disabilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: For the past four decades, there is no evidence of a consensus on the suitable community-based rehabilitation (CBR) evaluation methodologies. To this end, the purpose of this study is to provide a narrative review on CBR evaluations and the potential of photovoice method when used alone and when used in combination with quality of life assessment tools as CBR evaluation methodologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A narrative review was undertaken, but including some aspects of scoping review methodology.\nFindings: Thirty-three full-text articles were included for review. Three key findings were an overview of the evolution of CBR evaluation; the use of photovoice method in CBR evaluation and the use of photovoice method in combination with quality of life assessment tools in CBR evaluation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Photovoice methodology was found to be participatory in nature and as has the potential to elicit the experiences of persons with disabilities. However, photovoice falls short of measuring the quality of life of persons with disabilities, thus will need to be collaborated with another assessment tool. A combination of photovoice and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF and WHOQOL-Dis assessment has a potential to give an adequate representation of the voices of persons with disabilities and their quality of life.\nOriginality/value: There is need for changes in CBR evaluation methodologies in response to the evolution of disability models from medical model to human rights model. Thus CBR evaluation methodologies should embrace the diversity among persons with disabilities in interpreting life experiences and quality of life.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying do's and don'ts using the integrated business process management framework	[ "Framework", "Success factors", "Business process management", "Pitfalls" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business process management (BPM) is increasingly utilized by companies not only to document and redesign processes, but also to implement information systems and to align them with the company's strategy (Melao and Pidd, 2000; Trkman, 2010; Harmon, 2010). In general, BPM can be regarded as a management approach that aims to explicate and organize the coordination needs stemming from division of labor. The operational activities related to BPM are often described as a lifecycle model, starting with process identification where a process map is designed, followed by process discovery, analysis and redesign, such that dedicated process-aware information systems can be implemented to support the execution of business processes (Dumas et al., 2013). These information systems provide the means to continuously monitor the processes and to control them periodically.\n2. Background on BPM: In this section, we discuss the background of our research. Section 2.1 discusses BPM adoption before Section 2.2 summarizes success factors and issues of BPM adoption identified in the literature.\n3. The IBPM framework: In order to identify various activities, i.e. do's that should be conducted during BPM initiatives, we first have to identify the different elements that these activities relate to. Phases and concerns of BPM have already been intensively discussed in the literature, however, partially from different angles. We review past studies that propose BPM frameworks in order to develop a holistic framework for BPM adoption. For the definition of such a framework, we consider different concerns and phases of the most influential books and articles on this topic in the 25 years since 1990. These include (Dumas et al., 2013; Harrington and Harrington, 1995; Becker et al., 2013; Kettinger et al., 1997; Davenport, 1993; Jeston and Nelis, 2008; Weske, 2012; Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2010). We selected these frameworks for the following reasons. Some of the frameworks have been developed inductively from practice (e.g. Kettinger et al., 1997; Jeston and Nelis, 2008), while others stem from deductively working with literature (e.g. Dumas et al., 2013). All frameworks are comprehensive and describe several phases a BPM initiative can go through. They partially cover strategic and partially operational aspects. Some frameworks highlight the importance of people and culture for a BPM initiative (e.g. Kettinger et al., 1997; Davenport, 1993), while others focus more on the IT-side of BPM (e.g. Dumas et al., 2013; Becker et al., 2013; Weske, 2012). The frameworks also partially differ in terms of detail. While some frameworks include more specific activities (e.g. Jeston and Nelis, 2008), others tend to stay on a more abstract level (e.g. Kettinger et al., 1997). With the selection of the mentioned works, we consider various perspectives and concerns of BPM for building our framework.\n4. Methodology: In the previous section, we have identified the activities that are typically done for setting up a BPM initiative. These are activities organizations must conduct in order to achieve certain goals, i.e. do's. For example, if a company intends to improve their existing business processes, one of the activities they ought to conduct is \"plan process improvement\" from the BPM element \"strategy alignment\" in order to be able to reach this goal. Consequently, if some activities which are important for goal achievement have been omitted, this might potentially hinder the goal achievement. While it is important to do certain activities, it is as important for some activities to be avoided. For this reason, in this section we discuss the methods we use to discover common pitfalls, i.e. don'ts organizations face during each element from the IBPM framework from Figure 1.\n5. Pitfalls of BPM: In this section, we present the pitfalls of BPM, and provide a brief description of them. We refer to the pitfalls that are concerned with the BPM lifecycle as operational pitfalls of BPM. Those pitfalls that address the context BPM elements and the BPM infrastructure are strategic pitfalls of BPM. Each pitfall that relates to the BPM lifecycle is placed in one of the six phases, depending on whether the activities the pitfall addresses conform to those of the respective BPM lifecycle phase. In the same manner, if a pitfall addresses a matter concerned with one of the four BPM context elements or the BPM infrastructure we clustered it appropriately. We use this approach here in order to specify the context of the identified pitfalls, as well as to better structure the discussion. The list of pitfalls evidences that organizations face difficulties already from the start of their BPM initiative and during all next stages. This occurs typically due to the choice of inappropriate activities or ignorance toward the appropriate ones for their BPM initiative.\n6. Implications and limitations: The findings of this study point to a number of valuable implications for practice as well as for research. In terms of research, the IBPM framework could be used as a starting point for studying existing BPM methodologies, extending them in order to include additional dimensions that prior literature has not yet accounted for, or studying BPM success on activity level. In particular, the operationalized framework with the according activities for both the strategically and operationally oriented BPM elements can be used as a reference list. In this way, this study contributes to the current body of knowledge by consolidating prior literature and providing an integration of activities from both the strategic and operational sides of BPM into one single framework.\n7. Conclusion: In this paper, we developed an integrated framework for BPM with actionable guidelines associated with each of its elements. Our research design used a literature survey extended with expert interviews. As a result, we provide a list of various activities that are associated with the different elements of BPM. Furthermore, we describe pitfalls for each of the elements that have been avoided in order to make the BPM initiative a success. Our findings emphasize the potential to study BPM success and its factors on a more fine-granular activity level. The list of activities and the list of pitfalls are directly applicable for practitioners. Our research on the integrated BPM framework consolidates insights from prior research and extends it with an expert perspective on pitfalls.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The authors observe that actionable guidelines are missing from many reference works on business process management (BPM). Also, success factors are mostly not contextualized in the different phases and concerns of a BPM initiative. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research design builds on a literature survey for building an integrated framework for BPM that is referred to as integrated BPM. It integrates lifecycle phases, capability areas and governance aspects. Then, the authors consolidate insights from expert interviews.\nFindings: As a result, the authors provide a list of various activities that are associated with the different elements of BPM. Furthermore, the authors describe pitfalls for each of the elements that have been avoided in order to make the BPM initiative a success.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings emphasize the potential to study BPM success and its factors on a more fine-granular activity level.\nPractical implications: The list of activities and the list of pitfalls are directly applicable for practitioners.\nOriginality/value: The research on the integrated BPM framework consolidates insights from prior research and extends it with an expert perspective on pitfalls.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Short-term maintenance scheduling for utility systems	[ "Maintenance", "Direct labour costs", "Material costs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The reliability of process plants depends upon the regularity of preventive maintenance, which impacts production performance and eliminates emergency shutdowns. Process plants include various components and require significant maintenance resources. To facilitate cost reduction, the scheduling of preventive maintenance should consider physical constraints and legislative regulations. Plant maintenance is a kind of project that contains co-ordinated and controlled activities. Long-term and short-term maintenance requirements determine optimal scheduling. In long-term scheduling, an ongoing maintenance task is assigned to each unit, while under short-term scheduling, the start and the finish time are fixed for respective tasks.Recently, project-scheduling techniques have been applied to plant maintenance (Dedopoulos and Shah, 1995; Pistikpoulos et al., 2001; Demeulemeester and Herroelen, 2002; Levitt, 2004) but have been limited to utility systems. Power, steam, water, and other utilities are distributed to multiple areas by utility systems. These systems should satisfy network constraints because of their interconnected structures.A method that can integrate the complexity of the problem is required. Long-term supply planning methods were developed for maintenance of utility systems (Kralj and Petrovic, 1995; Hui and Natori, 1996), but these methods focused on meeting total demand without considering network constraints. Some other approaches such as multi-period load balancing and reliability evaluation with network constraints only focused on task assignments (Chen and Toyoda, 1991; Deng and Singh, 1992; Marwali and Shahidehpour, 1998). To date, the minimization of project duration has been the main purpose of the short-term scheduling evaluations because the completion of maintenance tasks consumes fixed resources and requires predetermined shutdown times. Hence, maintenance costs have never been optimized for utility systems. Opportunity costs should be assessed for non-maintenance units that lost connection from maintenance units. The present study introduces network constraints to the short-term maintenance scheduling of utility systems. The schedule can be evaluated by labor cost, material cost and opportunity costs.\nMaintenance scheduling with network constraints: In utility systems, a network of cables and pipelines is used for material distribution. These units, which include sources and sinks, have been installed in wide areas with interconnected structures. Supplies from upper streams are indispensable to lower units to provide their services. There are some cases in which the maintenance of a certain unit affects the operations of non-maintenance units. Figure 1 is an example of a power system. The system is composed of three generators, three buses and nine lines. These units are maintained periodically. Before the start of maintenance on a bus, the generators and lines connected to the bus should be isolated.Unlike conventional methods, \"durations of shutdowns\" and \"durations of maintenance tasks\" have different meanings for maintenance scheduling with network constrains. The intensive consumption of maintenance resources may increase shutdowns of non-maintenance units and may enhance supply losses due to increased load on the non-maintenance units. These losses motivated us to address opportunity costs as part of the evaluation of short-term maintenance scheduling.In order to calculate the profits and the costs, a model is utilized to represent feasible flow balances. A mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model was applied to the short-term maintenance scheduling of chemical production sites (Cheung et al., 2004), but buffer tanks were required to keep inventories that prevent the generation of opportunity costs. The present model had several additional improvements. First, the objective function of the problem was to attain the total profit maximum. Second, dominant unit constraints were introduced in the model. Networks that consist of one-directional flows, such as the tree structure, primitively represent these constraints, because most power systems and pipelines contain dual-direction flows. In such networks, the dependency between one unit and the other is unstable; and dominant unit constraints should be adjusted depending on the conditions.\nDominant unit constraints with dual-direction flows: In this chapter, we focus on the dominant constraints of dual-direction flow units. The power system in Figure 1 includes both kinds of units, i.e. the flows from generators to buses and the flows from buses to end users' demand are one-directional, while the flows between buses are dual-directional. The model must be able to represent the current direction of the units. To simplify the explanation, a system that contains four units is presented in Figure 2. In the system, triangles are general units, and a diamond shows a unit with dual-directional flow. Bold arrows are one-directional flows, and the dotted arrow and dot-dash arrow represents alternative flows.Units A and B are constant dominant units for unit D, but the dominance of unit C cannot be guaranteed. In the case that unit C is a dominant unit, unit D can provide service with operation of units A, B or C. Meanwhile, in the other cases, units A or B must be in-service for unit D operation. Violating these conditions causes the shutdown of unit D, even if it is a non-maintenance unit. The present model made it possible to incorporate dominant unit constraints in accordance with the conditions. The decision method, utilizing the appropriate constraint coefficients is described in subsequent chapters.\nModel formulation: The model is formulated based on the example in Figure 1. Notations are defined as follows:Symbol\nCoefficients of dominant units constraints: In the current chapter, the example presented in Figure 2 is utilized again. The shutdown status of each unit is represented by xA, xB, xC and xD. In the system, flow fc is in the ordinary direction doC, and the flow fe is in the reverse direction drC. Here, coefficients aij, bikand gikare determined to satisfy xD=1. Although sets aij, bikand gikcannot be unique, one applicable set can make the constraints effective. Figure 4 shows the consequence of the logic tree analysis for unit D. In Figure 4, status xD should take on the value of 1 when the shutdown condition is \"TRUE\". Variables xA, xB, xC, xD, doC, drC and yD are binary, so setting aDD=-1 and the following condition require xD=1 to satisfy the dominant unit constraints. Equation 19 We gave weights to the edges of the logic tree for synthesizing these coefficients. The weights were fixed from upside to downside. At the OR branch, the same weights are given, and at the AND branch, they are divided equally. The fixed weights are shown in Figure 4. This rule is applicable to other logic trees.\nSample case: An example was presented for verification of the model. Table I and Figure 5 are parameters of the power system in Figure 1. The network is made up of 15 units, which includes five maintenance units in the planning period. Flows f7, f8, f9 are ordinary direction flows, and flows f10, f11, f12 are reverse direction flows. The maximum time period is T=6. Constant resources are available within the planning period. Figure 6 illustrates the Gantt chart of the optimal schedule. The heights of the bars are proportional to required resources, and the bottom row shows the resource consumptions for the period. For the schedule, there is no need to concentrate maintenance tasks any further because it increases the supply losses. As a result, available resources remain in periods 1, 2, 3 and 6. Table II represents flow balances at each period. Appropriate lines are adopted for the power supply in accordance with the network conditions. Line 4 stands by during period 5 without maintenance tasks. The impact of dominant unit constraints creates the phenomenon. The present model showed the reasonable consequences. However, it is natural that the solution depends on parameters. For example, optimal schedules are not common for different parameters because the system has several feasible flow balances. Therefore, those parameters should be identified before practical implementation, but profit, cost and capacity parameters were utilized in conventional scheduling method. They are provided form design information and operation data.\nConclusions: In the present study, short-term maintenance scheduling of utility systems was addressed. The complexity of the problem is brought on by network constraints, resulting in opportunity costs for non-maintenance units. To overcome this difficulty, the model must distinguish between general units and units on dual-directional flow. Moreover, alternative flows are adopted to represent dual-directional flow conditions. The consistency of flow balances is preserved by binary variables. Logic tree analysis made it possible to introduce dominant unit constraints. The mixed integer linear programming model was constructed by these processes. A power system example was presented, and the model identified the optimal schedule.Meanwhile, this scheduling method is deterministic. Risk evaluation is necessary for general project scheduling because maintenance tasks may have some uncertainties. The point will require modifications, such as multiple objective optimizations, to the model in practical situations. Moreover, the present model includes many binary variables in huge network systems. In that case, it is suitable to implement some computational load reduction techniques to the model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to optimize short-term maintenance scheduling of utility systems satisfying network constraints.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mathematical programming model with network constraints is presented.\nFindings: - There are some cases in which the maintenance of a certain unit affects the operations of non-maintenance units. The schedule should be evaluated by labor cost, material cost and opportunity costs. However, most utility systems contain dual-directional flows, making the interdependency of the units an unstable element. In such systems, the dependency between one unit and the other should be adjusted depending on the conditions.\nPractical implications: - Power, steam and water are distributed by utility systems. Unit maintenance affects the operation of non-maintenance units within the networks. Effective short-term maintenance scheduling of utility systems must work within these network constraints. Unlike conventional scheduling methods, the excessive concentration of maintenance tasks should be controlled to reduce supply losses. A mixed integer linear programming model was utilized for identifying the solution of the problem. The present model can be applied to various utility systems.\nOriginality/value: - The model can address alternative flows to reflect current conditions. Binary variables are applied to preserve the consistency of flow balances. The logic tree analysis expressed the current flow balances using linear constraints. The effectiveness of the model was supported by case examples.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Arsenic, cadmium, and lead contents of rice imported into Qatar-impact on intake	[ "Middle East", "Qatar", "Rice", "Arsenic", "Cadmium", "Lead", "Heavy metals intake" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Similar to many Middle Eastern nations, Qatar imports all rice and rice products from various nations across the globe (Al-Thani, Al-Thani, Al-Mahdi, Al-Kareem, Barakat, Al-Chetachi, Akram, Althobiti, Sadiq and Beauchemin, 2017). In Qatar, the rice consumption reached 42 percent of all cereals consumed (Al-Thani, Al-Thani, Al-Mahdi, Al-Kareem, Barakat, Al-Chetachi, Tawfik and Akram, 2017). Besides being a reasonably good source of essential nutrients such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc, rice is known to contain undesirable heavy metals (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1983). Rice is exposed to heavy metals through untreated sewage, fertilizers and pesticides (Kong, 2014). Other major sources of heavy metals in rice are contaminated soil and water (Badr et al., 2011). Rice grown in heavy metal-contaminated soil contains high concentrations of heavy metals (Al-Saleh and Shinwari, 2001).