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The marketing of innovations in high-technology companies: a network approach
|
[
"Innovation",
"Marketing",
"Research and development",
"Knowledge economy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An increasingly knowledge-oriented society is delivering products and services that are more research and development intensive. Markets where technology is central have become essential to the economic development of the whole economy (John et al., 1999). At the same time investments in technology-intensive sectors are essential driving forces of the economy. The use of new technology has been leading to increased productivity since the beginning of the industrial revolution (Mokyr, 1990). To compete in high-tech markets, producers must invest in R&D and innovations. A high-tech company that cannot rely on internal resources to remain competitive can look for new relationships and strategic partnerships to broaden its R&D base. A network approach to markets (Hakansson and Snehota, 1989; Anderson et al., 1994; Mattsson, 1997; Borg, 1991, 2001) can identify the value of networks in the development of technology. Enterprises build networks to enhance their competence and search for new knowledge. Relationships between research institutions and companies are examples of networks that may enhance innovativeness by allowing companies to benefit from outside research. Increased R&D co-operation and flow of knowledge and information are essential to the competitiveness of research-intensive industries.There is a lack of consensus as to the marketing implications of high-tech products and services. Innovations represent something entirely different, and different approaches to marketing are necessary for technology-intensive markets. At the same time, some of the basic principles of marketing can be applicable to innovations (John et al., 1999). The argument put forward here is that the marketing of technology-intensive products can benefit from a network approach, which mends some of the weaknesses of traditional marketing approaches. Networks can represent a collection of users and/or producers co-operating around sets of complementary know-how (Farrell and Saloner, 1985).Rugman and D'Cruz (2000) propose a theory of business networks, which are governance structures for organizing exchange through co-operative non-equity relationships among firms and non-business institutions. A network comprises five partners:1. the multinational flagship firm;2. key suppliers;3. key customers;4. selected competitors; and5. the non-business infrastructure, which includes educational and training institutions, various levels of governments, and other organizations, such as non-governmental organizations and trade associations.\nNetworks in marketing: In the marketing of research-intensive products and services, the relationships that evolve within marketing may be crucial to a company. Network methods in marketing can be seen as diagnostic tools with which to investigate interactive systems, where technology is an essential part of the network (Iacobucci, 1998). Enterprises may share important information with their customers, and develop new products and services in close co-operation with clients. A network approach to marketing may embrace essential elements for success in R&D and marketing research-intensive production. The ability to convert knowledge and information into marketable products and services may rely on the type and quality of market relationships that a company can establish. Strategic groups can be established around inter-firm networks in international high-tech industries (Duysters and Hagedoorn, 1995). With increased globalization, market relationships are becoming more geographically spread out, and R&D-intensive networks commonly include participants in many different regions of the world. Effectively managing and developing research-intensive networks can be a key variable for sustaining the market presence of a company that relies on R&D for its continual progress.Networks can lead to positive spillover when participants work on innovative solutions to challenges they have in common. In dynamic market-related networks, common standards and compatibility can evolve between partners and customers. The creation of innovation and new know-how are examples of positive spillover from network relationships. Barriers between disciplines can be reduced and the integration of technologies is common in technology-intensive markets, and know-how bases can spread widely across firms, industries, and users. Networks assist the technology integration process and are useful in the early phases of an R&D project (Iansiti and West, 1997). Networks may form around a centrally positioned lead user of technology. A lead user of technology can be responsible for most of the commercialization of a new technology (Von Hippel, 1986). The dynamics of the network and the market relationships built, not least with consumers of innovations, can be essential in determining the ability of a company to conduct R&D in ways that lead to marketable products and services.A network approach can involve several aspects of marketing. Central to marketing in this respect is segmentation, targeting a market, and positioning R&D-intensive products and services (Easingwood and Koustelos, 2000). Some of this approach is relevant to the discussion of the marketing of high tech presented below. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning are concepts readily adopted in academic texts on strategic marketing (Jain, 2000; Cravens and Piercy, 2003; Anderson and Vincze, 2004). These concepts can be adapted to a network approach to marketing and be well suited for describing and analysing the marketing challenges of high-tech companies.\nSegmentation: Market segmentation represents a distinctive move away from mass marketing. Mass marketing is today outdated in many respects; indeed, it was only applicable when demand was homogeneous, every customer had the same basic need, and competition was scarce. The varied needs now emerging among diverse customers can no longer be satisfied in the same basic way. A network approach to marketing implies that relationships are built between buyers and sellers, and that companies can learn more about the needs of the customer.Segmentation is the process of dividing markets into smaller groups or clusters of customers with similar characteristics. Establishing networks makes it possible to reach all members of a segment with similar relationship activities. Marketers can form networks around market segments. Customers in a segment respond similarly to the same product or service features, promotional activities, distribution methods, and pricing strategies. Groups of customers may be located in the same geographic area or share similar buying habits, media preferences, product uses, etc. (Anderson and Vincze, 2004).The strength of a network approach to marketing is that a relationship is built with the customer, allowing information to flow between the buyer and the seller. This means that the company conducting the marketing can adjust its marketing activities to fit the needs of individual or groups of customers after an interactive segmentation process. In a network approach, markets can potentially be segmented down to individual customers. Having segmented the market, a number of management tools are available to approach customers in different segments. Essential to the segmentation process is to relate to and know more about customers, including knowing about applicable psychographic and geo-demographic variables (Novak and MacEvoy, 1990).\nTargeting: Targeted marketing can increase the precision of marketing. A distinct network of market relationships can represent a target for marketing activities. Databases are making it possible to selectively target a market, letting marketers narrow down their markets more precisely. Mass customization and micro marketing are offering new opportunities facilitated by establishing closer relationships with customers. The key is to know your customers' wants and needs and to customize products, services, and messages to suit each customer (Peppers and Rogers, 1993). Targeting also means choosing the companies with which you want to do business. Choosing customers can be seen as an essential strategic decision (Webster, 1994). Working in networks can make it easier to gain access to information about potential partners and customers that companies can choose to do business with.Elaborate marketing networks can assist a company in its targeting efforts. Through networks of relationships, companies can gain information about whom to target and how they should be targeted. Networks can channel information about how technology is being adopted by each customer. Companies can also assist in the technology adoption process. Early adopters of new technology may be closely connected to the company, and can be involved at an early stage in the R&D process. The customers that adopt innovations early on may also influence the development of new products and services.