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How can neuroscience inform our coaching practice -- six strategies to facilitate an optimal brain state in coachees	[ "Skills" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: I first trained in what is now called brain-based coaching skills over 15 years ago, and while I have actively learnt different coaching methodologies and am familiar with many others, research from neuroscience has demonstrated that having basic knowledge about the brain will enable a professional coach, whether working in private practice or employed in the corporate environment, to increase efficiency, results, and the overall effectiveness of the coaching engagement.\n1. Minimize threat, maximize reward: The human brain is focused predominantly on survival, and therefore anything that could threaten this promotes a lot of attention and neural circuitry. Threats are \"louder\" in the brain than potential rewards, which explains why we experience stronger emotional responses to negative situations than positive ones. According to Dr Evian Gordon, the brain is wired, reflecting its organizing principle to \"minimize threat, maximize reward\" (Rock, 2009).\n2. Focus on the brain's social drivers: First, help the coachees increase their autonomy around their coaching so that they feel more in control and responsible for the outcome. For example, have them choose a neutral, favored place to meet. Ask them how they would like to sit. Sitting side-by-side rather than opposite each other lowers your status (as the coach, you are considered an expert) and raises the coachees'.\n3. Proactively disengage the limbic system: In coaching, we are 100 per cent focused on the client; however, ensuring that both the coachee and the coach are in an ideal state for coaching will help to create an even more successful outcome. At the start of every coaching session, my coachee and I complete the following quick verbal exercise to ensure that both our brains are optimized for cognition:\n4. Enhance strengths rather than fix problems: If an employee feels that he/she has been singled out for coaching because his/her performance is lacking or if he/she or his/her organization views coaching as \"fixing problem people,\" it will sabotage the start and, potentially, the entire coaching relationship.\n5. Create trust: Reflecting its hardwiring for survival, the brain will automatically categorize people as either friends, and therefore as those being in the in-group, or prospective foes (out-group). Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, \"our brain's default response is to treat all strangers as belonging to the out-group\" (Radecki and Hull, 2018). Therefore, focusing on establishing and creating trust and intimacy (International Coach Federation core competency 3) at the start and throughout the coaching engagement must not be underestimated if you wish to develop a brain-based coaching relationship.\n6. Generate thinking and insight: The brain-based coaching skills approach reflects what I term pure coaching: the coach is facilitating the thinking and ideas from the client. They are not telling them what to do, i.e. adopting a directive leadership style. Neuroscience has shown that when a person finds the solution for himself/herself, he/she takes ownership and is motivated to take action. This works for children too.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: How do you ensure that your coachees are getting the most value, support, and challenge from your coaching sessions? Before you even start asking questions and engaging in a coaching conversation, neuroscience can help you! The purpose of this paper is to outline six easy strategies that you can deploy to enable the best brain state to aid cognition, decisions, and creative thinking for your coachee and yourself.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A viewpoint based on the latest research from neuroscience and the author's expertise as a coach for over 15 years.\nFindings: Using the latest research from neuroscience to assist coachees to find their own solutions to the issues they face ensures they take ownership and are more motivated to take action.\nOriginality/value: The paper takes key elements from the latest evidence in neuroscience and applies them to the practice of coaching.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring information security education on social media use: Perspective of uses and gratifications theory	[ "Security awareness", "Uses and gratifications theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Along with society's technological advancements, the significance of information security (InfoSec) has gradually become recognized; individuals and organizations are increasingly attentive to this issue. The literature demonstrates that humans are the most critical element when it comes to InfoSec (Vance et al., 2013; Tsao, 2014). The improvement of an individual's security awareness will change the ideas and behavior of the user. If people lack security awareness of InfoSec policies or do not know how to respond to them, they will be more likely to disclose personal information (Thomson and Solms, 1998). Therefore, it is critical to provide InfoSec education to strengthen people's InfoSec knowledge.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Social media usage in e-learning\n3. Research model and hypotheses development: 3.1 Determinants of user satisfaction\n4. Research methodology: Our test subjects are social media users who are learning about security education in China. The target samples are users from the WeChat subscription named secrecy view, the biggest subscription about InfoSec education in China. Using a survey website called www.sojump.com, we designed an online questionnaire, which was distributed by us for one week. For the main study, among the 326 subjects, the survey yielded 293 valid responses, with a response rate of 89.8 percent. Table III depicts the sample demographics. Specifically, 70 percent of subjects are male, and 30 percent are female. Almost 90 percent have at least some college experience, and all of them work in government agencies.\n5. Data analysis and results: As a soft modeling approach to structural equation modeling (SEM) and with no assumptions about data distribution and small sample size (Ng et al., 2010), we employed partial least squares (PLS) regression to measure the validation and test the hypothesis. Chin (2010) and other scholars have discussed additional advantages of the PLS method, which include excellent accuracy of parameter estimation, as well as ease of model specification and model interpretation. Furthermore, the valid sample size in our study is 293, which is far beyond the recommendation by Marcoulides and Saunders (2006). We used the software Smart PLS 3.0 to analyze the data.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: 6.1 Key findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Based on the literature on information security (InfoSec) education and uses and gratifications theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a research model to examine the impact of InfoSec education on social media usage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors employed structural equation modeling to test the research model, with a survey data set of 293 valid subjects from a WeChat subscription about InfoSec education named secrecy view.\nFindings: The results reveal the significant impacts of perceived content quality, perceived social influence and perceived entertainment on user satisfaction in the context of security education and social media. User satisfaction is significantly associated with user stickiness and security knowledge improvement. Additionally, the authors found that user's security awareness moderated the effect of perceived entertainment on user satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: Using a single sample might constrain the contributions of this study.\nPractical implications: The authors suggest practical guidelines for InfoSec education on social media by enhancing perceived content quality. Moreover, due to diverse user attributes, the social media operators should recommend targeted content to different users.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to studies on InfoSec education of social media usage and identifies factors that affect user satisfaction with social media. Furthermore, the study enriches the security education practices by uncovering differences in security awareness with regard to user satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationships between organizational support, customer orientation, and work outcomes: A study of frontline bank employees	[ "Banking", "Employees", "Customer orientation", "Business support services", "New Zealand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Regulatory, structural and technological factors have significantly changed the banking environment throughout the world (Angur et al., 1999). In a milieu becoming increasingly competitive, bank executives realize that creating and maintaining a loyal customer base is a key to their survival and success (see Yavas et al., 1997). Accordingly, they design multi-pronged strategies to deliver quality service to customers and enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Such executives also recognize that no strategy aimed at satisfaction and retention of external customers can be considered complete unless it includes programs for reaching and winning over internal customers (Schneider and White, 2004). Viewed particularly important in this context are the frontline employees who, because of their boundary-spanning roles, play a crucial role in service delivery and building relationships with customers (Babakus et al., 2003). Being direct participants in implementing the marketing concept (Brown et al., 2002), frontline employees' attitudes and behaviors towards customers determine customers' perceived service quality, satisfaction and emotional commitment to an organization (Henning-Thurau, 2004; Yoon et al., 2001). Frontline employees also have the capability, more so than other employees in an organization, for returning aggrieved customers to a state of satisfaction after a service failure occurs (Yavas et al., 2004).Not surprisingly, bank executives view retention of motivated, satisfied and committed frontline employees as important to business success as customer satisfaction and retention (see Yavas et al., 1997). A question that begs an answer is: what support mechanisms and resources induce positive and reduce negative work outcomes among frontline bank employees? In this study, we seek an answer to this decidedly critical question. Specifically, we investigate the nature of relationships between several organizational support factors and a personal resource, and selected psychological and behavioral work outcomes. A related objective of our study is to uncover whether these relationships exhibit similar patterns between employees with different characteristics. We use frontline bank employees in New Zealand as our study setting.A study addressing these issues is relevant and significant for several reasons. First, while some studies in the past have examined the relationships between organizational support and work outcomes among frontline employees in other service sectors (Bakker et al., 2004; Demerouti et al., 2001) and other countries (e.g. Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004), there is a paucity of research addressing this topic in the context of banking in general and New Zealand in particular. Second, previous studies have been limited in terms of the number of resources and/or outcomes they include in their conceptualization and scope. In this study, we use a comprehensive list of seven antecedent (six organizational support resources and a personal resource) and four work outcome (three psychological outcomes and a behavioral outcome) variables and investigate their interrelationships. Third, the findings from the study can provide bank executives in New Zealand with valuable insights in ways of enhancing positive and reducing negative work outcomes of their frontline employees. Furthermore, an understanding of the role of background characteristics is vital to managers in determining if, for instance, an undifferentiated or a differentiated (e.g. gender-specific) approach is warranted in managing frontline employees (Alexandrov et al., 2007).In the next section we present the relevant literature. This is followed by discussions of the method and results of our empirical study. We conclude with implications of the results and suggestions for future research.\nRelevant literature: Organizational support\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Canonical correlation analysis was employed to examine the relationships between the independent and the dependent variables described in the preceding section. This technique is particularly useful in situations where, as is the case here, there are multiple dependent variables and correlations exist between and within variable sets (Hair et al., 1998). The simplest way to view canonical analysis is as a kind of double-barreled principle components analysis. Given a correlation matrix representing the between and within correlations of two sets of variables, the analysis derives successive pairs of linear functions of independent and dependent variable sets. The functions are maximally correlated between the variable sets while mutually uncorrelated within the sets. The first pair of canonical functions extracts the maximum variance possible, the second pair extracts the maximum variance not accounted for by the first pair and successive canonical functions are extracted in the same fashion.In canonical correlation analysis, the maximum number of canonical functions that can be extracted from the independent and the dependent variable sets equals the number of variables in the smaller set. Since the smaller set in the present study (i.e. the dependent set) consists of four variables, a maximum of four canonical functions can be extracted. As in principal components analysis, the objective of canonical analysis is to summarize the complex multivariate relationship between the two sets of variables in a smaller number of canonical variates (linear composites or combinations) without too much loss of information. Considering the criteria (i.e. statistical significance of the function and the magnitude of the canonical correlations depicting the bivariate correlations between the independent and the dependent linear composites) recommended by Hair et al. (1998), in this study two canonical functions were retained. Both functions were significant (Function 1: F= 16.48, p<0.0001 and Function 2: F= 2.41, p<0.001). As shown in Table I, the canonical correlations between the dependent and independent variates of the first and the second functions were 0.80 and 0.30 respectively.In interpreting the underlying structures of the independent and the dependent variable composites, canonical loadings can be used. Also referred to as structure correlations, loadings measure the simple linear correlations between an original observed variable in the independent (or dependent) set and the set's canonical variate. As can be seen from the loadings presented in Table I, the first dependent variate was characterized by affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. On the other hand, job performance was at the root of the dependent variate of the second function. An inspection of the loadings of the independent variables revealed that gender and education were more closely associated with the first independent variate. The second independent variate, on the other hand, depicted closer association with age. Customer orientation and empowerment also had high loadings on this variate.Having determined the underlying structures of the variates, in the next phase of analysis, an attempt was made to obtain insights into which independent variables had the most influence in relation to the dependent variable composites (i.e. variates). The standardized canonical coefficients, which are analogous to standardized beta coefficients in multiple regression, and the weights we calculated based on these coefficients revealed some interesting results. As shown in Table II, supervisory support had the most impact on the first dependent variate (i.e. affective outcomes). A close scrutiny of the results revealed that the second dependent variate (i.e. job performance) was most susceptible to influences of customer orientation followed by service technology and empowerment. Overall, the background characteristics did not have much impact on the dependent variates and collectively accounted for 10 percent of the weight in each case. Furthermore, their relative impacts on the dependent variates were comparable.\nDiscussion: Several inferences surface from our results. First, our findings demonstrate that earlier findings based on studies conducted in other service sectors and countries can be extended to banking and New Zealand. Second, our results show that different forms of organizational support are associated with different work outcomes. For instance, the results suggest that supervisory support is most closely associated with affective work outcomes. On the other hand, job performance is more likely to be impacted by service technology and empowerment. Third, our results also confirm that work outcomes can be dichotomized into psychological (organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behavioral outcome (job performance) categories as discussed by Rhoads et al. (1994) and Singh et al. (1996). Fourth, however, these work outcomes do not seem to show any variations across employee characteristics.Finally, an intriguing result of our study is the impact of customer orientation (a personal resource) on job performance more so than psychological outcomes. Some plausible explanations can be offered for this finding. Customer orientation encompasses an internal drive to engage in such customer-satisfying behaviors as finding and promptly delivering solutions to customer problems, being well-prepared and organized during customer interactions, approaching customers with natural ease and confidence, treating customers with both kindness and politeness, maintaining a consistent level of emotionality during customer interactions and a natural propensity to enjoy work (see Cran, 1994; Donavan et al., 2004; Gwinner et al., 2005; Surprenant and Solomon, 1987). Also agreeableness, a basic personality trait, which reflects cooperation and service to others, is at the root of customer orientation (Brown et al., 2002; Licata et al., 2003). Customer-oriented frontline employees perform well in the workplace as they are predisposed to enjoying the work of serving customers (Brown et al., 2002; Donavan et al., 2004).In addition, it may be surmised that, customer orientation may actually serve as an antidote to job demands and play an instrumental role in increasing job resources. For instance, when a frontline employee lacks adequate information and procedures to accomplish a required task, customer orientation may serve as internal compass and provide clear, well-defined guidelines to reduce uncertainties and ambiguities inherent in that task (Jones et al., 2003). Also, customer orientation may alleviate the negative effects of conflicts in a job environment as it enables employees to control a threatening situation with calm and emotional stability (Donavan et al., 2004; Surprenant and Solomon, 1987; Winstead, 2000). Furthermore, customer orientation may lead employees to find more effective and creative ways of serving customers, which may actually reduce work overload. Similarly, customer orientation may encourage employees to seek more resources from management to better serve customers. All of these factors may explain the strong impact of customer orientation on job performance.\nManagerial implications: Perhaps the most important managerial implication emerging from this study is that an undifferentiated approach would pay dividends in managing employees. In other words, similar strategies would be equally effective in inducing favorable and reducing negative affective and performance outcomes among employees with different demographic characteristics. Results of the study suggest that to fuel greater affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction among frontline employees and to reduce their turnover intentions, management must take proactive actions for the frontline employees to receive support and encouragement from their supervisors. In this context, actions such as instituting a structured mentoring program and providing training programs to supervisors in support skills, for instance, can pay dividends. Support given to subordinates should not be limited to emotional support but should also include informational support. When employees' beliefs in their supervisors' reliability, dependability, competence and willingness to help subordinates increases as a result of mentoring programs, then, among others, subordinates' job satisfaction would improve and their withdrawal tendencies from their jobs would diminish.Likewise, to improve employee performance, employees must be empowered. In empowering employees, giving them more power and authority should not be the only goal. In addition, employees' psychological empowerment should be enhanced. Psychological empowerment reflects whether or not employees perceive themselves as being empowered. As Ergeneli et al. (2007) discuss, if employees do not behave as expected when power and control are transferred to them, this may be due to lack of awareness of the fact that they are empowered. Also given the study results, employees must be provided with requisite service technologies to further enhance their performance.Finally, the linkage between customer orientation and job performance leads to an interesting managerial implication. Customer orientation entails such personality traits as enjoying serving others, being caring and calm, and showing emotional stability in stressful situations. All of these traits are particularly fitting for frontline service jobs. Given that a good fit between a person's abilities and personality and the requirements of a job leads to better job outcomes (see Donavan et al., 2004), management should recruit and select frontline employees who possess customer orientation qualities. This would necessitate incorporating predictors of customer orientation into the service worker selection process. Also management should consider making customer orientation an explicit component of periodic employee evaluations to align its broader policies to nourish and nurture employees' customer orientation over the long run.It should be remembered that as discussed in Schneider and White's (2004) the \"customer-linkage\" model and more specifically in Heskett et al.'s (1994) the \"service-profit chain\" model, any managerial actions to improve employees' affective and performance job outcomes would lead not only to better customer outcomes (e.g. customer loyalty, customer satisfaction) but also stimulate such desirable organizational outcomes as profits and growth.\nLimitations and future research directions: Although this study contributes to our knowledge base, viable prospects for further research remain. First, the constructs in this study were developed by responses from the same participants. This may potentially provide biased estimates of model parameters. To avoid the problem in future studies, multiple sources should be used in data collection and, for instance, job performance should be measured via responses from supervisors and/or customers. Second, in this study we used frontline employees of a single company in a single country in a single industry and at a single point in time. This may have led to sampling artifacts and ignored the potential temporal dynamics of the relationships. Therefore, generalizations beyond the specific context of this research must be guarded. Replications in New Zealand and elsewhere among frontline employees in banking as well as other service settings are in order for conclusive generalizations. Likewise, longitudinal designs would help determine the causal relationships among the study variables. Third, our focus in this study was on the individual frontline employee as the unit of analysis and we did not differentiate between employees of small vs. large branches. Possible psychological climate and management style variances emanating from the size of a branch may have confounded the results. Hence, investigation of the impact of branch size on the relationships studied here is a worthy topic for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to examine the nature of relationships between six organizational support mechanisms, a personal resource, and selected psychological and behavioral work outcomes. A related objective of the study is to uncover whether these relationships exhibit similar patterns between employees with different characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data for the study were collected from the employees of a large bank in New Zealand. Usable responses were obtained from 530 employees.\nFindings: - Results show that supervisory support is most closely associated with psychological work outcomes. On the other hand, job performance is more susceptible to influences of service technology and empowerment. Also customer orientation, as a personal resource, impacts job performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Using multiple-informants (e.g. measuring frontline employees' job performance on the basis of their supervisors' or customers' assessments) would help minimize common-method variance. To cross-validate our results, replication studies among other samples of frontline employees in banking as well as other service settings are in order.\nPractical implications: - To fuel greater affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction among frontline employees and to reduce their turnover intentions, management must take proactive actions for the frontline employees to receive support and encouragement from their supervisors. Instituting a structured mentoring program and providing training programs to supervisors in support skills can also pay dividends.\nOriginality/value: - The study shows that an undifferentiated approach is warranted in managing employees. Similar strategies would be equally effective in inducing favorable and reducing negative affective and performance outcomes among employees with different demographic characteristics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of the intention to seek samples	[ "Buying behavior", "Advertising", "Sales management", "Quality control" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Buyers will sometimes hesitate to buy a product because they fear some form of loss. In order to reduce this risk, consumers may be interested in trying a free sample (Roselius, 1971) and, indeed, some consumers may even actively seek such free samples. Previous studies of the effects of free samples (e.g. Jain et al., 1995; Gedenk and Neslin, 1999; Bawa and Shoemaker, 2004) mainly focused on measuring the effectiveness of sampling in providing consumers an opportunity to personally experience the product, or on building sales and loyalty. The interest in this study, however, lay in predicting the intention to actively seek samples (as distinct from accepting a sample on impulse).Consumers' intentions to seek out and try something new are influenced by motivation and determined by their attitudes and perceptions (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Therefore, to impel consumers to seek samples, marketers should focus first on the motivational factors driving the sampling seeking process. Unfortunately, no previous research has investigated these motivational factors. This study attempted to fill this gap by taking a cognitive approach to modeling consumer intentions, arguing a consumer's attitude toward sample seeking, and the congruity between a person's self-concept and their image of the type of person who engages in sample seeking behavior (described as \"self-concept congruity\" in the discussion that follows) will predict intention to seek out samples.\nConcepts and hypotheses: Attitudes and intentions\nMethods: Data were collected through a face-to-face survey administrated in three busy districts of Hong Kong. To limit self-selection bias, respondents were selected systematically, with one chosen for every three passers-by (Sudman, 1980).Dependent variable\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion and implications: These results serve the primary purpose of generating insight into this previously unexplored area, and offer suggestions for future research. Looking first at the new insights, attitude toward sample seeking was shown to have a strong relationship with a consumer's intention to engage in sample seeking. Since attitude predicts intention, this finding is consistent with the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). A consumer's attitude toward seeking samples is directly related to their intention to seek samples. The results also showed that self-concept congruity had a strong impact on the level of intention to engage in active seeking of samples. This is consistent with previous research results which have shown that the closer the match between one's self-concept and a proposed behavior, the more one is motivated to act (Warrington and Shim, 2000). There was also a significant interaction demonstrated between attitude toward sample seeking and self-concept congruity, showing that the predictive power of attitude toward sample seeking is enhanced by strong self-concept congruity. Manufacturers and retailers, therefore, should take attitudes and self-concept congruity into consideration when designing their sampling campaigns.The limitations of this work offer opportunities for future researchers. First, the respondents were asked to rate their probability of seeking samples, but their actual sample seeking behavior was not measured. Although the TRA predicts a linkage between intention and behavior, the relationship could not be proven conclusively here. Second, the research only looked at generalized measures. Future research needs to look at contextual issues such as whether there is a long queue waiting to receive a sample and the busyness of the consumer. Third, sample seeking was examined only as an intended/planned behavior. Future research could usefully consider those who are not necessarily active sample seekers as such, but passive sample acceptors.\nConclusions: Free samples are commonplace in today's market, yet little is known about consumers who actively seek them. Using Ajzen's TRA and TPB as a backdrop, this study has found that attitude toward sample seeking, self-concept congruity, and their interaction positively predicted a consumer's intention to actively seek samples. It is suggested that future researchers build on this work so that both academics and practitioners can develop more comprehensive models of sample seeking intention and behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of consumers' intention to seek samples, a previously unexplored aspect of consumer behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using as a backdrop Ajzen's theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, a survey of 154 respondents tested the proposition that attitude toward sample seeking behavior, and the congruity between a person's self-concept and their image of the type of person who engages in sample seeking behavior (i.e. self-concept congruity), are linked to the intention to seek samples.\nFindings: - Attitudes toward sample seeking and self-concept congruity, as well as their interaction, were found to positively predict the intention to seek samples.\nOriginality/value: - This research is the first of its kind to identify the predictors of sample seeking. By addressing the traits that predict sample seeking, marketers can stimulate consumers to seek out samples, and this can in turn stimulate product trial and diffusion. The paper also offers directions for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Overcoming the capital investment hurdle in worker-controlled firms	[ "Equity", "Underinvestment", "Workplace democracy", "Degeneration", "Non-voting share", "Value-added sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is increasing popular suspicion that the current economic system dominated by shareholder corporations has \"failed\" (Bakan, 2004), particularly since the economic crisis of 2008 (Birchall, 2017). The pathologies of this hyper-competitive globalised system (Scholtz and Schneider, 2016; Srnicek, 2018), its corrupting influence (Klein, 2007) and its environmental destruction (Hawken, 2010) are increasingly under scrutiny, particularly in light of the drastically skewed distribution of income, wealth and power (IPPR, 2018; Norton and Ariely, 2011; Oxfam, 2018). While the problems of contemporary capitalism are myriad, such as the rigging of markets by monopolistic behaviour (Srnicek, 2018), at the core of the issue is a shareholding structure that decouples ownership and control in a way that damages investors but also workers: holding companies, cross-ownership and investment funds all exacerbate the democratic deficit in capitalist firms (Erdal, 2011). Workers are merely a \"resource\", to be exploited like any other (Ridley-Duff and Bull, 2016).\nUnderinvestment: Despite impressive advances in employee ownership in the USA and UK in recent years (Michie et al., 2017), as well as various forms of worker takeover of failing firms (Ozerow and Croucher, 2014; Vieta, 2010, 2012), there are still comparatively few democratic worker-controlled firms in the world (Barrott et al., 2017). Ruthless Darwinian selection may be part of the explanation: historically, many worker co-operatives have tended to suffer from underinvestment, both due to an inability to attract external capital, and due to a reluctance of workers to reinvest profits (Major, 1996, 1998). Democratic firms find it hard to attract investment, either internal or external, because they are seen (unfairly?) as too risky for both workers and investors, and as not providing adequate returns on capital. Clearly, there are fewer opportunities for capital to extract value from labour in worker-controlled firms. Also, worker-controlled firms are frequently ideologically hostile to seeking external capital, and structure themselves to prevent it (Perotin, 2017). Depending on the country, there are other barriers such as tax incentives that restrict external investment, lack of awareness among investors and public sector purchasing decision-makers, lack of appropriate financial instruments for investing in employee-owned firms (Employee Ownership Association, 2012), and inadequate government support (Knell, 2008). Worker-controlled firms struggle therefore, in many countries and industries, to achieve an optimal mix of capital and labour to maximise productivity, innovation and growth (\"dynamic\" productivity) - and can be out-competed by capitalist firms (Barrott et al., 2017; Major, 1996).\nDegeneration: Both financially stressed and successful worker co-ops and worker-owned firms have often tended, eventually, to \"degenerate\" back to capitalist control (Barrott et al., 2017; Major, 1996, 1998; Pencavel, 2013). In the case of successful worker co-ops, this may be related to workers' inability to extract valuable equity - or, conversely, in the case of employee-owned businesses, being able to do so too easily, and in the process relinquishing democratic control. Many in the field now believe degeneration is ultimately more problematic than underinvestment, although others disagree (Employee Ownership Association, 2012; Nuttall, 2012). Degeneration has been particularly prevalent among certain types of non-co-op employee-owned firms. For example, relatively recently, all UK bus companies that were privatised into employee ownership \"sold out\" back to concentrated capitalist control (Pendleton and Robinson, 2017; Spear, 1999), thanks largely to non-wealthy workers being, in effect, \"bribed\" by substantial windfalls - mostly unearned (Roberts, 2000).\nValue-added sharing: Our proposal overcomes the underinvestment and degeneration problems of democratic worker-controlled firms by tightly locking together the interests of workers and investors. Workers could then democratically control firms, but would automatically look after investors (themselves included), in the process of optimising their own incomes, job security and the long-term prospects of the firm. We build on an elegant mechanism originally devised by Roger McCain of Drexel University (McCain, 1977, 1999) which makes a firm's average worker[5] equivalent to a pre-agreed number of shares, k. The firm's value-added (= sales minus non-labour costs)[6] is split equally among a number of \"slices of the cake\". Each share gets one slice as its dividend, and each worker gets k slices as their variable pay (averaged across all workers). So the total number of slices is equal to the (number of shares) + kx(the number of full-time equivalent workers). If there are S shares and W workers (FTE), there will be (S + kW) slices, so for value-added PSV, each slice will be PS V/(S + kW). Shares could be non-voting under normal conditions, and the firm could then be governed democratically, by one-worker one-vote. Part-time workers may be granted pro-rated fractional votes.\nTradeable, (normally) non-voting, surplus-sharing shares: In some firms, this scheme for value-added sharing might result in overall pay being too variable or too unpredictable. A deal-breaker for most workers is that pay could drop too low in bad years. This could be mitigated by some kind of national living wage top-up or by pay insurance (including between federated worker-controlled firms). In addition, the first tranche of a firm's value-added could be allocated to a traditional fixed component of wages, or \"Base Pay\" (see Figure 1), up to a pre-agreed multiple of the national minimum wage (averaged over all the workers: some could get more, others less). Any \"surplus\" P (loosely, \"profit\") above that could then be split equally between all slices: i.e. between shares (as dividends) and workers (now as bonuses): each slice is now PS P/(S + kW). The average worker gets k slices (on top of base pay), i.e. an average bonus of PS kP/(S + kW). Each share still gets one slice as its dividend.\nEmergency or transitional voting rights for investors: To further protect investors, following any year when dividends were below some pre-agreed target level[7], shares could gain temporary voting rights. Investors could then effect changes in management to get the firm back on track. Many variants of this are possible, for example, share vote weightings could be gradually tapered towards zero as the surplus increased. In any case, investors could always have the right to speak at general meetings (even if they had no voting rights), so their opinions, knowledge, preferences and collective wisdom could still feed into and improve the running of the firm.\nReinvestment of a portion of bonuses or dividends: Reinvestment of a certain portion of bonuses or dividends would increase reserves and help the firm to grow. Reinvestment of bonuses would also smooth out pay fluctuations and prevent workers becoming over-dependent on high bonuses in good years then experiencing problems in bad years. It would also reduce the anxiety and expectations surrounding bonuses.\nWorker capital stakes: As discussed above, the evidence suggests that employee ownership and participation in management improve productivity in a mutually reinforcing manner (Blasi et al., 2017; McDonnell, 2012). Reinvestment can help workers build up and hold a pre-agreed minimal capital stake while they work in the firm, to improve commitment and motivation, and to further align interests with longer-standing workers and other investors. Internal worker-investors have a strong incentive to monitor other workers and the running of the firm on behalf of external investors. They also have an incentive to prevent or report potential loopholes being exploited (e.g. over-generous expenses, excessively prolonging depreciation schedules to unjustifiably raise value-added, part-timers masquerading as full-timers or even \"phantom\" workers made up in order to raise the number of worker slices kW by inflating the number of full-time equivalent workers W). Such abuses would also be minimised by the incentive to keep credible the option of raising further capital in the future, and the desire to be able to extract one's own personal capital stake upon leaving. Playing the \"long game\" means current investors must be given a good long-term rate of return. As mentioned above, there could also be limits on changes to the total fraction of surplus going to workers, beyond which external shareholder approval would be needed.\nSecondary market in shares: In addition, surplus-sharing shares would be more attractive if there was a credible way of selling them on, which would also allow workers owning them to spread their risks or to cash out. To facilitate the sale of shares, a \"secondary\" market would need to be set up (perhaps via some kind of trust, investment club, investment bank, government agency, or organised by a federation of similar firms). Moreover, a firm could buy back its surplus-sharing shares in good years, if it was safe to reduce its reserves. This could occur via a sealed bids system in reverse, i.e. buy back the most cheaply offered shares first, up to a pre-agreed maximum value or ceiling price. Share prices in the secondary market could also (optionally) be used to help in the valuation of new surplus-sharing shares issued in exchange for reinvested bonuses or dividends - and vice versa.\nFull recognition of equity: A further advantage of having (normally) non-voting surplus-sharing shares, and the clean separation-with-alignment of control and ownership that this achieves, is that if a firm's market value rises or falls, its equity (sale price - liabilities) is explicitly recognised and allocated differentially and fairly between particular worker-owners and other investors, depending on their past contributions and past risk-taking. This could potentially help worker-owned and controlled firms, such as future Tower Collieries (O'Sullivan, 2001) or the Mondragon Co-ops, take on new or younger workers, without them having to put in an initial capital stake equivalent to the current value of that of the original worker-owners (which in a successful firm may well have been revalued hugely upwards to reflect present day reality: a challenging and sometimes insurmountable entry barrier for most young and non-wealthy individuals). The new workers could also safely be given the same democratic rights as the founders or more veteran owners, without the risk of the latter being \"ripped off\". Thus outside contractors or non-voting \"second class citizen\" workers would not need to be employed, as commonly occurs, including in both the examples just mentioned.\nSummary: To recap: we deduct a pre-agreed fixed \"base\" component of wages from value-added (sales minus non-labour costs), to obtain the surplus. Each share gets one slice of surplus, and each worker, on average, gets a pre-agreed number of slices (k). The surplus is split equally between all slices. Put simply, for the purposes of splitting the surplus, each \"average\" worker is equivalent to a pre-agreed number of shares. The mechanism is inherently very flexible. It allows changes in both the number of workers and the amount of capital invested, without requiring frequent renegotiation between workers and investors about what portions of the value-added \"cake\" go to each group. This could help avoid \"perverse\" incentives (see Appendix A7), and so could be a potential (optional) improvement on the \"FairShares\" and related models upon which the scheme is partly based (Major, 1996, 1998; Ridley-Duff, 2015a, b, 2018; Ridley-Duff and Bull, 2016). Over the longer term, however, or if radical transformations are needed in the company, or if market conditions change substantially, the number of surplus slices per average worker (k) may itself need to be renegotiated, for example to help recruit new investors or more highly skilled workers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Both the academic literature and practitioners have long noted the need for an equity investment mechanism for worker-controlled firms that alleviates investor anxieties without undermining internal workplace democracy. The purpose of this paper is to outline one such possible mechanism.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposal locks together the interests of workers and external investors, via non-voting shares with dividends set by a pre-agreed value-added sharing formula. Each worker is paid a base wage, with the average across the firm being a pre-defined multiple of the national minimum wage. Any additional surplus is split into a number of equal \"slices\", with each share receiving one slice as its dividend, and the average worker receiving a pre-agreed number of slices as a bonus.\nFindings: Workers have an incentive to maximise their own incomes, and in so doing, will also automatically maximise the dividends received by investors, obviating the need for the shares to have normal voting rights. Working on this principle of aligned interests, the authors also discuss reinvestment, worker ownership of non-voting shares and possibilities for a secondary share market. The authors show how this proposal will be a significant step in aligning the interests of investors with owner-workers in a democratic, negotiated way that shares both risk and returns, thus making worker-controlled firms more attractive to equity investment.\nOriginality/value: In light of the recognised problem of underinvestment in worker-controlled firms and the risk of their degeneration, this paper will interest both academics and practitioners in employee ownership, co-operatives and various forms of workplace democracy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents and consequences of replacing international independent intermediaries	[ "Performance", "Control", "Communication", "Trust", "Commitment", "Intermediary terminations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entry mode, or the way companies choose to operate in foreign markets, is a critical business decision, and the theoretical contributions in the area have been more advanced than those concerning other topics of the firm's internationalization process (Andersen, 1997). Extant research has tended to focus on the initial entry mode decision, while relatively few studies have addressed how businesses later change operation mode (Calof and Beamish, 1995; Chetty and Agndal, 2007). Hence, most current literature in this problem area is static since scholars have paid little attention to changes in the initial entry mode (Pedersen et al., 2002). This finding depicts a serious void in our understanding of international business because most success in international business depends on the careful management and continuous development of operations.\nReview of the intermediary replacement literature: In this section, we and critically review and integrate the literature pertaining to replacements of independent intermediaries. The operation-mode-change literature is only reviewed to the extent it concerns replacement of intermediaries.\nDevelopment of hypotheses: There is a wealth of interorganizational literature, and a review of this literature is outside the scope of our study. Rather, we draw on the international and non-international studies that are most important for our line of reasoning and for the international setting.\nMethodology: We collected our pre-replacement data in a survey administered through personal interviews. Groups of three third-year business students interviewed personally a representative of an export company as part of an international marketing course. The teams were given in-class training in interviewing, and all teams wrote a report about the company they interviewed and the interview experience. The typical level of responsibility of interviewees within the sample firms was the export manager, product area manager, or - in many smaller firms - the general manager. We asked the firms to answer a number of questions regarding aspects of their export activities in four markets, two markets where they were successful and two problem markets, in order to ensure variations in the data. As many firms did not use an independent intermediary in one or more of the markets and some firms did not complete the questionnaire for all four markets, we ended up with information concerning a total of 212 cases of independent intermediaries from 117 case companies. The average sales volume of the total sample was NOK 557 million, which is very in line with the NOK 552 million average obtained by Solberg (2002) in his study of Norwegian exporters based on a randomized sample.\nAnalysis and discussion: Measurement reliability was tested by Cronbach's a (Table I), which are all above 0.8 except trust (0.79). Nunnally (1978) suggested coefficient alphas above 0.70 may suffice for research at the early stages of development, while 0.80 should be the minimum in applied research. We conclude that the coefficient alphas are satisfactory in our study. The Pearson correlations of the pre-change variables are reported in Table II. All correlations are significant at the 0.01 level, but suggest eventual multicolliniarity problems are on an acceptable level.\nImplications and conclusions: Palmatier et al. (2007) suggested that four theoretical perspectives dominate interorganizational relationship performance: commitment-trust, dependence, transaction cost theory, and relational norms. Their empirical comparison of the frameworks suggested that commitment, trust, and relation-specific investments are key direct drivers of relational outcomes, while variables like opportunism, communication, relational norms, and dependence are not.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: What characterizes the relationships with intermediaries that are soon to be replaced, and are the replacements successful? The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study applies a longitudinal design. The paper conducted a survey among a sample of exporters concerning their relationships with independent intermediaries in terms of trust, commitment, communication, control and two performance variables; financial performance and strategic goal achievement. Five years thereafter the author contacted the same companies again and questioned which independent intermediaries had been replaced in the period. The author then compared the replaced intermediaries with the extended intermediaries before they were replaced and analysed changes in the evaluations of the relationships and of the performance after the replacement.\nFindings: The relationships with terminated intermediaries that were replaced by sales subsidiary or home-based direct sales were characterized having higher trust, communication and control than extended relationships before replacement. While it may be surprising that these quite successful relationships were terminated, this is in line with internationalization process theories. The replacements, both intermediaries that were replaced by other intermediaries and by sales subsidiary/home-based direct sales, were highly successful in terms of improvement in performance and behavioural relationship variables.\nResearch limitations/implications: The empirical findings are limited by the sample and by data collection from the principal only in the dyadic relations.\nPractical implications: International independent intermediaries should analyse the likelihood of being replaced by the principal because the relationship or the performance is unsatisfactory, but also because of satisfactory evaluations. Terminations of satisfactory relationships tend to be accompanied by change in operation mode to internal organization. The independent intermediary should in such cases build a defence structure against unwanted termination and/or prepare for buyout. The success of the replacements suggests that international marketers benefit from being proactive in replacing intermediaries with new intermediaries or with a hierarchal entry mode.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that applies most of these variables from interorganizational relations theory in the study of international independent intermediary replacements. It is also the first to give insight into the consequences of intermediary terminations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hybrid controls and accountabilities in public sector management: Three case studies in a reforming hospital sector	[ "Change", "Accountability", "Public sector reform" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recent literature has suggested that new public management (NPM)-based tools and instruments are still used in the search for increased effectiveness in public sector services (De Vries and Nemec, 2013; Laegreid, 2014). However, research shows that reforms often do not meet with the expectations stated in the reform initiatives (Askim et al., 2010; Hood, 2014). Accordingly, practices are changed in different ways over time, and they are characterized as new hybrid organizational forms (Askim et al., 2010) and hybrid management (Byrkjeflot and Kragh Jespersen, 2014). This paper addresses how and why the hybridization takes place as politicians and managers react to the reform initiatives.\nAnalytical framework: Different management controls may facilitate different forms of accountability in organizations. Consequently, accountability is a theoretical cornerstone in understanding how management controls change and may hybridize.\nThe empirical cases - presentation and discussion: The research methods\nConclusions and implications: The three cases illuminate the diversity of the longitudinal change processes to show how ideal models are constructed and reconstructed and the consequences on accountability relations within public services. Table II summarizes the findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss why public sector reforms hybridize during implementation processes, consequences on accountability relations and practitioners' and policymakers' reactions to these changes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper considers experiences from three initiatives related to the governance reform in the Norwegian hospital sector. Data were collected via interviews and document studies, and all three cases were longitudinal studies.\nFindings: Unexpected consequences of reform initiatives and contextual changes are causing controls to hybridize and having profound effects on accountability relations. However, the gradually alignment of controls in a dynamic pattern of hybridization enables the balancing of conflicts in the chain of accountabilities. Hybrid controls are observed to emerge as stronger than the initial ideal control models. The longitudinal studies of control hybridization illuminate the sector's survival in the long run, as they allow for adaptation to changes in contexts.\nPractical implications: This work augments leaders' understanding of how governmental strategies may follow diverse paths and yield results that diverge from intentions. Narrow accountability bases inhibit the government from implementing political decisions through agencies. Conversely, agents must relate to direct control from authorities. The predictability of agents' decision space is reduced, and the control process becomes more ambiguous.\nOriginality/value: Through connecting what happens in agencies with accountabilities in the political level, it is possible to study the flexible nature of accountability relations and why controls hybridize. The paper underlines the need for longitudinal studies to describe complex patterns of reform initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Advice for getting the best out of your employees: ignore the problems	[ "Appreciative inquiry", "Change management", "Action research", "Business improvement", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nWhat to do with a problem: fix it or ignore it?: This article is based upon one piece of advice: Ignore your problems and they will go away.\nDrive change by focusing on positives instead: appreciative inquiry: Appreciative inquiry (AI) was initially conceived around 1980 by Cooperrider. Today, there are hundreds of published articles and cases demonstrating the wide application of AI to public and private organizations big and small. Most notably, AI has been widely used in health, education, and human services to improve work practices, develop talent, improve customer outcomes, and develop employee competencies. However, AI is easily adopted in any setting.\nInvolve all employees: AI initiatives are not driven by top management. To discover what people do well, they will have to tell you. To identify why they do things so well, they will need to explore their own practice. AI is high-involvement. Employees must be active participants in the inquiry phase and the dreaming phase of the intervention. To engage employees, the initiative must be well designed.\nDesigning an AI initiative: AI is flexible and creative by design. The investigative and analytical process (Steps 2 and 3 above) can be conducted in many ways:\nSpreading and embedding excellence: During \"discover and dream\" (Steps 2 and 3 above), the project sponsor (often the HR manager) should be recording and storing the ideas generated from the various activities. That means collecting flip chart paper from workshops, recording and transcribing interviews, and so on. There could well be hundreds of examples of excellence (attitudes, acts, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and speech) that need to be shared by the end of the initiative. Building a database to store and sort the information will make the next challenge easier.\nConclusion: In a short time, excellence, driven by new standards of best practices built into policies and systems, eradicates weaknesses, failures, and problems. Not only will the organization have gotten rid of its deficiencies and dysfunctions, but it will have actually improved itself at the same time. Not by not focusing on the negatives as we are always told we should, but by focusing on positives, on what employees do really well, and by driving excellence through and with its people.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide HR practitioners with a model to engage employees in organizational improvement initiatives, which is positive, creative, and inclusive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The design for this paper is based upon the author's experience and reading, and the approach is to provide and explain a model with practical examples.\nFindings: The author found that the appreciative inquiry method has wide applications with regard to improving organizations of all sizes and industries.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this paper are valuable to HR, organizational development, change managers, practitioners, and consultants. The model is easy to apply and inexpensive.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparative international human resource management (CIHRM) in the light of the Cranet Regional Research Survey in Transitional Economies	[ "Human resource management", "Central and East European", "International comparison", "Contextual approach", "Convergences‐divergences", "Path dependence", "Bulgaria", "Estonia", "Hungary" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Research into HRM in an international context has been approached by a number of different disciplines (from international business and cross-cultural management, through HRM to comparative management and strategic management) and covers a vide spectrum of issues, ranging from a comparative study of individual HR practice across countries to sources of variation in HR strategy in MNC subsidiaries. Based on a review of 20 years of research into HR management in literature with both a comparative and international perspective, Clark et al. (1999) conclude that \"a central issue concerns what is constant and what varies across nations\".In the same year De Cieri and Dowling (1999) suggested the identification of three broad strands within the field of International HRM literature:1. HRM in MNCs - focusing on the HR management in international companies.2. Cross-cultural management (CCM) - dealing with the impact of cultural differences on management practice.3. Comparative human resource management (CHRM) - comparing HRM systems and practice at both organisational and national level.No matter how each strand stems from a different disciplinary area and has its own characteristics, there is at least one common feature in all three areas. Each concerns the principal theme of today's management research: the debate concerning the tendency to convergence, as against continuing diversity of organisational form, management and human resource management practice in different national settings.Although empirical studies are rare, the design of CHRM research is predominantly positivist, using either case studies or surveys (e.g. Cranfield) of HRM in various countries. Despite the limitations of survey methods and methodological constraints, the Cranet network's surveys have provided large-scale empirical data since 1990. In doing so, they have contributed significantly both to the description and understanding of the developments in HRM practice in a constantly increasing number of countries and to the theoretical developments in CHRM.The Cranfield Network project (CRANET - the European Human Resources Research Network founded and run by Cranfield Business School in the UK) contributes to the development of international HRM through its findings, the identification of problems and the ensuing conclusions. The survey covers the following areas: HR departments and HR strategy, recruitment policies, pay and benefits, training and appraisal, working arrangements and flexi-time, industrial relations and employee communication. Research teams serve as critical resources in international comparative surveys, as they are responsible for interpreting the data (Brewster et al., 2006).Organisations were randomly selected from the top company lists, multinational companies, the directories of the local Chamber of Commerce and local authorities (Kaarelson and Alas, 2009; Vatchkova, 2009; Poor, 2009). The selection of the research method was determined by the fact that data for the country surveys could be collected most effectively by benchmarking (Hellriegel et al., 1988; Brewster et al., 2004 and Morley et al., 2009).To facilitate statistical analysis, the CRANET questionnaire contains closed questions: respondents are requested to make their choice from sets of alternative, pre-formulated answers largely covering the specific areas to be studied. Respondents, however, always have the opportunity to elaborate on answers other than the ones offered in the questionnaire. The research data were processed using SPSS software.Through the above described standardised questionnaire, the 2005 CRANET database received data and comments related to the policies and practices of organisations in the fields of staffing, employment and human resource management from 32 countries: six CEE countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia), and all of the 32 \"Cranet\" countries. (made up of 18 EU member-states, six other European countries - non-EU, but including Bulgaria - and eight countries from the rest of world, i.e. the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Philippines and Nepal).\n2. The general characteristics of three countries examined: 2.1 Socio-economic characteristics\n3. HR variables: 3.1 Importance of the HR function\n4. Conclusions: Characteristics related to the importance of the HR function and the role of the HR department, and demonstrating similarities in our special three selected countries and all six CEE countries and total sample - making it a specific HR cluster - were:* The average ratio of training costs is highest in Bulgaria. The Estonian and Hungarian companies spent very similar amounts on training and development. The actual time spent on training also shows the highest level in this country.* The use of external HR service providers in the fields of pay and benefits, workforce reduction and pensions is much less typical than in the total sample.* One important difference found between Hungary and the remaining the CEE countries on this issue is that line managers were reported to have a significantly larger role in and primary responsibility for every HR function studied than any other decision-makers who may have an influence on HR policy.Similarities found between three countries studied and all six CEE countries and the global sample:* The level of involvement of the HR director in the development of business strategy.* The samples studied show a great similarity in training and development more than 85 per cent of the responding organisations in all samples stated that they used specialist services provided by training companies.As seen above, in some areas, CEE countries' practices were found to be very similar to the CEE cluster, while in other areas similarities with the characteristics of the total sample are evident.Several of these common characteristics of the CEE region differ quite considerably from West European commonalities, defined by Morley (2004): e.g. a tradition of collectivism and the social legitimacy of trade unions. These seem to converge with US-developed solutions.All these signs increase the need for a contextual CHRM model which supports not only the snapshot analysis, but also a longitudinal one, incorporating both the path-dependent and the path-creation considerations of the changes actually occurring.The majority of CHRM studies focus on the differences between the US and European models of HRM (Sparrow and Hiltrop, 1997; Geppert et al., 2002; Brewster, 2004). The aim to identify and describe the contextual differences suggests the obvious solution of creating a new level of analysis: by region or cluster, and searching not only for differences, but also for similarities.The new level, the region or cluster, is new only in CHRM but used as most relevant in CCM. Perhaps this explains the concept of considering clusters as a useful point of departure when examining cultures around the globe and treating culture (and not the institution) as a phenomenon which may cut across national borders, leading to similarities among different countries or regions or clusters of the world or the European Union. While culture is considered to be connected to clusters, the institutions are generally accepted as causing country-level differences. Despite the popularity of the different models of capitalism, the factors causing differences or similarities - e.g. the role of the state - are more institutional than cultural.The majority of the current theoretical CHRM models focus on making the comparison not only at country level, but on serving the purposes of snapshot and cross-sectional analysis also. In doing so, very few are free from the simple dichotomies implemented by different IHRM standpoints, with using the factor as an \"either or\" question. Instead, the culture-free, cultural and institutional factors have to be considered in parallel.Following the CCM assumption, treating culture as \"taken for granted\", even in the longitudinal analysis, institutions and culture used to be considered as two separate entities or one as a part of the other. Instead - both being path-dependent - it seems to be more useful to observe these as two interactively changing factors which balance the culture-free factors when playing a role together - with varying power in time - in new path-creation.The critique of CHRM research is usually connected to the objective of CHRM - which is to describe and explain variations in national HRM systems. The current theoretical models are usually strong enough in determining the levels, groups and elements of influencing factors, the explanatory variables. Despite this, in Keating and Thompson's (2004) opinion, comparative studies of HRM tend to be descriptive, to lack analysis and explanation and, where these have been provided, to be, generally, extremely weak, with differences usually attributed to \"cultural\" and \"institutional\" factors. The explanatory power of the theoretical models is usually weak as to when and how the factors exert the influence on HRM, the strength of the influence relative to other factors and separating the effects of the various contextual elements. The resultant models fail to provide a systematic explanation for any differences found. Furthermore, large-scale empirical studies (Ozbilgin, 2004), and especially longitudinal examples, are very rare and incorporate only a small number of regions and countries from the world - or even from Europe.Taking these criticisms into consideration, the progressively increasing membership, empirical findings and (slowly but surely) sharpening theoretical background provided and generated by the Cranet network is a substantial driving force in making HRM a more powerful and also internationally recognised function.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The primary aim of the paper is to draw attention to the similarities in the historical background and in the transitional period of the post-socialist CEE (Central and East European) countries, which make this region a distinctive cluster in Europe.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this paper, the authors attempt to supplement existing research by outlining the modernisation of a range of HR functions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and would like to explain how this special issue arose, to provide a historical perspective for the work undertaken by the Cranet research team from Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary and to outline the context and significance of each of the attempts at modernisation in the HRM field.\nFindings: - This analysis of developments, based on the Cranet surveys, aims to describe and explain the similarities and differences found among the three specific countries (Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary), the somewhat broader sample comprising the CEE region and the full sample of those participating in the survey. All of these signs increase the need for a contextual Comparative HRM model - which supports not only the snapshot analysis, but also a longitudinal one, incorporating both the path-dependent and the path-creation considerations of the changes taking place.\nOriginality/value: - The need to understand HRM from a European - as opposed to a merely Western - perspective has become a dominant theme as the HR peculiarities of the new capitalism emerge. However, during the transition period, everyone needed - somehow - to meet the great challenge of turning the omelette back into eggs!\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers' snack choices: current factors contributing to obesity	[ "Culture", "Health", "Obesity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In 2016, 39 per cent of the world's population were overweight and 13 per cent were obese (WHO, 2017). Obesity rates are highest in the USA, Mexico, New Zealand and Hungary, while they are lowest in Japan and Korea (OECD, 2017). Over the past decade, snacking behaviours have increased in parallel with the obesity prevalence. The snacking of energy-dense foods has increased in parallel with weight gain and may cause non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and obesity (Eksteen and Mungal-Singh, 2015). The prevalence of obesity is due to the increased supply and faster distribution of cheap, snack-based foods; which makes food more accessible (Hill et al., 2016).\n2. Global snack consumption: Consumers have a culture for continuous snacking and large percentages of global respondents are snack planners. They eat snacks at home (79 per cent) and with family and friends (68 per cent). Many consumers snack spontaneously, as they like to try new snacks (65 per cent), buy a variety of snacks (63 per cent) and do not plan their snack purchases (58 per cent). In addition, the large developing regions of Asia-Pacific, Middle East/Africa and Latin America exceed the global averages for such spontaneous snacking characteristics (Nielsen, 2014).\n3. Cultural influence: Snack choices are influenced by social culture, food culture and socioeconomic status (Hess et al., 2016). To understand the influence of culture on consumer choices, variables such \"social modelling\", i.e., the amount of food consumed by eating companions (Hess et al., 2016) - meaning that if eating companions consume a large portion of food, the person eating with them also tends to eat more. The enhanced influence of eating companions during snack times may be due to the lack of an \"eating routine\" or \"script\" for snacking as an eating occasion (Van der Horst et al., 2011). Snack consumption may also be initiated because of celebratory social occasions as well as the availability of or desire for tempting food. Verhoeven et al. (2015) developed a \"reasons to consume unhealthy snacks\" inventory and studied 1,544 adults. They found that the most common reasons for consuming unhealthy snacks included celebrating at a party or special occasion or craving a tasty food. In another study, Hess et al. (2016) reported that researchers asked 55 adults to keep a diet diary for five days and rate their reasons for snacking. In this study, the most common reason for consuming unhealthy snacks was that \"they looked or smelled so tempting\" (55 per cent of snacking occasions), followed by \"hunger\" (49 per cent) and \"needing energy\" (23 per cent).\n4. Environmental influence: Environmental factors to consume food are increasingly seen as an important determinant of dietary behaviours (Thornton et al., 2013). Food environments encompass both food prepared and consumed at home, and out-of-home sources (e.g. supermarkets). In a systematic review of 38 studies, evidence was found to support an association between neighbourhood food environments, consumption and/or health (Caspi et al., 2012). The density of unhealthy food outlets in neighbourhoods was linked to higher levels of obesity (Townshend and Lake, 2017). An association between higher percentage sales of unhealthy foods at local supermarkets and the prevalence of obese individuals have also been reported (Lachat et al., 2012). A UK study exploring access to takeaway foods in multiple environments found those with the greatest access were nearly twice as likely to be obese as those with the least access (Burgoine et al., 2016). Therefore, the location may affect food selection for snacks, as eating at other locations is associated with more snack consumption, than eating snacks at home.\n5. Level of satiety: Satiety and satiation are known determinants of consumers' dietary patterns and have been related to the obesity epidemic, initially affected by sensory (e.g. taste, texture, smell) and cognitive factors including expectations about what is to be consumed and any associations with previous experience that arise. Consumers eat in the absence of hunger for several reasons, for example the availability of palatable foods, boredom or emotional stress. However, there is a strong relationship between palatability and energy density, in that higher-energy dense foods tend to be the most palatable and vice versa (Drewnowski et al., 1998). However, as Mela (2006) pointed out, although the \"liking\" of palatable foods may be important, the motivation to eat or the \"wanting\" of foods should also be considered. These two factors may occur together, but evidence suggests that they may also operate separately, as in the real world, the \"wanting\" of unhealthy foods may be more important than liking them (De Castro and Plunkett, 2001). The amount of energy people consume is accounted for by voluntary behaviour (the acts of eating and drinking), influenced by physiological, psychological and cultural factors. This is in contrast to energy expenditure, of which between 20 and 40 per cent is under behavioural control via voluntary physical activity (Blundell et al., 2006). Consumers eat because food is available even in the absence of biological cues, an example of unnecessary snacking and nonhabitual snackers lack a biological motivation to eat snacks and, for these \"nonsnackers\", snacking without hunger leads to increased energy consumption, which can cause eventual weight gain (Chapelot, 2011; Hess et al., 2016). Researching appetite, including satiation and satiety, must therefore consider both physiological and behavioural evidence to gain a full picture of how satiation and satiety affect consumers' snack choices.\n6. Physical inactivity: Inactivity is described as less than 30 min of physical activity a week (HCHC, 2015). An increase in physical inactivity and energy intake is leading to the occurrence of obesity (WHO, 2013). Measures required to promote healthier food consumption patterns and facilitate a physically active lifestyle share common grounds and are mutually interactive in determining healthier behaviours (WHO, 2017), however, a large portion of the population has insufficient physical activity levels (Sjostrom et al., 2006).\n7. Sleep deprivation: The amount of adequate sleep (i.e. 7 h of continuous sleep per night) obtained by adults has declined, and the incidence of physician-diagnosed sleep disorders has risen (Coborn et al., 2017). Clinical studies demonstrate that sleep restriction increases weight gain and calorie intake alone or in parallel with either increased or reduced energy expenditure in adults. Recent studies report poorer sleep quality among women and a negative association between sleep duration and quality with waist circumference and body mass index in women but not men (Coborn et al., 2017).\n8. Unemployment: Much less common are studies examining the relationship between the unemployment rate and dietary choices, which are important determinants of consumer's health. Families faced with diminishing incomes consumed less-expensive foods to maintain energy intakes at a lower cost, and lower-quality diets were consumed by individuals with limited economic means. In a sample of low-income women, lower-cost diets were more energy dense, had the highest content of fat and sugar and contained fewer essential micronutrients than higher-cost diets (Milicic and DeCicca, 2017). Davison et al. (2015) explored the associations between socio-demographic and psychological factors and food choice patterns in unemployed young people who constitute a vulnerable group at risk of poor dietary health. Those who had left school before the age of 16 may be especially prone to making less healthy food choices as they were uninvolved with food which led to frequent junk food choice.\n9. Use of technology: Consumers' fascination with technology and particularly, the time spend looking at screens (e.g. smart phones), will continue in the future (Roberts et al., 2014). The relationship between, for example TV viewing and weight gain is complex, as watching TV introduces more sedentary time (Crawford et al., 1999) as well as the opportunity to increase their energy intake when eating, compared with eating undistracted (Cleland et al., 2008; Hartmann et al., 2017). Significant positive associations were found for sweets and savouries and watching TV during the main meal. Less health-conscious individuals might be more affected by the use of technology in their environment, which makes healthy food choices, more difficult. In general, watching TV during dinner is a less healthy eating behaviour, and it is likely to correspond with diets high in fat (Hartmann et al., 2017).\n10. Behavioural outcomes of snacking: Consumers are poor at estimating objective risks; they overestimate their capacity for self-control and underestimate the health risks associated with the choices they make. Conversely, they cheat in their mental book-keeping, for example \"Today I ate too much, but I will just eat less tomorrow\". They tend to select current enjoyment (eating cake now) over conditions they wish for later (being slim and fit), which behavioural economists explain in terms of the temporal discounting of future conditions (Leng et al., 2017).\n11. Conclusions and recommendations: The authors have presented a review of what they considered relevant papers on identifying the current factors that contributes to consumer's obesity levels due to their snack choices. Research into consumers' snack choices and an understanding of the current factors contributing to obesity to improve healthier snack choices from a cultural and health perspective is still underrepresented and incomplete in the international scientific literature, despite the growing economic significance of these markets. The lack of consistency and uniformity in study designs and the array of potential confounding factors (e.g. sleep deprivation) makes interpretation of findings difficult and has led to little consensus about the optimum number and composition of snacks for bodyweight control and health, hindering an adequate comparison of results between cultures. Typical consumer dietary surveys gather information on what is eaten without understanding why specific foods are eaten and provide advice based on overarching general patterns of food choice, often without consideration of individual foods. The development of methods focusing on specific snack foods and \"health\" factors may be more effective than the one size-fits all approach. Therefore, more research is required on the specific effects of specific levels of the stated factors contributing to obesity. Future research should: focus on the relation between unhealthy snack choices and the present factors contributing to obesity; consider physiological and behavioural evidence when investigating the effect of snack choices on consumers' health; study the influence of the environmental cues on snack choices; determine how unconscious habit formation and impulsiveness can be changed; and assess the effectiveness of interventions using methods (e.g. nudging). Providing a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between snack choices and factors contributing to obesity in the environment will help to implement more efficient health measures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to indicate the need for and create an insightful understanding of the current factors contributing to consumer's obesity levels due to their snack choices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper reports on previous literature using publications from the Emerald Insight Journals, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and Web of Science electronic database from 1999 to 2018 that validate and support existing literature. The retrieved literature is organised and classified into specific constructs.\nFindings: Research into consumers' choice of snacks from an environmental, cultural and health perspective is still underrepresented in the international scientific literature. More research is required on the specific effects of specific levels of the stated factors contributing to obesity. Health and cross-cultural studies are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between snack choices and factors contributing to obesity that will help to implement more efficient health measures.\nOriginality/value: This paper is of value to academics studying consumers' snacking behaviour and public health practitioners evaluating qualitative and quantitative methods to address the obesity epidemic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning and behaviour: addressing the culture change conundrum: part one	[ "High-performance organizations", "Performance support", "Changing behaviour", "Changing corporate culture", "Corporate and organizational culture", "Learning and behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In situations such as tackling corporate governance failings or wanting more entrepreneurial and creative approaches to both challenges and opportunities one response from those within businesses and external commentators is to call for culture change. In Part 1 of this two-part paper we will examine some issues relating to culture change and, in particular, whether it is necessary or desirable if there are quicker, practical and affordable ways of altering behaviours while organisational cultures remain unchanged.\nUnderpinning investigation: The investigation on which the two parts of the paper are based follows a programme of critical success factor (CSF), \"issue\" and other surveys that have identified CSFs for key corporate activities and what high performers do differently in these areas (Coulson-Thomas, 2007). Using a mixed methods approach (Creswell, 2003; Tashakkori and Teddle, 2003; Creswell and Clark, 2007) it builds upon and complements their findings with the use of more recent case studies to understand twelve early adoptions of performance support in different sectors to assess its use as a means of enabling average operators to emulate the superior approaches of high performers (Coulson-Thomas, 2012a, b, 2013; Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003). The applications examined were discussed with the relevant technical architect and the results obtained corroborated with commissioner/user performance data and/or documented assessments/reactions.\nRequirements for change: Corporate entities whose stakeholders may represent a diversity of religions, nationalities, cultures and political viewpoints can face multiple challenges. They may have to respond in a variety of ways in different locations according to the context, division, function or applicable policies, laws, regulations or codes. The Chairman of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority has expressed the view that while there may be calls for culture change the priority is often to influence and/or change the conduct of those in front-line and customer facing roles (Griffith-Jones, 2014). The challenge is helping them to behave in desired ways.\nManaging corporate culture: The management of change is a common element of management development programmes. The ability to lead and manage change can be an important consideration when supervisors and managers are selected and/or considered for promotion. It is also a key requirement when CEOs are selected (Kotter, 1995).\nDiffering views of \"culture\": The significance of culture change depends upon ones definition and view of culture. One regularly encounters people who describe corporate culture in terms of \"the way we do things around here\". Others see behaviours as but one manifestation of culture which itself - and in varying degrees - might reflect aspects of peoples' social, economic, ethnic, national, religious, educational, family and historical background and experience. Such diverse, and at times deep, roots might influence aspirations, assumptions, expectations, pre-dispositions and views as well as behaviours.\nHandling cultural diversity: Organisations today may serve customers, buy from suppliers, recruit staff and engage with other stakeholders from a wide range of cultures. The cultural mix can vary by area and location and might change over time. Certain cultures may expect and even demand responses that are quite different from those sought by others. Staff in one function or business unit may need to behave differently from colleagues working in other areas. A culture that is suitable for one group and the relationships it needs to build might not be appropriate for another. Also diversity might be a stimulus to creativity.\nChallenging culture change assumptions: The evidence suggests that many boards need to challenge assumptions that cultures and values need to be changed (Coulson-Thomas, 2012a, 2013). The case for effective teamwork is not new (Adair, 1986), but is a common culture across diverse activities necessary and desirable? Might a commitment to building a common culture and entrench a particular set of values result in the marginalisation or exclusion of certain groups and communities? Might more diversity lead to questioning, consideration of a wider range of options and greater creativity? Could a drive for unity lead to group-think (Janis, 1972)?\nQuickly changing behaviour: There are various ways of changing behaviours irrespective of corporate culture. Incentives such as sales commission can change the behaviour of a sales force over night when payments for orders of certain offerings are increased and those for other products and services are reduced. Another option is performance support which can be employed in a wide range of situations and contexts. The recent five-year investigation reveals that in various forms from paper check-lists to mobile device applications it offers a cost-effective route to high-performance organisations and the simultaneous achievement of multiple objectives (Coulson-Thomas, 2007, 2012a, b, 2013).\nFurther information: Transforming Knowledge Management, Talent Management 2 and Transforming Public Services by Colin Coulson-Thomas which summarise the findings of a five-year investigation into the most cost-effective route to high-performance organisations are published by Policy Publications and can be obtained from www.policypublications.com.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Calls for culture change often result from a desire to change certain behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to summarise some key findings of a five-year investigation into quicker and more affordable routes to creating high-performance organisations. It suggests a practical and cost-effective way of quickly changing the behaviour of key work-groups independently of corporate culture which integrates working and learning and simultaneously achieves multiple corporate objectives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A programme of critical success factor, \"issue\" and other surveys was complemented with a five-year evaluation of more recent case studies to understand early adoptions of performance support and to assess their results and implications. The applications examined were discussed with the relevant technical architect and the results obtained corroborated with commissioner/user performance data and/or documented assessments/reactions.\nFindings: The use of performance support which can integrate learning and working represents an affordable way of changing the behaviour of particular and front-line work-groups independently of corporate culture. Changing a culture defined in terms of deeply held attitudes, values and beliefs is problematic, but required changes of behaviour can often be quickly accomplished using performance support, which can also address particular problems and deliver benefits for multiple stakeholders.\nPractical implications: Culture change is neither necessary nor desirable where there are quicker, practical and affordable ways of altering behaviours while organisational cultures remain unchanged. It might also be problematic in organisations that need to embrace a diversity of cultures and encourage a variety of approaches and behaviours across different functions and business units. One can avoid certain general, expensive, time consuming and disruptive corporate programmes in an area such as culture change and adopt a quick, focused and cost-effective alternative that can quickly deliver multiple benefits for people and organisations.\nOriginality/value: This paper summarises the main findings of an investigation that has identified deficiencies of contemporary responses to a requirement to change certain behaviours that involve seeking to change a corporate culture and questions their practicality, desirability, time-scale and affordability. It presents and evidence-based alternative approach that is more affordable and can more quickly deliver changes of behaviour required and ensure compliance with relevant laws, regulations, policies and codes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information in the knowledge acquisition process	[ "Information theory", "Knowledge", "Wisdom", "Information", "Data", "DIKW hierarchy", "DIKW model", "DIKW pyramid", "Knowledge acquisition process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper concisely presents the diversity of views on the concept of information and interprets the process of acquiring scientific knowledge, specifically from a symbolic and metaphorical point of view. In this view, the notion of information takes a central role, in addition to the related concepts of data and knowledge. Indirectly, this paper explores the question of why different perspectives of knowledge acquisition within the scientific fields have different views of information. Two such views, it seems, are directly opposed: one holds information as an objective entity that exists in an \"outside world,\" and a second considers it a construct of our mind.\n2. Shannon's theory ... and beyond: 2.1 Shannon's theory ... for the umpteenth time!\n3. The knowledge acquisition process: 3.1 \"A science is defined by its problem\"\n4. Bridging the gap in understanding the concept of information: information as a flow: 4.1 Is information a subjective or objective phenomenon?\n5. \"Tree of knowledge\": a symbolic representation and metaphorical interpretation of the knowledge acquisition process: 5.1 Previous meaning of the term \"tree of knowledge\"\n6. Conclusion: The purpose of this conceptual and yet speculative study was to examine the role of information as a \"flow\" in the context of the knowledge acquisition process. In so doing, the knowledge acquisition process was itself symbolized by the image of the \"tree of knowledge\" and interpreted by the following metaphors: \"information is sap,\" \"data is ground,\" \"knowledge is tree\" and \"wisdom is the sun's rays.