\nMethods: Collection of rice in Qatar market\nResults: Arsenic, cadmium and lead contents of rice imported into Qatar\nDiscussion: In this study, we investigated the concentrations of arsenic, cadmium and lead in rice imports and estimated the exposure to these heavy metals based on the heavy metal content of rice imports in Qatar from various countries. Arsenic, cadmium and lead contents of rice imports were highly variable between countries. These variations are due to differences in heavy metal content of soil, use of fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of contaminated water for irrigation and processing (Khan et al., 2008; Radwan and Salama, 2006). Rice imports from Thailand, Vietnam and India had the most arsenic, cadmium and lead contents, respectively. Rice imports from these three countries more likely contributed the most to the heavy metal burden of Qatari population. Body burden of heavy metals not only depends on the metal content of foods but also the bioavailability of those metals through the gut. In Qatar, most of the rice is cooked after washing. However, washing did not have any effect on the heavy metal content of rice (Rowell et al., 2014). Also, cooking of rice did not seem to affect the bioavailability of heavy metals (Horner and Beauchemin, 2013). Therefore, post-harvest processes had little or no effect on the heavy metal content of rice. Overall, the body burden of heavy metals is a function of food content of these heavy metals.\nConclusions: Arsenic in all rice imports from all nations exceeded the allowable levels, whereas the cadmium and lead contents were within the upper allowable level. Because rice from Thailand, Vietnam and India contain higher amounts of arsenic, cadmium and lead, respectively, compared to other countries, imports from these countries should be closely monitored on a regular basis. Because Qatar is under economic boycott by a few Gulf nations, the heavy metal content in future rice imports will tend to fluctuate with the change of supply chains. There are no known intake safe levels for arsenic and lead. So, it is prudent to avoid food stuffs that contain these heavy metals as much as possible. Thus, to assure the food chemical safety, it is paramount for the Ministry of Public Health to closely monitor heavy metal content of rice imports from all nations and issue regulatory guidelines for upper allowable concentrations not only for rice but also for all other foods being imported into the State of Qatar.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine arsenic, cadmium and lead contents of rice imports and to estimate their impact on these heavy metal intakes in Qatar.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 30 rice samples imported from various countries (Vietnam, Thailand, India, Pakistan, the USA, Australia, the UK and Lebanon) were analyzed for arsenic, cadmium and lead contents with plasma optical spectrometer. These heavy metal intakes from rice were estimated for Qatar population based on the per capita consumption of rice as per 2018 rice consumption data.\nFindings: In all rice samples, mean concentrations of arsenic, cadmium and lead were 1.11 mg/kg, 19.7 ug/kg and 131.3 ug/kg, respectively. Average arsenic, cadmium and lead contents were the highest in rice imported from Thailand (1.25 mg/kg), Vietnam (30 ug/kg) and India (178.3 ug/kg), respectively. Estimated arsenic, cadmium and lead intakes through rice consumption by Qatari population were 225.7, 4 and 26.7 ug/day, respectively.\nOriginality/value: In all rice imports, arsenic content is approximately 5.5 times higher than the maximum allowable concentration (MAC), whereas the cadmium and lead levels are within the MAC. Because these heavy metals are linked to health, all Middle Eastern countries that import rice from Thailand, Vietnam and India should monitor the metal contents in their food supply on a regular basis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perception of bank employees' towards working environment of selected Indian universal banks	[ "India", "Banking", "Perception", "Employees", "Job satisfaction", "Regression analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: Banking scenario has changed rapidly since 1990s. The decade of 1990s has witnessed a sea change in the way banking is done in India. Technology has made tremendous impact in banking. \"Anywhere banking\" and \"Anytime banking\" have become a reality. Earlier, banking was defined as a business activity of accepting and safeguarding money owned by other individuals and entities, and then lending out this money in order to earn a profit. After the introduction of financial reforms in India, there is an adoption of a new financial service organization, i.e. universal banking. This move attempted to bridge the gap between the banking and financial service providing institutions. Universal banks includes; normal banking functions as well as other financial services that are traditionally non-banking in character such as investment, insurance, mortgage, securitization, etc. universal banking refers to financial intermediaries offering a wide range of banking and financial services under one roof. It is a one-stop super market for both wholesale and retail services. It is a combination of commercial banking, investment banking, insurance and various other activities.\nII. Review of literature: Job satisfaction has been defined as a general attitude toward one's job. It is in regard to one's feelings or state-of-mind regarding the nature of their work. It is a self-reported positive state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or from one's job experience. Job satisfaction is the difference between the amount of rewards employees receive and the amount they believe they should receive (Robbins, 1997). Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are function of the perceived relationship between what one expects and obtains from one's job and how much importance or value one attributes to it (Mobley and Locke, 1970).\nIII. The methodology: The methodology employed in this study includes the procedure for data collection, the study sample, the procedure and techniques used in the data analysis and the study limitations. A brief description of each of these elements is presented in this section.\nIV. Results: In this section factor analysis has been applied to the perception of 380 employees regarding 28 variables statements shown in Appendix, measured on a five-point likert scale. Factor analysis refers to a data reduction statistical technique, which has the common objective of representing a set of variables in terms of smaller number of hypothetical variables. It is done with the idea of simplifying complex and diverse relationship that exist among a set of observed variables by exploring common dimensions or factors that link together the apparently unrelated variables and consequently provides insight into the underlying structure of the data.\nV. Conclusion: The result of factor analysis reveals that eight factors (accounting for 64.28 percent of the total variance) namely; workplace environment, supervision, cooperation from peers, work discrimination, work allocation, employee acceptance, job security and remuneration were extracted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the job satisfaction level of universal bank employees in India. It focusses on identifying the factors of job satisfaction and their influence on the overall job satisfaction of universal bank employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a sample of 380 bank employees using convenience sampling technique.\nFindings: The results of exploratory factor analysis reveal that eight factors, i.e. workplace environment, supervision, cooperation from peers, work discrimination, employee acceptance, work allocation, job security and remuneration extracted as important determinants of job satisfaction. The results of multiple regression analysis shows that supervision, cooperation from peers, work allocation and employee acceptance (independent variables) influences the level of job satisfaction (dependent variable of bank employees.\nOriginality/value: Since liberalization, banking sector is considered to be one of the major recruiters. People prefer bank as a career and social status. In order to further improve the satisfaction level of bank employees, bank management should provide regular feedback to the employees about their performance. In the absence of feedback, employees will be discouraged because they do not know how they are doing or may believe their contribution is unacknowledged. The most important factor effecting employee satisfaction with their job is their immediate supervisor. Many employees dislike their supervisor though they like the work they do. To make employees happier in their position, stay longer and the most important to ensure that customers receive better services, banks must start improving the management skills of supervisors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Building family business identity through transgenerational narratives	[ "Family business", "Qualitative", "Identity", "Narratives", "Collective identity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been an increasing trend to incorporate narratives in organizational studies. Narratives are stories that, in their simplest form, include a starting point, an action or event, and a consequent status; in other words, they include a \"plot,\" i.e. an order or logic that gives meaning (Czarniawska, 1997). In particular, narratives have been used to understand how entrepreneurial identities are created (Down and Warren, 2008). Narratives, however, also have the power to complement and extend the understanding of collective identities, an area that has been so far underexplored (Brown, 2006). Family businesses (FBs), defined as firms where a family or families can influence the strategic decision making with the intention to pass the business to the next generation, are a setting where collective identities are developed.\nFB identity: FBs are organizations where a family has influence in the strategic direction of the company, and family members are involved in ownership and/or management, with the desire to pass it to the next generation (Chua et al., 1999). Identity in FBs is influenced by the presence of the founder and/or owning family, and this in turn impacts the organizations' constituents (Miller et al., 2011).\nCollective identities in FBs: FB identity is closely connected to that of the family. The business is usually an extension of the founder/family, and therefore the difference between personal/family identity and organization identity can be fuzzy. Personal identities have to do with the self, whereas organizational identity has to do with \"who we are\" as an organization (Albert and Whetten, 1985). Previous studies highlight that identities are enduring, distinctive, and central (e.g. Albert and Whetten, 1985), yet recent studies suggest that identity is more dynamic and relational (e.g. Corley and Gioia, 2004).\nResearch design: The aim of this paper is to understand how FBs build their identity through transgenerational narratives. Narratives represent a form of interpretive approach, through which we can \"capture the specific complexity and dynamics unique to FBs\" (Nordqvist et al., 2009, p. 294), performed by different actors in multiple contexts (Dawson and Hjorth, 2012). Flory and Iglesias (2010) highlight the important role of narratives as rhetorical devices for managers to drive organizational change.\nThe context: Labor FB: The company\nIdentity narrative of the first generation: 1830s-1890s: Alfred Labor started the FB in the 1830s. The Catalan tradition instilled the first born convention that children inherited the family lands. Alfred was the youngest of seven siblings, so he looked for opportunities in Barcelona:I think the story starts with Alfred Labor. My great-grandfather came from a village outside Barcelona because he was not the heir, looking for a job(Alfred III).\nIdentity narrative of the second generation: 1890s-1950s: Only Alfred's three boys joined the FB at a very young age, as women were excluded following the Catalan tradition. The eldest son, James, was educated to take over the reins, starting at the bottom to get to know the business from inside out. Peter and Walter were sent to school to later join their brother and support him in the business:A tradition of the family was that the eldest never studied. So my grandfather James was sent to do internships as apothecary. Being the son of the owner did not mean he had an easy life!(Alfred III).The eldest brother was James and, as it was in that time, he did not have the option to study. He started working by taking out the rubbish. He started from below and learned the craft(James II).\nIdentity narrative of the third generation: 1830s-1980s: The third generation included four boys and five girls. The tradition of keeping women out of the business continued. The heir (James) had only one boy (Alfred II), assuring a shareholding dominant position. Following the family tradition, Alfred II was sent to one of the drugstores far away to start from the bottom to learn the \"metier,\" but he also undertook business studies. Alfred II lived through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. This led him to running the business discretely, fearfully and with a low profile, shaping his risk-averse character.\nIdentity narrative of the fourth generation: 1950s-2010s: The fourth generation represented a shift in the Labor FB. The heir took an active role developing the business and delineating the long-term vision. In total, 13 family members were part of this generation, five boys who joined the company and eight girls.\nIdentity narrative of the fifth generation: 1980s-current: Six children composed the fifth generation, two girls and four boys. The tradition of excluding women from the business continued. Alfred III was not only self-demanding, but demanding of his job as well. This was a value that the people who knew him always recognized and felt.\nDiscussion: The FB is a clear example of where co-narrative identities happen, as family members are enmeshed in multiple simultaneous commitments (Brown, 2006), and roles, creating interdependencies and interconnections. New stories emerge, as new milestones are achieved by the founder and they mix with those of incoming generations. These new stories are interpreted, re-framed, and re-told, generating new versions, sometimes similar, other times contradictory (Brown, 2006). In order to understand the collective identity we refer to reflexivity, voice, plurivocity, temporality, and fictionality (Brown, 2006).\nConclusion: Findings based on the stories of the six family members and two non-family executives suggest that the FB identity was built around the founder and the dialogue that took place among family members across generations (reflexivity). Different points of view (voice) were typically expressed and the family managed to bring them together and continue growing the business. In fact we did not find evidence of conflict among different points of view or even of different interpretations being given to the stories (plurivocity), even when tough choices had to be made about business changes (temporality). Thus what emerges is a complex collective identity that appears to be built on a \"global consensus,\" which is possible but is usually thought to be \"fragile and generally fleeting\" (Brown, 2006, p. 20). This suggests that, although collective identities are generally the result of \"competing hegemonic forces,\" in FBs the different voices tend to converge toward an identity that is shared, central, distinctive, and enduring (Brown, 2006, p. 21), rather than transitory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how family businesses (FBs) build their collective identity through transgenerational narratives. The authors examine the processes through which organizational meanings are socially constructed through narratives about individuals who are closely linked to the organizations (and their family).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on qualitative research, the authors study a 180-year old Spanish Pharmaceutical FB. Using longitudinal data, the authors analyze the narratives of six family members and two non-family executives. The authors use open-ended questions to allow interviewees to elaborate their own stories, following previous studies using extended narratives that leave the stage to the narrator.\nFindings: Findings based on the stories of the eight interviewees (voice) suggest that the FB identity was initiated by the founder's way to grow the business (fictionality). In turn the family shaped the identity of the FB, being reshaped by the stories arising from next generations' entry into the business (reflexivity). While the FB identity reflects that of the owners, this identity is enduring but dynamic (temporality), not only shaped by the business family behind, but also conditioned by the environment.\nOriginality/value: The authors contribute to the growing literature adopting a narrative method to study phenomena in FBs. Thanks to the richness of the empirical material, a narrative method is particularly suited - and novel - for understanding collective identity, a crucial organizational resource that is closely linked to leadership in the FB.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intelligent site selection for bricks-and-mortar stores	[ "Optimization", "Site selection", "Convenience store", "Data-driven intelligent decision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Yonghui Superstores Co., Ltd, founded in 1998, is characterized by its expertise in managing fresh food. Currently, it operates three types of stores: Yonghui Bravo, Yonghui Super Species and Yonghui Life. Yonghui Bravo is akin to a traditional supermarket, while the other two store types follow the so-called new retailing style and consumers can purchase both online and offline. Yonghui Life is a convenience store that sells fresh produce, and is much smaller in size than Bravo. A Yonghui Super Species store combines the features of a Yonghui Life store and a restaurant that mainly provides fresh food. Yonghui's goal is to design the network of all types of Yonghui stores in a city to offer convenience for most residents. To this end, opening a number of Yonghui Life stores would be the most economical and efficient. When the project began, Yonghui owned 101 Yonghui Life stores in Shanghai and was planning to open more to cover a larger population. Site selection is among the most important decisions that determine the profitability of a store. Traditional site selection in the industry is heavily reliant on a tremendous amount of work from the site selection team to collect all potential regions' relevant information. However, overall, such information might be fragmented. Furthermore, site decisions can be highly dependent on the team's subjective judgment. This is referred to as manual site selection, which is inefficient, and the performance of a selected location is difficult to forecast. As information technology has advanced, substantial amounts of location-related information have been digitalized, and some is available from third-party information providers. Data-based site selection is the second approach to the location decision and involves how to best combine the external macro and location-related data with a firm's internal data to select an ideal location. It may also use competitors' information and integrate certain business logic to improve the decision. Albeit much more efficient, data-based site decision still relies much on human judgment during the selection process. The second approach can be further upgraded by applying cutting-edge optimization and machine learning techniques, and empowering machines with decision-making capability. This will result in the third approach to site selection, which we refer to as intelligent site selection. In its collaboration with Cardinal Operations, Yonghui seeks to develop an intelligent site selection system.\n2. Solution framework: The solution for intelligent site selection consists of three major modules: business district scoring (BDS), intelligent site engine (ISE) and precision sales forecasting (PSF). Figure 1 provides an overview of the solution and its three modules. The BDS module is designed to make the initial assessment of each region's potential as a store site. This involves two major steps: first, by using the data of the 101 existing Yonghui Life stores across Shanghai and the city's location-based big data, we can establish, through regression models, the relationship between a store's key performance indicators (KPIs) and the surrounding factors such as points of interest (POI), population flow and population characteristics (such as gender, income, housing, consumption level and education background). KPI usually refers to sales but can also be the number of visitors during the expansion stage under competition. Second, for each new region without a Yonghui Life store, we apply this relationship and the new region's data to estimate the sales potential of the region. The outputs of the BDS module are scores for potential regions based on KPIs, which serve as inputs of the ISE. In addition, the ISE, a semi-autonomous optimization model, needs an explicit relationship between the KPIs and surrounding factors. Therefore, in the BDS, we cannot apply some advanced machine learning algorithms, like random forest and neural network, for preliminary sales forecasting, because such approaches cannot deliver an explicit relationship on how the surrounding factors affect the KPIs. Thus, we build a simple parametric regression model to predict the sales performance based on some basic and significant features.\n3. Three modules: 3.1 Business district scoring\n4. Validation and discussion: When selecting a new retail site, profitability is the key performance index that must be evaluated by the development committee. Since opening a new store takes time and is costly, it is impossible for us to assess our model performance by opening a few new stores according to our suggestions and waiting for three months to monitor their revenue performance. Through collaboration with executives and developers in Yonghui, we constructed two feasible and repeatable evaluation approaches. One is hold-out validation, and the other is manual review.\n5. Conclusion: Some industry practitioners believe that 70 percent of a store's sales depend on the selected location. Traditional retail site selection relies primarily on manual search efforts by the development team according to their expertise in various regions' traffic volume, accessibility, competition and other characteristics. This might perform well when locating several stores within a city. However, when selecting hundreds of retail stores in an effort to cover most of a city's population, the human brain's scale limitations can be a constraint. Furthermore, there is no way to evaluate the performance of a selected site since we cannot obtain a conceptual upper bound by taking all potential regions into account. Potential regions may differ in some key dimensions. For instance, one region has high traffic flow but unfortunately also high competition with many existing stores, while another region has moderate traffic flow but little competition. Which region is more attractive as a potential store site? Without a model that quantifies each dimension's effect on sales, developers have to make a decision based on their subjective judgment, and no one knows whether the selected site will perform better than the alternative.