\nPositioning: Marketing positioning of high tech has been regarded as implying differences in how companies sell technology. Companies can take different positions vis-a-vis the consumer: companies can sell or license know-how directly, sell proofs of concept, or sell systems, depending on the degree of ready-to-use know-how involved in the marketing of a given technology. Companies can achieve a high vertical position by licensing products or a low vertical position by selling whole systems (John et al., 1999). Positioning has been identified with the position a company occupies in the value chain. Internal activities are thereby related to activities within the overall set of activities undertaken by all relevant firms (Porter, 2004).In a network approach to high-tech positioning, companies are indivisible from their relationships with their customers. Market positions are, after all, achieved in the eyes of the customer. A better position in the market is achieved through an enhanced relationship with customers. Positioning, as a concept in marketing, has contributed to the interpretation of how products and services are perceived by customers, and how companies and brands are perceived in relation to each other. Positioning is not what you do to a product, but what a product does to the mind of the prospect (Trout and Ries, 1995).Different customers have different needs and will interpret the advantages of an innovation differently. The positioning of a product or service should be developed with reference to the needs of the customer. After all, it is often the customer who best knows his or her needs. Networks that allow customers to share information about their future needs and requirements can be vital to getting a favourable position in the market. In the positioning effort, companies can emphasize different aspects of new technology. The willingness to take risks involved in adopting new technology can be one factor that needs to be addressed in relation to the customer. The risk of new technology is generally lower when adopting technology later on, when the technology is already proven. On the other hand, companies may need to adopt superior technology and thereby be inclined to accept more risks when adopting a technology early on. Adjusting to these customer needs may involve establishing closer ties with the customer and allowing information to flow freely between the developer and adopter of new technology.A network approach to the positioning of a company can also include corporate venturing. By reaching out to emerging technology companies and making investments in them, companies can increase their innovation capabilities when R&D resources are tight. A network that involves smaller high-tech companies and provides distribution facilities can provide the investor with an innovative team without having to fund the entire technology development. The company can position itself as the initiator and co-ordinator of a larger network of innovative firms and provide several alternate solutions to satisfy the needs of customers involving different high-tech companies. Providing venture capital can be an essential network-building activity that enhances the relationship with end users of technology. A company can thereby position itself as a central contributor to future solutions to technological challenges.\nConcluding remarks: Many of the assets that companies control are not embedded in the brand of a product, but rather in customer-supplier relationships and in systems and patterns. Achieving a competitive position in a market depends on several factors, and high R&D investments, concentration on knowledge-intensive high-value-added products, and productivity gains have all been upheld as important factors in this respect (Cunningham, 1986). Competitiveness can be linked to companies' abilities to develop and manage a vast range of network relationships. Essential to corporate competitiveness is intangible assets and not necessarily the specific brand under which a company's product or service is marketed. Doyle (2001) maintains that in many industries, the drivers of value are non-brand intangible assets, such as skills and motivation, systems and patents, and customer-supplier relationships.Companies possess certain technologies that are essential to achieving a position in the market. These can be separated into three different areas (Turnbull et al., 1996). First, there is the production technology, which comprises the ability to design products or services. Second, there is the process technology, which consists of the ability to manufacture these products and services. Third, there are the marketing technologies: these consist of the various capabilities needed to be able to analyse the requirements of others; they involve relationship competence and the ability to influence and deliver to other companies in a network. A network can be viewed as a pattern of capabilities and technologies. The network enables the transfer of intangibles and capabilities from those that have specific capabilities to those seeking them. In high-tech networks, companies need to control a portfolio of capabilities and a set of relationships that supplies and receives essential resources.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - This article aims to consider the usefulness of network theory in examining the marketing of high-technology products and services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - High-tech companies are analysed in light of a network approach to marketing.\nFindings: - The research finds that building marketing relationships can improve the viability of high-tech companies.\nOriginality/value: - The article contributes to the development of theory that can enhance the marketing of high-technology products and services.\n",
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Strategic lean actions for sustainable competitive advantage
|
[
"Lean manufacturing",
"Lean management",
"Baldrige award",
"Operations strategy",
"Strategic action"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Increased global competition has fueled a growing interest in understanding the competitive strategies that make some organizations outperform their competitors (Hutzschenreuter and Israel, 2009; Teti et al., 2014). Meeting customer expectations and improving value creation requires organizations to implement different management approaches in light of creating competitive advantage (Modarress et al., 2005). These approaches encompass a variety of philosophies, methods, and tools intended to increase an organization's performance, with lean transformation being popular in recent times (De Souza and Carpinetti, 2014; Pakdil and Leonard, 2014).\n2. Foundational concepts: 2.1 Lean manufacturing\n3. Methodology: We provide both a literature review and a qualitative analysis in this paper to assess the necessity of strategic actions in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage through lean transformation. The literature review is focused on studies providing evidence of the impact of lean on operational, financial, and/or organizational performance, and the identification of strategic actions in the areas of knowledge management, human resources management, and business growth. We then utilized the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) winners from 2000 to 2014 to identify where lean was implemented in their firm, and what strategic actions they took. Our work, however, does not assess the degree of implementation and/or sustainability of the lean programs adopted by the winners. This sampled served as a group of firms exhibiting performance heterogeneity.\n4. Discussion of lean strategic actions: Table I suggests that the adoption of lean practices has a positive effect on operational performance, financial performance, and/or organizational performance. Among the 109 articles reviewed, 50 articles discussed the impact of lean on operational performance, 15 articles assessed the impact on financial performance, and 55 articles analyzed the impact of lean on organizational performance. The literature review showed that among the 109 papers reviewed, 31 percent (34) articles make reference to the importance of knowledge management, 38 percent (41) of the articles to human resource management, and to 64 percent (70) to business growth within the areas of strategic actions.\n5. Lean and Baldrige: evidence from successful firms: The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, formerly known as the MBNQA, was launched in 1987 by the US Government to recognize and promote quality management practices and highlight achievements in quality standards within organizations (Abdulla Badri et al., 2006; Pannirselvam and Ferguson, 2001). The award is given to manufacturing and service businesses, education and health care institutions, and nonprofit/government organizations. The Baldrige criteria consists of seven categories that explain what processes, procedures, and outcomes are associated with quality within an organization (Jacob et al., 2004; Wisner and Eakins, 1994). Within the seven categories winners must demonstrate exemplary performance in areas such as leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis, knowledge management (MAKM); (5) workforce; (6) operations; and (7) results.\n6. Conclusion: This paper provides a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles targeting lean manufacturing and performance, and categorized the types of strategic action firms might undertake to capitalize on improved operations. Further, the paper provides a categorization of lean strategic actions into knowledge management, human resource management, and business growth (Table I), and an integrated model is proposed suggesting a dual process of lean transformation and leadership strategic action (Figure 1). In addition, 23 winners of the Malcolm Baldrige Nationality Quality Award (2000-2014) that utilized lean transformation were analyzed for evidence of utilizing lean strategic actions (Table II) as a preliminary test of the model. To this end, this paper has made several contributions to the quality management literature while addressing the gap observed between operational and strategic changes.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add to the quality management body of knowledge by solidifying the connection between operational and strategic aspects of lean transformation. Previous research has examined these issues in isolation, demonstrating mixed results in financial and operational efficiencies. The authors show that when operational and strategic changes are jointly considered the likelihood of success for lean transformation increases.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors provide a literature review of 109 peer-reviewed papers on lean manufacturing and qualitative analysis of 23 Baldrige award winners (2000-2014) that implemented lean to assess the importance of strategic actions in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage through lean transformation.\nFindings: The authors find that lean transformation yields mixed results unless strategic actions are taken by senior management. These strategic actions include but are not limited to knowledge management, human resources, and business growth and can result in performance heterogeneity by improving the output/input ratio of the firm. This performance can then manifest as either doing the same level of business with fewer resources (a profit play) or doing more business with the same resources (a growth play). As specific examples, the authors analyzed Baldrige award winners for evidence of lean strategic action to drive performance gains. The authors suggest further model validation through directed interview and/or survey research.\nOriginality/value: This paper clarifies the need for jointly implementing lean tools with strategic actions. The findings provide more deliberate strategic actions for organizations wishing to increase the likelihood of success of lean transformation and ultimately improve quality.\n",
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Resilience in the context of Italian micro and small wineries: an empirical study