\" At the same time, this arrangement is advanced as a new symbolic representation of the DIKW hierarchy. It is proposed that these considerations at least enable understanding of the diversity of views about information within the various scientific fields. As has been shown, differences in the interpretation of the nature of \"information sap\" that circulates through the \"tree of knowledge\" is a function of the position of the individual branch or another part of the \"tree of knowledge,\" whose goal is to measure and interpret as well as to represent a particular scientific field symbolically. These differences also throw new light on the observed gap in the perception of information as an objective and subjective phenomenon, in the direction that must be overcome. In the proposed symbolism, information is subjective, because it is \"visible\" within the \"tree of knowledge.\" But at the same time, the information is objective, because it contains \"data nutrients,\" which have an objective origin! Further, this opens the way for a particular symbolic perspective on the further metaphorical interpretation and implications of the proposed model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an appropriate symbolic representation, as well as its metaphorical interpretation, to illustrate the special role of information in the knowledge acquisition process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Besides the literature review, this is a speculative study based on a symbolic and metaphorical point of view.\nFindings: The proposed symbolic representation was derived from the conceptual designation of information \"as a flow\" and, accordingly, by the corresponding redrawing of the data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) pyramid. The knowledge acquisition process is symbolically represented by the growth of a \"tree of knowledge\" which is planted on a \"data earth,\" filled with \"information sap\" and lit by the rays of the \"sun of the mind,\" a new symbol of the concept of wisdom in the DIKW model. As indicated, a key concept of this metaphorical interpretation is the role of \"information sap\" which rises from the roots of the \"tree of knowledge\" to the top of the tree and it is recognized as an invisible link between \"world of data\" and \"world of knowledge.\" This concept is also proposed as a new symbolic representation of the DIKW model.\nOriginality/value: On the basis of specific symbolic-metaphorical representation, this paper provides a relatively new concept of information which may help bridge observed gaps in the understanding of information in various scientific fields, as well as in its understanding as an objective or subjective phenomenon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How does the minimum wage affect employment statuses of youths?: evidence of Indonesia	[ "Multinomial logit", "Covered sector", "Minimum wage", "Paid employment", "Youth employment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The effects of minimum wage on employment continue to be a major focus for research in labour market. Based on the standard competitive model, an increase in the minimum wage above the equilibrium level is predicted to decrease the level of employment. However, minimum wage effect on employment is complex in the case of developing countries, where labour market is segmented between formal and informal sectors. In many cases in developing countries, an increase in the minimum wage is predicted to not only decrease employment in the sectors covered by the minimum wage policy (the formal sector), but also increase employment in the sectors not covered by the policy (the informal sector) (see e.g. Fajnzylber, 2001 in Brazil; Baanante, 2004 in Peru; Gindling and Terrell, 2007 in Costa Rica). An increase in the minimum wage is thus predicted to shift workers from the formal, covered sector into the informal, uncovered sector. This displacement effect is consistent with the prediction of the two-sector model first constructed by Welch (1974).\nMinimum wage and youth employment in Indonesia: The minimum wage in Indonesia is generally set at the province and district levels (the lower levels of government), which is consistent with the country's ongoing decentralization process whereby power has been transferred from the central to the local levels since 2001. To set the wage level, the regional governments work jointly with tripartite wage councils, which include the regional manpower office, employers, labour union representatives, and some expert advisers. The wage level is based on the value of a decent living standard, which is derived from prices of 49 items of basic needs. Based on regulation, the minimum wage is then applied to all paid employment without considering firm size or sector. The minimum wage can only be applied to workers who have worked for less than one year, which is also relevant to young people starting to work. If the duration of work is more than one year, the company should pay a salary greater than the minimum wage level.\nBrief literature review: Most studies examining the effects of a minimum wage on youth employment have been conducted in developed countries. Yuen (2003), for instance, examined the effect of minimum wages on youth employment using Canadian individual level panel data. His results indicated that an increase in the minimum wage of 8.4 per cent was likely to decrease the number of low wage teenage workers by 7 per cent and decrease the number of low wage young adults by 10 per cent. Using cross-national data from 17 OECD countries, Neumark and Wascher (2004) also found that the effects of the minimum wage on youth employment were negative, using different methods and specifications. Specifically, the effects of a minimum wage on teenage employment were slightly higher than the effect of a minimum wage on young adult employment. Currie and Fallick (1996), using the federal minimum wage in the USA, found that young workers were approximately 3 per cent less likely to remain employed in the years following minimum wage increases in 1979 and 1980.\nResearch methodology and data: This study uses a multinomial logit model to determine the effects of an increase in the minimum wage on youth employment across different employment statuses in Indonesia. Using this method, we can see how the youth employment status distribution changes as a result of an increase in the minimum wage. In practice, multinomial logit results are very similar to the multinomial probit, except the multinomial logit assumes the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives in the error term, meaning that the selected categories are independent of each other (Long and Freese, 2006). Therefore, adding one new alternative category or deleting one of the selected categories will not affect the proportion of individuals choosing the other categories. The multinomial logit model is specified as follows:\nEmpirical results: Table IV reports the results of the multinomial logit for youth males across employment statuses in urban areas. The results show that a minimum wage increase lowers the probability of young males being paid employed in the covered sector (the marginal effect is 0.454). Conversely, an increase in the minimum wage increases the probability of being paid employed in the uncovered sector (the marginal effect is 0.139), being an unpaid family worker (the marginal effect is 0.096), and being unemployed (the marginal effect is 0.279) in urban areas, suggesting a movement for youth males from paid employment in the covered sector to those three employment statuses as the minimum wage increases.\nConclusions: This study investigated the effects of a minimum wage increase on youth employment in Indonesia across different employment statuses, using an individual micro-level data set of the National Labour Force Survey. In general, this study found that an increase in the minimum wage decreases the probability of youth being employed in the covered sector. However, the specific effects are different across urban and rural labour markets, as well as the male and female labour markets. In urban areas, a rise in the minimum wage increases the probability of males who were employed in the covered sector being displaced and moving into uncovered paid employment or into unemployed status; females tend to be displaced into self-employed and unpaid family worker status. In rural areas, the minimum wage hike decreases the probability of being an employee and increases the probability of being an unpaid family worker. Generally, this study supports the two-sector model prediction showing that an increase in the minimum wage displaces workers from the covered sector into the uncovered sector.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of minimum wage on youth employment across employment statuses in Indonesia. This study uses the National Labour Force Survey (Sakernas) from 2010 to 2012.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a multinomial logit model to see the youth distribution across different employment status changes as a result of an increase in the minimum wage. Five categories of youth employment statuses are examined including self-employed; unpaid family workers; paid employees in the covered sector; paid employees in the uncovered sectors; and unemployed. The model is examined separately for urban and rural areas, as well as for the male and female youth labour market.\nFindings: The results generally suggest that an increase in minimum wage decrease the probability of youth being employed in the covered sector, i.e. paid employment in the covered sector and increase the probability of youth being employed in the uncovered sectors, including self-employed, unpaid family workers, and paid employment in the uncovered sectors. This study indicates a displacement effect for youths from the covered sector into the uncovered sector as suggested by the two-sector model. The specific results are different across urban and rural labour markets, as well as across males and females.\nOriginality/value: Compared to the developed country studies, the studies on the effects of minimum wage on youth employment in developing countries is relatively limited. The sample from Indonesian labour market with a large informal sector has never been used for these purposes. This study also contributes to the literature by using the particular definition of the covered-uncovered sector to the Indonesian labour market based on the employment status and individual wage data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The "comply or explain" principle in the Republic of Slovenia	[ "Disclosure", "Corporate governance", "Index", "“Comply and/or explain” principle", "Corporate governance code", "SEECGAN index" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A form of soft regulations in governance codes has been designed to:\n2. Legal approach to the implementation of corporate governance in Slovenia: the \"comply or explain\" principle and the corporate governance statement in Slovenia: 2.1 Historical development and regulatory approaches in corporate governance codes in the Republic of Slovenia\n3. Research in Slovenia on \"comply or explain\" and some results: Several pieces of research concerning the execution of the \"comply or explain\" principle in practice were carried out from 2007 to 2010; they were funded and performed by the Slovenian Directors' Association (SDA Research 2007, 2010).\n4. Case study on corporate governance in Slovenia in 2017: 4.1 Research method\n5. Conclusion: The intellectual challenge of CG is in finding the right mix of instruments, answering whether and to what degree mandatory of fallback law is needed and if it is needed, what the role of the EU should be (Hopt, 2010, p. 8).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide an overview of the quality of corporate governance (CG) disclosures in the framework of CGS and the \"comply or explain\" code principle in Slovenia. It aims to observe the differences among companies of the prime, standard and entry markets in terms of the differences in governance standards and regulatory frameworks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes the historical development, legal approach and methods used in the regulation of the \"comply or explain\" principle in Slovenia. In the 2014 SEECGAN research - Slovenia, we measured the quality of CG by applying the newly created SEECGAN index methodology covering seven segments of CG and assessing 98 attributes. This paper upgrades the results of this research with additional case study research.\nFindings: The analysis from 2011 to 2014 on the \"comply or explain\" principle showed a gradual improvement of transparency in Slovenian public companies. The 2014 SEECGAN research - Slovenia revealed that the number of specific and high-quality explanations of deviations has increased. The study in this paper showed that the governance practice in some cases is still not in line with code recommendations and does not disclose the deviations from the code.\nOriginality/value: Disclosures of the Slovenian public companies are presented for the period 2004-2018. This paper points out the improvements to be realized to change unsatisfactory practices. The measurement of the quality of CG by the 2014 SEECGAN research - Slovenia introduced a methodology, which could be recognized and improved by the EU and/or its member states.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Private and public services: productivity and performance migration	[ "Public sector", "Customer service", "Commercial services", "Productivity", "Public sector organizations", "Private sector organizations", "Customer service management", "Productivity rate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1.0 Introduction: Appreciating the importance of productivity and performance in public services through an historical lens highlight that as long ago as the 1940s the public service had responsibility for managing large expenditures; not least in the delivery of a comprehensive welfare state (Smith and Raistrick, 1994, p. 58). By the end of the 1970s, however, critics from the right of the political debate argued that government should have a minimal role in economic growth or even welfare services; and that individual enterprise, mechanisms of competition, and the market should take precedence (Smith and Raistrick, 1994, p. 59). The Charity Commission (2007) reported that health and social care accounted for approximately 31 per cent of all public services delivered by charities, followed by education, 15 per cent and children's services, 14 per cent. Between them, the private and voluntary sectors provide over 70 per cent of social care (Department of Health, 2006).Today, even liberal thinkers accept that the market cannot function alone and that the government should intervene in some instances in order to make up for market imperfections and provide public services (Hughes and O'Neill, 2008). Whereas in the private service sector economic considerations of efficiency and profitability have underpinned strategic intent, and where it is argued that social justice and equity are notionally pre-eminent in the public service sector (Laing, 2003). Compared to the private service sector which functions within the competitive boundaries of the market, the public sector engages in much more complex tasks, is involved in activities with much greater symbolic significance and operates in the public interest (Massey and Pyper, 2005, p. 17). Moreover, political imperatives result in the public sector being faced with regular changes in policy and direction (Goldstein and Naor, 2004).However, in developed countries around the world we now see a blurring of what previously were identified as two distinct service delivery sectors: namely the public services - fundamentally funded through grants from civil taxation and the voluntary sector - of which there is no universally accepted definition; and a problem illustrated by the variety of terms used to describe the activities, e.g. voluntary, third, not-for-profit, non-profit, charity, civil society (Kelly, 2007).This paper differentiates the public service from other services by its funding derivation (i.e. predominantly taxation); with the voluntary sector covering organisations that are formally constituted, not profit distributing, constitutionally independent from the state and benefiting from voluntarism, either through donations or volunteering (Parker, 2012). Whilst the principles of fairness, equity and justice are inherent to the public sector and constitute an important difference with the private sector, this paper will focus on the operational differences that exist between the two sectors.The paper proceeds as follows. We will first compare and contrast appropriate performance and productivity tools and highlight the challenges in adopting performance and productivity measures in the public sector in an attempt to become more efficient and effective (Hughes, 2003). Next we compare the two sectors. Specifically, we identify and examine five key differences. We will, argue that the public sector is more bureaucratic than the private sector, analyse the differences between the terms customer and citizen, explore the complexity of defining stakeholders in the public sector, compare the difference in organisational culture and staffing and, finally, identify the different measurement tools that are used in each sector. The paper then progresses to show the important differences that still exist between the two service sectors which continue to be problematic when attempting to adopt productivity and performance management. Next, we address the recent structural changes in the public sector that aim to import best practices taken from the private into the public sector (Ferlie et al., 1996, p. 10). In the context of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm, we will argue that the public sector is becoming more integrated into the market, has been putting citizens at the heart of service delivery and is adopting productivity and performance management in an attempt to become more efficient and competitive. We conclude by emphasising the need to address the productivity and performance management in the public services differently from that applied in the commercial services sector. Nonetheless, \"[...] finding useful productivity measures in the public sector has proved problematic\", (Jaaskelainen and Lonnqvist, 2011, p. 290); and the migration of tools and methods from the commercial sector to the public services, for example the Balanced Scorecard, has not been totally successful (Parker, 2012).\n2.0 Productivity and performance in the public and private service: While much of the extant research on productivity and performance management has been focused on manufacturing outputs (Klassen et al., 1998), the service literature develops the traditional view of productivity by emphasising factors such as the quality of service (Sahay, 2005), effective use of resources (Gronroos and Ojasalo, 2004) and the importance of customer satisfaction in service provision (Parasuraman, 2002). Public services are recognised to mean those funded by the public purse rather than those delivered by the public sector (Blair, 2006). Blair (2001) identified the promotion of alternative providers and greater choice as one of the four principles of his public service reform programme and integration of the voluntary and private sectors in the provision of public services to underpin the concept of joined-up government (Parker, 2012) supported by greater use of information technology.The service literature identifies numerous organisation-wide performance models applied to service delivery organisations. Two commonly referred models used across both of the service sectors are: the 3Es model (economy-efficiency-effectiveness) and IOO model (inputs-outputs-outcomes) (Boyne, 2002; Parker, 2012). However, it is widely recognised that public service organisations need far better measures of outputs and outcomes (Boyne, 2002). Intuitively, public service productivity closely relates to economy, efficiency, outputs and inputs, but it also encompasses some aspects of outcomes and effectiveness. Therefore, it is argued that a new model is required for productivity and performance management.Table I shows comparison of the typical features of manufacturing, private service and public service operations in order to illustrate differences in productivity, performance and measurement.The unit of measure and outputs of manufacturing operations is a tangible artefact; output can be measured and its quality characteristics can be assessed objectively. In services, the output is intangible in nature, making it difficult to quantify as the consumer also has emotional and psychological perceptions. The outputs of private commercial services are valued by fee-paying customers. However, in the public and not-for-profit sector, services have no market price (they are provided free of charge at the point of use - e.g. libraries). Moreover, public services are invariably provided in sectors in which private companies do not operate (e.g. police, fire service). Identifying the output of these types of services can be complex and problematic from the productivity and performance point of view. For example, the aim of a police service cannot be the maximisation of the output (i.e. crimes) but rather to prevent them from occurring - and simply implying a decline in crime or an increase detection is directly as a result of the police service is far too simplistic. Additionally, while private companies aim to create financial returns for shareholders, public services have missions related to improving public welfare - unlike the imperative of creating profits and growth in the private sector.It might be argued that public service productivity can be defined similarly to the way in which productivity in the commercial sector is regarded. After all, productivity, the ratio of inputs to outputs, captures the concept of measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of transforming inputs into outputs from the perspective of the needs of the end-consumer, i.e. customer or citizen. However, challenges occur in delivering on the concept because of the uniqueness of the public services as previously discussed above. One of the key challenges in the productivity measurement of all services, whether commercial or public, relates to defining the basic unit for measuring the quantity of the services performed (Sherwood, 1994).2.1 Bureaucracy and market dynamics\n3.0 Productivity and performance metrics: 3.1 Productivity models\n4.0 Discussion: As more and more public services are offered to outsourcing, competition will increase. This has inevitably changed the behaviour of both the voluntary and public sectors. Voluntary organisations that have previously relied on grants rather than contracts now find themselves obliged to enter the bidding for contracts. Consequently, many voluntary organisations are restructuring internally in order to create or improve the capacity to compete for contracts (Davies, 2010). Curley (2009) argues that the pressure for efficiencies on public bodies has resulted in many funders opting for larger contracts, frequently aggregating several smaller ones in the hope of achieving economies of scale. In the past, many voluntary sector organisations would find such large contracts impossible to bid for successfully due to the complex bidding process, but today this is not the case due to restructuring and re-emphasis on commercial processes.Although small community organisations are often best placed to provide responsive support services in local communities, arguably they are also least able to secure government funding (HM Government, 2009, p. 9). Although competition is supposed to foster efficiencies, it may just destroy small and specialist charities. However, recent moves toward collaboration or even full merger between several national charities illustrate changes on the sector to consolidate (e.g. partnerships with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and Action for Blind People; Help the Aged and Age Concern).In a period that combines an intensification of competition for government funding together with a general economic downturn, there are both opportunities and threats. Clearly there is concern that some voluntary and not-for-profit service organisations will cease to exist or be pushed aside by private sector services, and that large providers will edge out smaller providers and international service organisations will replace local provision.The literature on service performance management and service productivity vs public sector productivity and performance highlights a range of terminology, classifications, models and measurement approaches. Often there appears a naivety or lack of experience that supports the view that service performance and productivity models are generic and applicable to both sectors.We argue that there is a need to regard the \"third sector\" as unique. Moreover, performance and productivity measurement challenges relate to the definition of service outputs in the public services. In other words, what are the key elements (tangible and intangible) that constitute service outputs in the public services? The challenges related to measurement can only be solved after outputs have been properly defined.The majority of the productivity measures presented in the service literature are market oriented and therefore constitute problems for public service organisations. The problems related to the definition of outputs have been bypassed by introducing monetary measures of outputs that theoretically encompass both tangible and intangible elements of outputs. However, a new approach is needed in the case of public services.The intangible nature of services has been discussed in the literature. However, what this means in practice has not always been clearly defined. What has not been adequately addressed is whether the intangible features are most of the service or only a small part; and could this feature be ignored without detriment to the integrity of the performance measure. There is a lack of empirical examination of these issues.\n5.0 Conclusion: Based on the literature review a promising approach for public sector productivity might be the disaggregated approach (Boyle, 2006; McLaughlin and Coffey, 1990; Parker, 2012). Such an approach, focusing on the output components at a tactical level, could alleviate the problems related to public service productivity measurement (i.e. the problem of output definition). In particular, it could help define outputs at the operative level. Such measures could then percolate up to the strategic level - similar to the Balanced Scorecard approach (by aggregating the operative level results). Clearly this remains an interesting challenge for the productivity and performance management discipline and worthy of greater examination. To-date, there has been inadequate attention given to identifying, comparing and contrasting the significant differences between the organisations that deliver the public funded services to those in the commercial private services sector. Until greater understanding is gained there is little likelihood of successfully transferring models of productivity and performance management between the sectors or the development of appropriate models.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - When comparing and contrasting features of the public service sector with those of the private service sector, the differences between the notions of customer and citizen, notable in the past, are now blurring. Whilst acknowledging the important differences that exist between the two service sectors, the authors seek to address the recent structural changes in the public service sector that aim to adopt best practices taken from the private into the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the important differences in public and private service delivery processes; with an emphasis on the need for improved definitions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The literature reviews undertaken were qualitative synthesis in nature. Content analysis was undertaken and applied in reviewing 39 literature of sub-fields of public and private service delivery, published in English-speaking peer-reviewed journals.\nFindings: - Based on the literature review, a promising approach for public sector productivity might be the disaggregated approach. Such an approach, focusing on the output components at a tactical level, could alleviate the problems related to public service productivity measurement (i.e. the problem of output definition). In particular, it could help define outputs at the operative level. Such measures could then percolate up to the strategic level (by aggregating the operative level results). Clearly this remains an interesting challenge for the productivity and performance management discipline and worthy of greater examination.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The authors compared and contrasted appropriate performance and productivity tools and highlight the challenges in adopting performance and productivity measures in the public sector in an attempt to become more efficient and effective. Until greater understanding is gained, there is little likelihood of successfully transferring models of productivity and performance management between the sectors or the development of appropriate models.\nOriginality/value: - To date, there has been inadequate attention given to identifying, comparing and contrasting the significant differences between the organisations that deliver the public funded services and those in the commercial private services sector. This work highlights specific areas for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A prolonged financial crisis: adjustments and prospects in Eurozone's southern markets	[ "Eurozone crisis", "Market adjustments", "Outlook", "Peripheral economies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Eurozone's peripheral economies have been hit hard by the global financial crisis which was accompanied by major banking sector problems and the high sovereign debt levels that made markets unwilling to finance them (Portugal and Greece) or fund them but at a higher cost (Spain and Italy). Austerity programmes pursued by governments to tidy up their finances and actions to mend the balance sheets of the banking sector have weighed on purchasing power and liquidity in the southern economies. As a result domestic demand plummeted and a prolonged economic stagnation has now emerged. In Greece it is even worse as the economy, at the time of writing, is contracting for a sixth consecutive year. Employment losses have been significant and unemployment rates range from 12.2 per cent in Italy to over 26 per cent in Spain and Greece with Portugal at 16.5 per cent. Figure 1 illustrates the economic difficulties in these countries and what might turn out to be a lost decade.\n2 Methodology: Investment allocations require the consideration of a host of factors to assess the risks of the new investments as well as their expected relative performance. Figure 2 provides a framework for such an analysis with the southern Eurozone economies in mind.\n3 Analysis: A substantial volume of financial press commentaries and white papers from a range of organisations including investment banks have highlighted defects that render the monetary union an unworkable project and one that is fundamentally flawed. Several of these commentaries and papers have come up with scenarios about the future of the Eurozone. Two of these scenarios, which in a number of commentaries receive high probabilities of occurrence, are a partial and a total break-up of the union. These scenarios weigh significantly on market sentiment towards the future of the southern member states. They represent a major uncertainty surrounding these economies with far reaching effects as the Greek situation has showed; firms relocating in fear of a euro exit. If this risk is removed sovereign bond volatility will ease and the cost of borrowing (government bond yields) will remain at affordable levels for these countries to re-finance their debt. Of course the risk of a particular country exiting, that of Greece, is pretty much alive. It is claimed that such an event will reflect the country's exceptional circumstances and contagion can be contained. However, it still represents a source of risk. The risk of the Eurozone imploding either completely or partially has waned since the end of 2012. This is illustrated by the lower volatility of sovereign bond yields and the retreat of the latter from the high levels of December 2011, the fall in CDS (insurance contracts) for government bonds and the successful auctions of Italian and Spanish sovereign debt. Further there is less mention of the Armageddon scenarios although the existence of the union in the long-run is still debated. However, it is clear that the focus of the commentaries has shifted to question the growth potential of these countries and the possible advent of a low growth paradigm in the southern block.\n4 Conclusions: Investors with presence or seeking exposure in the struggling southern Eurozone countries as well as occupiers will need, above all, to take position with respect to two scenarios. Scenario one is the Armageddon situation of a total or partial break-up of the Eurozone. In this case, occupiers and investors should seek shelter and avoid the region. In the second scenario, this risk is non-existent and the southern economies will make a come back albeit at different speed, strength and time frame. Risk appetite will gradually return. Occupiers should make plans for an economic recovery. Investors will have to play the region's economic rebound. The possibility of cyclical gains, aided by the limited pipeline for new space, is material but any strategy should not be oblivious to an environment of ongoing structural reforms and weak economic growth perhaps for several few years.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The economic slump in the southern member states of the Eurozone has brought real estate market activity to a standstill and has raised questions about the future of these markets. Will they rebound and will they command a higher risk premium? This paper aims to assess the outlook for these markets as the crisis continues and analyses the conditions that are a prerequisite to restore investment activity and a healthy occupier market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Within a portfolio allocation framework, the paper examines the conditions for the revival of investor interest in these markets and the uncertainties that should be resolved. Through the analysis of selected data, the paper assesses the emerging state of these markets.\nFindings: The economic slump in peripheral Eurozone economies gives way to a period of slow growth and ongoing structural reforms. The latter are necessary to restore confidence in the respective economies and investment markets. Sentiment indicators contain the first signs of a rebound in business confidence. With confidence returning and mitigated macroeconomic risks investors will seek value in the markets of the southern region on a selective basis. Price corrections and yield differentials with core markets could prove attractive. It is, however, argued that a risk premium will remain to reflect progress with structural reforms that will make the economies more competitive and less prone to a similar crisis in the future. It is only when such reforms will firmly be put in place that pricing in the southern Eurozone markets will reflect cyclical risks and diversification contributions.\nPractical implications: The article provides a structured approach to assess the outlook for peripheral markets. It identifies the key risks affecting investor confidence. The analysis proceeds to stress conditions that should be satisfied for a rebound in the investment market. Signals from selected data series are extracted to assess sentiment and adjustment in the market and assist in the assessment of real estate market prospects in these economies.\nOriginality/value: The paper examines conditions for investing in the hard hit markets of the Eurozone. It illustrates the path for the recovery in these markets and the conditions for the rebound in investment volumes. It contributes to the analysis of the growth potential and risk of these markets for investment purposes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Editorial: recognizing the academic publishing service ecosystem	[ "Conferences", "Service ecosystem", "Institutions", "Journal rankings", "Journal article", "Review process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This feels quite strange to me. Since becoming co-editor of this journal, Rebekah Russell-Bennett and I have co-written ten editorials (Vol. 29, Issues 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7; Vol. 30, Issues 1, 3, 5 and 7; and Vol. 31, Issues 3, 6). However, now, given that I am stepping down from my co-editor role, Rebekah has offered the whole stage for me to provide some reflections. I have pondered how to make best use of this opportunity. I went to my first service(s) conference (Frontiers in Service) in 1992, so I guess that I have 25 years of experience of the service(s) research community. I think that what has changed most over those years is the pressure on researchers, especially early career researchers, to publish their work - and in the \"top\" journals. Thinking more about this, I have tried to examine the changes in the academic publishing service ecosystem over the years: which changes appear to be for the better, which appear to be for the worse and what might be done for the benefit of the academic service research community?\nThe academic publishing service ecosystem: I will limit \"academic publishing\" to publishing in peer-reviewed outlets: academic journals, conference papers and scholarly books. My understanding of the institutions now follows.\nInstitutions and innovation: Why spend so much of this editorial on institutions, i.e. norms, rules, practices, meanings and symbols? The principal reason is that there is an emerging view that institutional patterns of resource integration can feed either momentum or resistance to service innovation (Lusch et al., 2016; Vargo and Lusch, 2017). It seems right and proper for the service(s) research community to consider innovations in the academic publishing service ecosystem. So, with this in mind, I present, in Table I, a version of the institutional state of the service ecosystem, stemming from the preceding discussion.\nAnd finally: As I move slowly into final retirement, I must thank the many people who have made my academic life so meaningful and enjoyable. They include all my work colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Liverpool, my co-authors of articles, conference papers, books, and book chapters (some 54 people from 13 countries!), the Associate Editors and Reviewers for this journal, the editors of other service journals, the organizers of conferences and workshops I have attended and the contacts at Emerald publishing. Special thanks go to Rebekah Russell-Bennett whose inspiration and friendship have made journal co-editorship so rewarding.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide a personal view of the institutions underpinning the academic publishing service ecosystem as a basis for a discussion of change and innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 25-year comparison of the norms, rules, practices, meanings and symbols in the service ecosystem is made.\nFindings: Eleven institutional states have been identified, which represent the good, and not so good, changes that have occurred over the period.\nOriginality/value: This editorial represents an approach, using service ecosystem concepts, to gain an understanding of service innovation possibilities in the academic publishing domain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship versus customer experience quality as determinants of relationship quality and relational outcomes for Kuwaiti retail banks	[ "Customer experience", "Customer relationship", "Commitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Successful customer acquisition and retention are essential to the success of service marketers (Amin et al., 2012; Ferreira et al., 2015), as they impact market performance measures such as customer equity (Zhang et al., 2014), customer willingness to promote the brand (Reichheld, 2003), increasing growth and profitability, share of wallet and customer lifetime value (Ryals, 2005). Unfortunately, signs of customer defection in the financial service industry are relatively high both in the USA and in international markets (Du Toit and Burns, 2014). While earlier international research has identified several elements of customer-bank relationship as meaningful segmentation variables (Machauer and Morgner, 2001), relational quality and relational outcomes have received disproportionately inadequate research attention. This paucity of cross-national research is both counterintuitive and counterproductive. Not only are bank services an essential prerequisite for economic development to enhance customer welfare, but banks are also facing new challenges to remain competitive. Customers tend to perceive financial services as commoditized services, leading them to be more passive (Howcroft et al., 2007), more inclined to defect (Garland, 2002), and more likely to adopt multiple banking than before (Devlin and Gerrard, 2005). Disruptive competition following the 2007 global financial crises exposed banks to new market challenges, including increased disintermediation of financial services, intensified local and international competition, and more fragmentation of their value chains (Sandbaek et al., 2017). Recovering from operating under such adverse market conditions, when customers tend to favor functional quality (Monferrer-Tirado et al., 2016), and in their pursuit of strong service branding with a superior competitive market position, banks need to achieve exceptional customer relationships and unforgettable positive experiences that can produce outstanding emotional connectedness with customers (i.e. customer satisfaction and commitment), favorable relational outcomes (loyalty and word-of-mouth (WoM)), and ultimately, relatively superior customer equity (Palmatier et al., 2009).\nLiterature review and hypotheses: Reconceptualization of services\nStudy context: As a market that is culturally different from the west, Kuwaiti banks were chosen for several reasons. First, the Kuwaiti economy, similar to other Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) economies, is characterized as being a capital-surplus system (Auty, 2001), serving customer needs in a middle eastern financial retail market while operating both locally and internationally. Second, the retail bank market has been transformed in fundamental ways, leading to intense competition that it never experienced before. On the demand side, there is significant local and international market growth fueled by relatively high population growth, improved oil prices and mounting consumer appetite for borrowing against guaranteed public salaries. On the supply side, financial authorities granted licenses for new local banks operating under both traditional and Islamic financial systems and allowed global banks to maintain a local presence, creating stronger competition that threatened the traditional dominance of the two banks on retail banking. At present, there are 9 local multibranch retail banks operating in Kuwait, 3 of which operate international branches, while 12 well-known foreign banks maintain branches in Kuwait. As such, client bases that once were viewed as stable and loyal are now subjected to stronger incentives to switch or have duplicate accounts, thereby threatening the lifetime value of bank's customer bases.\nMethod: Measures\nResults: SEM and hypotheses\nDiscussion: RM and customer experience quality approaches are widely adopted by retail banks in international markets to maintain superior customer emotional and behavioral outcomes. It is therefore crucial to examine the suitability of scales used to measure these two approaches when applied to international markets. Hence, a key objective of this study is to assess the appropriateness of the RBS and EXQ scales as valid and reliable measures of relationship quality and experience quality respectively when applied to the Kuwaiti retail bank market as an example of a non-Western culture. Furthermore, another major objective is to investigate the impact of relationship quality and experience quality (i.e. RBS and EXQ scales) as antecedents of outcome measures, including satisfaction and commitment as key relational quality constructs and WoM and loyalty as subsequent outcomes of retail bank service encounters.\nConclusions: The diffusion of RM and customer experience paradigms in international contexts has been rapid and extensive. Banks around the world have consistently included these two approaches as part of their strategy and metrics in their annual reports and their performance reviews. Despite this emphasis, many companies, including banks, are frustrated when they report dismal changes in their market outcome measures (e.g. customer loyalty and perceived client value) after allocating resources to improve their service management using both marketing approaches, and after receiving positive feedback from customers following recent touch-points with the company (Stone and Devine, 2013). It is further explained that, while customers may appreciate a company's successful intervention to solve problems or to remedy service failures, customers may be still unhappy with the overall quality of relationships and their journeys with the company, leading to negative relational outcomes, including low loyalty and negative WoM. Misallocation of marketing resources undoubtedly raises the service cost, thereby threatening service efficiency and ultimately profitability. Therefore, a proper measurement of relational quality and overall customer experiences is imperative for an overall assessment of services provided as perceived by different types of customer, which can be leveraged toward more efficient customer acquisition and retention.\nLimitations and future research directions: Similar to all other studies, the current study is not without limitations. Although our results point to the limited external validity of several scale items representing relational benefits and customer experience constructs, future research can improve the psychometric properties of existing scale items that can better represent indigenous behaviors in host cultures. Another limitation is related to the cross-sectional nature of the model testing. While multiple methods of data collection were employed, longitudinal data should provide a better estimation of directional relationships in the structural model over time. Furthermore, this study used self-reported measurement of loyalty and WoM as proxy measures of actual loyalty and WoM customer behaviors in response to the refusal of banks to allow access to customer data. Bank customer panels may offer an independent customer recruitment that allows realistic measurement of bank customers over time. Finally, given the international context of this paper, we examined our model among Kuwaiti bank customers, but we are unable to extend our findings to other seemingly similar Arab cultures in other GCC markets (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and UAE) despite their close proximity to Kuwait based on Hofstede (1984) national culture taxonomy. Future research can replicate the study in these markets to improve our understanding of whether or not customer-bank service relationship and quality vary across GCC markets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which customer experience and relationship marketing (RM), as two widely used service management approaches, can effectively determine satisfaction and commitment as two relational quality constructs, and their impact on loyalty and word-of-mouth (WoM) as relational outcomes for retail bank services in Kuwait. This country is chosen as an exemplar of an Arabian Peninsula culture with a predominantly Islamic heritage and a capital-surplus economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The relational benefits scale and customer experience quality were used as independent measures to collect data using multiple methods (interview, paper and pencil, online) from 1,013 customers of local and international banks. Standard translation procedures, CFA procedures and parallel analysis were employed to examine the dimensionality of all scales. SEM procedures were applied for each approach to assess its impact on the four indigenous dependent constructs using a multitude of fit indices, examination of validity and reliability measures for all constructs as well as structural paths.\nFindings: Results show the factor structure of both scales differed from their original conceptualization, with fewer items forming each latent factor when applied in Kuwait. The explanatory and predictive power of the EXQ model performed slightly better than RBS, although both explained substantial variance on dependent measures, confirming their relevance despite the lack of noticeable correlation between most factors contained in both scales.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study underscores the importance of establishing the validity of measures prior to their cross-cultural application, with particular focus on the content validity of scale items to measure the intended construct properly. It also shows how two approaches can complement each other rather than compete to effectively manage bank services. As is the case with all cross-sectional research paradigms, longitudinal analysis linking expressed loyalty/WoM with actual behavior can better assess tested relationships than the current research.\nPractical implications: Retail banks' marketing strategy should simultaneously address customer relationships and customer experience to reduce attrition and enhance customer life-time value.\nOriginality/value: Effects of service experience and RM are examined in a Middle-Eastern market, where internationalization of banks has created strong competition, leading customers to view bank services as less differentiated. Caution and examination of service quality measures are needed before using them as metrics in annual reports and performance reviews.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Iceberg ahead	[ "Baby boomer generation", "Liabilities", "National debt" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: My livelihood is essentially to write multiple alternative scenarios of the future for top decision-makers in private and public organizations. I say \"alternative scenarios\" because it is my and my firm's, well, firm conviction (sorry) that predicting the future is a sucker's game.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the retirement of the Baby Boom generation and the fiscal crisis that almost certainly will accompany it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Opinion column.\nFindings: - This column lays out the reasons why the current fiscal situation is unsustainable and why the retirement of the Baby Boomers will cause economic dislocation for the entire economy, shaping strategic choices for many business decision-makers.\nOriginality/value: - Advance warning about a serious issue that will cast a shadow on the entire strategic business environment for the next few decades.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of good and poor quality as perceived by US health care managers: A grounded taxonomy based on evidence from narratives of care	[ "Quality improvement", "Taxonomy", "Quality care", "Healthcare managers", "Quality care assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Problems in quality of care have been well recognized and documented across the world, indicating that health care needs to be enhanced (Institute of Medicine, 2001; McGlynn et al., 2003; Schoen et al., 2006; World Health Organization, 2006; Eurobarometer, 2010). Quality improvement initiatives have been increasingly adopted, with some evidence about their benefits (Schouten et al., 2008; Marshall and Ovretveit, 2011), but an essential ingredient for their success is managerial involvement and support (Parker et al., 1999; Ovretveit et al., 2002; Bradley et al., 2003; Ovretveit, 2009). Indeed, among the numerous stakeholders acting in the health care arena - with different perspectives and expectations about the quality of care (Campbell et al., 2000; Wyszewianski, 2003; Burhans, 2007) - managers are the ones who develop organizational strategies (Cohen et al., 2008) and implement innovations to address quality concerns (Parand et al., 2014).\nMethods: Ethics approval and funding\nResults: Missing data\nDiscussion: Health care managers are responsible for the implementation of strategies and programs to address quality issues (Cohen et al., 2008; Parand et al., 2014), however their judgment about what constitutes good and poor quality care has not been thoroughly explored in the literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate health care managers' perceptions about the determinants of good and poor quality care, in order to empirically inform a taxonomy named the INQUAT. The importance of assessing health care quality has been widely recognized across the globe and developing measures of quality is a crucial prerequisite for quality improvement initiatives (Rubin et al., 2001). Indeed, the goal of analyzing incidents is not only to detect their root causes, but also to highlight the gaps in the system (Vincent et al., 2000) in order to improve it.\nConclusion: The objective of this study was to investigate on the determinants of good and poor quality through the analysis of care narratives provided by US health care managers and consequently to develop an empirically informed taxonomy of quality care. The derived INQUAT represents a concrete instrument to support the analysis of all types of care episodes collected through incident reporting, spontaneous reporting, patient complaints, malpractice claims, executive walk rounds or medical records. Specifically, INQUAT allows a deep assessment of all the factors that contribute to good or poor quality - helping to better understand the interplay between context-, structure-, process-variables and outcomes. It highlights strengths and weaknesses based on which managers can plan and implement successful quality improvement interventions. Furthermore, in this study, managers highlighted the centrality of process and did not consider their actions as factors influencing the quality of care, but rather attributed the responsibility for quality to front-line practitioners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The scientific literature evidences that the quality of care must be improved. However, little research has focused on investigating how health care managers - who are responsible for the implementation of quality interventions - define good and poor quality. The purpose of this paper is to develop an empirically informed taxonomy of quality care as perceived by US managers - named the Integrative Quality Care Assessment Tool (INQUAT) - that is grounded in Donabedian's structure, process and outcome model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A revised version of the critical incident technique was used to collect 135 written narratives of good and poor quality care from 74 health care managers in the USA. The episodes were thematically analyzed.\nFindings: In total, 804 units were coded under the 135 written narratives of care. They were grouped under structure (9 percent, n=69), including organizational, staff and facility resources; process (52 percent, n=419), entailing communication, professional diligence, timeliness, errors, and continuity of care; outcomes (32 percent, n=257), embedding process- and short-term outcomes; and context (7 percent, n=59), involving clinical and patient factors. Process-related categories tended to be described in relation to good quality (65 percent), while structure-related categories tended to be associated with poor quality (67 percent). Furthermore, the data suggested that managers did not consider their actions as important factors influencing quality, but rather tended to attribute the responsibility for quality care to front-line practitioners.\nOriginality/value: The INQUAT provides a theoretically grounded, evidence-based framework to guide health care managers in the assessment of all the components involved with the quality of care within their institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Structural model of perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ) to improve sustainable organizational performance	[ "Supply chain", "Quality", "Perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ)", "Perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ) practices", "Sustainable organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: As the contest intensified beyond a single organization into the supply chain, organizations, practitioners, consultants and academics began to realize that it is not adequate if they only consider enhancing performance throughout in-house practices within their industry. Robinson and Malhotra (2005) stated that because of struggle for marketplace advantage, organizations have attempted to systematize and integrate supply chain concepts and practices into their business process. Li et al. (2006) discussed that advancement and execution of supply chain practices could raise customer value and competitive advantages in the marketplace.\n2. Literature review: In this section, the concept of PFSCQ explored by examining the empirical research studies to derive the research gaps from the literature is discussed.\n3. Identification of PFSCQ practices and sustainable organizational performance's dimensions: 3.1 Research methodology\n4. Structural model and hypotheses: A conceptual framework in Figure 1 explains for managing all the proposed factors of PFSCQ that affect upstream quality, internal quality and downstream quality that suffered incomplete concern in the literature. Supplier quality is mostly a concern of upstream quality; process quality corresponds to internal quality while customer focus is reflected in downstream quality (Zeng et al., 2013). In this framework, top management leadership and commitment to quality are shown on the top of the framework which signifies that top management leadership and commitment to PFSCQ are the first set by the top official (president or CEO) to monitor; quality of human resources maintains upstream quality (supplier quality), internal quality (process quality and logistic quality), downstream quality (customer focus), information sharing and integration between supply chain partners. Based on this, organizational performance is formulated that may also be referred as the sustainable organizational performance which is at the bottom of the framework. In the next phase, direct and indirect links of these constructs with numerous dimensions of sustainable organizational performance will be developed, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 illustrates the suggested structural model to attain sustainable organizational performance. In this structural model, internal process, supplier quality and information are recognized as second-order latent constructs. In specific, internal process is evaluated by three first-order latent constructs, containing process, product and service quality. Supplier quality consists of supplier quality management and supplier assessment. Information quality, information sharing, information technology and information management are aspects of information. Moreover, this structural model schematically shows the mutual interaction among PFSCQ practices with each arrow indicating the proposed relationship among each pair of constructs. By this interface, the direct and indirect relationships of PFSCQ practices with sustainable organizational performance can be indicated. For illustration, the arrows about the relations of supplier quality and customer focus to internal process show the relationship among them. There are no arrows between supplier quality, customer focus and sustainable organizational performance. On the other hand, influencing upstream (supplier quality), downstream (customer focus) and internal quality (process and logistic quality) has indirect effects on organizational performance (Zeng et al., 2013).\n5. Conclusion: Perishable food products constitute a main part of the world economy and are resources for various industries. This paper takes into consideration the integration of quality and perishable food supply chain that remains inadequate in the literature. The paper lays down the foundation of a comprehensive framework for managing PFSCQ. Constructs of the framework are proposed in this paper based on extensive theoretical grounding of extant literature. As far as managerial implications are concerned, in this paper, by examining quality issues within the perishable food supply chain perspective, an inventive conceptual framework that gives a comprehensive picture of core dimensions or practices of PFSCQ and several facets of sustainable organizational performance is proposed. This conceptual framework can be used as \"a directive\" for theory building and measurement device, development of PFSCQ and sustainable organizational performance. More significantly, on the road to gain more insight, a structural model that recognizes the direct and indirect relationship between PFSCQ practices and sustainable organizational performance was also developed. Practitioners/consultants can employ this structural model as \"a road map\" for implementing PFSCQ practices. Given that, all efforts of an organization should start with the leadership/commitment of top management. And the infrastructure practices, such as quality of human resource, quality of supply chain integration and information, etc., then are employed to support the core practices, such as supplier quality, customer focus, internal process, etc. However, this framework requires checking reliability and validity of these structural models, and it is needed to consolidate their rationality by empirical studies in distinct contexts. Results from the future empirical analysis, then, will give evidence to strengthen the relationship between PFSCQ practices and sustainable organizational performance. These recommendations imply novel directions for future research studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ) and to suggest a structural model that counts the influence of PFSCQ practices on organizational sustainable performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: On the basis of comprehensive literature review, PFSCQ highly significant practices were examined and designated. These practices were classified into four dimensions: upstream quality (supplier quality), downstream quality (customer focus), internal quality (process and logistics quality) and support practices (top management leadership and commitment to quality, quality of human resource, quality of information and supply chain integration). The measurement instrument of organizational sustainable performance was also build on, containing three aspects: economic, environmental and social performance.\nFindings: An inventive conceptual model that specifies a comprehensive image cover up core dimensions of PFSCQ and various aspects of organizational sustainable performance was suggested. This conceptual model can be used as \"a directive\" for theory developing and measurement instrument development of PFSCQ practices and organizational sustainable performance. More prominently, on the road to achieving additional insight, an extensive structural model that makes out direct and indirect relationships between PFSCQ practices and organizational sustainable performance was also developed. Practitioners can apply this model as \"a path plan\" for implementing PFSCQ practices to improve organizational sustainable performance.\nOriginality/value: The integration of quality and supply chain even now remains inadequate in the literature. Consequently, it is required to have a more focused approach in assessing quality issues inside the upstream, internal and downstream of the supply chain. This study concentrates on the practices which make better quality aspects of the supply chain, known as PFSCQ practices. Suggested research models in this paper contribute to conceptual frameworks for theory building in PFSCQ and sustainable organizational performance. It is also expected that this research can suggest a useful direction for determining and implementing PFSCQ practices as well as make possible further studies in this arena.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Primary healthcare accreditation standards: a systematic review	[ "Benchmarking", "Care standards", "Quality healthcare", "Accreditation", "Primary healthcare" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades, quality improvement initiatives have been applied to healthcare systems (Greenfield and Braithwaite, 2008; WHO, 2003). As announced by Shaw (2004a, p. 24) \"it is in this spirit that various models of external control have been developed and adapted to meet expectations concerning public accountability, clinical effectiveness and improved quality and safety. In this respect, accreditation has evolved a great deal.\" Accreditation is defined as \"achievement recognition to pre-determined and excellent standards from a health care organization, which demonstrated by the external peer reviewer in the same organizational level\" (Tabrizi et al., 2013, p. 1438). In the accreditation process, broad quality measures are combined with various improvement activities such as audit, feedback and educational outreach visits (Szecsenyi et al., 2011, p. 1331). Healthcare quality is a wide concept, which requires precious, objective and optimum standards to be measured and improved (Greenhalgh and Heath, 2010). Another view is that accreditation is a useful tool to improve hospital and primary healthcare (PHC) service quality and safety (Pomey et al., 2004; Szecsenyi et al., 2011).\nQuality appraisal bias: The STROB, CONSORT, PRISMA and CASP checklists were used to qualitatively appraise the cross-sectional, interventional, systematic review and qualitative articles. Two independent reviewers (FG and JST) assessed their methodological validity. Reviewers focused on the articles that addressed the model's development process and PHC accreditation standards application. They also agreed on a cut-off score (5/10) to determine acceptable quality for inclusion. No paper was excluded after the quality appraisal process.\nAnalysis: All data were extracted by two reviewers applying a standardized form. For each article, citation details and an article profile, including aims, methods, major results, conclusion and study quality were extracted. All characteristics that could help researchers identify the best PHC accreditation programs were also summarized (Table I). The best PHC accreditation programs were selected based on this form. The accreditation models' websites, introduced in the publications, were searched and their content reviewed. Finally, the models' accreditation standards domains were extracted (Table II) and compared (Table III).\nResults: Study characteristics and quality\nDiscussion: The high-quality well-developed PHC accreditation models were from the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK. In the EMR countries, high-quality, well-developed models were from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt. These models may be used as benchmarks to new develop localized accreditation programs. The Jordan, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian models had the highest diversity in the standard domains. Among the PHC accreditation standards, the main domains were also determined: care accessibility, community-oriented care, care continuity, appropriate management, high-quality care, safe care, human resource and information management, customer rights and integrated care. Previous studies that investigated PHC performance introduced these standard domains, e.g., in the Primary Care Assessment Tool-Child Edition (PCAT-CE), the main PHC performance indicators were care continuity, first contact accessibility, comprehensiveness-services, comprehensiveness-services provided and coordination (Cassady et al., 2000). In a similar study conducted to validate a Consumer/Client Primary Care Assessment Tool Adult Edition (PCAT-AE), the main PHC performance indicators were first contact-accessibility, first contact-utilization, ongoing care, service coordination, services comprehensiveness, family centeredness, community orientation and cultural competence (Shi et al., 2001).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Accreditation is an essential component in primary healthcare (PHC) systems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the most suitable PHC accreditation models and standards, worldwide, and to prepare a comprehensive and unbiased summary from research on these models.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic search was undertaken using Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, Springer, PubMed and ProQuest databases in August 2016 and updated in January 2018. English language studies addressing PHC accreditation standards and models, published between 1995 and January 2018, were included, resulting in 9051 citations. After excluding duplicates and irrelevant studies, 19 were included in the final review. Two independent reviewers critically appraised the studies. Consequently, accreditation standards in the models were extracted and compared.\nFindings: Results indicate that USA, Australia, Canada, UK and New Zealand (non-eastern Mediterranean regions (EMR)) and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt (EMR) had well-developed and high-quality PHC accreditation models. The Jordanian, Egyptian and Saudi models had the highest diversity in their PHC standards domains. Community-oriented care, safe care, high-quality care, care continuity and human resource management had the highest priority among PHC accreditation programs.\nOriginality/value: The authors provide PHC accreditation benchmarks and determine high priority practical domains in accreditation standards. The findings should help health system managers and policymakers design new PHC accreditation programs and promote PHC service quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Limited influence of loyalty program membership on relational outcomes	[ "Relationship marketing", "Loyalty schemes", "Customer loyalty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: Customer loyalty programs have emerged as perhaps the most popular formalized relationship marketing approach used by firms to create, develop, and preserve valuable customer relationships. The wide proliferation of loyalty programs has led to increasingly widespread attention among marketing scholars (e.g. Keh et al., 2006; Kivetz and Simonson, 2002; Nunes and Dreze, 2006; Roehm et al., 2002). Despite the popularity of loyalty programs, many researchers remain unconvinced of their value to the firm and argue that these programs often hold limited value to consumers and contribute little to firm revenue and profit streams (e.g. Dowling, 2002; Kumar and Shah, 2004; Shugan, 2005). Inconsistent results of loyalty program studies led Liu (2007, p. 19) to recently remark that \"the debate on whether loyalty programs are truly effective continues. The divergent views suggest a need to understand these programs better\".Despite the growing abundance of loyalty program research, recent studies continue to focus on investigating how these programs contribute to purchasing activities (e.g. Kim et al., 2004; Kivetz and Simonson, 2003; Liu, 2007; Lewis, 2004; Taylor and Neslin, 2005). While obviously important, purchase activities alone paint an incomplete picture of loyalty programs, and thus provide a narrow view of how these programs contribute to a firm's marketing performance. Amidst mixed theoretical and empirical support for the contributions of loyalty programs to the firm, this study will investigate the moderating impact of a loyalty program on the relationships between a customer's commitment to a specific firm and a variety of relational outcomes. To date, scholars have not focused of the influence of loyalty programs on customers' willingness to serve as advocates to the firm. Hence, the purpose of this study is to take an expanded view of how loyalty programs support favorable relational outcomes to the firm. Specifically, the tested model simultaneously assesses six relational outcomes, ranging from conventional relational outcomes (i.e. increasing purchases and personal referrals) to less frequently examined behaviors (i.e. marketing research support, information sharing, complaint feedback, and openness to firm promotions). The surprising findings are instructional for helping firms recognize the limited contributions of loyalty programs toward impacting relational outcomes, beyond purchasing behaviors.This study is organized as follows. After describing customer loyalty programs and relationship commitment, a model is developed to examine the moderating strength of loyalty program membership on impacting the individual linkages between relationship commitment and relational outcomes. Next, the research method used to test the hypotheses and the study's results are each described. The paper ends with a discussion of the study's contribution and implications for further research and practice.\n2. Loyalty programs and relationship commitment: Customer loyalty programs are coordinated, membership-based marketing activities designed to enhance closer, more cooperative relationships among pre-identified customers toward specific products offered by the program sponsor (Lacey and Sneath, 2006). Loyalty programs and reward programs are similar but distinct marketing tools, despite scholars' frequent treatment of loyalty programs and reward programs as synonymous terms (e.g. Dholakia, 2006; Dreze and Nunes, 2004; Shugan, 2005). In contrast to rewards programs, loyalty programs seek to create competitive advantage chiefly through using personalized communications and customized benefits to pre-identified customers. Often based on cumulative brand purchases, loyalty programs enhance value proposition offerings in an effort to preserve active customer status and increase customer lifetime value. Loyalty programs not only play an instrumental role to help build customer commitment but they also demonstrate a firm's commitment because such programs are often costly for firms to create and manage (Liu, 2007).Loyalty programs work to more expeditiously build and preserve stronger customer relationships with the sponsoring firm than would result without these programs. Hence, this study's framework recognizes that relationship commitment is vital to the creation and preservation of marketing relationships (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). In the context of this study, relationship commitment reflects an enduring attitude or desire for a particular firm or brand. Committed customers are motivated to maintain the relationship because of attachment feelings and sincerity in their personal attitudes (Moorman et al., 1992). As a psychological construct, relationship commitment may be discernible by customer advocacy behaviors yet alone, such manifestations do not ensure its presence. Commitment arises only after a relationship is firmly established, and thus serves as a necessary condition for consistent customer advocacy behaviors.\n3. Relational outcomes: Customers are vital sources for future revenue streams and marketing intelligence to the firm. Loyal customers willingly share insight about their needs and provide the opportunity for firms to tailor products, pricing, distribution channels, and marketing communications. In this study, relational outcomes reflect the combination of marketing resources that contribute to a more efficient and effective marketing enterprise, including:* personal referrals;* sharing personal information;* engaging in firm-sponsored marketing research activities;* providing complaint feedback;* being more open to firm promotions; and* increasing purchasing activities.Reflecting the multi-dimensional view of relational outcomes, Figure 1 displays the conceptual model, including the posited moderating influence of loyalty program membership.3.1. Personal referrals\n4. Method: 4.1. Sample and procedure\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1. Demographic profiles\n6. Discussion: The findings of this study display the surprisingly limited impact of loyalty program membership on the linkages between relationship commitment and six key relational outcomes. First, though this study shows relationship commitment's positive influence on personal referrals, the results do not support the hypothesis that loyalty program membership positively enhances this relationship. According to Dowling and Uncles (1997, p. 78), \"the only way that a loyalty program can give extra leverage to a company's word-of-mouth marketing is if the loyal customers offer substantially more, or more effective, positive comments\". While the loyalty program's lack of a moderating effect on this relationship is unanticipated, in retrospect this finding may demonstrate how relationship commitment is only one of several antecedents or motives (e.g. concern for other consumers, positive self-enhancement, social benefits, etc.) influencing this behavior (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).Second, although this study shows relationship commitment's positive impact on sharing personal information, contrary to the prediction set forth in this study, loyalty program membership does not positively enhance this linkage. This finding may represent a latent competitive disadvantage to the firm. Transformation of customer relationship management systems from data depositories into marketing resources not only involves having the technological infrastructure necessary to store and access data, but also requires that the firm be capable of securing customer-specific information. Though loyalty programs may be useful in mitigating invasion of privacy concerns (Lacey and Sneath, 2006), no evidence is found in this study for how program membership encourage customers to share personal information.Third, this study confirms relationship commitment's positive and direct association with customers' willingness to provide marketing research support. Customer input is fundamental to the marketing concept and active customer participation is necessary for collaborative marketing relationships. Marketing research support from customers can help the firm better understand customer needs and expectations. However, contrary to expectations, no empirical support is found for loyalty program membership making a discernable impact on engaging customers to cooperate in this set of extra-role behaviors.Fourth, as predicted, the results indicate relationship commitment's positive impact on complaint feedback and a greater prevalence among loyalty program members is shown for engaging in complaint feedback. The potential benefit to the firm is an opportunity to correct or recover in response to voiced complaints and to make adjustments to minimize similar customer grievances. It is unclear why loyalty program membership moderates the relationship between relationship commitment and complaint feedback, but not on other non-purchasing firm advocacy behaviors. One possible explanation is that complaint feedback may be more closely tied to realizing the explicit rewards offered by loyalty programs. When a customer has more invested into the marketing relationship and stands to realize benefits for staying in the relationship, it stands to reason that a customer is more likely to complain than to simply walk away (Keh et al., 2006).Fifth, while the hypothesized impact of relationship commitment on openness to firm promotions is confirmed, no evidence is found to demonstrate the anticipated moderating effects of loyalty program membership toward receiving firm promotions. This finding is surprising given how a major key benefit of a loyalty program is its ability to provide useful data about customers, which allows the firm to more effectively target promotions to individual customers. Perhaps the insignificant loyalty program moderating effect indicates the absence or ineffectiveness of customized communication efforts. Customers may receive excessive communications and/or a barrage of promotional solicitations. Noble and Phillips (2004, p. 300) encourage firms to offer their customers the ability to \"regulate the amount of solicitations\" they receive from loyalty programs.Finally, relationship commitment has a significantly positive, direct impact on customers' intentions to increase purchase levels and loyalty program membership positively magnifies the influence of this relationship. Findings support that members are more willing to increase their overall volume and proportion of purchasing activities over the next 12-month period than are non-members. This result is anticipated since loyalty programs typically offer stronger value propositions to its members in return for higher purchasing levels (Bolton et al., 2000).Overall, the unanticipated results reveal that while loyalty programs represent firm marketing initiatives to recognize and reward valuable customers, these programs can have limited influence on non-transaction-oriented advocacy behaviors. When loyalty programs are offered to customers for attaining certain spending levels with the firm through automatic enrollment, one might assume that the program will enhance advocacy behaviors toward the firm. However, the tested loyalty program only enrolls selective customers, so it is the firm (not the customer) that formally determines loyalty program membership. Dholakia (2006) suggests that customers who perceive that when firm's marketing initiatives are \"self-determined\" (i.e. they believe they join through their own initiative), they are more likely to engage in relational outcomes than will those customers who perceive their joining as \"firm-determined\". Consequently, the results of this study may be indicating the limited impact of \"firm-determined\" relationship marketing initiatives.\n7. Contributions, implications, and future research: This study contributes to the burgeoning customer loyalty program literature through field survey results in order to investigate membership effects from a multi-faceted relational outcomes perspective. The tested model captures potential contributions of customers as advocates to the firm; which may contribute toward improving the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing performance. By considering more than purchasing activities, the tested model provides an expanded view of favorable relational outcomes to the firm.Although loyalty programs are expected to receive continued corporate support and financial resources, the results of this study are decidedly mixed. While the inconsistent results are not predicted, they lend support to many researchers who argue that loyalty programs drive loyal behaviors in relation to the program, and not toward the sponsoring firm (e.g. Keh et al., 2006; Kumar and Shah, 2004; Noble and Phillips, 2004; Uncles et al., 2003). The limited impact of loyalty program membership to enhance firm advocacy demonstrates potential limitations of loyalty programs. Based on the empirical evidence of this study, firms are cautioned not to regard loyalty programs as a core relationship marketing tool for achieving firm advocacy outcomes.The findings of this study should be interpreted with the following limitations in mind. First, the findings are limited to one firm type and test moderating effects of just one particular loyalty program. Moreover, the sample is composed of highly educated and affluent respondents, further limiting the generalizability of this study. Second, this study is cross-sectional, although it was more suited to longitudinal research. Third, the model's constructs are measured using only self-reported measures, which may result in common method variance. While it mirrors the approach used in other studies investigating customer relationships (e.g. Cho, 2006; Garbarino and Johnson, 1999), this approach may result in overestimations of the tested model. Fourth, although this study intentionally offers a comparison of members and non-members of a firm's loyalty program and calculated parameter estimates for differences between customer groups, this approach includes the potential for confounding due to sample selection bias.In terms of future research opportunities, replicating this study with other firms in a variety of industries would certainly enhance the generalizability of results found here. The tested model clearly does not attempt to encapsulate all potential relational outcomes (e.g. willingness to pay higher prices, reduced marketing and administrative costs, contribution to higher employee retention, see Reichheld, 1996). Thus, another important opportunity to enrich this study would be to test other relational outcomes. More research is also needed to distinguish between loyalty programs versus more simplistic reward programs described at the outset. Depending on a loyalty program's structure and design, relational commitment may already be well established before customers are enrolled in a loyalty program. Therefore, more research is needed to capture motivations for participating in loyalty programs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate customer loyalty program membership effects from a multi-faceted relational outcome perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A model was developed to assess hypothesized loyalty program effects on a series of linkages between relationship commitment and a variety of relational outcomes. The study's hypotheses are tested with customer survey data from an upscale department store chain. Structural model multi-group analysis is used to test the hypotheses between members (n=1,239) and non-members (n=743) of the department store's customer loyalty program.\nFindings: - The findings display the surprisingly limited impact of loyalty program membership on the tested relational outcomes. Loyalty program membership favorably influences customers' desires to increase their purchases and provide complaint feedback to the firm. However, loyalty program membership fails to favorably impact four key advocacy outcomes; namely, customers' willingness to provide personal referrals, marketing research support, share personal information, and demonstrate openness to firm promotions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results are based on a large sample of highly educated and affluent customers of a specific retailer, encompassing members of one particular loyalty program.\nPractical implications: - The results provide cautionary evidence as to what marketers may be able to gain from loyalty programs as a relationship marketing tool for impacting firm advocacy behaviors.\nOriginality/value: - The tested model captures potential contributions of customers as advocates to the firm. The mixed empirical support demonstrates the limited impact of loyalty programs on strengthening non-purchase-related outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the drivers of employee brand understanding: a longitudinal study	[ "Service employees", "Internal brand management", "Longitudinal design", "Employee brand understanding" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's hyper-competitive environment, fueled by informed consumers, a strong brand is one of the few effective sources of differentiation in service industries (O'Neill and Carlback, 2011; Becerra et al., 2013; Sevel et al., 2018). To this end, marketers have sought to influence what brands mean to customers through strategic brand management. While traditional advertising and other promotional initiatives aid in this process, interactions between employees and customers for service brands (i.e. personal service encounters) are also significantly influential in shaping customer brand perceptions (Sirianni et al., 2013). However, unlike traditional brand management tools, the influence of personal service encounters on customer perceptions is difficult to control given that the frontline employee brand promise delivery is variable (Foster et al., 2010; Baker et al., 2014). The service literature emphasizes the importance for management to ensure employees have the training, resources and personal attitudes that enable them to fulfill the promises that the company makes to consumers through external marketing (Berry and Lampo, 2004; Sirianni et al., 2013).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Brand understanding\n3. Hypothesis development: When looking at the learning journey of newly hired employees over the first months of their tenure, we argue that previously researched IBM practices of brand-oriented recruitment, training and leadership will influence BU in distinct ways and at different times. New employees are first influenced by brand-oriented recruitment because brand-driven organizations actively try to attract and select candidates who identify and perceive a good fit with the brand (Chong, 2007; Tuominen et al., 2016; Hurrell and Scholarios, 2014). Hence, even before employees receive any training, they are exposed to brand-aligned recruitment materials, interviews and other practices in the selection process. Once new hires attend the initial orientation, they are exposed to brand-oriented training materials and workshops, which convey employee-related information about the brand, as well as their specific role in delivering the brand promise (King, 2010). At this stage, it is reasonable to expect that the information supplied though training will become a more important resource for employees to understand the brand compared to the limited information supplied at the recruitment stage. When transitioning to the actual job, as employees become more familiar with the position and their role, training will initially remain a primary source of brand information, but it can be expected that brand-oriented leadership becomes more influential as managers and supervisors interact with employees over time to instill the brand ethos and act as role models for brand promise delivery (Burmann et al., 2009; King et al., 2013; King and So, 2015). To examine such propositions, we set three measurement time periods: T1 is the first day of employment (orientation), T2 is four months after, and T3 is at seven months of tenure. For each of the IBM practices, we propose the following hypotheses:\n4. Methods: 4.1 Study context\n5. Results: 5.1 Longitudinal partial least squares models\n6. Discussion: Brand promise delivery in service organizations demands that employees understand the brand and what it means for them in their roles and responsibilities. Such a requirement necessitates that employees go through a learning process to acquire such comprehension. While previous research has established the relevance of employee brand understanding, informing brand relevant attitudes and behavior and, more specifically, what practices contribute to that understanding, knowledge was lacking of how BU develops over time. This represents a significant paucity in the IBM literature, hindering practitioners' ability to proactively develop effective IBM initiatives. Moreover, it theoretically oversimplifies a construct that is inherently dynamic. The results of this study contribute to the IBM literature by reinforcing the importance of BU and by offering a long-awaited dynamic treatment of this key variable, thereby extending previous cross-sectional studies that could only provide static snapshots (Baumgarth and Schmidt, 2010; Morokane et al., 2016; Biedenbach and Manzhynski, 2016; Piehler, 2018). The longitudinal surveys revealed that while BU can be positively influenced as early as orientation day through brand-oriented recruitment, it nevertheless shows no evidence of consolidation even after several months into the employees' tenure. This is manifested in both the lack of a carryover effect between T2 and T3 and the lack of a significant increase in the BU mean over the first seven months of tenure, as revealed by the ANOVA and the paired samples t-test. Note that this does not negate the results of Models 1-3 (i.e. the effectiveness of IBM practices in driving BU) because, at each point in time, different drivers and different perceptions are contributing to the same outcome, namely, BU.\n7. Study implications: 7.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend previous research by using a longitudinal design to examine the differential contribution of brand understanding (BU) drivers at various moments in the early tenure of service employees. Employee BU is a prerequisite of brand promise delivery among service employees. Previous studies, using cross-sectional samples, established that brand-oriented recruitment, training and leadership are significant BU drivers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A three-wave survey was collected from a 105-member panel of recent hires at a restaurant chain that displayed a strong brand culture and adopted internal brand management (IBM) practices. Structural equation models with carryover effects were estimated to measure the impact of BU drivers on Day 1, as well as at four and seven months of tenure. In addition, a latent growth model of BU was estimated using random coefficients modeling.\nFindings: Results show a significant positive effect of IBM practices on BU at each point in time; however, despite this, by the seven month milestone, BU is still not fully developed.