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to achieve intelligent superstore site selection. Yonghui Superstores partnered with Cardinal Operations to incorporate a tremendous amount of site-related information (e.g. points of interest, population density and features, distribution of competitors, transportation, commercial ecosystem, existing own-store network) into its store site optimization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper showcases the integration of regression, optimization and machine learning approaches in site selection, which has proven practical and effective.\nFindings: The result was the development of the \"Yonghui Intelligent Site Selection System\" that includes three modules: business district scoring, intelligent site engine and precision sales forecasting. The application of this system helps to significantly reduce the labor force required to visit and investigate all potential sites, circumvent the pitfalls associated with possibly biased experience or intuition-based decision making and achieve the same population coverage as competitors while needing only half the number of stores as its competitors.\nOriginality/value: To our knowledge, this project is among the first to integrate regression, optimization and machine learning approaches in site selection. There is innovation in optimization techniques.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employment goal commitment moderates the impact of job search goal orientation on the job search process: A resource-allocation perspective	[ "Motivation (psychology)", "Goal commitment", "Job search", "Goal orientation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Few unemployed people are handed jobs. Instead, most unemployed people become employed by completing an autonomous and self-regulated job search process that begins with establishing and committing to an employment goal and is followed by behaviors such as submitting job applications to help realize that goal (Kanfer et al., 2001). Motivation therefore plays an important role in energizing the job search process and scholars have emphasized the importance of motivational characteristics as useful predictors of job search behaviors and employment outcomes (Kanfer et al., 2001; Saks, 2005). Although the amount or quantity of one's motivation can influence job search effort and intensity (Kanfer et al., 2001), the job searching process is typically complex, uncertain, unpleasant, and difficult and involves setbacks, obstacles, and rejections (e.g. Wanberg et al., 2012). Thus, in addition to high levels or quantities of motivation and effort, the quality of motivation during job search is also important as job seekers must effectively self-regulate their emotions, attention, and effort during the process of searching for employment. The quality of one's self-regulation is critical because it determines whether one's job search is characterized by beneficial (e.g. seeking advice and guidance from others) or detrimental (e.g. procrastination, negative emotions) processes and ultimately plays a central role in influencing job search success outcomes (e.g. job offers, employment quality; Van Hooft et al., 2013).\nJob search as self-regulated, goal-directed activity: Self-regulation theories are rooted in goals and, at their most basic level, describe ways that a person monitors and attempts to reduce the discrepancy between his or her current state and a desired goal state by managing attention, emotions, and effort (Carver and Scheier, 1998). The process of self-regulation in job search has been described as beginning with \"the identification and commitment to pursuing an employment goal. The employment goal, in turn, activates search behavior designed to bring about the goal (Kanfer et al., 2001, p. 838). According to most psychological theories on self-regulation, the goal pursuit process involves several phases. The number of phases varies across theories but most distinguish between goal establishment (e.g. goal choice and representation) and goal striving (efforts and actions aimed at discrepancy-reduction; Ajzen, 1985; Carver and Scheier, 1998; Karoly, 1993; Vancouver and Day, 2005; Zimmerman, 2000), a distinction that has recently been incorporated into job search theory (Noordzij et al., 2013; Van Hooft and Noordzij, 2009). Self-regulation toward a goal is logically predicated on goal establishment (Karoly, 1993). Goal establishment involves the \"what\" people are trying to achieve (objectives). The goal provides a standard to which feedback can be compared as part of regulating attention and effort toward goal accomplishment (Lord et al., 2010). Describing a person as unemployed implies an employment goal (e.g. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). Goal striving focuses on the \"how\" people are trying to achieve goals. It is the process by which an individual exerts effort toward reducing the discrepancy between a current state and a desired goal state (Carver and Scheier, 1998). Goal striving requires managing thoughts, effort, and emotions as a person strives to achieve a goal (Lord et al., 2010).\nGoal commitment and resource allocation: Still, it is likely that job seekers' state goal orientations interact with the level or quantity of motivation devoted toward obtaining a job. State goal orientation influences goal striving processes that utilize attention and effort directed toward the task or to self-regulation as one attempts to reduce the discrepancy between the current state and a desired goal state (Kanfer and Ackerman, 1989). These goal striving processes are resource-dependent and factors that influence or determine one's level of resources will moderate the effects of goals on outcomes (Kanfer and Ackerman, 1989). Kanfer and Ackerman (1989) described motivational processes that involve a choice to devote attentional effort resources toward goal accomplishment (i.e. distal processes) and motivational processes that draw from these resources (i.e. proximal processes) and distribute them across self-regulation, on-task, and off-task activities. Because self-regulation processes are resource dependent, understanding the influence of both distal and proximal processes during the process of job search is critical for theory on job search self-regulation. In particular, the level of resources allocated during distal processes sets limits on processes such as self-regulation during job search.\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: The descriptive statistics and intercorrelations of the study variables are shown in Table I. To test the interactive effects of EGC and job search goal orientation on indicators of the job search process, I used hierarchical regression analyses. I conducted separate regression analyses for each of the outcome variables (Tables II and III). For each of the analyses, the control variables were entered in the first step, the independent and moderator variables were entered in the second step, and the interaction terms were entered in the third step. The interaction terms were calculated using the cross-product of the mean-centered independent and moderator variables.\nDiscussion: Theory-based research examining interactions among predictors of the job search process is of critical importance to unemployment research (Wanberg, 2012). The present study examined interactions between job search goal orientation and EGC for predicting indicators of self-regulation during the job search process (guidance-seeking behaviors, anxiety, and procrastination). Drawing on Kanfer and Ackerman's (1989) resource allocation model, my theoretical argument was that the quantity and quality of one's job search motivation interact to influence the job search process. A person's EGC determines the level of resources that he or she devotes toward the goal of obtaining a job and state goal orientation influences the way that resources are allocated during the goal striving process. Given that the goal striving process is resource dependent, I theorized that EGC would moderate the impact of state goal orientation on the job search process by influencing the level of resources that are available. I tested my theoretical framework with data collected at two points in the job search process of unemployed new labor market entrants.\nConclusion: The present results suggest that EGC is an important moderator of the impact of job search goal orientation on indicators of self-regulation during the job search process. For job seekers with higher levels of EGC, a state LGO was beneficial for the job search process and a state PGO was detrimental. For job seekers with lower levels of EGC, a state LGO was detrimental to the search process, while a state PGO was beneficial. Searching for a job is a complex and often difficult process that imposes significant resource demands on job seekers. As such, these results suggest the importance of future research employing resource-allocation theory to further the understanding of the effects of state goal orientation on self-regulation processes during job search. Future research and practice must consider the simultaneous influence of motivation quality and quantity during the job search process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of self-regulation during job search by integrating goal-orientation theory with a resource allocation framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author surveyed job searching new labor market entrants at two time points and hypothesized that the effects of job seekers' state goal orientations on indicators of self-regulation during the job search process (procrastination, anxiety, and guidance-seeking behaviors) depended on levels of employment goal commitment (EGC).\nFindings: Results indicate that for job seekers with higher levels of EGC, a state learning-approach goal orientation (LGO) was beneficial for the job search process and a state performance-approach goal orientation (PGO) was detrimental. For job seekers with lower levels of EGC, a state LGO was detrimental to the search process, while a state PGO was beneficial.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research extends the understanding of state goal orientation in the context of job search. Future research may replicate these findings with different samples of employed and unemployed job seekers and extend this research with additional conceptualizations of resource limitations.\nPractical implications: The present research suggests that the effectiveness of learning-approach goal-orientation training methods in the context of job search must be considered in light of individual differences in resource availability. In particular, individuals with lower resources available for job searching may benefit from interventions focusing on increasing state PGO.\nOriginality/value: The present results suggest that EGC is an important moderator of the impact of job search goal orientation on indicators of self-regulation during job search, and therefore present important boundary conditions regarding the role of state goal orientation in the job search process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What social media activities reveal about election results? The use of Facebook during the 2015 general election campaign in Croatia	[ "Government policy", "Content analysis", "Facebook", "Information society", "Empirical study", "Social media", "Sentiment analysis", "Social computing", "Text analysis", "Political participation", "Collective action", "General election campaign" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As social media are being equated with public opinion by political journalists (Anstead and O'Loughlin, 2015), this study investigates consequences of a transition from traditional to social media campaigns and the effectiveness of social media at activating and moving public opinion during the election campaigns.\n2. Research questions and hypotheses: This study focusses upon one particular category of content analysis (Whyte and Macintosh, 2003) - a sentiment analysis (Liu, 2012) - of user comments and posts published publicly on political social network websites. The general question to be answered by the study is: how does the general election campaign affect posting and user commenting activities on Facebook?\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Empirical results of content analysis: 4.1 Implementation of election campaigns\n5. Discussion and conclusions: If social media are to be a significant platform for political communication between politicians and voters, both groups of actors need to recognise social media as such a platform (Segaard, 2015). Therefore, this paper analysed both voters' and politicians' perceptions. From the results presented in this study, it seems that leading political parties in Croatia have not fully benefitted from social media opportunities, and our findings pose challenges both to political actors in Croatia which are yet to discover the role and power of social media, and, more importantly, to the society which is a significant indicator of the state of democratic processes in Croatia, given the maturity of its social media activities. Although our social media analysis reveals that the SDP was more likely to win the election than the CDU, it is still not surprising that the CDU won - the decisive factors were a low availability of social media to Croatian voters and relatively low turnout at elections (SEC, 2016). However, it is implied that the Croatian society is still quite conservative and needs more tolerance, dialogue and respect of alternative views, which is not surprising due to its short age in democracy (since 1991).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Due to the significant rise in the use of social media in recent years, the purpose of this paper is to investigate who, how and why participates in creating content at political social networking websites utilising a content analysis of posts and comments published on Facebook during the 2015 general election campaign in Croatia. It shows consequences of a transition from traditional to social media campaigns and the effectiveness of social media at activating and moving public opinion during the general election campaign.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a data collection through a social media website, a classification of data set items by content attributes and a statistical analysis of the classified data.\nFindings: Building on an empirical data set from Croatia, this study reveals that different political parties implement different election campaign strategies on social media to influence citizens who, consequently, respond differently to each of them. The results indicate that political messages with positive emotions evocate positive response from citizens, while neutral content is more likely to invoke negative comments and criticism, and support to the opponent. Another implication of the results is that two-way and tolerant communication of political actors increases citizen engagement, whereas unidirectional communication decreases it.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an original insight into qualitative content analysis of posts and user comments published on Facebook during the 2015 general election campaign in Croatia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An examination of the factors affecting consumer's purchase decision in the Malaysian retail market	[ "CSR", "Purchase decision", "Sales promotion", "Perceived value", "Social media marketing", "Store environment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's continuously changing and dynamic business environment, it has become necessary for retail managers to clearly understand and foresee how different types of consumers behave when buying different products and services to fulfil their needs. Thus, to establish a competitive advantage in the marketplace, several retailers have focused on creating favourable images about their brands in the minds of consumers to influence their purchase behaviour (Shamsher, 2015). Consumer behaviour emphasizes on understanding the purchase decision process of individual consumers and how they utilize their existing resources such as time, money and effort to get a product or service (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007). Hence, retail managers should have knowledge about consumers' characteristics and preferences as they play an important role in forming purchase decisions. This information could enable them to foster their competitiveness and ensure their long-term survival.\nLiterature review: Purchase decision\nMethodology: This research aimed to examine the predictors of a purchase decision in the retail industry. Therefore, the data was collected using a survey method from 278 customers of several department stores in East Coast Malaysia. The selection of a quantitative approach to conduct this research was considered appropriate to involve as many participants as possible and obtain larger number of responses. Additionally, a quantitative survey methodology is the researchers' best choice when the targeted population comprises a larger number of individuals without requiring special skills to fill in the questionnaire. McDaniel and Gates (1998) illustrated that the quantitative survey enables researchers to conduct statistical analysis and generalize the results in a given context. To minimize the response bias and sampling error, the respondents were briefed about the purpose of the study and assured that their answers will be kept confidential.\nAnalysis of results: Out of the 384 sets of questionnaires distributed to visitors of department stores in East Coast Malaysia, only 278 responses were received from the participants. While analysing the demographic characteristics, it was found that 54.7 per cent of the respondents were women and men represented 45.3 per cent. The respondents' profile also showed that most of the participants held a bachelor degree certificate. Additionally, the respondents were classified based on monthly income and it was found that 48 participants (17.2 per cent) received an average income of less than RM 500 per month, while 15 participants (5.4 per cent) obtained a monthly income between RM 501 and RM 1000. A total of 44 responses (52 per cent) were represented by the participants with an average income of RM 1,001 to RM 4,000. Those whose monthly income ranged from RM 4001 and above accounted for 71 (25.4 per cent) responses. Furthermore, the reliability assumptions were established on all constructs and the results revealed that the value of Cronbach's alpha for the measurement scales of constructs exceeded the cut-off point of 0.70. Therefore, the reliability assumptions are fulfilled (Appendix).\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study aimed to examine the effects of corporate social responsibility, social media marketing, sales promotion, store environment and perceived value on purchase decision in the retail industry. The findings revealed that corporate social responsibility has a significant positive effect on purchase decision and this is in line with previous researches (Elg and Hultman, 2016; Green and Peloza, 2011). Hassan et al. (2013) stated that if individuals feel that a brand has social responsibility towards them and the society, they will prefer to select its products/services. Similarly, Handelman and Arnold (1999) found that marketing activities which are socially responsible influence consumers' evaluation of a brand and enhance their willingness to purchase its offerings. The second purpose of this paper was to test the link between social media marketing and purchase decision. Contrary to expectations, the results showed that the effect of social media marketing on a consumer's purchase decision is insignificant. The insignificant result could be attributed to the lack of or inefficient marketing activities among the selected retail stores through social media. Additionally, negative word of mouth through social media sites could lead to negative perceptions among consumers, which may hinder their purchase intentions. Overall, social media sites can be a strong platform for building brand awareness, but its effect on purchase decision may not be strong enough in the retail context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of corporate social responsibility, social media marketing, sales promotion, store environment and perceived value on a purchase decision in the retail sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative research methodology was used and the data were collected from 278 customers of retail stores in Malaysia. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 19 and structural equation modelling on AMOS.\nFindings: The findings showed that corporate social responsibility has significant positive effects on a purchase decision, whereas sales promotion has a negative effect on purchase decision. The outcomes of this study also indicated that store environment has a significant positive effect on consumers' purchase decisions. Contrary to expectations, the findings revealed that the effect of social media marketing on purchase decision is insignificant. Finally, the results showed that perceived value has a significant positive effect on a purchase decision.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this study contribute to an understanding of the importance of the selected factors in affecting a consumer's purchase decision in the retail industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does stakeholder pressure influence corporate GHG emissions reporting? Empirical evidence from Europe	[ "Environmental reporting", "Carbon accounting", "Sustainability reporting", "Climate change disclosure", "GHG emissions", "GRI" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Climate change presents one of the greatest challenges for society (Solomon et al., 2011), and over the past decade a growing number of companies have begun reporting intensively on their climate change performance. While information on corporate strategies for the reduction of contributions to global warming and relative emission reduction targets can be valuable in this context, stakeholders increasingly require data on absolute levels of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be able to judge corporate performance on climate change. As argued by Clarkson et al. (2008, p. 309), environmental stakeholders demand hard and objective indicators of environmental performance (EP) \"so that poor EP performers cannot mimic good EP performers by soft, unverifiable claims to be committed to the environment.