|
[
"Competitive strategy",
"Italy",
"Education",
"Globalization",
"International business",
"Survey research",
"Conceptual theoretical"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As with other industries, the wine industry is constantly affected by the forces of globalisation, with changes occurring rapidly and radically (Castaldi et al., 2005). One of the various outcomes has been the increasingly fierce competition among rivalling companies or among wine regions seeking to make gains in an increasingly complex market environment (Garcia et al., 2012). Globalisation has also allowed consumers to purchase and consume wines from multiple regions, a development that can both create opportunities and numerous challenges for wineries (Castaldi et al., 2005). The growing number of brands, wine product varieties, styles and prices has also affected the wine purchasing experience, which has become more complex or difficult in terms of identifying which drivers may result in wine purchases (Corduas et al., 2013). To cope with the growing demands in their industry, and therefore become resilient, wineries depend on the successful execution of various strategies. Garcia et al. (2012), for instance, underline the need for wineries to implement industry best practices, adapt their logistics methods and be able to match world standards.\nResilience: definition and applicability: The concept of \"resilience\" has been defined in a variety of ways and, accordingly, used in different fields (Bhamra et al., 2011) or applied to such areas as agricultural systems to study, for instance, socio-ecological resilience (Milestad and Darnhofer, 2003). Contemporary studies have also proposed ways to develop a theory of resilience in various contexts. For instance, Norris et al.'s (2008) discussion of community resilience after the occurrence of disasters incorporates social capital, namely, by emphasising the relevance of social support (e.g. family, neighbours and co-workers) during and after such events. Social capital is therefore considered a pillar in the development of a theory of community resilience. Norris et al. (2008, p. 146) also highlight the contribution of the theory through its \"greater emphasis on adaptive capacities\".\nKnowledge gaps: Despite a large body of research discussing resilience in various scenarios, researchers have also identified a dearth of knowledge in various contexts. According to Bhamra et al. (2011, p. 5,388), little is known about \"how organisations, particularly SMEs, can achieve degrees of resilience\". Bullough and Renko (2013, p. 343) underscore the limited existing knowledge of \"what drives entrepreneurial decisions during challenging times\". Further, while Bhamra et al. (2011, p. 5,388) acknowledge the \"strong focus around building theories and definitions of resilience\", they also criticise the lack of empirical proof of those theories, particularly regarding ways in which SMEs can attain different degrees of resilience. Thus, for theories to be valuable and/or validated in practical terms, Bhamra et al. (2011) suggest that more research should be conducted in real-world scenarios, including through case study and surveys.\nMethodology: The study has a multi-pronged approach, seeking to identify contemporary challenges among micro and small enterprises, perceived impacts of the identified challenges and alternatives in response to the challenges faced. Italy's global significance on the world stage, being the second largest wine-producing country (Wine Institute, 2012), added to the research team's background knowledge based on previous research were among the reasons to conduct the research. Moreover, Italy's wine industry operates in a very competitive and complex environment, where globalisation (Castaldi et al., 2005) or changes in wine products available to consumers (Bernetti et al., 2006) can have profound impacts.\nResults: main perceived challenges: Asked to indicate their level of agreement with challenges affecting their businesses, three issues were particularly significant to respondents (Table II). In line with previous research conducted among SMEs (Chan 2011), the high/increasing cost (mean = 4.26) is by far the most perceived serious issue affecting the predominantly micro wineries. In addition, the shock waves generated by the global financial crisis in 2008 seem to continue posing serious financial problems. Indeed, the mean (4.00) illustrates that this issue is affecting consumer expenditures, and therefore wine sales. However, respondents' agreement (mean = 4.05) suggests that efforts to have access to markets outside their region or overseas and generate vital income are hampered by institutional barriers through excessive bureaucratic hurdles. Close to the level of agreement was the item pertaining to lack of cash flow due to outstanding credits receivable (mean = 3.88). This perceived challenge underlines the dilemma many wineries face when dealing with out-of-region or out-of-country importers and distributors. Facing the pressures to make sales due to the lingering crisis or lured by potentially lucrative export deals, respondents may become involved in high-volume sales partly or fully on credit, with ensuing risks.\nPotential impacts from perceived challenges: Loss of trust in institutions/government (mean = 4.32) was clearly the impact respondents most agreed with (Table IV). Trust in institutions has been investigated from a variety of perspectives. In a survey among European Union citizens, Hudson (2006) found that trust in institutions can be affected by adverse circumstances, such as unemployment. Further, trust increases significantly when individuals' relative income and level of education are higher; thus, \"trust in institutions is endogenous to the performance of those institutions\" (Hudson, 2006, p. 58). Stevenson and Wolfers (2011) document a decline of trust in public institutions such as banks, government and businesses, while Lewis and Weigert (1985, p. 974) caution that loss of trust in institutions can have implications for \"interpersonal trust in everyday life\".\nAlternatives to improve the winery business: Respondents' level of agreement with various alternatives reflected their intention to continue building resilience to adapt and thrive in their sector (Table VI). Diversification, reflected in starting or increasing exports of wines, is perceived as the most important alternative. This outcome is associated with previous findings, one (Table I) illustrating wineries' involvement in exports and another (Table II) where participants indicated their concern at current institutional barriers limiting their ability to export wines. Similarly, and second in terms of significance, was the need to be knowledgeable in foreign languages. In an increasingly globalised, complex and competitive wine market, where exports may help wineries increase their chances of survival, being able to communicate with the existing and prospective international clients is vital.\nConclusions: While the contemporary academic literature provides numerous examples of the development of a theory of resilience, including ways in which organisations achieve or build resilience, several knowledge gaps exist. Limited knowledge is noted regarding factors driving entrepreneurial decisions in times of hardships (Bullough and Renko, 2013) or in relation to SMEs' capability to achieve different levels of resilience (Bhamra et al., 2011). Further, despite much emphasis on theory building and conceptualisations of resilience, empirical research translating theory into practice is still lacking (Bhamra et al., 2011).\nImplications: Figure 1 proposes a theoretical framework conceptualising the study's findings in the context of resilience. Perceived challenges and impacts of these challenges may prompt winery entrepreneurs to consider and implement responsive strategies to adapt and are arguably ways of building resilience. The findings confirm the importance of three factors (internal, external and enabling) in building resilience and competitiveness (Gunasekaran et al., 2011). Internal factors are based on managerial characteristics of SMEs and may determine the quality of their products and services, thus contributing to resilience and competitiveness in a globalised \"external\" business environment, which represents external factors (Gunasekaran et al., 2011). Enabling factors, including generating capital, location, adoption of technology and marketing, can significantly enable SMEs to face external forces (globalisation). This study's findings emphasise the importance for wineries to strengthen collaborative relationship, which may enable them to become more competitive, for instance by sharing resources and working for common goals. Further, collaboration, which appears to be marginally considered among respondents, is associated with social capital, particularly through networks of collaboration (Putnam, 1995). The work of Daniel et al. (1999) is also important, underlining the significance of protective networks of support, where available resources could be shared and maximised.\nLimitations and future research: The modest percentage of participating wineries is a recognised limitation, in that it does not allow for making generalisations of Italy's wine industry, or comparisons across different Italian wine regions. Similarly, given that only Italian wineries were selected for this study, comparisons between Italy and other wine-producing countries could not be made. These limitations could be addressed in future studies. For instance, broadening the geographic scope might help to identify the extent to which other wine regions are building resilience and the challenges they may be facing in this process.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study resilience among micro and small wineries. While the subject of organisational resilience has drawn the attention or numerous researchers, there is an argument that limited empirical evidence exist to support different theoretical constructs in regards to resilience. Thus, the paper addresses a knowledge gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was designed to investigate strategies that can help businesses to become more resilient to contemporary challenges. A total of 273 owners and managers of Italian wineries participated in the study.\nFindings: Increasing costs, institutional barriers and the effects of the economic crisis on consumers' wine purchases are perceived as most serious challenges. One fundamental impact is respondents' loss of trust in institutions. Alternatives such as diversifying, knowledge of foreign languages and educational activities emerged as crucial to improve wineries' performance, and therefore build their resilience.\nPractical implications: These findings highlight the vital role of institutions in developing supporting strategies to nurture an entrepreneurial culture among owners and managers of a very important group of businesses.\nOriginality/value: By empirically investigating ways to achieve resilience among businesses of a traditional European sector, the study addresses a knowledge gap identified in contemporary research. The study also contributes to the development of the theory of resilience, for instance, by considering the literature on the theory of resilience, considering and adopting factors affecting micro and small enterprises' resilience and identifying some of these factors in the context of micro and small wine enterprises.\n",