\nResearch limitations/implications: As with most organizational longitudinal studies, there was sample attrition because of the high turnover that characterizes the restaurant industry. This attrition is not believed to be correlated with the variables measured in the study.\nPractical implications: Managers seeking a differentiated customer experience should not assume new hires attain a good understanding of the service brand even after the first seven months of tenure. Hence, brand training and leadership should extend well beyond this time frame.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first, as per the authors' understanding, to use a longitudinal design to model BU as a dynamic variable because it befits the learning trajectories of new employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Weak economic institutions in Africa: a destiny or design?	[ "Geography", "Africa", "Culture", "Economic institutions", "Instrumental variables (IV) estimation", "Political institutions", "O55", "O43", "Z10", "C36" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The importance of institutions for economic growth and development has been recognized in the literature since the work of Smith (1776). It is now firmly established that quality of institutions is a fundamental determinant of overall economic performance of nations (Rodrik et al., 2004; Dollar and Kraay, 2003; Sachs, 2003). There is a connection between bad institutions and slower economic growth, low factor productivity as well as low per capita income (Mauro, 1995; Knack and Keefer, 1995; Hall and Jones, 1999; Olson et al., 2000; Acemoglu et al., 2001). In other words, countries with weak and inefficient institutions are highly underdeveloped while those with strong and efficient institutions are developed. Hence, it is argued that the dismal economic performance of developing countries (including African countries) is a repercussion of the weak and bad institutions (Acemoglu et al., 2003a, b; Boettke and Fink, 2011; Osman et al., 2011; Kilishi et al., 2013; Mullings, 2018).\nLiterature review: A central question which arises in the field of institutional economics is: how do some countries come to have good institutions while others do not? Although there is still no universal tenable empirical answer to this question, many studies examine the determinants of institutional quality over time. Some variables may have no clearly discernible effect on growth but could be determinants of institutional quality itself. Important variables empirically, but unconvincingly, identified in this group are the level of economic development, geographical condition, openness to international trade, colonization, resource endowment, population fractionalization, governance factors and the legal system origin, among others.\nData and methodology: Nature and sources of data\nTheoretical framework and empirical model specification: The empirical analysis of the determinants of institutional quality is just beginning with no well-established and generally acceptable theoretical precedent on model specification. However, several theories were proposed for the explanation of institutional change. The theories majorly include the collective-choice (Libecap, 1989) and evolutionary theories (Veblen, 1899) of institutional change. Both theories were criticized for inadequacy in providing all-encompassing explanation of institutional dynamics (Tang, 2011). A general theory developed by Tang (2011) is therefore adopted in this study. The theory adequately blends and synthesized both the collective-choice (Harmony approach) and the evolutionary (conflict approach) theories of institutional change into one general approach. It posits that competition of ideals and struggle for political power are the major determinants of institutional dynamics. It explains that institutional change results from the selection of few ideas out of many and rationalizing (legitimizing) them to institutions. The ideas undergo mutation selected and get inherited by adapting to the natural environment in which the ideas are initiated. The theory is relevant in this study because of its recognition of the relevance of struggle for power and social recognition to institutionalize ideas for economic gains (social and political institutions). Also, it unifies the various approaches to institutional change including the evolutionary approach which recognizes the relevance of geographical location. Thus, the general theory of institutional change informs the choice of the political, cultural and geographical variables used in this study.\nPresentation and discussion of results: Stylized facts\nFinding conclusion and policy recommendations: The findings of the study reveal that quality of political institution is the most important determinant of the quality of economic institutions. Specifically, openness of executive recruitment, regulation of participation and regulation of executive recruitment have positive impact on overall quality of economic institutions and all its components. Competitiveness of executive recruitment has negative impact on overall quality of economic institutions, trade freedom and freedom from corruption. Income per capita has a positive impact on overall quality of economic institutions and all its components except freedom from corruption. Location has a negative impact on overall quality of economic institutions and property right, but a positive influence on fiscal freedom. Circularity has a significant positive effect on overall quality of economic institutions, fiscal freedom and trade freedom. Exitability has a positive effect on overall quality of economic institutions, but a negatively influence on fiscal freedom.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The primacy of institutions for economic progress has been established in the literature. Yet, less research attention is paid to the existence and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the determinants of the quality of economic institutions in Africa.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hausman-Taylor instrumental variable estimator of panel regression was employed for a sample of 43 Sub-Sahara African countries over the period 1995-2017.\nFindings: The study finds that the existence and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa is more of design than destiny. That is, weak economic institutions are created and sustained more by bad political institutions rather than cultural diversity and geographical factors. Therefore, strong political institutions need to be entrenched to reverse the equilibrium of weak economic institutions and dismal economic performance in the continent.\nPractical implications: The study provides deep understanding of the determinants of economic institutions. This is imperative for policy makers, development agencies and stakeholders in designing viable economic policies and programs for the continent.\nOriginality/value: The novelty of the study is rooted in the examination of the factors responsible for the development and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa. The idea is original because previous studies focus on political institutions and neglected economic institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Agency theory: background and epistemology	[ "Agency theory", "Adolf Berle", "Chester Barnard", "Herbert Simon", "Mary Follett", "Max Weber" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The question of when and how agency theory was formalized is intriguing. The answer could provide a much stronger understanding of the context, limits and practicality of the theory. Accordingly, in this paper, we track the emergence of agency theory across a century of business scholars and business events, showing how the apparent inability of both management practitioners and scholars to address the problem of managerial agency, despite some obvious attempts, encouraged development of this now seminal theory (Berle and Means, 1932; Fama and Jensen, 1983; Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This problem was famously highlighted by Smith (1776) in his seminal work, The Wealth of Nations, which posited how the emergence and increasing prevalence of the joint stock company created a dangerous gulf between owners and managers. More specifically, Smith (1776, pp. 574-575) noted:\nAgency theory: it's intellectual origins: From its roots in economics, agency theory has been used by scholars across several different disciplines, including organizational behaviour (Eisenhardt, 1985), law (Lan and Heracleous, 2010), marketing (Bergen et al., 1992), health care (Jiang et al., 2012), accounting (Reichelstein, 1992) and family business (Tsai et al., 2006). The lens offered by agency theory typically hinges around either the principal-agent problem (principal-agent research) or governance mechanisms (positivist research). In essence, agency theory stems from an economic view of risk-sharing (Eisenhardt, 1989), which occurs between two parties, principals and agents, yet each of the two parties may possess different approaches to solve the problem (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). The principal's appetite for risk-sharing is of concern, because the principal has bestowed certain responsibilities unto the agent to achieve like-minded goals. This cooperative behaviour (Barnard, 1938) is expected to yield the outcomes specified by the principal. However, at the very heart of the agency problem lies the concern of self-interest behaviour that may encourage an overzealous agent to not act in the best interest of the principal (Burnham, 1941). In the eyes of the principal, this divergence poses a problem and changes the agency costs (Fama, 1980). When the principal-agent relationship is initiated, the agency costs are clear to the principal. However, when the agent takes action counter to the agreement, the principal perceives that he or she has assumed more risks. And hence, the first agency problem (viz., shifts in risk-sharing) emerges.\nConceptual underpinnings: Weber and Simon\nDiscussion: Understanding the context by which history shaped agency theory is critical. Theories are the products of the theorists who create them, so inevitably the life experiences of the theorist impact on the development of the theory (Muldoon et al., 2013). Understanding these influences thus enable us to better understand the theory and its limitations, as well as to inform future research (Muldoon et al., 2013). Unfortunately, despite the importance of theory to the management literature, scholars typically do not pay sufficient attention to the circumstances of how theory emerges.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: By revisiting the agency theory literature, this paper aims to both incrementally advance historical viewpoints and reveal four prominent influences on agency theory: Weber and Simon, The Great Depression, Cooperation and the Chicago School. This is critical given that understanding the history behind the authors' major theoretical lenses is fundamental to using these theories to explain various phenomena.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on a plethora of archival sources and following the influence-mapping approach used by other management history scholars, this manuscript synthesizes historical accounts and archival information to provide a clearer picture of the major historical influences in the formation of agency theory.\nFindings: We shed light on four areas related to management history that helped propel agency theory. Whereas past scholarship has not recognised them as influencers, we find and show how the industrial revolution, unionization, the stock exchange and other management approaches all played a role in the development of agency theory's core tenants.\nOriginality/value: We extend upon the influential people and events that shaped agency theory, thus providing a fuller understanding of the theory's usefulness. Moreover, we fill in gaps enabling scholars to better understand the context in which the core tenants of agency theory were developed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Women's solidarity economy initiatives to strengthen food security in response to disasters: Insights from two Philippine case studies	[ "Informal economy", "Food security", "Disaster risk reduction and management", "Solidarity economy", "Women’s empowerment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The right to food has long been recognized as a fundamental human right, since it is the basis of the right to life. Yet, this right has been violated in many ways, especially in countries where poverty and vulnerability to disasters are part of everyday life.\nSolidarity economy: definition, principles, and rationale: Solidarity economy has been described as a pathway to more and better employment for women in the informal economy(Verceles, 2014). It has been defined in more general terms as \"a people- and eco-centered governance of the production, financing, distribution and consumption of goods and services in order to generate sustainable conditions for self-managed development [...]\" (Quinones, 2012, p. 15). A more encompassing definition is provided by Alliance 21: \"Solidarity economy designates all production, distribution and consumption activities that contribute to the democratization of the economy based on citizen commitments both at a local and global level [...] It covers different forms of organization that the population uses to create its own means of work or to have access to qualitative goods and services, in a dynamics of reciprocity and solidarity which links individual interests to the collective interest [...]\"(Allard and Matthaei, 2008, p. 6).\nFood security as a gender and human rights issue: Estimates show that 70 percent of the world's poor are women, and 60 percent of the world's chronically hungry are women and girls, found overwhelmingly in developing countries. Food price surges affect them more, since these add more pressure for them to eat less, to eat last, and to eat the least nutritious food based on traditional, patriarchal custom. Women are over-represented in the most disadvantaged sections of the working poor, and their meager incomes cannot absorb huge food price hikes.\nWhy gender-responsive participatory research?: This research is guided by the tenets of participatory action research (PAR) described as follows:\nConceptual framework: The Hyogo Framework listed among its priorities for action the use of \"knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.\" Another priority is to \"reduce underlying risk factors\" by promoting food security \"in ensuring the resilience of communities to hazards, particularly in areas prone to drought, flood, cyclones and other hazards that can weaken agriculture-based livelihoods.\" It also urges the promotion of \"diversified income options for populations in high-risk areas\" (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), 2007, p. 11). In all these processes, \"a gender perspective should be integrated\" (UNISDR, 2007, p. 4).\nMethodology: Based on the tenets of PAR earlier explained, Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal and Barangay Barasan Oeste of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo were selected as research sites. They are located in peri-urban areas; they have experienced disasters; and they have organized groups of women workers in the informal economy who have a long history of advocacy and networking, who have prior experience in peri-urban agriculture, and who are open to the use of PAR methods.\nFindings: the case of Buklod Tao of Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal: Barangay Banaba is a peri-urban area where residents are engaged in small business, retailing and vending, hog- and vegetable-raising, and fishing. It is a water catchment of Nangka and Marikina rivers frequently experiencing flooding and soil erosion due to typhoons, resulting in loss of property and livelihood. When Supertyphoon Ondoy struck in 2009, even those areas without any history of flooding were affected. The Barangay Council passed an ordinance creating a Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee (BDRRMC) and conducted programs toward disaster preparedness, prevention and mitigation, emergency response, rehabilitation and recovery.\nFindings: the case of PATAMABA, Barasan Oeste, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo: Despite rapid urbanization and growth of the retail service sector in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, agriculture is still very much a pre-occupation of many of its residents living in the outskirts of town. These residents raise rice, corn, root crops, fruits, and vegetables, aside from hogs, cattle, poultry, tilapia and catfish. Poverty incidence is quite high - recorded at more than 50 percent in 2009, with unemployment registering at more than 10 percent.\nDiscussion: The following discussion provides the gist of the presentations provided by the leaders of Buklod Tao and PATAMABA Iloilo during the research sharing and advocacy forum with the groups involved in attendance.\nConclusion: The two case studies show that women workers in the informal economy, when organized and galvanized through collective forms of action in peri-urban areas stricken by disasters related to climate change, can produce and sustain ways of surviving and adapting. These ways link together community-based peri-urban gardening and other associated, solidarity-based initiatives for food security, and DRRM mechanisms set up by LGUs in cooperation with civil society organizations. Fruitful partnerships between researchers based in academe and community-based women worker organizers can be developed by observing the tenets of gender-responsive PAR. This research process unearthed gender inequalities which would otherwise remain hidden, and points the way forward toward greater women's empowerment as a potent tool against hunger. Partnerships and synergies can be strengthened and expanded by sustained networking with LGUs which can move toward institutionalizing food security programs on a much larger scale. Private sector and other stakeholders can be involved to widen the efforts. When organized communities focussing on food security come together and link with advocates at national level, advocacy for zero-hunger and food for all, especially in disaster-stricken areas, can move forward with greater force.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the knowledge gained from the experiences of community-based, women-led organizations of workers in the informal economy which strengthen food security, enhance livelihoods in peri-urban areas through solidarity economy initiatives, and advance women's empowerment as they respond to disasters arising from climate change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on case studies of Buklod Tao in San Mateo, Rizal, and the PATAMABA chapter in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. The study was conducted within the tradition of gender-responsive participatory action research anchored on a human rights-based approach.\nFindings: Experience of flooding motivated mature organizations of women informal workers to establish community-based peri-urban gardens connected to other solidarity-based sustainable livelihood initiatives to address food security concerns, increase income, and mitigate the impact of similar disasters. Although women have been empowered through these initiatives, much still has to be done to transform gender relations in various spheres.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research process lends itself toward unearthing gender inequalities which would otherwise remain hidden.\nPractical implications: The solidarity-based initiatives documented in these case studies may be adopted by women informal workers' organizations in similar situations to advocate for and attain food security.\nOriginality/value: Solidarity-based strategies to attain food security among women informal workers are rarely documented for assessment and knowledge sharing. How they are or can be further empowered by these initiatives is a significant contribution to the literature on gender and disasters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability practices and web-based communication: An analysis of the Italian fashion industry	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Communication", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Fashion can be defined in broad terms as an industry that typically encompasses any products or markets characterized by the presence of the style element and a high volatility in product demand. The fashion industry is in fact a highly competitive business where product lifecycles are very short and differentiation advantages are built mainly on brand image. The economic relevance of this industry is significant. In Europe, in 2013, it contributed EUR92.3 billion to import revenues and EUR42.4 billion to export revenues (Euratex, 2013). In Italy, the national fashion system is responsible for about 30 per cent of the turnover and 28 per cent of the total number of fashion companies in Europe (Sistema Moda Italia, 2013). Both exports and imports are very relevant in the Italian fashion industry, representing, respectively, 52.2 and 42.4 per cent of revenue (Sistema Moda Italia, 2013). With these numbers, Italy is the second largest fashion-industry exporting country worldwide, after China.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1. Sustainable development\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Case study method and sampling\n4. Results: The four quadrants of the matrix have been named as follows: low commitment, low disclosure, high commitment, and high marketing (Figure 2).\n5. Conclusion: This research contributes to filling the gap in the lack of a perspective that links the implementation of sustainable practices (both social and environmental) at the supply chain level and the related web-based communication by identifying four different approaches adopted by 12 companies in the Italian fashion industry (low commitment, high commitment, low disclosure, high marketing). In a broader view, the alignment (fit or misfit) among the adopted practices and the web-based communication represents the connection between the two areas of sustainability management and the marketing. We noticed that only a few companies (e.g. \"low commitment\" and \"high commitment\") have established an effective alignment between their web-based sustainability communication and what they are really doing in terms of sustainability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine which environmental and social sustainability practices companies in the Italian fashion industry adopt and how these companies communicate their sustainability commitment through their corporate websites.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The multiple case studies approach was selected and the practices of 12 companies in the Italian fashion industry were investigated.\nFindings: The findings showed that four different approaches in the field of sustainability practices and web-based communication are available within the Italian fashion industry (i.e. low commitment, high commitment, low disclosure, high marketing) by highlighting the alignment (i.e. fit or misfit) among these dimensions and by discussing the practices as well as the drivers/barriers of each approach.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of both the environmental and social dimensions of the sustainability issue. Moreover, the work investigates the relationship between sustainability practices and web-based sustainability communication, a topic that has not yet been addressed in the current literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-management of work groups through corporate values: from theory to practice	[ "Performance related pay", "Team working", "Social values", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: group work in organizational settings: People often work together in groups to accomplish various goals. Sport teams, juries, rock groups, construction crews, government assemblies, and research groups are but a few examples of groups that combine their efforts to form a single product or outcome. During the last decades, the issue of group effectiveness has aquired special relevance in organizational settings. That led to a dramatic increase in the use of team work, participative management, self-management techniques, and total quality management approaches (e.g. Karau and Williams, 2000).Given the importance of groups to organizations, there is a vital interest of how ideal group work should be designed. The aim is to create a frame where:potential motivation losses are outweighed by motivation gains through collective work,the self-management of a group is supported, and*individuals are energized to do their best within a group.To our belief, preconditions to succeed at these issues are: a set of corporate values shared by all group members and the cooperation of group members towards common goals.Several implications of these basic ideas for both research and practice are discussed in this article. We consider the collective effort model (CEM) of individual motivation in groups which is derived from expectancy-value models, introduce a management technique (\"the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System - ProMES\") that fits the demands of the CEM, provide an example of a ProMES implementation in an industrial setting, and discuss some implications of ProMES applications. We should consider expectancy-value models first.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Central features of expectancy-value models\n3. ProMES: a method for the self-management of work groups: In section 3.1, we turn to a description of the ProMES-methodology. In section 3.2, the link between ProMES and expectancy-value logic will be discussed in general.3.1 How ProMES is done\n4. Focusing the relationship between ProMES and expectancy-value models in detail: We will now consider in greater detail the relationship between expectancy-value logic and the CEM on the one hand and ProMES on the other hand starting with a particular characterization of a ProMES implementation in a manufacturing setting (4.1). Then, we will show how ProMES fits the demands of the CEM (4.2).4.1 ProMES in a manufacturing setting\n5. Discussion: As almost any intervention, ProMES offers both, chances and risks. Not all of them are to be discussed here, only those with the highest practical relevance will be mentioned. See Algera et al. (2002) and Schmidt and Kleinbeck (1997) for a critical discussion covering more aspects.A characteristic feature of ProMES is that it provides a set of corporate values. The method for accomplishing this is social consensus, the way to get a consensus is group discussion. Of course, this takes time (and thereby money). But, what is sometimes underestimated, is the fact that corporate values are not only defined within a group. ProMES provides also for a set of corporate values between employees and employers. This is guaranteed by involving managers and directors in group discussions from time to time. Therefore, several \"review and approval meetings\" between a ProMES work unit and management are held to support the exchange of facts and opinions across all hierarchical levels. Often, this is the first and only opportunity for a manager to get in contact with a worker for more than a simple \"hello\". An operator of 3M, working for his company for more than 30 years, stated that ProMES provided for him the first possibility to really get in touch with his site management. The question is how much knowledge was lost during the years, because nobody talked with this man.One essential issue is that the overall positive productivity effects of ProMES (see Pritchard's meta-analytical results: Pritchard et al., 2002) can be even increased if a pay-for-performance-system is added on. That is, feedback reports can easily serve for the implementation of a group compensation system. Therefore, the overall effectiveness score has to be taken into account. If its sum is, e.g. +30 (as in the example of Table I), this score could be multiplied by a certain factor. The underlying factor might be 1, 5 or 10 or anything else depending on a company's policy, the currency, and the presumed motivational potency of a certain factor. A factor of five, for example, could mean a bonus of 150 Euro (30x5). Of course, each member of a work group should get that bonus that month. The possibility to honor individual performance is not touched by that. There is one outstanding advantage of a group compensation based on ProMES: It is the fact that the different indicators are already weighted with regard to their meaning of a group's overall performance. This circumstance can be used for a valid and accepted compensation system. Neither is any other performance system necessary, nor are further weighing procedures between different indicators needed. Descriptions how this can be managed are given by Kleinbeck and Fuhrmann (2000) and Schmidt and Kleinbeck (1997).The meaning of adding extrinsic rewards on ProMES is manifold with regard to the theoretic basics of expectancy-value-models and the CEM. First, the meaning of group outcomes is not only evaluated, but also has a direct impact on one's life. You get good money for good work, and less money for mediocre work. Group outcomes directly influence individual outcomes by this mechanism. Second, one has to learn that group results are of high significance. The conclusion may be that the widespread egoism to strike for good individual results may be less senseful if group results would suffer from this procedure. Third, a common apprehension, according to which individuals performing better than the average reduce their contribution in the context of group work, can be cleared out: Not only that this possible effect does not at all appear in each case. But if it happens, one can add on an individual pay-for-performance-system that can easily be combined with ProMES.A potential risk of ProMES is that participation is not taken seriously. This risk is smaller during the implementation of ProMES when an experienced facilitator guides the process. It increases after the facilitator has left the organization (what he should do according to the conceptualization of ProMES as a method which can be realized by a company itself without help from outside). What might help in this situation, is to concentrate on general communication rules (\"listen carefully\"; \"show respect to any other opinion\" and so on). Furthermore, it is essential that a work unit must have a right for a veto if it does not agree with a managerial proposal made during the review sessions. According to our experience from several studies, the definition of indicator raw scores is the most critical point with sometimes widely deviating opinions of \"true scores\". Surprisingly or not, objectives and indicators are often agreed on in relatively short time. This is particularly true for experienced work groups who know very well what they are doing. The facilitator's role in this context is quite important. S/he has to guide the discussions and being aware of fairness. Later on, a member of the company who is experienced with groups, should take part of the facilitator's role.Before implementing ProMES, one should also be aware that patience is an indispensable prerequisite for success. The implementation takes time, even longer than the implementation last the positive effects of ProMES. To install the method carefully, ten to 15 sessions for each group should be allocated. Each session should last at least 90 minutes. Time intervals of frequently one or two weeks between ProMES development meetings will give enough time for everyone to reflect discussed issues in the meantime. But this investment is quite worth while: Sodenkamp (2002), for example, demonstrated that significant positive productivity effects could be saved for the whole time period studied. This period lasted after all for five years in his studies whereas the implementation took less than half a year for each group.In a more general manner, the environment should be examined before starting with ProMES. How hierarchical is the organization? What type of leader is the supervisor? How many experiences has a group with goal commitments? These are typical questions to be answered. A strong hierarchically organized company as well as an overwhelmingly authoritarian leader might undermine positive effects of ProMES. Similarly, groups that are already confrontated with precise goal expectations that are not abandoned when ProMES is implemented might become confused about the question which performance measurement system is valid under these circumstances. This is not usually the case for sales or distributional work units who traditionally work extremely goal-oriented. In these cases, management should decide whether to implement ProMES or not. One can imagine cases where he or she has to realize that it is impossible to combine certain traditional management styles with ProMES.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The recently introduced collective effort model (CEM) enlightens from a theoretical point of view different facets of the relationship between individual and group performance. From a more practical point of view, the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES) can be seen as an ideal counterpart to the CEM. ProMES is a technique enabling work groups to improve their performance. The article aims to show how CEM and ProMES can be put together.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A ProMES implementation in an industrial setting is described. Moreover, ProMES effects are analyzed by assistance of the knowledge from the CEM.\nFindings: - It was found that the overall positive productivity effects of ProMES can be increased if a pay-for-performance-system is added on. That is, feedback reports can easily serve for the implementation of a group compensation system. Therefore, the overall effectiveness score has to be taken into account.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a useful source of information for organizations looking to better their organizational performance through the implementation of CEM and ProMES.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
All in it together? Public policies and learning disability support	[ "Employment", "England", "Learning disabilities", "Public policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: Come election time, there are relatively few policies the politicians actually get scrutinized on. The economy gets all the headlines, alongside health and defense, as well as some eye-catching new idea political parties adopt to attract voters. However, rarely do specific policies at the micro level come under the spotlight, unless the media can spot inaccuracies or impending disaster with which they can use for a few inches of newsprint.\nIt's the public policy, stupid: One area where a deep dive of policy is extremely valuable is in the realm of learning disability support. Rarely falling under the gaze of the public, a significant minority of people suffer from learning disabilities, and the extent to which they can be supported and contribute to the society can have a substantial impact not only on their quality of life but also on the overall performance of a national economy. Yet the success or otherwise of government policies gets little press, with far more attention given to other minority issues such as immigration.\nThe 1990s: early days: The lack of learning disability policymaking in the 1990s is perhaps indicative of the time, when these types of disabilities were less well known or catered for, or perhaps they are indicative of indifference by central government. Either way the only significant piece of policy presented were the Access to Work Scheme (1994) and Disability Discrimination Act (valid from 1995-2010). The former was created to help those with learning disabilities to find and stay in employment, whereas the legislation enacted the following year made discrimination against people with learning disabilities unlawful.\nThe 2000s: Back to work: In contrast to the previous decade, the 2000s saw the start of ten activities designed to support those with learning disabilities become more active in the work environment. These included a raft of white papers, green papers, schemes and strategies, culminating a new legislation in 2010 under the guise of The Equality Act.\nThe 2010s: getting better all the time?: For most of the 2010s, there was, for the first time in many years in the UK, a coalition government. In addition, there was also parliamentary bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with varying degrees of power, which meant that the political landscape was very different for those working in the public sector in England. Perhaps as a result of this, much of the policymaking activity was confined to reboots, enhancements and additions to existing schemes and agendas, with little new or innovative brought to the table.\nComment: Blamires' (2015) review of policymaking for those with learning disabilities in her article \"A summary of government initiatives relating to employment for people with learning disabilities in England\" is ultimately a very brave, heartbreaking overview of a general failure of successive governments to do the right thing on behalf of some of the most vulnerable people in the society. Such work is instructive in the failure of short-term thinking and is required reading for any public sector professional.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Come election time, there are relatively few policies the politicians actually get scrutinized on. The economy gets all the headlines, alongside health and defense, as well as some eye-catching new idea political parties adopt to attract voters. However, rarely do specific policies at the micro level come under the spotlight, unless the media can spot inaccuracies or impending disaster with which they can use for a few inches of newsprint.\nPractical implications: This paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A brief analysis of the defects and countermeasures of the independent director system in China	[ "China", "Directors", "Incentive schemes", "Corporate governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Independent director concept in China: Independent director varies in definition from country to country and \"Suggestions on Establishing Independent Director System in Public Companies\" issued by China Securities Regulatory Commission stipulates that an independent director is a person who does not hold any other position in the company and does not have relations with either the company or major shareholders that could impede his own judgment.Independent director concept decides an independent director must have very independent nature and apart from its position in a company, he should not have any relations with the company that could influence his work, for example business relations with the company or relatives with management personnel etc. Although an independent director is a member of the boarder of directors of a company, he is not an executive director and does not hold any other position.\n2. The significance of the independent director system for China: The independent director system was brought about in the USA in 1970s and after several decades experience accumulation, this system has been widely recognized in successful management of the companies. China imported in 1997 the independent director system for the purpose of changing the phenomenon of control by people within the company, power abuse by the controlling shareholders and understandard supervision by existing board of supervisors. The new company law was put into force in 1 January 2006 and its 123 section clearly stipulates that public companies must have independent directors and detailed procedures would be worked out by the State Council and the independent director system was finally adopted in our company law.The independent director system has been playing very important role in the management of the companies ever since we imported such method especially in the restriction of power abuse by major shareholders, protection of the interests of medium and small shareholders and enhancement of decision-making of board of directors of a company. The function of the independent directors is to oversee and supervise controlling shareholders and outside directors to the public companies as well as transactions between management personnel and the company. It is of historical significance to formulize and complete company management with such a independent director system (Yu, 2007). The independent director system has met the requirement of economic development. But we must remember that independent director system was derived from western world and their situation is different from ours. Localization of such a system is very crucial in order to best suit our surroundings (Wang, 2008).\n3. Problems in the present independent director system in our country: 3.1 Unclearness of the nature of independent director system\n4. Completion in legislation of independent director system in our country: 4.1 Detailed qualifications of independent directors\n5. Conclusion: Great improvements have taken place in either guard against control of people inside a public company or in protection of interests of medium and small shareholders since we introduced from western world the independent director system to China in 1997. But the function of the independent directors could not be brought into full ply because of the undefined independent nature, incomplete selection rules and incentive system, unreasonable duty design and lack of relative legal system. These should be further rationalized and completed in order to best serve the interests of both the independent directors and public companies in the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - China adopted an independent director system in 1997 in order to perfect company management structure in the country. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of that system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper starts from the current status of the independent director system in the country and gives comments on the independent nature and designation procedure of the independent directors, rationalization of the incentive system and completion of responsibility mechanism.\nFindings: - The unique function of the independent director system plays a decisive role in preventing control by people within a public company, minimizing power abuse by shareholders and best maintaining the interests of medium and small shareholders. But there still exists certain shortcomings in independent director system in China such as unclear of the independence nature, irrationality of designation method, incomplete incentive system and short of relative responsibility mechanism which restrict independent director system to be brought into full play.\nOriginality/value: - Management of a company is always a hot topic in the company law and an independent director system is a very important aspect. On the basis of learning from advanced experience from the western world, China imported the independent director system to improve the management system of its companies. This paper analyses defects of the current independent director system in China and puts forward improvement measures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sensemaking and metacognitive prompting in ill-structured problems	[ "Scaffolding", "Sensemaking", "Metacognition", "Cognitive load", "Problem structure", "Prompts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ill-structured problems are complex and require the integration of various cognitive and metacognitive skills. Considerable efforts are required before efficient performance emerges. However, there is evidence to suggest that learning follows from deliberate practice supported by feedback provision and metacognitive reflection (e.g. Baartman and de Bruijn, 2011; Hoffman et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2013; Kolb and Kolb, 2009; Kuiper and Pesut, 2004). The present paper is an attempt to connect and synthesise the relevant literature on problem structure, sensemaking, expertise, metacognition, scaffolding (in particular prompts), and cognitive load in order to derive a set of generic prompting principles that could support and accelerate learning among novices when solving ill-structured problems. Relevant theoretical inputs are reviewed and a method outlining how appropriate scaffolding can support learning and the adoption of an internalised learning approach is proposed. Consideration is given to laying the groundwork for continual development with the aim of instilling effective problem-solving strategies for continued exploitation beyond the taught environment. The remaining sections of the introduction outline the relevant literature bases. Some overlap is apparent, indicating where research implications converge in ways that can inform the design or content of learning materials. A scaffolding method, comprising a series of prompts that can be tailored to problems with various degrees of structure, is proposed in the latter half of this paper along with some key considerations for its implementation.\nProblem structure: Many researchers highlight the crucial features and distinctions between well-structured and ill-structured problem-solving tasks (Byun et al., 2014; Ge and Land, 2004; Ge et al., 2005; Kim and Hannafin, 2011; Jonassen, 1997; Krizan, 1999; Lynch et al., 2009; Pirolli and Card, 2005). The majority of differences highlighted focus on knowledge of four crucial problem features: the problem domain, solution/goal criteria, solution pathways, and problem rules or principles that can direct problem-solving strategy. A well-structured problem has a clear and predictable problem domain, a known goal state, clear solution pathways, and an optimal strategy for reaching the solution. In contrast, ill-structured problem-solving takes place within an undefined or unbounded problem domain, involves vague goals, unclear solution pathways, and no optimal strategy for devising a solution. Examples of problems or domains that lack clear definition and structure include scientific enquiry, design problems, intelligence analysis, decision making, troubleshooting, dilemmas, and policy problems (Kim and Hannafin, 2011; Pirolli and Card, 2005; Sharma and Hannafin, 2007). Table I captures some crucial distinctions between problems of differing structure (partly informed by Krizan, 1999). Four levels of problem structure, representing a wide range of problem types, are outlined.\nExpertise: Experts by definition produce better quality solutions. The problem-solving processes of novices differ from those of domain experts in numerous ways. From an expert viewpoint, capturing such differences highlights effective problem-solving strategies. From a novice perspective, practical areas for targeting scaffolding interventions are highlighted. Many of the differences between novices and experts reflect interactions between acquired knowledge structures and the level of cognitive load experienced when problem-solving (Sweller, 1994). Novices need to effortfully attend to, prioritise, and encode relevant problem information. In ill-structured problems, the cognitive load experienced by novices may overwhelm their cognitive processing limitations. However, experts have well-developed knowledge structures and schemata (mental frameworks) that support the quick identification and exploitation of relevant domain experience, alleviating the level of cognitive load experienced and freeing up cognitive resources for metacognitive activity. Some key expert-novice differences in ill-structured contexts are now documented. The discussion centres on the themes of sensemaking and metacognition followed by a brief account of how expertise is acquired.\nScaffolding: The principle of scaffolding has developed around the notion of a \"zone of proximal development\" (ZPD; Wood et al., 1976; Vygotsky, 1980). The ZPD represents the gap between an individuals' current level of knowledge and performance, and the level of performance that can be attained with appropriate support and assistance. As learning progresses and the ZPD diminishes, scaffolding is faded and eventually removed to support internalised learning and the development of independent skill (Sharma and Hannafin, 2007). Scaffolding content should encompass expert processes and instructional design principles (e.g. feedback, metacognition, appropriate cognitive load). However, its application can take various forms and the framework developed presently utilises a series of targeted questions or \"prompts\" (Holden and Sinatra, 2014).\nA prompting framework: The presently proposed prompting framework is outlined in Table II. Aligned to sensemaking and metacognitive principles are prompts designed to support performance and enable learning in severely ill-structured problem-solving contexts. The prompting method may be tailored to problems with more structure simply by omitting cognitive processes that are not aligned to the relevant problem structure category, as depicted in Table I. Table II also indicates how the proposed framework can be adapted for both after-action or within-action use. The list of after-action prompts is purposely more extensive than the list of within-action prompts. This is due in part to additional cognitive load considerations, as prompt processing requirements will compete with the processing requirements of the primary problem-solving task in within-action prompting. After-action prompting is not subject to the same processing competition, enabling the timely consideration of a set of more comprehensive prompts. A related justification for engaging with more after-action prompts takes into consideration the experience of novices and the resulting size of the ZPD. As the degree of learning that can be supported is greatest at the onset of learning, initial learning can be best supported and accelerated by engaging in more rigorous and extensive after-action prompting. The following section considers guidelines for applying the prompting framework effectively.\nConclusions: The present paper has synthesised the relevant problem-solving and expertise literature and drawn upon scaffolding and instructional design principles in order to develop and outline an adaptable prompting framework for eliciting sensemaking and metacognitive activities in novices. The framework was developed in such a fashion so as to be generically applicable to a wide-range of ill-structured tasks in a variety of domains. In conjunction with the framework, some guidelines concerning its implementation have been proposed along with implications for TELEs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of generic prompting principles and a framework of prompts that have the potential to foster learning and skill acquisition among adult novices when performing complex, ill-structured problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Relevant research in the literatures surrounding problem structure, sensemaking, expertise, metacognition, scaffolding, and cognitive load were reviewed and synthesised in order to derive generic prompting principles and guidelines for their implementation.\nFindings: A framework of generic principles and prompts is proposed. Differentiation between prompts supporting cognition either within, or after an ill-structured problem-solving task was supported.\nPractical implications: Prompts such as those proposed in the framework developed presently can be designed into technology-enhanced learning environments in order to structure and guide the cognitive processes of novices. In addition, prompts can be combined with other learning support technologies (e.g. research diaries, collaborative discourse) in order to support learning. Empirical testing will be required to quantify the potential benefits (and limitations of) the proposed prompting framework.\nOriginality/value: The prompts developed constitute a framework for structuring and guiding learning efforts in domains where explicit, actionable feedback is often unavailable. The proposed framework offers a method of tailoring the scaffolding of prompts in order to support differing levels of problem structure and may serve as the basis for establishing an internalised and adaptive learning approach that can be transferred to new problems or contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An intelligent group decision-support system and its application for project performance evaluation	[ "Decision-support systems", "Project evaluation", "Fuzzy sets", "Multi attribute decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Projects ranking and determining the most effective projects to achieve organization goals is a complex problem that requires considering of conditions from multiple perspectives and including the decision makers in the planning process. The necessity to take into account several decision parameters, apart from purely economic ones, such as socio-political, technical, institutional and environmental, lead to the use of multi-criteria decision methods. Moreover, most of the decisions are taken in a group environment (Goletsis et al., 2003; Zhang and Lu, 2003; Lu et al., 2007, 2009; Ma et al., 2010).\n2. The main fuzzy ranking algorithms: Two fuzzy ranking algorithms simple additive weighting (SAW) and Chen and Hwang fuzzy ranking algorithms (Chen et al., 1992), are chosen to solve a FMADM problem for evaluating projects. These algorithms can be applied to solve both MADM and FMADM problems with both crisp and fuzzy numbers. Moreover, despite algorithms such as AHP, these two algorithms give decision makers an opportunity to assess attributes individually.\n3. Conditions for choosing an appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm: In our previous work (Ramezani and Lu, 2012), we proposed a method for choosing the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm to solve a MADM problem, based on the type and the number of attributes, and the number of alternatives, considering the least computation and time consumption for ranking alternatives. Assume m to be the number of alternatives and n the number of attributes for a MADM problem, and let J={j\|n\n4. Sensitivity analysis: In this section, a sensitivity analysis on the attributes' weight, and a sensitivity analysis on the projects' performance are described.\n5. A conceptual model for project evaluation: To simulate a decision-making process to evaluate projects, all decision-making features are considered and a DSS conceptual model is designd as a use case diagram (Figure 2). As can be seen, there are three types of users in the use case diagram: managing director, experts (decision makers) and data base supervisor. They follow four fundamental actions:\n6. A new project evaluation algorithm: We develop a new project evaluation algorithm on the basis of the proposed FMAGDSS model for project evaluation, which is described as follows:\n7. Software development: A software has been developed to implement the proposed project performance evaluation algorithm. This software is dynamic to the number and the type of attributes, the number of alternatives and decision makers, and decision-making subject, so it is applicable for all decision-making environments.\n8. Conclusion and future works: In regard to the importance of evaluating and choosing the most effective projects to achieve the organizations' goals, which is an FMADM problem with both qualitative and quantitative attributes, this paper has proposed a new FMAGDSS to evaluate projects that has the ability to choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking method to solve the given problem. In addition, a sensitivity analysis system has been developed concerning the importance of determining the weight of all attributes and the score of alternatives over every attribute, which are obtained through the decision-makers' judgement. This sensitivity analysis system assesses the reliability of the decision-making process and the impacts of attributes' weights and projects' performance on evaluating projects in achieving an organizations' goals. Finally, we developed a software sysem based on the proposed model. The software is dynamic to the number and type of attributes, the number of alternatives and decision makers, and the decision-making subject, so if the decision-making environment changes, this software remaisn applicable for the new environment. The proposed model simplifies and accelerates the evaluation process. Applying this model not only helps organizations to choose the most efficient projects for sustainable development, but also helps them to assess the reliability of the decision-making process. In our future work we will expand this system to evaluate and rank the project proposals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In any organization there are main goals, with lots of projects designed to achieve these goals. It is important for any organization to determine how much these projects affect the achievement of these goals. The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy multiple attribute-based group decision-support system (FMAGDSS) to evaluate projects' performance in promoting the organization's goals utilizing simple additive weighting (SAW) algorithm and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) algorithm. The proposed FMAGDSS deals with choosing the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm for solving a given fuzzy multi attribute decision making (FMADM) problem with both qualitative and quantitative criteria (attributes), and uncertain judgments of decision makers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper, a FMAGDSS model is designed to determine scores and ranks of every project in promoting the organization's goals. In the first step of FMAGDSS model, all projects are assessed by experts based on evaluation criteria and the organization's goals. The proposed FMAGDSS model will then choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking method to solve the given FMADM problem. Finally, a sensitivity analysis system is developed to assess the reliability of the decision-making process and provide an opportunity to analyze the impacts of \"criteria weights\" and \"projects\" performance' on evaluating projects in achieving the organizations' goals, and to assess the reliability of the decision-making process. In addition, a software prototype has been developed on the basis of FMAGDSS model that can be applied to solve every FMADM problem that needs to rank alternatives according to certain attributes.\nFindings: The result of this study simplifies and accelerates the evaluation process. The proposed system not only helps organizations to choose the most efficient projects for sustainable development, but also helps them to assess the reliability of the decision-making process, and decrease the uncertainty in final decision caused by uncertain judgment of decision makers.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future studies are suggested to expand this system to evaluate and rank the project proposals. To achieve this goal, the efficiency of the projects in line with organization's goals, should be predicted.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the relevant literature by proposing a FMAGDSS model to evaluate projects in promoting organization's goals. The proposed FMAGDSS has ability to choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm to solve a given FMADM problem based on the type and the number of attributes and alternatives, considering the least computation and time consumption for ranking alternatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The dual influences of proximity on knowledge sharing	[ "Relationships", "Knowledge sharing", "Intra-organizational proximity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Intra-organizational knowledge sharing is the process by which one individual or unit (e.g. group, department, or division) within an organization learns from the experience of others (Argote and Guo, 2016; Argote and Miron-Spektor, 2011). Since learning has been argued to be a critical generator or organizations' productivity, growth and survival, knowledge transfer has been recognized as an important source of performance and competitive advantage (Hu and Randel, 2014; Kane, 2010; Quigley et al., 2007; Tortoriello et al., 2012).\nTheory and hypotheses: While proximity is often understood as geographical proximity defined as the spatial distance between individuals or organizations, research has uncovered several other forms of proximity such as cognitive, social, technological and institutional proximity (Boschma, 2005; Knoben and Oerlemans, 2006). What unites the different dimensions of proximity is that they reduce uncertainty and the resources required for actors engaging in joint activities such as knowledge creation and sharing (Boschma, 2005). We focus on two forms of proximity: geographical and social proximity. Geographical proximity is defined within the perspective of micro-geography and essentially refers to the physical distance between organizational members, and social proximity is defined in terms of socially embedded relations between organizational members (Boschma, 2005). Essentially then, one explanation for the dual influences of proximity on knowledge sharing originates in the ambiguous concept of proximity.\nMethod: Data collection and research site\nMeasures: Dependent variable: frequency of knowledge sharing\nResults: The unit of analysis in this research is the dyad. The physical proximity in the dyad is hypothesized to affect both the strengths of relationships and the frequency of knowledge sharing. In addition, the strengths of relationships are hypothesized to positively affect the frequency of knowledge sharing. Together our hypotheses form a system of two equations as illustrated in Figure 1. Since these equations are optimized jointly, the use of single equation models may yield biased results. Therefore, we have applied a three-stage least square (3SLS) model with instruments variables (all the exogenous variables). The results of which are presented in Table III.\nDiscussion: Few empirical studies have analyzed the micro-geography of organizations, and how workspaces may influence individual behaviors, such as knowledge sharing (Elsbach and Pratt, 2007). The results presented here help to emphasize the link between an organization's workspaces and the frequency of knowledge sharing. Empirically, we used a unique dataset covering 796 dyads to arrive at a series of robust findings on how the horizontal and vertical distances between individuals both predict and prevent knowledge sharing.\nConclusion: This article is both a response to the call for more empirical work on the role of workspaces in organizations (Elsbach and Pratt, 2007) and an exploration of a hitherto unexplored phenomenon: the dual influences of proximity on knowledge sharing. While extant research both theoretically and empirically has established a link between proximity and knowledge sharing, we have contributed by exploring the mechanisms by which physical proximity influence knowledge sharing. Proximity stimulates both the formation of strong social relationships and the conservation of resources interacting with others. Further, we have shown that proximity matter more in itself and directly for knowledge sharing than through the indirect promotion of strong ties. As such, our findings echo what practitioners often claim are the main barriers of knowledge sharing: the time and resources required engaging in knowledge sharing activities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The authors focus on how intra-organizational proximity influences the frequency of knowledge transfer in dyads, and the authors seek to balance the over-socialized and under-socialized perspectives of knowledge sharing by focusing on how proximity both indirectly (mediated by social relationships) and directly influences the frequency of knowledge sharing. Empirically, the authors analyze how proximity in a five-story building directly and indirectly influences the frequency of knowledge sharing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As the authors were interested in exploring the frequency of knowledge sharing among individuals in knowledge sharing dyads, they used a survey to approach individuals directly and obtain information on the frequency of their knowledge sharing. The authors have complete data on 796 dyads on which they tested their hypotheses. Further, the physical distance in a dyad was measured as the walking distance (measured in meters) between individuals.\nFindings: The authors first find that proximity positively affects the frequency of knowledge sharing indirectly through its promotion of social relationships. Second, it is noticeable that the direct relationship between proximity and knowledge sharing is stronger than the indirect via the promotion of social relationships. In sum, the authors' results contribute to the knowledge sharing literature by emphasizing and clarifying how proximity both directly and indirectly influences knowledge sharing.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study has some limitations. First, this study only measured the frequency of knowledge sharing among individuals. Neither individual nor organizational outcomes of knowledge sharing were considered. Second, the authors did not distinguish between different channels for knowledge sharing, such as face-to-face or face-to-interface.\nPractical implications: One practical implication is that knowledge sharing spanning, for instance, 50 m compared to knowledge sharing spanning 30 m may not necessarily require more resources, as the negative effect of 30 and 50 m distances is almost similar, as the negative effect of distance starts to fade out at 30 m. Another practical implication for the direct effect of proximity on knowledge sharing is that to foster knowledge sharing organizational practices need to create opportunities for employees to span both horizontal and vertical distances.\nOriginality/value: The authors' results contribute to the knowledge sharing literature by empirically emphasizing and clarifying how intra-organizational proximity both directly and indirectly influences knowledge sharing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study of factors affecting the success of private label brands in Chinese e-market	[ "Purchasing", "Brands", "Consumer risk", "Electronic commerce", "Consumer behaviour", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The importance of private labels in frequently purchased consumer goods marketing has been clearly established over the past decade. Private label brands (PLB), also called \"store brands,\" in grocery outlets now exceed $48billion; they form over 15 percent of US supermarket sales and over 44 percent grocery shoppers regularly buy PLB (Hoch, 1996; Sethuraman, 1992). Previous studies shows that retailers like PLB because of their potential to increase store loyalty, chain profitability, control over shelf space, bargaining power over manufacturers, and so forth (Richardson et al., 1996). Among consumers, one obvious reason for their popularity and growth is their price advantage (averaging 21 percent) over foreign brands. High quality seems to be more important in determining PLB success than lower price (Hoch and Shumeet, 1993).Only a fraction of these users have actually purchased online. Why then has online purchasing failed to grow as quickly as hoped by retailers offering their goods and services online? Perceived risk has been shown to affect overall likelihood to purchase (Wood and Sheer, 1996). Nevertheless, it seems that the playing role is changing. According to emarketers in a summary report of marketing surveys by hundreds of research institutions, global online retail sales in 2001 hit US$5,500 billions, which demonstrates a double-digit growth compared to US$2,860 billions in year 2000 (Chiang, 2001). That means internet opens up thousands of opportunities for business. Internet marketing provides interaction and immediacy between consumer and online retailer by multimedia promotion interface.1.1 China's online market\n2 Theory and hypotheses: The world wide web continues to grow rapidly. Indeed, businesses can find new consumer groups via the internet, offer products and services at reasonable price for high added value, and gain considerably high market share by relatively low cost (Angelides, 1997). No wonder the internet is becoming a helpful hand to business when it comes to marketing and sales development. Likewise, market-relating skills, such as brand and image building, marketing communications, customer service, and loyalty program, will continue to be salient. Successful networks will be more customer-focused and market-driven and will deliver better value and satisfaction than ever before. Marketing on behalf of consumers, as opposed to marketing to consumers, means marketers will devote more time and resources to organizing consumers and consumer information, as well as to managing product, consumption, and lifestyle-related information that is useful to the consumer (Achol and Kotler, 1999).As online shopping creates new market opportunities, businesses can have a better grip of consumer behavior through the internet and respond quickly to each individual consumer as consumers browse through the internet and purchase items they need.2.1 Domestic private label brands\n3 Research methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4 Analysis and results: 4.1 Measurement model\n5 Discussion and managerial implications: 5.1 Discussion\n6 Limitations and directions for future research: By collecting data only in several principal cities and samples investigated mostly in students, our study is not representative of all Chinese, in this country where regional differences abound. The major limitation of our study concerns our measurement approach. For example, we limit our analysis of perceived risk in online shopping to aspects that can be retrieved through a questionnaire with a limited number of questions and an assumption that these questions are able to capture the rich dimensionality of these decision processes. Also, we are able to provide only a snapshot of ongoing processes and not measures of the same process over time. Our dilemma is that to test the hypothesized model we need to sample a large number in equivalent way. The previously mentioned concerns and limitations should be considered in understanding the meaning of our findings.It seems to be a crucial problem faced by an online foreign retailer to pricing against the domestic firms. Through our finding in the study, future examination will be important to realize that searching information will increase or decrease consumers' online intention from a different product category point of view. Future study of the effects of sales promotion (coupon, bundling price, etc.) on focal and competing brands in consumers' consideration remain to tested.The modern Chinese consumers, especially the more educated and affluent urbanites, may also base their brand choice decisions on the information acquires through advertising (Zhou et al., 2002). To attract such affluent consumers, who presumably have greater disposable income; online retailers should have more aggressive advertising on the web.From investigation (CNNIC, www.cnnic.org.cn), the Chinese net users browse 46 web pages on average per month, which is far higher than the users in Hong Kong and Taiwan by about 24 pages on average. It shows that Chinese users have habits and acquired characteristics (in-depth reading), because of the localization characteristics in Chinese web site continent, and the users prefer to browse in native local websites. In another word, although picture-based ads have been shown to enhance the impact of persuasive communications, little is known about the robustness of effects which pictures affect brand attitudes and purchase intention on web site. Future research of the image evoked by pictures and through advertisements playing what kind of the mediating role in the persuasion process will also need to be examined.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The major objective of this study is to explore factors effect in purchasing preferences for foreign brands versus private label brands (PLB) in urban China on the internet.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this paper, the research is designed to investigate the factors perception mentioned above how to affect consumers' online purchasing PLB intention. Along with literature review, an online survey is conducted to test the conceptual model. LISREL 8 is used to analyses the hypothesized model and a two-step model-building approach is used, in which the measurement models are tested prior to testing the structural model.\nFindings: - Using the data collected in GuangZhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai and Nanjing cities, it is found that both their direct and indirect effects. Interesting to find, that Chinese consumers' exposure to online products is relatively new, it appears that searching and experience online in reducing their perceived risk of quality concern, and it affects their choice of PLB. Price consciousness is very important to choose domestic PLB across all purchase situations, whereas the other types of factors have differential impact. It seems that Chinese respondents get used to surf on the internet, that is, their perceived risk is not low, which is different from other literatures studied.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers insights into the implications for e-marketers' management of web sites in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service breakdown prevention: Delivering requisite variety and training for achieving the highly reliable service organization	[ "Customer service", "Dramatic turn", "Service breakdown prevention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: defining the dramatic turn: The following real-life story is an example of a preventable category five (most severe) service breakdown. On May 22, 2012, Philip White (PW) attempted to board a Greyhound Bus in Denver, CO, for a trip home to Eagle, CO. The bus he planned to take was full; no seat was available for PW. The Greyhound Bus front-desk service associate told PW to wait for the next bus. As he waited, a security guard (working for the security firm hired by Greyhound) told PW that he had to leave the bus terminal - \"no loitering\" was permitted. PW told the security guard that he was waiting for his bus, had no place to go and that he was not going to leave. Then, both PW and the security guard stood apart from each other, and each called 911 (emergency telephone helpline) for help. Police officer Jason arrived and, after talking briefly to the security officer and one else, immediately told PW that he had 3 s to leave. After Officer Jason counted, \"1-2-3\" aloud, Officer Jason and the security guard each grabbed PW and slammed his face into a countertop as they attempted to take him to the floor of the bus terminal. Officer Jason placed PW in handcuffs and closed the cuffs so tightly that PW's fingers received permanent nerve damage. While in handcuffs, sitting on the floor and bleeding from the top of his head, a police department supervisor (Sargent Wyckoff) arrived and interviewed PW and asked him if he was trying to hit anyone, \"Did you strike him, the police officer, with your cane? Did you swing your cane at him?\" PW responded, \"No, I never struck anyone with my cane. That's a lie.\" [Officer Wyckoff asked leading questions suggesting positive responses. PW had a red-tipped walking stick, not a cane that was taken from him before thrown into the countertop and onto the floor - his walking stick was necessary because PW at the incident was blind, frail and old (77 years old).] Then, PW was taken to jail and held for 8 h. After PW was released, the policed dropped all charges made against PW. Greyhound Bus issued a news release stating that there had been a miscommunication between the terminal manager and security - passengers are allowed to wait for busses inside Greyhound bus terminals.\n2. A fundamental question: why so few scholarly studies on service breakdown prevention?: Answer: \"Prevention\" suggests something did not happen. Observing what does not occur requires special tools and practice. Active SBP likely includes hard work in gaining insights by the server, line managers and senior executives in achieving deep sensemaking. Vigilant sensemaking is necessary for noticing the cues in a server-customer exchange and an unplanned event that may be the start of a service breakdown and with the server gaining skills in SBP via experience and training in SBP. Weick (2007) describes the hard work necessary to achieve \"richness\" in creating multiple scenarios, processes and outcomes of unplanned harmful processes and disasters for effective training programs in preventing breakdowns or stopping their full-blown occurrences. Practical SBP training is likely to require frequent training sessions (e.g. half-day per week sessions using a range of role-playing exercises, coaching and use of additional tools (Woodside, 2017). Such training needs to nurture the high competence of managing a wide range of potential failures in-the-making). Role-playing includes second and third responses to \"what if\" issues and the use of \"devil's advocates\" options are ways of seeing what does not, but could, occur. Effective SBP programs may involve training in adopting versus avoiding alternative behavioral and conversational scripts - alternative scripts leading to increasingly proper versus adverse outcomes - as well as practical training to deepen contextual, organizational and conversational sensemaking skills. The present suggests joining theoretical advances of sensemaking (Weick et al., 2005) and advocacy for coaching in service delivery contexts (Gawande, 2011). Explicit sensemaking and coaching are foundational tools for achieving deep sensemaking and active SBP:\n3. Foundational literature for the study of service breakdown prevention in hospitality and tourism: The study updates the \"moments of truth\" (Carlzon, 1987) proposition by combining contributions from organization science (\"organizational richness,\" Weick, 2007, and \"requisite variety,\" Weick, 1987), cognitive science (algorithms, Gigerenzer, 1991), journalism/theatre (storytelling, McKee, 1999) and experiential learning (Harris et al., 2003). The primary contribution of this exposition is in demonstrating how a complex configuration of theory and empirical findings from seemingly diverse disciplines can be brought together for advancing science and enhance knowledge of SBP in hospitality management. Providing structure and content for increasing the effectiveness of service enactments is a secondary objective of the study. Such research is timely. Local, national and global news frequently reports dramatic turns (sometimes extreme, life-threatening stories) in many service contexts, as the following report illustrates.\n4. Ultimately broadening the concept of marketing in hospitality and service research: Famously, Kotler and Levy (1969) described the need for \"broadening the concept of marketing.\" \"When we come to the marketing function, it is also clear that every organization performs marketing-like activities whether or not they are recognized as such. Several examples can be given. The police department of a major US city, concerned with the poor image it has among an essential segment of its population, developed a campaign to \"win friends and influence people.\" One highlight of this campaign is a \"visit your police station\" day in which tours are conducted to show citizens the daily operations of the police department, including the crime laboratories, police lineups and cells. The police department also sends officers to speak at public schools and carries out several other activities to improve its community relations (Kotler and Levy, 1969, p. 11).\n5. Dramatic turn categories in partial to complete service breakdowns: Table I includes five categories of dramatic turns in hospitality services with real-life examples ranging from less dramatic to highly dramatic incidents. A \"dramatic turn\" recipe comprises the following ingredients:\n6. Conclusion, theoretical implications, limitations and future research: 6.1 Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study defines service breakdowns, service breakdown prevention, and \"servicide\" as they relate to service-dominant logic. The study reviews relevant relevant literature on these three topics. This study categorizes real-life examples into five levels of dramatic turns toward service degradations and breakdowns that range from customer being aware but not mentioning service inadequacy to the service breakdown resulting in death of the customer or service provider. Taking initial steps in developing dramatic turn theory and improving the practice of service breakdown prevention are the major contributions of this study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is a conceptual contribution that includes a dramatic turn role-playing exercise (at category 4 among five categories of dramatic turns for pedagogical/on-site enacting/practicing and training of service professionals. The study emphasizes and shows how to create and enact role-playing scenarios to increase requisite variety, provide training modules and increase skills/expertise in service enactment contexts.\nFindings: Before explicit reviewing of the dramatic-turn performances, some of the participants as actors as well as audience members in role-play dramatic turns were quick to blame the customer behavior as the principal cause for the service breakdown. The study's exposition stresses prevention of negative dramatic turns follows from experiencing and coaching a wide variety of customer and server interactions - achieving \"richness\" in enactments.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research on service breakdown prevention needs to include field experiments on the efficacy of training programs for effective management of dramatic turns.\nPractical implications: Training of service workers and service managers in experiencing/participating in dramatic turns is likely to be beneficial in reducing the severe adverse outcomes and unintended consequences of service breakdowns. Prevention, not only service failure recovery, needs to be an explicit focus in hospitality management training and assessment.\nSocial implications: This study suggests tools and procedures to reduce the instances of the need for service breakdown recoveries.\nOriginality/value: The study calls attention and contributes a way forward in managing dramatic turns in hospitality service contexts. The study provides a nascent configurational theoretical foundation of dramatic-turn propositions. Given the severity of financial costs and loss of brand/firm reputation following the occurrence of extreme dramatic turns, a research focus on service breakdown prevention is necessary.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emotional intelligence and emotional labor acting strategies among frontline hotel employees	[ "Emotional labour", "Emotional labour acting strategy", "Emotional intelligence", "Emotional resource", "Emotional exhaustion", "Service recovery performance", "Frontline hotel employees", "Customer services quality", "Hotel and catering industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Due to increased competitions in the hospitality industry, organizations place much emphasis on \"service with a smile\" to maximize service quality and customer satisfaction. Managing service employees' emotional display has been recognized as an important aspect of maintaining loyal customers. Frontline employees are therefore expected to manage their emotions and make a considerable effort in displaying friendly emotions when interacting with customers (Karatepe, 2010). Hochschild (1983) defined this effort as emotional labor (EL); the physical and mental management of one's feelings to express organizationally desired emotions.EL is critical to individual and organizational outcomes, ranged from employee health and psychological well-being to customer service performance, customer orientation, and customer satisfaction (Grandey, 2003; Groth et al., 2009; Karatepe et al., 2009; Lam and Chen, 2012). EL employees usually use two distinctive acting strategies to satisfy organizational requirements for emotional expression: surface acting (SA; faking the expected emotions) and deep acting (DA; actually experiencing the desired emotions) (Hochschild, 1983). Customers can distinguish between fake and real smiles and perceptions of authenticity may influence customer satisfaction (Pugh, 2001). Research has also highlighted the importance of EL by showing negative consequences of EL on employees such as stress, emotional exhaustion (EE), and depression (Kim, 2008; Prati et al., 2009). However, the antecedents and consequences of EL still remain to be understood.Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive and understand emotional information, and to generate and regulate emotions that promote emotional and intellectual growth (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). It is an important aspect of competency reflected in individuals' enhanced capability in dealing with emotional issues. There have been some success stories of organizations that applied EI to their businesses. One recent study conducted by a Dallas corporation measured that the productivity difference between employees with low EL and high EL was 20 times (Poskey, 2011). A Fortune 500 company also reported that they increased sales revenues and retention by 67 percent after turning to an EI-based selection assessment (Poskey, 2011). These evidences clearly indicate impacts of EI on their bottom line. Yet, EI is a relatively new concept among hospitality researchers. Recently, a handful studies examined EI in the context of hospitality businesses (e.g. Cha et al., 2009; Cichy et al., 2007; Kim and Agrusa, 2011; Langhorn, 2004; Magnini et al., 2011). Characterized by considerable face-to-face interaction with customers, the hospitality industry requires frontline employees to manage, regulate, and control their emotions effectively (Karatepe, 2011). Therefore, it is vital for hospitality managers to understand the influence of EI on EL efforts and outcomes.Despite its importance and relevance, very few hospitality studies have investigated a role of EI in the context of EL. As an initial step to address this gap in the literature, the current study focused on the impacts of EI as an emotional resource on the relationships among EL acting strategies, EE and service recovery performance (SRP). This study used SRP as the ultimate outcome variable and examined the dynamic relationships among the preceding variables.\nConceptual model and hypotheses: Figure 1 depicts the proposed conceptual model that examines the relationships among EI, EL acting strategies, EE, and SRP, using EI as a proxy for maximum emotional resources. The emotional resources have been recognized by Hobfoll (2001) as a fundamental component of individual adaptability. Liu et al. (2008) defined emotional resource as a subtype of personal resources. Emotional resource was analyzed as a type of personal resources that may aid employees engaging in EL and protect them from EE as a psychological job strain. Additionally, the study examined EI as a moderator for the relationships between EL acting strategies and EE, and between EL acting strategies and SRP.Emotional intelligence\nMethodology: Measures\nFindings: Measurement model\nDiscussion and implications: The provision of high quality service has long been considered a competitive advantage in service-oriented business such as hotels. Therefore, service providers have much emphasized on emotion management of their frontline employees for the delivery of \"service with a smile\". However, much remains to be understood regarding the antecedents and consequences of EL in the context of hospitality industry. The study advanced the hospitality management literature by providing empirical evidences that EI is an important factor in the management of EL, and both EI and EL jointly influenced individual outcomes.Two distinctive types of EL acting strategies were identified and EI was tested as an antecedent of these two strategies. Largely consistent with previous findings of Johnson and Spector (2007) and Lee (2010), EI was differently related to SA and DA. These results also provide preliminary evidence that conservation of resources theory can potentially be used as a general theoretical framework to understand EL as a coping behavior.Both EL acting strategies were associated with all of the proposed consequences in the hypothesized directions. The finding is consistent with previous research by Brotheridge and Grandey (2002), Totterdell and Holman (2003), and Kim (2008). Yet, these previous studies failed to confirm the negative effect of DA on EE. The current study empirically demonstrated that frontline hotel employees' DA was significantly and negatively related to their EE, suggesting that when employees adopt DA they make an effort to adjust their emotions to display the rules. This strategy may contribute to reduced EE, as employees tend to experience positive emotions and are thus less likely to be emotionally exhausted.Employee EI was treated as an antecedent of SRP in this study. The findings showed that frontline hotel employee EI was found to be significantly and positively related to SRP. The results are consistent with Lin's (2009) study showing that employees with higher EI had better SRP. EI should be taken seriously as a standard for recruiting or promotion, and employees can take part in emotional training to raise performance levels. Research has shown that scientifically designed EI courses can improve the ability to perceive and control emotion (Slaski and Cartwright, 2002).Regarding the relationship between the two types of EL acting strategies and SRP, the results demonstrated that service employees' internal regulatory EL acting strategies differently influenced their emotional outcomes. While the employee benefits of DA have been confirmed in previous research (Grandey, 2003), DA was also found to have positive effects on customers through SRP. DA therefore emerges as an important driver of service delivery outcomes such as SRP. Another important finding of this study is that the negative effect of SA on SRP. Employees who genuinely try to experience the positive emotions would ultimately provide better SRP. Genuine nature of the emotions expressed by deeper actors contributes to a better service experience than the inauthentic and suppressed emotions of surface actors.The study further examined the moderating role of EI in the relationship between two EL acting strategies and their consequential behavioral outcomes. The results supported the hypothesized relationships: higher EI attenuates the positive effect of SA on EE while higher EI increases the negative effect of DA on EE. These results coincide with previous findings (Abraham, 2000; Prati et al., 2009). Therefore, it can be said that frontline hotel employees with high levels of EI are better able to regulate their emotions to meet organizational display rules, which results in lower EE.The research also confirmed that higher EI weakened the negative relationship between SA and SRP while higher EI strengthened the positive relationship between DA and service SRP. This is consistent with the notion that emotional responses and their effects on behavior are influenced by an individual's ability to manage their emotional response (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). The findings suggest that individuals with high EI are not only better able to cope with EL but also show better performance in service recovery when EL is intense. This has interesting implications for the selection of frontline customer service employees in the hotel industry. HR managers may want to assess the EI of potential employees as it may contribute to employee EE in the service context.The current study makes a number of contributions to the literature. First, to the authors' knowledge, it was the first attempt in hospitality literature that explored EI as emotional resources and its impact on frontline employees in the context of EL. Previous research on EI has reported considerable predictive results in areas of education, health and business performance (Grandey, 2003; Groth et al., 2009). This study emphasized the importance of EI to the hospitality industry, where there is a high element of human contact with the customer. Second, the study serves as a constructive replication for previous research about the differential effects of EL acting strategies on EE and SRP as a form of job-related performance. Third, this study contributes to stress coping research and practices by examining factors that potentially help decrease or avoid increasing employees' EE, which ultimately promotes SRP. The study provides empirical evidence that facilitates future research on psychological job strain alleviating role of EI as emotional resources.From a practical perspective, the findings of this study provide several implications for the practice of organizational management of employee EL. The study indicates that hotel managers need to be cognizant about the way their frontline employees conform to organizational display rules, as it has a direct impact on the bottom line. The EL acting strategies frontline employees engage in are likely to contribute to SRP. The results also suggest that SA strategy should be discouraged and DA strategy need to be encouraged. Professionally designed training programs can enable frontline employees to distinguish SA from DA. Regular performance management processes, including communication, rewards, and recognition procedures, should incorporate identification and positive reinforcement of EL acting strategies that enhance SRP and customer satisfaction.The study has several limitations. First, the study focused on the relationships of study variables among five-star hotel frontline employees in Busan, Korea. The selection of a single service setting and a single country may raise concerns for the issue of generalizability. The results of this study should be validated in different service settings, various star-rated hotels, and in other countries. Second, more than half of the study sample has less than five years of experience and this might have affected the results. Future study should examine whether the year of work and training experiences may influence employees' EL presentation. Lastly, the study used a self-report EI measure. Although all of the self-report EI scales have satisfactory reliabilities (Daus and Ashkanasy, 2003), the results should be treated with caution until more rigorous discriminant, predictive, and incremental validity evidences are provided.