\"\nBackground and hypothesis development: Considerable scientific evidence over the past 30 years supports the argument that GHG emissions are a major contributing factor to global warming and climate change, but early corporate responses toward climate change were somewhat troubling. Levy and Egan (2003) note that both the automobile and oil and gas industries in the US viewed climate change concerns as a major threat and through groups such as the Global Climate Coalition, formed in 1990, worked to prevent mandatory emissions controls and effectively helped to prevent the USA from joining the Kyoto Protocol several years later. Further, even as industries in both the USA and Europe began to acknowledge the importance of GHG emissions for climate change (Kolk et al., 2008) and increasingly developed market responses to climate change (Kolk and Pinkse, 2004), corporate actions in North America, according to Jones and Levy (2007) remained largely ineffective. They note (p. 436) that while heterogeneous in nature the responses tended \"to be directed at organizational changes rather than emissions reductions per se.\" In Europe, Sullivan (2009, p. 301) similarly summarizes that the majority of the 125 large companies included in his analysis \"have yet to significantly reduce their emissions, and just one-third expect their emissions to reduce over time.\" This lack of meaningful progress, paired with uncertainties in political decision making, led to the development of several voluntary initiatives to grasp corporate climate change performance and to spur corporate action with respect to climate change (Kolk et al., 2008).\nMethods: Sample\nResults: Disclosure\nConclusion: The primary intent of this investigation was to examine corporate quantitative GHG emissions disclosure and to identify whether stakeholder pressures influence that reporting. Focussing on a sample of 431 EU companies over the period from 2005 through 2009, inclusive, we find that a substantial proportion of the firms are disclosing at least some quantitative GHG emissions information. However, our assessment of the completeness of that reporting relative to scope (emissions resulting from both internal corporate activities and electricity purchases), type (both CO2 and other GHGs), and reporting boundary (reporting on group-wide activities), indicates that only 15 percent of the sample disclosures were complete in these respects. Based on results from logistic regression estimations controlling for differences in reporting resources, we provide evidence that proxies for stakeholder pressure appear to influence the choice to disclose GHG emissions, but that they appear to have much less impact with regard to reporting completeness. These results are consistent with stakeholder theory arguments that pressures from stakeholder groups impact environmental reporting. However, the findings also suggest that companies may be using incomplete disclosure - possible because the reporting exists as a voluntary activity - as a symbolic gesture to reduce their exposures, and ultimately, this could be a major concern.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to seek to shed light on the practice of incomplete corporate disclosure of quantitative Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and investigates whether external stakeholder pressure influences the existence, and separately, the completeness of voluntary GHG emissions disclosures by 431 European companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A classification of reporting completeness is developed with respect to the scope, type and reporting boundary of GHG emissions based on the guidelines of the GHG Protocol, Global Reporting Initiative and the Carbon Disclosure Project. Logistic regression analysis is applied to examine whether proxies for exposure to climate change concerns from different stakeholder groups influence the existence and/or completeness of quantitative GHG emissions disclosure.\nFindings: From 2005 to 2009, on average only 15 percent of companies that disclose GHG emissions report them in a manner that the authors consider complete. Results of regression analyses suggest that external stakeholder pressure is a determinant of the existence but not the completeness of emissions disclosure. Findings are consistent with stakeholder theory arguments that companies respond to external stakeholder pressure to report GHG emissions, but also with legitimacy theory claims that firms can use carbon disclosure, in this case the incomplete reporting of emissions, as a symbolic act to address legitimacy exposures.\nPractical implications: Bringing corporate GHG emissions disclosure in line with recommended guidelines will require either more direct stakeholder pressure or, perhaps, a mandated disclosure regime. In the meantime, users of the data will need to carefully consider the relevance of the reported data and develop the necessary competencies to detect and control for its incompleteness. A more troubling concern is that stakeholders may instead grow to accept less than complete disclosure.\nOriginality/value: The paper represents the first large-scale empirical study into the completeness of companies' disclosure of quantitative GHG emissions and is the first to analyze these disclosures in the context of stakeholder pressure and its relation to legitimation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Designing a moving strategic foresight approach: ontological and methodological issues of scenario design	[ "Methodology", "Transformation", "Action", "Scenarios", "Movement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Beyond the ongoing discussion on the nature of the field of \"futures studies\" and on the terms used to describe it (Sardar, 2010), foresight and its spin-off \"strategic foresight\" have become for the past two decades a core concept of future-oriented literature (Slaughter, 1993; Hines and Bishop, 2006; Sarpong et al., 2013), together with the rise of the use of scenarios in organizations (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2007), as well as in scholar literature (Ramirez et al., 2008). While it tends to be defined as a process (Piirainen and Gonzalez, 2015), strategic foresight is also viewed as a skill (Slaughter, 1993) or \"ingrained managerial competencies or capabilities\" to add to \"sets of processes or tools\" that are developed by organizations in the face of \"accelerated change and genuine uncertainty\" (Sarpong et al., 2013).\n1. Strategic foresight beyond scenario end-states: If \"there is almost endless debate as to the philosophy and epistemology of Futures Studies\", by contrast \"there is a remarkable lack of reflection and research on practical application of futures methods\" (Scapolo and Miles, 2006). Challenging the nature of scenarios questions both practical application and epistemology of strategic foresight, as seminal futures works suggest extending scenarios beyond end-states.\n2. Incorporating ongoing transformations: As strategic foresight and scenario methods relate to changes or instability, some recent works tried to connect scenarios to theoretical frameworks such as turbulence (Ramirez et al., 2008), disruptions and discontinuities (Burt, 2007) and paradigm shifts (Roubelat, 2006).\n3. Transforming action-based scenarios: methodological proposals: From an ongoing and asymmetrical time point of view, scenarios could be designed as action processes to be transformed. In a foresight perspective, action processes can be considered as never-ending transformations, moving beyond stakeholders' actions, goals and intentions, including collective, organizational and individual actions. Action processes provide the context that gives meaning to the prospective movements in scenarios. The underlying proposition is that movements have no intrinsic nature, so that they don't fully contain their meaning (Marchais-Roubelat, 2012). A part of their meaning depends on the ongoing move of the action. As a result, the approach lies within a logic of movement, rather than a rational logic of choice between different situations as it is based on a different conception of time. A movement implies a modification of a dimension of evaluation of the action (modification of a variable, appearance or disappearance of a variable) and/or of actors (actors's moves and organizational transformations, actor's appearance or disappearance). A movement does not always imply a paradigm shift, as the understanding of this movement can be puzzle solving within an existing scenario. When revealing an anomaly - to be solved in a new paradigm -, a movement implies the design of a new scenario.\n4. Discussion: challenging the boundaries of strategic foresight: As a first practical - but also theoretical - implication, the gap between scenarios and strategies that frames strategic foresight literature is to be questioned. In the action-based scenario approach, scenarios are ongoing processes, so that end-states are no more relative fixed points to assess strategies. Strategic options are to be played within ongoing scenarios and might be distorted too. As a result, the search for robustness, as well as the one of flexibility in strategy generation (Schoemaker, 2002) is not a key issue of such an approach of scenario methodology. In action-based scenarios, there is no gap between scenarios and strategies, as strategies are embedded in the scenario rules to strengthen, to challenge or to distort them. As Ramani and Richard (1993) stated, irreversibility challenges flexibility as it reduces former prospective options, but is considered as the only way to create new ones. Strategic issues relate to prospective movements that transform the course of the action process, so that renewed stakeholders enter a new phase, then a new scenario. In terms of strategy, stakeholders have thus to pay attention to switches and to distortions.\n5. Conclusion and further research: bridging the gap between theory and practice: To supplement scenario methodology, action-based scenarios propose to explore ongoing processes and to look beyond end-states from the analysis of switches between scenarios and from the distortion of scenarios. To pay attention to movements between scenarios and to the transformations of the scenarios, concepts, such as switch, transfer, oscillation and phase lag, help to raise dominance and scale shift issues, as well as irreversibilities to be managed by stakeholders in action processes. From such perspectives, scenarios have to be designed, extended and manipulated without boundaries to look for new strategies and new movements, beyond end-states as well as beyond robustness and flexibility. Such an approach might be viewed as a rational systematic exploration of prospective movements beyond the cone of plausibility. Looking for distortions or transgressions might also lead to consider scenarios as symbols of movements. In that case, a moving strategic foresight approach would be an exploration inviting to switch moving complementary worldviews and to distort them, as well in foresight exercises as in managerial competences.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to introduce movements in scenario methodology, to design a moving strategic foresight approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors firstly question the limits of plausibility from an ontological and epistemological perspective to expand scenarios beyond the boundaries of end-states. To incorporate ongoing changes in scenario methodology, the authors propose to explore scenario transformations within the conceptual framework of action-based scenarios.\nFindings: The authors discuss consequences of playing strategies within ongoing scenarios, as well as the research directions about moving scales, stakeholders' dominance and time issues.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes a method to distort and transform scenarios. The authors suggest supplementing strategic foresight in iterative processes to challenge the boundaries of plausible futures, bridging the gap between theoretical ever-changing processes and the moving rhythms of actions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Innovative behaviour in the workplace: The role of HR flexibility, individual flexibility and psychological capital: the case of Poland	[ "Psychological capital", "HR flexibility", "Individual flexibility", "Innovative behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The view that innovativeness is significant for creating competitiveness in modern organizations has been commonly approved (Zhang and Bartol, 2010). Employee's innovative behavior is related to the key aspects of organizational effectiveness: generation, promotion and realization of new ideas which benefit performance (Sanders et al., 2010). Thus, both theoreticians and practitioners are concerned with determining individual and organizational predictors which can later become a foundation for creative activities to be undertaken in a workplace. The recognition of such predictors is of utmost importance for the practice of human capital management in any organization - it allows to stimulate the aforesaid behaviors by utilizing the competence potential of the employees and to create appropriate organizational environment for such behaviors development. On the other hand, it is the human resources management (HRM) that constitutes an important element of building organizational innovativeness (Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2008).\nConceptual framework and related literature: IWB\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nMeasures: The conducted survey took into consideration the following set of variables.\nResults: In order to verify the hypotheses, the analysis of the correlations for individual variables was conducted. The results of inter-correlation, together with the descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviations) are presented in the Table I.\nDiscussion: The analysis of the relationships between innovative behavior in the workplace, organization and IF and PsychCap has brought about conclusions which are cognitively interesting and significant from the point of view of the practices of HRM.\nImplication for theory and practice: The present study contributes to the existing state of knowledge in HRM and organizational behavior in a number of ways. First, we developed the concept of individual and HRF by identification of the relationship between these variables and IWB. In particular, our findings confirm that HR and IF are not directly related with IWB. Accordingly, we could assume that individual capabilities and HR practices are necessary but not sufficient for initiating and realization of IWBs.\nConclusions and limitations: Employees' innovative behaviors are the most significant element in creating the overall effectiveness of a company. For this reason they have constituted the focus of unflagging interest of individual scholars over the recent years. The present study refers to the current solutions in the examined area, but also widens and develops them through the new keynotes concerning indirect relationship between HRF system and individual capabilities via PsychCap.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the manner in which HR system's flexibility, in combination with employees' individual flexibility (IF) and their positive character traits, such as: optimism, hope, resistance or self-efficacy (which comprise psychological capital (PsychCap)), allow to predict employees' readiness to display innovative behaviors in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative research methodology was adopted which resulted in the development of a both self-administered online survey instrument (n=166) and employees students in the postgraduate program at the Warsaw School of Economics (n=70). Using a national database of service companies, a random sample of 700 e-mail addresses was generated and respondents were invited to participate in the online survey. This resulted in the completion of 166 online surveys, representing a response rate of 26 percent. The second group of respondents consisted of 70 employees from different organizations in Poland.\nFindings: On the basis of the analyses it was shown that HR flexibility (HRF) and IF are a generally weak predictor of innovative behaviors. However, in a situation when PsychCap is set to be a mediator, these variables allow to predict innovative work behavior.\nOriginality/value: Research on the relation of HRF to innovative behaviors has not been sufficiently clarified so far. The achieved results shed new light on the relations of these two variables and indicate that HRF does not translate directly into behaviors of the personnel. However, it should be noted that the relationship of these variables are of indirect nature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The PATH project in eight European countries: an evaluation	[ "Organizational performance", "Key performance indicators", "Measurement", "Performance measurement", "Quality improvement", "Benchmarking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The hospital performance measurement literature identifies four pathways to improvement (Smith et al., 2009; Berwick et al., 2003; Hibbard et al., 2003, 2005; Hibbard, 2008; Shekelle, 2010):\nMethods: Qualitative evaluation methods were used to address our research questions, because they seemed to be the most appropriate approach to gather rich material about user experiences. The expert group providing scientific guidance to the WHO European Regional Office on the project developed an evaluation approach and a questionnaire for telephone interviews. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with eight country coordinators and 16 coordinators from participating hospitals (two per country), at which point the data gathered were concordant enough not to require additional interviews. To enrich the analysis, each country coordinator was asked to propose interviewees from two hospitals: one hospital they perceived as having positive experiences with the project; and another perceived as having less overall positive or negative project-experience. Between May and July 2009, one researcher (MS) carried out 20 interviews (eight country coordinators and staff from twelve hospitals), each lasting around 45 minutes. A research assistant transcribed the interviews from audio recordings and the interviewer verified the transcriptions for accuracy. Using the transcriptions, ten sample interviews were analyzed to develop a data-analysis framework. This phase was completed by MS, JV and ALG, who were also involved in executing the project. The findings were grouped by broad themes (context, information systems, PATH model, PATH implementation and other issues), sub-themes and cross-tabulated with four perspectives (expectations, perceived impact, enabling factors, barriers to implementation) relevant to our research questions. All results were stored in an electronic spreadsheet and regrouped by country, hospital and country coordinator. This approach facilitated comparing interviewees' perspectives at different levels. The grounded theory approach was used to inductively analyze the research questions. Finally, three parties reconciled the results through consensus meetings and the authors synthesized the findings. A final draft was shared with all interviewees to ensure accuracy and their comments were incorporated in the final results.\nResults: Twenty from 24 (83 percent) interviewees included in the sample responded to the interview (all country coordinators and 75 percent hospital coordinators). In Slovenia, staff in only one hospital could be interviewed since it was the only hospital participating in this phase.\nImplementation enablers and barriers: Despite diverse healthcare systems, information systems and regulatory contexts across the eight countries, several common enabling factors emerged from the interviews that related to leadership, context, process or content elements. Process related factors included appropriate structures to support project implementation; e.g. national steering committees in Belgium, Estonia and Slovakia or benchmarking networks in Estonia or France. Content enabling factors related to the project's intrinsic features were mentioned by 13 respondents including all country coordinators. Respondents cited the multi-dimensional performance-model (Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia); the possibility for hospital staff to participate in an international project and that the project included standardized, evidence-based indicators supported by relevant material (Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia), e.g. one country coordinator mentioned:\nDiscussion: Most respondents participating in the project mentioned that: performance measurement activities were simulated, data quality and information systems improvements; implementing several local or national QI initiatives; and enhanced capacities for analysis, performance measurement and benchmarking. Several common enabling factors were reported: hospital managers, coordinators and hospital staff leading and owning the project, and positioning it in a supportive environment at national and local level; the project's intrinsic features such as: solid evidence base; multi-dimensional performance model; international performance and practice benchmarking; and appropriate structures and processes in place at national level. Conversely, implementation barriers related to absent or poor data quality and data collection burden; poor coordination with other QI projects at national level; a limited capacity and performance measurement and management culture; and feedback timing provided by the WHO European Regional Office.\nAcknowledgements: The authors thank the following experts for their contributions: Paul Bartels (Denmark); Lisa Corscadden (Canada); Vahe Kazandjian (US), Basia Kutryba (Poland) and Pierre Lombrail (France). We also thank the WHO-PATH country coordinators and hospital coordinator interviewees: D. Dicker; V. Bernard and A. Vansina (Belgium); J. Alop, M. Einasto and J. Lind (Estonia); P. Lombrail, A. Giraud, and V. Paillou (France); B. Fischer (Germany); E. Takacs and E. Boros (Hungary); B. Kutryba, J. Blaszczyk, and S. Ostrowski (Poland); V. Rusnakova, J. Hornak, and D. Sebo (Slovakia); and M. Ivanusa and M. Rems (Slovenia).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper's aim is to evaluate the perceived impact and the enabling factors and barriers experienced by hospital staff participating in an international hospital performance measurement project focused on internal quality improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews involving international hospital performance measurement project coordinators, including 140 hospitals from eight European countries (Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). Inductively analyzing the interview transcripts was carried out using the grounded theory approach.\nFindings: Even when public reporting is absent, the project was perceived as having stimulated performance measurement and quality improvement initiatives in participating hospitals. Attention should be paid to leadership/ownership, context, content (project intrinsic features) and processes supporting elements.