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Examining the trait and functional motive antecedents of four gambling activities: slot machines, skilled card games, sports betting, and promotional games
|
[
"Betting",
"Personality",
"Promotional methods"
] |
[
{
"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.\nLiterature review and 3M model: An important question concerns how to arrange the constructs into a model of the antecedents of the four forms of gambling under investigation. In the present research, we have selected the 3M model of motivation and personality (Mowen, 2000) as the basis for the structure of the model. The 3M model has been employed to investigate the antecedents and consequences of a variety of phenomena, including service employee performance (Licata et al., 2003), competitiveness (Mowen, 2004), word-of-mouth communications (Mowen et al., in press), and volunteerism (Mowen and Sujan, 2005). The 3M model proposes that individual difference variables can be arranged into four levels based on their level of abstraction - elemental, compound, situational, and surface traits. These traits are briefly defined below. For a more detailed discussion of the traits, see Licata et al. (2003) or Mowen (2000). Because of the exploratory nature of this study, we will not present formal hypotheses about traits and functional motive predictors of specific gambling types.Elemental traits\nMethodology: Respondents were recruited from an online consumer panel run by Zoomerang.com. The four-page survey was posted on their web site and responses were collected through the web. It is possible to set parameters on the sample, and the authors requested groups of known gamblers and groups of non-gamblers. A total of 1,158 completed surveys were received with a 45 percent response rate. A total of 288 respondents (24.9 percent) were non-gamblers and 870 (75.1 percent) were gamblers with gambling frequency ranging from a few times a year to almost every day. The demographic characteristics of the sample are: 58 percent are male; 63 percent have at least some college education; and 88 percent of the respondents were over 35 years old. As can be seen, the sample is somewhat older and more highly educated than the general public.Each of the four types of gambling was assessed by multiple items, which were developed to be similar across each form of gambling. Consistent with the conceptualization of surface traits, the items included measures of the frequency of an activity and the enjoyment of the activity. The scale items were assessed on seven-point Likert scales. For example, the items for slot machine gambling were: \"I really enjoy the slot machine gambling.\" \"Playing the slot machines is exciting for me.\" \"I frequently gamble on the slot machines.\" These items were slightly reworded to assess the other three types of gambling activities (see Appendix for the scales). The scales were all highly reliable (all as > 0.90).Consistent with previous research employing the 3M model, the elemental and compound traits were assessed by asking respondents how often they feel/act this way. Answers were assessed using nine-point scales bounded by \"never\" and \"always.\" In our study, we included a new four-item measure of impulsiveness as a compound trait. We included this measure because there are theoretical reasons for anticipating that individuals who gamble will be impulsive. The Eysenck Impulsive Scale (Eysenck and Eynsenck 1977, 1978) has been widely used in most of prior gambling studies (e.g. Clarke, 2006; Vitaro et al., 1999). The original Eysenck scales contained 23 impulsiveness items. Since the scale is long, we adapted several items with high factor loadings on the scale and developed a new four-item measure of impulsiveness as a compound trait. Because we sought to develop a compound level version of impulsiveness that would be cross-situational in nature, we reworded the items so that they did not have specific referents. For example, the first item reads: \"I often do things spontaneously.\" Another reads: \"I often do things without thinking\" (see Appendix).For our study we also developed a new construct to assess interest in numeric information, which was tentatively placed at the compound level. As described previously, gambling frequently involves using numbers to calculation odds and how much can be won or lost. Five items were developed to assess the liking of numbers. An example is: \"I enjoy work that requires the use of numbers.\"Items for functional motives were adapted from past studies (e.g. Mowen and Sujan, 2005; Neighbors et al., 2002). The measures of the elemental traits can be found in Licata et al. (2003). Items assessing the rest of the constructs are found in the Appendix.\nResults: The analysis began with a confirmatory factor analysis of the four types of gambling measures: slot machines, skilled games, sports betting, and promotional games. The results revealed good fit indices (kh2=561.82, df=71, CFI=0.98, TLI=0.97, RMSEA=0.08). Second, we did a confirmatory factor analysis on the five gambling motives. The fit indices of the model were good (kh2=896.90, df=80, CFI=0.96, TLI=0.95, RMSEA=0.09). Finally, we also did a confirmatory factor analysis of the four compound traits: competitiveness, impulsiveness, interest in numeric information, and present time orientation. The fit indices of the model were acceptable (kh2=788.13, df=113, CFI=0.95, TLI=0.94, RMSEA=0.07).In the next analysis we investigated the trait and functional motive predictors of the four gambling activities. First, we investigated a full mediation model in which paths were created from the elemental traits to the compound traits, from the compound traits to the functional motives, and from the functional motives to different gambling proneness. Three demographic variables were directly linked to the outcome variables (i.e. the gambling activities). Multiple indicators were employed for the compound traits, functional motives, and different gambling activities. Single item indicators were employed for the elemental traits and demographic variables (i.e. gender, education, and age). The fit statistics for the model were adequate (kh 2=5527.76, df=1428, CFI=0.93, TLI=0.92, RMSEA=0.05).Next, a partial mediation model was run in which paths were created from the elemental traits to the compound traits, functional motives, and gambling activities; paths were run from the compound traits to the functional motives and gambling activities; and paths were run from the five functional motives to different gambling activities. The fit statistics for the model were acceptable (kh 2=5206.88, df=1340, CFI=0.94, TLI=0.92, RMSEA=0.05). A chi-square difference test revealed that the partial mediation model provided a better fit than the full mediation model, kh 2 diff (88)=320.88, p<0.005. Therefore, the results of the partial mediation model are presented. Variance accounted for in each of the variables was:1. four types of gambling activities:* slot machines=37.5 percent,* skilled games=52.7 percent,* sports betting=34.1 percent,* promotional games=15.2 percent;1. five motives:* money=15.6 percent,* excitement=16.8 percent,* social=12.5 percent,* escape=16.1 percent,* self-esteem=14.7 percent; and1. four compound traits:* competitiveness=44.7 percent,* impulsiveness=24.8 percent,* present time orientation=15.2 percent, and* interest in numeric information=6.5 percent.Predictors of four gambling types\nGeneral discussion: This study examined the relationship of functional motives, traits, and demographic variables on individuals' engaging in divergent forms of gambling. The results suggest that elemental traits and compound traits not only have direct impact on four forms of gambling but also have indirect impact on them via functional motives. In addition, demographic variables influence individuals' participation in the four types of gambling games. The results answered the key research question. That is, the four forms of gambling (i.e. slots, skilled card games, sports betting, and promotional games) have divergent motives, traits, and demographic profiles.Comparing the profiles of slots and promotional game gamblers\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the functional motive and trait antecedents of four forms of gambling - slot machines, skilled card games, sports betting, and participating in marketing promotional games such as sweepstakes and contests.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A hierarchical model of motivation and personality (3M model) was employed to investigate the trait and functional motive antecedents of four gambling activities. Five motives for gambling were identified - money, excitement, social interaction, escape from problems, and self-esteem enhancement. In addition, the effects of demographic variables (i.e. age, gender, and education) on four gambling types were examined. A total of 1,158 responses were collected from an online consumer panel.\nFindings: - The results suggest that the four forms of gambling have divergent motives, traits, and demographic profiles.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research should further explore other possible traits in predicting different gambling activities (e.g. superstitious beliefs). Another limitation of the study is the online panel sample, which is somewhat older and more highly educated than the general public.\nPractical implications: - The findings will help marketers better segment the market based on unique profiles of personality traits, functional motives, and demographic variables associated with each gambling type and design communication strategies to reach the targeted consumers.\nOriginality/value: - Previous researchers have neither investigated the functional motives for gambling nor compared the motives for divergent forms of gambling. This research employs a hierarchical model (3M model) to investigate the trait and functional motive predictors of multiple forms of gambling.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Food neophobia and ethnic food consumption intention: An extension of the theory of planned behaviour