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The study aimed to test the antecedents and consequences of emotional labor (EL) acting strategies in the hotel industry. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of emotional intelligence (EI) on the relationships among EL acting strategies, emotional exhaustion (EE) and service recovery performance (SRP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The survey was administered in five-star hotels in Korea. Frontline employees of the hotels participated in the survey and a total of 353 returned questionnaires were used for data analysis.\nFindings: - The research confirmed the importance of EI in the context of EL. The paper provided empirical evidence that EI affected the EL acting strategies and their consequential behavioral outcomes.\nPractical implications: - The study suggests that hospitality managers must find ways to elevate employees' EI level. Performance management processes should incorporate identification and positive reinforcement of EL acting strategies that enhance SRP and customer satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: - This study explored the under-researched subject of EL and its role within a hospitality industry context. The study is among the first to examine EI as an emotional resource, EL acting strategies, EE and SRP as a form of job-related performance simultaneously.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Complex product and supplier interfaces in aeronautics	[ "Aerospace industry", "Supply chain management", "Outsourcing", "New products", "Buyer‐supplier relationships", "New product development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Complex products are characterized by a large number of interacting components relying on new technologies and are developed within large supply chains (Hobday, 1998; New and Westbrook, 2004). Because mastering all the knowledge and skills required for their production is difficult for a single firm, the participation of external suppliers providing a wide range of knowledge and components is essential to the complex process of product development (Prencipe, 2005; Persson and Ahlstrom, 2006; Becker and Zirpoli, 2011). In addition, this process has to be coordinated by a central agent responsible for the integration of knowledge and components gathered from distributed sources: this agent is \"the system integrator\" (Brusoni and Prencipe, 2001).The aeronautical industry is a perfect example of a complex product industry characterized by a hierarchically organized supply chain (Amesse et al., 2001; Acha et al., 2007; Rebolledo and Nollet, 2011). Prime contractors have been restructuring their respective supply chains over recent years and they have been changing the nature and depth of their relationships with their suppliers. Studies focusing on procurement practices within this industry (Smith and Tranfield, 2005; Kechidi, 2006; Rose-Anderssen et al., 2010) emphasize that, over the past 20 years, prime contractors have been progressively reducing the size of their supply chain. This restructuring trend is characterized by the contracting out of bigger systems to fewer key suppliers within long-term agreements. However, aircraft manufacturers, acting as system integrators, still maintain varied relationships with their suppliers during a new product development process. By analyzing these relationships, we propose to shed some light on the key differences among Airbus's suppliers.The diversity of inter-firm relationships can be characterized on the basis of resources - including the knowledge bases - that firms share and integrate (Contractor and Ra, 2002; Sobrero and Roberts, 2002; Fliess and Becker, 2006). In this regard, Araujo et al. (1999) analyze and define these relationships as \"supplier interfaces\". In a decomposable artifact, the interfaces maintain the communication among parts. Similarly, supplier interfaces define how prime contractors and their suppliers relate to each other at various levels. In this paper, we explore the suppliers' relationships within the aeronautical industry through the perspective of the supplier interfaces typology provided by Araujo et al. (1999).In the next section (Section 2), the complex product development process is explored and four types of supplier interfaces are identified. Furthermore, we analyze aircrafts as complex products. In Section 3, factors affecting the diversity of supplier interfaces are explored and analyzed within a multinomial logit model.\n2 Complex products and their management: Complex products show both technical and organizational specificities. First, we analyze the technical dimension of complex products and knowledge dynamics during their development process. Second, we study the organizational dimension of this process and describe four types of supplier interfaces in relation to the knowledge dynamics characterizing inter-firm relations. Third, we propose an evaluation of the complexity of the aircraft development process.2.1 Technical dimension: a modular decomposition\n3 Explaining the diversity of supplier interfaces: an econometric model: In this section, our objective is to study the diversity of supplier interfaces in the aircraft development process. In order to achieve that, we will analyze 243 industrial contracts signed within the main Airbus programs (A320; A330-340; A380) and cited in the DACIS database[2]. As previously mentioned, system integrators establish different types of interfaces with their suppliers. Let us suggest two sets of reasons accounting for this diversity: the complexity of components contracted out by the integrator and the characteristics of suppliers.We posit that the more complex the component is, the more system-dependent and complex is the knowledge integrated during its development. Indeed, following the principle of complexity, we can argue that when a component is highly connected with other components, it has a major influence on the functional performance of the whole product. The specifications of this component are closely related to those of other components and vice versa. Therefore, the relevant knowledge of component is particularly system-dependent, which entails a large extent of knowledge-sharing and thus tight interactions between participants.We also consider the suppliers' characteristics, namely their technical expertise, financial stability and position within the international network, as important factors influencing the extent of resources shared with the integrator (Wynstra and Pierick, 2000; Petersen et al., 2005; Parker et al., 2008). Indeed, the larger the supplier, the better connected they are within the network, and the more resources and information they can provide to the integrator. Along with these elements, the extent of the relationship and the level of trust established between firms during previous collaborations or by means of socialization at different levels represent critical aspects encouraging the sharing of resources (McIvor et al., 2006; Parker et al., 2008; Lawson et al., 2009; Rebolledo and Nollet, 2011). The higher the trust between firms, the more resources can be shared, and thus the tighter the interactions are.3.1 Methodology and variables\n4 Conclusion: In this paper, we tried to understand the factors accounting for the diversity of relationships between manufacturers and suppliers in the aircraft development process through the example of contracts between Airbus and their suppliers. As a consequence of our findings, we suggest that \"partner\" relationships (involved in the integral design phase) are dictated by the groups' size and by the complexity of components, whereas the establishment of other relationships (translation and specified interfaces) is linked to the suppliers' potential as pivot-groups. This potential is related to the groups' position as \"hubs\" along the supply chain. Our findings also suggest that the pivot position is not necessarily linked to the financial capacity of a firm. We suggest that it is rather associated with the firm's autonomous capacity within production activities.Within the current industrial setting in which prime contractors try to reduce the number of their direct suppliers, it also becomes more and more important for suppliers to be among the \"winners\". Our study has shown that the suppliers' size and technological capacity are the most important factors in becoming the system integrator's privileged partner (Parker et al., 2008; Wynstra et al., 2010). Other suppliers connected to Airbus by translation and specified interfaces are mostly preferred because of their position in the supply network. We can suppose that a central position within the network may provide suppliers with a springboard to improve their technical skills. The more connected a firm is, the more information it can access and control, which improves its competitive edge (Sammarra and Biggiero, 2008; Carey and Lawson, 2011). On the managerial side, the most relevant lesson of the preceding conclusions is that acquisition of specific resources, capacity for innovation and inter-firm coordination skills are important strategic assets. Some of the current industrial restructuring (mergers, acquisitions and alliances) may be explained by a search for these characteristics. Finally, we point out that size particularly matters for the firms that want to become partners. Figueiredo et al. (2008) established the same results in a study on Embraer. This is not surprising at all given the fact that prime contractors increasingly prefer to share risks with their partner suppliers as a response to increased competition within the market (Brusoni and Prencipe, 2001; Rose-Anderssen et al., 2010).As for the limitations of our study, it has rather a static perspective covering all the inter-firm relations within Airbus programs at once. By using the same databases, we could look into the evolution of supplier interfaces within the aeronautical supply chain. A dynamic view would provide us with some evidence regarding the recent restructuring of the supply chain. Moreover, even though the databases we have used are the most comprehensive ones, they do not cover all the contracts signed within Airbus's programs. These databases may need to be complemented by field research through questionnaires with the relevant firms. Still, we believe that these databases have helped us capture the most important elements regarding supplier interfaces in Airbus's supply chain. The same methodology could be applied to any complex product industry, such as the automobile, space or computer industries. These industries, although they all modularize their products and product development process, nonetheless exhibit different organizational trajectories in time. In this regard, comparative and longitudinal analyses would shed more light on the dynamics of supplier interfaces within complex product industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aeronautical industry is a perfect example of a complex product industry characterized by a hierarchically-organized supply chain. The authors can identify four types of supplier interfaces: interactive, translation, specified and standardized ones. The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors explaining the diversification of these relationships between aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers, through the example of Airbus suppliers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Network analysis (to define the complexity level of aircraft components), data analysis (to characterize the diversity of aircraft suppliers) and a logit model were combined in order to link the supplier interfaces to the complexity of components and to the suppliers' characteristics.\nFindings: - It is shown that the earlier a supplier is involved in the development process, the more responsibility is delegated to him and the more intertwined its relationship is with the prime contractor. Also, it is shown that component complexity plays a major role in a supplier's involvement during the integral design and face-to-face interactions matter greatly during the co-design phases of the products.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research has rather a static perspective covering all the inter-firm relations within Airbus programs at once. By using the same databases, one could look into the evolution of supplier interfaces within the aeronautical supply chain. A dynamic view would provide some evidence regarding the recent restructuring of the supply chain.\nOriginality/value: - The originality of the paper comes from the methodology and the use of original data allowing to test in the same analysis the role of the component complexity and the characterization of the suppliers on the form of relationship between the manufacturer and its principal suppliers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Framework to improve performance through implementing Lean Six Sigma strategies to oil exporting countries during recession or depression	[ "Lean Six Sigma", "Lean Six Sigma framework", "Lean Six Sigma guideline", "Oil-exporting countries", "Recession time", "USA" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The change of traditional manufacturing business processes to Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices results in improvements for companies in revenue generation, supplier satisfaction, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, productivity, waste reduction and quality product at low cost. When a recession comes in the local or global market, the LSS framework can act as a survival tool. World-leading companies, such as General Electric and Motorola, after implementing LSS obtained dramatic results in productivity and quality improvement (Kumar et al., 2006). Such as LSS could help international oil companies and their quest to control and integrate upstream and downstream assets to prevent overproduction and thereby stabilize the price (Yergin, 1992). Gammie (1997) examined current operational practice in the UK oil industry in relation to employee assistance programs. Gangnes et al. (2011) examined the impact of oil prices on trade's sensitivity to distance. Furthermore, investigate if the nature of trade and the type of goods have a mediating role on the oil prices' impact on trade. Al-Roubaie (2010) witnessed imbalances between demand and supply of energy has an adverse effect of oil and gas fuel prices and on global liquidity management. Forecasting of the US Energy Information Administration indicated that the real gross domestic product (GDP) of India will grow by 6.1 percent on average per year from 2010 to 2040. That will be the highest worldwide and it may be that LSS can work as a catalyst for the manufacturing/process/service sectors.\nBackground of recession: Recession is when in two consecutive quarters the national GDP of a country declines. Sometime a recession starts in one country and spreads worldwide to other countries' markets in term of GDP, employment, development, government policies, etc. Young (2009) discussed that marketing strategies had not slowed down during a recession, while customer numbers had shrunk in the market. The top oil-producing countries, such as the USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were affected adversely due to the continuous decline of crude oil prices worldwide and this had a further adverse effect on stock-exchange, productivity and national growth. Kocak and Edwards (2005) observed the pivotal need for entrepreneurial behavior and inter-firm co-operation for small firms seeking growth in a volatile, recession-hit environment. Leonard (2014) studied failing to recognize the inevitability of the next recession and to prepare for its uncertain arrival is a neglect of fiduciary responsibility. Alcidi and Gros (2011) drew a systematic comparison between the great depression and the great recession, where fiscal policy went to the limit of what was possible under the conditions as they existed then in US banking. Reeves and Deimler (2009) examined recession-specific strategies designed to drive growth and ensure that a company survives. The review of Latham and Braun (2011) distills disparate scholarly works on firm behavior and recessions to provide a systematic appraisal and review of what people know and do not know about managing firms through economic downturn. Table I lists the top ten oil-producing countries worldwide that were highly impacted due to the oil price declination.\nImplication of oil prices worldwide: Significantly reducing oil prices may be directly beneficial to customers while causing recession for countries producing oil and natural gases. Decreases in oil prices drastically reduces the potential export revenues of oil-exporting countries, adversely reducing their income and leading to slower growth in national GDP. The Indian Ministry of Petroleum\nOverview of LSS: Lean\nMethodology: The author is in regular touch with recent trends of market and technology via newspaper, media, research journals, magzines, internet and industrial personals regarding reseach work on \"selected issues in Lean manufacturing.\" When he noticed that crude oil prices were globally declining, a strong view point was generated in the author's mind that LSS can be an important technique for the OPEC and non-OPEC. It can be a survival strategy during depression or recession in the economy. The author carried out a brainstormig session with managers, dealers, vendors and executives of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd in Delhi, NCR and ONGC Dehradun. The summarized and collective, abstracted view is given in this paper via the guidelines that follow.\nLSS guidelines for oil-producing countries: A control chart can be helpful in business strategies to assess control stages and monitoring improvement areas to affirm sustainable success.\nConclusion: We propose a framework of LSS that may be helpful to accelerate poor economic growth and improve stagflation occuring in the ongoing situation. Typically, oil-exporting countries place their trust on specialist team opinion and deterministic approaches that have their own limitations. A limitation is that the framework does not incorporate the uncertainties of business strategies which surround the oil extracting process. The end results assimilate framework, methodology and guidelines having optimal capability to strengthen the business processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Today's global business environment essential requirement to an industries reduction of wastes, reduction of variations, reduction of lead time and innovative feature quality product with minimum cost. That strives to improve customer satisfaction, break through strategies to solve problems with fastest process speed. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) strategy and framework can help during recession or upcoming recession to improve business excellencies and companies strategies against recession. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper followed views of authors, industrial experts from oil industries regarding LSS strategy, framework, comparative key factors of Lean and Six Sigma to overcome continuously decline oil prices globally. LSS strategy will proactively work as preventive tool for insipid economical growth of oil-exporting countries.\nFindings: To follow the LSS guidelines, oil-exporting countries can improve their business performance during ongoing oil price fall that may be influenced on gross domestic product of countries.\nOriginality/value: The case study may provide some help to survive ongoing crisis of continuously fallen oil price that is highly problematic for oil-exporting countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing technological transition from old to new technology: case of Fanuc's successful transition	[ "Electric motors", "Numerical control", "Transition management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The issue of how firms respond to the advent of new technologies is of immense practical as well as theoretical importance. Many existing studies have highlighted a tendency for large established companies that have achieved success in the past with existing technology to fail in their inability to adjust and accommodate new technology (e.g. Henderson and Clark, 1990; Christensen, 1997; Tushman and Anderson, 1986). This is why the bearer of new technology is generally a newly established company and not an old established firm. A classic example is the fallout among firms that successfully made the transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductor devices in the quarter century from about 1955, with only RCA and Phillips succeeding first with vacuum tubes and later with solid-state devices (Foster, 1986).On the other hand, there are also examples of established firms that clearly have been successful in transition to a new technology. From vacuum tubes to semiconductors, major established corporations such as Toshiba, Matsushita, and Hitachi successfully made the transition (Foster, 1986). The transition in which a company discards a long-successful technology for a new technology involves managerial decision-making of the greatest importance, and frequently confronts a company with an intractable dilemma.In this paper we will consider the case of Fanuc Ltd, a company that successfully came through two major technology transitions since it was founded 40 years ago. In these transitions, the company was faced with the dilemma of either going over to new technology or sticking with tired-and-true old technology, and in both cases the company successfully overcame the impasse. The first technology transition involved servomotor architecture, a key NC (numerical control) technology, and the major change from a open-loop architecture to a closed-loop architecture. The second technology shift involved the NC logic unit architecture from hardwired NC logic to a softwired NC logic based on MPU (micro processor unit). Through the analysis of these transitions, we identify key factors for success and present a framework on the logic of successful transition.\n2. Case study: Fanuc's management of technological transition: 2.1 Motor technology transition: from open-loop to closed-loop control\n3. Managerial implications and conclusion: Companies are frequently faced with the difficult dilemma of having to choose between an existing technology and a new technology. The only ways to get past the quandary and transition to the new technology are to either abandon the old technology or to have full confidence in the future potential of the new technology. The problem is that it is practically impossible to have full confidence in the future potential of a new technology initially, so recognizing the limits of existing technology becomes extremely important (Foster, 1986). In Fanuc's successful transitions to new technologies chronicled here - first to a new servomotor technology and second to a new softwired logic unit system - both projects started with a keen awareness of the limitations of the existing technology. Here we would highlight three points that enabled Fanuc to make technological transition to new technologies.First, the two separate departments charged with pursuing the existing and new technologies coexisted at the same time. For example, even when making the transition to the DC servomotor, Mr Koyama continued to pursue work on the EH pulse motor based on open-loop control even while Mr Endo continued to explore the potential of the closed-loop NC system at the same time. Similarly, different departments continued work on both the hardwired NC system and the softwired computer NC system in parallel for a period of time even when MPU was introduced. We should emphasize that old and new technologies only continued to coexist temporarily until the company decided to abandon the legacy technology.Second, the two departments were charged with different specialized tasks, and interdependence between the departments was minimized. The two tasks were to maintain and improve the existing technology in one case, and to address the technological issues involved in introducing cutting-edge semiconductor technology into NC systems in the other case. By giving the departments specialized assignments to address totally different technological issues, interdependence between the tasks could be practically eliminated. As a result, information could be localized and confined to the separate departments. In other words, information relating to the existing technology was confined in the former department, while information regarding the new technology was concentrated in the latter department. Considering there was some competitiveness between the two departments, localization of information effectively prevented serious conflict between the departments (Kodama, 2007).Third, the work of the two departments was coordinated and overseen by a single general manager (O'Reilly and Tushman, 2004). Because the coordination and integration of existing and new technologies was carried out by a single individual, the relative merits of the existing and new technologies could be clearly and objectively evaluated. In principle, Fanuc adopted this approach as a way of making the transition from open-loop to closed-loop control, and from hardwired to softwired NC systems. This dual department arrangement enabled Fanuc to clearly discern the limitations of their existing technologies in comparison with the new technologies, and make smooth successful transitions to new technologies.Finally, we will discuss further practical implication raised in this paper. The dual-track arrangement followed by Fanuc suggests the need under some circumstances to localize information and not share information between technology R&D entities. Many existing studies have described arrangements that promote information sharing such as by concurrent engineering, which is frequently touted as one of the strengths of Japanese companies. There is no question that the sharing of information between departments within same technology system can contribute to higher performance. But this study raises the question of whether information sharing is also effective when it is between different technology system such as between open-loop system and closed-loop system, and between hardwired system and softwired system. Furthermore, this study suggests that localization of information might be advantageous and necessary when it is between different technology systems. Existing literature make emphasis on the effectiveness of building highly independent organizations from conventional value network (Christensen, 1997), and this insight of earlier study seems to be consistent with the notion of information localization that is suggested by this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide new practical viewpoints and a framework regarding the management of technology transition from old to new technology through an in-depth case study of Fanuc.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Due to the exploratory nature of this research and our interest in identifying key factors that affect the progress of technological transition, the authors selected the grounded theory style of data interpretation.\nFindings: - This case study identifies three key factors common to Fanuc's two major technological transitions and provides a new framework for the successful transition.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides new practical viewpoints regarding the management of technology transition from old to new technology.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Urban consolidation centre - a literature review, categorisation, and a future research agenda	[ "Content analysis", "City logistics", "Urban freight", "Urban consolidation centre", "Structural literature review" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Due to ongoing urbanisation, the world's cities are expanding, further stressing an already pressured system (United Nation, 2014). Due to this expansion, the demand for goods will continue to increase, worsening challenges such as congestion, noise, emissions and safety (Allen et al., 2015). However, the demand for goods is a prerequisite for living and prosperous cities. There is a need to identify viable solutions to alleviate these challenges. Logistic activities, such as transportation, consolidation and distribution of goods in cities, can be aggregated under the term \"city logistics\" (see the definition from Awasthi and Chauhan, 2012). Examples of city logistics initiatives, that aims to reduce this negative impact, include night deliveries or off-peak deliveries (Holguin-Veras et al., 2011), pack stations for parcels (Quak et al., 2014), and urban consolidation centres (UCC) (Browne et al., 2005).\nMethod: An SLR methodology was selected. An SLR, in line with the purpose of this study, provides several strengths in identifying and summarising common areas in a field, contrasting the differences, assessing the existing intellectual territory, identifying research gaps, and providing particular and concrete propositions for a future research agenda (Tranfield et al., 2003; Crowther and Cook, 2007; Denyer and Tranfield, 2009; Saenz and Koufteros, 2015). Reviews can also provide insights and guidance into the needs of practitioners and policy-makers (Tranfield et al., 2003; Denyer and Tranfield, 2009). The phases of the entire SLR process are presented in Figure 1, the creation of which was largely guided by Crowther and Cook (2007), Denyer and Tranfield (2009), and Tranfield et al. (2003). Following this structural path as opposed to a more narrative literature review results in clear findings with a high level of transparency.\nDescriptive analysis of the reviewed articles: The year of publication among the identified journals vary from 2000 to 2017, with more than half of the articles published during the last three years, indicating that the area is under significant recent expansion. The oldest article identified is from the year 2000, suggesting the field is quite new from a research point of view.\nDescription of categories identified: This chapter aims to address the first part of the purpose of this study, to describe dominant categories and themes within the area of UCC.\nIdentified research gaps in the categories: This chapter aims to address the second part of the purpose: to identify gaps. The gaps are a crucial point of departure for both the development of a future research agenda and insights into the needs of practitioners. The identification of the gaps is based on an elaboration regarding what we did not find in the reviewed articles. The consequences of the gaps are then further discussed and explained to deepen the understanding with regard to the need to bridge these gaps. The chapter describes and discusses the gaps identified within each of the dominant categories. This is followed by a chapter about the gaps that were found, in part, outside the categories, for example, the type of data and the methodology used.\nGaps outside the identified categories: Gaps and further research needs have also been identified in terms of methodology and in terms of areas that have been inadequately addressed to be qualified as a category or theme.\nConclusions, implications and limitations: The structured literature review on journal articles focussing on UCCs reveals a limited and, at the same time, fragmented research area; only 56 relevant articles were identified that covered several disciplines and topics. Considering that no article was published prior to 2000 and that more than half of the articles were dated 2014 or later, it is clear that research within the UCC field is on the rise. Through the content analysis, five categories were identified: stakeholders, design of distribution structure, and design of transport resources, environmental and social considerations, and economic considerations.\nImplications for practitioners: The present study has a significant impact on several of the stakeholders mentioned in the literature, including receivers, local authorities, and LSPs. The review of the literature shows that practitioners have a vital role in research targeting UCCs. To address the need for more primary data, the roles of stakeholders might need to change to not only contributing with information they already have but also to supporting researchers in the collection of data. The present study highlights the importance of more research with a focus on collaborating and organising the stakeholders in these initiatives. Thus, apart from talking about the importance of collaboration, shared actions, and responsibilities, research must also contribute with guidelines and tools on how this can be done. Furthermore, this review points to the importance of larger consideration to some stakeholder groups, especially suppliers and UCC operators, in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Urban consolidation centre (UCC) is a popular initiative targeting the challenge of negative environmental and social impacts from freight transports in cities. Despite this, UCC often fails in practice, which indicates a knowledge gap. Furthermore, research within the field can be described as fragmented, transdisciplinary and fast growing. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the field by describing dominant categories and themes within the area, identify gaps in order to propose a future research agenda, and provide insights into the needs of practitioners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review (SLR) targeting journal articles based on UCCs has been constructed with a supplementary snowball approach. A content analysis was performed to categorise themes in the research on UCCs and to identify research gaps, both within and outside the categories identified.\nFindings: Despite substantial research on UCC, very little research ends up in academic journals. In all, 56 articles address UCC. The most common topics were the role of stakeholders, design of distribution structures and transport resources, environmental and social consideration, and economic considerations. Much focus is directed towards finding \"optimal\" solutions and designs for potential initiatives with very little, if any, consideration to financial viability or the management of the UCC initiative.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research points out existing gaps in the literature and proposes a future research agenda with UCCs as the focus. For example, although environmental and social arguments are often applied to justify the implementation of UCCs, few studies measure or evaluate their impact. Another important research gap is the economical consideration, both how to generate revenue and how to consider economies of scale.\nPractical implications: The practical contribution of most studies is directed towards municipalities. Few findings are presented in a way to support companies. Additionally, by bridging the gaps related to how stakeholders can collaborate and describe what is happening in a UCC, practitioners can use such information as guidelines.\nOriginality/value: The results provide a research agenda for the fragmented research targeting UCCs, supporting the viability of future initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analyzing CSR issues for supply chain performance system using preference rating approach	[ "Corporate strategy", "Corporate social responsibility", "Supply chains", "CSR issues", "Preference rating approach", "Supply chain performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: There has been a change in the last few years to an enlarge view of the responsibilities of business to incorporate the environment, local communities, employment practices and ethics in business practices. The globalization of business, private enterprise and the market economy is also a reason of interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and also encouraging the spread of CSR practices. CSR is more closely aligned with the notion of sustainability through the concept of the triple bottom line and can also be defined as a conception in esteem of many social aspects as: ethics, multiplicity, healthier working conditions, human rights, protection from harm, philanthropy and community immersion (Carter and Jennings, 2002). Carroll (1999) says that CSR is a multi-dimensional structure and has four important dimensions, namely: economic, legal, ethical and discretionary. CSR emphasizes more attention of firm's responsibilities toward social and environmental practices, instead of only on legal and economic concerns.\n2. Identification of CSR issues and CS: During these days, most of the all Indian organizations are realizing importance of CSR-based activities and trying to integrate them with their supply chain functions. Therefore, it is required to identify the significant CSR issues and prioritize them in order to build an effective and efficient SCP system. During this research, automobile industries located at Delhi region of India have been considered and significant issues based on literature review and discussion with field experts have been identified and enlisted in Table I.\n3. Research methodology: preference rating approach: It is noticeable that a good number of multi-criteria decision-making techniques are available in the literature with their own importance and limitations as discussed by many researchers. Most of the techniques are based on the point scoring scale as five-point (1-5) or nine-point (1-9) Likert scale (Griffin and Hauser, 1993). However, by choosing such type of random numerical scale, different results for the same problem can be produce easily (Franceschini and Rossetto, 1995). Hence, the results produced by such techniques may have low robustness. Therefore, in those type of cases, a need of sensitivity analysis is arises to make results more robust, which required a lot of computational work. The most primitive technique to analyze the multi-criteria decision-making problems is analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (Saaty, 1980). The advantage of AHP technique was having a simple step-by-step procedure and a provision of consistency check for pair-wise comparison matrix based on consistency ratio. Simultaneously, the disadvantage of this technique was inability to deals with the uncertainty involved in human judgments. Similar to the AHP technique, the analytic network process (ANP) was developed to solve the decision-making problems having multi-criteria. The ANP has a disadvantage as it required a more time consuming wide-ranging pair-wise comparison (Hauser and Clausing, 1988) and inability to handle the uncertainty involved in human subjective judgments. To deals with the uncertainty, fuzzy version of AHP and ANP were introduced (Griffin and Hauser, 1993), having a wider scale of pair-wise comparison, however which usually leads difficulty in computation of weights/preference ratings of considered factors.\n4. Proposed research flow chart: In the present research work, a preference rating approach has been used to analyze the importance of CSR issues to build an effective and efficient CSR-based SCP system. A systematic procedure for this research is given as follows:\n5. Numerical illustration: Stage 1: CPR approach for RIRs\n6. Discussion and conclusions: In this competitive environment, due to the high pressure from governmental and non-governmental agencies, most of the organizations are trying to implement CSR-based SCP system. Therefore, a need arises to identify and analyze the CSR issue with reference to supply chain of the organizations and its subsequent performance.\n7. Managerial implications: In the developing countries such as India, a number of organizations are demanding to incorporate the CSR theme in their business functions to maintain good reputation and stability in the competitive market place. Therefore, a need arises at the managerial level to build a CSR-based SCP system in order to show the diverse effect among their competitors. For this, managers may have various implications; out of them important is how to identify the CSR issues and how to analyze their level of importance in order to improve the SCP of an organization. For implementing the SCP system under CSR context, the findings of this research may provide the following significant managerial guidelines:\n8. Limitations and future direction: As per our best knowledge, the proposed research work has been considered first time for Indian automobile industry located at Delhi region, which gives an evident for originality of the present research. With the good managerial implications, this research also has some limitations as: first, only six issues are considered for analysis and other, it represents only a Delhi region of India. Hence, it cannot be concluded that the results will be applicable for automobile industries located all over India. For future direction, a comprehensive analysis can be performed by collecting data from other manufacturing sectors (instead of automobile) or by using the other multi-criteria techniques like interpretive structural modeling and structural equation modeling, etc.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the significant corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and to analyze the interaction among them in order to improve supply chain performance (SCP) system of an organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To achieve the objective, a preference rating approach (synthesized in company preference rating (CPR) and company satisfaction assessment (CSA) approaches) has been used in two stages as: stage 1, relative importance rating (RIR) of identified issues has been computed using CPR approach. For this, preference graphs have been developed based on the field expert's opinions using graph-theory-based representation technique. In stage 2: competitive priority ratings of CSR issues with respect to competitive strategies have been calculated using CSA approach.\nFindings: Based on RIRs (stage 1), it has been noticed that issue namely \"social benefits for employees\" is more desirable among all considered issues. In stage 2, based on competitive priority ratings, the issue \"social benefits for employees\" is more important for an organization to build a better brand reputation through CSR activities and issue \"degree of CSR implementation\" is more significant in order to improve the SCP of an organization. The issue \"environmental protection\" helps the organization to reduce their overall environmental impact and also provides an aid in achieving long-term sustainable goals of an organization.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of present research gives an idea about the importance of CSR issues, based on this, managers can decide, which issue is more significant and can help in taking decisions and framing strategies in context of CSR for improving the SCP of their organization effectively and efficiently.\nOriginality/value: As per the best knowledge, recognized CSR issues have been considered first time to quantify the CSR-based SCP of Indian automobile industries located near around Delhi region, India. This paper may provide an aid to the managers in making the CSR-based policies to enhance their SCP.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceived cultural distance in intercultural service encounters: does customer participation matter?	[ "Competence", "Customer participation", "Intercultural service encounters", "Perceived cultural distance", "Warmth" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Because of a trend of globalization in the past two decades, immigrants and tourists have contributed to an increasingly diverse marketplace. In 2014, the global trade in services accounted for more than $9tn, which represents 21 per cent of all trades in goods and services (World Trade Organization, 2015). From 2002 to 2012, immigrants represented 47 per cent increase in the labor force in the USA and 70 per cent in Europe (OECD, 2012). Currently, approximately 43.3 million immigrants live in the USA, who make up for 13 per cent of the total US population; this number will likely be doubled by 2065 (CAP Immigration Team and Nicholson, 2017). Equally worth noting is that 75 million non-resident tourists visited the USA in 2015 and contributed approximately $1.5tn to the US gross domestic product; this contribution will likely be doubled by 2027 (Statista, 2017). These statistics affirm the importance of intercultural service encounters (ICSE) in contributing to the USA and world economy, which warrants more research in this area.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Perceived cultural distance in intercultural service encounters\n3. Hypotheses development: 3.1 The impact of perceived cultural distance on warmth and competence\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Study design and procedure\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics and reliability\n6. General discussion and implications: The current study is set out to investigate the mediating role of social judgements of warmth and competence and the moderating role of CP in the context of intercultural services encounters. This work demonstrates that social judgments of service providers' warmth and competence play key roles in customers' perceptions of service quality and satisfaction. Customers naturally draw on these social judgement dimensions when encountering service providers with dissimilar cultural backgrounds, which color their perceptions of service providers, service quality and satisfaction. In the weight loss service setting, our findings support that PCD, induced by the service provider's dissimilar ethnicity background, negatively impacts customers' social judgements of service providers' warmth and competence. Additionally, lower social judgements of warmth and competence lead to lower perceived service quality and customer satisfaction, two important outcomes of interest in the services marketing literature. Further, we establish that the mediating effect of warmth and competence is moderated by the degree of CP in the ICSE. When customers have a chance to be engaged in the service delivery process, they are less influenced by their colored social judgements about service providers' competence and warmth, thus improving their perceptions of service quality and satisfaction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate if perceived cultural distance (PCD) negatively affects service quality and customer satisfaction through customers' social judgements of the service providers' warmth and competence in intercultural service encounters (ICSE), and if this negative effect can be mitigated through customer participation (CP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online consumer panel was conducted using a series of intercultural service encounter scenarios (in the weight loss service context) to manipulate CP (high vs low) and pictures of service providers to induce PCD (high vs low).\nFindings: As hypothesized, in the context of ICSE, PCD negatively impacts customers' social judgements of the service providers' warmth and competence, which in turn influence service quality and customer satisfaction. However, the negative impact of PCD is alleviated when the level of CP is high.\nResearch limitations/implications: Using a single service context (weight loss services) may restrict the generalizability of findings. Future research may explore other service contexts.\nPractical implications: To improve customers' experience, managers in service firms with multicultural customers may create more engagement opportunities by designing the service delivery process in ways in which more CP and involvement is allowed.\nOriginality/value: This research is among the first to highlight the importance of consumers' social judgements about culturally dissimilar service providers, which at baseline come with disadvantages but that can be altered through marketing actions (e.g. enhanced CP).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leading global virtual teams	[ "Team leaders", "Team management", "Team learning", "Homeworking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A new workplace is evolving. One in which people - often working in different parts of the globe - interact and collaborate through increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as intranets, web meetings, videoconferencing, teleconferencing, instant messaging, application sharing, and e-mail. These technologies enable us to work in a \"virtual\" mode, but what does that mean, and how do we lead successfully in such an environment?\nStrategy: beating isolation through promoting community: 1. Be proactive\nStrategy: beating confusion through promoting clarity: 6. Stay focused\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - A new collaborative workplace is evolving which is both global and virtual. Those working in this environment are faced with two major challenges: isolation and confusion. This paper aims to look at what leaders can do to overcome these challenges.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Building on years of experience of working on and coaching global virtual teams, the author presents ten practical guidelines for enabling such teams to perform at their best. These guidelines highlight the importance of, for example, thinking proactively about the specific conditions faced by the team, applying cultural intelligence, staying person-centric, establishing predictability, and driving for precise communications.\nFindings: - Applying these guidelines helps teams co-create a shared workplace that is conducive to efficiency and psychological wellbeing.\nOriginality/value: - Virtual global teamwork is only going to increase in the years ahead. This paper provides a basis on which leaders in the new workplace can begin re-skilling themselves for leading at a distance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Online retailers' return policy and prefactual thinking: An exploratory study of USA and China e-commerce markets	[ "Uncertainty avoidance", "E-commerce", "Anticipated regret", "Cross-cultural", "Prefactual thinking", "Return policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: E-commerce represents a significant proportion of overall commercial sales and contributes to the economic process worldwide. Global retail e-commerce sales were $2.304 trillion in 2017 and is expected to surpass $4.4 trillion in 2021 (McNair, 2018). In 2018, the number of world's internet users pass the 4bn mark which is over half of the world's population (McDonald, 2018). The critical role e-commerce plays in the world economy underscores the importance of analyzing the factors affecting online retailers' profitability.\nBackground and conceptual framework: Return policies can be described by the degree of difficulty for returning: lenient or strict. Strict return policies create an impediment that reduces the frequency of returns by increasing exit costs. Studies indicate high exit costs and low policy flexibility increase consumer's dissatisfaction level and decrease both purchase and repurchase rate (e.g. Jones et al., 2007; Tsai and Huang, 2007). By reducing the exit costs and increasing the level of consumer satisfaction, lenient return policies increase purchase and repurchase rates. Previous research also shows that the effects of the retailer's return policy on consumer purchasing intention may differ in online retailing vs brick and mortar retailing (Huang et al., 2011). Online consumer demand is more sensitive to return policy (Li et al., 2013). In remote purchase contexts (e.g. online purchase and catalog purchase), lenient return policy can lead to more favorable product evaluation and consumers are more likely to believe that favorable return policies are indicative of high-quality products since these firms are standing behind their products. In contrast, consumers in the strict policy condition are more likely to question the quality of products (Wood, 2001). However, while retailers have extended liberal return policies to reduce consumer's anticipated regret and attract more consumers, they also need to undertake the financial loss. The more lenient the return policies are, the more cost retailers have to pay to accept the returns (Davis et al., 1998). As customer abuse of return and exchange policies is a source of frustration for the apparel industry, effectively managing return policies and consumer returns are important to retailers (Kang, 2004). A cursory view of online retailers' return policies show differences across the global market. For example, product items shipped from Amazon.com can be returned within 30 days in the USA[1], while Amazon China only accepts returns within seven days[2]. Scholarly research that examines a comprehensive set of return policy traits of online retailers in a cross-cultural context is limited. In the present study, Hofstede's (2001) uncertainty avoidance dimension is used to explain this research gap.\nMethodology: The research questions were studied based on qualitative research design methods proposed by Creswell and Creswell (2018). Content analysis methods were used to evaluate the return policies found in the USA and China markets using NVivo 12. Prior research shows the increasing scholarly interest in content analysis method in a variety of disciplines, especially business strategic management, supply chain management and other social science disciplines (e.g. Duriau et al., 2007; Mir et al., 2018). By analyzing online fashion retailers' return policies, the researchers are able to obtain direct information related to the different market interactions between the consumer and online fashion brands pertaining to consumer returns across the USA and China.\nResults and discussion: The results offer insight into the ways return policies are presented to consumers in two diverse cultural markets, the USA and China. By analyzing the similarities and differences of the return policies, we are able to better understand how return policies of online fashion retailers reflect and respond to US and Chinese consumers' level of prefactual thinking and needs to avoid uncertainty. Moreover, we can also explain the underlying reasons of our findings within a cultural business context supported by previous literature.\nConclusion and implications: While there are certain types of return policies that are commonly mentioned, the details related to each return policy type offer an interesting picture of how return policies are implemented differently across the two country markets. Our findings show online fashion retailers in the US market to have more detailed and flexible return policies compared to the China market. This finding corresponds with the US cultural group's tendencies to avoid uncertainty and the need to alleviate uncertainty related to any decision-making with detailed public facing information on return policies. Applying and extending Hofstede's (2001) research, higher levels of uncertainty and higher level of negative prefactual thinking would more likely evidenced across the US population within an online consumption context compared to the Chinese population with lower levels of uncertainty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how return policies from online fashion retailers from different countries (USA, China and Western European) support consumer need for uncertainty avoidance and lower negative prefactual thinking in two different markets: China and USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A content analysis of eight international online fashion retailers' return policies in both the China and USA markets was conducted.\nFindings: US, Chinese and Western European online fashion retailers have more detailed return policies in the USA market compared to the China market. The results also indicate that US, Chinese and Western European online fashion retailers are more inclined to offer lenient return policies in the USA market which helps to lower consumer perceptions of uncertainty and negative prefactual thinking.\nPractical implications: Exploring online retailers' return policies and how retailers respond to consumers' level of comfort with uncertainty and tendencies to engage in negative prefactual within the context of different cultural markets offer valuable insight into standard retail practices necessary to retain profitability. Despite the perception of a \"global\" marketplace, nonstandardization of customer service is found.\nOriginality/value: Although the ability of online retailers to reach global markets has increased, few scholars have studied return policies within different cultural contexts. This study focuses on return policy as a major influencer of prefactual thinking by reducing anticipated regret and increasing online purchase intention in a global cultural context. The research is not only beneficial to managers who seek to increase the profitability through globally strategic implementation of return policies but also contributes to the consumer regret and risk literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The leniency of return policy and consumers' repurchase intention in online retailing	[ "Structural equation modelling", "Online retailing", "Return policy", "Repurchase intention", "Expectation disconfirmation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: E-commerce has been consistently growing and grew another 3.6 percent in the second quarter of 2008 to 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2017, as a percentage of total retail sales in the USA. In 2017, US e-commerce sales were $453bn (CBRE, 2018). The picture is very similar worldwide. China had $1.15 trillion in e-commerce retail sales in 2017, representing 15 percent of retail sales and is emerging as the top e-commerce country (Tong, 2018). Worldwide, retail sales totaled $22.7 trillion with e-commerce sales accounting for 10.1 percent, or $2.29 trillion (Tong, 2018).\nLiterature review and model development: This paper focuses on how the customer's informed return process and return experience impact a customer's intention to repurchase from an e-tailer. There are three major factors of the return process influencing repurchase intention: leniency, fairness and quality. Our choice of these factors and the hypotheses are grounded in expectation disconfirmation theory along with numerous studies done in product returns management (Oliver, 1980; Oliver and Burke, 1999).\nExpectation disconfirmation theory: According to Oliver (1980), customers acquire expectation from the initial standards of products or services and develop perceived disconfirmation of the standards by experiencing the performance of the products or services. He discusses two types of disconfirmation, such as a negative disconfirmation and a positive disconfirmation. The negative disconfirmation means a performance outcome that is worse than expectation, and the positive disconfirmation represents a performance consequence that is better than expected. In sum, he argues that satisfaction is a function of expectation and perceived disconfirmation. Oliver and Burke (1999) further extend expectation disconfirmation theory by adding two additional constructs, such as repurchase intention and loyalty in service environments. Their expectancy disconfirmation with performance model starts with the expectation that is manipulated in various ways. Expectation serves as the foundation of disconfirmation judgments and affects performance outcomes. Expectation also influences satisfaction directly, which seems to be dimension specific. Both performance and disconfirmation jointly influence satisfaction. They also confirm the link between satisfaction and repurchase intention. Lastly, they have found that loyalty is correlated with satisfaction and intention.\nRepurchase intention: Repurchase intention measures whether the customer will purchase goods in the future from the e-tailer. This is distinct from purchase intention, where the customer is considering making an initial purchase. Lee et al. (2011) discuss the purchase intention of customers based on eight factors: perceived value, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, firm reputation, privacy, trust, reliability and functionality. If a customer returns a product and experiences the return process, they will likely have greater clarity on these eight factors, as they apply to the retailer and their reputation. For example, the customer will better understand the value of the product, the accuracy of the company's description of the product and the company's actual vs the promised customer service before and after the sale.This higher level of knowledge implies that there is potentially less risk on the consumer's part due to the diminished expectation disconfirmation that may occur when first purchasing a product from a new e-tailer (Connelly et al., 2011).\nLeniency of the return policy and repurchase intention: The leniency of the return policy is an important information mechanism and is critical to any retailer, butit is especially important to the e-tailers. The leniency of a return policy is defined based on five main characteristics that were synthesized from the literature on the return process: time, money, effort, scope and exchange (Janakiraman et al., 2016). The leniency of a return policy has been shown to be an important factor in the point of sale due to experiential information (Shulman et al., 2010; Wood, 2001), risk aversion (Heiman, 2001; Che, 1996), competitive advantage in certain markets (Janakiraman et al., 2016) and likelihood of returning the product (Li et al., 2013). Since consumers are shopping at e-tailers, that are inherently less experiential and leniency in the return of goods is essential to the retailer (Kirmani and Rao, 2000; Wood, 2001). However, not all e-commerce has proven that leniency is beneficial to the company due to the high cost associated with the return process. For example, Bonifield et al. (2010) find that leniency did not benefit consumable goods. This research does not look at different types of goods and their effects, but rather focuses on whether the experience of the customer during the return process would lead to higher repurchase intention.\nMediating effects: Certain factors may mediate the relationship between repurchase intention and lenient return policies. Pei et al. (2014) included the perceived fairness of the return policy as a mediating variable in their study. Griffis et al. (2012) and Zhang et al. (2017) used the perceived quality of the return service for measuring the mediating effects. This research utilized these two mediating variables to identify potential mediating effects in the model.\nMethodology: In this work, our focus is on Chinese e-tailing marketplace, which has the largest e-marketplace in the world (Rai, 2016). This industry includes many growing e-commerce sites that offer marketplaces for numerous independent companies to sell products; we term the company providing this marketplace as a platform. The two largest Chinese platforms are Alibaba and Jingdong (examples of US analogs are eBay and Amazon marketplaces). In particular, we focus on JingDong, the largest B2C platform in China, which has recently gained an additional 4.6 percent in market share in 2015 (Rai, 2016).\nAnalysis and results: The adequacy of the data and measures were examined. Table III presents the results of reliability and convergent validity analysis.\nDiscussion and conclusions: The use of an expectation disconfirmation theoretical lens to study a question regarding product returns management was successfully employed in this research: how does the product returns expectation, as promoted by the e-tailer and subsequent product return experience affect the customer's intention to make a repeat purchase from that e-tailer? We show that expectation disconfirmation theory can be appropriately used to impact the perceived quality of service and leniency of an e-tailer's product return process. This work compliments important prior work in the product returns field, which focused on how the product return policy and the reputation of an e-tailer impacts intention to make an initial purchase. Our use of expectation disconfirmation theory and an e-tailers proper use of positive disconfirmation has shown that there is a positive impact on the future intention of a customer to make another purchase at the e-tailer if they have received adequate expectation from the company in regards to the returns process and policy. Expected return policy leniency positively influences repurchase intention, which is congruent with Oghazi et al.'s (2018) finding between return policy leniency and online purchase decision. However, as pointed by Bonifield et al. (2010), leniency does not benefit a certain type of products - such as consumable goods. Expected quality of the return experience positively affects repurchase intention in our analysis, which has been confirmed by previous studies on the direct relationship (Fu et al., 2018; Su et al., 2016) and the indirect relationship via satisfaction (Oghuma et al., 2016; Su et al., 2016; Oh, 1999). Expected fairness also positively affects a customer's repurchase intention as confirmed by Janakiraman et al. (2016), Su et al. (2016), Myrden and Kelloway (2014) and Pei et al. (2014). Overall, our research found that all hypotheses in our study are supported. Expected return policy leniency, expected fairness of the return experience and the expected quality of the return experience is important and supporting factors that influence a customer's intention of repurchase. Perceived fairness and quality mediated repurchase intention. Essentially, it has been shown through the lens of expectation disconfirmation theory that a customer's expectation about the returns policy and experience with product returns influence repurchase intention.\nTheoretical contributions: Expectation disconfirmation theory has been used to understand how expectations affect satisfaction (Connelly et al., 2011). We extend the use of the theory by analyzing customers' experience on product returns and their intention on repeated purchases within the perspective of expectation disconfirmation theory, specifically, by focusing on the post-purchase expectation of the return process and repurchase intention. While we were effective in showing the positive use of this theory, it may not be enough to explain customers repurchase intention when they have experienced the return policy due to a closing asymmetric information gap between the e-tailer and the customer. This implies that when the customer in an e-tailer market experiences the return experience, the asymmetrical information gap has been closed between that customer and the e-tailer; indicating that relaying expectations to the customer is no longer necessary. However, future research could further branch expectation disconfirmation theory by utilizing it in e-tailers response to negative reviews and comments in an attempt to rebroadcast their brand and company in a positive light. There is also a need to evaluate and better understand customers repurchase intention after the return experience.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the repurchase intention of a customer and his/her perception of various aspects of an e-tailer's product return process, such as leniency, fairness and quality of the return process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research focuses on these aspects through the expectation disconfirmation theoretical lens, looking at the relationship between expectations shaped by the product return policy and the repurchase intention. This research collects data using a survey approach and analyzes it using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: It was found that perceived return policy leniency, perceived fairness of the return experience and perceived quality of the return experience are important and supporting factors that influence a customer's intention to be a return customer to e-tailers. Perceived leniency was found to not only be the most influential factor for return purchase intention but it also significantly impacted the perceived fairness and the quality of the return process. As a result, perceived leniency of the return policy had a \"halo\" effect on the other factors.\nPractical implications: This suggests that the majority of an e-tailer's effort should be expended determining a return policy and experience that is widely perceived as lenient as this will overall improve customer perception of the return process and increase repurchase intention.\nOriginality/value: This research extends research on lenient policy within the growing e-tailer sector by examining the return experience of the customer and subsequent repurchase intention based on multiple factors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers' value perceptions of e-customization - a model incorporating information framing and product type	[ "E-commerce", "Structural equation modeling", "Consumer value perceptions", "Customization", "Information framing", "Product type" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: The term \"e-customization\", in this study, focuses on consumers' use of advanced information technology to design and create one-of-a-kind products for themselves (e.g. Franke et al., 2009, 2010; Moreau and Heard 2010). Scholars and practitioners alike have high expectations regarding the promise of customization (Ansari and Mela, 2003; Sheth and Sisodia, 1999). The literature argues that the key to success in customization lies in the perceived benefits from a specific mass customization offer (Broekhuizen and Alsem, 2002; Franke and Piller, 2003; Rungtusanatham and Salvador, 2008; Squire et al., 2004). However, some scholars have questioned the merits of customization, because it requires extensive customer participation (e.g. Fang, 2008; Huffman and Kahn, 1998; Simonson, 2005; Zipkin, 2001; Hill, 2003). Although the literature has not addressed whether consumers view e-customization as a major improvement (Godek et al., 2000; Kramer, 2007), Merle et al. (2010) and Squire et al. (2006) have focused on how customization strategy creates value for consumers and how the components of this value could be measured.\nConceptual framework, model, and hypotheses: Generally, customers anticipate the value derived from consumption of a customized product (Kahn, 1998; Dellaert and Stremersch, 2005; Schreier, 2006). This study focuses on three components of e-customization value:\nResearch design and methodology: Experimental design\nAnalysis and results: Multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses\nDiscussion, conclusions, and implications: Summary of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite significant business spending in areas such as personalization tools and add-on options representing levels of product attributes, most marketers do not know the amount of value that is directly attributable to their e-customization strategies. This study aims to offer an in-depth investigation of consumers' value perceptions of e-customization and their relationship with perceived sufficiency of information and cognitive cost. The context effects on value perception in e-customization are studied together with antecedent constructs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research consists of a 2x2 between-subjects factorial design. The full model is tested using multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis to verify the significance of the inter-relationships between constructs, as well as the main and the interaction effects of two experimental factors (product information framing and product type).\nFindings: The experimental results showed that perceived e-customization value does not simply stem from the ability to \"narrow-cast\" content more specifically related to a shopper's interests (i.e. anticipated fulfillment value). Rather, this value also stems from the dynamic flexibility of the information system and its ability to entertain and educate during the information dissemination process (i.e. process value and knowledge value). Furthermore, when the customization framing features are better matched with product type characteristics, e-customization seemed to increase value in ways that are difficult to achieve in conventional shopping environments.\nOriginality/value: By testing the proposed structural model simultaneously with two experimental factors of product type and information framing, this work is the first to address the question of context effects on value creation in an area of increasing substantive importance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Opportunity or threat? The pros and cons of open courses for professional development	[ "Workplace learning", "Professional development", "Openness", "Open courses" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe benefits of open courses: In most free societies, openness is widely regarded as a virtue. Secrecy, on the other hand, tends to be viewed with suspicion. But something of a role reversal exists where the business world is concerned.\nHow to manage openness risks: Effectiveness of any open course is determined by the degree of collaboration and information exchange that takes place. Herein lies the problem though. Openness in this context is typically viewed as more curse than blessing by firms paranoid about keeping their inner secrets intact. Knowing exactly how much information to make available is therefore a cause of much anxiety to them. This particular challenge becomes greater as the number of course participants increases. But in an era where collaboration is so strongly lauded, such a guarded approach sits rather uneasily.\nIndustry factors: Trust is critical in these circumstances and inter-firm associations that include strategic alliances and joint ventures facilitate its development. Company and industry level factors significantly impact on collaboration and risk perceptions too. Take size, for instance. It allegedly matters little in certain contexts. Not here. Large industrial plants in various sectors invariably boast a substantial advantage in terms of investment and manufacturing expertise. Others might extract information from open courses about such large concerns. But these strengths ensure that exploiting it will be difficult to say the least. On the other hand, competitors are more readily able to use data that can be easily transported between firms and is not unique to a specific culture.\nComment: The review is based on: \"Open courses and MOOCs as professional development - is the openness a hindrance?\" by Olsson (2016). This compelling piece examines the emergence of open courses as an effective means of professional development. In addition to pointing out various benefits of such courses, the authors note potential risks associated with openness and suggest ways in which they can be successfully controlled or minimized.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: In most free societies, openness is widely regarded as a virtue. Secrecy, on the other hand, tends to be viewed with suspicion. But something of a role reversal exists where the business world is concerned. With fierce competition the norm, firms quite rightly take measures to prevent confidential information becoming common knowledge. The overwhelming fear is that rival operators will use sensitive data to secure a competitive advantage. All this has considerable implications for training and development. A growing need for professional development exists at both individual and company level. Greater demand for key skills and competencies drives this need. Organizations are particularly interested in flexible provision that employees can slot in alongside everyday work commitments and responsibilities.\nPracticalimplications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How do ventures become more innovative? The effect of external search and ambidextrous knowledge integration	[ "Innovation", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, new ventures have sprouted globally as a result of strong economic growth. However, most of these ventures lack commercial and practical technology experience and face resource barriers to engage in innovation because no single organization can master and control all resources necessary for innovation. One such constraint is knowledge constraints (Garriga et al., 2013), which creates a need to search extensively for external knowledge by establishing cooperative relations with external actors as to identify and assimilate new knowledge (Gassmann et al., 2010; Chiaroni et al., 2011; Mina et al., 2014; West and Bogers, 2014). But it is not clear how such constraints and barriers are overcome and which internal factors (such as company behaviors and local knowledge) influence the success of this process.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: Open innovation has been regarded as an effective way to overcome some types of resource scarcity faced during innovation (Chesbrough, 2003; Huizingh, 2011; Lichtenthaler, 2011). This is especially the case for technology start-ups (Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001; Zhang and Li, 2010). Studies in this area highlight the importance of external search (Katila and Ahuja, 2002; Chiang and Hung, 2010), which facilitates identification of scarce resources located outside the company's boundaries. Enterprises' search efforts vary across two distinct dimensions: search breadth and search depth, and they both curvilinearly (taking an inverted U-shape) relate to innovative performance (Laursen and Salter, 2006). However, other studies suggest that the effects of search depth and breadth differ. In this regard, Terjesen and Patel (2017) find that search depth has positive effect on innovation while search breadth negatively affects innovation. As they explained, a company's internal structural constraints and limited managerial attention may restrict the ability to integrate diverse knowledge from broad searches and, in particular, diminish the benefits of transforming and utilizing distant knowledge due to the high associated cost. Similarly, Ferreras-Mendez et al. (2015) confirm that only search depth positively influences innovation, but the direct effect of search breadth on innovation is not significant. These findings are inconsistent, implying that additional research is needed to explore differences between search depth and breadth effects, and what mechanisms explain their influence (Ferreras-Mendez et al., 2015).\n3. Data and methods: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: Results of our analysis are interpreted from Model 8. In this model, the quadratic term of KSD relates negatively to innovation (b=-0.17, p<0.05), suggesting that search depth has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation performance, as posited by H1a. Furthermore, KSB has a positive effect on innovation (b=0.14, p<0.05), i.e. H1b is supported. That is, new ventures performing moderate search depth achieve better innovation performance (see Figure 2).\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Findings and theoretical contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: New ventures search for external knowledge to break through the prevailing knowledge and resource constraints. The influence of search mechanisms can be assessed against the backdrop of internal factors such as the venture's knowledge integration (KI) capability. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of knowledge search depth (KSD) and knowledge search breadth (KSB) on innovation outcomes and asks to what extent such effects are mediated by levels of KI.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors distinguish between the current depth and width of the firm's knowledge base as to detect their possible moderating effects. The authors test the model using data collected from 167 Chinese start-ups.\nFindings: The results show that KSB has a positive effect on KI and innovation performance, but KSD has an inverted U-shaped effect on KI and innovation performance. KI plays a mediating role between external knowledge search and innovation performance, while the breadth of the venture's knowledge base positively moderates the relationship between explorative KI and innovation performance, and the depth of knowledge base positively moderates the relationship between exploitive KI and innovation performance.\nOriginality/value: These results differ from earlier research focusing on mature enterprises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lecturers' perspectives on how introductory economic courses address sustainability	[ "Ecological economics", "Sustainability", "Curriculum", "Introductory economics", "Lecturers", "Talloires declaration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many North American universities have committed to addressing sustainability (Haigh, 2005; Lukman and Glavic, 2007; Wright, 2002). The three major publicly funded universities in British Columbia, Canada, like more than 400 universities worldwide, have signed the Talloires Declaration[1], committing themselves to graduating environmentally literate students capable of becoming ecologically responsible citizens.\n2. Mainstream economics and sustainability education: While there is no widely agreed upon definition of mainstream (neoclassical) economics (Colander, 2000a; Dequech, 2012; Lee, 2004), it is the school of economic thought that is predominant in university economics programs, government finance departments and institutions like the World Bank. Broad consensus indicates that Econ101 courses are highly standardized across North American universities, in part, because the course textbook is typically selected from a handful of leading contenders (Boulding, 1988; Colander, 2000b, 2003).\n3. Methodology: As there was limited research to build on, the authors reasoned that a qualitative approach, which is appropriate when researchers want to generate data about perspectives, experiences and opinions (Creswell, 2003; Marshall and Rossman, 2006), was suitable. The three universities selected for the case study were chosen because each has an economics department, has made sustainability commitments and is a major publicly funded university. For the lecturers, a semi-structured interview format was used because they help uncover unanticipated data and themes and help generate dense detailed descriptions of issues and motivations (Becker, 2001). The interview guide was structured to explore how Econ101 lecturers view the course's handling of sustainability; whether contemporary concerns regarding the state of the environment (e.g. global warming) and universities' sustainability commitments have affected what they teach; and the extent to which they favour revising Econ101 curriculum to more explicitly address sustainability. Further details regarding the methodology, including the interview guide, are provided in Green (2012b).\n4. Results: 4.1 Relevance of sustainability to Econ101 curriculum\n5. Discussion of the findings: Given humanity's worsening ecological predicament (United Nations Environment Program, 2005), it seems reasonable to expect that in the 21st century attaining a basic understanding of the economy would include gaining knowledge of how economies interact with their broader ecological contexts. While Econ101 lecturers are providing students with some knowledge useful for addressing sustainability, such as an understanding of the problem of externalities, their contribution appears to be much below its potential and in some cases even counterproductive.\n6. Conclusion: Well over a decade has passed since the universities in this study made public sustainability commitments. Furthermore, as this research project concluded, the decade of education on sustainable development (2005-2014) promulgated by the United Nations (UN) was more than half over. Nevertheless, the Econ101 lecturers tended to be unaware of their university's sustainability commitments and did not find sustainability salient. None of the lecturers reported explicitly addressing sustainability in Econ101. There was little sign that the curriculum would be reviewed to assess how well the course attends to sustainability or environment-economy linkages. However, it should be noted that two lecturers were dissatisfied by the fact that their colleagues tended to skip over market failures with environmental consequences when teaching Econ101. The present study documents an instance of a discipline that remains engaged in teaching theory that would benefit from critical re-examination to account for the fact that human demands now push against planetary boundaries (Daly, 2005; Rockstrom et al., 2009).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore sustainability commitments' potential implications for the curriculum of introductory economics courses. Universities have signed the Talloires Declaration, committing themselves to promoting students' environmental literacy and ecological citizenship, thereby creating pressure to integrate sustainability across the curriculum.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study approach involving qualitative research methods and the three largest public universities in British Columbia, Canada, was used. As one component of a larger study, 11 of the 19 economists who delivered the course over the study period were interviewed. The theoretical framework was informed by ecological economics scholarship on how mainstream economic thought represents environment-economy linkages.\nFindings: Findings suggest that universities' sustainability commitments have not influenced principles of economics curriculum. Sustainability is not salient to lecturers; prospects that mainstream economics departments will integrate sustainability into curriculum in a timely manner without external pressure appear limited.\nPractical implications: While institutions often enthusiastically report on courses that contribute to students' ecological literacy, identifying curriculum that may confound student understanding of sustainability receives less emphasis. Introductory economics courses appear to merit scrutiny from this perspective.\nOriginality/value: About 40 per cent of North American university students take an introductory economics course, relatively few take more advanced economics courses. This course, thus, teaches many students economic theory and the economics profession's approach to evaluating public policy, and has potential to contribute to knowledge of sustainability. Few studies examine how undergraduate economics curriculum addresses sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational structure and knowledge-practice diffusion in the MNC	[ "Knowledge transfer", "International business", "Integration", "Multinational companies", "Organizational structure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Knowledge management is a cornerstone of competitive advantage in international business, as multinational corporations (MNCs) strive to internationally leverage location-bound knowledge and competencies (Mudambi and Swift, 2011; de Pablos, 2002). Subsidiaries, therefore, assume active contributory roles in MNC innovation and strategic rejuvenation through new technology development, including products, production and administrative practices (Birkinshaw et al., 2008; Cantwell, 1995; Dunning, 1994). As MNCs deploy their knowledge intensive functions abroad, they gradually shift the motive for geographic expansion from economies of scale to leveraging local knowledge and opportunities. As a result, managers must deal with increasingly complex processes of integration and coordination amongst geographic locations (Cantwell and Janne, 1999; Papanastassiou and Pearce, 1997; Pearce, 1999; Zander, 1999). Contemporary knowledge management research can also benefit from a shift in focus toward challenges inherent in diffusing knowledge in the context of global networks.\n2. Literature review: It is generally accepted that knowledge is one of the key competitive resources of contemporary organizations (Argote and Ingram, 2000; Grant, 1996). One of the MNC's purported advantages over purely domestic firms is the ability to draw on geographically dispersed knowledge resources and leverage them globally (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989; Hedlund, 1986, 1994; Hedlund and Rolander, 1990; Kogut and Zander, 1992). Hence, subsidiaries can and often do contribute meaningfully to MNC's new value creation and strategic rejuvenation (Cantwell and Mudambi, 2005). Although knowledge has traditionally flowed from HQ, subsidiaries are sometimes viewed as the new or emerging \"center\" of the MNC as economic growth in developing countries outstrips that of larger markets. In light of this phenomenon, scholars are presently reinterpreting the role of the modern MNC headquarters (Ambos and Mahnke, 2010).\n3. Methodology: The case study approach chosen for this research enabled better discernment between the phenomenon of knowledge and transfer and the context in which it occurs (Yin, 2009). Knowledge management is a particularly context-bound phenomenon, as its outcomes are not easily isolated from the historical and social processes which produce them. By examining multiple instances of knowledge transfer within multiple firms, the authors were able to make use of \"replication logic\" (Yin, 2009) in which insights emerging from one case are tested against observations from another to confirm or disconfirm prior inferences (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997). Furthermore, case study research is especially suited for studies which investigate processes (such as knowledge practice transfer) (Corbin and Strauss, 2008; Eisenhardt, 1989). Examples of related process research using case study methodology include studies of organizational routines (Costello, 1996; Feldman, 2000, 2003; Feldman and Pentland, 2003) and the emergence of knowledge-based practices (Anand et al., 2007).\n4. Findings: Much of the prior research on practice transfer has been conducted in the context of formal initiatives from headquarters (Jensen and Szulanski, 2004; Kostova and Roth, 2002). However, the data analyzed in this research revealed processes other than this central administration through which knowledge practices diffuse among subsidiaries without HQ involvement, and often on an ad hoc or opportunistic basis. The themes that emerged from the interview data, in which these different forms of diffusion were observed, are:\n5. Discussion: Figure 1 graphically depicts a general model of the processes of central administration, brokering and organic diffusion of knowledge practices. As presented in the preceding propositions, these processes are related to elements of organizational structure, which, in turn, influences inter-subsidiary communication. The necessary precondition for any transfer is either corporate or regional HQ initiative or, in both brokering and organic diffusion, the existence of heterogeneous innovation practices within the MNC innovation network. Central administration of practices bypasses inter-subsidiary communication by centralizing communication and incentives for adoption. This mode of diffusion represents the majority of innovation practice transfer at Aero where HQ mandated engineers in the USA to share with subsidiaries to enable diffusion of a common set of compliant practices and capabilities. This does not imply that inter-subsidiary communication didn't exist, but that it was not a precondition for diffusion. Instead, inter-subsidiary communication was enabled subsequent to innovation practice sharing.\n6. Conclusion: 6.1 Summary of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the interaction of formal and informal cross-border knowledge-sharing practices of four large multinational corporations (MNCs) in aerospace, software, IT services and telecommunications industries. The goal was to determine the manner in which coordination and control mechanisms facilitated knowledge transfer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case studies comprised secondary data and semi-structured interviews with corporate headquarters and subsidiary managers in large MNCs conducted in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, India and Eastern Europe.\nFindings: The primary finding of this study is that knowledge transfer mechanisms arise as a result of both formal and informal structures of the MNC. Formal structures which create either mutual dependencies or occasions for knowledge exchange facilitate transfer. Formal structure which inhibits knowledge transfer can be overcome by knowledge brokers and evaluation metrics.\nResearch limitations/implications: These findings suggest that knowledge transfer is more informal than formal, but that MNC headquarters does play a role, intended or not, through shaping the interdependencies among geographically distributed units. Managers should be mindful of both the manner in which tasks and the organization are structured, as these have an indirect impact on the development of knowledge channels.