\nResearch limitations/implications: Generalizing the findings is limited by the study's small sample size. Possible implications for the WHO European Regional Office and for participating hospitals would be to assess hospital preparedness to participate in the PATH project, depending on context, process and structural elements; and enhance performance and practice benchmarking through suggested approaches.\nOriginality/value: This research gathered rich and unique material related to an international performance measurement project. It derived actionable findings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational commitment within a contemporary career context	[ "Organizational commitment", "Contemporary careers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Economic and financial circumstances of today's unstable and dynamic organizational context explain some of the shift away from the traditional employment arrangements and the established work environment, within the context of an increasingly transactional psychological contract with employees (Rousseau, 1989; Rousseau and Wade-Benzoni, 1995). In response to rapid technological advancements and increased competitive pressures, organizations have started to downsize and to adopt flatter and leaner structures (Sullivan, 1999). In the light of organizational restructuring, companies are not able to offer long-term stability and progressive careers and as a consequence, they increasingly rely on the use of contingent employees (part-time, temporary and contract help) with short-term employment contracts that supplement a small, permanent workforce. In this context, a growing consensus recognizes that traditional orderly and hierarchical careers are increasingly losing ground to new career conceptualizations, such as boundaryless and protean perspectives, which better capture the realities of a changing scenario (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Bridges, 1995; Golzen and Garner, 1990; Handy, 1994; Herriot and Pemberton, 1995; Waterman et al., 1994; Baruch, 1999). These two perspectives suggest that the individuals become the sculptors of their own careers (Bell and Staw, 1989), which are less bounded to a single employment setting (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996). In spite of some constructive critiques (e.g. Zeitz et al., 2009), the idea of \"boundaryless careers\" has garnered increasing interest in the USA, as well as in the European counties (Dany, 2003; Pang, 2003; Ackah and Heaton, 2004; Guest, 2004). However, there are very few studies in the Spanish context centered on the aspects of the new careers. This issue is particularly important in the Spanish context, because as McKeown (2003) remarks while non-standard career arrangements constitute the fastest growing workforce within the industrialized world, Spain stands out among OECD nations as the first in its use of such labor (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 1998).\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Test of reliability and validity\nDiscussion: The present study attempted to provide an insight upon the influence of boundaryless and protean career attitudes upon behavioral outcomes, and more specifically upon individuals' commitment to their employing organizations, as to date there has been little theoretical and empirical research testing proposed links.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relation between the underlying dimensions of protean (self-direction and values driven) and boundaryless (boundaryless mindset and organizational mobility preference (OMP)) career attitudes (Briscoe et al., 2006) and organizational commitment, within today's unstable and uncertain business scenario.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 167 professionals attending graduate and postgraduate distance learning courses. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis.\nFindings: Research results suggest that protean career attitudes contribute significantly to individuals' emotional attachment to their employing organization. Furthermore, OMP was found to be significant in predicting both affective and continuance commitment.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, cross-sectional correlational designs impede conclusive inferences regarding causal relationships among the variables. Second, the use of a sample of professionals attending distance learning business courses could limit the generalizability of the study findings, because the majority of the respondents were homogenous in terms of age and educational background.\nPractical implications: Fostering individuals' self-direction results in enhanced affective commitment to their employing organizations. Workshops oriented at clarifying and communicating organizational values, philosophy and principles can be all beneficial for strengthening employees' commitment to the organization.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to test the relationship between boundaryless and protean career attitudes and organizational commitment on a European sample.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ensuring sweetness and light over the festive season	[ "National holidays", "Leave" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Few things cause more friction at work than who takes what holidays over the Christmas period. In the worst case, Easter can have come and gone before employees who considered themselves hard done by at Christmas start to accept what happened - and hope for better things with the summer-holiday allocation.\n1 Implied in the contract: Employees in a workplace that has, over the years, always given its workers time off on 25 and 26 December could claim that this is now implied in their contracts. But it is always safer to have a written document to make things certain.Even then, disputes can arise. A practicing Christian whose contract says he or she must work on Christmas Day may claim the right to time off to attend church under laws making religious discrimination unlawful. By having to work on Christmas morning, the employee could claim to be at a disadvantage over people who practice other faiths.In this case, the employer would have to show that the organization really does need the particular employee be at work on Christmas Day. If this is not the case, he or she should probably be allowed to take Christmas morning off.In contrast, a Muslim may want to work on 25 and 26 December and save some leave for, say, Eid-al-Adha - even though the employer may want to shut down over Christmas.Once again, employees' individual contracts should ideally specify the precise dates of any annual shutdown. If they do not, the employer can instruct workers to take statutory annual leave on particular dates - provided he or she gives at least twice as much notice of the leave as the length of time the shutdown will last.But once again, the Muslim worker may be able to claim indirect religious discrimination if he or she is made to take holiday at a certain time. And again, the employer would have to show a \"legitimate aim\" - such as carrying out machine maintenance during the shutdown - for denying the Muslim the right to work.\n2 Acting in a \"family friendly\" way: Moreover, employers trying their best to allocate annual leave in a \"family friendly\" way by offering first pick of the Christmas leave to employees with school-age children could be breaking the law.It is natural that employers should try to give employees who are parents the chance of \"quality\" time off with their children at this time of the year. Those responsible for organizing the annual-leave calendar may even have a vested interest if they are parents themselves.But where should the line be drawn? What about employees whose spouses are teachers, or school caretakers, or crossing patrols?The law lays down that all employees should be treated equally. Employees who are childless or have only grown-up children may be able to claim the implied term of mutual trust and confidence if, each year, they end up having to take their holidays earlier or later than they would like.There is also a risk of sex discrimination. Male employees could claim they are being treated unfavorably if employers take the view that mothers should be able to use most of their leave during the Christmas and new-year period so they can look after the children.Of course, employers should always be fair and reasonable and take employees' personal circumstances into account when allocating leave. But this should be done on a case-by-case basis, and not as part of a blanket policy that favors one group of workers over another.The best way to avoid misunderstandings is to have a written policy in place. This should make clear that, emergencies apart, family commitments do not automatically grant an employee permission to take time off. And it should spell out exactly how the employer will deal with a situation where too many employees want to take their holiday at the same time.This could be \"first come, first served\", asking for volunteers to work, an annual rota system or even drawing names out of a hat. The mechanism matters less than the principle - that all employees will be treated equally.The policy guidelines should also make clear that all employees - parents and non-parents - can have their request for leave turned down if there is a genuine business reason.May these few points of law help sweetness and light to prevail in your workplace over the festive season!\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to examine the allocation of holidays.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses the allocation of holidays.\nFindings: - Of course, employers should always be fair and reasonable and take employees' personal circumstances into account when allocating leave. But this should be done on a case-by-case basis, and not as part of a blanket policy that favors one group of workers over another.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful advice on the allocation of holidays.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impacts of store type importance and country of origin: Exploring the case of dietary supplements in the Chinese market	[ "Country of origin", "Store type importance", "Dietary supplement", "Theory of planned behaviour", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As US and Western retailers expand their presence to China, the ability to provide a salient product mix has become critical to success in the market. Typically, we would expect to see multinational retailers, who tend to be large-scale stores, adapt their product mix, and incorporate brands from the host country into the merchandise mix (Sternquist, 2007). For global retailers, who tend to be smaller-scale specialty stores, we expect to see a standardised product mix consisting mostly of brands from the retailer's home country (Sternquist, 2007). Will Chinese consumers who prefer to shop in large stores such as Walmart prefer domestic (Chinese) brands or brands from the retailer's home country? What brand nationalities will shoppers who do not prefer large stores seek? In particular, these are important questions for retailers of health-related products in China due to several recent widely-publicised product safety issues.The Chinese are known to be health conscious (Bell, 2007), and as the country shifts to an urban lifestyle with increases in average household income, health conditions associated with urbanisation, such as obesity and stress, are increasing and so is the demand for health and wellness goods (Asia Pacific Biotech News, 2003; Global Dispatches China, 2004). Despite the $1.3 trillion Chinese economy during the first quarter of 2010 and the rapid growth of China's GDP, the dietary supplement (DS) industry in China is still underdeveloped, yielding strong potential for competitors in the dietary supplement industry (Crowther, November 2010). According to recently released spending indicators for July 2010 from China's National Bureau of Statistics, spending on retail consumer goods including DS products grew about 18 per cent over the previous year (Crowther, November 2010). Especially for China's first-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, there exists a large population of consumers who have more financial freedom to purchase DS products than consumers residing in other Chinese cities.Though the DS industry in China has tremendous potential, it still has many barriers to hinder the entrance of US and other foreign companies to the market. To export dietary supplement products to China, it is important to provide good price regardless of where the goods originate. It is also necessary to meet China's regulations for dietary supplements, as stipulated by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) (Crowther, March 2011). SFDA has some of the most restrictive rules in the world, hindering the entrance of US and other foreign companies to the market. Also, imported DS products need to establish a well-developed sales channel (Crowther, March 2011). Almost all the supermarket and pharmacy stores across China carry dietary supplements, but they are mostly domestically produced local and national brands that meet the price level expected by Chinese consumers. When they carry many products made in the US or other western countries, it is hard to recognise where those are from because they are made specifically for the Chinese market and often made in China due to the difficulty in meeting China's regulations. Additionally, DS companies from foreign countries need to consider competition with traditional Chinese medicine as well. DS products are consumed on a daily basis to support overall health and wellness while traditional Chinese medicine claims to cure or treat disease (Crowther, July/August 2010).Restrictions on ownership and operating processes at national and local levels have impeded the entry of multinational companies into the Chinese market. However, some multinationals such as Tesco succeeded in opening their doors in China through joint-ventures and cross-ownership arrangements. Moreover, the entry of China into the World Trade Organisation in 2004 has made it somewhat easier for foreign retailers to enter the market. During the last couple of years, retail health food stores, mall and hypermarket kiosks and web sites have opened and expanded; these stores sell domestically made as well as imported dietary supplements, sports nutrition products, natural cosmetics, eco-friendly cleaners, organic foods and other health products (Crowther, November 2010). Foreign companies such as Amway, Herbalife and Nuskin successfully opened the market, growing and developing in response to market demand. Accordingly, some competitively priced, well-researched foreign brands of food and health-related products are now available in the market (Asia Pacific Biotech News, 2003).Concerns exist, however, about Chinese consumers' confidence in marketers, such as manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, regarding authenticity of product (i.e. counterfeit products) and accuracy of product descriptions on labels and in advertisements (Asia Pacific Biotech News, 2003; Bell, 2007; China Quatech, 2000). Reflecting the fact that Chinese consumers have concerns about domestic products, studies show they have favourable attitudes towards foreign products (Knight et al., 2008). Accordingly, we need to know how product country of origin (COO) in terms of image plays a role in the dietary supplement purchase decision of Chinese consumers. Consumer research on COO has not found conclusive and generalisable results for the effect of COO image on consumer behaviour across different countries and different product situations (Insch and Florek, 2009; Insch and McBride, 2004). Research also suggests store name and store type influence perceptions of product quality, product safety, and purchase intention (Dodds et al., 1991; Tse, 1999).Retail success in China for health-related products such as dietary supplements (DS), therefore, will require knowledge of store type importance in combination with preference for product brand characteristics such as country-of-origin. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine differences in purchase intention and its key antecedents (via the theory of planned behaviour (TPB)), based on store type importance (important to be sold in large store type versus not important) and product country-of-origin (China versus US). For Chinese consumers, the effect of store type importance on the decision process has not been previously examined with product country-of-origin.This research is important because the Chinese government recently decreed that prescriptions could now be sold in outlets other than hospitals (US Commercial Service, 2010). This opens the realm of possibilities for retailers of health and beauty products by enabling them to sell a broader and potentially more profitable range of goods. In China, the demand for DS and other health-related products is increasing (Feedstuffs, 2002). Moreover, the present study will provide insights to foreign retailers who want to enter China, about the impact of importance of store type and product country information on their purchase intention and its antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control). The findings will also contribute to the limited understanding of the health-related product market in China, especially for dietary supplements (DS), within the country-of-origin research.\nLiterature review: The theory of planned behaviour\nMethods: Survey procedure\nAnalysis and results: Principal component analysis with varimax rotation was performed to check the dimensionality of the dependent variables (Table III). An eigenvalue of 1.00 or greater was used for determining the number of factors to be extracted in the factor analysis. Items were to be excluded if they yielded low factor loadings (<0.40), high cross-loadings (>0.40), or low communalities (<0.30). Items were to be retained in the factor if they loaded above 0.50 and less than 0.30 for the other factors (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003). All the factors showed an acceptable level of reliability with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient above 0.70, the recommended minimum proposed by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994).Hypothesis testing\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of differences in product COO and large store type importance on attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and behavioural intention of Chinese DS consumers. Inconsistent with the previous literature supporting the effect of COO (Ahmed and d'Astous, 1999; Insch and Florek, 2009; Li et al., 2009; Zain and Yasin, 1997), findings of the present study indicated no significant effect of COO. In the Chinese market, a wide variety of brands are manufactured in many other places and this makes country-of-origin confusing as a cue to purchase decisions. Since China is a country where there is a considerable manufacturing and sourcing of products for foreign brands including for the US, consumers may not perceive the foreign brands as being different from the domestic brands even when imported. However, there was a significant effect of store type importance on attitudes and perceived behavioural control and a significant interaction effect of COO and store type importance on attitudes. Chinese consumers who value large stores have more positive attitudes toward CHMCHB DS, but perceive they have less control over their ability to purchase CHMCHB DS relative to consumers who do not value large stores. However, the situation differs slightly for consumers evaluating USMUSB DS. While Chinese consumers who value large stores perceive they have less control over their ability to purchase USMUSB DS (similar to CHMCHB), in contrast to consumers evaluating CHMCHB, they have less positive attitudes towards USMUSB DS than consumers who do not value large stores. Thus, Chinese consumers who want to shop at large stores may seek domestic products while shoppers who do not care the store type may seek imported DS products. In China, for DS products, the store type for where those are sold matters more than the country in which the product originated. As stated above, Chinese consumers do not put much emphasis on the brand origin for DS products in China, which is the number one country as a manufacturing and source. However, they value the type of store where the products are sold and how those are treated in store (Roberts, January 2005). This can explain consumers' positive perceptions of foreign retailers which are mostly large-sized chain stores competing in the market based on convenience, large spaces, and comfort and also explain their preference for foreign retailers over Chinese retailers, especially in Shanghai.Also, two covariates were found to have significant effects. Marketer distrust significantly influenced attitudes and subjective norms. In China, fake and illegal information is an emerging issue to create distrust among consumers (Asia Pacific Biotech News, 2003; China Quatech, 2000). Thus, marketer distrust may have an important influence on Chinese consumers' attitudes and subjective norms. This result is consistent with a previous study indicating that consumer trust toward institutions that regulate biotechnology or organic farming and foods increased perceived benefits and decreased perceived risks associated with genetically modified foods (Frewer et al., 2003) and organic foods (Saba and Messina, 2003).The effect of product familiarity, another covariate, was significant for all of the dependent variables (i.e. attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and behavioural intention). Since soy-based DS products have been recently introduced to the Chinese market, familiarity with the products may be an influential factor affecting consumer evaluations. Previous research also found that consumers use COO image as a \"halo\" in product evaluations when they have less familiarity with products (Cordell, 1992; Josiassen et al., 2008; Zain and Yasin, 1997)The present study provides theoretical implications by expanding the TPB model to consider store type importance and COO. Regarding the inconsistent findings of the COO effect, possibly due to a blurring boundary effect on consumer perceptions of product COO because of manufacturing and sourcing in multiple places, this study may contribute to clarifying COO effects for Chinese and US DS products. Our results also suggest that large retail stores consider domestic DS in their product assortments, while small-scale stores focus on imported DS. Results also suggest that US, and possibly other Western retailers of soy-based DS need to create familiarity for their products to enhance consumer evaluations and purchase intention. They also should consider taking specific actions to decrease consumer distrust of marketers promoting DS products.While our research provides some valuable theoretical implications to literature building and practical implications to retailers, there are several limitations. The current study examined only consumers in Shanghai, generating limitations to generalise the results of the present study to the Chinese population. Consumers in different parts of China may have different preferences (Savage, 2005). Also, the sample used in the current study was younger overall with higher income and education level and females were somewhat overrepresented, compared to Shanghai population. Thus, the results of the current study could not represent all the population of Shanghai. In addition, we used only US and China as product COO and differences in perceptions of DS from other countries may exist. Thus, future study is encouraged to use DS products from various countries and a sample in suburban and rural areas of China and replicate this study for better understanding Chinese DS market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Retail success in China for dietary supplement products requires knowledge of the importance consumers place on store type as well as their perceptions of product characteristics such as country of origin (country where the product is made and where the brand is from). Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to examine differences in purchase intention and its key antecedents such as attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, based on store type importance and product country of origin (China versus USA). To test the proposed hypotheses, MANCOVA was conducted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mail survey was conducted in Shanghai and the total number of usable questionnaires was 444.\nFindings: - This paper revealed that perceived importance of large store format was significantly related to consumer attitudes and behavioural control for dietary supplement products, but country of origin was not important to Chinese consumers. Additionally, significant relationships with marketer trust and product familiarity were found.\nOriginality/value: - This research is important because the Chinese government recently decreed that prescriptions could now be sold in outlets other than hospitals. This opens the realm of possibilities for retailers of health and beauty products by enabling them to sell a broader and potentially more profitable range of goods. In China, the demand for DS and other health-related products is increasing. The present study will provide insights to foreign retailers who want to enter China about the impact of store type and product country of origin on consumer purchase intention and its antecedents.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nation branding for foreign direct investment: an Integrative review and directions for research and strategy	[ "Country image", "Foreign direct investment", "FDI location choice", "Nation branding", "Investment promotion agencies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The issues identified in the title of this article share at least two common characteristics: both are incredibly complex to study in research and understand in practice while, at the same time, being incredibly important to the nations, companies and managers involved in them. Nation branding and foreign direct investment (FDI) also have at least two major differences: on the one hand, FDI has been studied extensively from numerous perspectives, for a very long time, both conceptually and empirically, and refers to an activity undertaken primarily by individual firms; on the other, nation branding is a new concept with barely two decades of mostly conceptual research and concerns an activity undertaken primarily by governments, trade associations, cross-sectoral industry promotion groups and other non-profit organizations. Taking these similarities and differences together, it is clear that researching and understanding each of nation branding and FDI individually is hard - and, therefore, that studying the two together can be rather challenging. Nonetheless, this is a challenge that must be met, a necessity arising not just from the importance of each subject by itself but, more importantly, in the context of this paper, from the relationship between them.\nDecision making and location choice in foreign direct investment: The global relaxation of capital controls and the opening to investors of major developing markets, such as China, India and Central and Eastern Europe, has resulted in many more nations than before actively seeking foreign capital and, as noted above, in a change to the geographic distribution of FDI from developed to developing countries over the past two decades. Nevertheless, the available information suggests that investor views may be as variable as the year-to-year fortunes of the countries and regions being considered (Ernst and Young, 2015). The ongoing search for \"best FDI locations\" by international investors is a quest to which existing studies do not appear to have contributed substantively at either the research or the applied levels. In spite of voluminous research on the subject, the theory of FDI can still be said to be in its infancy (Tamasy and Taylor, 2008), and there is no consensus on what model or theory should be used for the decisions of whether to choose FDI as the mode of expansion (MOE), and if so, what are the determinants of FDI location choice.\nNation branding: promises and challenges: Interest in the \"brand\" concept has grown during the past two decades, as a variety of factors served to carry it beyond the traditional commercial environment towards hitherto unexpected or unexplored domains, as in the cases, for example, of the \"brands\" of politicians, public and non-profit organizations, or individuals seeking employment and, of course, nation branding (Anholt, 2003). As \"brand\" and \"place image\" are reasonably well understood overall in research, this section only summarizes the base concepts and focuses instead on selected issues that, as will be seen below, are closely related to FDI.\nNation branding for investment attraction: Even though other facets of nation branding, in such areas as tourism, exports, and public diplomacy, have been addressed at least to some extent in existing studies, as noted in the Introduction, this is not the case with the intersection between nation branding and FDI, where research is scant.\nImplications and directions for future research: Considering that the \"new capital\" for countries in the hyper-competitive contemporary environment is their image and how they manage it as part of their brand (Johnson, 2014), and that competition, as noted by Hamelin et al. (2011, p. 242), is a \"harsh task-master\", it is not surprising that countries have rushed to \"brand\" themselves in a number of areas, including FDI. However, as can be seen from the preceding overview, research on both the investment and nation branding sides does not appear to have been very helpful so far, characterized as it is by contradictions, lack of consensus and many important issues that have not yet been addressed. This also contributes to weaknesses in practice, where the emphasis is more on \"promotion\" than \"marketing\", and the reliance on the more visible parts of marketing, such as advertising, instead of the discipline's core construct of \"exchange\" (Bagozzi, 1975), leads to fragmented efforts that are less effective than they might be (Fan, 2006).\nConclusion and the way forward: As illustrated in various ways in the preceding sections, many different factors affect investor decisions and much activity is observed in the nation branding field, but we do not know which of these factors are more important than others; we do not know which place marketing approaches work better in what contexts; and we seem to be not anywhere near to a reasonably comprehensive understanding of the intersection between the well-established (even if in some ways lacking) literature on FDI and the much newer field of nation branding, which can readily be said to still be in its infancy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to address a heretofore neglected area in research, nation branding, for the purpose of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). It compares and contrasts the well-established literature on decision-making and location choice in FDI with studies in the nascent field of nation branding, with a view to developing directions for future research that result from the identification of research gaps at the intersection point between the two areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a systematic and integrative review of several streams within the relevant literatures, from the theory of decision-making in FDI to the similarities and differences between advertising, promotion, branding and marketing for investment on the part of nations and sub- or supra-national places.\nFindings: Each of the two areas is characterized by lack of consensus as to the principal factors that affect investor and nation decisions and actions, resulting in several knowledge gaps that need to be addressed by new research along the lines suggested in the study.\nResearch limitations/implications: A large number of avenues for potential future research are identified, from assessing the importance of target country image in location choice to the adverse effects arising from the emphasis on \"promotion\" rather than \"marketing\" on the part of places engaged in nation branding efforts.\nPractical implications: The study examines several problems that affect the practice of nation branding for FDI and points to alternative approaches that may enhance place marketers' effectiveness in their efforts to attract foreign capital.\nOriginality/value: Notwithstanding the global growth of FDI in volume and importance, and the omnipresence of nation branding campaigns to promote exports or attract tourism and investment, there has been virtually no research to date on the core issue, nation branding for FDI. The study uses a strategic perspective that highlights key nation branding issues related to FDI, and FDI issues related to nation branding, and suggests a comprehensive agenda for research in the future.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the benefits of ERP on supply management maturity model: a "big data" method	[ "Procurement", "Information management", "Buyer-supplier relationships" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As organizations seek to drive supply chain integration across global business units and markets, billions of dollars have been invested in massive systems known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems (Monczka et al., 2011). ERP systems are generally thought of as large systems with transaction processing and data structure capabilities that promote intra-organizational communication (Bendoly et al., 2006). Key competitive advantages to information integration include improving collaboration of supply chain partners, visualizing customers demand, reducing uncertainty, and achieving lean inventory management (Lee and Whang, 2000; Yu et al., 2001; Mefford, 2009). ERP systems are deemed to be a critical enabler for real-time information sharing and integration (Fawcett et al., 2011). Implementation of ERP systems to align business decisions and to increase visibility to transactions across internal functions is the largest technological investment for Fortune 500 companies (Boubekri, 2001; Akkermans et al., 2003; Kim et al., 2005). Such systems are also instrumental in establishing aligned tactical and strategic performance metrics systems that drive improved economic outcomes (Bendoly et al., 2007). Companies such as Honeywell, Caterpillar, Procter and Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, and others have made decisions to implement ERP systems across their end-to-end supply chains, from customer order management to supplier collaboration. ERP systems are designed to integrate transactions from finance, human resources, procurement, operations, sales and marketing, logistics, and other functions in a firm. ERP systems serve as massive databases to standardize business processes and to support decisions concurrent with planning and managing of businesses (Vollmann, 2005; Chopra and Meindl, 2007; Handfield et al., 2009). ERP systems were developed from material requirements planning (MRP) and manufacturing resource planning II (MRP-II) systems to supplement the need of an automatic interface between operational activities and corresponding accounting transactions (Jacobs and Weston, 2006). The implementation of an ERP system requires both internal information visibility as well as supply chain ability (Mabert et al., 2000; Davenport and Brooks, 2004; Kashyap, 2011).\n2. Literature review: Previous studies on the impacts of ERP implementation is \"spotty\" at best, and appears to be often dependent on the context of whether a functional business or an IT manager perspective is doing the reporting! Research on return on investment (ROI) of implementing ERP systems is largely focussed on operational and financial analyses of benefits. In terms of operational benefits, ERP systems have been credited with reducing order cycle times, resulting in improved customer service and supplier management (Davenport, 1998; McAfee, 2002; Hwang and Min, 2013). ERP system also has been shown to decrease manufacturing lead times and improve on-time delivery measures (McAfee, 2002; Davenport and Brooks, 2004). A study by Bendoly et al. (2006) also found that differences existed in how ERP system capabilities emerged in China vs the USA, and that task interdependency played an important role in determining the usefulness of ERP systems. When properly aligned with internal business processes, ERP systems have been shown to effectively reduce operational costs and improve productivity (Mabert et al., 2000; Davenport and Brooks, 2004; Su and Yang, 2010). Tangible criteria associated with these benefits include real-time transaction information that supports inventory and working capitals reductions, but also helps to improve company collaboration with suppliers and customers (Davenport and Brooks, 2004). The ability to link tactical and strategic performance measures based on large volumes of transactional data also is a critical role of ERP systems (Bendoly et al., 2007). Su and Yang (2010) proposed a structural equation model for analyzing ERP benefits to firm competence in SCM. This study demonstrated that the operational benefit of implementing an ERP system can enhance a focal firm's competence in operational integration. However, many of these operational performance were conducted using case studies and surveys, and often lacked standardized measurement of benefits across different companies.\n3. Methodology: The methodology for this research study consists of two sections. We first describe a supply chain maturity model that utilizes public information to evaluate the supply chain performance of Fortune 500 companies. Then, using this supply chain maturity model, we studied how the selection of different ERP vendors affect supply chain maturity outcomes.\n4. Results: 4.1. ERP adoption and supply management maturity\n5. Discussion: 5.1. ERP adoption and supply management maturity\n6. Conclusions: The results of our study found significant support for the notion that ERP systems have some ROI, particularly in the form of improved levels of supply management performance. There was evidence to support the idea that ERP systems provide a foundation for measuring and managing third party spending, which forms the basis for \"higher-order\" supply management strategies, including strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management. We also propose here that ERP system can form the catalyst for change, particularly when accompanied by a strong leadership initiative to rein in spending, drive a centralized procurement transaction channel, and build a structured approach for sourcing governance. The research also points to new areas of potential research, including the impact of globalization on the decision to implement ERP systems, and the potential mitigating impacts of other organizational factors on the successful outcomes from deployment. Although organizations continue to makes billions of dollars in ERP investments, the research is hopeful in providing evidence of tangible evidence of benefits that may occur over an extended period of time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and the selection of ERP vendors on supply management performance for Fortune 500.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper adopts the supply chain maturity model adopted by Gupta and Handfield (2011) and used publicly available information such as articles, research report, newspapers to develop objective maturity ratings for four key indicators - strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management.\nFindings: The analysis results suggest ERP users are more mature than non-ERP users in three key indicators: strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management. Moreover, SAP ERP users are more mature than non-ERP users in strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study does not account for the longitudinal performance of ERP systems, nor does it account for differences between organizational scope of ERP deployment, global reach, or implementation duration. The authors also did not include other measures of supply chain performance outside of the procurement area. These factors could provide further insights to supply chain performance, and will be an interesting topic for future research.\nPractical implications: This study provides an extensive analysis of how the deployment of ERP systems and the selection of ERP vendors can benefit a company's supply chain performance. This information is valuable for companies that are considering adapting an ERP system.\nOriginality/value: This paper uses innovative an maturity assessment rating approach with publicly available resources to measure supply management performance across different companies. This method is novel and provides valuable insights to how ERP systems and their vendors' impact supply chain management performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Company oriented investment interest and cross-border transactions under globalisation: Geographical proximity still matters	[ "Globalization", "International investments", "International business", "Multinational companies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The commonly accepted goal of a multinational enterprise (MNE) or a multinational corporation (MNC) or a transnational corporation (TNC) is to maximise shareholder wealth. Thus, firms enact strategies in order to improve cash flows and to enhance shareholder wealth. The company has a target to increase its market share and profits and, therefore, it proceeds to various investments either locally or abroad if:* the foreign market \"offers\" better opportunities (market size, liberalised economy, market prospects, etc.);* the home market (local market, company's market of origin) is too saturated, or even;* globalisation and competition pressures prevail.Thus, the company and its management must decide which market(s) to enter and when to enter, and which entry modes should be implemented. All the possible obstacles that the enterprise will face in the foreign market must be considered and the various incentives offered by the host country (recipient country) must also be taken into account.\n2 Cross border transactions under globalization: company oriented investment interest and trends of FDI: Foreign direct investment (FDI) can play a key role in improving the capacity of the host country to respond to the opportunities offered by global economic integration, a goal increasingly recognized as one of the key aims of any development strategy and an increased growth rate. It can be argued that there was a continuous increase of FDI flows up to 2000, followed by a significant decrease thereafter (Table I). Global flows of FDI fell sharply in 2001 and 2002 (it was the largest decline in the last three decades: the FDI flows shrank by half in 2001 and by another quarter in 2000), preceded by the historical boom during 1999-2000 where FDI flows in the world exceed yearly $1 trillion (WIR, 2003).World FDI inflows rose rapidly and faster than world GDP and world exports during the last two decades. In particular, world FDI inflows over the period 1991-2000 increased 4.8 fold as compared to the previous ten years period, and surpassed the 4.5 fold increase attained between the 1970s and the 1980s. From an all-time high of $1,392 billion in 2000, world FDI inflows fell by around 50 per cent to $651 billion in 2002.The dramatic increase in FDI over the last decade was based on the following:* globalisation and economic integration;* technological improvements in communications, information processing and transportation;* new organizational structures and restructuring processes adopted by companies in order to become more competitive and effective; and* the changing framework of international competition and the deregulation of key sectors such as telecommunications which led to the liberalization of capital flows among countries.Moreover, the increase in FDI flows was largely related to:* the sharp increase in investments in the high-tech and telecommunication sectors in the advanced economies; and* the increased M&As cross-border transactions.