|
[
"SEM",
"Consumption intention",
"TPB",
"Dayak",
"Ethnic food",
"Food neophobia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food consumption behaviour has been known to be complex since there are multiple factors that could affect the decision-making process (Vabo and Hansen, 2014). However, despite being mostly comfortable with their customary food choices, consumers today are willing to explore different flavoured and culturally diverse food to satisfy their changing preferences. As a result, ethnic food is found to be an evolving trend in recent times and continues to blend into mainstream menus in most of the restaurants in the West (National Restaurant Association, 2015). It has also become part of everyday diet (Hardcastle, 2001), and its demand is expected to increase substantially in the coming years (Howell, 2005).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Ethnic food\n3. Methodology: Malaysia is a leading developing country in Southeast Asia and is endowed with rich cultural heritage from a multi-ethnic community (State Planning Unit, 2011). Since the Dayaks make up the largest population in Sarawak and is the largest indigenous group in Malaysia, they have brought a huge variety of unique tastes and dishes to the country. Dayak food is not only an important aspect of cultural heritage, it also plays an integral part in food industry and tourism. Given the fact that it is a groundwork study, non-Dayak Malaysians are the target population. A priori power analysis is used to determine minimum sample size to ensure adequate statistical capacity to investigate and explain the variables under investigation.\n4. Findings: 4.1 Respondent demographics\n5. Discussions and conclusion: While the effects of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control on intention towards consuming Dayak food are significant, only the moderating effect of food neophobia on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention is found significant. In general, TPB is useful to explaining the magnitude of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control in understanding the intention of non-Dayak consumers towards consuming Dayak food (De Castro, 1995; Sheeran and Orbell, 2000; Teng and Wang, 2015; Zielinska 2006). Attitude towards consuming Dayak food is found to have the strongest effect compared to subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, highlighting the importance of consumers' beliefs, feelings and other psychological avenues about Dayak food.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to serve as groundwork to investigate the determinants of ethnic food consumption intention in the context of developing markets. Using the theory of planned behaviour as the underlying basis, it is aimed to explain the effect of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control on consumption intention towards Dayak food. Since Dayak food is relatively unfamiliar compared to conventional food in Malaysia, food neophobia is incorporated into the model so as to assess its moderation effect on every postulated relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach via self-administered questionnaire was adopted. In all, 300 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to non-Dayak Malaysians, and 211 usable copies were subsequently collected, suggesting that non-response bias was not a major issue. A post hoc Harman single-factor analysis was also performed to ensure the variance in the data was not explained by one single factor, thus addressing the common method bias. Structural equation modelling using partial least squares approach was then utilized to assess the relationships of variables under investigation and the moderation effect of food neophobia.\nFindings: After ensuring the data have acceptable reliability and validity, structural model assessment was performed to test the hypotheses. The findings show that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control all have positive effect on consumption intention of non-Dayak Malaysians towards Dayak food. However, food neophobia is only found to have a moderation effect on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the sample is largely consisted of college and university students in Malaysia who are believed to be more daring to try new things, including new food. Second and more importantly, the dearth of literature and empirical studies on Dayak food and ethnic food in Malaysia might have actually pointed to the limitation in using only quantitative questionnaire in the study. As salient beliefs are the antecedents in the theory of planned behaviour, knowing consumers' specific beliefs about Dayak food would have provided a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of consumption intention and the moderating effect of food neophobia.\nPractical implications: The moderation effect of food neophobia on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention towards Dayak food implies the importance of recommendations and favourable word-of-mouth from the significant ones, such as family members and peers, to make people willing to try and consume it. This corresponds to earlier findings pertaining to the collectivistic culture in Malaysia. Unlike countries with individualistic cultures, Malaysians tend to conform to the consumption choices of significant others. This implies that those whom they hold in high regard, are able to influence them both positively and negatively through their advice or opinions.\nOriginality/value: The present study has not only extended the use of theory of planned behaviour in the context of Dayak food consumption intention in a developing country, but it has also deepened the theory by incorporating food neophobia as the moderator to provide additional theoretical explanation to ethnic food consumption intention. Given the wealth of Asian culture, and its significant role in the global marketplace, the understanding of ethnic food consumption intention of the local and foreign consumers using the extended theory of planned behaviour would contribute knowledge not only to consumer behaviour, but also to food and service industry and tourism.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Environmental management research in hospitality
|
[
"Environmental management",
"Agenda 21",
"EMS",
"Review article",
"Environmental research"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In addition to the increasingly serious environmental problems, the escalating number of environmental laws and increase in market pressure have raised corporate environmental awareness. Businesses, including hospitality firms, have become much more aware of the relationships among environmental performance, scarce resources, public legitimacy, burdensome litigation and profitability (Schot and Fischer, 1993). Environmental management (EM) in the hospitality industry is a particularly important issue and the industry has a vested interest in protecting the environment because attractive and safe surroundings are part of its core product. EM's increasing importance in the hospitality industry has drawn academic attention since the publication of Agenda 21 and the introduction of formal environmental management systems (EMSs) in the 1990s. For instance, in the hotel field, Chan and Wong (2006) found that \"corporate governance\" and \"legislation\" were the most salient factors in determining a hotel's intention to obtain certification for the ISO 14000 EMS standard. Kirk (1998) identified the attitudes of hotel managers towards EM. Enz and Siguaw (1999) examined the four operations that were named environmental best-practice champions in the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration's study of best practices in the USA. Deng and Burnett (2002a, b) reported on energy and water use, as well as management, in Hong Kong hotels.\n2. Environmental management research in the mainstream management literature: To understand more about what the common research themes in mainstream management journals, such as Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Business Strategy and the Environment, Management Science and Journal of Business Research, a review of the articles listed in Google Scholar were conducted. Google Scholar was selected, as it is a component of Google, the world's leading search engine, which indexes scholarly articles, books and dissertations from different databases (Law et al., 2009). Google Scholar was also identified as an important new source for citation analysis (Harzing and van der Wal, 2008), thus gaining the attention of academic researchers. By using the commonly (Table I) indexed keywords in EM research such as EM, environmental responsibility, environmental performance, sustainability, green, conservation, pollution and nature/natural identified by Lockett et al. (2006) and some additional keywords identified by the authors such as energy and water saving, waste management and carbon footprint, Google Scholar search results were reviewed. The title, abstract and content (as needed) of articles were further reviewed to ensure that they were about EM. The review process stopped when the identified themes/foci of study were found saturated after reviewing the articles listed on the first 30 pages of search results.\n3. Topical review of hospitality journals (1993-2014): To compare with the mainstream management literature, 149 EM articles from the above-mentioned four top-tier hospitality journals were reviewed and then classified into topical areas. Of the reviewed articles, the most frequently used study design was field survey (over 40 per cent), followed by the use of mixed methods consisting of experiments, surveys and/or interviews (over 20 per cent). Other methods included the analysis of secondary data and case studies. Only a few of the articles reviewed reported experimental design (Adams and Bracey, 1994; Chan et al., 2009a, 2009b; Lo et al., 2011; Rahman et al., 2014). The primary research approach emerging from these articles was quantitative. Because of the complex and evolving nature of EM in its application to the hospitality industry, more qualitative techniques could be used in the future to reveal in-depth and detailed information.