\nOriginality/value: This paper investigates the role of organizational structure and its effect, both intended and unintended, on the transfer of knowledge-based practices. While knowledge transfer has been heavily researched, this study examines the phenomenon at a finer-grained level of analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Market reactions to corporate name changes: evidence from the Toronto Stock Exchange	[ "Abnormal return", "Canadian companies", "Trading volume", "Event study", "Name change", "TSX-listed firms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Each year many companies change their name. Well-known examples include Apple, which dropped the \"computer\" from its name in 2007 to reflect a more diverse product line, and Canadian technology leader Research in Motion, which switched its name to BlackBerry in 2013 to capitalize on the name recognition of its flagship product.\n2. Prior literature: 2.1 Studies based on US firms\n3. Sample selection and data sources: We use monthly issues of TSX eReview to collect 490 corporate name changes and their effective dates for companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) from January 1997 to December 2011. For the collected name changes, we use the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR), which is the electronic filing system for the disclosure documents of issuers across Canada, and Lexis-Nexis databases to identify 411 announcement and 444 approval dates. It is difficult to determine the exact date on which market participants can learn about a company's intention to change its name. Studies that examine name changes of US companies routinely use the date that the name change is first announced in the Wall Street Journal as the announcement date. However, Karpoff and Rankine (1994) report that the name change was mentioned or proposed in a proxy statement before the Wall Street Journal announcement in 88 out of 147 cases. Similarly, Cooper et al. (2001) note difficulty in obtaining exact announcement dates for many firms in their sample. Therefore, they define the announcement date as the first available information on the name change, whether from an announcement or effective trading date. To avoid ambiguity and inconsistency, we use the date of the notice of the shareholders' meeting that includes the consideration of a company name change as the announcement date. We define the approval date as the date on which the name change is officially approved by shareholders. If this date falls on a non-trading day, then the next trading day is used as the approval date. In our sample, the average period between the announcement date and the approval date is 41 calendar days. The average period between the approval date and the effective date is 42 calendar days.\n4. Abnormal returns around the event dates: Following Berkman et al. (2011), Cooper et al. (2005), and Kot (2011), among others, we compute market-adjusted abnormal returns ARj,t for firm j on day t around corporate name changes:(1)\n5. Trading activity around the event dates: In this section, we analyze trading activity around corporate name changes. Two studies that consider the liquidity issue in the corporate name change context report conflicting results. Specifically, Lee (2001) finds significant increase in trading volume for dot.com name changes of US firms, whereas Kot (2011) does not document abnormal trading volume around the announcement and in the following period for the corporate name changes of Hong Kong listed firms. To examine trading activity around corporate name changes of TSX-listed stocks, we use two proxies: share trading volume and the number of transactions.\n6. Long-term abnormal returns: In this section, we examine long-term abnormal returns following the adoption of a new corporate name. Previous studies of long-run effects of corporate name changes tend to find negative or insignificant long-term wealth effects. Namely, Mase (2009) reports that UK companies that change their names experience a significant decline in value over a three-year period. Similarly, Gottner and Limbach (2011) find significant negative abnormal returns for German firms for six and 12 months following the month of a corporate name change announcement. In contrast, Kot (2011) documents only marginal significance for two out of four types of name change over a three-year period following a new name adoption date for Hong Kong listed firms. Although Wu (2010) finds some evidence of negative long-term abnormal returns for US firms, the observed results are sensitive to the test methodology.\n7. Conclusions: The examination of stock price and trading activities around corporate name changes of companies listed on the TSX offers several key conclusions. First, stocks experience a significant positive abnormal return around the effective date of a corporate name change. Most importantly, the type of a name change matters. Specifically, major name changes are associated with a much larger stock price gain than minor name changes. Name changes that signal a shift to a focused strategy produce significant positive abnormal returns, but name changes that communicate a diversified strategy do not. We also find a significant positive stock price reaction for name changes accompanied with a ticker change, but not for name changes without a ticker change. In contrast to pure name changes, structural name changes, which are associated with major corporate actions, such as a merger, acquisition, or product launch, experience significant stock price gains around the effective date. Finally, corporate name changes are also accompanied with significant increases in trading volume for several days starting from the approval date. Among different subsamples, major name changes, name changes accompanied with a ticker change, and structural name changes show the largest increases in trading volume.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine stock price and trading volume reactions to name changes of the Toronto Stock Exchange listed companies. Previous studies present conflicting evidence on reactions to corporate name changes in US and other capital markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses the event study methodology to calculate abnormal returns and trading volume around the announcement, approval, and effective dates of corporate name changes. It also contrasts abnormal returns between major and minor name changes, signaling focused and diversified strategies, accompanied with a ticker symbol change and without a ticker change, structural and pure name changes, as well as brand adoption and radical name changes.\nFindings: Companies tend to experience a significant run-up in stock price in the period preceding the announcement of a name change. The stocks also show a significant positive abnormal return around the effective date. In addition, corporate name changes are associated with significant increases in trading volume for several days starting from the approval date. Most importantly, the type of a name change matters, as reflected in significance levels of abnormal return and trading volume reactions to various types of corporate name changes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitation of this study comes from the difficulty to precisely identify the date when the market learns about a possible corporate name change.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to examine market reactions to name changes of Toronto Stock Exchange listed companies. Most importantly, whereas previous studies focus on the announcement day, this paper also considers the approval and effective days. It also contrasts responses between name changes accompanied with a new ticker and name changes without a ticker change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainable supply management as a purchasing capability: A power and dependence perspective	[ "Sustainability", "Regression analysis", "International Purchasing Survey (IPS)", "Procurement/purchasing/supply management processes", "Supply strategy", "Survey methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable supply management (SSM) is increasingly becoming a major managerial problem for supply strategists. Cost-cutting efforts drive firms to relocate production to geographic regions around the world where labor costs are lower and working conditions and care for the environment are often neglected. At the same time, these firms claim that they intend to take responsibility and strive to improve working conditions and reduce their environmental impact. The situation becomes even more complicated as production is outsourced to a greater extent to specialized contract manufacturers. As brand owners, the buying firms are still accountable for the economic, social and environmental impact of their products and services, while losing control over how these are actually produced (see, e.g. Huq et al., 2014; Walker et al., 2014).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: SSM as a purchasing capability\nResearch methodology: Data collection and sample\nResults: In order to test hypotheses, the data were subjected to regression analysis. We found support for H1. Results are shown in Table III. Implementation of sustainable sourcing programs has a positive effect on category performance in terms of social and environmental supplier compliance, which is shown in the column \"All categories,\" where the whole sample is used. The standardized b coefficient is significant on the 1 percent level (b=0.27, p\nDiscussion: A firm is no more sustainable than its supply chain, and as buying firms increasingly become accountable for the products they sell while losing control over how they are actually produced due to global macro-trends such as global sourcing, SSM grows into an important purchasing capability to develop.\nConclusion: This study links Elkington's triple-bottom-line framework with supply management theory and in so doing helps the supply strategist to put Elkington's ideas into supply chain practice. In contrast to earlier SSM research, we conclude that differentiated configurations are needed to reflect the different power and dependence situations that buying firms face when pursuing economic, social and environmental objectives in combination - the triple bottom line - along their supply chains. For predictive reasons, which we explain, there are trade-offs between economic, social and environmental objectives in some power and dependence situations, and synergistic effects in others. In order to manage this balancing act, we argue, firms have to turn SSM into a purchasing capability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use the relative power and total interdependence concepts as an intervening theoretical lens to explain why and how sustainable supply management (SSM) initiatives by manufacturing firms differ across the Kraljic matrix according to purchasing capability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Tested hypotheses by subjecting survey data from 338 manufacturers on buyer-supplier relationships in Europe and North America to regression analysis.\nFindings: Shows three situations where relative power and total interdependence determine the effectiveness of purchasing capabilities. First, sustainability programs impact supplier compliance in all Kraljic categories but bottleneck items. Second, there are significant trade-offs between lower cost and higher social and environmental supplier compliance for noncritical components. Third, strategic alignment of sustainability objectives between corporate and supply function levels only leads to improved financial performance for strategic components.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research could take power and dependence into account to explain when and how purchasing capabilities focussed on sustainability can be achieved.\nPractical implications: Shows how supply strategists could devise-tailored approaches for different purchasing categories with respect to power and dependence when pursuing economic, social and environmental objectives in combination - the triple bottom line - along their supply chains.\nOriginality/value: Illustrates and provides a theoretical explanation for why SSM is a purchasing capability that must vary across purchasing categories defined by different situations of power and dependence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The MEQUAL scale: measure of service quality in management education	[ "Satisfaction", "Scale development", "Service quality", "Management education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Globalization and liberalization have made the business vulnerable to global competitions and challenges. Thus there has been an emphasis on producing industry-ready graduates in last few decades (Conger and Fulmer, 2003). As the business environment is rapidly changing due to the development of new technology and liberalization, it is essential for management students to refine their managerial competencies for new challenges (Vinten, 2000). Management education and management practices are at a cusp of convergence (Martin and Butler, 2000) and realization of the fact that knowledge and action are inseparable, students should be developed to handle unforeseen critical challenges of the world (Dymsza, 1982). The technological developments, globalization and integrative approach demands for better-prepared management students for global competitiveness (Friga et al., 2003).\n2. Literature review: Service quality in management education has become a prime concern to the aspirants of management education, whereby overall development in various dimensions of professional competencies is vital. For the present study, a systematic literature review informed the factor structure.\n3. Design and development of the measurement scale: As advised by Churchill (1979), the scientific and systematic procedure for scale development guides this study. Step by step method ensured the rigor and sanctity. Step 1 involves item generation and selection, Step 2 focusses on scale refinement, and finally, in Step 3 scale was validated using multi-trait-multimethod (MTMM) technique.\n4. Discussion and implications: The present study aims to develop a multi-item scale for the measurement of service quality in management education in an empirically validated way. Factor analysis with rotated component matrix identified the underlying dimensions of service quality in management education. A multi-item scale with six dimensions and 25 items has emerged from the vast pool of variables and items drawn from extant literature and qualitative study. Scale showed internal consistency and remains consistent across the samples. The scale passes all the reliability and validity tests (construct, convergent, discriminant, nomological, predictive) and all values were within limits. The measurement scale includes academic aspects, behavioral responses and supports, professional assurance, non-academic aspects, industry institute interaction and physical evidence. Measurement factors for service quality in management education behave differently for different student groups based on their demographic and psychographic profiles.\n5. Limitations and directions for future research: In educational institutions, students are a primary stakeholder, but the education industry serves multiple stakeholders, for instance, industry, parents and society. Since this study focuses only on management students, future studies may attempt to develop a measuring instrument from the perspective of other stakeholders. This scale addresses sector-specific (management education) issues in developing country but under developing countries and developed countries may have different needs so that this scale may be validated and customized in other countries. This scale measures service quality for management education in general and does not address any specific type of management institution, so future studies may attempt to do a comparative study between different formats of management institutions with the help of this scale.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an empirically validated scale to measure the students' perception of service quality in management education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this study, a three-stage systematic procedure of scale development has been adopted. Initially, extant literature review delineated the construct. Exploratory study techniques like focus group study and expert opinion helped in purifying the scale. In the second stage, principal component analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization (exploratory factor analysis) was used to refine the scale. Finally, multi-trait-multimethod matrix analysis was done to test the reliability and validity of the scale.\nFindings: A 25-item multi-dimensional construct with six factors (academic aspect, professional assurance, behavioral responses and supports, industry institute interaction, non-academic aspects and physical support) was derived scientifically for measuring service quality in management education. Psychometrically, the scale exhibits internal consistency and remains consistent across the samples. The scale passes the requisite reliability and validity tests (construct, convergent, discriminant, nomological, predictive) with all values within limits.\nPractical implications: Scientific and structured multi-dimensional construct for service quality in management education will help academicians, administrators and regulators in designing a process-oriented system for enhanced student satisfaction and performance.\nOriginality/value: This study is an incremental attempt to develop an empirically validated scale for measuring the service quality level and resultant satisfaction in management education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Typology of Kano models: a critical review of literature and proposition of a revised model	[ "Customer requirements", "Customer service management", "Kano model", "Typology", "Evaluation table" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The assessment of customer desires has been gaining more and more importance since businesses have to deal with shortening product life cycles and ever increasing customer expectations. This fact affects new product/service development processes considerably, and new customer satisfaction assessment methods are needed to help businesses to act more quickly to market demand. In any case, there is no guaranteed \"customer satisfaction\" upon the delivery of a customer's need. Yet customers must still be satisfied somehow (Zultner, 1999). Kenny (1988) was the first to propose a Customers' Quality Perceptions model, which involved three different types of quality. Dr Noriaki Kano hypothesized that customer satisfaction is a non-linear function of service functionality and consists of two components other than the proportional (one-dimensional) component: \"attractive\" component and \"must-be\" component. Hence, different kinds of attention may need to be paid to each customer's need in the service development cycle. The Kano model was first developed by Kano et al. (1984) to categorize the attributes of a product or service, based on how well they are able to satisfy customers' needs. The Kano survey differs from traditional surveys in that it provides some quantification with respect to the degree of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Kano's model is also dynamic in that, once introduced, the attractive attribute will soon be imitated and delivered by competitors (Wakhlu, 1994). The Kano model indicates that world-class services must meet all three types of needs, not just what customers say. It is important to emphasize that the service provider must identify not only current customer expectations, which are critical to success, but also potential expectations that might excite customers (Shahin and Zairi, 2009).There has been considerable research developed from the methodology of Dr Noriaki Kano in recent years. Considering a literature review including 79 published articles from 1979 to 2010, it is found that 50% of resources are practical. For instance, the examination of the application of the Kano model in airlines by Gustafsson et al. (1999) and Shahin and Zairi (2009); in Web-community service quality by Kuo (2004) and Zhao and Dholakia (2009); in teaching quality by Chien (2007); and in maternity care by Aghlmand et al. (2010). 40% of the resources are related to the integration of the subject with other tools and techniques. For example, the integration of the Kano model with quality function deployment (QFD) by Tan and Shen (2000); with SERVQUAL and QFD by Tan and Pawitra (2001); with failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) by Shahin (2004); with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and planning matrix by Bayraktaroglu and Ozgen (2008); and with TRIZ theory of problem solving by Chen et al. (2008, 2010). Only 10% of the reviewed resources are related to the development of the Kano model/approach; for instance Berger et al. (1993), Sauerwein (1999), Yang (2005), Lee and Chen (2006), Foldesi et al. (2008) and Lee and Huang (2009).It is interesting to note that various types of the Kano model have been addressed in the literature, and it is clear that, in only a few investigations, has the focus been on the development of the Kano model/approach. It is apparent from the literature that there is no unique type of Kano model and Kano evaluation table. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to propose a new type of Kano model and to recommend it as a reference model. For this purpose, in the following, the Kano quality attributes and its evaluation table are demonstrated. Then, the types of the model are studied critically and classified into three major categories. The three categories and their corresponding Kano evaluation tables are compared and, finally, a new modified type of Kano model, together with its new evaluation table, are proposed and discussed.\n2 Kano quality attributes: There are three major attributes in the Kano model, which were addressed by Dr Kano. In fact, in the traditional perspective, there was only one attribute which denoted a linear relationship between the customer's need fulfilment/unfulfilment and satisfaction/dissatisfaction. This was named by Dr Kano as \"one-dimensional quality\". He criticized this thinking and added two more attributes, attractive and must-be, into the model, in order to emphasize that non-linearity might exist, in addition to the mentioned linear relationship for different customer needs. The three major attributes are introduced further in the following.2.1 Must-be (basic) needs\n3 Advantages/disadvantages of classifying customer needs by the Kano methodology: The advantages of classifying customer needs by means of the Kano methodology are as follows (Hinterhuber et al., 1997):* Product/service needs are better understood. The product/service criteria which have the greatest influence on customer satisfaction can be identified. Classifying product/service needs into must-be, one-dimensional and attractive dimensions can be used to focus on priorities for product/service development. It is, for example, not very useful to invest in improving must-be needs which are already at a satisfactory level, but better to improve one-dimensional or attractive needs, as they have a greater influence on perceived product/service quality and, consequently, on the customer's level of satisfaction.* Kano's method provides valuable help in trade-off situations in the product/service development stage. If two product/service needs cannot be met simultaneously, owing to technical or financial reasons, the criterion which has the greatest influence on customer satisfaction can be identified.* Must-be, one-dimensional and attractive needs differ, as a rule, in the utility expectations of different customer segments. From this starting point, customer-tailored solutions for special problems can be elaborated, which guarantees an optimal level of satisfaction in the different customer segments.* Discovering and fulfilling attractive needs creates a wide range of possibilities for differentiation. A product/service which merely satisfies the must-be and one-dimensional needs is perceived as average and therefore interchangeable (Hinterhuber et al., 1994).* Kano's model of customer satisfaction can be combined optimally with Quality Function Deployment. A prerequisite is to identify customer needs and their hierarchy and priorities (Griffin and Hauser, 1993). Kano's model is used to establish the importance of individual product features for customer satisfaction, and thus it creates the optimal prerequisite for process-oriented product/service development activities (Matzler and Hinterhuber, 1998).Although the Kano model has evolved the literature of quality management and customer satisfaction, and provides great advantages to researchers and practitioners, as mentioned above, it also has some disadvantages, as follow.(a) Qualitative vs quantitative evaluation\n4 The force-choice classification method: The Kano questionnaire provides a systematic way of grouping customer needs into different Kano categories. This grouping can be further improved by using a two-step classification to distinguish categories to a greater degree. Specifically, subcategories can be formed from the various Kano categories. For instance, \"interesting web page\" may be categorized by customers as an attractive element, but it may be of interest to understand further how attractive it might be, e.g. extremely attractive or somewhat attractive. In the first step, customers are asked to group the customer attributes into three basic Kano categories, i.e. must-be, one-dimensional and attractive. They must become familiar with the Kano model before the survey is conducted. Therefore, before the first step, the development team members or marketing people should provide respondents with a brief introduction to the Kano model. For the second step, customers are asked to group the customer attributes into the subcategories using the force-choice scale (Figure 1). For those customer attributes grouped into the attractive category in the first step, customers group them further into one of three corresponding subcategories, i.e. very attractive, moderately attractive and quite attractive. Similarly, for those customer attributes grouped into the must-be category in the first step, customers group them again into one of three corresponding subcategories, i.e. very basic, moderately basic and quite basic. As to the customer attributes grouped as one-dimensional in the first step, they still remain in the same category because of their relative simplicity.It should be noted that this method presumes that each customer attribute falls into one of the three basic Kano categories. However, at times, customers may not be able to express their opinion of whether a particular product or a particular feature of a product fulfils their needs. In this case, it may be classified as indifferent rather than being in one of the three main categories (Shen et al., 2000).\n5 Typology of Kano models: In this section, different types of the Kano model are classified into three categories based on the literature review. In such classification, important factors such as slopes and starting points of the curves, as well as the Kano evaluation tables are considered.5.1 Type I\n6 Discussion and conclusions: The literature shows that, in the majority of the resources, the first type of Kano model is utilized. Also, it is important to note that, since 1984, as time has progressed, the Kano model has evolved more. However, as was explained earlier, each type of existing model and its corresponding evaluation table has weakness. The types of the Kano model are further compared in Table V, based on a number of criteria.As shown, in Type I, the force-choice method is not considered, while it has been realized in other types. In Type II, only two curves of extreme are considered, denoting highly and less attractive/must-be and, therefore, it is incomplete compared to Types III and IV (the proposed model). The problem of Type II is not limited to such incompletion; this is the only model in which there are two starting points for each category of the curves. As explained earlier, the sequence and slope of the curves of this type are correct for must-be attributes, but are not correct for attractive attributes. Although Type III seems more complete than Types I and II, and there is only one starting point for each category curve of must-be and attractive, the locations of the points are incorrect, which results in the wrong sequence and slope for the categories, both for must-be and attractive attributes. However, Type IV is designed and proposed in a different way to solve such incompletion and incorrect location, as well as sequence and slopes of curves. In the case of reverse curves, although the reverse attributes are addressed in the evaluation table of Type I, they are not represented in the corresponding diagram. In addition, they are not differentiated in Type I. However, as is highlighted, the reverse curves are included and represented, both in the evaluation table and in the Kano diagram of Types III and IV, but are correctly addressed in Type IV. It is interesting to note that although nine and two cells of the evaluation table of Types I and II are related to indifferent attributes, respectively, the indifferent zone is considered as a line in the corresponding diagrams. Considering this criterion, in both Types III and IV, the indifferent zone is correctly considered as area. Also, comparing the seven cells in Types III and IV with nine cells of Type I, it seems the indifferent cells are allocated more accurately in Types III and IV, since the corresponding columns and rows of the two questionable cells, i.e. the second question of functional and dysfunctional forms and the fourth question of functional and dysfunctional forms, are still considered as two extremes, similar to the first and last cells of the evaluation table, which seems reasonable.In conclusion, it seems that the proposed model (Type IV) is more accurate compared to the other three types of Kano model. Shahin and Nekuie (2011) can be a good example of real life. They prioritized 22 attributes in a travel agency based on Type III of the Kano model. Among the attributes, \"understanding special needs of customer\", \"appropriate time table for service delivery\" and \"external appearance of the building\" were determined as less attractive, attractive and highly attractive, and were coded as A1, A2 and A3, respectively. Therefore, considering the rule of M>O > A > I, A1 should be fulfilled first, this prioritization is adverse in the proposed approach, i.e. A3, which is less attractive, should be fulfilled first. Based on Type II, \"understanding special needs of customer\" is less attractive and similar to Type III, and has the first priority of fulfilment. While \"external appearance of the building\" is highly attractive, it is not clear whether \"appropriate time table for service delivery\" is less or highly attractive, and this is a weakness of Type II. Finally, based on Type I, all of the three attributes are classified as attractive and not distinguished; therefore, they are equally important.6.1 Contribution of the study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop and suggest a reference Kano model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Existing Kano models have been classified into three types and, for each type, the curves, together with their corresponding evaluation tables, have been studied and a new type of the Kano model developed.\nFindings: - Findings imply that the existing types of the Kano model have weaknesses: starting points of the curves are not located in correct position; the sequence and slopes of the curves are not carefully illustrated; and the cells of Kano evaluation table are not coded correctly. Such problems have been resolved in the proposed Kano model.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Empirical research is needed to examine the proposed type of Kano model, and to investigate the differences between the results of the application of the new and other types of Kano model.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides a valuable reference model for researchers and practitioners, to be utilized in future investigations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determining value in the food supply chain	[ "Value", "Supply chain", "Price", "Brand", "Food", "Stakeholder" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food price is inextricably linked to global agricultural and trade policy and in the wake of concern over \"food-mountains\", global food stocks have reduced over the last three decades reducing the ability to smooth out price volatility. Prices of food commodities on world markets, adjusted for inflation, declined substantially from the early 1960s to the early 2000s, when they reached a historic low (FAO, 2011). Knutson et al. (1998) cited by Miller and Coble (2006) proposed that governments have overtly pursued cheap food policies to keep the price of food below the competitive equilibrium price. This policy can be driven at market or governmental levels through the use of farmer subsidies, incentives and disincentives to produce food, price controls and liquidating food reserves to suppress prices. Factors that have an influence on food price include: the impact of speculation and portfolio diversification on commodity future markets, trade policies such as export bans and government buying policies, policies to divert land into biofuel production including tariffs, subsidies and regulation, increasingly scarce natural resources, depreciation of national currencies, emerging developing economies that put upward pressure on the input costs of food production (fuel, fertiliser) and the demand for a higher level of protein in the diet, slower growth in yields of cereals, and a series of weather shocks such as drought, flooding etc. (FAO, 2011). These factors all influence the price: margin: profit interface.\n2. Stakeholder theory: Stakeholder theory considers the primary role of organisations in terms of being profit focused or value focused. Friedman (1962, p. 133) is often quoted for stating that \"there is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits\". Friedman therefore proposes that the greatest benefit to the public good is allowing businesses to operate with minimum regulation in their continued pursuit of profit. This does not consider a need for organisations to comply with what is deemed morally correct by wider civic society. Philips et al. (2003, p. 480) determine that stakeholder theory is a theory of both organisational management and of ethics. Indeed they argue \"all theories of strategic management have some moral content, though it is often implicit\". Therefore stakeholder management is more than simply managing shareholder wealth it is about value maximisation. Stakeholders can be internal or external to the business and include shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, local community, government (local, national), finance houses, civil society (external) and internal stakeholders such as employees. The question in terms of developing value is whether all stakeholders have equal equity? Philips et al. (2003) comment that stakeholder theory is not intended to provide an answer to all moral questions and debate. Heath and Norman (2004,p. 248) state that the organisation and its managers do have an obligation \"to ensure that the shareholders receive a \"fair\" return on their investment; but the firm also has special obligations to other stakeholders, which go above and beyond those required by law\". They argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies cannot be pursued to the detriment of shareholder return. Amaeshi et al. (2007) conclude that CSR can be at odds with a capitalist approach, as MNCs are challenged by the global interaction of their supply chains and being able to demonstrate they assure the practices of all the individuals and organisations involved and that such practices are built on ethical foundations. Further, they suggest that a wish to protect brand value drives organisations to take responsibility for defining and verifying supplier and wider supply chain practice. This brings into focus the concept of sustainability as providing value.\n3. Brand value: Bowman et al. (2013) suggest meat products are important to consider in terms of their being \"value products\" because meat is a key category where low price offers drive footfall in retailers. Indeed, Bowman et al. (2013) assert that in the major supermarket chains approximately 40 per cent of pig meat is sold on promotion. Therefore meat products are often used as a \"loss leader\" to draw customers into the retail stores. When considering the perception of value it is important to consider leader pricing. Leader pricing is a pricing strategy in which retailers set very low prices, sometimes below cost, for some products to \"lure\" customers into stores in the hope that they will also purchase high-profit impulse goods (Hess and Gerstner, 1987). Below-cost pricing or \"loss leading\" is a pricing strategy making (apparent) losses by selling some products at a price below their cost, to attract consumers (Allain and Chambolle, 2007). Common loss leading food and drink products include: alcohol, bakery and dairy products. Food can be considered as a product in a race to cut unit costs and make profit, driven by ruthless competition seeking greater market share to benefit their shareholders (Hodges, 2005). The European Food and Farming Partnerships stated in 2005 that price, or value for money, continue to be the major driver of consumer purchasing habits and sales uplift. The English Food and Farming Partnerships (2005) argued that retailers would continue to push to be top of the cheapest supermarket league as they are well aware that for consumers the store that offers them the best value for money attracts the greatest footfall. The number of product lines available will also influence food choice. Dawson (2013) states that consumer sovereignty is an oversimplified model of the reality of the relationship between consumers' choice and retailers' offer as decisions on what is available to the consumer are made by the retailer. Kaltcheva et al. (2013) propose that perceptions of a retailer\n4. Consumers perception of value: Data from the Defra\n5. Developing a conceptual stakeholder interaction model: Ultimately shareholders will want senior management executives and executive boards to address the degree of risk to shareholders' financial investment in their strategic planning and thus deliver value to them too. The interaction between shareholder risk and consumer risk and its impact on the characterisation of organisational strategy and operational activity is worthy of further consideration. However the co-creation of value by multiple stakeholders is more than just a focus on shareholder value. Figure 2 outlines that there are four elements to consider in the co-creation of value, shareholder value, product value, customer value and strategic worth. There is, through co-creation, a mutual interface between the different stakeholder(s) and the cost and reward elements (give and get) of the perception of value. External factors also have a role that may only be of relevance to particular stakeholders e.g. shareholder equity, ease of physical purchase, value of certification of the product etc.\n6. Conclusion: This research has reviewed the evolving nature of what represents value in the food supply chain. Value is a term that is constructed by individuals and communities as a combination of factors that revolve around cost and reward. Zeithamal (1988) focused on consumers considering what is received and what is given against the wider concept of utility. Price is the prime factor that influences purchasing behaviour for a major proportion of food purchasers in the UK (30-40 per cent). As a result there is a constantly negotiated interface between price and those factors that suggest reward through the degree of utility that reflects the price paid, the concept of affordability in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic quality, hedonistic factors defining the emotional worth of the food and acquirability, the ratio of price to volume of food purchased. The concept of convenience not just in terms of time, but also in its wider social context has been discussed. This model of consumer value cost (price): reward (acquirability, affordability, hedonism and utility) is of importance. Further this internal focus is influenced by the external factors of ease of access, previous history and experience of the products, and cultural factors. These factors enable a negotiated approach to food purchase that is dynamic and fluid as the influence of factors can be ever changing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore what the term \"value\" means to the multiple stakeholders interfacing and interacting with the food supply chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research included a literature review and the development of a cost: reward (give: get) stakeholder interaction model.\nFindings: Perceptions of value are individualistic. Conflict of interest exists for business between maintaining shareholder value and delivering \"value\" within the food offering to its customers and the wider array of societal stakeholders. Shareholders are profit driven and price is the predominant factor that influences consumer purchasing behaviour leading to a constantly negotiated interface between price and other reward factors. Reward factors such as financial, degree of utility, affordability, hedonistic factors defining the emotional worth of food, acquirability and the ratio of price: volume of food are explored.\nOriginality/value: This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers and practitioners in the food supply chain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Young people's conceptions of political information: Insights into information experiences and implications for intervention	[ "Information literacy", "Information behaviour", "Young people", "Misinformation", "Political participation", "Civic engagement", "Fake news" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: To be able to participate effectively in political processes, including elections, referendums and participatory policy making at the local level, citizens need to be able to develop informed perspectives and make judgements consistent with their views, based on the information they encounter from a wide range of sources. While the importance of informed decision making is universal, particular emphasis has been given recently to young people, with research moving away from presenting young people as apathetic to a more complex exploration of how young people define and participate in politics (Vromen et al., 2015). However, little is known about how young people are exposed to, understand and use political information in the context of their varied interactions with political life. Where research does exist, it often takes a deficit approach, framing young people as lacking effective information skills (Whitworth, 2009; Rieh and Hilligoss, 2008; Johnson and Kaye, 2000).\nTheoretical framework: This study modifies the personal construct theory (PCT) approach, which is a psychological theory developed by George Kelly (1955). It originated in clinical psychology as an approach to treatment, but has been used in a number of disciplines including marketing, human resources and education. The premise of PCT is that people devise conceptual templates to interpret, anticipate and respond to events and situations, and can be used to identify the different ways in which people construe or conceive of experiences. The terms construe and conceive are used interchangeably to communicate the notion of \"placing an interpretation\" (Kelly, 1955, p. 50). Through exploring personal constructs, we explore how people interpret political information from their own perspective. The fundamental premise of PCT is that people's unique psychological processes are channelled by how they anticipate and predict events, based on theories and stereotypes that are developed throughout life. These theories, or ways of understanding reality and the things we put our attention to, including information sources, are described as personal constructs; these personal constructs are different for different people. We applied elements of PCT within the theoretical approach for this study because the research phenomenon was, although necessarily open to interpretation by participants, an identifiable \"object\", in keeping with the nature of PCT methodologies (Kuhlthau, 2016).\nMethodology: In this study, we used RG interviews to explore what sources of political information the participants encounter and the different ways in which they conceive of them, through the eyes of people in their lived situations. The RG technique derived from PCT as a means of eliciting different ways of understanding phenomena from individuals, and served as an effective and appropriate way of exploring an identifiable \"object\" - political information - at the same time as allowing the phenomenon to be open to interpretation and defined by participants.\nData collection: Participants in the study were Year 10 students (aged 14-15) in a school in South Yorkshire, England. Data were not collected on the specific social background of the students, but the school overall is socially mixed with students from lower and middle socioeconomic status backgrounds. In total, 23 participants (10 boys and 13 girls, all identifying as white and British) took part in the RG interviews. The size of the sample allowed us to generate data with considerable depth and richness which, through the application of PCT, can generate new conceptual insights.\nData analysis: Sound recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed alongside the textual RGs, focussing on the various ways in which participants described their conceptions of the information sources and identifying the variation among them. Despite the numerical nature of the ranking stage of the RG, in-depth quantitative analysis is not always required to derive meaning from the data (Jankowicz, 2004, p. 196). It is not always necessary, or advisable, to seek to statistically compare data from individual participants, for example, when comparing perceptions relating to objects that are not like for like (e.g. siblings or other family members). In this study, basic descriptive statistical analysis and a more qualitative approach was taken, to provide a broad overview of potentially significant themes, and to contribute to a depth of understanding about participants' conceptions of political information sources, and the relationship between their conceptions regarding the sources and their critical understanding of political information. We undertook four key stages of personal construct analysis:\nFindings and discussion: Given the qualitative research approach and large sample size for research of this nature, it is not possible to present the research findings in full. It should be noted, however, that PCT places equal weighting on all constructs and acknowledges them as valid aspects of the experience of the phenomenon. This section therefore presents the findings with the most relevance to library and information practice, particularly information literacy support. They provide insight into young people's experiences of political information and offer opportunities for intervention to support more meaningful and critical engagement with political information sources.\nConclusion: The study has identified the various ways in which young people are aware of encountering and using political information, and has explored the variety of ways political information itself is conceptualised by young people; a currently underexplored area of information behaviour. Results indicate that young people use a wide range of sources of political information to become informed about politics and the world around them. These sources of information include family, friends, teachers, television news, newspapers, radio shows, comedy shows, social media and community meetings. Participants were aware that they passively encounter information sources as well as actively engage in debate and discussion with other sources. The nature of young people's experiences of political information varies greatly, as exemplified by findings presented here. The degree of complexity in the experiences of political information varied not only between participants but was also dependent on their particular relationship with the information sources under scrutiny.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore young people's conceptions of political information. The study sought to identify what political information sources young people encounter, how they construe these sources and the messages they communicate, and how the information experiences of young people may be better understood to inform information literacy interventions to support the development of political agency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using personal construct theory as a conceptual framework, repertory grid (RG) interviews were used to explore the different ways in which 23 young people aged 14-15 from a town in Northern England conceive of political information and how they evaluate its quality and authority.\nFindings: The study identified the sources of information young people engage with for finding and receiving what they understand as political information. The results from the RG interviews indicated that young people use a wide range of sources of political information to become informed about politics and the world around them. These sources of information include family, friends, teachers, television news, newspapers, radio shows, comedy shows, social media and community meetings. Participants were aware that they passively encounter information sources as well as actively engage in debate and discussion with other sources. Some participants had difficulty critically evaluating the political information sources they encounter. The nature of young people's experiences of political information varied greatly. The degree of complexity in the experiences of political information varied not only between participants but was also dependent on their particular relationship with the information sources under scrutiny.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper has implications for personal construct analysis as a research approach broadly, from the point of view of its use within library and information science research. It is the first study to apply the personal construct approach to the study of young people's political information use and to consider implications for information literacy support that would have been difficult to access using other approaches.\nPractical implications: The paper provides insight into an understudied area; that of young people's conceptions of political information. This insight may be used to inform the improvement of political information provision and information literacy support for young people.\nSocial implications: A deeper understanding of the different ways in which young people identify, engage with and use information for political purposes may contribute to a clearer understanding of young people's information needs, ideally leading to improved political education and a strengthened democratic process.\nOriginality/value: The paper explores a relatively under-researched area of library and information science research, and does so using a relatively under-used method in the domain. Insights into the perceived characteristics of different sources of political information are novel and contribute to the development of information behaviour and information literacy fields in terms of information for empowerment and democracy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The importance of balance in leadership development: Lessons from a study of railways in Australia	[ "Railways", "Leadership", "Management development", "Philosophy", "Human resource management", "Human resource strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Every day we hear reports about how globalization and the global economy are shaping modern workplaces. For many organizations, the unpredictable forces of globalization have brought a precarious mix of new opportunities and challenges - especially for managers.\nAttitudes towards modernist traditions are changing: Australia's economy has developed largely from early European settlers. As a result, workplace traditions and practices are driven by Fordist principles and resemble those that can be found almost everywhere. Management guru Peter Drucker (1992) suggested in the early-1990s that these characteristics were responsible for the high quality of lifestyle enjoyed by western civilization.Yet as the world shrinks, economic wealth disperses around the globe and sustainability becomes all-important, the attitudes of people towards many of the modernist traditions we thought were set in stone are changing.For instance, we know that people who enter the Australian workforce are more diverse and often have a different outlook from their parents or grandparents. We also know that traditional forms of leadership - developed in a white, male, Anglo-American environment - have become the subject of intense scrutiny in different cultural settings.Therefore, it is perhaps timely to reflect on developments and reclaim a balance; some might say take a pragmatic perspective on how the workplace is dealing with these uncertainties in the twenty-first century.Take, for example, the controversial subject of leadership - possibly studied and read about more than any other topic in management. Research conducted recently in the UK (Infographics, 2011) showed that Australia was investing more on leadership training than many other developed economies. At the same time, it had the lowest level of leadership talent ready and able to take on leadership positions. It appeared that leadership development was a \"big ticket\" item in Australia, but Australians were yet to ensure that investment on developing leaders hit the mark and created a pool of talent for the future.\nThe philosophy of balance: Industry-specific research conducted by the Co-operative Research Center (CRC) for Rail Innovation (Short and Piip, 2011) between 2009 and 2011 commented on the development of leaders in Australian rail organizations and made important connections with a paradigm drawn from Chinese philosophy - yin and yang. The research identified five areas where the \"complementarity\" contained within yin and yang could help to restore balance in a modern leadership setting.Principles and practices\nThe next steps: These five points developed in Australia are relevant the world over. Perhaps the time has come for managers to develop and maintain a high level of leadership capability by recognizing the balances contained win the forces of yin and yang as they relate to the context of their environments.Without becoming overtly entwined in the less certain world of metaphysics, it is entirely feasible to understand that one aspect of leadership and management cannot live without the other, yet each aspect lives within the other.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Describes research on the development of leaders in Australian rail organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Details five areas where the \"complementarity\" contained in the Chinese yin and yang philosophy could help to restore balance in modern leadership.\nFindings: - Highlights the importance of balancing: principles and practices; technical and people skills; hard and soft skills; formal and informal learning; and self and others.\nPractical implications: - Advances the view that these five balances are relevant the world over; one aspect of leadership and management cannot live without the other, yet each aspect lives within the other.\nSocial implications: - Demonstrates a way forward for management development at a time when the need for leadership development, capability building and talent management have reached dangerously low levels across the world and the position will deteriorate as baby-boomers retire and leave behind a leadership \"black hole\".\nOriginality/value: - Postulates that one aspect of leadership and management cannot live without the other, yet each aspect lives within the other.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of action-control beliefs in developing entrepreneurial expertise	[ "Deliberate practice", "Entrepreneurial action", "Action-control beliefs", "Entrepreneurial expertise" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding how to develop entrepreneurial expertise is central to achieving entrepreneurial success. Entrepreneurial expertise - defined as the superior ability to perform entrepreneurial tasks - is highly contextual (Ericsson et al., 2006) and is reflected in behavioral differences between experts and novices (Dew et al., 2009, 2015; Gustafsson, 2006). For example, research has shown that expert entrepreneurs rely predominately on control-based logic (e.g. effectuation) (Dew et al., 2009, 2015; Read and Sarasvathy, 2005), adapt how they make decisions to the nature of the task (Gustafsson, 2006), and remain flexible when unexpected contingencies arise (Sarasvathy, 2008). Researchers have attempted to explain these differences in behavior, investigating the role of experience and deliberate practice (Baron and Henry, 2010; D'Souza and Kemelgor, 2009; Unger et al., 2009), knowledge structures (Mitchell et al., 2002; Uygur and Kim, 2014), and expert scripts (Mitchell et al., 2017). They have shown that experience alone is not a good predictor of expertise development (Ericsson and Lehmann, 1996; Toft-Kehler et al., 2014) but that deliberate practice does facilitate such development (Ericsson et al., 1993; Unger et al., 2009). Additionally, Engel et al. (2014) show that beliefs in one's own ability in general and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in particular also play an important role in expertise development.\nMethodological approach to building the conceptual framework: To build theory about the process of entrepreneurial expertise development, abductive logic was used to generate logical arguments (i.e. hypothetical explanations, or propositions) about how the process unfolds (Shepherd and Sutcliffe, 2011). Building the conceptual framework began with searches of the ProQuest and Social Science Citation Index databases using \"entrepreneurial expertise development\" and \"entrepreneurial expertise\" as keywords to identify suitable articles. The searches resulted in 100 and 223 articles, respectively. After filtering and checking for relevance, 46 articles remained; these were then coded depending whether entrepreneurial expertise was as input, output, or process. I read articles in which expertise was an output or process in detail and mapped them to reflect the current knowledge. The resulting picture highlighted that extant studies have focused on describing the essence of entrepreneurial expertise and identifying differences between novices and experts, leaving the process of expertise development greatly under scrutinized.\nExpertise development: Expertise - the superior ability to perform domain tasks - is highly contextual (Ericsson et al., 2006) and is guided by a narrow set of domain-specific heuristics (Feltovich et al., 2006). Expertise results from years of active and immersive experience (Baron and Henry, 2010) and depends on an individual's acquisition of unique pattern-matching and pattern-recognition skills (Ericsson and Lehmann, 1996). Expertise translates into high levels of both declarative (i.e. knowing what) and procedural knowledge and skills (i.e. knowing how) as well as contextual flexibility (knowing when and where) (Dunphy and Williamson, 2004). Generally, research has shown that experts think more conceptually and holistically; are able to consider more possibilities; often employ reasoning through analogy; evaluate the usefulness of available information more critically and use key information more effectively; and approach, frame, and solve problems in a forward-oriented manner (Dane, 2010). Because experts' knowledge is organized into higher-level and more interconnected concepts accompanied by a wider repertoire of actions and conditions, expertise provides greater flexibility in decision making and reflects a network of circumstantial \"contexts of applicability\" (Dunphy and Williamson, 2004).\nEntrepreneurial expertise: Entrepreneurial expertise is specific to the context of entrepreneurship, which concerns the emergence of new economic activity and the way entrepreneurs identify new means-ends frameworks (i.e. opportunities) and bring their offerings to market under conditions of uncertainty (Read and Sarasvathy, 2005; Shepherd et al., 2015). The ability to make appropriate decisions about how to use one's own skills and capabilities as well as the other means available to produce new means-ends bundles are important for entrepreneurial success. Making these decisions and acting on them becomes difficult in dynamic environments and when immediate outcomes are uncertain (McKelvie et al., 2011; Uygur and Kim, 2014).\nAction-control belief-based mechanism of entrepreneurial expertise development: The model\nDiscussion: The basic premise of this paper is that entrepreneurial expertise develops alongside growing action-control beliefs. Whereas others have analyzed the differences between novice and expert entrepreneurs, this paper explores the mechanisms behind a novice turning into an expert. Theorizing about the process of expertise development, this paper encourages the reader to think about the complex role of the deeply held action-control beliefs that impact decision making, entrepreneurial action, and - consequently - the performance of new firms. It suggests directions in which education should develop to help nurture expert entrepreneurs.\nConclusion: The main contribution of this paper is twofold. First, this paper develops a model that explains the mechanisms underlying the development of entrepreneurial expertise and provides a rationale for the adoption of non-predictive (control) logic. More specifically, because perceived control (i.e. action-control beliefs) reflects the fundamental need for competence (Skinner, 1995), the development of entrepreneurial expertise rests on reinforcing action-control beliefs. Simply put, individuals want to learn as much as possible about effective and ineffective strategies, about their own capacities, and about their inherent limitations in order to succeed. While extant entrepreneurship research has highlighted the role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Chen et al., 1998; McGee et al., 2009), this paper extends that research by suggesting that strategy and capacity beliefs are also key to entrepreneurial action and entrepreneurial expertise development. This means that efficacy beliefs are a necessary but insufficient element for the development of expertise. They must be developed alongside capacity beliefs and strategy beliefs. Consequently, each of the three beliefs plays an important role in the development process. They can develop at a different pace depending on the time and effort the individual invests in deliberately practicing each of them. Thus, understanding how entrepreneurial expertise develops requires understanding how an individual's perceived level of control over means and ends as well as his or her own efficacy develops over time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to theorize on the mechanisms underlying the development of entrepreneurial expertise. While prior studies have identified differences between the behavior of novice and expert entrepreneurs, the mechanisms that cause these differences have not received sufficient attention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper systematically reviews the extant literature on entrepreneurial expertise and builds the conceptual framework by employing an action-control belief framework to propose mechanisms underlying the development of expert behavior.\nFindings: This paper argues that differences in behavior between novice and expert entrepreneurs stem from self-perceptions of their ability to act. More specifically, stronger action-control beliefs encourage entrepreneurs to create new interpretations of the world over time; develop and use strategies that allow them to rely on perceived control over means and ends, their perceived capacity, and their agency; and hence behave more like experts.\nPractical implications: This paper suggests that strategy, capacity, and control beliefs are key in individuals' decisions of whether to engage in entrepreneurial action and that expert entrepreneurs hold stronger beliefs than novices. Positive experiences, particularly those associated with deliberate practice, contribute to developing these beliefs and, more broadly, to entrepreneurial expertise.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes that the mechanism of transformation from novice to expert behavior can be attributed to positive changes in deeply held beliefs about strategy (i.e. possible means-ends frameworks), capacity (i.e. access to means), and control (i.e. perceived efficacy). Each of the beliefs can develop separately from others and at different pace. In other words, this work explains why novice and expert entrepreneurs behave differently.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The study of the antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior: The empirical study of Yambol online test community	[ "Community participation", "Anticipated extrinsic rewards", "Anticipated reciprocal relationship", "Knowledge sharing behaviour", "Knowledge sharing self-efficacy", "Norm of reciprocity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The twenty-first century is a knowledge economy era, in which knowledge mastery yields innovation. Rapid technological advances and unlimited internet expansion enables people to search and locate numerous data. Knowledge delivery is no longer limited to schools and books. The internet has advanced tangible geographical and temporal limitations that enable people to cross-knowledge barriers and internet communities have further linked people. Online and mobile learning are optimal learning methods that enable users to learn current trends and avoid overwhelming amount of information.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses: 2.1. Virtual learning community and knowledge sharing\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Research design and data collection\n4. Discussion, analysis and results: This research conducted two phases of analysis recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988). First, this study performed the measurement model with CFA to test reliabilities and validities of the research constructs. Then, this study conducted the structural model to validate the hypotheses of the research framework. In addition, this study used multi-group causal analysis to test the moderating effects of community identification.\n5. Conclusion and implication: 5.1. Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the factors from environmental level and personal level influence the knowledge sharing behavior and community participation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research study, which consisted of 394 valid respondents who were members of the Yambol online test community, used online survey to collect data. This research used the structural equation modeling to analyze the data with good model fit.\nFindings: The results of this research showed the following: the anticipated reciprocal relationship, norm of reciprocity, and anticipated extrinsic rewards had a significant and positive effect on knowledge sharing behavior, respectively; knowledge sharing behavior had a significant and positive effect on community participation; knowledge sharing self-efficacy was the mediator between anticipated extrinsic rewards and knowledge sharing behavior; and community identification moderated the relationship between knowledge sharing behavior and community participation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study was a cross-sectional study. Future research can employ a longitudinal study to conduct long-term observations of knowledge sharing behavioral changes among members of the Yambol online test community. Moreover, this study applied social cognitive theory as the basis to explore the antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior of members of the Yambol online test community. Future research can apply a broad range of behavioral theory or combinations of research variables to explore comprehensive factors of knowledge sharing behavior.\nPractical implications: From a managerial standpoint, this study can assist professional online learning community in understanding the antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior and community participation from personal and environmental level.\nSocial implications: Yambol online test community managers can enhance reciprocity relationship between members in the emotional level. In addition, Yambol online test community managers can use the appropriate norm of reciprocity to strengthen the trust of community members and enhance the knowledge sharing behavior of community members in the rational level.\nOriginality/value: First, most scholars viewed knowledge sharing from perspectives of corporate, organizational, or a typical internet community, but rarely applied a perspective from a professional online learning community to conduct research. Therefore, this research focussed on professional online learning community as the research subject. Second, the literature review revealed that reciprocity divided into anticipated reciprocal relationship and norm of reciprocity. Previous studies have used anticipated reciprocal relationship or norm of reciprocity as research aspects for examining reciprocity; however, no other study has evaluated both concurrently. Third, studies on the behavioral dimension have included knowledge sharing behavior and community participation. This study examined the influence of knowledge sharing behavior on community participation. Additionally, community identification was the moderator of the effect of knowledge sharing behavior on community participation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Facebook and the cultivation of ethnic diversity perceptions and attitudes	[ "Cultivation", "Facebook", "Ethnic Diversity", "Perceptions", "Attitudes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: With about 1.66 billion daily and 2.50 billion monthly active Facebook users as of the end of December 2019 (Facebook, 2020), Facebook as one particularly popular social network site (SNS) has become one of many people's daily activities. Facebook use facilitates global-scale communication with users from different nations and ethnicities. Facebook users encounter an environment that is more international and multiethnic than their usual social environment. Because media exposure can lead to cultivation effects - with cultivation initially defined as \"the independent contributions television viewing makes to viewer conceptions of social reality\" (Gerbner et al., 2002, p. 47) - intense exposure to highly diverse user groups of different nationalities and ethnicities on Facebook might cultivate ethnic diversity prevalence perceptions through which users infer and develop attitudes and beliefs regarding ethnic diversity (Potter, 1991; Rossler and Brosius, 2001). In times of considerable migration flows and an influx of refugees and asylum seekers (Hatton, 2016) - for example, first-time asylum applications in the European Union member states increased by 123% from 2014 to 2015 (Eurostat, 2016) - these attitudes and perceptions can shape cultural openness or xenophobia. Previous research showed that ethnic diversity perceptions and negative attitudes toward ethnic minorities were associated with more negative public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration (e.g. Ceobanu and Escandell, 2010; Gorodzeisky and Semyonov, 2016; Van Assche et al., 2016). Xenophobic and anti-immigrant attitudes contribute to individuals' support of radical right-wing parties that strive as an electoral force in Europe and worldwide (e.g. Cornelis and Van Hiel, 2015; Rydgren, 2007, 2008). Right-wing parties distort social reality by populist narratives and characterizing immigrants and refugees as threat to countries' cultural identity, economic well-being, and demographic survival, which, in turn, can account for anti-immigrant attitudes and hostility (e.g. Choi et al., 2019; Hainmueller and Hopkins, 2014; Steele and Abdelaaty, 2019).\nTheoretical background: Figure 1 presents the framework and hypotheses. In the following, we elaborate on the theoretical background and develop the hypotheses.Cultivation theory\nStudy 1: survey: Methodology\nStudy 2: experimental study: Methodology\nGeneral discussion: The findings of our studies provide empirical support for equally strong first-order cultivation relations of Facebook use to perceptions related to both the close and distant social environments. We found an indirect influence through first-order information pertaining to the close social environment on attitudes (Study 1). Our follow-up experimental findings confirmed an indirect effect of Facebook use on attitudes. The experimental findings further corroborate the first-order cultivation relations (Study 2). These findings provide several theoretical contributions to the literature.Theoretical contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply cultivation theory to social network sites by investigating how Facebook uses cultivates users' ethnic diversity perceptions and attitudes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors' investigations include an online and offline survey study with 476 Facebook users and a follow-up experiment with 75 individuals.\nFindings: The authors provide empirical support that Facebook use cultivates ethnic diversity perceptions and ethnic diversity-related attitudes. They show that Facebook use relates to perceptions of ethnic minorities that resemble the world on Facebook that is characterized by high ethnic diversity. The authors further demonstrate that the cultivation of ethnic diversity-related attitudes is mediated by diversity perceptions related to users' close social environment.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research should consider culturally and educationally diverse samples as well as longitudinal research designs to address external validity and causality issues.\nPractical implications: Algorithms determining the content users are exposed should be thoughtfully curated to avoid attitudinal and ideological polarization.\nSocial implications: Facebook can play an important role in positively shaping intergroup relations, thereby countering negative outgroup attitudes, social anxieties and radical right-wing parties.\nOriginality/value: The authors' studies extend the scope of cultivation research by identifying a new media vehicle as a source of cultivation influences and shed light on the cultivation-based process of attitude change on social network sites.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sensing opportunities in dynamic markets: how to encourage all employees to take part	[ "Heuristics", "Dynamic capability", "Company’s culture", "Competitive advantage", "Dynamic markets", "Simple rules" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In challenging, high-velocity markets, a firm's ability to sense opportunities serves as a tool to help it obtain a competitive advantage. It comes as no surprise that a firm lacking such an ability faces a greater chance of missing promising prospects that could propel it toward a competitive advantage. In fast-moving business environments, long-term competitive advantage demands unique and difficult-to-replicate dynamic capabilities, which refer to the firm's ability to reconfigure its existing resources and competences, which in turn allow it to more effectively respond to changes in the environment.\nSimple rules in non-simple environments: It is critical to understand the underlying differences between moderately dynamic markets and high-velocity markets. In moderately dynamic markets, where change takes place within the setting of a stable external environment, dynamic capabilities are similar to routines or processes that may be complicated and involve extensive analytical processes. In contrast, high-velocity markets are characterized by a large degree of uncertainty, rapid change and sometimes chaos. Under these conditions, dynamic capabilities become \"simple, experiential, unstable processes that rely on quickly created new knowledge\" (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000, p. 1106).\nCompany culture counts: For many, human capital, the productive capability of people, including their skills, experiences and knowledge, is considered the most critical asset, as it produces creativity and innovation (Stewart and Capital, 1997; Bontis, 1998). To advance human capital, firms can establish a culture that encourages opportunity sensing at an individual level. This idea is vividly illustrated in our previous examples of Google and DreamWorks, where these firms invite individuals at any level of the company into the contentious process of opportunity sensing. As a result, these companies create favorable conditions where employees have a platform for further developing or exploring possible opportunities. These companies create a culture that promotes independent, non-prescribed thinking, a critical component of both innovation and the development of dynamic capabilities. Holt (2017), COO of Amerisleep, an award-winning company headquartered in Arizona that produces eco-friendly memory foam mattresses, adjustable beds and accessories, emphasizes that \"the greatest business culture is one that isn't reliant on politics or hierarchy but on great ideas. It requires a culture that accepts ideas from every part of your business and recognizes individuals while working as a group. The most successful companies understand that anyone in the organization, not just the executive team, can have ideas that can change the company for the better. While having a flat organization may not work, creating a flat ideas economy in the business will add unbelievable strength to your company [...]\" (Forbes, October 2017).\nPractice makes perfect: A firm's human capital can be improved in two ways:\nThree insights into managing an opportunity-sensing capability at the organization level: Evaluate all ideas equally\nConclusion: Our insights introduce a novel idea that if employees are exposed to a culture of opportunity sensing, it can help organizations build up their dynamic capabilities and possibly gain a long-term competitive advantage. Our main argument rests on the notion that harnessing the abilities of employees to sense and seize opportunities is a valuable intangible organizational asset. We highlight the significance of personal rules of thumb that have a great potential to form a company's dynamic ability to sense and seize opportunity in high-velocity markets. In stable, slowly changing markets, the role of personal ruleofthumb is not as critical because the opportunity capturing process is normally regulated by detailed and standardized routines. However, when the dynamism of markets intensifies, the magnitude of one's cognitive shortcuts intensifies as well. Therefore, the ability to apply personal rules of thumb no longer should be viewed as only one person's ingenuity. In rapidly changing environments, they become an organization's asset.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how companies can retain their ability to recognize, seize and maintain opportunities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual work is built on existing research about an organization's dynamic capabilities and literature on judgment under uncertainty.\nFindings: This study offers specific ways in which companies can develop the dynamic capability of identifying new opportunities and, most importantly, how firms can maintain this rare dynamic capability for significant periods, so that they can harvest the benefits offered by owning this capability.\nPractical implications: This study's specific insights equip practitioners with turn-key information on how to build or maintain a firm's unique ability to sense and capture an opportunity via the enhancement of the firm's portfolio of simple rules.\nOriginality/value: This research introduces a novel idea about micro-foundations of a firm's dynamic capabilities and theoretically argues that a favorable organizational culture and individuals' rules of thumb can form a company's dynamic ability to sense and seize an opportunity in high-velocity markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When service providers fail: outsourcing help and consumer attitudes	[ "Brand loyalty", "Outsourcing", "Service recovery", "Services marketing", "Ethnocentrism", "Offshoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The outsourcing and offshoring of a range of front-stage and back-stage processes have encouraged considerable media attention and research. Outsourcing and offshoring strategies are generally driven by operational and financial efficiency. Well-known companies such as International Business Machines, Barclays and T-Mobile have recently outsourced customer service functions to external providers. While such strategies can benefit both the firm through lower costs and the customer through lower prices, consumers largely view outsourcing and offshoring negatively, failing to appreciate the potential benefits such as lower prices.\nResearch purpose and approach: Figure 1 demonstrates the relationships we believe exist between the key components identified in the aforementioned discussion. Dewitt et al. (2008) propose that the ultimate outcome of service recovery models is to create loyalty and to ensure that the customer is willing to continue purchasing the brand regularly. The effect of outsourcing and offshoring potentially reduces loyalty and ethnocentric tendencies may exacerbate the effect (Sharma, 2012). Using justice theory as a guide, we discuss our rationale behind these relationships.\nResearch approach and findings: To test the expected relationships between offshoring, outsourcing, ethnocentrism and brand loyalty, this research developed and tested a series of service recovery scenarios on New Zealand consumers. Data were collected through an online experiment consisting of four conditions derived from a 2 (outsource) x 2 (offshore) orthogonal, complete factorial design. Given that airlines are a popular research context and given people's familiarity with the service type, Air New Zealand, the national carrier, was chosen as the example in this scenario. Air New Zealand is the dominant provider in the New Zealand airline market, meaning participants have strong familiarity and experience with the brand. The scenario stated that the customer had arrived at the airport in the morning to catch a flight so they could attend a birthday that afternoon. However, upon check-in they were informed that the flight had been oversold requiring them to catch a flight later in the day. As a result, they arrived late at the birthday. They were then informed that they were given a number to call, which was either of the airline itself or a third party called Travelbuddy (in-house/outsource manipulation), and their call was directed to a call centre either in New Zealand or India (local/offshore manipulation). India was chosen, as it is a country that New Zealand firms commonly outsource to. It was then explained that the complaint was dealt within a timely and polite manner with some form of compensation paid.\nImplications of the findings for managers: Service recovery is one of the most crucial front-stage functions, as it provides an opportunity which will potentially result in customer loss and have a direct impact on loyalty (Sengupta et al., 2015). An important implication of our findings is that restructuring strategies, including offshoring and outsourcing, can impact customer loyalty in response to service recovery delivery. Importantly, we add emphasis on the need to look at these strategies beyond the traditional firm-centric approach and take into consideration customers' psychological reactions to these strategies (i.e. ethnocentrism). While managers often emphasise the nature of the recovery strategy, for example, compensation, apology and explanation, our findings suggest that the cognitive and affective biases of consumers towards the actual service provider becomes an important evaluative criterion which may be then projected onto the focal firm, subsequently impacting the customer's future intentions.\nFinal conclusion: According to the service recovery paradox, customers who experience a service failure that the firm resolves effectively and efficiently are more loyal to a company than customers who do not experience such a failure. A key implication of this research is the need to consider the delivery channel of service recovery to take an advantage of this opportunity. This study provides an important consideration, as firms continually make decisions about the need for collaborators in activities and the geographic location in which to perform these activities. Similarly, the inevitable nature of service failures and the importance of effective service recovery for customer satisfaction and loyalty is well established. Therefore, our research provides services organisations with evidence that the way these two components of service delivery come together needs to be a consideration. Our research suggests that domestic outsourcing may be a more valuable exercise than the use of captive offshoring or outsourced offshoring when considering service recovery processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of outsourcing and offshoring on brand loyalty in a service recovery context. In addition, the effect that consumer ethnocentrism has on these relationships is examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experiment was designed using a series of service recovery scenarios that manipulated whether the recovery effort was conducted by an in-house/outsourced or local/offshored party.\nFindings: The study shows that while outsourcing service recovery within the home country has no effect on loyalty, outsourcing to an offshore location does. In addition, the effect of offshoring of loyalty is greater for consumers who hold ethnocentric tendencies.\nPractical implications: This research suggests the need to consider the delivery channel of service recovery to recover a service failure and retain customer loyalty. The results show that outsourcing within a local country may be effective, but the risks associated with offshoring are much greater.\nOriginality/value: Despite previous attempts to understand outsourcing and offshoring in a range of service scenarios, their role in service recovery is not well understood. Similarly, the impact that ethnocentrism might have on this process is overlooked. This paper therefore responds to calls within business theory, practice and consults for further study in this under-researched area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Choosing the sure gain and the sure loss: uncertainty avoidance and the reflection effect	[ "Uncertainty avoidance", "Prospect Theory", "Reflection effect", "Risky choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nTheory: Prospect Theory and the reflection effect\nStudy 1: Stimuli and participants\nStudy 2: Method\nStudy 3: Stimuli and participants\nGeneral discussion: Prospect Theory proposes that consumer preferences should reflect across gains and losses such that in a choice between certainty and risk, consumers should prefer certainty in gains and risk in losses. Across three studies, we show that the refection effect may depend on the consumer's desire for certainty (avoidance of uncertainty). In particular, we find that higher-UA consumers reflect less frequently between certainty (gains) and risk (losses) compared to lower-UA consumers. Furthermore, mediation tests show that higher-UA consumers prefer the certainty of a sure (smaller) loss to a possible (larger) loss.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to investigate the role of uncertainty avoidance (UA) as a moderator of Prospect Theory's reflection effect (i.e. the simultaneous choice of a sure gain and a risky loss). We expect that higher-UA consumers, seeking certainty, will shun risk across both gains and losses such that their choices will be inconsistent with the reflection effect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: We report three studies in which participants choose between risk and certainty. We use the stimuli from the original Prospect Theory paper, measure UA using an individual-level scale and conduct controlled experimental (laboratory) studies.\nFindings: We show that, compared to lower-UA consumers, higher-UA consumers demonstrate the reflection effect less frequently in a variety of settings (small/large stakes and within/between subjects comparisons). Mediation tests reveal that higher-UA consumers anchor on the sure loss and stay with their choice because they prefer the certainty of the sure (smaller) loss to the possibility of a possible (larger) loss (a dual-mediation mechanism).\nResearch limitations/implications: The results have important implications for marketing practice. They show that quantifying uncertainty into a probability number is not enough to eliminate the uncertainty of the situation, and that UA is likely serve as a boundary condition to many of the traditional heuristics of judgment and decision-making.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to demonstrate that UA can moderate the reflection effect (using the stimuli in the original Prospect Theory paper). Therefore, it sets an agenda for future researchers who may want to use these findings to calibrate price/uncertainty tradeoffs within higher-UA segments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Public agencies and environmental risk: Organizing knowledge in a democratic context	[ "Risk management", "Knowledge management", "Environmental management", "United States of America", "Nuclear fuel processing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Department of Energy owns and manages 2.54 million acres of land throughout the USA where the federal government developed and tested nuclear technologies for commercial and defense uses. That effort resulted in a helter-skelter geography of environmental contamination that poses grave risks to human health and the environment. Since 1990, the DOE's mission at these sites has shifted from defense production to clean-up, likely the largest post-industrial cleanup effort in human history. Of the DOE's annual budget, 60 percent is now devoted to its Office of Environmental Management (DOE/EM), over $6 billion. The estimated 50-year cost of clean-up is $300 billion dollars though that number could vary dramatically depending on the final amount of risk reduction, technical feasibility and pace of cleanup (DOE/EM, 1996, 2001).Decision-making at DOE/EMs is, if nothing else, a knowledge-intensive activity. DOE/EM must incorporate evolving knowledge of site environmental hazards, develop new cleanup technologies, assess the capacities of its contractors, and all the while maintaining public trust in the context of divergent public values. This paper brings the insights of knowledge management to bear on this problem. As a practical matter, it considers specific tasks and organizational responsibilities in the cleanup process and the nature of the knowledge needed for that task. For example, the perpetual environmental monitoring likely needed at many sites may rely on explicit rules with little room for individual autonomy within the organization to assure continuity. Alternatively, estimating environmental risks may benefit by providing both more expert autonomy and learning across disciplinary domains. Some problem solving efforts may exceed the capacities of science as we normally understand it such as balancing the risks and costs of remedial options between present and future generations.The authors also wish to make a more general argument about managing knowledge in public agencies. It is that a public organization confronting political and scientific ambiguity must be flexible in its strategy for acquiring knowledge to escape its predicament, and that it must constantly justify its organizational approach to its political environment, or change. This argument is based on our reading of two so far unconnected literatures. The literature on knowledge management has promoted the development of organizational structures that enable tacit knowledge - knowledge that is not formalizable in rules. Similarly, the risk management literature argues for an analytic and deliberative strategy that promises better exchange of tacit knowledge. While tacit knowledge is important, there may be situations or tasks where explicit knowledge is crucial and therefore public agencies dealing with environmental risk may need to adopt a range of approaches to knowledge management. Because public agencies are embedded in a democratic political system, they have the special contextual demands to consider the implications of their approach to knowledge on the agency-citizen relationship.