* developing and transition countries were increasingly liberalizing their regimes and abolishing their barriers and obstacles in order to receive decisive inward FDI flows (Bitzenis, 2005).Thus, an increase of FDI flows is also due to* the abolishment of monopolies, the elimination of tariffs and quotas, and the increased free trade transactions as a complement to the FDI flows.On the other hand, the trend for the dramatic decrease in FDI flows after the year 2000 has major causes. The first is the slowdown in the world economy which has reduced world demand and accelerated the global restructuring process of major MNEs in sectors characterized by excess capacity. Especially from 2001 and onwards the decline reflects the terrorist event of 11 September 2001 in New York City, USA. The decline in 2001 which was mostly evident in developed countries was also a result of a decisive drop in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The economic recession especially in the USA and the EU (15) has intensified competitive pressures (globalization and competition pressures), thus forcing companies to search for cheaper locations (this is a reason for the stable FDI flows to the CEE region). Furthermore, the issue of lower demand (the economic recession resulted to lower GDP per capita) can be offset by lower prices and lower production cost which may increase the demand. This trend may result in increased FDI flows in activities that benefit from relocation to low-wage economies (e.g. increases of Japanese FDI outflows in China and EU outflows in the CEE region). In general, there has been a redistribution of FDI towards developing countries where growth has reportedly been higher than in developed countries. The rise in developing countries' shares may also reflect the further liberalization of their FDI regimes and their openness of their borders, which was reinforced by the growth in the number of bilateral investment promotion and protection treaties.2.1 Cross border M&A acquisitions\n3 Regional concentration of FDI: geographical proximity still matters: It can be argued that there is a regional concentration of FDI which can be seen from the examples of Greek MNEs that became dominant entrepreneurs in the Balkan region, the Austrians in Slovenia and Croatia, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, and Finland) in the Baltic region (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia), Germany, France, and the UK in the ex-Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia) and the UK, France, Germany and Netherlands in advanced economies such as the Belgian one, Spain in Latin America, the USA in Canada and Mexico, Japan in China, and in the whole SE Asia, etc. (Bitzenis, 2004a).From Table VII we can argue that the French multinationals have invested $12.5 billion of stock FDI flows in the whole transition period 1989-2003. This amount has given to France the first place as the biggest foreign investor in Poland.However, from Table VIII it can be pointed out that only four deals (French multinationals) spent an amount which is equal to around $7 billion. This means that without these 4 deals in a time period of 13 years, France returns back to the fifth place (from the first), just after Italy. Moreover, without one deal (the France telecom deal), France as a foreign investor in Poland runs to second place after the Netherlands.In reference to Poland again, we can argue with the help of Table IX that without the largest two Italian investment deals in Poland, Italy will run from the fifth place (Table VII) to the 17th place just after Greece with only half a billion USD. Thus, with the help of the above examples, we argue in favour of company oriented investment interest.The above is not the only case. Turning now to Hungary (Table X), only eight German MNEs have invested around $4 billion in only one country, namely Hungary when at the same time four countries from the Balkan region namely FYROM, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the whole transition period received from all over the world the same accumulated amount of FDI inflows (Table XI).Furthermore, as mentioned in Bitzenis (2003) there is an \"isolated\" interest of the multinationals and this has been proved among others with the example of the two Belgian multinationals (Solvay and Union Miniere) which invested in Bulgaria a large amount of USD and just for this reason Belgium ranked in the top places of foreign investors due to these two privatization and FDI deals. Lastly, in Bitzenis (2004a) the example of the Netherlands in the top ranking place in Serbia & Montenegro FDI inflows has been mentioned. This is due to a single large privatisation deal of a consortium of the Greek OTE and the Italian STET. However, STET preferred to complete this privatisation deal through its subsidiary in the Netherlands.Moving now to geographical proximity, we can argue with the help of Table XII that Austria is the leader foreign investor in Slovenia due to its geographical proximity with Slovenia.As mentioned in Bitzenis and Nito (2004), the majority of foreign investors in Albania comes from neighbour countries such as Italy and Greece (Table XIII).As mentioned in Bitzenis (2004b), Greece is the leader foreign investor in Bulgaria due to its geographical proximity with Bulgaria (Table XIV).In addition, from Table XV we can point out that FDI inflows in Estonia come from neighbour Nordic countries such as Sweden (40 per cent from total accumulated FDI inflows in the country) and Finland (26 per cent from total accumulated FDI inflows in the country) when strong economies with important multinationals from France, Germany, the UK and Italy have less than 3 per cent each one in the whole transition period in Estonia.Lastly, from Table XVI we can argue that again Nordic countries and other neighbour countries due to their geographical proximity are the top foreign investors in Lithuania. Denmark with 17 per cent of the total stock FDI inflows in Lithuania, is the top foreign investor followed by Sweden with 16 per cent.\n4 Concluding remarks: FDI can play a key role in improving the capacity of the host country to respond to the opportunities offered by global economic integration, a goal increasingly recognized as one of the key aims of any development strategy and an increased growth rate. In this framework, world FDI inflows grew rapidly and faster than world GDP and world exports during the last two decades. Moreover, there was a dramatic increase in FDI over the last decade (until 2000) which was based on several reasons such as globalisation and economic integration, technological improvements in communications, information processing and transportation, and the changing framework of international competition and the deregulation of several key sectors. However, there was a dramatic decrease in FDI flows after the year 2000 due to several reasons such as the slowdown in the world economy that has reduced world demand and accelerated the global restructuring process of major MNEs in sectors characterized by excess capacity, the prevalent terrorist events and the decisive drop in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As).Finally, it can argued that there is a regional concentration of FDI that can be seen from the examples of Greek MNEs which became dominant entrepreneurs in the Balkan region, the Austrians in Slovenia and Croatia, and the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, and Finland) in the Baltic region (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia). Indeed, it is safe to conclude that geographical proximity still matters when the trend of FDI inflows is concerned.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To investigate the trends of world foreign direct investment (FDI) flows during the last decades and to explore the reasons behind these trends and to examine the role of multinationals and their investment activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is based on the statistical data of FDI flows throughout the world and on an action field research which was also based on multinationals' investment behaviour. The FDI trends and the role of multinationals are evaluated.\nFindings: - FDI can play a key role in improving the capacity of the host country to respond to the opportunities offered by global economic integration, a goal increasingly recognized as one of the key aims of any development strategy and an increased growth rate. World FDI inflows grew rapidly and faster than world GDP and world exports during the last two decades. There was a dramatic increase in FDI over the last decade (until 2000) which was based on globalisation and economic integration, technological improvements in communications, information processing and transportation, the changing framework of international competition and the deregulation of several key sectors. There was a dramatic decrease in FDI flows after the year 2000 due to the slowdown in the world economy. M&A deals are the most important driving factors behind overall FDI flows when at least one third (up to two third) of the total FDI flows are due to the M&A cross-border deals.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research should be also be expanded in continents (for example, Asia, America) in order to examine the multinationals' investment activities and behaviour in order to conclude about the FDI trends more thoroughly.\nPractical implications: - More investment interest must be given to the developing or transition countries in which (where) the flows in absolute terms are too low. Moreover, the absence of large cross-border merger and acquisitions in these countries, can obviously be explained by the lack of the existence of significant and well-known large companies which could have the potential to become significant world players in the sector that they belong to.\nOriginality/value: - It is a valuable paper for scholars, entrepreneurs and multinationals who prefer to understand the reasons behind the FDI trends and/or for the governments/politicians who prefer to create a framework in order to attract FDI flows to their countries by examining the experience of other countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does intellectual capital matter? High-performance work systems and bilateral innovative capabilities	[ "High-performance work systems", "Structural equation modelling", "Human capital", "Social capital", "Intellectual capital", "Incremental innovative capability", "Radical innovative capability", "Organizational capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The turbulence of the business environment has spurred increased interest in innovation as a critical driver of competition. Firms with greater innovative capabilities will be more successful in responding to a changing environment and improving their competitiveness. Human resource management has been highlighted as one of the most influential factors in a firm's innovative behaviors in innovation theory. Therefore, past studies on innovation have tried to determine which human resource practices affect a firm's capabilities of generating innovation (Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2005). However, to date, these studies have seldom treated human resource practices as systems, which is labeled as high-performance work systems (HPWSs) in the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature. Accordingly, previous SHRM studies have paid little attention to the linkage between HPWSs and innovative capabilities; instead, the literature has focussed on other issues, such as employee attitudes, turnover and labor productivity (Arthur, 1994; Delaney and Huselid, 1996; Guthrie, 2001; Wu and Chaturvedi, 2009). Therefore, it appears that bridging the gap between innovation theory and the SHRM literature by linking innovative capabilities to HPWSs would be of value.\nConceptual background: Before presenting our theoretical model and hypotheses, we first discuss the concepts of the model in this section. These concepts are HPWS, intellectual capital and innovative capabilities.\nTheoretical framework and hypotheses: We argue that HPWSs, intellectual capital and innovative capabilities are theoretically linked. In this section, we present our rationales for the hypothesized linkages.\nThe empirical study: Sample\nResults: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted with the Amos 6.0 program in two steps. We first implemented confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to verify the measurement model. Then a sequence of nested structural models was used during SEM to test our hypotheses.\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic understanding of the mechanisms through which high-performance work systems (HPWSs) facilitate the incremental and radical innovative capabilities of organizations. Using a knowledge-based view of the firm, the paper introduces the mediating role of intellectual capital (composed of human, organizational and social capital) while examining this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected using a questionnaire survey approach from 164 firms in the People's Republic of China. The paper used analyses based on structural equation modeling to measure the main constructs and test the hypothesized relationships among the variables.\nFindings: The results indicate that HPWSs contribute to both the incremental and radical innovative capabilities of organizations. In addition, intellectual capital mediates the relationships between HPWSs and different types of innovative capabilities. Specifically, organizational and social capital mediate the relationship between HPWSs and incremental innovative capability, whereas social capital mediates the relationship between HPWSs and radical innovative capability.\nOriginality/value: The study supports and expands on the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature and knowledge-based view of the firm in terms of whether, why and how HPWSs can develop a competitive advantage on the basis of innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Drivers and internalisation of the EFQM excellence model	[ "Compensation", "Appraisal", "EFQM", "Excellence", "Internalization", "Motives for adoption" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last few decades Business Excellence Models (BEMs) have emerged as overarching management frameworks aimed at assessing management practices and results, and guiding organisations in improving performance (Jayamaha et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2010; Mohammad et al., 2011; Dahlgaard et al., 2013; Escrig and de Menezes, 2015). BEMs allow organisations to improve by encouraging the introduction of best practices and tools for self-assessment, benchmarking and continuous improvement. In most cases, the existing BEMs have been supported by national or international bodies as a basis for awards such as the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Award (Dahlgaard et al., 2013; Araujo and Sampaio, 2014).\n2. Theoretical background: In what follows, we address, first, the concept of internalisation as the central variable for analysis, since adopting the EFQM model to obtain recognition may not necessarily imply internalisation. Then, we discuss the extent to which the motivations for adopting the EFQM model could be drivers for the internalisation of the model, which leads us to formulate the first research question. Finally, we deal with the issue of the role of performance appraisal and compensation systems in the internalisation achievement, bringing us to the second research question.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Findings: 4.1 Scales validation and contingent analysis\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Research implications\n6. Conclusion: Drawing on the institutional theory and RBV, this study has provided evidence that internal reasons are more relevant than external drivers to achieve a true internalisation of the EFQM model. In particular, the search for a participative style among employees is the motive that seems to drive a substantive adoption of the EFQM model. Moreover, our work unveils motivational practices regarding performance evaluation and compensation as an important factor to facilitate the internalisation of a QM model. Thus, the study shows that a performance appraisal system-oriented towards the development of employees encourages further internalisation of the practices embedded in the EFQM model compared with systems that are more centred on the achievement of targets. Overall, the present research has contributed by offering some orientations about the kind of practices that further the effectiveness of the EFQM model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model has been widely adopted throughout Europe, a thorough examination of the factors that contribute to the internalisation of the model (i.e. a substantive adoption) has been neglected in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to present a model that analyses the drivers of the real internalisation of the EFQM excellence model, with a focus on the role of motives for adoption, and appraisal and compensation systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study was carried out based on a sample of Spanish organisations that had been awarded EFQM recognition. Structural equation models, cluster analysis and ANOVA were used to examine the research questions.\nFindings: Internal motives concerning the creation of a participative style are the main driver of internalisation. Moreover, having an appraisal system-oriented towards the development of employees helps the substantive adoption of the EFQM model. These findings reinforce the importance of the soft elements of the EFQM model.\nOriginality/value: This study enhances evidence about the motives for adoption and their influence on the internalisation of the EFQM model. It analyses internalisation in a novel context, EFQM recognised organisations, and contributes to the debate about the efficacy of the EFQM model to performance improvement, by unveiling the factors that could foster the internalisation of the model within the organisational routines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Promoting quality emergency care in a resource-constrained setting	[ "Africa", "Clinical governance", "Malawi", "Emergencies", "Paediatrics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Senior emergency clinicians are leading efforts to provide care that is effective, efficient and equitable, accessible, relevant to local needs and socially and culturally acceptable (Maxwell, 1984). These domains are important but need further division into structure (the infrastructure and resources available), the process of care (the inter-relationship of patient and carer) and the resulting outcomes (mortality, disability and patient satisfaction) (Donabedian, 1966).\nPurpose and structure of this paper: The purpose of our paper is to provide an \"inside\" account of efforts to enhance the quality of care in a paediatric hospital department in Malawi. Where it is helpful, and where they reflect our own experience, we combine reports of our own experience with reference to reports emanating from other African countries.\nBackground: barriers to quality: Professional resource\nInterventions: Enhanced service monitoring\nSummary of findings: Tables III and IV summarise the dimensions of the transition in quality that senior clinicians are endeavouring to bring about. Table III presents the situation we are leaving behind (our \"point of departure\"). Table IV presents the goals and aims we are pursuing.\nDiscussion: Clinical governance has a disciplinary role in asserting quality standards that are challenging but achievable within the local setting. It also has a parallel, formative role, to recognise and support the initiative of those at the sharp end of service delivery. We wish to see a turn towards this formative aspect of governance, to bring about the transition we have indicated.\nConclusions: implications for governance: We believe that the goals and achievements we have described justify investment in emergency departments and their leadership through an expansion of the trained consultant resource. Malawi, like many African countries, needs more emergency medicine specialists. On a large scale they will take leadership roles and be advocates for the specialty; on the \"shop floor\" they will be role models, give senior advice in departments and negotiate the gap between policy and resources on one hand, and emergency healthcare demands and their satisfaction on the other.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an \"inside\" account of efforts to enhance the quality of care in a paediatric hospital department in Malawi.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors describe the problems they face as health workers in an overcrowded, under-resourced emergency departments in a low-income setting. Where it is helpful, the authors combine reports of their experience with reference to reports emanating from other African countries.\nFindings: There is increased awareness of the need for a good health system to be able to provide quality care. The authors emphasise the importance of teamwork and the need for cross cutting activities that are not disease-centred or vertically driven. Task sharing and multi-tasking have helped fill the gaps left by inadequate staffing but specialists in emergency medicine are needed to advocate for the specialty and be role models in departments.\nPractical implications: This paper is aimed at a broad audience of fellow clinicians, funders and policy makers, and those who have an interest in clinical governance in support of quality improvement in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This is a firsthand account of efforts to enhance the quality of emergency care from a paediatric hospital department in Malawi.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceived value of advanced mobile messaging services: A cross-cultural comparison of Greek and Spanish users	[ "Cross-cultural issues", "Customer satisfaction/service", "Post-implementation", "Cross-national study", "Mobile communications", "Service quality (SERVQUAL)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The mobile phone industry is regarded as one of the most important sectors, not only in the communications field but also in the economy as a whole, contributing 2 per cent of global gross domestic product in 2011. The worldwide penetration rate was over 95.5 per cent by the end of 2014 with more than 6.9 billion mobile subscriptions, for a growth rate of 8 per cent since 2005 (International Telecommunication Union, 2014). The mobile phone industry is now reaching the mature stage in its lifecycle, with an increasing number of mobile service operators and declining traditional voice service revenues (Jin and Von Zedtwitz, 2008; Kuo and Yen, 2009; Rudd, 2010). Therefore, in order to enhance their profits, mobile service operators need to retain customers and steal market share from their competitors, providing new services and applications with greater value for users (Kuo et al., 2009; Borges et al., 2015).\n2. Theoretical framework: In mobile services field, research on acceptance has been a dominant subject. Behavioural models that emerged during the 1980s and 1990s, such as TAM and TPB, have been widely applied to explain the effect of individual's perceptions on technology acceptance (Lippert and Volkmar, 2007; Yang and Jolly, 2009; Muk, 2012; Muk and Chung, 2015). Nevertheless, mobile services have evolved and individuals use them regularly, developing continued use and loyalty. Nowadays, studying exclusively the acceptance of mobile services leads to a partial view of user behaviour, since it ignores the relevance of other factors that may influence the individual after experiencing the characteristics of the service. Therefore, the current mobile context requires the development of theoretical frameworks that analyse post-acceptance behaviour derived from the individual's value perceptions.\n3. Culture: 3.1 The importance of culture\n4. Data analysis: 4.1 Methodology\n5. Results: As Table VII shows, first, the effect of perceived value on satisfaction is highly significant for Greece and Spain (H2; bg=0.78, p<0.01; bs=0.64; p<0.01) and the same result holds for the effect of satisfaction on loyalty (H1; bg=0.88, p<0.01; bs=0.79; p<0.01). H1 and H2 are confirmed.\n6. Theoretical contributions and practical implications: 6.1 Theoretical contributions\n7. Conclusions, limitations and future lines of research: In recent years, the high level of penetration and use of mobile phone devices in the majority of countries has favoured the development of marketing strategies. These strategies try to improve the relationship with current users and create loyal customers through the consumption of new services that offer more value than voice services. AMMS are a good example of these new services.