\n4. Implications for future hospitality environmental management research: A review of 149 hospitality journal articles indicated that over 20 per cent of these studies dealt with green practices and EM system, such as applications of EMSs, IAQ, water and energy conservation and waste management. In fact, studies in these categories were the most frequently published in the four journals, compared to other EM issues. Green consumerism is another topic area that has had sustained research attention in the past decades.\n5. Conclusion: EM is an important issue, given the various environmental problems faced by the planet. EM topics have captured the attention of hospitality researchers, as many hospitality firms have taken different environmental measures for various reasons. The main aim of this paper is to review and synthesise previous studies published over the period of 1993-2014, which were categorised as environmental policies and practices, IAQ, green consumerism, managers' environmental attitudes, sustainable tourism development, environmental performance, environmental cost control, EMS and environmental benchmarking. The study, as one of the very few studies to review hospitality EM articles in top-tier hospitality journals over the past decade, should give hospitality academics and practitioners an overview of the updated body of knowledge in the field of EM and stimulate more in-depth research that will further extend the EM literature.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise 149 hospitality-related studies published in the past two decades pertaining to environmental management (EM). The review was divided into three main stages: 1993-1999, 2000-2009 and 2010-2014 and provided future research directions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study sample consisted of articles published between 1993 and 2014 in four leading hospitality journals. The four journals chosen were the International Journal of Hospitality Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. The title, abstract and the content, as needed, of all EM-related full-length articles from these four journals were content analysed. Editors' notes, book reviews, industry news, conference papers and research notes were excluded from this paper.\nFindings: EM research in the hospitality industry during the first two stages focused on the development of environmental policies and practices, green consumerism, managers' environmental attitudes, indoor air quality and smoke-free environments, sustainable development, environmental performance, environmental cost control and environmental management systems (EMSs). During the third stage from 2010 to 2014, topics about environmental benchmarking and indicators have surfaced. Notwithstanding this, EM in the environmental reporting, and green marketing have been pursued less enthusiastically.\nResearch limitations/implications: Compared with the mainstream management literature and considering the future development of EM, hospitality scholars are encouraged to extend their research to include green marketing, environmental technologies, environmental reporting, carbon footprint, employees' green behaviour, the effects of EM on hospitality firms' stakeholders and small- and medium-sized hospitality firms. In addition, more effort should be spent on developing hospitality-specific theories for EM.\nOriginality/value: Little has been done to determine the main research agendas in hospitality EM. A review of recent research on this topic provides an inventory of existing knowledge and points out areas requiring further knowledge exploration.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Lean product engineering in the South African automotive industry
|
[
"South Africa",
"Automotive industry",
"Lean product design and development",
"Lean product engineering",
"SALPE"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"Lean thinking\", with its focus on the elimination of waste for the improvement of flow, and on continuous improvement has profoundly influenced many aspects of manufacturing, (Womack and Jones, 1996). The Toyota Production System, popularized in the west by Womack et al. (1990), has had a worldwide influence on manufacturing systems design (Liker, 2007).\n2. Literature review on LPD frameworks: The literature review sought to establish a case for extending lean thinking from product design and development to product engineering and identify an appropriate framework for exploring the extent to which lean thinking informs these activities in the SA automotive sector.\n3. Research methodology: The study used the LPDS framework as the basis for a questionnaire and interviews for use within the sample.\n4. Study results and discussion: 4.1. Adoption of lean manufacturing\n5. Conclusions: The research reported here updates earlier research on the extent to which lean thinking is currently applied within the SA automotive industry. Lean thinking is clearly no longer restricted to multinationals: 50 per cent of domestic companies also use lean tools and technologies on the shop floor, and are considering extending its use to other areas. A key area for this extension is product engineering.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The puropse of this paper is to explore the extent to which principles of lean product development are applied to product design and engineering at automotive companies in South Africa (SA). Survey, interview and observational data form the basis for an adaptation of Toyota's lean product development system (LPDS) (Morgan and Liker, 2006) to the South African automotive product engineering context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: All seven automotive manufacturers then operating in SA (including Toyota) were investigated, together with sample of those suppliers carrying out product engineering and/or design locally. A questionnaire based on the LPDS, and follow-up interviews were used to ascertain the extent to which lean principles informed product engineering, and identify areas where there was scope for improvement.\nFindings: The survey established that while SA automotive companies have a strong manufacturing focus there is very limited local product design and development (PD&D), as this tends to be carried out centrally for multinationals. However, global product designs require modifications to suit local conditions and many decisions about manufacturability are taken locally. This broad area of design-related activity will be termed product engineering. The study found considerable scope for increasing the extent to which aspects of product engineering were influenced by lean thinking. An adapted version of the LPDS is proposed to aid lean thinking in product engineering in this context.\nOriginality/value: This study provides information on the application of lean thinking in product engineering, an area that has attracted far less attention than manufacturing and PD&D. Furthermore it addresses a significant sector of an important emerging economy, and contributes a practitioner perspective to what is predominantly a theoretical literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The influence of perceived social media marketing activities on brand loyalty: The mediation effect of brand and value consciousness
|
[
"Brand consciousness",
"Brand loyalty",
"Social media marketing",
"Value consciousness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social media is defined as \"a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technical foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content\" (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). Those applications take a variety of forms, including weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. In January 2014, 74 percent of online adults worldwide use social networking sites (Duggan et al., 2015). Social media platforms play a big part in the daily lives of their users (Okazaki, 2009). Moreover, social media allow users to connect with peers by adding them to networks of friends, which facilitates communication, particularly among peer groups (Ahuja and Galvin, 2003; Zhang and Daugherty, 2009). Globally, more than 50 percent of social media users follow brands on social media (van Belleghem et al., 2011) and 29 percent follow trends and find product reviews and information, and 20 percent comment on what is hot or new or to review products (Gallup, 2014). In Malaysia social media penetration is 64 percent, which is considered one of the highest in Asia pacific region - second only to Singapore. Marketers view the social media landscape in Malaysia as vibrant, with most of the Malaysian population turning to social media platforms (www.marketing-interactive.com/state-social-media-malaysia/, 2016).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Perceived social media marketing activities and brand loyalty\nMethodology: Context\nResults: Two items (using social media to look for the brand I am considering to buy is fun and I would like to share contents from social media with my friends) were removed from the scales measuring perceived social media marketing activities construct, because their loading factors were less than 0.5 after CFA first run. Test statistics indicate that the measurement model represents a good fit to the data. The overall model were CMIN=217.215, df=98, p=0.0, CMIN/df=2.216. The fit indices were CFI=0.96, GFI=0.93 TLI=0.95 and RMSEA=0.059. Internal consistency reliability, the most widely used reliability method, was measured using Cronbach's a. The reliability of the scales ranged from 0.81 to 0.89 (see Table I). Following the widely recognized rule of thumb of using a reliability level of 0.5 (Hair et al., 2006), the analysis indicated that the measurement scales are highly reliable.\nDiscussion: The findings of this study confirmed that perceived social media marketing activities will assist marketers in conceiving brand loyalty, brand consciousness and value consciousness. The current research supports the idea that perceived social media marketing activities is a key driver of brand loyalty because followers of the brand pages on social media platforms tend to be loyal and committed to the brand (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006). The finding is congruent with previous studies which have founded that online brand communities, can enhance customer's loyalty to the brand (McAlexander et al., 2002; Muniz and O'Guinn, 2001; Schau et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2011). Therefore, the study concluded that perceived social media marketing activities is effective tool developing relationship with customers, and building brand loyalty within the social media-based brand community.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social media marketing activities on brand loyalty, value consciousness and brand consciousness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A self-administered questionnaire was developed and administered to a convenience sample of 346 undergraduate students\nFindings: The findings of this research indicated that social media marketing has a significant effect on brand loyalty; brand consciousness and value consciousness mediate the relationship between social media marketing and brand loyalty.\nOriginality/value: This study confirms the growing importance of social media marketing. It also provides insights for marketers on envisioning brand loyalty.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Availability modeling of repairable systems using Markov system dynamics simulation