\nA model of the relationships between knowledge, organizations and democracy: The authors have developed a model that describes the dominant forms of knowledge used in public agencies, and then associated them with various democratic traditions. The model draws from the literatures on knowledge management (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; von Krogh et al., 2000; Lam, 2000), environmental risk management (Stern and Fineberg, 1996; Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1992), as well as democratic theory (Habermas, 1987; Dahl, 1989) and public administration (Paquet, 1999; Milner, 2000). While these literatures are disciplinarily diverse, the authors found striking parallels that led to the development of the model.Knowledge\nManaging knowledge of environmental risks in DOE's Office of DOE/EM: Organizational adaptation of its knowledge-producing processes to changing context is famously difficult. It requires that the agency have a concept of the kinds of knowledge needed to fulfill its mission, but also a model of the broader political system to which it owes its existence. The size and scope of the DOE/EM program illustrates the challenges of managing environmental risk knowledge in a democratic society. The succeeding sections provide an overview of the agency's history, detailed analysis of specific projects, and the final section proscribes how the agency ought to seek knowledge given the ambiguities of its predicament.History and organizational structure of cleanup\nDetailed analyses of knowledge management at DOE/EM: These case studies include analysis of a massive soils soil cleanup, a comprehensive assessment of risks to the Columbia River, public communication efforts, and a plan for managing residual risks after cleanup is over. The authors draw from their experiences being actively involved and researching DOE/EM decision making. The analyses detailed below are based on document reviews, formal and informal discussions with agency staff and stakeholders, and analysis of environmental data.Hanford's river corridor cleanup, unplugged?\nWhat should DOE/EM do to better manage knowledge?: The previous section detailed the knowledge-seeking behavior of DOE/EM. This section discusses how it can avoid committing the knowledge management \"sins\" (Fahey and Prusak, 1998). First of all it must develop a vision of \"the world it wants to live in\", paraphrasing von Krogh et al. (2000). Centrally, it must consider its internal and external relationships. To that end it must ask the tandem questions what kind of knowledge it believes necessary to accomplish its task; and what kind of knowledge do the polyarchy and citizens believe necessary.Strategic thinking about developing relationships will lead it to confront its institutional history and the impacts of that history on its internal and external relationships. It cannot escape that the DOE/EM is directly and indirectly implicated in some of the most grievous governmental transgressions including intentionally releasing radiological materials into the environment. Recognizing that it must take an outward-directed deliberative strategy to build social trust - at the same time it must build internal relationships between the older generation of workers who had been acculturated to its inward-directed defense production years and the new generation of environmental professionals dedicated to cleanup.Only after a vision of the relationship with citizens and its worker can DOE/EM get down to the details of organizing knowledge processes for particular tasks. When it does organize for those tasks it must always ask itself if the choice of knowledge needed for that task (assessing risks to a river, estimating future costs) will be seen as legitimate by its political environment. Organizationally it may seek to standardize a task and decide on an appropriate level of autonomy for those dedicated to the task. That choice must be linked to its assessment of the perception of the knowledge needed in its political environment.Once the knowledge needed for particular tasks are identified, the agency must consider the flow of information and knowledge between implicated organizations. This may entail conducting an information or knowledge audit (Milner, 2000). DOE/EM will have to consider the capacities and willingness of all those organizations to participate. Are there problems with any of those relationships that might interfere with the project? The Hanford Draft IC Plan begs for this kind of analysis. It may be that the CRCIA failed because the DOE still saw the assessment in explicit knowledge terms and involved stakeholders who saw that assessments needed continuous dialog with potentially impacted stakeholders and their knowledge.Throughout these planning and analysis efforts, DOE/EM must justify its beliefs about the nature of the knowledge needed for a task to its political environment. Choosing a form of knowledge for tasks is a necessarily political act and should cause the agency to reflect back on the original questions about trust and the nature of science needed for the task. If the two are inconsistent, and the agency fails to justify its belief, the agency risks its credibility, and perhaps even its legitimacy.Baumard (1999) found that private sector firms shifted their knowledge modes seeking to adapt to turbulent times. DOE/EM has also shifted its organizational forms and modes of knowledge driven by legislative mandates and executive (presidential) vision. In the interest of institutional constancy (LaPorte, 1996) DOE/EM must do a better job of creating specific organizational forms for specific tasks. Senior managers must consider their vision of the democratic system within which they wish to operate and relate that to the nature of the knowledge necessary for that task. This exercise may discover a range of visions and necessary knowledge. For example, it may be that resistance to changes that would undermine the effective long-term monitoring, characteristic of a machine bureaucracy, are justifiable in the public interest. Alternatively, integrated risk assessments may require tacit knowledge requiring the intense analysis and deliberation of the polyarchy. When future land use is the issue, extensive citizen deliberation may be necessary.Senior managers throughout the DOE/EM program must then attempt to construct an overarching vision. In constructing that overarching vision, DOE/EM must explicitly consider the possibility of defining an institution-wide vision with the attendant view of knowledge, with the diversity strategy of having multiple visions with multiple views of knowledge. Whatever the case, the agency has a responsibility to be transparent in its choices and what it expects of its relationships with citizens. Citizens should know when the agency is asking for deference and when it genuinely seeks extensive participation. Failure to justify the beliefs about knowledge that underlay the strategy can undermine success by eroding the public trust.\nWhat senior managers of public agencies should consider about knowledge management: While some federal and state agencies are primarily concerned with addressing environmental risks, such as the Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level and the 50 state department of environments, virtually any public agency must consider the environmental risk implications of their operations. In organizing to address those environmental risks, managers must engage with political as well as technical-scientific aspects of the problems they must address. They run the risk of quotidian political challenges distracting them from developing a broad vision of the democratic system within which they operate. Quotidian technical challenges can also distract a manager from an assessment of the kinds of knowledge processes needed in that democratic context. The technical challenge of developing a better hydrology model should not be considered independent of the relationships within and between agencies, and its stakeholder context. The organizational form chosen by the manager should reflect an integrated understanding of the kinds of knowledge needed for the geological model and the kinds of relationship the agency seeks.The premise of this paper is that a senior manager's organizational vision be grounded by a broader vision of the political world that agency inhabits, and a vision of the epistemological character of the knowledge needed to address the environmental problem for which the agency is responsible. The organizational form the manager creates for her agency - a professional or machine bureaucracy, an adhocracy, or a J-form organization - is an expression of that view and should be consistent with the political and epistemological dimensions. Organizational forms influence the type of science employed in addressing a problem (as a normal or post-normal problem), and the approach it takes to the relationships it has with citizens and other organizations (as inward or outward directed). This is big picture stuff that is quickly subsumed by quotidian political and scientific challenges, but vision is crucial.Why? Without the vision of the organizational demands at the level of democratic context and epistemological orientation organizational constancy - trust in the organization and its science - can be lost. Lost trust results in an erosion of scientific and democratic legitimacy. Agencies that lose legitimacy will be dismantled and replaced. This is what happened to the AEC.It is absolutely crucial that an agency manager understands that it is not the agency that confronts the environmental risk it is society. The agency is an expression of that society's values. Democracy and the importance of generating knowledge are central to the vision shared in many societies in the world and they should be central to the agency. It is the responsibility of agencies to help clarify social choices about environmental risks. Different organizational forms construct different processes by which social choice proceeds.\nConclusion: This paper developed a framework focused on the public administration of environmental risks. It was based on complimentary and synergetic themes in the literatures on risk, knowledge management, organizational and political theory. Though diverse, these literatures contain a shared premise that some knowledge cannot be formalized in organizational rules or standard operating procedures but are nonetheless important in the management of risks. The purpose of knowledge management in public administration is, to quote Karl Wigg, to support social goals and provide public benefits \"by making its people and institutions work smarter and thereby increase the quality of life for citizens\" (Wigg, 2002).DOE/EM has an especially difficult predicament. Because of the highly technical nature of its mission, DOE/EM must be especially wary of over-estimating the value of its explicit knowledge assets while under-estimating the value of internal and external tacit knowledge (Fahey and Prusak, 1998). When it conducted a comprehensive assessment of risks to the Columbia River using a standard, normal science approach, they signaled that citizens' knowledge was irrelevant, and citizens angrily reacted. It has in the past sought broad public participation for future land use planning, but its more recent and related IC planning effort seemed concerned with little more than fulfilling a statutory mandate. These examples indicate the agency has not instilled a knowledge management vision throughout its organizational structure.This paper has argued that the vision of knowledge adopted by a public agency to address environmental risks is intimately connected to its relationship with citizens. As part of developing its vision, agencies must consider if its vision is consistent with that of its political environment. It must continuously and sincerely justify its approach to knowledge even while it develops the organizational process to accomplish specific tasks. The goal should be social learning (Paquet, 1999).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To derive from the environmental risk and knowledge management literatures a model that integrates organizational form, democratic vision and epistemological needs of public agencies responsible for addressing environmental risks. To analyze the knowledge management practices of the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) that is responsible for cleaning up landscapes contaminated by 50 years of plutonium production.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The model was used as a framework for a case study analysis of the USDOE knowledge management practices.\nFindings: - Conceptual: a vision of democracy and an understanding of the type of knowledge process can facilitate organizational constancy. Organizational forms should be matched to knowledge process and democratic vision. Empirical: USDOE has behaved erratically in addressing environmental risks viewed through this model of knowledge management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The model idealizes democratic visions, epistemological processes and organizational forms. Care should be taken in making predictions for the success or failure of an organizational approach based solely on this model.\nPractical implications: - Practically, the model aids scholars in making connections between knowledge management and public sector environmental risk management literatures; and provides managers with a systematic framework for relating democratic context knowledge production processes to particular organization forms. Use of this model particularly during agency restructuring may facilitate resolving environmental risks though improving organizational legitimacy, constancy, and knowledge generation capacity.\nOriginality/value: - This is a first attempt at integrating two related but so-far disconnected literatures (environmental risk management and knowledge management).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A national document supply co-operative between healthcare libraries in Ireland	[ "Ireland", "Document management", "Resource sharing", "Health education", "Education", "Libraries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground to the co-operative: In 1982 the Irish Health Sciences Libraries Group (IHSLG) of the Library Association of Ireland was founded. This provided a forum for healthcare librarians to get to know each other and discuss common issues and needs. Each library at that time was experiencing financial restrictions and budgetary constraints, similar to what is happening amongst our libraries today. Librarians were looking at their budgets and could see that their expenditure was rising on interlibrary loans. Journal articles which were available in their colleagues' libraries were mainly been requested from document supply agencies outside the country at a financial cost per item supplied.The meetings discussed the lack of co-operation between healthcare libraries, particularly in the area of inter-library loans. Users were requesting articles for patient care, staff education, research and management decision making. In particular for the hospital librarian a rapid response to a request was expected where information was needed in relation to a particular diagnosis or treatment for a patient. While these urgent requests could be satisfied from abroad the fee was very high. Librarians felt that a percentage of their requests could be supplied from other Irish nursing/medical libraries. These articles could be supplied even quicker and at less cost, but the necessary bibliographic tools, schemes and systems did not exist. Some of the librarians from the IHSLG Committee decided to establish a co-operative scheme. In 1991 the Irish Healthcare Libraries Inter-Lending Co-operative (IHLILC) was established as a non-profit making document supply service (primarily journal resources) between healthcare libraries located throughout the Republic of Ireland. There were 11 founding libraries, ranging from one-person operated small libraries to large hospital and university libraries.\nBibliographic tool: The first edition of the Index to Irish Healthcare Libraries Journal Holdings was compiled (fondly known as the \"Green Book\" because of the colour of its cover). It contained the journal holdings of the participating libraries. It was the responsibility of each library to adhere to current copyright legislation. Requests for documents were made by fax or telephone. The document was sent usually by post unless the requesting library asked for it to be faxed. There was a reliable communications infrastructure in the country to facilitate this. The scheme started on a trial basis. No one could predict how many requests would be made or how useful the scheme would be. There was to be no charge for documents supplied. It was hoped that it would be a reciprocal scheme - each library would both supply and receive - and many librarians thought that the scheme was too small to warrant the cost of time and money spent in invoicing each other, especially as one of the motivating factors was to make more effective use of the allocation of library funds.\nDevelopment: The scheme was successful from the start. The rationale behind the scheme proved valid. Many documents could be supplied within the country, at a faster response rate and at a lower cost to the medical/nursing libraries involved in the scheme. Meetings of the Health Sciences Libraries Section provided a forum for librarians to meet, to discuss issues relating to the scheme and to renew their spirit of co-operation. Newer members to the co-operative could meet in person the librarians to whom they were requesting or supplying articles.During the 1990s in Ireland there was a growth in nursing/medical libraries due to the changes in nursing education; the traditional in-hospital training method of nurses was replaced by the nurse undertaking a four-year university based degree education. These changes in pre-registration education, along with the professionalisation of nursing and the constantly changing environment in which the nurse operated all combined to make the continuing education of the registered nurse a topic of major importance. These changes meant that there was an even greater demand for access to library and information services. Many nursing/medical librarians were evaluating the needs and problems facing Irish nurses and midwives in accessing relevant, high quality information in order to complete their studies. This change also brought an increase and greater variety in the availability of specialist nursing courses and specialist nursing journals, the growth of new titles particularly in nursing continued to rise.Greater emphasis was placed on continuing education both for nurses and medical staff; medical post-graduate boards and faculties stipulated better library facilities in hospitals that provided programmes for doctors training for entry into these faculties.In 1993 the Standards for Irish Healthcare Libraries from the Health Sciences Libraries Section highlighted the importance of qualified library personnel and these Standards had a significant impact. Trained library staff were appointed to some of the new libraries. These new librarians were willing to collaborate in the scheme, as they knew the benefits of an effective document supply service.As the reputation and effectiveness of the co-operative became known membership increased. Existing libraries and new libraries joined the scheme (see Table I).The following journal categories were included in the scheme:1. General (covering a range of disciplines and specialities).2. Specialised libraries:* Nursing.* Psychiatry.* Health services management and organisation.* Safety and regulatory bodies.* Mental/physical disability.* Paediatrics.* Others:- Oncology;- Gynaecology and obstetrics;- Dentistry; and- Primary care.The number of journal holdings for each library varies. While the larger medical and nursing libraries have a higher number of journals the smaller specialised libraries make a significant contribution. Taken together as a group, they subscribe to a wide range of specialised journals that many libraries could not afford within the restrictions of their periodicals budget. Numbers of print journals in collections of all libraries have come down over the years due to libraries subscribing just to e-journals.\nSatisfying requests: At the outset all the libraries knew that not all their document supply requests would be satisfied by the co-operative. Requests continued to be made to other document supply agencies, which included university libraries not in the scheme. Other requests went to the British Library Document Supply Centre, the British Medical Association and to the Nursing Union List (UK). According to the latest statistics available, the co-operative is supplying more than 50 per cent of requests.Statistics taken during 2003-2005 show how many requests were sent to the cooperative libraries and how many the participating libraries received (see Table II).One of the issues which the scheme faced was the concern expressed by some of the large libraries that too many new small libraries were being admitted to the scheme, placing heavy demands on the journal holdings of the large libraries and having themselves few resources to offer. A detailed analysis of the statistics for the transactions from September 1997 to August 1998 was undertaken to reassess the situation and to determine future strategy.In 1993/94 - 3, 592 articles were satisfied by the co-operative. Four libraries supplied 71 per cent of these articles.In 1997/98 - 13, 292 articles were satisfied by the co-operative. Ten libraries supplied 71 per cent of these articles.Of these ten suppliers, eight ranked among the top ten receivers, thus ranking among the highest users of the scheme. However there was still a disproportion between supply and demand. These ten libraries supplied more documents than they received.A conclusion from this analysis was the setting up of a sub-committee of the Health Sciences Libraries Section to regulate the scheme. This sub-committee provides a forum to deal with complaints about the operation of the scheme. It formalised the following rules for entry into the scheme and for remaining in it.Rules for entry to the scheme drawn up by the Journal Co-Operative Committee\nDevelopment from print to online index: Between 1991-2005 the Index, or Green Book, was published annually in printed format. Each library submitted their journal holdings to the co-ordinators of the scheme; these journals were input into an access database with cross checks made for correct titles, ISSN numbers, dates which libraries held these journals. The Index was printed alphabetically by journal title with each library having its own three letter code (e.g. SVH - St Vincent's Hospital) listed underneath the journal title with the year from which the library held the journal, also whether their holdings for that title were complete or not.Owing to the printed index being out of date as soon as it was printed, work began on building an online version. The index remained in print format from 1991-2005, in 2006 an online version of the index was made available together with the printed version, in 2007 the index was only available online.Since January 2007, librarians have had total control over their own holdings and contact details in the database to update or change details, which means that the index stays totally up to date.The online index is now available to members at: www.ihslg.org. The searching and browsing pages are shown in Figures 1 and 2.The head librarian in each library is given the administrative rights to the database; they then have the authority to assign other rights for access to database such as look up rights or basic editing rights. Only the administrator can make changes to the journal holdings of their own library.Usage of the online version of the index has been very positive with the usage statistics shown in Figure 3.\nChallenges which the co-operative faces in the twenty-first century: * Online journals and delivery of articles from publisher to user gives a response rate faster than that of the co-operative. Online delivery is a feasible alternative for large libraries linked to universities who can negotiate terms with publishers or full text suppliers. The cost of this is still prohibitive for the small library. What if the smaller libraries of the co-operative formed a consortium to negotiate agreements with online journal providers at a cost within their budgets? This is an interesting possibility.* Libraries that have large e-journal collections may not be able to supply articles to the cooperative - is this perceived as a challenge?* Libraries only accessing online journals, not holding print journals at all or putting their print journals to offsite storage.* The cost of usage is supply. Some libraries have a very disproportionate supply rate - as high as 2 to 1 in some cases. Will these libraries remain or withdraw? Will the labour and administrative costs of participation become too high?* There is the archival issue. Devising a retention policy for back issues of journals would be another beneficial development. Libraries could undertake to retain back issues of certain journals either in print or electronic format, and then back issues of a range of journal titles would be available. Other libraries, knowing that these titles are available elsewhere within the co-operative, could then discard their back issues of those journals.* Is there a role for an acquisitions policy? The proliferation of healthcare journals in print and in electronic format continues. In addition to each library's core journal collection, there could be an acquisitions policy for non-core yet relevant material among the participating libraries. This would eliminate unnecessary duplication of material and broaden the range of journal titles available to the co-operative.* The vision of the Library Council of Ireland for this century is of libraries and information services in Ireland co-operating to provide universal access to information and resources. It acknowledges the co-operative's contribution in the healthcare sector. One of the recommendations of the Council is the linking of library catalogues and the digitisation of information that would be available on a public access network - PAN Ireland. The implications for the future of the co-operative in this context are as yet unknown. It is possible that the co-operative will become one of the components of PAN, thus making its resources available to a wider range of libraries and users.The essential elements for the continuity of the co-operative are everyone's spirit of goodwill, their motivation to help each other, and to share the workload between everyone. As long as these elements are alive, the co-operative will continue to work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a co-operative that facilitates interlending and document supply between health libraries in the Republic of Ireland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The development and expansion of the service are described from its origin in 1991.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the co-operative has been a great success. Many documents could be supplied within the country, at a faster response rate and at a lower cost than by other methods. The number of journals in the scheme has increased from 1,009 to 7,283. Total number of article requests within the co-operative has risen to 19,293.\nOriginality/value: - This is the only article to give an up-to-date overview of an important national resource-sharing health co-operative in Ireland.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory analysis of social commonalities and subjective discounts	[ "Commercial friendships", "Retail discounts", "Consumer culture theory", "Consumer behaviour", "Customer relationship management", "Subjective discounts", "Group nepotism theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In many retail exchanges, such as transactions involving jewellery (Brun and Moretto, 2012), hospitality/food service (Walsh, 2013), furniture, furs, antiques, automobiles, pawn sales and art, sales associates usually possess the ability to offer their customers price accommodations without having to obtain managerial approval for doing so. The literature is replete with articles that show that customers often expect price accommodations from sales associates with whom they maintain relational ties, based on a working history, or with organizations with which they have a purchasing history, such as by participating in their loyalty programs or brand communities (Berry, 2002; Gwinner et al., 1998; Mulhern and Padgett, 1995; Verhoef, 2003).Indeed, Goodwin (1996) speculates that commercial friendships or so-called social commonalities between service providers and customers require time to develop, but when in place, they profoundly influence working relationships so that, quite often, customers exhibit organization loyalty and resistance to switching. Furthermore, service researchers have shown that customers who share commonalities with retail employees often expect demonstrations of appreciation, such as unexpected price accommodations, complimentary upgrades, free products, or even birthday presents (Gwinner et al., 1998; Price and Arnould, 1999; Rosenbaum, 2009).A burgeoning area of research has explored relational benefits among customers and retail employees who realize they share weak or even imaginary communalities, such as sexual orientation or country of origin (Rosenbaum et al., 2012). Anderson (1996) coined the phrase \"imaginary community\" to describe communities comprised of members who hold mental images of their affinity towards one another in their minds, with these bonds being anchored on similar social interests. For example, Rosenbaum et al. (2012) recently revealed how gay customers in the mid-western US and Turkish customers in Germany often ask for, and receive, financial discounts and service enhancements from like-other retail employees simply because they recognize that they share a stigmatizing social commonality that sets them apart from the majority. That is, the stigmatizing commonality serves as a catalyst for creating temporal bonds between like customers and employees in retail settings.In this article, we speculate that the recognition of many shared social commonalities between customers and retail employees, which are not necessarily stigmatizing in nature, such as those based on social media or common life experiences, may prompt customers to believe that they are entitled to relational benefits, typically in the form of financial discounts. This speculation is rooted in the tenets of consumer culture theory (CCT; Arnould and Thompson, 2005). CCT suggests that many postmodern consumers briefly unite in consumption settings because of a quest for community, based on shared lifestyles or shared life experiences (Cova and Cova, 2001; Kozinets, 2001, 2002), albeit in a narcissistic attempt to share a pool of organizational resources among in-group members, including price discounts and complementary products (Cova and Pace, 2006; Rosenbaum et al., 2012).The goal of this article is to link CCT with contemporary retailing practices by showing that customers who realize that they share social commonalities with employees, such as social media linkages, shared life experiences (e.g. chronic diseases, physical handicaps, university attendance, fraternity membership), or shared lifestyles (e.g. affinity to a sports team, sexual orientation), often believe that they are entitled to relational benefits in the form of price accommodations merely by virtue of their shared social commonalities. We achieve this goal by engaging in three exploratory investigations. First, we expand on CCT by drawing on group nepotism theory (Jones, 2000), which posits that members of any social group are innately inclined to believe that they are entitled to aid from other group members, simply by virtue of being a group member. Thus, some CCT postulations may be biologically driven as opposed to being a consequence of modernism. Second, we expand on the relational benefit literature (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002) by showing that customers who share commonalities with employees believe that they are entitled to relational benefits, in a manner that is reserved for an organization's \"best\" customers. That is, commonalities between employees and customers propel a relationship forward in terms of intimacy, to a manner that researchers previously thought required extensive nurturing and development. Third, we expand on CCT's \"dark side\" (McGregor, 2003, 2010) by showing that commonalities encourage consumers to place a priority on receiving entitlements from employees, such that they often ignore the consequences employees may encounter from providing them, including job loss. We conclude by discussing theoretical and managerial implications, future research directions, and research limitations.\nLiterature review: The marketing discipline knows a great deal about objective price discounting methods, which are afforded to consumers in a rational manner to encourage future behavioral intentions (e.g. loyalty programs (Lewis, 2004), customer discount card usage (McIlroy and Barnett, 2000)), encourage purchase of products near expiry date (Sezen, 2004), stimulate large purchases or expedite payment (e.g. quantity discounts and payment terms (Weber et al., 1991)), and encourage purchasing of high/low quantities (Palla et al., 2010). Yet considerably less is known about the nature of subjective price accommodations, which sales associates often provide customers on their own volition and without managerial approval (Rosenbaum et al., 2012; Walsh, 2013).Objective and subjective price discounting\nMethodology: This study employs survey methodology, using the context of a jewelry store. This example is opportune for theory testing because many people are aware that jewelry stores may offer customers some pricing leeway. We manipulated the social commonality between a salesperson and a customer by exploring 12 different types of non-familial, social connections that people regularly share with others (see the Appendix for details). We obtained these commonalities by asking various experts in marketing about the types of bonds that contemporary sales associates commonly share with their customers; we selected 12 of the most repeated answers. In addition, we manipulated three conditions that corresponded to each research question. The conditional design details also appear in the Appendix.Respondents at a major US university enrolled in the study as part of an Introduction to Marketing course requirement during a three-day period, which corresponded to each condition. As a result, 199 respondents answered the survey in the first condition, 229 answered in the second condition and 153 answered in the third condition, for a total of 581 respondents (49.5 percent male, average age 21.8 years). Respondents read a scenario in which they were told that Pat was a sales associate in a jewelry store. In the first condition, respondents were told that Pat can offer customers a discount on jewelry without managerial approval. This condition explores the extent to which consumers believe that they are entitled to price accommodations based on their shared commonalities with a like retail employee. Nielsen (2009) reports that young adults are actively engaged in the purchase of both fine and costume jewelry.In the second scenario, respondents were told that Pat can offer customers a discount without managerial approval but that the discount is reserved for the store's best customers. This condition explores the extent to which customers believe that shared commonalities cause them to view themselves as an organization's best customer and, as such, entitled to relational benefits.The third condition mirrors the second, except that in this condition, Pat tells the customer that he could get fired for breaking the organization's discounting policy. This scenario tests whether so-called consumer tribes actually champion narcissism. After reading each scenario, respondents were asked to consider whether they as customers were entitled to a discount from Pat because they shared 12 different possible commonalities with Pat (yes or no).\nResults: Commonalities lead to discounts\nConclusion: This work breaks new ground in marketing by investigating an under-researched topic in the discipline - namely, subjective discounting. Marketing researchers have shown that customers often receive favoritism, including price discounts, free merchandise, complimentary upgrades and enhanced service quality, from employees during service encounters by virtue of their sharing stigmatized socio-collective commonalities with employees, such as sexual orientation and ethnicity (Rosenbaum et al., 2012). This works extends the concept of service nepotism by revealing that customers who share various social commonalities with retail employees, such as similar life experiences (Cova and Cova, 2001), social media linkages, and shared lifestyles, may believe that they are entitled to relational benefits from these employees.This work also supports the customer relationship paradigm, which shows that a firm's best customers, as defined by established histories and profitability, often believe that they are entitled to relational benefits, including price discounts (Gwinner et al., 1998; Harris et al., 2003; Price and Arnould, 1999). This research shows that social commonalities basically propel customers from being strangers to friends (Johnson and Selnes, 2004) during marketplace exchanges. That is, the notion that customers may receive subjective discounts in retail settings is not necessarily novel; rather, the finding that customers believe that they are entitled to these discounts because they share social commonalities with employees is profound.This research also highlights a dark side of consumer tribes. The findings show that many customers believe that they are entitled to group discounts even when knowing that employees may risk their jobs by affording them these benefits. Although gifts, spending and sacrifice are part and parcel of any integration ritual that links community members together (Cova and White, 2010), that so many customers are willing to permit employee sacrifice suggests that many consumer tribes do champion group narcissism (Cova and Cova, 2001; Cova and Dalli, 2009).Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article seeks to illustrate how social commonalities between employees and their customers often result in customers believing that they are entitled to discounts in retail settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study employs survey methodology to reveal the extent to which various social commonalities between customers and service providers encourage customers to believe that they are entitled to financial discounts.\nFindings: - The findings show that commonalities may cause customers to adhere to narcissism - that is, many customers may expect discounts even when they know that employees may jeopardize their jobs by providing them.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Customer relationships dramatically change with commonalities, as customers believe that social relationships propel them to \"best customer status\" and that they are entitled to discounts.\nPractical implications: - Customers who become increasingly connected with employees expect relational benefits that usually require time to develop. Retailers that encourage their employees to develop social media bonds with their customers must realize that customers desire to be financially rewarded for maintaining these linkages.\nOriginality/value: - This work reveals that customers who maintain social commonalities with employees expect to receive some type of financial benefit from doing so.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Accounting and quality management: the accounts payable function under ISO 9000	[ "ISO 9000", "Quality management", "Accounting", "Accounts payable" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Quality management and accounting are two distinct disciplines rarely combined in literature. However, some specialists in both fields are starting to acknowledge the benefits or their joint consideration. First, quality authors (Gryna, 1998; Rodchua, 2006; Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2006; Sower et al., 2007; Tye et al., 2011) have begun to highlight the necessity of including the financial perspective in their management systems with the purpose of measuring their effects in a more tangible fashion and, therefore, improving their decision-making tools. Similarly, accounting academics (Hilton, 2005; Johnson, 1994; Kaplan, 1983, 1984; Shank, 1989; Shank and Govindarajan, 1994, 1995) are recognizing that, in order for this field to keep its relevance, it must start to consider the implications of TQM principles, as this would be the only way in which it will continue providing valuable support to modern manufacturing and service processes. Finally, some studies have been conducted on the integration of these two functions in practice, (Hoque and Alam, 1999; Modell, 2009; Sedevich-Fons, 2011, 2012, 2018), which demonstrate the feasibility of and provide interesting techniques for their simultaneous utilization in organizations of diverse kinds.\n2. The ISO 9000 QMS: The ISO 9000 model is one of several frameworks around the world providing a method for the implementation and application of TQM principles. It encompasses three main standards:\n3. The Accounts Payable function: The accounting function consists in identifying and recording the economic transactions performed by the company (purchases, production, sales, payments, collections, deposits, investments, etc.), with three main purposes:\n4. Benefits stemming from the combination between accounts payable and QMSs: The integration of the Accounts Payable function into the ISO 9000 model may bring about positive results for both of them, as follows.\n5. Practical integration of the accounting system into a QMS: Despite the fact that the ISO 9000 standard does not explicitly include the accounting processes into the QMS, it can be clearly inferred from its principles and goals that such processes must be part of the model. First, it is not possible to achieve customer satisfaction without an efficient Accounts Receivable function, as clients usually demand accuracy and timeliness in the invoicing process. Second, it is not very likely to keep employees engaged and motivated if the Payroll process does not work properly in an organization. Besides, a mutually beneficial relationship with suppliers is only attainable if the Accounts Payable function is able to communicate effectively with them and issue payments in a punctual fashion. Finally, accurate and consistent Financial Statements are essential for managers to align with the principles of improvement and evidence-based decision making. As a consequence, it may be concluded that the incorporation of the accounting system into a QMS is not only a possibility, but also a necessity. A possible way of making this integration happen in practice is shown in and explained throughly in Figure 2.\n6. The accounts payable function under the process approach: The incorporation of the Accounts Payable function into the QMS would demand the use of the process approach to manage its activities. As previously mentioned, this would involve the consideration of the Accounts Payable tasks as interrelated processes and, hence, the identification of their components. The sub-processes or tasks of a typical Accounts Payable function are shown in Figure 3 and described below:\n7. Conclusion: Most organizations experience problems related to the disconnection between quality management and accounting functions. Without accounting and financial measures demonstrating the benefits associated with quality programs, top managers tend to keep only external motivations to implement a QMS and, therefore, waste the opportunity to achieve sustainable growth. Besides, when the Accounts Payable function is kept out of the QMS's scope, organizations may suffer increase in costs, weakening of relationships with suppliers and lack of accuracy in management reports.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationships between the ISO 9000 model and the accounts payable function, describe the potential benefits of their integration, evaluate their compatibility and propose a method for their amalgamation in practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After providing a theoretical framework on both the ISO 9000 model and the Accounts Payable function, the study emphasizes the need for their integration, identifies the links between them and proposes a model for their joint consideration.\nFindings: The analysis highlights the importance of the Accounts Payable function in organizations and discloses its suitability to be included in the ISO 9000 model as any other organizational processes. The theoretical compatibility between the most basic accounting functions and quality management programs is explained in detail.\nOriginality/value: The study of the links and interactions between quality management and accounting is still a novel topic in academia and, therefore, the literature addressing this subject is still incipient.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Better than before: the resilient organization in crisis mode	[ "Trust", "Strategy", "Social Capital", "Organizational resilience", "Crisis management", "People management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As organizations increasingly face crises of every size and description, traditional crisis management and business continuity models, embedded in manuals, processes and handling strategies, often fail to support the survival of organizations. Practitioners and executives often complain that investment and effort spent in crisis preparation do not pay off when companies are hit by disruptions and negative exposure.\n2. Understanding organizational resilience: Organizational resilience is a newer tradition in management theory that incorporates insights from both coping and contingency theories. According to Sutcliffe and Vogus (2003), organizational resilience has often been used to refer to the ability of an organization to absorb strain and preserve (or improve) functioning despite the presence of adversity. It also refers to the ability of an organization to recover or bounce back from untoward events. The literature explores two discrete approaches on organizational resilience. Some scholars see organizational resilience as simply an ability to rebound from unexpected, stressful and adverse situations and to pick up where they left off, whereas others see it as the safety cushion between structure and chaos. Brown and Eisenhardt (1998) argue that companies such as Microsoft, Nike and Intel are using a zone of resilience as a balancing factor between organizational anarchy and rigidity. In this paper, we visualize organizational resilience beyond restoration to include the development of new capabilities and the ability to keep pace with crisis-related changes and demands and even create new opportunities (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2011; Ponis and Koronis, 2012), as presented in Table I.\n3. Drivers of resilience: The key question in any discussion of organizational resilience is which organizations are more resilient than others. We argue that functional awareness and technical preparations are not a panacea and cannot ensure the final outcome by themselves. While organizational survival can be attributed to a number of unpredictable and situational factors, one can identify a number of organizational characteristics that enhance the survival and recovery of organizations. For example, Gittell et al. (2006) use the example of US airlines to argue for the role of relational capital in the process of facing strategic crises. Weick and Suttcliffe (2007) also explore the dimensions of a resilient culture ready to handle change, disruptions and unexpected events. It is indeed arguable that open-minded organizations have better chances of survival, similar to the concept of \"institutional mindfulness\" (Weick and Suttcliffe, 2007). In a similar direction, Mitroff (2005) argues that organizations need the right mind, soul, heart and thinking, as well as technical and social skills, to overcome difficulties and emerge from crises. We propose here the key drivers of resilience that best capture the complexity of survival processes. While these theoretical and conceptual propositions are in need of empirical testing, they encapsulate a number of functional and social variables that constitute a proposed framework for organizational resilience.\n4. A proposed framework for a strategy for resilience: So far, we have approached organizational resilience conceptually and proposed a set of strategic drivers, drawing on research and industry case studies, which potentially affect or guide the development of resilient capabilities. These propositions outline and could function as the main pillars of our approach, leading to the development of survival capabilities; however, they require a culture of resilience that better supports preparedness mentality, responsive capabilities, adaptation skills and learning processes. Moreover, a central argument in this paper is that the role of the strategy or a strategic view on resilience is required and is inherent in the efforts of organizations to survive crises and evolve within changing conditions. Resilience can not only be seen as a practice of actions and decisions made within a specific context but it should also be organized through a holistic understanding of organizing as a process of adapting.\n5. Limitations and propositions for further research: While a number of propositions are made in this paper, one needs to be careful about the limitations of our approach while also acknowledging the complexity of the territory. First, the term organizational resilience requires further conceptual clarifications as it maintains links with a number of similar concepts, especially on organizational evolution and survival, while also indicating links with a number of related fields in organizational behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to adopt a strategic view of organizational survival and argue that preparedness, responsiveness, adaptability and learning abilities constitute organizational drivers of resilience and provide a new direction on crisis management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As a conceptual and literature exploration, the methodological focus is to combine various concepts within a unified model for resilience.\nFindings: The proposed conceptual model highlights the need for strategic reconfigurations toward the construction of a resilience culture and the development of a supporting social capital in organizations. It also portrays organizational survival and sustainability as being dependent on strategic characteristics rather than on the managerial ability to handle situations and manage crisis.\nResearch limitations/implications: In this paper, implications, methodological concerns in the study of resilience and further research directions have been presented.\nPractical implications: The paper approaches a new way of thinking about crises and provides a set of cultural and organizational characteristics that would increase resilience and crisis management abilities.\nOriginality/value: While organizations are nowadays more than ever affected by disruptions and crises, their inherent ability and strategies to protect their sustainability have been undertheorized. This paper aims at contributing to a growing and fruitful discussion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A grid approach to managing sustainability: evidence from a multiple Italian case study	[ "Higher education", "Sustainability", "Coherence", "Implementation", "Conceptualization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The importance of implementing sustainability on university campuses has become a key issue for these institutions (Waas et al., 2010; Sedlacek, 2013; Karatzoglou, 2013), given that they can act as a reference model for sustainability and raise public awareness of the issue (Finlay and Massey, 2012). Implementing strategies for creating sustainable campuses has become important for universities around the world, as demonstrated by the numerous sustainability declarations signed by university rectors and presidents (AASHE, 2011; ACUPCC, 2011; UNEP, 2014). These declarations demonstrate the commitment of universities to integrating sustainability into their curriculums to provide students with adequate knowledge about sustainability and to quantifying the ability to achieve sustainability goals. Additionally, global rankings, such as the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, have been developed. These rankings, for which universities openly provide data to benchmark their sustainability performances against other international universities, demonstrate universities' progress toward sustainability and best practices among participants.\nLiterature review: sustainability and universities: This section discusses the extant literature on the topic of sustainable universities, also referred to as the \"sustainable campus\" (Cole, 2003). Given this study's objective of understanding the coherence between sustainability conceptualization and implementation, the literature review is focused on the sustainable university. Although Education for Sustainable Development is relevant to this objective, it is outside the scope of our research. The organization of this section reflects the two main themes debated in literature: sustainability conceptualization, here called the \"what\", and sustainability implementation, here called the \"how\".\nMethodology: To investigate the coherence between sustainability conceptualization (the \"what\") and its implementation (the \"how\"), a qualitative approach based on a multiple case study (Yin, 2003) was used. Unlike the existing literature that focuses on non-European countries, the authors focus here on a set of Italian universities, which allows us to provide insights into how sustainability is conceptualized and implemented in Italy.\nResults: The experiences of the ten Italian universities in approaching sustainability are divided into three sections. The first section examines sustainability conceptualization (the \"what\"), the second examines sustainability implementation (the \"how\") and the third presents a sustainability coherency matrix to support the joint analysis of the \"what\" and the \"how\", leading to the identification of six approaches for coherently achieving a sustainable campus.\nDiscussion: Three main results emerge from the analysis, which provide a number of implications for current research on sustainability in higher education, as well as for university managers and policy-makers concerned with sustainability issues.\nConclusion: This study investigated the coherence between the \"what\" of sustainability (i.e. sustainability conceptualization) and the \"how\" (i.e. implemented actions and communication approaches) given the recognized importance to ensure alignment between these two dimension to facilitate the management of the transition from the sustainability vision into real practice (Stephens et al., 2008; Sammalisto et al., 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the coherence between sustainability conceptualization (the \"what\") and its implementation (the \"how\") in terms of implemented actions and stakeholders' interactions. The paper proposes a grid approach for the simultaneous evaluation of sustainability conceptualization and implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on a multiple case study conducted in ten Italian Universities. In-depth interviews with general directors and administrative staff responsible for sustainable activities have been conducted together with documents and websites analysis.\nFindings: The coherence between sustainability conceptualization and its implementation showed heterogeneity of practice. Results propose a grid approach, which highlights six different approaches to explain the connection between the \"what\" and the \"how\" of sustainability.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is focused on Italian universities and may have overlooked approaches to campus sustainability specific of other countries.\nPractical implications: Understanding the coherence between the \"what\" and the \"how\" of sustainability can provide university managers with a practical tool of analysis when approaching and evaluating the sustainable campus.\nOriginality/value: While higher education scholars are widely exploring the conceptualization of a sustainable campus and its implementation, little is known about the coherence between these two realms, despite their importance to facilitate the transition of sustainability vision into real practice. This study contributes to this area by proposing a grid approach to evaluate the coherence between sustainability conceptualization and implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Macroeconomic determinants of credit risks: evidence from high-income countries	[ "Financial stability", "Trade openness", "Industrial policy", "National expenditure", "Non-performing loan", "Per capita income", "E44", "G21" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The banking system is a fundamental part of an economy that makes low-cost economic transactions between the lender and the depositor possible. The banking system has a strong impact on the entire economy (Festic et al., 2011; Rashid and Intartaglia, 2017; Rodriguez-Moreno and Pena, 2013) because financial resources cannot be allocated effectively in the absence of a sound banking system. The major portion of banking risks is covered by credit risk, which is one of the major causes of the economic downturn and an important indicator of financial vulnerability (Dudian and Popa, 2013). Empirical studies on the determinants of credit risks are, therefore, essential for a stable economy.\n2. Data and methods: 2.1 Sources of data\n3. Results and discussions of findings: Figure 1 shows the proportions of NPL in 49 high-income countries for a 16-year period (2000-2015). The median NPL ratio across high-income countries ranges from less than 1 percent in Luxembourg to about 14 percent in Cyprus. Among the 49 high-income countries, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Norway and Canada have a fairly constant NPL ratio below 2 percent throughout the 16-year period, which indicates high economic stability in these countries. The wide dispersion in the level of NPL across other high-income countries could be likely due to varying UR, economic growth rates, productivity and government policies.\n4. Conclusions: This study reassesses the vulnerability of the banking industries using aggregate NPL data of 49 high-income countries over 2000-2015 by linking it with the macroeconomic variables (GDPGR, GDPPCGR, GNI per capita growth rate, unemployment, exports, IVA, GNE and inflation). The statistically significant and large coefficients of the GDPGR, GNI per capita growth rate, GDPPCGR and UR confirm that the economic cycle fluctuation heavily influences the credit risk taking trend. More importantly, the per capita income has a strong explanatory power compared to other variables in the entire analyses. This indicates that the purchasing power of the citizens is the most significant macroeconomic indicator that can lead to a faster change in the NPL level and could be strictly used as a significant predictor of the NPL ratio. In addition, our results reveal exports, IVA and gross national income as the significant indicators of NPLs other than the GDPGR, share price, nominal effective exchange rate of the local currency, unemployment, current account, house price, equity price and lending rate shown by previous studies (e.g. Beck et al., 2015; Nkusu, 2011; Kauko, 2012). Moreover, full employment is found to be beneficial for improving loan performance. In the same vein, the findings suggest that the payment ability of debtors in high-income countries can be mainly improved by increasing productivity and competitive export trade. The negative coefficient of exports and IVA show that the incentives provided for industrial development and trade openness greatly reduce the possibility of a financial crisis. Therefore, policymakers should focus more on providing incentives that could be helpful to manufacturing companies and export trade. This could be achieved by reducing taxes, providing low-cost loans, exploring the new international market and making special free trade agreements with the neighboring countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the significant indicators of macroeconomic environment that influence credit risk in high-income countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs the system generalized method of moments estimator to avoid the dynamic panel bias and endogeneity issues. Different indices of economic growth are used in each model in order to find the most significant proxy of the economic cycle that influences problem loans. The analysis is carried out using a sample of 49 developed countries covering a 16-year period (2000-2015).\nFindings: The overall empirical results highlight that the development of industrial sectors and exports are the main drivers of loan performance in high-income countries. The findings specifically recommend adopting an expansionary fiscal policy to boost per capita income and potential productivity for the safety of the banking system.\nPractical implications: The findings have direct practical applicability for stabilizing the financial system. The study recommends the government to increase the productivity of export-oriented industries in order to boost employment and increase the payment obligations of individuals and business firms. More importantly, it highlights the essentiality of perfect economic policy to control default risks.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that compares the relative effect of three alternative proxies of the economic cycle on credit risk and identifies the most significant proxy. The current study also empirically shows that industrial development could be one of the crucial factors to improve financial health in developed countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
LMS teaching versus Community Learning: a call for the latter	[ "Community learning", "Learning management system", "Technology", "Education", "Learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Historically, technological and financial constraints hindered access to higher education (Daniel et al., 2009). Easy access is a mantra today, as institutions compete for growing numbers of higher-ed students, locally and globally. Australian and US leaders, for example, seek to increase their percentage of citizens earning degrees (Trounson, 2009; Hacker, 2010). There is consensus on a growing demand for university education, and concern about meeting this demand via traditional college and university campuses (Dunn, 2000; Daniel et al., 2009; Johnson et al., 2012).Another concern is how current teaching methods meet student expectations, meet industry expectations and help students learn (McLoughlin and Lee, 2008b; Rowell, 2008; Clark et al., 2009; Ginoa et al., 2010). Institutional and academic use of educational technology is often poor (Weaver et al., 2008; Lonn and Teasley, 2009; Johnson et al., 2012), digital media literacy's importance races ahead of digital literacy in the curricula (Chattie and Jarke, 2007; Johnson et al., 2012) and the students are changing:Today's students work, are mobile, can commonly find access to learning resources on their own, place limited value on physical presence and face-to-face communication, and want credentials of value (Daniel et al., 2009, p. 34).Technology, particularly the internet, is a key resource for learning in the twenty first century (Downes, 2005; Brown and Adler, 2008; Williams, 2011), albeit with uncertain outcomes now and in the future. Raised on digital technologies and comfortable with social media (Chattie and Jarke, 2007; Friedman, 2012), forthcoming higher education students are experiencing digital dissonance. Alluding to the importance of digital literacy (Chattie and Jarke, 2007; Johnson et al., 2012), a study suggests some high school students find it difficult to demarcate formal and informal learning - as well as in and out of class - on social networks such as Facebook and via laptops, mobile phones and tablet devices (Clark et al., 2009).The literature is clear on technology adoption and implementation. Individuals and organizations tend to overestimate an innovation's short-term impacts and underestimate its long-term impacts (Rogers, 2003). In the fifth century BC, educators \"believed that the adoption of written records would undermine the learning process\" (Gumport and Chun, 1999, p. 6). As effective innovation use takes about 30 years to mature (Fidler, 1997), internet-based education may come of age in the early 2020s, three decade after the web's debut.A lead story in Wired magazine, for example, argues that the web is dead. Users increasingly shift \"from the wide-open web to semiclosed platforms that use the internet for transport but not the browser for display\" (Anderson and Wolff, 2010). Applications that push information to platforms - mobile phones, tablet devices, laptop and desktop computers - may transcend traditional websites that pull information. Thanks in part to developers creating Facebook-specific applications, Facebook quickly became a habit-forming place, parallel web, and importantly, proprietary platform (Anderson and Wolff, 2010).For millennia, pundits predicted that technology - writing, the printing press, telegraphy, radios, telephones, film, television, mobile phones and the internet - would change education forever. Their sanguine predictions usually fell short (Hanson, 1998; Gumport and Chun, 1999; Dunn, 2000; Wang and Reeves, 2003). Radio, for example, failed to end war, bring universal culture and revolutionize education (Hanson, 1998). Similar to other movements that sit between revolution and fashionable trend, the internet \"may in the end drastically disappoint, rendered a victim of unrealistic expectations\" (Gumport and Chun, 1999, p. 4).Over the last couple of decades, academics and practitioners have thrown the internet at education, often with quixotic initiatives wasting time and money (Stoll, 2000; Wang and Reeves, 2003; Ebner, 2008). As soon as schools were wired and equipped with desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet devices and wireless internet access arrived (Wang and Reeves, 2003). An omnipresent educational technology juggernaut this century is the overarching learning management system (LMS), such as Blackboard or Moodle (Coates et al., 2005; Downes, 2005; Falvo and Johnson, 2007). About 90 percent of all US universities and 95 percent of all British universities have an LMS (Lonn and Teasley, 2009).Technological change, such as from radio to television or perhaps universities shifting to LMSs, is neither additive nor subtractive, rather ecological (Postman, 1992). A medium contains a bias that leads to a fierce ideological competition:It is not merely a matter of tool against tool - the alphabet attacking ideographic writing, the printing press attacking the illumined manuscript, the photograph attacking the art of painting, television attacking the printed word. When media make war against each other, world views collide (Postman, 1992, p. 16).LMSs are spawning an ideological battle over control of teaching and pedagogy (Chattie and Jarke, 2007; McLoughlin and Lee, 2008a, b; Sclater, 2008). These systems offer \"universities a hitherto undreamt-of capacity to control and regulate teaching\" (Coates et al., 2005, p. 25). The term itself, LMS, \"suggests disempowerment - an attempt to manage and control the activities of the student by the university\" (Sclater, 2008, p. 2). LMS is a cultural shift in education.Rather than which LMS to use (Beatty and Ulasewic, 2006), a few scholars question using LMS and its associated pedagogy. In contrast to LMS' closed classroom, didactic and Cartesian approach to learning, learning should be open and social (Brown and Adler, 2008; McLoughlin and Lee, 2008a, b). Scholars also call for incorporating new technologies, particularly social media, into effective learning and teaching (Chattie and Jarke, 2007; Brown and Adler, 2008; Sclater, 2008). Open and social, learning in online communities aligns with social media. Community Learning can be inexpensive, engaging, dynamic and fruitful for students, professors, universities and society (Wenger and Snyder, 2000; Brown and Adler, 2008; Neale et al., 2009; Ryan et al., 2011).An ongoing mythos of technology as an educational panacea often marginalises critical discourse of educational technology, social learning (Stoll, 2000; Engell, 2001; Wang and Reeves, 2003; McLoughlin and Lee, 2008b), and recently, the seemingly ubiquitous LMS (Coates et al., 2005; McLoughlin and Lee, 2008a). Most LMS research tends to examine adoption and technologies rather than how LMSs relate to learning (Coates et al., 2005; Lonn and Teasley, 2009; McGill and Klobas, 2009).This paper answers calls for critical discourse of effective educational technology use (Postman, 1992; Gumport and Chun, 1999; Stoll, 2000; Engell, 2001; Wang and Reeves, 2003), particularly LMS technology (Coates et al., 2005; McLoughlin and Lee, 2008a; Sclater, 2008; McGill and Klobas, 2009), and adds to a nascent research field that uses ideologies to help explain technology consumption (Kozinets, 2007). Community Learning and LMS Teaching anchor a continuum of attitudes toward higher education. These contrary ideologies help administrators and academics reflect upon, and then align institutional ideologies with their educational pedagogy and technology.The paper opens with a review of LMSs, which sets up discussion of the two contrasting educational technology ideologies, LMS teaching and community learning. The paper then poses three arguments - business, pedagogical and moral - to support a key community learning aspect, open courseware. The paper closes with a small case study of a learning community, a few suggestions for migrating to community learning and future research of online technology and learning.\nLiterature review: The learning management system\nConclusion and future research: Slowly, simply and surely: implementing learning communities\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Unlike Sisyphus - condemned by Zeus to an eternity of perpetually rolling a massive boulder uphill only for the boulder to roll back down - universities, students and academics seem destined to educational technology experiences ranging from futile and frustrating to effective and engaging. As technology evolves, related costs, applications, interoperability and purposes evolve - as do the students. The purpose of this paper is to propose two contrasting ideologies of technology-mediated education, LMS teaching and Community Learning, to question the inexorable march towards the former.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach used is a literature review and case study.\nFindings: - Most traditional universities would embrace a Community Learning ideology, yet many of these same universities practice LMS teaching. This paper draws on the literature to contrast these two technology-mediated learning ideologies, and argue for Community Learning. These contrary ideologies help administrators and academics reflect upon, and then align institutional ideologies with their educational pedagogy and technology. The paper includes a short case study to illustrate aspects of Community Learning, a few simple ideas for shifting towards Community Learning and future research avenues.\nOriginality/value: - This paper answers calls for critical discourse of effective educational technology use, particularly LMS technology, and adds to a nascent research field that uses ideologies to help explain technology consumption. In addition, this is one of a few papers that reviews social media as a learning management system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The evolution of customer loyalty strategy	[ "Customer loyalty", "Continuing development", "Marketing strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The ongoing pursuit of customer loyalty began in earnest in the early 1980s with the advent of frequent flier programs. Since then, most companies have developed, tested and implemented some form of customer loyalty-building strategy. The efforts are grounded in the same fundamental desire. They are all based on the desire to keep customers longer, thereby increasing overall sales and profits.The methodologies used to cultivate customer loyalty have evolved to some degree over the past 20 years. However, these strategies will require radical change in 2005 and beyond based on certain changes in the marketplace that make it more difficult than ever to build lasting relationships with customers. In this article we will explore these changes and the impact they will have on the marketing landscape. We will examine the efforts of a major brand in the context of these changes and outline the critical considerations that marketers must keep in mind in order to be successful at earning customer loyalty in the long run.\nBackground: Customer loyalty strategy began in essence as a series of tactical programs. The frequent flier programs represented the first widespread attempts to get consumers to consolidate their buying behavior with a single brand in a given category. These programs started as mere promotions but evolved into longer-term strategies that few marketers in that day could have foreseen or anticipated.Over the course of several years following the launch and expansion of frequent flier programs, a school of thought emerged regarding customer loyalty. The school of thought embraced the concept that it costs more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. This is a fairly elementary concept but it caught on like wildfire among marketers and became one of the standard concepts that appeared in all business cases supporting the development and testing of future customer loyalty-building strategies.This school of thought also embodied the concept that customer loyalty strategies were aimed at a brand's best customers and that these best customers deserved certain treatment that was commensurate with the value of the relationship between the consumer and the brand. This best customer point of view helped bring Pareto's law of uneven distributions (the 80/20 rule we all know and love so much) into the forefront of the customer marketing vocabulary.Many companies began investigating the application of customer-focused thinking with an aim toward improving customer retention by building customer loyalty. These efforts often materialized in the marketplace looking much like frequent flier programs. Customers join these programs and become members. They exhibit a certain desired behavior (fly my airline, shop at my store, use my credit card, keep your business with my phone company, and so forth) and earn some promotional currency (points, miles) that is usable in the future for certain rewards.The approach was fairly straightforward and, in a great many cases, much like the frequent flier model. There have been many companies that have investigated, planned, tested and implemented such programs. The results have been mixed. Some such programs have persevered in the marketplace over many years (such as the American Express membership rewards program). Others have lived and died for a variety of reasons. But to some degree there has been a breakdown in thinking in the past with respect to the relationship between these programs and the basic concept of customer relationships that lead to long-term customer loyalty.\nSome of the fundamental breakdowns in the past: In the examination of the efforts to build loyalty over the past 20 years certain consistent flaws materialize:The most prevalent and sweeping breakdown occurs in the strategic thinking that surrounds the pursuit of loyalty and how it integrates with the culture within a company. The investigation and examination of customer loyalty programs starts with the discussion of how much customers are worth to the company and how they deserve special value and special treatment. However, much of that special value and treatment should ideally be given through a superior delivery of the core product or service. This requires that the pursuit of customer loyalty be a core principle embraced by the top management of the company and not just the vice president of marketing. Unfortunately, it becomes a reality that marketers begin to make compromises early in the process and began to look at what they can do for customers versus what they should do for customers.Too often marketers apply an approach exactly like a frequent flier program without considering the comparable economic value of the relationship between the customer and the brand. There are few industries or consumer/brand relationships in which the economic value is as great as it is in the airline industry. In the airline industry rewards earned can be significant and attractive. In too many instances, marketers have applied the same tactics to their businesses in other industries even though the annual value of the relationship between consumer and brand may be several hundred dollars, versus the tens of thousands of dollars that a frequent business traveler spends with an airline.Marketers seek the elusive \"soft benefit\" - the benefit that is often described as a perk that best customers receive above and beyond (or, in some cases, instead of) the promotional currency. However, the perk that is meaningful to the consumer, yet affordable to the brand is often hard or impossible to find. This is another example of the problems resulting from the mimicry of the airline model for customer loyalty. As a result, marketers frequently offer benefits that are easy and inexpensive to deliver but have no motivational value to the consumer.In the end, the efforts crafted by marketers often look to the outside observer as a marketing effort or program that is not well integrated with the overall brand experience. This is the culmination of all of these breakdowns that ultimately contributes to the atrophy of so many customer loyalty strategies that eventually drift into obscurity and die without anyone noticing.\nChanges in the marketplace impacting on loyalty strategy: The marketing breakdowns described above have contributed to the development of confusion in the mind of consumers. Consumers witness and participate in many of these programs. However, the programs may have little or no impact on the consumer's behavior. The programs are often perceived as artificial and not directly related to the fundamental value proposition that helped to create the original relationship between the consumer and the brand in question.The confusion has been exacerbated by growing consumer skepticism and a wariness of marketing messages articulated by large corporations. Consider some of the recent developments in the marketplace and the impact on the potential for the development of long-term customer loyalty:A number of corporate scandals have plagued the marketplace and consumers have been directly affected because many have lost value in terms of their investment portfolios. Some consumers are more directly affected by the corporate scandals because they may have friends or family members displaced or otherwise harmed by such scandals. This direct impact becomes more considerable as the companies involved in the scandals become larger and, therefore, have more employees.A number of corporate takeovers that have not yielded any benefit to the marketplace or to consumers directly: the acquisition of MCI by WorldCom; the acquisition of Compaq by Hewlett Packard; the consolidation in the telecommunications industry; and the consolidation in the financial services industry. Consumers become more wary as they see more and more activity that does not add any measurable or perceivable benefit to them. This wariness has an impact on the consumer's willingness to believe and trust marketing messages, especially those that claim a desire to build a relationship with the consumer.*The recent rash of identify theft cases combined with a string of data losses by information brokerage companies and the onslaught of bogus e-mail marketing efforts have created a heightened level of caution in consumers. Many loyalty-building strategies are built on a basic foundation of trust and confidence. The necessary trust and confidence is not forthcoming the way it was ten or more years ago. As a result, efforts to get consumers to open up and engage in relationship programs with brands will be increasingly difficult.\nCritical considerations for loyalty in the future: Consumers seek truth and honesty. They need to feel comfortable and confident with the companies they do business with. Consumers are increasingly keeping their information close to the chest unless they have broad sweeping confidence in a company they do business with.All marketing efforts, and especially those that seek to build loyalty, must be real and tangible. They must make sense. Companies that build brands around an experience that naturally builds customer loyalty are most likely to win. However, some of these companies which already do a very good job building relationships organically, by providing good products and services, run the risk of shooting themselves in the foot by launching questionable, artificial loyalty-building programs. If these programs do not deliver substantial value to the customer, the company runs the risk of eroding existing loyalty.\nStarbucks coffee: Starbucks has built an almost cult-like following in the past ten years or so. If it were said in the 1980s that consumers would pay about $4 for a cup of coffee with milk (steamed milk that is) most marketers would laugh out loud. At Starbucks, not only do consumers pay something in the neighborhood of $4 for such a cup of coffee, but they often wait in line to do so. And just to add icing to the cake, with the proliferation of the Starbucks prepaid card consumers pay in advance to wait in line to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 for a cup of coffee with steamed milk.Starbucks has built a great brand that has built natural relationships with customers that ultimately create long-term loyalty. The loyalty is built on a foundation of great products, great service and a comfortable, welcoming environment that makes consumers feel good. You do not create these natural loyalty-building characteristics overnight and they must be part of the fundamental building blocks of the company and the brand as articulated and embraced by top management of a company. Ultimately, this kind of a brand/consumer relationship creates an atmosphere of trust and confidence.Recently Starbucks launched the Starbucks Card Duetto Visa card. The Duetto card is a combination of a Visa card co-branded with Starbucks and a Starbucks prepaid card. The card is positioned as a convenient way to consolidate the functionality of two cards in one - a credit card and the Starbucks prepaid card. However, with the proliferation of credit card offers in the USA, there are not too many consumers who are eagerly seeking another credit card. The combined functionality convenience is not a strong enough benefit to overcome consumer reluctance to accept yet another credit vehicle.The Duetto card also offers a reward component to help make the consumer more interested in carrying and using this dual functionality card. Use the card and you will earn credit towards more Starbucks products. These promotional currency programs that allow consumers to accrue a percentage of their purchases are typically deployed in situations of brand parity. These are the kinds of situations in which the brand seeks to get the consumer to \"think twice\" before making the choice of one brand or the other. They are often getting the consumer to turn right instead of turning left or something as basic as that. But with Starbucks, such a consideration rarely occurs. Consumers are not price sensitive about the product. If they are a Starbucks customer, they are a Starbucks customer. The idea of earning a little bit of every purchase back toward future purchases is not terribly meaningful. Especially if a consumer does the math.The Duetto card offers 1 percent of purchases in \"Duetto Dollars.\" So, basically you earn 1 percent back. That means that I can earn a free $4 cup of coffee after spending $400. That equates to \"buy 100 and get one free\". Not terribly compelling, especially considering that the norm in such promotions in the marketplace is more like \"buy ten and get one free\". To many consumers such an offer may be perceived as an insult to their intelligence.The Duetto card is a prime example of the implementation of a superficial relationship-building program by a company that already has a natural relationship-building program built into their brand. The card program is unnecessary (and was probably sold to Starbucks by the company issuing the credit card) and ultimately makes consumers think \"what were they thinking?\" The more consumers have reason to think \"what were they thinking?\" about any brand they do business with, the more the long-term relationship is eroded. Consumers seek genuine relationship, truth and honesty. Not manipulation. This program is an attempt at manipulation with a value proposition that is almost funny.\nImplication for marketers: Changes in the fundamental corporate and marketing landscape make it more and more challenging for marketers to build lasting customer loyalty. Superficial attempts do not work and the superficiality of certain efforts is more obvious to consumers because of a heightened sense of mistrust and skepticism fueled by activities in corporate America that have eroded trust.Great companies build great brands that lead to loyalty. But the loyalty is natural and it is created over time. It is not created with marketing programs fashioned after frequent flier programs.Marketers must make sure that their companies are aligned correctly and that their value proposition helps create natural loyalty with a good product, good service and a passion and conviction for the customer that comes through honestly in everything they do. Only then will lasting relationships develop that lead to durable customer loyalty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the methods used by marketers over the past years to develop loyalty among customers. Furthermore, the paper considers the shortcomings of these methods and certain societal and technological changes that have further impacted on the potential effectiveness of these methods in the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The author uses his experience working with hundreds of marketers around the world developing, managing, analyzing, measuring and improving customer loyalty strategies and tactics. The author combines these experiences with analysis of certain dynamics in the marketplace that have changed the way marketers must interact with customers. Finally, the author has combined this experience and analysis to formulate a point of view about the impact on marketing strategies in the future.\nFindings: - Many of the past efforts used by marketers to develop customer loyalty have been ineffective because they have been based on tactics used in the airline industry. These shortcomings will become greater in the future unless marketers change their ways. Corporate scandals have eroded the trust that customers have in marketers and, therefore, marketing efforts must be more genuine and easily understood or customers will react skeptically. Concerns about privacy and identity theft have heightened concerns among customers and made them more wary and, therefore, less willing to openly share information and engage in a relationship with a brand unless there appear to be genuine value and behavior by the company that engender trust and faith.\nPractical implications: - Marketers must step back and make absolutely certain that their efforts are based on customer needs and desires and do more to enhance customer trust than to erode it. Marketing strategies and programs must be believable. One of the most important components of customer relationships moving forward will be the development of trust that further enhances the customers' willingness to interact with certain brands and companies.\nOriginality/value: - There is a great deal of talk in the marketplace about customer relationships. This paper seeks to bring the dialogue down to earth and incorporate the customer's point of view rather than just the theoretical marketing point of view. This paper suggests that marketers should work harder and work smarter to be sure that their programs are worthwhile to customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the relationship of university students' educational variables and the degree of their use of virtual social networks	[ "Regression", "Cultural dimensions", "Social networks", "University students", "Educational quality", "Educational learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The role of social networks in modern life has significantly increased and they have notably influenced our relationships. Day in day out, more novel services are designed and produced for maintaining communications which have probably led to the detachment and aloofness from our friends (Bouyer and Arasteh, 2014). It can be taken for granted that human communications are so extensive and widespread and it can be argued that communications can have a notable impact on the quality of learning (Subrahmanyam et al., 2008). E-learning (electronic-learning) can be regarded as an important tool for students (Jalali et al., 2013). At present, the majority of students are involved with various social networking websites. However, due to the significant development of internet and daily application programs, these networks have evolved fast and the interactive nature of online environments in social networks has increased (Tan and Yuen, 2018; Hamid et al., 2010).\n2. Background of the study: In today's world, information technology plays an important role in the principles of modern learning and distance learning. The internet epidemic and the growth of the Web-based technologies play an important role in the evolution of learning. For example, the evolution of cloud computing is undeniable in improving learning diversity and making the learning process accessible (Bouyer and Arasteh, 2014; Jalali et al., 2013).\n3. Method: Due to the nature of the research issue, the descriptive survey method selected in this study. This study used valid research and academic methods to investigate the respective variables; hence, the descriptive method which is highly common in this field was used. Furthermore, certain theories, principles and techniques were used for dealing with the real problems of educational institutes. Hence, it can be mentioned that this study is applied and useful.\n4. Data analysis: Both descriptive statistics, such as frequency, percentage and mean, and inferential statistics were used for analyzing the data which were collected via the questionnaire. In this way, the collected data was analyzed. At first, participants' demographic information was used for summarizing and describing data. Next, in the second section of the study, the Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise multiple regression and independent sample T-test were used for testing the hypotheses of the study.\n5. Conclusion: As mentioned above, the obtained results for the Spearman correlation between the two variables of using social networks and educational quality (20.9 per cent) indicate that there is a positive and direct relationship between these two variables. The measured value was 0.0195 which was smaller than p-value (p = 0.05); consequently, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. It can be argued that using social networks has a significant impact on students' educational quality. However, in other similar research, the results showed a negative relationship between students' academic performance and the impact of social network usage (Brooks, 2015). In addition, the other study proved that the social media usage has negative impact on academic activities and efficiency (Giunchiglia et al., 2018). The results of the present study acknowledge Javadi's study (Javadinia et al., 2012) who carried out a similar study on students of a medical university in Birjand. Hence, it can be maintained that social networks play an undeniable role in students' education; however, it should be noticed that it does not necessarily mean that it has a negative impact on the quality of their education because the findings of the present study and Javadi's study reveal that social networks do not always result in students' educational dropouts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships among the university students' educational variables and their educational variables concerning educational, cultural and social dimensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed and validated for analyzing the relationship between the amount of time spent for using social networks and different dimensions of educational quality. The sample participants in this study included 400 students who were selected from a total of 3,500 students in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan provinces at north-west of Iran in 2017. Finally, 342 of 400 questionnaires were considered for analyzing. The Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and multiple regression were used to analyze data.\nFindings: The results proved that the highest correlation coefficient was related to social networks and education quality and the lowest correlation was related to social networks and cultural quality. The result of applying multiple regression proved that there is a linear relationship between the roles of using social networks in predicting students' educational quality.\nOriginality/value: The role of academic and general social media in studying students' educational quality at universities is still under researched. This situation provides a significant potential to explore on the effect of academic and general virtual social media in creating educational and cultural awareness among university's students. The findings of the current study add to the existing literature by contributing to a better awareness of university student and applying appropriate strategies to conduct the education of students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