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of perceived value on post-acceptance behaviour for users of advanced mobile messaging services (AMMS). The paper also compares differences in the influence of perceived value on satisfaction and of satisfaction on loyalty to AMMS in Spain and Greece, to test the moderating effect of culture.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Partial least squares path modelling is used to test the model. Perceived value is modelled as a multidimensional reflective construct with four dimensions. Culture is studied at a national level. Differences between countries are tested using the multigroup analysis approach proposed by Henseler et al. (2009).\nFindings: Perceived value contributes significantly to satisfaction. Satisfaction also has a significant effect on loyalty. Regarding the moderating effect of culture, the influence of perceived value on satisfaction is higher in Greece than in Spain. The authors report similar findings for the effect of satisfaction on loyalty, demonstrating the relevant moderating role of cultures with different degrees of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and collectivism.\nPractical implications: This cross-cultural comparison enables mobile phone companies to understand how to provide the greatest value with AMMS in each country in order to increase user satisfaction and loyalty to the service.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies that develops cross-cultural research to analyse the post-acceptance of mobile services. It analyses the effect of perceived value and satisfaction, making an original comparison of two countries generally considered too similar to be compared.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What are the barriers to integrating displaced populations into labor markets and what are possible steps to overcome them?	[ "Migrant workers", "Labour market", "Ethnic groups", "Labour mobility", "Entrepreneurialism", "Social change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It was not statistics, councils or conferences. It was the somber image of a drowned Syrian child washed ashore that mobilized the international community to find solutions to what became known as the global refugee crisis. The image served as a striking silent commentary on the suffering brought on by Syria's civil war that Alan Kurdi and his family sought to escape, and the perils that faced them on their journey to a better life.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find the answers of the following question: what are the barriers to integrating displaced populations into labor markets and what are possible steps to overcome them?\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper draws on government statistics, published reports and independent research that the author conducted in Turkey regarding the crisis in Syria from 2016 to 2018.\nFindings: A reactionary government policy toward Syrian refugees lacks an overarching rights-based approach that includes the participation of all stakeholders and considers local dynamics. This results in a bleak prospect for enhancing the livelihood security of Syrian refugees and vulnerable members of host communities in Turkey. An alternative approach leveraging opportunities for synergies between refugee and host communities is proposed.\nOriginality/value: This piece proposes an original framework for integrating displaced populations into labor markets through the acronym CLEAR: certainty of status, language training, education opportunities, aid as an investment and the right to work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Small to mid-sized nonprofit leadership development initiatives: organizational lessons learned	[ "Senior management", "Leadership development", "Non‐profit organizations", "Succession planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today, nonprofit organizations are in the midst of a terrible leadership crisis. In support of that claim, several recent surveys project that some 50 percent of the current US nonprofit executive directors will leave their organizations within the next five years for a variety of reasons: retirement, voluntary resignation, termination, and death. A key question for nonprofits is to what degree do small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations respond to the predicted shortage of leaders? We sought to answer this question as part of a more comprehensive survey and interviews we recently conducted (Santora and Sarros, 2009) with 20 diverse small to mid-sized nonprofits located on the eastern seaboard of the United States. We focused our attention on the types of leadership development initiatives these nonprofits offered employees.\nFindings: Based on our survey/interviews we found the following distribution of the top leadership development initiatives offered to employees by these organizations, as shown in Table II. In some cases executive directors listed several areas, thus there are more than 20 responses.Executive directors reported that in-service workshops (required workshop offered by external consultants on a particular theme; e.g. communication) were the primary way employees participated in leadership development initiatives. Attending college and/or graduate school, long-term leadership training, serving on committees and participating in board training, and mentoring (coaching) ranked as the second most popular way for employees; and finally, job rotation, attending external activities, and tuition reimbursement plans are the final ways employees participate in leadership development initiatives.\nWhat we learned: As a result of our survey and interviews with the group of nonprofit executives we found six answers to our questions about leadership development initiatives in these small to mid-sized nonprofits. These organizations do not:* have adequate finances to support leadership development activities;* have a human resource department to coordinate leadership development initiatives;* have a formal strategic plan that includes leadership development initiatives;* often provide upward mobility for employees;* groom insiders for future leadership roles;* provide leadership development through a competency-based approach.\nWhat we recommend: Nonprofit executives should recognize the important value of employee leadership development initiatives. Such initiatives take time and often require outside funding for support. To ensure financial support, we recommend that small to mid-size nonprofits engage the services of professional fundraisers to submit proposals to funding sources and to work with leadership development consultants to prepare curriculum proposals.\nConclusion: Funding is crucial for offering leadership development initiatives to employees. Without such initiatives, most nonprofit employees have little opportunity to learn and develop the skills needed to become more effective employees and leaders at every level of the organization.Over time we would be interested to learn how many staff who participated in leadership development initiatives have indeed advanced within their organizations to a responsible leadership position including executive director. Unfortunately in-service workshops have a low impact given their limited short-term exposure to participants. It would seem that many small and mid-sized nonprofits may experience an exodus of their leaders in the next few years, and taking appropriate steps to grow internal leaders who can replace departing ones may not be high on their priority list. If nonprofit organizations do not take the necessary steps to ensure employee development, then they may lose valuable internal staff and undoubtedly hinder their long-term organizational effectiveness. The costs are high for neglecting the leadership development of nonprofit employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Presents findings of a recent survey conducted on small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations about the types of leadership development initiatives they offer employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey and interview methods used to collect data from nonprofit executive directors who participated in this study.\nFindings: - Most survey participants do not have the financial and other organizational capacities to offer leadership development initiatives to employees. In-service workshops are the most frequent type of initiative and unfortunately often this learning initiative has a low impact given its limited short-term exposure to participants. Other leadership development initiatives may be more beneficial to employees in terms of their long-term impact.\nPractical implications: - Provides recommendations for small to mid-sized nonprofit executive directors about ways to fund leadership development initiatives.\nOriginality/value: - Offers nonprofit executive directors with suggestions about not investing in leadership development initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study on the impact of consumer risk perception and innovativeness on online shopping in India	[ "Innovation", "India", "Consumers", "Risk", "Perceived risk", "Online retailing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online retailing in India is fast becoming main-stream with increasing number of retailers offering their merchandize through online channel along with traditional brick and mortar stores. Indian customer is more than ready to experiment with shopping from reputed online international portals without any Indian presence. Pioneered by the likes of Amazon and Dell, more and more companies are setting up online stores not only in books and electronics but also in specialty categories like apparel, accessories and high fashion merchandize. The trend is no more limited to large retailers like Shoppers stop, Landmark, Fabindia, etc. but also there are small stores exploring this channel to increase their reach. There are new generations of online retailers which are offering their merchandize exclusively through web with no physical presence like Fashion and You, Nine2Nine, Myntra, Jabong, etc. In-fact, the reach of aggregators like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, etc. with no physical presence is larger than most of the large brick and mortar retailers with web as an additional distribution channel. Amazon sites seem to be having largest reach despite no physical presence in India (Figure 1).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: Online shopping intention\n3. Methods: Research instrument and data collection\n4. Data analysis: The methodology concerning measures employed and data analysis follows two steps. The first step is to confirm the factor structure of measurement items and to establish model reliability, validity and fit. The second step investigated the relationship between various constructs and tested the proposed hypothesis.\n5. Discussion, implications and conclusion: This paper provides new insights about consumer innovativeness traits as a useful predictor of online shopping adoption. The main contribution of this research lies in providing a model that integrates the influence of consumer innovativeness traits and the perceived adoption risks on e-retailing acceptance.\n6. Limitations and scope for future research: Future research should consider the role of other credibility dimensions like reputation of the specific retailers and post-purchase experiences resulting like fulfillment time, transport packaging, customer service and handling of returns. It is highly likely that post-purchase experiences with the online retailer are also influential in customers' intention to repeat purchases and recommend potential customers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a conceptual model to establish how consumer innovativeness can be used as a variable to positively influence online retailing adoption intention both directly and reducing consumer perceived risk (PR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The literature concerning personal innovativeness toward information technology and major components of PR have been systematically reviewed to develop a conceptual model. The impact of innovativeness and PR on online shopping adoption intention has been empirically validated by structural equation modeling using a sample of 433 internet users in India.\nFindings: Results reveals consumer innovativeness as a key construct to improve online retail adoption intention both directly and by its effective role in reducing consumer risk perception of using internet channel for making purchase of physical goods.\nOriginality/value: There is a lack of studies which connect consumer innovativeness and PR in the online retailing context especially in Indian scenario. The results expand one's knowledge on this relationship, propounding interesting empirical evidence of the model among current and potential online shoppers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A relationship between corporate sustainability and organizational change (Part One)	[ "Transformation", "Corporate sustainability", "Corporate social responsibility", "Change management", "Business culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the past several decades, firms have seen an increasing need to manage an ever rougher sea of challenges such as technology, economic, industry growth and decline, competition, market, and environment (Rosenberg and Mosca, 2011). Firms that fail to adapt to these factors, at best, risk losing business and, at worst, gamble obsolescence (Self and Schraeder, 2009; cited in Rosenberg and Mosca, 2011). Increasingly, there has been greater attention given to \"strategic implications of corporate social responsibility (CSR)\" (McWilliams et al., 2005, p. 4). This seems logical given that the more frequent corporate collapses and greater market and economic volatility have called into question some of the fundamental aspects of companies' relationships with society; specifically questions of long-term sustainability (Robinson and Boulle, 2012).\nCorporate sustainabilty: What is corporate sustainability?\nWhy organizations attempt sustainability: Dialectics and the triple bottom line\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations' relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the \"how\" and \"why\" must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm's relationship with its community. The purpose of this paper is to examine the corporate-societal relationship to better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today's global environment in this three-part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to: illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability; and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation.\nFindings: There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change's purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative's success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed.\nPractical implications: A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability.\nSocial implications: Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum.\nOriginality/value: This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When perceived ability to influence plays a role: brand co-creation in Web 2.0	[ "Experimental design", "Web 2.0", "Brand co-creation", "Brand perception", "Millennial consumer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Web 2.0, defined as the virtual platforms where consumers and brands engage and create value, is shifting power from brands to consumers, as they become active participants in the development of brands' new products and services (Gronroos and Voima, 2013; Hughes et al., 2016; Iglesias and Bonet, 2012; Singh and Sonnenburg, 2012; Vallaster and von Wallpach, 2013). Marketing through virtual platforms enables content sharing, diffusion of information and relationship building (Cheung and Lee, 2010; Kim and Ko, 2012; Chang et al., 2015). To say it another way, social media marketing can lead to the process of co-creation, which occurs when brands and consumers join forces to interact, learn and share information to create value (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2016). Moreover, attribution theory states that individuals make judgments on the basis of product quality, the purchase of the product or the endorsement of a group (Jones et al., 1972). The characteristics that consumers give to a brand can lead to perceptions about the brand's ability to be influenced. Past literature has explained how co-creation emerges when participants accept to take part in a co-creation community (Ind et al., 2013), the motivations that customers have to engage in co-creation (Fuller, 2010) and the resources needed (Gummeson and Mele, 2010). However, little is known about what influences the consumers' willingness to accept taking part in a co-creation community. The current research, thus, seeks to answer the following question:\nBackground and hypotheses: Co-creation\nStudy 1: The main objective of this study is to uncover which brands consumers perceive as being able to influence and not being able to influence. In all, 424 consumers (51 per cent female) recruited through a Qualtrics panel participated in an online survey. The consumers were asked to provide the names of five brands they could influence and five brands that they could not influence. The resulting lists of brand names was sorted by frequency, and the 25 most frequently named brands from each question were randomly listed in a subsequent survey.\nStudy 2: The main objective of Study 2 is to determine the impact consumers' perceived ability to influence a brand has on the consumers' desire to co-create with that brand. The second goal of the study is to investigate how consumers' perceived ability to influence a brand also affects the consumers' attitude toward the ad and purchase intention. For this study, the Samsung brand represents the \"able to influence\" group and IBM represents the \"unable to influence\" group, as outlined in Study 1.\nAnalysis and results: Manipulation check\nTheoretical contributions: The results of this research offer new insight into consumer co-creation. Specifically, this study contributes to the current knowledge on co-creation by providing insights on:\nManagerial implications: Millennial consumers are a powerful segment of the market with substantial purchasing power and represent over 25 per cent of the population in the USA (USA Census Bureau, 2015). Furthermore, some 90 per cent of Millennials are engaged with social media (Duggan et al., 2014), which creates a network of virtual platforms for a brand to interact with a large number of consumers. As brands use Web 2.0 outlets and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to monetize social media (Hendricks, 2013), the ability to understand how consumers perceive and interact with the brand is of vital importance.\nLimitations and future research: While this paper focuses on incorporating the nuances of Web 2.0 and co-creation, some limitations are present. First, this research focuses exclusively on Millennial consumers. While this segment of the population is large and important, validating the results with a national generalizable sample could shed additional insight into the power of the ability to influence on co-creation. Next, the survey was created to mimic an online social media platform that a consumer interacts with on a regular basis. To further validate the test results, additional platforms for co-creation, including company websites and retail settings, could be tested. Moreover, this line of research can be extended to industries other than technology that still take advantage of the virtual platforms in Web 2.0. The effects of the perceived ability to influence on co-creation can also be further examined to identify additional benefits brands can gain from using a prompted co-creation strategy. Finally, the context of this study was with Millennial consumers in the USA. Further research would benefit from contrasting consumers' perceived ability to influence in different cultures. These findings would be particularly relevant for global brands.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of Millennials' perceived ability to influence a brand and how this perception about the brand impacts the consumers' desire to engage in co-creation. Additionally, the paper examines the effects of perceived influence on attitude toward the ad and purchase intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies were developed. In the first study, Millennial consumers identify technology brands they feel they are able to influence and not able to influence. Using the results from Study 1, Study 2, a 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design, is used to test the impact that perceived brand influence has on co-creation, attitude toward the ad and purchase intention.\nFindings: The results of this paper offer new insight into consumer co-creation. Instead of co-creation being a constant that a brand can rely on, managers must now consider the attributions that consumers have about the brand. If a brand is perceived as being unable to be influenced, then not only will consumers not engage in co-creation but attitude toward that ad and purchase intention will also decrease.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper focuses exclusively on Millennial consumers. While this segment of the population is large and important, validating the results with a national generalizable sample could shed additional insight into the power of the ability to influence on co-creation. The survey was created to mimic an online social media platform that a consumer interacts with on a regular basis. To further verify the test results, additional platforms for co-creation, including company websites and retail settings, could be tested.\nPractical implications: If a brand wishes to engage Millennial consumers with active co-creation, then the perception of the brand is important for success. Brand managers must create a perception of the brand that is open to engagement with consumers - which allows for consumers to give input and help to shape the brand. Consumers should become comfortable with the idea of the brand asking for, accepting and implementing feedback from customers.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first of its kind to combine attribution theory, theory of reasoned action and co-creation to measure the perceptions that consumers have about a brand. The results of this paper provide valuable insight to the limits and conditions in which co-creation will occur.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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