|
[
"Availability modeling",
"Simulation approach"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Availability is the most important terminology used for evaluation of the effectiveness of any industrial plant, where most of the machines are repairable systems. Availability is an important characteristic of a repairable system. It is a measure of system performance. It is a combined measure of reliability and maintainability. For a repairable system, it is also a better measure of system performance than reliability. A system is available if it is in a usable state. Availability is defined as the fraction of time a system performs its specified functions under stated conditions of use and maintenance. And also availability, which defines continuity of service, is the proportion of time a system is in a usable state. It is an important attribute of fitness for use.\n2. Modeling aims and approach: Simulation has been used as an approximation tool to remedy the limitations of analytical Markov chains. It has been proved by the authors (Srinivasa and Naikan, 2008a, b, c, 2009a, b, c, 2010, 2011) that the stationary, continuous time Markov models are algebraically equivalent to linear SD models as described below.\n3. A MSD approach to system availability/reliability assessment: The procedure that was proposed in the paper (Srinivasa and Naikan, 2008a, b, c) in order to develop the availability analysis using continuous time SD simulation which consists a total of five steps are given below.\n4. Availability modeling of a single unit repairable system using MSD approach: The approach of SD was created and developed in the late 1950s by a group of researchers led by Forrester at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (Forrester, 1961). It is a methodology for modeling and redesigning manufacturing, business, and similar systems that are part man, part machine (Towill, 1993; Richardson, 1999; Wolstenholme, 1982; Ruiz Usano et al., 1996). It builds on information feedback theory, which provides symbols for mapping systems in terms of diagrams and equations, and a programming language for conducting computer simulations. Hence, in this paper, SD is selected as the simulation analysis method. This SD modeling is carried out at an aggregate level, which is more appropriate for supporting management decision making than conventional quantitative simulation. In this work, initially the Markov analysis procedure is presented through the use of an example such as a single unit repairable system to derive and calculate its availability. Thereafter the same system is modeled by the proposed approach. This modeling and analysis consists the following steps as described in the previous section and these steps describe the problem, elaborate on the MSD model, and evaluate the simulation analysis as follows.\n5. Conclusions: In this paper, a hybrid approach called as MSD approach which combines the Markov approach with SD simulation approach has been proposed for availability modeling. The proposed framework is illustrated for a single unit repairable system. The results of the simulation when compared with that obtained by traditional Markov analysis clearly validate the MSD approach as an alternative approach for availability modeling and analysis. The procedure for the development of the MSD approach for this system is explained and the model is run to observe all of its states. It is also shown that the MSD approach clearly indicates the time at which the system reaches its steady state. It is worth mentioning here that finding the steady state condition is extremely difficult or impossible using traditional approaches. Moreover, the MSD model developed in this work can calculate the point, interval availabilities with time varying failure and repair rates or which are user defined distributions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel hybrid approach called as Markov System Dynamics (MSD) approach which combines the Markov approach with system dynamics (SD) simulation approach for availability modeling and to study the dynamic behavior of repairable systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the proposed approach the identification of the single unit repairable system all possible states has been performed by using the Markov approach. The remaining stages of traditional Markov analysis are highly mathematically intensive. The present work proposes a hybrid approach called as MSD approach which combines the Markov approach with SD simulation approach to overcome some of the limitations of Markov process in a simple and efficient way for availability modeling and to study the dynamic behavior of this system.\nFindings: The proposed framework is illustrated for a single unit repairable system. The worked out example shows the steady state point and also it gives the point, interval and steady state availabilities and also the dynamic behavior of the system. However this methodology can be extended easily for more complex multi-state maintainable systems. The results of the simulation when compared with that obtained by traditional Markov analysis clearly validate the proposed approach as an alternative approach for availability modeling of repairable systems.\nPractical implications: In many practical situations we require to find the time at which our system reaches steady state conditions for planning maintenance activities. The proposed MSD method in this paper is capable of finding this steady state point very easily.\nOriginality/value: The proposed approach clearly indicates the time at which the system reaches its steady state and calculates the point, interval availabilities for planning maintenance activities. The different parties, i.e., engineers and machine operators, can jointly work with this model in order to understand the dynamic behavior of repairable systems.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Product design matters, but is it enough? Consumers' responses to product design and environment congruence
|
[
"Aesthetics",
"Product design",
"Affective response",
"Environment congruence",
"Product experience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Product design has been used as a strategic tool for companies to distinguish their products in the crowded market and to communicate their messages with their consumers (Berkowitz, 1987; Kotler and Rath, 1984). Product design could transfer utilitarian, hedonic and symbolic information and benefits to consumers (Bloch, 2011; Brunner et al., 2016). In addition, research shows that product design plays a major role in drawing consumers' attention to the product at the beginning of consumer-product interactions (Blijlevens et al., 2009; Crilly et al., 2004; Kreuzbauer and Malter, 2005). Moreover, product design is shown to influence a consumer's perception of product performance and product categorization (Lee et al., 2011).\n2. Background of the study: 2.1 Product design\n3. Theoretical framework and hypotheses: 3.1 Product design and consumer response\n4. Experiment 1: 4.1 Research design and participants\n5. Experiment 2: 5.1 Research design and participants\n6. General discussion: 6.1 Discussion of findings\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the combined effects of product design and environment congruence on consumers' aesthetic, affective and behavioral responses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two lab experiments with a 2 (high-level design cues vs low-level design cues) x 2 (congruent environment vs non-congruent environment) between-subjects design were conducted to test the hypotheses. The experimental stimuli (product: digital camera; environment: product display in a retail environment) were presented in a 3D simulation environment using a large TV (Experiment 1) and a stereoscopic virtual reality headset.\nFindings: The results support the notion that product design cues elicit more positive aesthetic and affective responses. Environment congruence, on the other hand, plays a moderating role; product design cues elicit more favorable consumer responses in a congruent environment. In contrast, no such effect was found in a non-congruent environment.\nPractical implications: Creating a congruent environment is only effective for well-designed products. In contrast, for products with low-level design elements, the congruence of promotional environment is not instrumental and may not elicit more favorable responses. Hence, such products can simply be presented in a generic display, especially considering the significant costs associated with designing, building and setting up a congruent display.\nOriginality/value: Despite the empirical findings supporting the significant role of product design and environment congruence on consumers' perceptual and behavioral responses, there is a paucity of research on the combined effect of these two factors. The present investigation is an attempt to fill this gap and challenges the generalizations made in previous research suggesting that a product's environment must be aligned with the design elements embedded in the product.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Factors influencing the pathways in response to complaints
|
[
"Quality improvement",
"Patient care",
"Complaints",
"Qualitative research",
"Critical incident technique",