RFID and ERP systems in supply chain management	[ "Enterprise resource planning (ERP)", "Supply chain management", "Information technology", "Supply chain integration", "Enterprise systems", "Radio frequency identification (RFID)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the early 1990s, global market competition has dramatically intensified (Oghazi, 2009). Globalization, continuous changes in customer demand, and technological breakthroughs have brought about calls for more comprehensive and updated business models and practices (Oghazi, 2009). In this regard, the application of information technology (IT) in business processes has the potential to offer new business opportunities for firms to move forward in the increasingly competitive global market (Oghazi, 2009). IT infrastructure enables organizations to exploit their competencies, contributing positively to their performance (Santhanam and Hartono, 2003; Bardhan et al., 2006).\n2. Definitions of concepts: This section includes the definitions of SCM and ESs, which represent the primary concepts that form the basis of this research.\n3. Theories used in SCM and ESs: This section will explain supply chain integration as a significant concept in the practice of SCM. It will also describe RFID and ERP systems as two scopes of ESs that are the focus of this paper, as previously discussed. Ultimately, this section will link the two aforementioned areas of concentration by investigating the impact of RFID and ERP on supply chain integration.\n4. Proposed conceptual model: Based on the findings from the literature review, the conceptual model is proposed as in Figure 1.\n5. Concluding remarks: Based on the findings above, it can be concluded that supply chain integration, which represents one of the major practices of SCM, can be enhanced through the use of ESs such as RFID and ERP. To be more specific, integration among the supply chain actors occurs in order to facilitate the effective and efficient flow of products, finances, and information across the supply chain for the purpose of maximizing profit for the entire network, which consists of suppliers, manufacturers, distributers, and customers. Accordingly, RFID and ERP, which represent the two ESs that are the focus of this study, can contribute to supply chain integration in terms of the flow of information. The two aforementioned forms of IT allow for the creation of an exchange mechanism that facilitates the accurate, on-time, and safe movement of information between members of the supply chain. This capability allows supply chain managers to have access to comprehensive information that gives them the ability to understand what is going on at different tiers of the supply chain. In summary, this capability provides them with a bigger picture of the activities taking place throughout the chain. Such an opportunity aids managers in making more informed decisions, with enhanced planning and control of processes and activities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of enterprise systems (ESs), in particular radio frequency identification (RFID) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, on supply chain management (SCM). The results of this conceptual paper demonstrate that ERP and RFID systems contribute to SCM by improving supply chain integration. Supply chain integration occurs to facilitate the flow of financing, products, and information throughout the chain. In this regard, ERP and RFID contribute to integration by enhancing the information flow across the supply chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a conceptual model developed from the findings of literature review within the research domains of SCM, ESs, and supply chain integration.\nFindings: This conceptual study contributes to the existing theory by linking the concept of information technology, ESs to SCM. The conceptual model in this paper may provide insights for executives who wish to implement ERP or RFID systems in their businesses in order to achieve higher integration, both within internal sectors and also with supply chain partners.\nOriginality/value: The findings in this study contribute to the theory base by linking the concept of information technologies, ESs to SCM. The conceptual model presented in this paper can provide insights for executives who wish to implement ERP or RFID systems in their businesses in order to achieve higher integration within internal sectors and with supply chain partners. This study offers new understandings by investigating the impact of ERP and RFID together on SCM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Explaining intention to use an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system: an extension of the UTAUT model	[ "Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology", "Enterprise resource planning", "Model extension", "Mandated", "End‐users", "User studies", "Modeling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's competitive business environment, companies strive to meet the increased competition by expanding globally and meeting customers' growing expectations. Companies aim to achieve higher profit by generating more output with lower total cost in the entire business chain. In this context, enterprise resource planning (ERP) becomes an important tool for the company to build strong capabilities, improve performance, undertake better decision making and achieve competitive advantage (Al-Mashari and Al-Mudimigh, 2003).According to Marnewick and Labuschagne (2005), ERP enables an organization to automate and integrate the majority of its business processes, share common data and practices across the enterprise and produce and access information in a real-time environment. The ultimate goal of ERP system is that information must only be entered once (Marnewick and Labuschagne, 2005). In addition, ERP has been promoted as a desirable and critical link for enhancing integration between all functional areas within the manufacturing enterprise, and between the enterprise and its upstream and downstream trading partners (Muscatello et al., 2003). During the process, ERP implementation environment is affected by numerous software and technology systems available to managers, the complexity of the requirements from those systems and the need to adapt any existing or future software to the core ERP technology (Amoako-Gyampah, 2007).In view of the complexity of implementation and cross functional nature, implementing ERP in an organization is not an easy task and does not always prove successful (Scott and Vessey, 2002; Ramayah et al., 2007). Seymour et al. (2007) mentioned that approximately 50 percent of all ERP implementations fail to meet the adopting organizations' expectations and this is supported by Jasperson et al. (2005). In 1996, foxmeyer Drug, a $5 billion wholesale drug distribution company, argued that one of the major problems that led to their bankruptcy was due to a failed ERP system (Scott and Vessey, 2002).Besides, ERP implementation is an expensive exercise, as the cost of a typical ERP implementation in a Fortune 500 company was estimated as between $40 million and $240 million and the enterprise application market is expected to grow from $47.8 billion in 2004 to $64.8 billion in 2009, according to AMR Research (Beatty and Williams, 2006).As such, it is critical for organizations to understand the important variables to enhance the use of ERP among the end users since the resulting cost to the organization is tremendous. Aladwani (2001) stated that many ERP systems faced implementation difficulties because of end users' resistance. Yi and Davis (2001) also noted that organizations will not realize desired returns on their investments in information technologies designed to improve decision-making unless users are able to use them (Amoako-Gyampah, 2007). Cooke and Peterson (1998), reported that 186 companies that implemented large systems found that resistance is the second most important contributor to time and budget overruns and is the fourth most important barrier to implementation (Klaus et al., 2007). Hence, it is important for organization's to identify factors that would enhance user's acceptance of ERP system.This research aims to examine the influence of selected factors on end-user's usage of ERP systems. The aim of this paper is to test some of the existing theoretical models in ERP implementation and facilitate organization's in diagnosing the main reasons why ERP system implementation is not achieving the expected objective. The outcome of the research could be to facilitate organization's in understanding the main contributors to end-user usage of ERP systems, to enable them to take necessary corrective actions taken to enhance end-user's ERP usage. A research model is proposed using factors identified from the literature review.\nLiterature review and conceptual foundation: Technology acceptance model (TAM)\nProposed research model: With the above literature review, a research model is proposed as shown in Figure 1 for this study.Figure 1 presents the proposed research model, which is derived from UTAUT as proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2003) with few adjustments. The behavioral intention and user behavior factors have been combined and replaced by intention to use ERP system. The \"intention to use ERP system\" explained the behavioral intention and subsequently the actual ERP usage. This is consistent with various past research models to identify end-users' usage intention in ERP environment (Amoako-Gyampah and Salam, 2004; Amoako-Gyampah, 2007; Ramayah and Lo, 2007).The voluntariness moderating variable has been removed from the proposed research model because end-users of ERP systems are mandated to use the system. Therefore, there is no point measuring the voluntariness effect of the end-user.Similar to the research model by Seymour et al. (2007), three constructs: training, communication and shared belief were used to measure the facilitating conditions construct. As this research will be performed in a cross sectional study setting, the moderating factor of experience was excluded from the proposed research model.\nConclusion: The findings from literature review reveal that various technology acceptance models have been introduced in the past two decades. However, there are new research models which lack empirical study. With the above proposed research model, further study could be carried out on the research and to gauge if this model can better explain the end-users' intention to use an ERP system. Six independent variables and two moderating variables have been identified for further research on the impact of end-users' intention to use ERP system. From the literature review, all six independent variables, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, training, communication and shared beliefs, contribute positively to the end-users' intention to use the ERP system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper proposes an extended model based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh et al. To help better explain the intention to use an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Findings from the literature review reveal that various technology acceptance models have been introduced in the past two decades. However, there are new research models that lack empirical study. With the research model proposed above, further study could be carried out to gauge whether this model can better explain end-users' intentions to use an ERP system.\nFindings: - The review shows that although there has been research conducted using the UTAUT model, it has not decomposed the facilitating conditions as the authors suggest in this paper, which will be useful for intervention purposes.\nResearch imitations/implications: - Since this paper suggests a conceptual model based on a literature review, it is suggested that further study could be carried out to test whether this model can better explain end-users' intentions to use ERP systems.\nPractical implications: - The review shows that shared beliefs, project communication and training can be used to offer intervention measures to help in the adoption and usage of ERP.\nOriginality/value: - What this paper proposes is to drop the voluntariness variable from the model as a moderating factor, justifying this exclusion based on the fact that an ERP system implementation is mandatory and there is little room for the employees to oppose once the system is implemented. The authors also suggest further decomposing the facilitating condition into three components, namely shared beliefs, project communication and training can help in the design of intervention measures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is Boko Haram a "child" of economic circumstances?	[ "Nigeria", "Poverty", "Unemployment", "Terrorism", "Boko Haram" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The factors responsible for the emergence of Boko Haram (BH) have remained issues of intense controversy and debate amongst scholars and politicians in Nigeria. While some are of the view that the problem is a symptom of economic factors such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the likes, others have a counter perspective and take strong exception to that.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Brief history of BH\n3. Methodology and data sources: 3.1 The data\n4. Results and discussions: 4.1 Analysis of north-south economic indexes\n5. Conclusion and policy recommendations: The main objective of this work is investigating whether or not BH is a product of certain economic factors like poverty, unemployment, population growth, etc., which are prevalent and pervasive in especially Nigeria's Northern region - BH's birthplace and theatre of operations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the question: \"Is Boko Haram (BH) a 'child' of economic circumstances\"? In other words, do economic problems of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and population growth lie at the root of BH insurgency in Nigeria? Finding (an) objective answer(s) to this question informs the purpose for this paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses both ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and descriptive statistics to provide answer(s) to the question(s) asked.\nFindings: The OLS regressions result show that terrorism incidence and intensity (TII) and unemployment levels are positively related and statistically significant over the range of the sample. Gross domestic product and population growth of the country on the other hand have been found to be statistically insignificant with TII. The results from the descriptive statistics show a high and above average Northern Nigeria's economic indexes of poverty, unemployment, population growth and illiteracy rates. Thus, the author deduces that economic factors of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and unchecked population growth could not be ruled out as possible causes of BH terrorism.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this research may be peculiar, limited and applicable only to the region of research - Northern Nigeria. The author is, therefore, constrained to generalise the findings across countries or other terrorist organisations. Also, while terrorists often quote religious texts to justify their actions, researchers often find it difficult to establish the veracity of such claims because: religious texts are, more often than not, subjects of different, contextual, sectarian and scholarly interpretations and If we take the terrorists' claim for religious inspiration at their face value, the contradiction of why terrorists represent a minority fringe in particular religions or, why the vast majority of those who share same religion with terrorists do not partake in terrorism, crops up. For these reasons, this research is constrained from exploring terrorists' religious motivations.\nPractical implications: An implication of the findings of this research is that it avails the Nigerian Government with fact that, to fight BH successfully, it needs to also address the issues of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and uncontrolled population growth. Thus, in essence, the anti-BH campaign should not only be limited to the \"sticks\" but the \"carrots\" of poverty alleviation, unemployment reduction, raising literacy rates and awareness about controlling birthrate.\nSocial implications: Social welfare programs are likely to be devised to tackle the issues raised.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, no research explored the possibility of whether or not economic factors of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy could have been the causes or contributory factors for the emergence of BH terrorist organisation in Nigeria. Research on BH mostly focusses on social and political dimensions leaving the economic aspect either superficially explained or completely unexplored. The originality of this paper derives from this.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Proud powerful, grateful powerless: the interactive effect of power and emotion on gift giving	[ "Power", "Gratitude", "Gift giving", "Pride", "Evolutionary psychology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In 2018, total holiday retail sales in the USA were projected to reach $1.10tn (Thomas, 2018). Total spending on Mother's Day alone was predicted to exceed $20bn (Statista, 2018), while Americans were expected to spend more than $19bn for Valentine's Day in 2018, including $654m on gifts to their co-workers (Mejia, 2018a) and the same amount on their pets (Mejia, 2018b). As these statistics show, gift giving is an economically significant phenomenon in the marketplace. Indeed for consumers, gift giving is a central part of social life, tradition and culture. Thus, from a managerial perspective, it is important for marketers to understand the theoretical phenomena behind gift giving so they can develop effective advertising strategies to promote gift giving.\nTheoretical background: Gift giving: an evolutionary psychology perspective\nOverview of studies: We conducted three experimental studies to test the hypotheses. Using wine as the product, Studies 1 and 2 examined consumer choice (Study 1) and willingness to pay (Study 2) as dependent variables. Previous research has established that wine is considered to be a suitable product to offer as a gift (Boncinelli et al., 2019; Hatak and Stoeckl, 2008). Notably, the present research was conducted in collaboration with an Australian wine company seeking to expand their market in New Zealand. We therefore asked Research Now, a research panel company, to collect the data for Studies 1 and 2 from a representative sample of wine consumers in New Zealand.\nGeneral discussion: Building on the evolutionary perspective and across three experimental studies, this research investigates gift giving as motivated by either signaling or affiliative motives activated by the interactive effect between power and emotion. Study 1 examined how different levels of power (high, low or a neutral condition) can lead consumers to prefer a wine advertised with a specific emotional appeal. As expected, participants with high power (vs neutral) were more likely to choose a wine with a pride appeal. However, those with low power (vs neutral) were more likely to choose a wine with a gratitude appeal. Study 2 extended Study 1 by showing that participants in the high-power condition reported a higher willingness to pay for a wine promoted with a pride (vs a gratitude) appeal. In contrast, participants in the low-power condition reported a higher willingness to pay for a wine promoted with a gratitude (vs a pride) appeal. Study 3 used a different product (i.e. chocolate bar) to strengthen the evidence for our predictions. In the high-power condition, participants feeling proud reported more favorable attitudes toward an advertisement than those feeling grateful and those in the neutral condition. In contrast, in the low-power condition, participants feeling grateful reported more favorable attitudes toward an advertisement than those feeling proud and those in the neutral condition. This is important in relation to the results of Studies 2 and 3, which demonstrated that signaling and affiliative motives can be activated by either high power and pride or low power and gratitude, respectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Drawing upon the evolutionary psychology perspective, the current research aims to investigate the conditions under which power (high vs low) and emotion (pride vs gratitude) can influence consumers to purchase products for others via two fundamental motives (the signaling and affiliative motives).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three experiments are conducted. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers with high (low) power are more likely to choose a wine promoted with pride (gratitude) appeals. Study 2 shows that consumers in the high- (low-) power condition report a higher willingness to pay for a wine promoted with pride (gratitude) appeals. Study 3 replicates the findings of Study 2 using a different product advertisement (chocolate bars).\nFindings: This study provides concrete empirical evidence that powerful consumers experiencing pride will engage in gift giving because of an increased signaling motive. In contrast, powerless consumers experiencing gratitude will engage in gift giving because of an increased affiliative motive.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study explores the context of gift giving using wine and chocolate bars as the products. It would thus be of interest to examine and extend the effects in motivating other prosocial behaviors such as donating and volunteering.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest how different states of power can be temporarily and purposively triggered and matched with the desired emotional appeals within adverting messages to increase persuasion.\nOriginality/value: This study illustrates a novel mechanism for gift giving from the evolutionary psychology perspective by showing that gift giving can be motivated by two distinct pathways - affiliative and signaling motives. Further, it tests how the interactive effects of power (high vs low) and emotion (pride vs gratitude) can activate such motives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimal design of series production lines with unreliable machines and finite buffers	[ "Manufacturing systems", "Modelling", "Performance measurement (quality)", "Production planning", "Programming and algorithm theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Manufacturing production systems are often organized with machines or works centers connected in series and separated by buffers (Dallery and Gershwin, 1992; Abdul-Kader and Ait-Kadi, 1996; Gershwin and Schor, 2000). This arrangement is called in the literature a production line, or transfer line, or flow line. In this paper, we mainly use the term manufacturing production line or simply production line. This paper deals with the optimal design of series production lines which may consist of buffers and of machines. We assume that all machines have the same processing time. We consider the practical problem where several versions for each machine are available on the market. Its own nominal production rate, reliability and price characterize each version offered by the supplier. Buffers are also chosen from a list of possible buffers which differ by their capacity and cost. In order to find the optimal design structure, the appropriate versions should be chosen from the list of available versions for each buffer and type of machines. The objective is to maximize the performance of the production line given restrictions on the total system cost.There is a substantial literature on the analysis of production lines with buffers (Dallery and Gershwin, 1992). This literature is mainly concerned with the prediction of performance. Much of it is aimed at evaluating the production rate of a system with specified machines and buffers. In (Gershwin and Schor, 2000), the authors present a set of algorithms that select the minimal buffer space in a flow line to achieve a specified production rate. The algorithms are based on analytical approximations of the Buzacott model of a production line (Buzacott, 1967; Buzacott, 1968). For a recent review of the literature on production line optimization, the reader is referred to (Gershwin and Schor, 2000). The goal of the existing works is to choose buffers sizes for a production line. They all assume that the machines are specified, and the only parameters to find are buffers sizes. The proposed approach to optimal design aims at selecting both buffers and machines.The system efficiency can be obtained using an efficient decomposition method for the continuous model called DDX method developed by Dallery et al. (1988) and based on the decomposition technique used by Gershwin (1987). The DDX algorithm used to evaluate the performance parameters of the system converges very quickly (Dallery et al., 1988).In this paper, we propose the use of an ant system to obtain optimal or nearly optimal solutions very quickly. An idea of employing a colony of cooperating agents to solve combinatorial optimization problems was proposed by Dorigo et al. (1996). The characteristics of an artificial ant colony include positive feedback, distributed computation, and the use of a constructive greedy heuristic. Positive feedback accounts for rapid discovery of good solutions, distributed computation avoids premature convergence and the greedy heuristic helps find acceptable solutions in the early stages of the search process. In order to demonstrate the ant system approach, Dorigo et al. (1996) apply it to the classical traveling salesman problem, asymmetric traveling salesman problem, quadratic assignment problem, and job-shop scheduling. Ant system shows very good results in each applied area. The ant system has also been applied with success to other combinatorial optimization problems such as the vehicle routing problem (Bullnheimer et al., 1997) and telecommunications networks (Di Caro and Dorigo, 1998). The ant system method has not yet been used in optimal design of series systems.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In section 2, the optimal design problem is formulated as a combinatorial optimization one. Section 3 presents the method for evaluating the performance of series production lines. In section 4, the proposed ant system approach is detailed. In section 5 computer simulation results are presented and numerical examples highlight the goodness of the results with respect to the global optimum and the computing time. Conclusions and perspectives are in section 6.\n2. Optimal design problem: Consider the series production line represented in Figure 1. The squares represent machines and the circles represent buffers.Buffers are inserted to limit the propagation of disruptions, and this increases the average production rate of the line. This line consists of n machines and n-1 buffers. For each machine and buffer, there are different available versions characterized by their cost, failure rate and repair rate for the machines and capacity with cost for the buffers. The design problem we propose to study is to select the best combination of machines and buffers to maximize the system efficiency given budget. Only one machine will be adopted for each sub-system. In order to formulate the problem in mathematical expression, the following notations are introduced first:n Number of machines in the line\n3. Performance evaluation of series production lines: 3.1. Summary of the method\n4. Solution approach of the series production lines optimization problem: 4.1 Basic principle of ant system\n5. Test problems and results: 5.1. Illustrative example\n6. Conclusion: In this paper we formulated a new optimal design problem for production lines with unreliable machines and finite buffers. In the existing approaches, the only decision variable is the buffer size. The proposed approach extends these classical buffer space allocation problems by formulating a more complicated problem where the decision variables are buffer and type of machine. An analytical decomposition approximation and the DDX algorithm have been used to estimate the efficiency of each possible configuration when running the ant algorithm. However, as the formulated problem is a complicated combinatorial optimization one, an exhaustive examination of all possible solutions is not realistic. We have proposed a heuristic approach based on the ant system. A penalty function is introduced to obtain feasible solutions. To improve the performance of the AS algorithm and the quality of solutions, we have combined it with two improvement algorithms. When combined with these algorithms, the ant system can always find near-optimal or optimal solutions. The experimental results showed that the optimal or nearly optimal solutions could be obtained more quickly. The comparison to others metaheuristics (such as Tabu search, GRASP, Iterated Local Search, Variable Neighbourhood Search, Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithms) remains a perspective to investigate in further work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to formulate a new problem of the optimal design of a series manufacturing production line system, and to develop an efficient heuristic approach to solve it. The optimal design objective is to maximize the efficiency subject to a total cost constraint.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To estimate series production line efficiency, an analytical decomposition-type approximation is used. The optimal design problem is formulated as one of combinatorial optimization where the decision variables are buffers and types of machines. This problem is solved by developing and demonstrating a problem-specific ant system algorithm. Numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.\nFindings: - It has been found that this algorithm can always find near-optimal or optimal solutions quickly. The approach developed in this paper for manufacturing lines can be adapted for power systems and telecommunication systems.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents a new approach for the optimal design of buffered series production lines. This optimization approach aims at selecting both the machines and the levels of buffers. The paper also develops an efficient solution approach based on the ant system meta-heuristic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance mechanisms and firm performance in a developing country	[ "Corporate governance", "Firm performance", "Securities and Exchange Commission", "Ghana" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The issues of corporate governance over the years have attracted much research attention because of their potential performance consequences for firms both in developed (Casavecchia, 2016; Kowalewski, 2016; Lattemann, 2014; Reddy et al., 2010) and developing economies (Liedong and Rajwani, 2017; Aboagye and Otieku, 2010; Simpson, 2014). Corporate governance refers to the systems, mechanisms, processes and structures by which companies are controlled and directed (Aboagye and Otieku, 2010; Fama and Jensen, 1983; Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Better financial performance has often been highlighted as one of the main benefits of adopting good corporate governance mechanisms and structures within organisations. Corporate governance mechanisms play an important role in ensuring firm competitiveness and sustainability (Aboagye and Otieku, 2010; Ehikioya, 2009; Vander, 2009). Companies which attach great importance to good corporate governance could show higher shareholder value because of higher cash flow and or reduced cost of capital (Agyemang and Castellini, 2015; Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Fama and Jensen, 1983; Hofer, 2008; Zgarni et al., 2016).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: The concept of corporate governance is defined in various studies (Aboagye and Otieku, 2010; Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Mensah and Adams, 2014; OECD, 2004). Corporate governance implies the systems, mechanisms, processes and structures by which companies are controlled and directed (Aboagye and Otieku, 2010; Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Fama and Jensen, 1983). It is also defined as the process of \"directing and managing business affairs towards enhancing business prosperity and corporate accountability with the ultimate goal of realizing organisational objectives and long-term stakeholder value\" (Mensah and Adams, 2014, p. 33). Corporate governance mechanisms or variables are many but frequently considered mechanisms are: board composition, board committees, CEO duality/separation, board meetings and the extent of shareholder concentration.\n3. Data and methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive and correlation analyses\n5. Discussions: How corporate governance mechanisms can impact on firm performance is theoretically inconclusive. While the agency theory argues that firm performance will be enhanced and assured if there are corporate governance mechanisms to minimise the agency conflict (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Fama and Jensen, 1983), the stewardship theory holds that firm performance rises through trust and goodwill between executives and shareholders (Donaldson and Davis, 1991). Similarly, the empirical literature lacks consistency while developed countries have dominated studies on corporate governance and financial performance relationship, with recent gradual interest being shown by researchers in developing economies. Hence, this study examined how corporate governance mechanisms affect financial performance in a developing context, specifically, Ghana using data from listed firms. The following is a discussion of the empirical results:\n6. Implications and conclusion: The empirical and theoretical literature lacks consistency on how corporate governance affects financial performance while corporate governance literature generally and especially in Ghana remains scanty and not comprehensive. Consequently, this study examined the effect of the six broad corporate governance guidelines recommended by the SEC of Ghana: board composition (insider directors, outside directors and board size), board committees (audit, nomination and remuneration), CEO duality/separation, board meetings and shareholder concentration on different financial performance indicators (i.e. return on asset, return on equity, earning per share and Tobin's Q) using data from 38 Ghanaian listed companies covering the periods 2006-2018. The study found that the presence of both insiders and outsiders on the corporate board improves financial performance. Similarly, frequency of board meetings and shareholder concentration/ownership structure generally impacts on financial performance positively. However, board committees' presence generally had negative impacts on financial performance while CEO duality had no impact on financial performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of corporate governance mechanisms recommended by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Ghana on firm performance as measured by accounting-based ratios (return on assets, return on equity and earning per share) as well as market-based measure (Tobin's Q) among listed Ghanaian companies from 2006 to 2018. These mechanisms are: board composition (board size, inside directors and outside directors), board committees (audit, remuneration and nomination), chief executive officer (CEO) duality/separation, board meetings and shareholder concentration.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used panel regression analysis of data from 38 listed firms in Ghana from 2006 to 2018 to test how each corporate governance variable initiated by the SEC of Ghana contributed to firm performance. Data were extracted from the annual reports of listed companies.\nFindings: The study found that the presence of both insiders and outsiders on the corporate board improved financial performance. Similarly, board size, frequency of board meetings and shareholder concentration/ownership structure generally had a positive impact on financial performance. However, the presence of board committees generally had a negative impact on financial performance while CEO duality had no impact on financial performance.\nPractical implications: The study contributes to the understanding of how good corporate governance practices affect firm performance for both academics and particularly Ghanaian policymakers.\nOriginality/value: This study provided new findings to bridge the gaps in the general corporate governance literature relative to the lack of consensus on financial impacts of corporate governance mechanisms. The finding contributes to knowledge by providing new and original evidence that some current corporate governance mechanisms are not effective in minimizing the agency problem in a developing setting. Furthermore, the authors anticipate that the outcomes of this research, which so far is the most comprehensive study in the Ghanaian context in terms of the coverage of corporate governance mechanisms specified by the SEC of Ghana, can significantly shape corporate governance discourse, practices and policies in Ghana, particularly and in other developing countries generally to improve financial performance and corporate sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Online PBL: a route to sustainability education?	[ "United Kingdom", "Universities", "Problem‐based learning", "Virtual learning environment", "Sustainability education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: An inter-disciplinary, problem-based approach to education for sustainable development has been implemented in Manchester for a number of years and is already well documented (Tomkinson et al., 2008a; Tomkinson et al., 2007). Initially this was across science and engineering but latterly more broadly across the university. However, this has been but one course unit in one university and the pioneers of the idea have sought to make the approach more widespread. One of the limitations, however, is the difficulty of using a problem-based approach with large numbers of students - each group of eight or nine students requires a post-doctoral or post-graduate facilitator. In order to try to resolve some of these issues, in 2009 Professor Pat Bailey of the University of Keele obtained a National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) award to look at issues of implementing the ideas, through blended learning, at three universities. This paper looks at the developments in the University of Manchester. In this instance three course units are involved: at undergraduate and Master's level in sustainable development and at Master's level in humanitarian aid. The trial is initially confined to introducing blended learning to the Managing Humanitarian Aid Projects unit of the MSc in project management in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering.The case for using problem-based learning as a basis stems from a number of origins. In a UNESCO report (Wals, 2009), Arjen Wals suggests that the \"nature of [education for sustainable development] demands new perspectives on matters like curriculum, teaching and learning. ESD and SD tend to focus on connections, feedback loops, relationships and interaction. Yet dominant educational structures are based on fragmentation rather than connections and synergy\". Sulaiman Yamin and Alias Masek (2010) suggest that \"[...] PBL is seen potential[ly] as an effective learning approach to produce [...] graduates, who are technically competent, as well as aware on the issues [of] sustainable development\" and a report from Rosemary Tomkinson et al. (2008b), on a Delphi study, suggested that student-centred approaches were most relevant to embedding education for sustainable development.The use of technology to support large classes has been widely explored but its application to student-centred, group-based learning is less widely recognised. For example, Hao-Chang Lo (2009) has looked at the implications of using publicly available communications technology for a PBL-based medical course and Xun Ge et al. (2010) have studied the use of technology to scaffold the PBL learning processes. Rosman Ahmad et al. (2006) explored online methods for a programme related to the one under study but this fell short of participative groupwork. A much fuller review of the available literature was undertaken in the bid document itself.1.1 The trial\n2. Results: 2.1 Online questionnaire\n3. Conclusions: This pilot project has demonstrated that a blended approach to PBL is feasible but that it meets with a certain resistance from students. Some of the issues raised by the students can be resolved with greater familiarity with the virtual learning environment (VLE) in use - in this instance the students were using two different versions of the Blackboard system according to the individual course unit. One point of discussion is the extent to which online learning should take place through a university VLE: in this instance a variety of other electronic approaches was taken outside the formal structure. For the course unit in the pilot study the assessment was outcomes driven rather than process-driven which meant that it was not necessary for the academic staff to have access to all the discussions. However, there were problems in facilitators having access to provide relevant support; in one case where much of the debate was through Facebook the facilitator concerned was not joined into the group until a very late stage. It should be noted that facilitators did not receive any training in the use of the systems beyond that received by students. In future trials, the inclusion of a dedicated synchronous communication tool, in the form of Pronto, and further instruction for facilitators should help to alleviate these problems. Equally of concern is the difficulty of remote access where firewalls have been installed and this could become a very real problem if the unit is extended to become available to part-time students working largely online.The overall NTFS project is looking at the application of online PBL in sustainable development education and it could be argued that this pilot is somewhat peripheral to that. However, the field of global societal responsibility has a spectrum of approaches where humanitarian aid and disaster relief can be seen to overlap with sustainable development; indeed one of the scenarios used in the first year of the course unit was identical to one used in the parallel unit in sustainable development and others cover similar areas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate online problem-based learning (PBL) as a route to achieving sustainability education using sponsored projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The Royal Academy of Engineering sponsored project at Manchester; to foster education in sustainability through inter-disciplinary problem-based approaches, has since been extended to other groups and to a broader array of issues. One of the limiting factors is the ease with which this approach can be taken in the case of large numbers of students and a commensurate requirement for large numbers of facilitators. The University of Keele, together with partners from the universities of Manchester and Staffordshire, was awarded National Teaching Fellowship Scheme funding to explore further the use of blended or online approaches, in order to overcome these limitations. The pilot unit already has a certain amount of support using the BlackBoard virtual learning environment (VLE) but this scenario is supposed to rely entirely on online working. At the time of writing, the evaluation of the pilot has not been completed but an online questionnaire was devised to monitor students' reactions to the online working and to ascertain whether they did in fact work entirely online or whether they chose to meet informally face-to-face. Difficulties encountered were both organizational (mostly relating to enrolment) and technical (this was a new version of BlackBoard and had a few teething troubles).\nFindings: - This pilot project has demonstrated that a blended approach to PBL is feasible. There are some forms of resistance from students. The assessment was outcomes-driven rather than process-driven. This meant that it was not necessary for the academic staff to have access to all the discussions, thus acting as facilitators. There is a general theme that while learners found it possible to work effectively as a group online, they also found it more difficult. It is possible that the students were having to dedicate more time and effort to the use of the online system, which had an impact on their creativity and productivity.\nResearch limitations/implications: - In the case of the University of Manchester, the developments are being applied to a Masters-level course unit in Managing Humanitarian Aid Projects. This unit proceeds on the basis of five scenarios that students try to resolve in small groups and in the first pilot year one of these scenarios is being delivered on-line.\nPractical implications: - The results of this pilot could be fed in to different stages of programme deployment to examine impact and explore possibilities with distance learning modules.\nOriginality/value: - This paper has looked at the effectiveness of nationally run, problem-based learning projects that are aimed at improving understanding, engagement and deployment on diverse learning environments to include VLEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Outer space and neo-colonial injustice: Distributive justice and the continuous scramble for dominium	[ "Colonialism", "Post-colonialism", "Global commons", "Outer space", "Distributive justice", "International law" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: After 1945, and alongside processes of formal decolonisation, international politics saw the development of a series of global commons treaties and regimes that were often startling in ambition and progressive in content. They identified distinct and currently unowned resources and placed them beyond sovereign claims and unilateral appropriation, enshrining commons values of pacific use and benefit sharing. However, recent developments in the rhetoric and policy of the USA towards outer space have the potential to both challenge central values of important global commons regimes and to pose an unjust threat to those states whose economic and societal development has been impeded by colonialism. The move by the USA towards the commercialisation and militarisation of outer space means that we are at the very early stages of a politics that could see the human species determine the fate of the natural and political environment beyond our planet and, in the process, determine the nature of the relationship between all human beings (including future generations). The glimmer of hope, held out by global commons regimes, that we might do so in an ordered, environmentally sustainable, and just manner is dimming as neo-liberal economics and realist foreign policy reassert their dominant place in public policy discussions. Greater inequality, more environmental degradation and the prospect of real space wars underlie the significance of the argument we make below. This paper takes these challenges seriously and argues that good reasons persist for restating the importance of commons values and for developing institutions that advance them, both with regard to outer space and elsewhere.\nThe global commons: a brief sketch: At their heart, the remarkable early debates about global commons exploitation and management explored the ways in which we might order the regimes governing the deep sea bed and outer space to the benefit of all humankind, with special provision for the needs of less developed states, and with a view to avoiding the conflict and suffering associated with colonialism and war. While the negotiations of what we now know as common heritage regimes really got going in the late 1950s, as previously unavailable natural resource pools became a subject of international interest, it is worth setting the scene by thinking about the nature of property rights in general. This helps us understand the unique way in which the conventional commons sought to govern these resources.\nGlobal commons debates, outer space and the deep sea bed: Prior to the 1957 launch of \"Sputnik I\" by the USSR there had been some growing interest among scholars in the prospect of space exploration and its implication for the global legal order. However, it was the success of the Soviet launch that placed the issues firmly on the agenda of the international community and pushed the USA to what President Eisenhower termed the \"Sputnik crisis\" triggering the \"space race\" between the two superpowers (Devine, 1993). The USA entered the race in 1958 with the launch of \"Vanguard I\" and, while the initial driver of the competition was security concerns (the possibility of Soviet missiles in orbit), the launch of commercial communications satellites and later the prospect of the commercial exploitation of extra-terrestrial resources has driven both the politics and conceptualisation of outer space in equally significant ways (Vogler, 2000, p. 95; Tronchetti, 2009). As early as 1952 Oscar Schachter, then Director of the United Nations Legal Department, referred to space as \"common property of mankind over which no nation would be permitted to exercise its domination\" (Blaser, 1990, pp. 80-81, see also Tronchetti, 2009, p. 91). Scholarly debates revisited the distinction between res nullius and res communis and, argues Tronchetti, \"use the term res communis omnium to point out the fact that no state's sovereignty can be exercised in outer space, because it represents an area of common interest of all mankind\" (Tronchetti, 2009, p. 12). This idea, that property rights in outer space ought to be managed as res communis because space was an area of common interest to all mankind, was to have a very significant impact on the later evolution of space law.\nReasserting the significance of commons values: The preceding sketch highlighted two main drivers towards agreeing commons regimes that regulated access, appropriation and exploitation. These were, first, security concerns about military use and great power clashes in a scramble to exclusively appropriate, explicitly echoing the colonial history of the European scramble for dominium in Africa and Asia. Second, concern about reinforcing current inequalities between developed and developing states that emerged even more strongly from that colonial history. The commons regimes thus placed the values of pacific use and benefit sharing at their heart. Unsurprisingly, when it came to the institutionalisation of these values, further negotiation led to the commitment to benefit sharing being very significantly reduced, if not set aside altogether.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Recent developments in US rhetoric and policy advocating the militarisation and marketisation of outer space challenge the global commons values and regimes that developed partly in response to decolonisation. These regimes embodied aspirations to post-colonial distributive justice, as well as to international management for peaceful purposes. The purpose of this paper is to argue that global commons values should be defended against these challenges in order to avoid the risk of exporting colonial legacies of injustice into outer space.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is an exercise in normative International Political Theory and so develops normative arguments by drawing on approaches in political theory and international law.\nFindings: This paper demonstrates that the commons values endorsed in the aftermath of colonialism retain their relevance in a global politics that remains structured by post-colonial power relations. This paper also demonstrates that these commons values have evolved and found expression in central elements of international law, persisting as resources to be drawn on in normative argument.\nOriginality/value: This study places recent moves to assert US hegemony in space in the context of persistent post-colonial power relations and develops novel arguments in renewed support of commons values.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying service-dominant logic to recurrent release of software: an action research study	[ "Business-to-business", "Service-Dominant logic", "Service innovation", "Release management", "Software-as-a-Service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a software delivery model which is rapidly growing in popularity. SaaS solutions are usually accessible via online websites (Cusumano, 2008), and their hybrid software and service features may enhance business-to-business relationships (Berkovich et al., 2010). The growing importance of services in the global economy, joined with the growing variance of customer needs, has led to requirements for effective services based on customer needs (Ulkuniemi et al., 2011, Bottcher and Klingner, 2011). Direct customer contact could change how software vendors manage development, operations and quality control (Stuckenberg and Heinzl, 2010; Nicolajsen and Scupola, 2011). A well-defined release management process can improve building, testing and deploying software and thereby reduce post-delivery problems (Lahtela and Jantti, 2011). Although recurrent release management shapes how vendors service their customers through SaaS solutions, surprisingly little literature explores how these important processes are best organized from a customer and a service perspective. Specifically, researchers have yet to explore how broader insights from service science can be systematically applied to release management in a SaaS context.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Software as a service\n3. Analytical framework: The world economy is moving from being goods-based to depending on services (Spohrer and Maglio, 2008). The service sector has increasingly become a key component in the advancement and competitiveness of developed countries (Leticia Santos-Vijande et al., 2013), but the scientific understanding of services is still developing (Chesbrough and Spohrer, 2006). Service can be defined as \"Acts performed for others, including the provision of resources that others will use\" (Spohrer et al. 2008, p. 4). In marketing and economics, service is understood as the nonmaterial equivalent of a good. Service has also been defined as an economic activity that does not lead to ownership (Spohrer and Maglio, 2008). It produces benefits by enabling either a change in customers' physical possessions or in their intangible assets (Spohrer et al., 2007).\n4. Research design: Our project was conducted as an action research study to support the repositioning effort of Secure-on-Request (Avison et al., 2001; Baskerville and Wood-Harper, 1996). Action research uses interventions within challenging social situations to develop scientific knowledge (Lewin, 1951, Rapoport, 1970, Susman and Evered, 1978). Action research has been applied to various business disciplines including management (Eden and Huxham, 1996), marketing (Perry and Gummeson, 2004) and information systems (Mathiassen et al., 2012). Our general approach was collaborative practice research, a type of action research that emphasizes methodological pluralism and collaboration between researchers and practitioners (Mathiassen, 2002). This methodology works toward understanding practice through interpretation and improving practice through intervention. To ensure rigor, we followed the five principles for canonical action research and associated criteria suggested by Davison et al. (2004), as we enacted the dual cycles of problem-solving and research outlined by McKay and Marshall (2001). The research team consisted of two practitioner-doctorate students and their advisor with a focus on two complementary issues:\n5. Analysis of software service innovation: Drawing on S-D logic as an analytical framework, we examined how the release management process related to the value co-creation process, particularly during software delivery. Table III provides an overview of our findings.\n6. Discussion: Our collaborative action research study (Mathiassen, 2002) aimed to improve release management and service delivery practices as informed by S-D logic while also expanding the SaaS literature. S-D logic's emphasis of service makes it a particularly appropriate lens for analyzing the SaaS environment (Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008). Accordingly, we discuss the empirical and theoretical contributions of our action research study. The discussion includes a grounded and evidence-based model of the roles and activities involved in service delivery and value co-creation in a SaaS environment.\n7. Limitations and implications: Our study has important limitations. First, the single environment study sample may limit generalizability (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Myers, 2008). However, this limitation is balanced by the benefits of drawing attention to process details and to the perspectives of multiple stakeholders (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Additionally, we engaged in analytical generalizations to connect empirical insights with existing theory to develop knowledge for practice and research (Lee and Baskerville, 2003; Yin, 2009). Second, one team member was an insider (Coghian, 2001) and played multiple roles as researcher and release manager. To minimize potential research bias, we gathered and triangulated data through interviews, meetings, researchers' notes and documentation from different primary and secondary sources (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Myers, 2008; Yin, 2009). Finally, the data analysis may be susceptible to interpretive biases due to the adoption of S-D logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008). However, we evaluated the problem through the dual-cycle process (McKay and Marshall, 2001) and concluded that S-D logic offered an appropriate theoretical framework that helped position the study in relation to extant SaaS, release management and service innovation literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Fierce competition drives software vendors to rely on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) strategies and to continuously match new releases with customers' needs and competitors' moves. Such recurrent release practices pose specific challenges for software vendors which shape how they service customers. To address these challenges, this paper aims to apply service science to innovate strategies for SaaS release management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on action research methodology, the authors collaborated closely with Software Inc., an alias for a large multinational software provider, to apply service-dominant logic systematically, to analyze and improve its SaaS release management process and to support ongoing value co-creation with its customers.\nFindings: The authors provide a detailed account of how Software Inc. improved its SaaS release management practices; they extend current understanding of service innovation dynamics in SaaS environments and offer a model of value co-creation in SaaS release management grounded in the findings from Software Inc.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research draws on a single case study with particular characteristics. Still, it allows for analytical generalizations with both theoretical and practical implications for how SaaS managers can improve recurrent release practices based on foundational service-dominant logic principles.\nPractical implications: The authors suggest that SaaS managers concentrate on knowledge-sharing with customers, ensure continuous communication among teams supporting the service, re-organize release management to enhance the value co-creation process, use technology to improve customer service experiences and use service mapping to improve release management and service quality.\nOriginality/value: The authors bridge service-dominant logic principles and SaaS knowledge by demonstrating how service-dominant logic can be used to improve SaaS release practices and by offering conceptual and practical knowledge about value co-creation between customers and suppliers in SaaS contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research at the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres: Analysis from the mid-term review of the Innovative Manufacturing Programme	[ "Innovation", "Research organizations", "Manufacturing industries", "Operations management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In 2001, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (UK) changed part of its funding structure from grants for individual projects to block funding of centres, the so-called Innovative Manufacturing Programme (IMP). A mid-term review of the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres (IMRCs) as part of this programme offered the possibility of studying the impact of block funding on the management of research and to examine research at the centres. The paper will not address the assessment of each individual centre; the mid-term review in January 2005 achieved this aim. Instead, the purpose of this paper encompasses generic issues for management of IMRCs and the management of the IMP, particularly for research in operations management. The implications of the analysis apply not only to IMRCs and other (interdisciplinary) research centres but also more generally to how research programmes are managed and funded.1.1 Scope of paper\n2 Competitive position of the UK industry: The underlying objective of the IMP, manifested in the research at its centres, is to strengthen the UK industrial sector. This section will explore the specific position of the UK economy and its manufacturing sector in order to relate the portfolio of projects at IMRCs to its characteristics and to assess the impact of the IMP.2.1 Characteristics of the UK industry\n3 Analysis of research at the centres: The analysis that follows complements the assessments of individual centres by exploring common issues found during the reviews, the objectives and achievements of the IMP and the effects on the UK manufacturing sector. However, this analysis will remain incomplete because the impact of the programme and the funding structure in the improved performance of centres could not be fully judged (e.g. increase of scientific output and quality). That would require a longitudinal study over a longer period of time, such as that of Jimenez-Contreras et al. (2003); it would also demand clearly distinguishing reference groups, which would be difficult, due to the often multidisciplinary and dispersed individuals of each of the IMRCs (groups working together in a loosely connected structure). Neither was it possible to draw an international comparison based on metrics, due to the period of review of the centres (established only three years before) and their legacy (projects at the start of a centre were consolidated in its portfolio). Yet international comparisons are rare and mainly directed at journal publications. As far as could be retrieved from literature searches, only one paper has examined journals for publications on international operations management (Prasad and Babbar, 2000); another paper compared individual scientists and their publications in journals in product innovation (Cheng et al., 1999). Despite this lack of longitudinal data and lack of international comparison, this paper reports on inferences based on information provided for and during the review, and complemented by interviews and additional sources.3.1 Data collection\n4 Discussion of mid-term review meeting reports: The analysis results of the previous section are an important foundation for understanding the current status and future prospects of the IMP of the EPSRC and the individual IMRCs in particular. Coupling these results with observational data from the IMRC reports and on-site reviews leads to the following discussion of findings. This discussion includes separate and orthogonal views of a number of IMRC characteristics, in addition to more comprehensive statements regarding the aggregate performance indicators.4.1 Management of IMRCs\n5 Concluding remarks: An assessment of funding programmes, such as the IMP, is a critical activity for advancing research in operations management and requires a concerted effort on the part of the funding agency, funded organisations and reviewers. This paper provides a framework for completing a \"snapshot\" review of such programmes and in addition proposes a framework for the analysis of research centres; a longitudinal study would be preferred but that would be hampered by lack of comparative centres or groups, since most of these in the UK already participate in IMRCs. Categories of review are complemented by the introduction of new metrics for unveiling performance insights. However, it should be noted that the approach in this study lacks a more refined analysis of output and impact of research on academic knowledge and industry (e.g. through analysis of the impact of individual journal papers and monetary benefits for industry). Despite these setbacks, the metrics supported findings from the panels during the mid-term review. Although, this paper provides some insight into block funding, it does not resolve whether block funding is more effective than individual grants; it may be that block funding is just input, as Johnes and Johnes (1995, p. 309) contend. Nevertheless, the framework developed in this paper may be applied, with some modification, to programmes across national or research field boundaries.5.1 Performance of research centres\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - An extensive mid-term review in 2005 of the Innovative Manufacturing Programme, followed by sporadic individual reviews in 2006, provided the opportunity to draw inferences from the overall performance of 12 research centres in the UK and to review the impact of block funding. Previous studies of research centres (in this case with a multidisciplinary character) are rare - none for operations management were found - and to that purpose of the paper proposes (new) metrics in addition to the peer review.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The rich data provided during the mid-term review provided input for the analysis.\nFindings: - In general the analysis indicates that the centres gravitate towards consultancy, stimulated by criteria set by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Consequently, setting the industrial agenda to improve the competitive position of the UK manufacturing industry rarely occurs. Furthermore, centres with a stronger research strategy and with motivated research staff did outperform others in attracting additional funding. A focus on specific sectors correlates with a negative impact on research output. Despite an increased responsiveness to industry and the concentration of motivated research staff, stronger management cultures at the centres and more collaborative efforts between the centres would benefit performance.\nPractical implications: - Even though the metrics proved an important tool, the combination of quantitative analysis and peer review made it possible to arrive at these conclusions, possibly setting the scene for the new REF in 2015. The lessons learned from the review and the analysis might be beneficial for research centres in operations management.\nOriginality/value: - Since this type of study - the in-depth evaluation of the performance of research centres - has never been conducted before, it paves the way to a better understanding of research management in a national context. Implications of the study might exceed that of the domain of research into manufacturing technology and manufacturing management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collaborative search using an implicitly formed academic network	[ "Paper mining", "Academic network formation", "Collaborative Hit Matrix", "Collaborative Web Search", "Search behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online information resources are abundantly available and widely used. Especially, in the field of academia, several terabytes of academic content are uploaded to the internet every week. Unfortunately, access to the provided information using a generic search engine is not satisfactory in terms of the relevance of links and the wastage of time spent on bad links. This can be attributed to several factors, the most important being the absence of identification of context of the search as well as the lack of customization based on users' profiles. Collaborative Information Retrieval (CIR) or collaborative search is the investigation of the systems and practices that enable individuals to collaborate during the searching and retrieval for information, and, it is otherwise defined to be a knowledge transfer process from a group of human knowledge producers to an information seeker (Evelyn and Barry, 2004). As a promising field of research, CIR is responsible for developing methodologies to share information among user groups-based querying and explicit collaborative knowledge obtained during information searching and the retrieval process (Juan et al., 2011). Individuals can be through implicitly or explicitly formed groups (Scripps et al., 2007).\n2. Related work: Collaboration is achieved through a multitude of approaches and hence varying levels of collaboration are achieved. In this section, a survey of some of the existing Collaborative Systems, where collaboration is done during information seeking and retrieval, is presented with their unique features and shortcomings. Morris (2013) discusses a survey on Collaborative Web Search where the author shows the increasing trend towards collaborative search practices including traditional search engines and technologies such as smart phones and social networking sites. Zhen et al. (2013) have discussed the effects of collaboration and task types on user behaviour during querying. They analyzed query behaviour from three perspectives namely basic query features, query reformulation patterns and query performance.\n3. Overview of the work: The Collaborative Search System is developed in two phases - the offline academic network building phase and the online Collaborative Search Service. Figure 1 shows the overall system architecture.\n4. Researcher Profile Extraction: The Researcher Profile Extraction component is sub divided into Profile Extraction, Paper Association and refinement using Paper Mining components. During Profile Extraction when a user registers with the service, using his/her name, the homepages of the user are identified. These HTML pages are converted to XML and then parsed to find his/her areas of research. This module then mines the web and DBLP to extract his/her profile information to create a node for him/her in the academic network. The username, the user's research areas obtained from PE sub module are submitted to the Paper Association module to retrieve the papers and their co-authors associated with each research area of the user by querying the DBLP (DBLP Bibliography Homepage, www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/) system. The information extracted is represented as ASP node associated with each author/user (Figure 3).\n5. Community formation: The community formation module takes as input the ASP node and the references, co-authors (of a paper) and gives Ranked Research Community as the output. The first step is the initial gathering of collaborators. This is achieved by mining the research papers from the publication list of every author. This module refines the Research Profile Extraction module by mining research papers to find co-authors, referenced authors and keywords in the paper. Link Weight Assignment component assigns weights to the subject-specific collaborator links for each user node. Different link metrics are used to differentiate the strength of the links. The link strength depends on the type of association with the link - as co-author, referenced author, author who has published papers in the same subject and author with similar research interests. Referenced authors are added to the collaborators list with lower link weights as compared to co-authors and keywords are used to fine-tune the subjects to improve search relevancy. There is a high chance that the referenced authors belong to the same domain as the author/co-author. However, since we have assigned the least link weight for this parameter, the bias in obtaining results when all references are not related to the core topic is low. This link establishment between the user nodes results in addition of an attribute (Collaborators (connection with weights)) to the initial ASP to form the ASPC structure (Figure 3).\n6. Collaborative Web Search: The Collaborative Web Search component of our system uses learned preferences of users to support collaboration. This is done by querying the CHM which stores user preferences as page hit counts based on expertise level. The CHM structure given in the Figure 4 is a tabular structure that stores the hit count and hit list of page results for queries. The hit count and hit list are three dimensional. Here each page obtained for a query is associated with the number of times that page has been selected (hit count) by each of the collaborators (hitters) of the current searcher and the role of that collaborator in the subject area of that query. The ranking of the page is query dependent similar to hits algorithm, however, is based on applying maximization function to the preferences of collaborators. The system categorizes users into three broad categories based on their expertise and updates the corresponding hit count and appends the user id into corresponding hit list.\n7. Results and performance evaluation: The implementation of our Collaborative Search System is called Collaborative Information Search in Academia (CISA). Some outputs from a sample run are shown below. Figure 5 shows the initial ASPCR structure representing the academic network formation. The network is represented as an XML file. For every author node (ASPCR), research subjects and his/her published research papers and collaborators for those subjects are identified and stored in an XML format. For the academic network formation, the registered users' research profile is obtained by mining personal homepages, publications and querying DBLP. This information is used to create a node structure for the user - the ASPCR node. Weighted links are established with collaborators based on their level of collaboration. The network is represented as a set of connected ASPCR node structures. For Collaborative Search, when a user enters a search query, the topic of the query is identified using similarity detection techniques. The user id and topic are used to query the ASPCR network to identify the user's role for the topic in the collaboration network. The query string and the topic are used to query the CHM structure which provides collaborative feedback to find the best links by prioritizing preferences of collaborators. The search behaviour of the current user is tracked and updated in the CHM.\n8. Conclusion and future enhancements: Web search engines provide a window to the ever-expanding world of online academic content. Despite the huge volumes of information and the quick response time, these engines often fail to provide a satisfactory user experience due to the low correlation of the results to the user expectations. Although relevancy can be improved by precise specification of the search string, a more consistent approach that reduces the dependency on the user's query specification precision is to introduce collaboration and context into search. The proposed Collaborative Search System attempts to achieve collaboration by implicitly identifying and reflecting search behaviour of collaborators in the academic network that is automatically and dynamically formed. By using the constructed CHM, it is found that the results were obtained with more relevance to the user's need, with implicit suggestions and recommendations from expert members of the community and the time spent on bad links is reduced. Superior recall and precision characteristics are also observed. This system is thus an attempt to help researchers perform complex search tasks collaboratively and synchronize their efforts, to let domain experts guide inexperienced users by providing worthy, relevant information implicitly and to adapt a generic search engine to identify contexts of the search terms especially concerning specific research areas. In order to amplify the perceived quality and usefulness of the collaborative results, the system can be enhanced in the following directions: while forming the academic network, to fine-tune the link strengths between users, enhanced link weights can be used for recent collaborators for a given user. Newly created web pages tend to have lower preferences (in terms of hit count) compared to older pages, despite their higher relevancy. To reduce the effect of this discrepancy, page hit counts can be normalized adding weights to recent pages using some form of content-based priority. User ratings can be used to utilize subjective user preferences to enhance collaboration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose the Collaborative Search System that attempts to achieve collaboration by implicitly identifying and reflecting search behaviour of collaborators in an academic network that is automatically and dynamically formed. By using the constructed Collaborative Hit Matrix (CHM), results are obtained that are based on the search behaviour and earned preferences of specialist communities of researchers, which are relevant to the user's need and reduce the time spent on bad links.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By using the Digital Bibliography Library Project (DBLP), the research communities are formed implicitly and dynamically based on the users' research presence in the search environment and in the publication scenario, which is also used to assign users' roles and establish links between the users. The CHM, to store the hit count and hit list of page results for queries, is also constructed and updated after every search session to enhance the collaborative search among the researchers.\nFindings: The implicit researchers community formation, the assignment and dynamic updating of roles of the researchers based on research, search presence and search behaviour on the web as well as the usage of these roles during Collaborative Web Search have highly improved the relevancy of results. The CHM that holds the collaborative responses provided by the researchers on the search query results to support searching distinguishes this system from others. Thus the proposed system considerably improves the relevancy and reduces the time spent on bad links, thus improving recall and precision.\nOriginality/value: The research findings illustrate the better performance of the system, by connecting researchers working in the same field and allowing them to help each other in a web search environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Amateurism and professionalism in work and learning	[ "Qualifications", "Professional education", "Expertise", "Professionalism", "Public services", "Amateurism", "Volunteerism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The amateur is usually positioned as, in some ways, a lesser contribution than the professional to workplace practices due, in part, to their lack of formal educational qualifications in the relevant area. Indeed amateurism in the workplace might well be viewed as highly detrimental given contemporary concerns for productivity, quality and excellence. In many areas, such as surgery, there is an obvious preference for the professional surgeon rather than the amateur, although circumstances might not always allow for a professional to be available to perform the task, e.g. injury in war. The normative claims to the professionalising of practice through learning and qualifications to ensure quality and consistency seem unassailable, even if the empirical evidence is less so, as evidenced by the many reports of the failures of professionalism in workplace practices.\nProfessional-s/ism and amateur-s/ism: Over the past century, we have seen increasing trends towards the professionalisation of expertise in society in many parts of the globe, alongside the development of modern public institutions and the growth of higher education. An ever widening range of working activity is now positioned as \"professional\" and, with that, there has been increased institutionalisation, standardisation, qualification and regulation of practice (Friedson, 1988). In many areas, particularly in the public sector, professionalisation has been increasingly associated with elite qualifications, status and service to society (Evetts, 2011). Many occupational groups, such as nurses and teachers, have sought and gained professional status through increased qualification and the development and adherence to professional codes of practice.\nAmateur-professional relations in workplaces: As I have indicated, the attempts to define professionalism have been varied, but many analysts continue to invoke classical characteristics, such as self-regulation, specialist knowledge and qualifications, codes of practice, systems of licensing, etc. (Friedson, 2001). These characteristics reflect historical and national contexts within which the category of \"professional\" has developed and the outcomes of on-going struggles to exclude certain practices and practitioners as non-professional or amateur. For instance, Alberti (2001) argues that the rift between amateurism and professionalism in science in the UK is a fallacy consciously shaped by an opposition to a particular pejorative notion of the amateur by laboratory-based sciences as part of a professionalising occupational strategy. Here there emerged a mapping of the notion of professional practice onto laboratory work and amateur practice onto field and non-expert work. Employment by the university became the mark of the professional scientist. This was reinforced by the institutionalisation of certain (expensive) technologies and practices within the university that were necessary to undertake expert work and which acted as further markers of professionalism. This example is consistent with some arguments about professionalism as a form of producer capture.\nResearch agendas: It is clear that conceptually and empirically the status and contribution of amateurism and the amateur to work and their relations with professionalism and professionals are multi-faceted, complex and contested, as is the role of amateurism is work per se. In his study, Meyer (2008, p. 49) points to the spatialities, the spaces of and for participation; temporalities, the amount and quality of time to be given; and materialities, objects and tools of amateur and professional participation in work. He argues that amateurism is not an essence, but is \"relationally defined through fragile connections and demarcations\", emphasis in original). The roles and relationships between amateurs and professionals, amateurism and professionalism are not fixed, but emerge from the constant possibilities and struggles to contribute to the specified domains of practice, within which questions of technology, specialist knowledge, qualifications, standards of practice, organisational structures, national and occupational context and status are central. They impact on the authority and accountability of those involved in work practices. However, while there has been increased focus on issues of multi-professional and inter-professional working in public services (Edwards et al., 2009), less attention has been given to the wider debates about the amateur and professional and their significance for professional education and workplace learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This article aims to explore the concept of amateurism as a form of critique and addition to the concepts of professionalism, professional work and education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a theoretically driven article based upon a review of the historical and sociological literature on amateur-professional relations in various work contexts.\nFindings: While amateurism is usually conceived pejoratively, the notion of doing something \"for the love of it\", even if one is not formally qualified, opens up the possibilities for conceiving new forms of work, worker and sets of working relationships based upon different conceptions of expertise. Drawing upon historical and contemporary studies of the contribution of amateurism to professional work, and exploring the role of digital technologies in enabling amateurs to contribute to forms of professional practice, the article explores some of the challenges posed for work and learning, and suggests some lines of research to be explored.\nOriginality/value: There has been little to no consideration of amateurism as a positive contribution to considerations of professional work, nor exploration of the expertise and learning of amateurs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Responding to open business models	[ "Competitive advantage", "Business models", "Portfolio", "Business strategy", "Open source", "Open business models" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In November 2013, Kano launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund its idea of producing computers for kids. Within 18 hours, Kano had raised US$100,000 (the initial goal). At the end of the campaign, Kano had raised over US$1.5m from 13,387 backers, who came from over 80 countries and included Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler. Kano's idea was to enable kids to build their own computers, including a Raspberry Pi, a case, wireless keyboard with trackpad, cables, Wi-Fi dongle and a speaker. They developed their own operating system, Kano OS, based on Debian GNU/Linux, as well as Kano Blocks, an open-source visual programming language. Their simple instructional guides that can be downloaded for free were translated by users into 73 languages.\n2. Open business models: value creation and value capture in open-networked structures: When looking at the growing literature on business models, both in B2C and B2B markets, the main areas of investigation are the links between business models and product market strategy (Zott and Amit, 2008), business models and innovation (Teece, 2010; Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002), business models and entrepreneurship (Zott and Amit, 2007) or conceptual papers on business model design (Baden-Fuller and Morgan, 2010; Magretta, 2002). There exists no common definition or conceptual framework for business models (Baden-Fuller and Mangematin, 2013) despite the fact that every company uses some kind of business model (Teece, 2010). Zott and Amit, 2008 state that the business model of a company describes how the company interacts with customers, partners and vendors. Other definitions include products and services - often referred to as the value proposition (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2002; Zott and Amit, 2008), revenues (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002; Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2002), costs (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002) and internal resources (Amit and Zott, 2001; Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002). Less often mentioned are partners (Teece, 2010) and competitors (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002).\n3. Methodology: We used a qualitative, inductive research approach, which is appropriate for \"how\" and \"why\" questions, such as those motivating our study on how established companies can respond to potential threats through open business models. We conducted 32 interviews in multiple waves from 2013 through 2015. Our primary respondents were open business model experts, typically entrepreneurs who had founded companies with open business models, managers from companies facing competition from new companies with open business models or analysts. All of these represent \"key informants\" who are highly knowledgeable about the phenomenon being studied.\n4. The five dimensions of open business models: 4.1 Motivation\n5. Responding to open business models: Understanding open business models is only the first step. By talking to executives both in companies with traditional closed business models and in companies or ventures with open business models, we understood that open vs closed business models are often seen as a dichotomy: either the business model is open or it is closed. This is also supported by recent literature that all too often focuses on the differences of the two approaches. But we believe that by better understanding the dimensions of openness of a business model, established companies can also develop more and better response strategies. We have also seen in the interviews that companies explored various response strategies to open business model threats. Looking at those and comparing them to our five dimensions of open business models, we distilled three general response strategies: focusing on the existing business model, creating a second and potentially competing open ecosystem, and joining the new open business model, either fully or partly.\n6. Conclusion: Companies and not-for-profit organisations are increasingly exploring open business models. Many traditional companies are under attack from new players that act as a sort of market place or hub to create a new and powerful ecosystem. Before thinking about counter-strategies, established companies have to understand the underlying principles of these new open business models. These are motivation, object, community, actions and governance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for practitioners in choosing the right response to potential threats by open business models.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study focuses on identifying the dimensions of open business models. It consisted of 32 interviews with experts on open business models complemented by panel discussions with a selection of experts to validate the findings.\nFindings: Five dimensions of open business models are identified: motivation, object, community, action and governance. Based on those dimensions, three responding strategies are proposed.\nPractical implications: This paper offers insights for strategists and entrepreneurs who consider developing open business models or are attacked by competitors or other market players with open business models.\nOriginality/value: Complementing previous research, this paper highlights how the five dimensions of open business model can serve as a tool to design appropriate strategies when confronted with new forms of competition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
US foreign trade zones and import intensity examining determinants of import intensity in US foreign trade zones	[ "Business strategy", "Export orientation", "Foreign trade zones", "Import intensity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Foreign trade zones (FTZs) are designated geographical areas within the USA that are set up to facilitate international commerce by encouraging the duty or quota free entry of imports. FTZs provide their resident firms free trade environment and a liberal regulatory regime with an infrastructure appropriate for carrying out trade and industrial operations. Enterprises operating within the zones benefit from a variety of incentives such as drawbacks on inputs or capital goods used in the production of exports. They are usually located in or near customs port of entry and legally considered outside the customs territory of the USA. US FTZs must be within 60 miles from customs supervising office, whereas subzones have no limit and can be located at the zone user's private facility (Bonk, 1992; 19 Code of Federal Regulations [CFRs] 146).\n2. Literature review: The role of FTZs in influencing investment or trade flows has received limited attention in the literature. Despite the growth of FTZs in many countries, studies tend to focus on theoretical issues such as the role of FTZs in enhancing or reducing national welfare or case studies to confirm the beneficial role of FTZs in transfer of technology to host countries (Romer, 1993). Only a handful of studies address the role of FTZs in international business (Tansuhaj and Gentry, 1987; Beeman and Magill, 1988). Qualitative/empirical work on the subject remains quite limited.\n3. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development: The resource-based view suggests that the firm is essentially a bundle of resources and capabilities which are the primary determinants of its strategy and performance (Grant, 2006). Establishing competitive advantage involves formulating and implementing a strategy that exploits the uniqueness of a firm's portfolio of resources and capabilities, i.e. rational identification and use of existing resources. Economic motives drive resource procurement decisions and that economic factors in the firm's competitive and resource environment drive firm conduct and outcomes (Oliver, 1997). Advances in transportation and communications have facilitated the trend toward the dispersion of production activities. Firms operating in US FTZs are purchasing a portion of their intermediate inputs from their foreign affiliates or from unrelated parties located abroad (Swenson, 2000). Such re-positioning of firms' strategic assets and capabilities in US FTZs (such as sourcing of inputs and use of local labor to assemble or manufacture in US FTZs) is in response to changes in relative production cost.\n4. Research design: In 2013 (when the survey was conducted), there were about 177 FTZs (approved FTZs) in the USA with a total of 289 active production operations. I use a list of firms (operators) operating in US FTZs compiled by the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones. The companies were classified into three groups based on their sales volume (small, medium and large). The population included about 3,000 companies out of which a random sample of 250 companies was selected. I restricted the population to firms engaged in the manufacture/warehousing/distribution of tangible goods for trade. Firms providing financial, legal, consulting, accounting and similar services in FTZs were excluded.\n5. Results: The hypotheses were tested using OLS regression analysis. I tested the likely extent of multicollinearity in the data by analyzing the correlation between the independent variables (Table II). Correlation coefficients are quite low, indicating that the variables are different from each other. A test of multicollinearity among independent variables using the variance inflation factor suggested no problems. VIF values range from 1.094 to 1.452. VIF values of 5.3 (Hair et al., 2005) and 10 (Studenmund, 2010) have been suggested as cutoffs for multicollinearity.\n6. Discussion and conclusions: US FTZs are secure, geographical areas where commercial merchandise, both domestic and foreign, receives the same treatment by US customs as if it were outside the commerce of the USA. Merchandise of every description may be held in the FTZ without being subject to customs duties or other taxes. Foreign and domestic merchandise may be brought into these zones for storage, assembly or processing duty or quota free and then exported without the imposition of any customs restrictions. They are, however, subject to duty if imported from these zones into the US market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to investigate the effects of several determinants of firm import intensity in US foreign trade zones (FTZs). Even though the major objective for the establishment of US FTZs is to encourage exports by facilitating the duty-free entry of imports, US firms have used it as a gateway to import goods into the US market. Currently, over 90 per cent of US FTZ output is consumed in the USA. The author examines the major determinants for such import intensity in US FTZs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a survey that was conducted to explore the factors that influence import intensity of firms operating in US FTZs.\nFindings: The findings reveal that besides export orientation of firms, the most promising predictors of import intensity of firms operating in USA FTZs are the policy environment in the form of inverted tariff benefits and firm business strategy.\nPractical implications: The findings are important for managers presently operating in US FTZs or intend to do so in future.\nOriginality/value: Even though there are numerous studies on free trade zones and exports, this is the first study to examine the import intensity of US FTZs and their determinants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Age cohort effects, gender, and Romanian leadership preferences	[ "Leadership", "Transactional leadership", "Transformational leadership", "Gender", "Romania" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although the issue of organizational leadership has attracted a great deal of interest in the social science literature within the last century (e.g., Kaiser et al., 2008), the majority of these studies are based on conceptual models or data derived from Western cultures. In recent decades, researchers have increasingly called for a re-examination of current social science theories with the goal of detecting to what extent theories drawing upon Western cultural values and precepts are tenable with non-Western individuals (Hofstede, 2001; Hofstede and Peterson, 2000; House et al., 2004; Javidan and House, 2001). For instance, Peng and Tjosvold (2008) suggest that leader-subordinate relationship quality may relate differently to conflict resolution tactics among Chinese than among Westerner individuals, where regardless of salient interpersonal relationships, cultural values predispose Western individuals to open-conflict management while Chinese individuals are predisposed to conflict avoidance. Knowledge of such differences is particularly important when addressing issues of management development across cultures.International management development\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Subscale scores\nDiscussion: This study extends the work of several recent articles (Gunkel et al., 2007; Konrad et al., 2000; Vecchio and Boatwright, 2002) which address the influence of gender as antecedents of either actual or preferred leadership behaviors. Moreover, it is the first study to consider this issue in the context of the Romanian culture. Earlier research has shown an association between gender and a preference for consideration in leadership behaviors - in that females expressed a stronger preference for consideration-based behaviors (Vecchio and Boatwright, 2002). Thus, we expected that transformational leadership may be more attractive to women. This expectation was validated in the present analysis, where females displayed a preference for transformational leadership behaviors.The work of Marshall (1994), which considers the origin of value-based differences between men and women, offers a conceptual explanation for the gender difference that we found in this study. Accordingly, Marshall (1994) claims that men and women can be distinguished as broad social groups. In this sense, men and women share essential similarities but also often approach aspects of life from different perspectives, particularly in that women often bring different values into the workplace when compared to male colleagues. While both sexes have access to the same value structures, because of physical design and outcomes of social learning and social roles women are more likely to be grounded in collections of values that stress relational interdependence, contextual awareness, and personal integration (Marshall, 1994). Because transformational leadership behaviors share conceptual connections with these core feminine values such as relational interdependence and interpersonal development, it makes sense that our study results indicated female participants displayed a greater preference for transformational leadership behaviors compared to men.In addition to the noted gender difference, we found a significant effect for age cohort differences in preferences for both transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. The similarity in preferences across ages may be due to the fact that there is a common core of engagement oriented behaviors that underlies both transformational and transactional leadership (Antonakis and House, 2002; Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999; Kark and van Dijk, 2007). Indeed, we discovered a correlation of r=0.69 (p < 0.01) between transformational and transactional leadership preferences in the present study, which supports the contention that some element of engaged, effective leadership, whether transformational or transactional, is superior to a hands-off style of leadership or a general failure to assert influence in managing group processes and outcomes.The findings reveal several other interesting phenomena. First, it appears that in understanding preferences for leadership behaviors based on gender and age cohort, the age cohort differences have a more consistent effect across types of leadership behavioral preference (transformational, F=7.07, p=0.008; transactional, F=3.67, p=0.057). This result may in part be explained because age-based cohort effects are derived largely from developmental experiences that are based in specific cultures and times. Conceptually, this suggests that the variance in cultural leadership preferences are explained most readily by history effects within a culture, although gender-based effects may interact with effects of culture. Overall, the interaction of age by gender was found insignificant although one category is excepted from this conclusion: male managers of the age of 34 and under exhibited the lowest level on transformational preference and the largest difference between transformational-transactional preferences when compared with all other categories. This finding is supported by observations from Gunkel et al. (2007) who found that effects of culture can interact with gender differences within cultures to produce different patterns of preference for types of leadership behaviors. Thus, the findings of this study might be interpreted as a reflection of the Romanian cultural setting in which the study was carried out.As noted, managers 35 years of age and over significantly preferred transformational leadership behaviors, while the younger managers preferred the more autocratic transactional styles of leadership. We feel this finding can be explained by two factors. First, Romania has experienced some measure of economic decline after the break from communism, which is not unique to Romania but is shared by a majority of Eastern European countries. Given that the managers in our sample that are 34 years and younger are entering work during a period of adjustment to an open economy, and given that these managers have no memory of working conditions under communism, they may favor a more transactional style of leadership as an alternative that would seem to promote faster change in the current undesirable economic status quo.Finally, we feel it is worthwhile to again consider issues of organizational culture in addition to national culture. Organizational cultures represented in this study were characterized by standard bureaucratic values and structures such as hierarchy, rigid organizational boundaries, and a general mechanistic view of people embedded in the organization. Give these types of beliefs, it makes sense that the overall preferences for transactional leadership (M=3.79, SD=0.62) were higher than the transformational preferences (M=3.52, SD=0.65), because the processes involved in transactional leadership behaviors tend to be more closely aligned with rigid systems of reward, recognition, and performance management. In fact, the presence of a bureaucratic organizational culture might also explain how the noted gender and age cohort effects could have become salient.For example, in male and female managers of age 35 and over there was a preference for transformational leadership. In the case of the bureaucratic organizational cultures in the present sample, a desire for transformational behaviors might have become more salient for managers 35 and over based on a significant discrepancy between desired transformational behaviors and the current status quo represented in the organizations. This makes sense when looking at the development history of managers 35 and older, who lived under the former communist system, and who may have formed a preference for transformational leadership behaviors based on a latent, cumulative reaction to living in an inflexible organizational culture. The fact that current organizational cultures in Romania still show evidence of the organizational structures from the communist era could have made the felt need for transformational leadership even more salient for these managers.Certain limitations of this study should be noted. The first stems from the fact that it is based on self-reports. Although existing evidence suggests that self-reports of leadership preference are valid measures (Yukl and Van Fleet, 1991), future studies might attempt to replicate the findings using other methods such as life history analysis, content analysis, or in-depth interviews to examine the origins of age cohort effects.Second, the generalizability of findings derived from a sample of Romanian managers may be questioned. It is possible that the social and political changes that have occurred in Eastern Europe in recent decades impact gender and leadership preferences in these countries in unique ways (Littrell and Valentin, 2005). For example, the results might reflect the fact that the stressful transition from the communist to the post-communist era has caused the respondents to simultaneously sustain two sets of preferences, the transformational and the transactional, due to uncertainty in how the economic climate may evolve. Although this may limit the generalizability of our results, it is in itself an important finding for businesses interested in operating in Romania.Furthermore, our sample consisted mainly of managers in full-time positions in commercial and service organizations (94 percent). Future studies would do well to examine more diverse populations, not only in terms of geography and culture, but also in respect to organizational context. It might also be worthwhile to examine the possibility of culturally-based moderating effects of variables not included in the current study. The role of these predictors might be elucidated by means of qualitative studies.In addition, we examined preferences for leadership styles in terms of the type of behaviors the respondents believed should be employed by the ideal manager. It would be interesting to see if the same findings emerged from a study of managers' gender and age profiles and their actual leadership behaviors, particularly when they endorse their own behaviors as reflecting specific gender roles within their value systems.Although much remains to be learned about the relationship between gender, age cohort effects, and leadership preferences in the workplace, we believe the current study makes an important contribution to the body of existing knowledge. As the first investigation of its kind to be conducted in Romania, it offers insights into the factors influencing preferences in Romanian organizations, as well as suggesting avenues for future research in other cultures and contexts. Finally, the findings within this study should prove useful to organizations attempting to manage leadership and change processes in Romania.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine preferences for both transformational and transactional leadership behavior for gender- and age-based cohort differences. The purpose of this research is to enhance leadership and organizational change initiatives in Romania via the identification of age cohort and gender effects with respect to attitudes towards common leadership behaviors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research is conducted via a survey through the administration of questionnaires. The sample consists of 324 managers from commercial and service organizations in Romania, a country in which this issue has not previously been investigated.\nFindings: - The findings reveal that there are differences in preferences for leadership behavior based on age cohorts that reached maturity before or after the fall of Ceausescu during the 1989 revolution. Also, female participants displayed a greater preference for transformational leadership behaviors relative to transactional leadership behaviors.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to examine the effects of leadership preference based on age cohorts in Romania. The study also is one of the first to empirically examine the effects of age cohorts on leadership after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. As such, these findings offer guidance in the development and implementation of leadership development initiatives and change management interventions for organizations operating in Romania, and present one example of cohort-based and leadership-specific attitude change in a country that is transitioning from communism to a free market system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Beamless or beam-supported building floors: Is buildability knowledge the missing link to improving productivity?	[ "Efficiency", "Buildability", "Building floors", "Formwork", "Labour productivity", "Reinforced concrete construction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In most countries, labour cost comprises 30 to 50 per cent of the overall construction project's cost (Yates and Guhathakurta, 1993; McTague and Jergeas, 2002; Jarkas and Bitar, 2012). In spite of the technological advancements, construction remains a labour intensive industry, and thus labour productivity not only remains the industry's predominant determinant of performance, but is also regarded as a true reflection of the economic success of the operation.\nLiterature review: Productivity is an economic measure defined as the ratio of output to input (Adrian, 1987). Therefore, construction productivity can be regarded as a measure of outputs which are obtained by a combination of inputs. In view of this, two measures of construction productivity emerge: total factor productivity, where outputs and all inputs are considered; and partial factor productivity, often referred to as single factor productivity, where outputs and single or selected inputs are considered (Talhouni, 1990; Rakhra, 1991; Jarkas, 2010b).\nFormwork trade synopsis: Formwork, also referred to as shutter, is used to obtain a shape in concrete. It includes the actual material in contact with concrete and all the necessary associated supporting structures. Formwork is removed in a process called striking or stripping (Jarkas, 2010a).\nResearch method: The labour productivity data for this study, which are part of an industry-wide research project that spanned from February 2006 to December 2013, were collected from building construction sites located the State of Kuwait, where in situ reinforced concrete is the prevailing type of construction material.\nData analysis, results and discussion: Labour productivity data were analysed by the \"PHStat\" statistical software. The raw data were screened for possible outliers, i.e., values that are more than three standard deviations from the mean (Gulezian and Samelian, 2003), which are often attributable to one of three main causes.\nConclusions and recommendations: Because in situ reinforced concrete is an essential construction material, and due to the importance of labour efficiency to the viability of the industry, this study has tangibly determined the impact of buildability on formwork labour productivity of one of the most cost significant and labour-intensive components of structural frames; namely, building floors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Due to a dearth of quantitative research into buildability factors affecting formwork labour productivity of in situ reinforced concrete construction, the purpose of this paper is to establish a distinct point of departure from the prevalent qualitative trend of buildability research practices by exploring, quantifying and comparing the influence of the two widely used design schemes; namely, beamless and beam-supported building floors, on formwork labour productivity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A considerable quantity of relevant formwork labour productivity data associated with each building floor configuration was collected from projects sharing similar characteristics. The data were analysed to determine the statistical significance of the difference between the two labour productivity \"means\" of the sample sets representing both populations. Regression analyses were further carried out to assess the impact of floor area on labour efficiency.\nFindings: The results obtained show a statistically significant difference between the two means of formwork labour productivity achieved, where the efficiency of \"forming\" the beam-supported floor type is, on average, lower by 57 per cent than that of the beamless configuration. The outcomes further demonstrate a significant influence of building floor area on the productivity of the form-working operation.\nPractical implications: The findings can provide designers with feedback on how well their decisions consider the requirements of buildability principles, and the consequences thereto on labour productivity. The depicted pattern of results may, moreover, provide guidance to estimators and project managers for reasonable cost estimation, effective planning and efficient labour utilisation.\nOriginality/value: The general guidelines available for buildability improvement lack the supporting quantitative evidence, and thus are often viewed with scepticism, especially amongst design practitioners. On the contrary, the quantitative outcomes reported in this study are based on rigorous methodology, hence can be used as a supporting reference to \"formalise\" the specific buildability knowledge of the activity explored.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Human security: an analytical tool for disaster perception research	[ "Resilience", "Disasters", "Natural hazard", "Human security", "Securitability", "Disaster perception" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper examines the possible benefits arising from the application of the human security concept to studying and analysing the disaster impacts. While there is no ultimate definition of a disaster (Quarantelli, 2005), researchers in the field generally agree that the phenomena is associated with the impacts different hazards have on people and societies (Alexander, 2005; Perry, 2005; Quarantelli, 2005; Wisner et al., 2004). Some even argue that there is no disaster, if any of two variables - a natural hazard or vulnerable people - is missing (Wisner et al., 2004). This study responds to Quarantelli's (2005) call for \"scholars from anthropology, geography, economics, political science and psychology bringing their own disciplinary perspectives\" (p. 330), by exploring the phenomena from the social sciences perspective. It builds upon a popular belief amongst the disaster researchers that people and their vulnerability or resilience, instead of physical implications of natural hazards, should be at the core of analysis.\nHuman security: \"the underdog concept\" in social sciences: The ideas of well-being, security and dignity at the core of the concept can be traced back to the philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - Montesquieu, Rousseau, Condorcet, Kant, Hobbes, Grotius and others (Ozolina, 2012; Owen, 2004a). However, the world of social scientists has experienced the rise of popularity and development of the human security concept only over the last two decades. Its appearance was stimulated by two reasons. First, it was introduced by the annual UNDP Human Development Report in 1994, which promoted the argument that the concerns about \"the freedom from fear\" and \"the freedom from want\" at a human level will prevail over concerns about national security (UNDP, 1994). Second, the appearance of human security both in development and security studies was encouraged by \"the domino effect-type\" post-cold war global transformations. For example, the rich and highly developed states had to adjust their \"Grand Strategies\" to become more sophisticated and take up responsibility for the problems in developing countries (occasionally their former colonies), while also defining their new relationship status (Rostoks, 2012). Besides, the existing state-centric security theories in international relations could no longer alone successfully explain the rise of transnational threats, such as terrorism, the lack of food or water and the natural hazards and diseases, which annually killed more people[2] than any inter-state military conflict. The new concept could fill the gap, by shifting the point of reference from the state as the ultimate provider (and user) of security to the individual.\nHuman security three-piece analytical tool: The human security analytical tool builds upon the legacy of discoveries in the research of the people-centric concept throughout three generations over last two decades as the concept marks its 20th anniversary in 2014. Therefore, it consists of three main parts.\nMethodology of the case study: Besides illustrating possibilities arising from the application of the human security concept to disaster research, the objective of the case study is to answer the following three questions: how many people are afraid of threats to each of the seven human security dimensions and how do the answers in a post-disaster context differ from an everyday life context? How is the effectiveness of different security providers evaluated throughout the disaster management cycle? Which ones are the most effective? How does trust vary with respect to different actors of possible security constellations? Which ones are the most trusted?\nAn illustration of the human security analytical tool in action: a case study of the Ogre floods: In 2013, due to prolonged winter until mid-April followed by very sudden environmental changes, the spring arrived with major floods in Latvia, a country having a very rich river-system. Deep layers of ice caused unexpected and previously unseen water level rises, which turned into a major disaster for the inhabitants of Ogre - a local municipality with a population of less than 30 thousand people located some 40 km from Latvia's capital Riga. The most affected area was a peninsula in a distant part of Ogre, where during the peak from 15 to 19 April many dozens of households were flooded in a matter of minutes after a local dam built during the Soviet era was broken by massive pieces of ice moving down the river. As a result, 23 people were evacuated along with their pets, while the first case of death was registered just in the first days of disaster (Diena, 2013). The damages registered afterwards included 39 official damage compensation claims and 120 seriously damaged households, while the expenses reached up to 2 million Lat (~4 million USD) (Ogre Region Municipality, 2013).\nResults of survey: security as a socially constructed sense of reality: The Ogre case study has several specific characteristics distinguishing it from other efforts in the field of disaster studies. Facing the particular hazard proved that even a country labelled as one with \"a very high human development\" (UNDP, 2013) is not immune to the physical and social damages inflicted by a hazard nor can it completely alone deal with wide range of problems it poses. The government did not declare a state of emergency, which would result in the application of special measures and aid, even though people died and suffered serious financial losses, and, a month after the impact, financial aid from the municipality or government is not forthcoming. Also the following results of social survey serve as rather illustrative example of the possibilities arising from the use of human security analytical tool in disaster research domain comparing to other methodological approaches, while not claiming to be considered as a holistic and detailed analysis.\nConclusion: The illustrative case study of Ogre after floods of April 2013 allows drawing various conclusions both regarding the human security concept and its application for scientific disaster research in general and the specific conducted micro-regional analysis at large.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible benefits arising from the application of the human security concept to analysing the disaster impacts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A three-piece human security analytical tool is synthesized by combining the discoveries in human security studies over the last two decades with the perspective of disaster studies focusing on the resilience and securitabilities of the affected societies. To illustrate the merit of the proposed analytical framework a specifically tailored social survey is used to measure the resilience of Ogre's (Latvia) society after it faces major floods in 2013. It foresees that community's resilience is inversely proportional to the decreases along seven human security dimensions while directly proportional to the trust to different security providers.\nFindings: The illustrative case study proves a larger deterioration of security and a wider scope of \"socially affected\" victims than could be identified with the field observations or document analysis. It also proves that the people in crisis situations clearly trust to themselves, friends and family, while much less to the conventional security providers or the local municipality or government. While the security is to be perceived more multi-faceted than homogenous, the results prove that the environmental and food security concerns due to the hazard climbed the fear rankings replacing the usually feared health security.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides several counterarguments to the critics of Human Security concept by proving its comprehensive application to any society despite its level of development, while also offering a new analytical approach to measure the security and resilience of people facing a sudden dangerous external impact, such as a natural hazard.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Municipal bond insurance: identifying the best payment plan	[ "Advance refunding", "Bond insurance", "Insurance plan selection", "Insuring callable bonds", "Municipal bonds", "OAS analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Before the financial crisis of 2008, around 50 per cent of municipal issues by volume were insured. Several major companies competed for the business. Insured bonds were priced in the market as AAA or strong AA, depending on the credit of the insurer. Following the collapse of the large bond insurance companies' ratings (because of their exposure to mortgage-backed securities), the volume declined dramatically, reaching a low point of 3.4 per cent in 2013 (Bergstresser et al., 2015). At present, insurance for smaller issues is making a modest comeback; the first quarter of 2016 saw about 5.9 per cent of new issues insured (Weitzman, 2016). In a departure from previous experience, insured bonds presently trade in the range of A+ to AA-, rather than AA to AAA, credit. These days, the providers of insurance are referred to as financial guarantors.\nNet benefit of insurance: How can municipalities ensure that bond insurance makes economic sense? The answer is to pay close attention to the costs and benefits. In the case of a single upfront payment, the analysis is easy. If the coupon is fixed, say 5 per cent, and the entire insurance premium is paid at the beginning, the increase in proceeds should exceed the cost of insurance:\nAn example: Table I below displays the results of the analysis[1] of the alternative insurance plans for a US$10m 30-year 5 per cent NC-10 bond, eligible for advance refunding. The uninsured yield (to worst) is 3.45 per cent, which converts to a price of 113.015, resulting in proceeds of US$11,301,500. With insurance, the yield to worst would decline to 3.00 per cent, or a price of 117.169, and proceeds of US$11,716,900, exceeding the uninsured proceeds by US$415,400.\nRelated observations: Advance refunding\nSummary: The 2008 financial crisis resulted in the demise of the major bond insurance companies. In recent years, insurance of municipal bonds has been making a modest comeback.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The volume of municipal bond insurance declined dramatically following the financial crisis of 2008. Insurance now is making a gradual comeback. Two related considerations complicate identification of the best insurance plan. One is the current practice in the municipal market of issuing callable bonds with an above-market coupon; such bonds are very likely to be refunded. The other is that the cost of insurance may depend on when the bonds are refunded. This paper shows how contemporary fixed income analytics can be applied to identifying the best payment plan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: When the structure of the bond issue is fixed, the benefit from insurance is simply in the increase in proceeds from the better pricing. The debt service is adjusted to incorporate the cashflows associated with insurance. The optimum time of refunding depends on the adjusted cashflows. The effective insurance cost is the difference between the present value of the debt service with and without the adjustment for insurance payments.\nFindings: The timing of refunding is a critical determinant of which premium payment plan is the best deal. For a given bond structure, the likelihood of refunding favors plans that are contingent on that event.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes an analytically rigorous approach to identifying the most cost-effective bond insurance plan. The findings are relevant to participants in municipal finance, including issuers and their advisors, underwriters and bond insurance companies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competing priorities: lessons in engaging students to achieve energy savings in universities	[ "Students", "Feedback", "Energy conservation", "Competitions", "Behaviour change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is more evident than ever that our world is unsustainable. In Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth reminds us that modern life is energy intensive, resource-inefficient and unequal in its distribution of wealth (Raworth, 2017). One important area of focus is energy consumption in non-domestic and commercial buildings. These account for over 30 per cent of global energy use and 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, and universities are a significant contributor to this (Andrews and Johnson, 2016; Stern et al., 2016). In the UK for example, higher education institutions (HEIs) consumed 7.9 billion kWh of energy and produced 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions (HESA, 2014). Much work is undertaken around sustainability in universities, ranging from carbon management plans, to greening campuses and innovative travel plans. Of increasing importance and profile, in the UK, for example, the environmental performance of universities is ranked through the People and Planet's \"Green League\" that covers such aspects as ethical investment, energy sources, waste and recycling and carbon reduction (https://peopleandplanet.org/university-league). This league is publicly available and open to scrutiny.\nLiterature review: A range of literature studies exists on behaviour change interventions aimed at encouraging university students to save energy when living in dormitories and on the relative impact of different types of interventions (Bekker et al., 2010; Erlene Parece et al., 2012; Karp et al., 2016; Konis et al., 2016; Sintov et al., 2016). Such studies have often focussed on interventions in one geographic location (typically a number of dormitories/flats in one university) or over a relatively short timescale (a week/month). There have been several studies focusing on universities and in particular dormitories, which have consistently shown relatively high savings. From the classic study in Oberlin in 2007 (Peterson et al., 2007), which saw 30 per cent savings, to more recent campaigns in British Columbia (Senbel et al., 2014) - 16 per cent savings, London (Alberts et al., 2016) - 20 per cent savings and a more modest 6.4 per cent saving in California (Sintov et al., 2016), healthy savings are possible; yet, the majority of these studies focus on single universities, and were conducted over a relatively short period of time.\nMethodology: As stated in the introduction, the contribution of this paper is the scale of data gathered to be able to generate findings with regards to the effectiveness of these types of interventions. An ambitious and large-scale mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate the level of electricity saved and the impact on behaviour. This took the form of three extensive surveys, electricity meter readings and focus groups. This section outlines the participants, and the mixed-method approach to data analysis undertaken, namely, surveys, quantitative analysis of electricity meter readings and focus groups.\nResults: Sample characteristics\nConclusion: This Europe-wide project has shed further light on the role and potential of student-led campaigns, underpinned by practical action, and competitions with neighbouring dormitories, to achieve sustained energy reductions. The literature presents a mixed picture of the scale and impact of savings from student-focused energy-saving engagement activities, notably because most studies are small-scale and short-term. This research provides further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions that individuals have control over. It is tempting to overcomplicate the interventions and overlook the benefits of energy efficiency interventions like those outlined here which can be sustained. Our research leads us to have more faith in these initiatives if, and it is an important if, they are appropriately supported and resourced, thereby moving beyond \"mere feedback\" to \"enablement\". This aligns with the findings of Wisecup et al. (2017) who note the importance of an \"active intervention strategy\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of short-term projects and energy saving competitions encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university dormitories, but the purpose of this research is to provide evidence of consistent and sustained energy savings from student-led energy savings competitions, underpinned by practical action.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach (pre- and post-intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was used to determine the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered by students across participating university dormitories.\nFindings: This research has provided further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions. Whilst other interventions have shown greater savings, this project provided consistent savings over two years of 7 per cent across a large number of university dormitories in five countries through simple behaviour changes.\nResearch limitations/implications: An energy dashboard displaying near a real-time leaderboard was added to the engagement in the second year of the project. Whilst students were optimistic about the role that energy dashboards could play, the evidence is not here to quantify the impact of dashboards. Further research is required to understand the potential of dashboards to contribute to behavioural change savings and in constructing competitions between people and dormitories that are known to each other.\nSocial implications: SAVES provided engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy - focusing specifically on the last stage of the \"Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action\" framework. Automated meter reading data was used in the majority of participating dormitories to run near real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informed students how much energy they saved compared to a target, and encouraged peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme.\nOriginality/value: Findings from energy saving competitions in universities are typically from small-scale and short-term interventions. SAVES was an energy-saving competition in university dormitories facilitated by the UK National Union of Students in five countries reaching over 50,000 students over two academic years (incorporating dormitories at 17 universities). As such it provides clear and important evidence of the real-world long-term potential efficiency savings of such interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lifecycle profit analysis of prefabricated multi-active facades	[ "Sustainability", "Lifecycle profit analysis", "Prefabrication", "Energy-efficient retrofitting", "Multi-active façades" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In order to cope with increasing socio-political goals to limit environmental impacts, significant efforts must be made to increase energy efficiency in existing buildings. In Sweden, approximately 1m multifamily apartment buildings were constructed between 1965 and 1975. Nowadays, most of these buildings suffer from technological obsolescence and excessive wear and tear and are, therefore, in need of renovation. Options for renovation that are consistent with the need to increase energy efficiency must therefore be found.\nEnergy-efficient retrofitting: IEA (2011) identified cost effectiveness as one barrier for reducing energy usage in buildings; mainly because of high costs for initial investment, which make energy saving measures often unprofitable. This argument is supported by Nieboer (2017), who concluded that most non-profit housing associations in the Netherlands chose to combine energy saving measures and preventive maintenance, as well as implementing energy saving measures in small steps, in order to avoid the high investment costs. Nieboer (2017) also argued that those two approaches are not suitable for any large-scale renovations. In order to study the effects of large-scale renovations, a technical procurement exercise was carried out between 2011 and 2014 to identify appropriate options for renovation that could reduce energy use and lower energy cost. Eight facade systems were identified (Mjornell and Blomsterberg, 2014). One of the systems includes supply ducts, which avoid the need to install ducts in the apartments. Three of the systems are market-ready, prefabricated facade concepts, none of which includes an integrated ventilation system (where ventilation is integrated within the facade elements) with heat recovery (where a part of generated heat are recovered within the heating system, this can be done in a variety of ways depending on the system at hand). Even with these systems, the investments for an energy-efficient retrofitting are not sufficiently cost effective for most real estate owners.\nMethod: LCC or LCP analysis is used to evaluate the economic performance of a building throughout its lifecycle, including acquisition, development, operation, management, repair, disposal and decommissioning. It allows comparisons of cost among different investment scenarios, designs and specifications (Davis Langdon, 2007). Nevertheless, the use of LCC or LCP analysis is still limited. Different sources of information are required and thus the analysis process may be viewed as complicated and time-consuming. An LCP analysis was selected to assess the financial aspects of the multi-active facade concepts. A benefit of LCP analysis is that it provides easy-to-compare results, so that several concepts can be considered with the whole lifespan of the renovation taken into account. However, this is also one of the pitfalls. Rosqvist (2001) stated that a problem is to compare investment options with respect to the uncertainties involved in a consistent and transparent way. Thus it is necessary to conduct sensitivity analyses where these uncertainties are assessed. The LCP analysis consisted of ten steps - see Figure 2.\nResults: Step 1 - identify the purpose\nDiscussion: Energy savings play a major role in reaching a financially viable solution. This means that the result from the LCP analysis is sensitive to energy price changes. In other words, if the energy prices increase more than they have the last few years a multi-active facade renovation seems like a viable alternative; however, if the energy price stabilises or drops, a renovation might not lead to the expected returns. This finding suggests that the assessment of energy savings is significant in determining the result of the LCP analysis, which means that a positive assessment of the energy savings will show that a lot of renovations concepts are viable, while a negative assessment will show the opposite. On a similar note, a well-designed PV system might lead to significant energy savings; however, the results show that PV systems are not profitable. Note that in this study government grants were ignored since grants are not always available or guaranteed.\nConclusions: In this paper, the results of LCP analysis from a study of multi-active facades have been reported. The results show that in one of the buildings a prefabricated facade concept consisting of insulation and ventilation ducts could be financially viable. If energy prices start to increase, adding a photovoltaic system for energy production to the facades could also be viable; however, for the other building no concept was viable, unless energy prices increased.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify appropriate concepts of multi-active facades for the renovation of multifamily buildings in Sweden and to determine which, if any, are financially viable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A lifecycle profit (LCP) analysis was used to examine financial viability through a ten-step process, which included identifying concepts, assessing costs and prices, calculating the LCP and performing sensitivity analysis. Two existing buildings - one low rise and the other high rise - were used as reference models.\nFindings: The findings were contradictory. Implementing any of the multi-active facade concepts on the high-rise building would be financially beneficial. The opposite was, however, the case for the low-rise building. Two factors causing this contradiction have been identified: the facade material before renovation and the size of the building.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to two case buildings situated in Sweden; however, similar buildings represent a significant amount of the existing building stock. Part of the purpose of the study is also to investigate the merits of LCP analysis to evaluate energy-efficient retrofitting. The study implicates the benefits and pitfalls of LCP analysis needed to be considered by researchers and practitioners alike.\nOriginality/value: The research findings contribute to the understanding of energy-efficient retrofitting of existing multifamily buildings based on prefabricated multi-active facade concepts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consideration of social values in the establishment of accountable care organizations in the USA	[ "United States of America", "Health care", "Social values", "Accountable care organisations", "Medicare", "Cost‐effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: In 2010 the US spent approximately $2.6 trillion on healthcare, which translates into $8,400 per capita (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2011) - about twice the amount spent per capita on healthcare in the UK. The rate of growth in US healthcare spending has slowed in the last few years, but continues to grow faster than national income, and in 2010 accounted for 17.9 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2011), several percentage points higher than its European counterparts. Whilst healthcare financing in the US has been built around private (mainly employer-sponsored) health insurance, in 2010 only 34 percent of the $2.2 trillion in personal healthcare expenditures was paid for by private insurance. A much larger proportion (44 percent) was paid for by government-sponsored health insurance (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2011), mainly Medicare, which covers the elderly and people with disabilities, and Medicaid, which provides coverage to low-income families and children. The marked growth in healthcare costs has had a profound effect on the finances of both the public and private sector, significantly straining federal and state government budgets, and forcing private corporations to curtail employer sponsored health insurance benefits in order to remain profitable (State Health Access Data Assistance Center, 2011).The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (Public Law 111-148, 2010) was introduced to expand access to high quality healthcare and provide healthcare delivery and financing reform to address spiraling healthcare costs in the US. One key feature of the PPACA is the establishment of accountable care organizations (ACOs) as a means of improving the quality and reducing the cost of healthcare for Medicare enrolees, as well as children insured through Medicaid. ACOs are collaborations of physicians, hospitals, and other providers that agree to coordinate care for a defined population of patients and receive shared savings bonuses if they are able to achieve specific quality targets and demonstrate reductions in overall healthcare spending (Fisher et al., 2009). They can take on a variety of provider configurations and payer participants but all include payment incentives in the form of shared savings within a fee-for-service model and/or varying degrees of capitation arrangements with quality bonuses (Shortell et al., 2010; McClellan et al., 2010).Much has been written about the financial, legal, and technical challenges of establishing ACOs (Congressional Research Service, 2010; Commonwealth Fund, 2011; Berwick, 2011) but there has been little discussion about the raft of ethical issues raised when considering a transition from a one patient/one provider fee-for-service payment model to one in which a group of providers share accountability for the quality and cost of care for a panel of patients, with the opportunity for financial gain if healthcare savings are achieved. This transition will require ACOs to make decisions about healthcare priorities, and therefore to consider the social values of the populations that they serve. In February 2011, a multi-national group of clinicians, ethicists, and health policy experts participated in a National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) sponsored workshop to develop a framework for thinking about social values and priority setting in health. We use that framework (Clark and Weale, 2011) to outline the social values that must be considered in the establishment and operation of ACOs, and how those values may in fact become distinguishing features in the future marketplace of American healthcare.Social values can be divided into process and content values. Process values concern the rules that guide a decision making process, while content values deal with considerations taken into account in making the decisions. We discuss several of these values that will be relevant to priority setting in ACOs.\nProcess values: Transparency\nContent values: Clinical effectiveness\nConclusion: ACOs face significant financial, legal, and technical hurdles to widespread adoption, but early demonstration projects (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2010) suggest that their successful implementation holds great promise for reducing cost and improving the quality of care. Their acceptance by payers, providers and the public is likely to be enhanced if ACOs are explicit about the process (what values they uphold in how they make decisions) and content (what values they consider in making decisions) of their social values. Indeed, one can imagine a future in which patients and payers actively consider an ACO's stated (and evident) values in deciding whether to seek care at or contract with an ACO, and ACOs, in turn, advertise their social values, in addition to information about their success meeting quality and cost targets, to compete for those patients and payer contracts in the healthcare marketplace, in effect creating a market place for social values. If that happens, the formation of ACO's, which were originally conceived to address issues of quality and cost, could trigger broader discussions about the appropriate utilization and distribution of our healthcare resources, issues that in many ways lie at the heart of the US healthcare dilemma.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the new US health organizations called accountable care organizations (ACOs) which are expected to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare for Medicare enrolees. It assesses the importance of ACOs, defining and articulating the values that will underpin their strategic and clinical decision making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses a social values framework developed by Clark and Weale to consider the values relevant to ACOs.\nFindings: - It is likely that social values could be made more explicit in a US setting than they have ever been before, via the new ACOs. Social values could start to form part of a local health economy's marketing strategy.\nOriginality/value: - ACOs are very new. This paper identifies that they will need to be very explicit about the values relevant to them. The development of ACOs and the articulation of social values therein may even form the basis of a meaningful dialogue on the importance of assessing value for money or cost-effectiveness in the wider US health policy environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employee engagement - a new paradigm	[ "Employee engagement", "Employees accountability", "Management accountability", "Problem solving", "Attitudes", "Leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: If you want people to be engaged and motivated by what your organization is setting out to achieve, they first need to be engaged in their own life.\nVision and integrity: Vision in business is needed for the way forward to be found. For this to occur, business leaders first need to be allowed to upgrade their own emotional and leadership technology. This is the first step in applying the Millar Method in an organization.Integrity is an often-stated value of many organizations. But the reality in these businesses is very different. Integrity cannot be manufactured. You cannot pretend to have integrity.The papers have been full of stories where trust has been broken and people have been found to be totally out of integrity (politicians, bankers, media, the police, not to mention a host of celebrities). If your state of being is not matched by your state of doing you recklessly court disaster. This statement is true as evidenced by the newspapers pretty much every day. Where we are not aligned with our values we create trouble. We get found out. In my opinion, what has been lacking, and is lacking in most employee programs, is any form of accountability. Without accountability, nothing can change. Accountability therefore is the first step in integrity.But to do this requires a commitment to change. This is not about attending an old-style management-training program; this is about evolving as human beings. It is a journey of personal growth as this is the only way we can change. This is how we become authentic and live our lives from our hearts. It is how we start to align our behavior with our values in a consistent and natural way.\nAccountability and meaning: Stephen Hawking said: \"The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order.\"Being accountable means accepting that we play a part in everything that has ever happened to us and in everything that is happening to us. This principle is one of the most challenging aspects of life, and also one of the most empowering. To realize that we have a part to play in our world is to know that we have the power to change our world and solve our problems.If we take the position that we are not accountable for our lives, we leave ourselves powerless and must see ourselves as in some way victims of events in our lives.It is this dissociation, or lack of responsiveness to what is occurring around us, that leads us to believe we are living in a world ruled by chance or fate. If we believe that, we believe there are things that occur around us that happen randomly and therefore have no meaning. If we live in a world where events have no meaning for us, we have to be frightened.The principle of accountability invites us to look for meaning in everything that occurs in our lives. It invites us to become responsive and therefore responsible for all that occurs around us. This choice to re-engage with our lives starts us on a path to learning and gives us a powerful tool to solve our problems. To accept our accountability is really the only way we can be effective. Changing ourselves is a great deal more achievable than changing others.If we subscribe to the view that the world is our mirror, we can choose to look at events with new eyes and we can start to see they have meaning for us.\"Where am I out of integrity?\" is a question you might like to ask yourself. And there will be somewhere - with your customers, staff, suppliers, shareholders - where you are not totally clean. You should not beat yourself up about it, but make the correction.\nAccountability and problem solving: As children, many of us grew up in an environment of blame, sacrifice and lack of responsibility. As adults, the extent to which we do not accept our accountability is the extent to which we stay victims of our circumstances.In order for us to become effective in solving our problems, we need to accept responsibility for our world, learn about ourselves from what happens in it and change ourselves. We cannot change other people, as most of us have learned to our cost.The principle of accountability needs to be embraced by business if it is to get out of the mire that it is caught in now. We have forgotten the universal truth and principles of accountability and integrity to our cost. As both sides, employer and employee, embrace their accountability, the engagement on both sides can improve for the better.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to argue that the relationship between employer and employee needs to change from independent/dependent to interdependent.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper puts forward the view that most management training does not work because it does not change behavior. The paper offers a model of training to help people and organizations to evolve.\nFindings: - The paper describes what is missing in the employee contract - accountability on both sides. It explains what accountability means, why it is critical and how to start creating this in your organization.\nPractical implications: - The paper argues that, if you want to have a successful employee-engagement program, you have to start with employees who are engaged in their own life. Helping to grow people's self-awareness and personal accountability is a good place to start. In this model of development, self-awareness is defined as having a strong sense of yourself and the part you play in your world. It is the ability to respond in a positive and effective way to your environment. But the organization also has to step up and ensure all its behavior and actions are aligned with its stated values.\nSocial implications: - The paper contends that empowering people with these tools allows them to make more sense of their world, make better choices and to start living their best life. Business has the resources and organization to effect more than just economic growth.\nOriginality/value: - The paper advances the view that, with big questions being raised about the integrity of our most fundamental institutions, it is imperative that people's behavior be aligned with the values the organization espouses. If our state of being is not matched by our state of doing we court disaster.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What does a start-up need to grow? An empirical approach for Italian innovative start-ups	[ "Start-ups", "Clusters", "Entrepreneurship", "Firm growth", "M13", "L26", "R11" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase of studies concerning the competitiveness of start-up firms (Hechavarria et al., 2016; Huang et al., 2012), but there are still few works about the determination of the elements that enable the growth of start-ups (Davila et al., 2003; Mallon et al., 2017). Recently, significant attention has been paid to the role of internal investment as an element that could favour the growth of this kind of firms (McKelvie et al., 2017; Stam and Wennberg, 2009). When debating the role of internal investments for firm growth, the importance of research and development (R&D) is one of the most interesting factors. In fact, much of the innovation literature relies on R&D investment to measure the innovative activities of firms (Rosenbusch et al., 2011), considering it to be a determinant of firm growth. This is particularly the case when talking about new ventures (Audretsch et al., 2014). However, all of these works focus their attention on the internal allocation of the resources without an integrated view on the role of the competitive environment where the new-born firm is situated that could influence its growth. The existing literature on externalities and entrepreneurship does not adequately investigate the role played by industrial variety and specialisation in the growth of new ventures (Colombelli, 2016; Guo et al., 2016; Pe'er and Keil, 2013). In addition, the empirical literature lacks any consideration of the role of internal and external features that favour the growth of start-ups (Pe'er et al., 2016). However, it is of crucial importance not to consider start-ups in isolation but in the context where their economic life takes place.\nTheoretical background: Start-ups and innovation studies\nResearch design: Unit of analysis and data sources\nEstimation results: The econometric analysis is performed using an OLS with cluster robust standard errors to compute the multiple linear regressions and following a stepwise procedure.\nDiscussion: This work tested four research hypotheses, the first one was connected to the role of internal investment in R&D and the growth of the start-up. The results achieved in this research reveal the importance of internal R&D investments, despite the missing evidence of the importance of R&D investments in the area that does not allow us to confirm the second hypothesis. In this case, it is important to underline the limitations of the data used to measure the investments in the area in R&D. Those data were available at aggregate level not showing the accessibility of the analysed start-ups to those investments, nor to the area of technological investments, that could be more or less near to the firm's field of work. These results are in line with a large body of literature sustaining the importance of internal investments in innovative activities for young firms (Falk, 2012; McKelvie et al., 2017).\nConclusions: The aim of the present work is to capture the growth dynamics of start-up firms in the first period of their life. The objective of the paper is twofold: first, to understand the importance of internal investment in R&D showing how a higher level of this kind of investment encourages the growth of firms, enhancing their innovative capacity and the implementation of the innovation needed to compete at national and international level. In addition, the aim is to capture the importance of externalities for the growth of innovative start-ups, given the present socio-economic context in which international competition is still linked to localisation advantages and the resulting ability to develop innovation processes. This paper shows which characteristics of the area are better suited to sustain the early stage of the development of the firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to capture the role of internal and external characteristics in favouring the growth of innovative start-ups at an early stage of their life.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical approach of this paper is based on an econometric analysis applied to all Italian innovative start-ups with four and five years of life. Growth is analysed after four and five years from the constitution, depending on internal investments in research and development (R&D), in tangible assets and on characteristics external to the firm (110 Italian provinces) related to industrial variety, specialisation, public investments in R&D, etc.\nFindings: The results achieved in this study reveal the importance of internal R&D investment even though there is missing evidence on the relevance of general and government specific R&D investment in the area. Other interesting results concern the importance of the firm's involvement in the technological specialisation of the area and the need for general variety in technological diversification in the area to favour the growth of start-ups.\nPractical implications: The results imply that entrepreneurs should evaluate carefully their strategic choices in terms of the location of the start-up and the investment in R&D as these could be important factors for the firm's growth.\nOriginality/value: This paper is an original attempt to measure the importance of both internal and external characteristics for the growth of start-ups. Moreover, the analysis covers the overall population of a new interesting category of firm, the innovative start-up.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using multiple methods to identify theme lines for media marketing campaigns to promote Medicare information sources	[ "Information media", "Sales campaigns", "Consumer research", "Health services", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.In 1998, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated the National Medicare Education Program (NMEP) to educate beneficiaries regarding Medicare program benefits and options, which now include health insurance plan and prescription drug plan options, and to promote awareness of Medicare as an information source to support beneficiary health care decision making (Goldstein et al., 2001). The NMEP promotes three primary information channels as official sources of Medicare information - the Medicare & You handbook, the 1-800-MEDICARE phone hotline, and the www.medicare.gov web site. CMS conducts ongoing assessment of the NMEP using a variety of consumer research methods.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Focus group discussions\nDiscussion: Main findings\nConclusions: In conclusion, this research identified two highly preferred theme lines, and five information audience groups with different patterns of theme line preferences and demographic characteristics, to inform the use of theme lines for media campaigns to promote Medicare information sources. A major practical implication of this research is the demonstration of the feasibility and efficiency of the collection and analysis of Q-sort data to identify theme lines and information audience groups, and the feasibility of using a major software package to conduct this sort of analysis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to use multiple consumer research methods to examine perceptions of theme lines for media campaigns to promote awareness of Medicare information sources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Participants were senior Medicare beneficiaries, their informal family caregivers, and coming-of-agers who will shortly be eligible for Medicare. To permit comparisons among methods, both qualitative focus groups data and quantitative Q-sort data were collected, and the Q-sort data were analyzed using both a tailored software package and a major software package.\nFindings: - The two most preferred lines were \"answers to your health care questions\" and \"helping you help yourself\". Relative preference for those two lines varied across five identified information audience groups with different age and income profiles.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future investigations to identify theme lines for various communication information audiences within this population should also examine disabled non-senior Medicare beneficiaries, that is, those eligible due to disability rather than age. More broadly, future research should explore the use of Q-sort data to conduct similar analyses with other populations and for other sorts of marketing communication campaigns.\nPractical implications: - The major practical implication is the demonstration of the collection and analysis of Q-sort data, using a major software package, to identify theme lines to target different information audiences for advertising and marketing communication campaigns.\nOriginality/value: - This study demonstrated the feasibility and efficiency of using Q-sort methodology to identify theme lines and of analyzing the data using a major software package.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of heavyweight product manager in new product development	[ "Managers", "Product specification", "Project management", "New products", "Automotive industry", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: New product development (NPD) activities require concurrent involvement of cross-functional teams in and across various stages of the project (Koufteros and Marcoulides, 2006; Clark and Fujimoto, 1991). These studies and others have hypothesized the importance of cross-functional teams for superior project outcomes. However, ensuring work integration and maintaining coherent decisions across the project in such a cross-functional environment is a daunting task as cross-functional team members usually have competing social identities and loyalties (Holland et al., 2000; Webber, 2001). Each function (production, R&D, marketing, engineering, etc.) operates in a fragmented and separated manner and tends to identify strongly with its own function. Barriers of communication exist and, complex problems are not resolved in a timely and consistent manner across the project stages (Ashforth and Mael, 1989). A cross-functional NPD team tends to deny the existence of its own trade-off decisions compared to others (Hong et al., 2004) which can lead to frequent conflicts and incoherent decisions among the team members. This can adversely impact the overall NPD performance objectives in terms of cost, quality, and development time (Herrmann and Schmidt, 2002). What brings such diverse team members together to coordinate, integrate and execute project tasks is an influential project leader, such as a heavyweight product manager (HW), who can set clearly identified objectives, goals, directions, and engender synergy for the cross-functional team.Research in organizational behavior has recognized the importance of different types of leadership in a general management context such as charismatic leadership (House, 1977), supervisory leadership (House and Aditya, 1997), upper echelon theory (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), transformational leadership (Bass, 1985), visionary leadership (Bennis and Nanus, 1985), etc. These and several other studies support the importance of leaders to build team synergy, reduce conflict and enhance team and organizational performance (Yukl, 1998). In an NPD project, the impact of cross-functional teams on the NPD process is strongly influenced by their leaders (Jassawalla and Sashittal, 2000). Leaders in NPD projects can play important roles in managing, guiding, and motivating diverse team members toward the common goals and objectives of the project. However, empirical research that examines the relationship between cross-functional team leadership, especially the HW, and NPD performance has been surprisingly limited (Gerwin and Barrowman, 2002; Gemmill and Wilemon, 1994; Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995). The current study aims to bridge the existing research gap by empirically studying the HW's role in the cross-functional team.A heavyweight manager is a senior executive with substantial expertise and formal and informal influence in a product development project (Schilling and Hill, 1998). Clark and Fujimoto (1990) found that the key to product integrity is leadership from heavyweight managers who are generally the chief engineers and thus are technical experts. According to the authors, such managers focus on devising processes to create powerful product concepts, and making sure that the concepts are translated into design and manufacturing process details. Benefits of HWs include product innovation (Koufteros and Marcoulides, 2006); internal coordination, product planning, and concept development (Zhang and Doll, 2001) and reduced ambiguity and uncertainty (Koufteros et al., 2005). However, these existing studies have collectively failed to address how exactly a HW can promote internal coordination and integration of a cross-functional team.Existing literature on the HW has highlighted the importance of the formal influence (Wheelwright and Clark, 1992; Schilling and Hill, 1998) and also informal influence (Wheelwright and Clark, 1992; Koufteros et al., 2002) of such managers on the project and team. Based on general goal-setting theory, the objective of the current study is to empirically investigate the formal and informal influence of the HW on the cross-functional product development team. The aim is that this study can enhance the understanding of researchers and practitioners in the area of NPD on the information processing, goal setting and monitoring mechanisms of the HW and the cross-functional team.\nTheory development: According to goal-setting theory, goals affect performance through four mechanisms (Locke and Latham, 2002). First, goals act as a directive function for the team to direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant activities. Second, goals have an energizing function for the team. Third, goals affect persistence. Fourth, goals affect action indirectly by leading to the arousal, discovery, and/or use of task-relevant knowledge and strategies. Extending this goal-setting theory to Chrislip's (2002) work on the roles of leaders for constituency building and defining targets and systems, the role of a HW becomes apparent. Any team leader should align the team activity with clear goals, and toward common objectives, from the early stage of an NPD project.According to Jassawalla and Sashittal (2000), product strategy, goals, project milestones, a powerful project leader and a cross-functional team are critical elements of product development which are influenced by organizational, project, and team level factors in the early stages, also referred to as the front-end stage. Given the importance of the front-end stage in a project (Khurana and Rosenthal, 1998) and the importance of deploying a cross-functional team from the early stage of the project (Bhuiyan et al., 2006), it is reasonable to assume that the role and influence of the HW in such cross-functional team for integration and coordination should commence from the early planning stage of the project. Leaders in NPD must not only formulate blueprints, strategies, and plans for innovation but they should also communicate these strategies and plans to all involved employees (Martensen and Dahlgaard, 1999).Project leaders that set early strategic, conceptual, and objective decision criteria for the cross-functional team can ensure coherent and congruent decisions in all the downstream activities of a project, which can then enhance project performance (PP). In the current research, we investigate the role of the HW in cross-functional teams for strategic alignment (SA), shared project mission, and clarity of project targets (CPT) that may impact project cost, quality, and time performance. We provide the literature review on key constructs of our study in the following section. The summary of key constructs in this study, definitions, and the relevant literature is presented in the Table I.The first column of Table I identifies the key variables for our current study; the second column provides the definition of each of these variables; and finally, the third column provides the supporting literature relevant to each of these variables.Heavyweight product manager\nResearch method: The conceptual model proposed in Figure 1 shown the basis for the empirical research for this study. An extensive literature review and case studies (Hong, 2000; Syamil, 2000) in NPD as well as structured interviews with product development professionals (managers and team-members) and academicians helped define the construct domains and facilitated item generation. Next, three practitioners and three academicians evaluated the items in a formal pre-test. All the practitioners had significant experience in NPD projects in the automobile industry. The academician community included faculty members from the business and the engineering colleges of two universities whose teaching and research interests were in product development and project management. Five items were finalized to measure the HW, three for SA, four for shared project mission (TM), three for CPT, four for CS, four items for PDT, and five items to measure PC. Items generated for each of the constructs for this study are presented in the Appendix.The items for the HW were constructed to measure both the formal (for example, control over budget) and informal (technical expertise) influence on the team and broader organization context (Koufteros et al., 2002). Items for SA were designed to measure whether or not the strategic fit of the NPD project with the business guided the project. Items for shared project mission and CPT were selected to measure whether the two constructs were specified, communicated, and if the team had understanding of these constructs (Hong et al., 2004).PP is measured by three factors - PDT, PC, and CS. Items for PDT provided aggregate measures of the \"time\" factor of the project in terms of development time and market introduction time (Syamil, 2000). Similarly, items for CS reflected measures of customer and market satisfaction derived from the new product introduced (Hong, 2000). Finally, items for PC measured the total cost associated with the NPD project to develop and manufacture new products (Syamil, 2000; Hong, 2000). A five-point Likert scale was used where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. A pilot study on a small sample size examined whether any of the items needed to be modified before investing time and resources in the large-scale study.The respondents were asked to answer the questions based upon their perceptions of a recently completed project regardless of the project's success. The responses are based on the respondent's actual experience on a completed project where they can judge PP or the antecedent variables in the context of the project experience or the competitive market place consequences (i.e. competition).Perceptions of success in PDT are based on the project's completion time in comparison to initial targets. Perceptions of the success in improving PC would be evaluated compared to initial target costs and competitor's costs. The cross-functional team normally has information on repeat customer sales to form perceptions of customer loyalty. Initial CS survey scores such as J.D. Power initial CS rating for cars are typically made known among the development team members very quickly.Data collection and pilot study\nResults: After a satisfactory indication of factorial validity and reliability of our instruments in the pilot study, a large-scale survey was administered. Out of 3,000 (3,200-200 for pilot study) questionnaires mailed, a total of 220 responses were obtained from two waves of mail conducted two weeks apart. Of the 220 responses received, 191 were usable resulting in a response rate of 6.3 percent. Such A response rate is relatively low and yet not unusual among busy product development professionals (Hong et al., 2004; Koufteros et al., 2005).Of the total responses received, 28 percent of the respondents worked for companies with up to 499 employees, 8 percent worked for companies with between 500 and 999 employees, 24 percent worked for companies with between 1,000 and 4,999 employees, 12 percent worked for companies with between 5,000 and 9,999 employees and 27 percent worked for companies with over 10,000 employees. These respondents represented manufacturing firms that developed and produced diverse product categories for the automobile industry. In addition, about 67 percent represented supplier companies out of which 78 percent belonged to first-tier suppliers.Of the total 191 usable responses, 69 responses were collected after the second wave of the survey. To evaluate early vs late respondent bias of the sample, a kh2-test of differences between observed and expected (population) frequencies for company size measured by the number of full-time employees (1-499, 500-999, 1,000-4,999, 5,000-9,999 and more than 10,000) was analyzed. The kh2-test showed that the distribution of our sample fits very well with the distribution of the population (calculated kh2 of 6.451 < critical kh2 of 9.48). Additionally, t-tests were conducted on each of the constructs based upon the early vs late respondents. At the a=0.05 level, we did not find any statistical difference between the early and late respondents.Item purification and exploratory factor analysis\nDiscussion: Despite the importance of the cross-functional team and the HW stressed in the past literatures, empirical studies in the area are few. A clear understanding of the cross-functional team in relation to project purpose and target in the initial planning stage can help project managers in the team building process. As the product development team builds and develops a common shared understanding of project team purpose and project targets in the early front-end stage, the team building processes for subsequent product development work activities can become more effective.However, there are several limitations of the current study. Our data analysis was based on the samples collected from the US automotive industry. The automotive industry was chosen because most of the past literature on the HW relate to the existence of such managers in NPD in the automobile industry. Future studies can study the project leader's role in terms of SA, shared team mission, and CPT in other industries. Another shortcoming of this research can be viewed from the context of common method bias as data collected on the dependent and independent variables used the same respondents. The performance measurements used in this study measured the final outcome of NPD or in other words, product outcome. Another meaningful way to extend the present research is to measure PP outcomes in terms of team outcomes (for example, team productivity, team work, collaboration, etc.). Future studies may also examine the effectiveness of various leadership styles, such as transactional leadership, transformational leadership, etc. in NPD projects.Theoretical and practical contributions\nConclusion: Our findings support the views of other scholars that a HW can have a positive impact on the PP of cross-functional teams. The results suggest that a cross-functional team needs a project manager with enough formal and informal influence to effectively lead the team effort. The finding suggests that greater influence of the heavyweight manager is associated with better SA, a greater sense of shared team mission or purpose, and clearer project targets.This suggests that some leadership influence may be necessary in many organizations to facilitate the process of cross-functional team members with different perspectives and functional objectives coming together in the early project stage to develop a shared sense of the overall team's mission and goals. However, the heavyweight manager's influence is indirect (through the mediating variables of SA, shared mission, and CPT) rather than via a direct exercise of autocratic authority. Heavyweight managers help to enable the team building and collaborative processes that are necessary for successful PP.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to empirically investigate how a heavyweight product manager (HW) can impact the cross-functional team and project performance (PP) through actively influencing the ways and the extent of strategic alignment (SA), shared project mission, and clarity of project targets in the early front-end stage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on past studies on leadership role theory and goal-setting theory for teams, this study hypothesizes that the role of the HW for SA of the project, shared project mission, and clarity of the project target are positively related. The study further hypothesizes that these roles of the HW can have a positive impact on PP measures such as product cost, time, and customer satisfaction.\nFindings: - Primary data collected from 191 new product development (NPD) projects from the US automotive industry were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. All the hypotheses presented in this study regarding the role of the HW in a cross-functional team are supported. These roles of the HW also seem to indicate a positive relationship with overall PP.\nPractical implications: - Rather than blindly subscribing to generic and prescriptive \"best practices\" for the HW, the causal relationship detailed in this study makes it now possible to rationalize the role of HW in cross-functional product development teams. Through formal and informal influence of the HW, the project and the team gain SA, shared mission, and clear project targets that can drive better PP.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to focus specifically on the role of HW in NPD in a cross-functional team environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When renewing medical equipment is necessary: a case report	[ "Medical equipment", "Equipment safety", "Iran" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Health care is not as safe as it should be. A substantial body of evidence points to medical errors as a leading cause of death and injury among hospitalized patients (Rosner et al., 2000). Sizable numbers of patients are harmed as a result of medical errors. Preventable adverse events among hospitalized patients were reported to be between 3 and 16 percent (Baker et al., 2004). Deaths in hospitals, owing to preventable adverse events, may exceed the number attributable, even using lower estimates. Preventable hospital medical error deaths exceed those attributable to motor-vehicle wrecks, breast cancer and AIDS (Kohn et al., 2000). Iatrogenic complications induced by medical equipment malfunctions are a serious problem. Consequently, medical equipment should be maintained at a higher safety level than other types of equipment for the following reasons:* they may be used on patients who are not able to respond to hazardous conditions or pain;* actual electrical connection may exist between equipment and patient; and* certain types of medical equipment function as life support and their failure could result in the patient's death.The rate of medical equipment induced complications may be lowered by evaluating apparatus using standards such as IEC 60601-1 during the design process and production (Eisner et al., 2004). The IEC60601-1 standard covers all general requirements for all electrical medical-based products. Equipment surveillance is also important in order to reduce unpredicted malfunctions; maintenance and repair is another aspect that should be also considered to reduce unwanted complications. In this case study, we present iatrogenic complications in a male patient undergoing a simple operation in one Iranian hospital.\nCase study: A 48 old man was referred to the hospital with left hand paresthesia and weakness lasting five years. He gave a history of left elbow fracture that occurred 40 years ago, which was treated conservatively. Physical examination of his left hand revealed mild intrinsic atrophy and sensory deficit in his fourth and fifth fingers and severe valgus deformity of the elbow. Nerve left upper extremity conduction velocity test confirmed severe ulnar nerve entrapment neuropathy and ulnar nerve paresis at the elbow region. We decided to operate in order to transfer the ulnar nerve to the anterior aspect of the humerus medial epicondyle. During the operation the wound site temperature raised progressively. The surgeon tried to cool the skin using cold fluids; eventually he was forced to end the operation prematurely. Despite all his efforts, the patient's skin developed blisters leading to a grade two burn in a five-by-five centimeter area. These burns emerged as an iatrogenic complication of the operation. Several wound debridements and skin grafts were done after which the lesion began to heal. Nerve recovery was good and the patient's paresthesia and weakness were reducing gradually. Nevertheless, the patient sued the hospital.The problem\nDiscussion: Burns caused in the course of treatment in other cases are most frequent in operating theatres. Injuries consist of both electrical and chemical (such as alcohol or disinfectant) burns. Many unfortunate cases are caused by misused or faulty medical equipment. Electrical burns, for example, occur most often during surgery. Burns are often deep and lead to dense primary scars that eventually require plastic surgery reconstruction (Dyakov and Hadjiiski, 2001). Such cases might happen to any surgeon. When medical equipment does not work properly, blame for the resulting complications should not be directed at clinicians, as the manufacturer and the technical support personnel are at least equally responsible. In a Harvard study by Leape (1997), nearly 4 percent of hospitalized patients sustained medical treatment-related disabling injury. Technical causes were the third most common type of adverse events (behind drug complications and wound infection). In his study, intensive care units (ICUs) were notably the most common site of patients suffering injury (50 percent) exceeding even the operation room (22 percent) and the emergency room (25 percent). As noted by Leape (1997), one of the most effective means of reducing errors is standardizing treatment and care processes wherever possible. Medical equipment errors are classified in three groups:1. The problem in the device itself occurred during manufacture. In order to overcome such errors, the UL 544 standard applies to all electrical medical and dental equipment used in US since 1972. This standard was then changed to UL 2601-1 standard in 1994.2. Despite these standards, problems may not be detected before devices are distributed worldwide. Section 522 of the FDAMA Act (The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997) allows device monitoring once it has been distributed and used (Kaplan and Battles, 2000).3. Another important aspect of medical equipment errors is directed at the consumers and repairers. Although there are specific requirements for medical equipment repairs, problems exist. Grade 11 medical equipment repairers (as defined by Federal Wage System job grading standard) install, modify, troubleshoot, maintain, test, calibrate, adjust, overhaul and repair a wide variety of medical, laboratory and dental equipment (electronic, electrical and mechanical) (Workforce Compensation and Performance Service, 2002).Not all medical equipment has an expiry date. Indeed, equipment may be used until repairs are no longer possible. It is important, therefore, that original parts are available so that the repairers can use the correct parts when repairing devices. Regular medical equipment evaluation is mandatory in Iran. In each health care center, there is a \"medical equipment unit\" in which malfunctioning medical equipment evaluation and repair is performed by medical engineers. Their work, maintaining medical equipment, is under the responsibility of the hospital's \"technical manager\" who is a physician or a medical engineer and who determines all hospital medical equipment policies. The aim is to prevent malfunction or severe complications for patients.\nConclusion: The lamp had been an operating room workhorse for many years without causing much trouble before the burns case. Nevertheless, it must be concluded that the high rate of medical device adverse events suggests that medical equipment maintenance is an important patient safety problem. However additional research is necessary to identify optimal medical device adverse event detection strategies (Amoore and Ingram, 2002). Medical equipment induced adverse events are mainly documented in patient records while there is not a standard reporting system to register and report these events to higher health organization levels. This problem is not only relevant to our country, several other studies report similar events. Authors have shown that more intensive surveillance methods yield higher medical device problem detections than traditional voluntary reporting (Samore et al., 2004). Moreover, operation rooms are known to be a common source of critical incidents (Committee on Quality of Health Care in America and Institute of Medicine, 2000). Proper training and education are required for staff using both new and old equipment - indeed older equipment may represent the greater challenge because earlier models may lack sophisticated alarm and safety features. We also recommend that each device has an expiry date. Although recycling medical equipment is thought to be expensive, many believe using new and unfamiliar medical devices may contribute to adverse events and patient management errors. But our case study illustrates that using old equipment, which is widely used in our ICUs and operating rooms, also carries a high adverse incidents' risk. Finally, we believe expert technicians from equipment manufacturers, familiar with the device, should repair the equipment only with original parts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a remarkable medical equipment-induced adverse event and to suggest ways to prevent similar problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses a case study to discuss when it is necessary to renew medical equipment.\nFindings: - The paper finds that repairing medical equipment using inappropriate parts causes severe iatrogenic problems.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Events like this may be underestimated because well-organized reporting strategies in health care units are inappropriate.\nPractical implications: - Defining expiry dates for medical equipment may prevent unsatisfactory repair, especially when original parts are unavailable.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights the fact that simple errors cause severe patient injuries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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