"Taiwan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are extensive studies that investigated complaint nature and resolution (Taylor et al., 2004; Webb, 1995; Jimenez-Corona et al., 2006). Their settings include hospital emergency departments, mental health trusts, general practices and hospitals. For instance, Pichert et al.(1998) examined more than 12,000 patient complaints recorded in an American medical centre and found the most common complaints concerned care and treatment, communication, humaneness (e.g. staff unconcerned to patients), access and service availability, environmental problems and billing/payment problems. They pointed out that patient complaints reflect service deficiencies, failures or dissatisfactions with services provided by healthcare staff.Pietroni and de Uray-Ura (1994) evaluated localised experiences in an informal patient complaints system at a London health centre. Of 39 complaints received, 17 were resolved by letters apologising to the complainant. A further 17 complaints were resolved by letters clarifying health centre procedures. The other five were either resolved in meetings between general practitioners, patients and their representatives; by an explanation from hospital staff; or were not resolved. Similarly, Anderson et al.(2000) determined the outcome of complaints concerning 127 elderly patients treated at a hospital for 12 months in Australia. They concluded that 60 per cent of hospital staff responses were oral, 20 per cent were explanatory and apologetic letters and 13 per cent were other written responses. Other responses (7 per cent) included oral apology, none because the complaint was unsubstantiated, conciliation meetings, litigation or it was deemed that no action was required. Nevertheless, these studies did not demonstrate patient complaint handling methods. Neither did they describe how the complaint's nature might lead to a different outcome. Therefore, our study explores hospital staff response to patient complaints and the factors influencing response pathways.\nMethods: From the literature review, most studies were conducted using either retrospective (Pietroni and de Uray-Ura, 1994; Lim et al., 1998; Hickson et al., 2002) or prospective (Gal and Doron, 2007; Mace, 1998; Allen et al., 2000) document studies over a range of one to eight years. Researchers did not observe the complaint-handling scenario. That is, the majority of research methods for investigating patient complaint resolution were retrospective document analysis.Data collection\nResults: General background\nPathway response to complaints: Response time\nFactors influencing the pathways in response to complaints: The following explores and demonstrates a number of variables influencing the pathways in response to complaints, as well as the use of complaints to drive quality improvement.Complaint types\nDiscussion: As noted earlier, Kendall's tau b correlation analysis showed there were numerous significant correlations among variables influencing hospital staff response to patient complaints. That is, response to complaints (i.e., resolutions) was affected by complaint types, who made the complaints, method, patients' status and complaint severity. Of these, \"who made the complaints\" and \"methods of complaints\" are correlated (Kendall t-b=0.44, p<0.01). It was also found that \"who made the complaints\" was associated with \"complaint severity\" (Kendall t-b=0.47, p<0.01). Importantly, Kendall's tau b correlation analysis showed that there was a relationship between \"severity\" and \"patient status\" (Kendall t-b=0.25, p<0.05). \"Complaint severity\" and \"complaint types (e.g. care/treatment)\" were highly correlated (Kendall t-b=0.45, p<0.01). Additionally, \"patient status\" was associated with \"complaint types\" (e.g. environment/equipment: Kendall t-b=-0.33, p<0.01). In other words, there was a triangular relationship between patient status, complaint severity and complaint type, which were also associated with hospital staff response to patient complaints. This meant that patient status, complaint severity and complaint types were the major variables affecting response to patient complaints in terms of their features.\"Complaint types\" and \"resolutions (i.e., staff response)\" in particular, were highly correlated. In this regard, there were a number of significant correlations between specific complaint types and specific resolutions. These included correlations between \"communication\" and \"explanation\" (Kendall t-b=0.26, p <0.05); \"humaneness\" and \"empathy\" (Kendall t-b=0.30, p<0.05); \"business practice\" and \"replacement\" (Kendall t-b=0.36, p<0.01); and \"care/treatment\" and MDT intervention (Kendall t-b=0.33, p<0.01). That is, these correlations showed that when facing \"communication\" complaints, social workers normally explained the facts to complainants. Mostly, social workers empathised with complainants when cases lacked \"humaneness\". \"Replacement\" was used to deal with complaints relating to \"business practice\". Additionally, MDT intervention was employed to handle \"care/treatment\" complaints (particularly when they had been validated as medical malpractice disputes).\nConclusions: Response pathways for empathising with complainants, investigating complaints and explaining facts to complainants was an effective approach to handling complaints related to \"communication\" and \"humaneness\" occurring simultaneously in a single case. There is no standard starting point regarding investigation, empathy, or explanation when handling complaints. However, complaint nature and complainants' emotional status affect the starting point. In particular, there is a triangular relationship between complaint severity, patient status and complaint nature, affecting hospital staff's response to complaints. This implies that complaint nature is the major factor influencing the response pathway. If healthcare staff intend to reduce complaint rates then they need to carefully classify the complaint's nature. Different complaints, therefore, have different handling procedures and guidelines to help managers or practitioners resolve complaints in the first place.\nStudy limitations: Case study is one qualitative research paradigm (Creswell, 1998). This study essentially is an exploratory case study, which we felt to be the most appropriate research method, as there is very little research relating to the organisational response to patient complaints. The literature revealed that the case study is most common in organisational studies and health service management research (Checkland, 1997). Flexibility and responsiveness are considered by many researchers to be a case study strength (Stake, 1995). It is particularly useful in situations where pertinent variables are not well known; e.g. where variables influencing staff response to patient complaints. However, the case study approach has been frequently criticised for not offering findings that can be generalised (Punch, 1998),\nImplications for further research: Our study found that three complaint types: humaneness, care/treatment, and communication frequently occurred conjointly (34 per cent). That is, \"humaneness and care/treatment\"; \"communication and care/treatment\"; and \"humaneness, care/ treatment and communication\" simultaneously in a single case made up a large proportion of Case Hospital complaints. These complaints reflected, to some extent, clinicians' professional knowledge, skills and attitudes, which are essential components of doctors' performance (Irvine, 1997). This raises implications for further research. Whether \"communication\" is causally related to concerns about \"care/treatment\" by complainants; or whether \"humaneness\" relates to complainants' \"care/treatment\" concerns; or whether \"communication\" and \"humaneness\" influence \"care/treatment\" outcome or concerns; or whether outcomes or concerns of \"care/treatment\" affects \"communication\" or/and \"humaneness\". Notwithstanding, a US study shows that 70 per cent of lawsuits are caused by doctors' attitude and communication failure (Wilson, 1992). What is unclear, however, is whether there is a cause-effect relationship between care/treatment, communication, and humaneness in terms of patient complaints. In this respect this case study was unable to identify these factors and further research is required. The cause-effect relationship among these issues needs to be investigated further.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore hospital staff response to patient complaints and the factors influencing the response pathway.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses an exploratory study in a large Taiwanese hospital purposefully chosen as a case study site. The critical incident technique (CIT) is implemented, using a questionnaire along with non-participant observations in which the results have been triangulated. A total of 59 cases were collected.\nFindings: - The study found when facing \"humaneness\" complaints, hospital staff attempted to investigate the event and then explain the facts to the complainant or empathise with him/her and then refer the problem to the relevant unit. In response to complaints combining \"communication\" and \"care/treatment and humaneness\", staff tended to investigate the event's details and then directly explain them to the complainant. When complaints involved \"care/treatment\", staff tended to empathise with the complainant, investigate the facts and explain them to the complainant. Additionally, the organisational response to complaints was influenced by who made complaints; its type, severity, complaining method and patient status.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The literature revealed that the case study is the most common organisational study method. However, this approach is criticised for not offering findings that can be generalised.\nPractical implications: - Complaint nature is the major factor influencing the response pathway. If healthcare managers intend to reduce complaint rates then they need to carefully classify the complaint's nature. Different complaints have different handling procedures and guidelines to help managers resolve complaints in the first place.\nOriginality/value: - There are extensive studies focusing on investigating complaints and their resolution. These studies tend not to demonstrate various means of handling patient complaints. Neither do they describe how different complaints might lead to different outcomes. Therefore, this paper explores hospital staff response to patient complaints and the factors influencing the pathways in response to complaints.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Success in electronic commerce implementation: A cross-country study of small and medium-sized enterprises
|
[
"Electronic commerce",
"Internet",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"Australia",
"Singapore",
"International marketing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The last decade has witnessed tremendous advances since the emergence of the internet and Worldwide Web (WWW). This phenomenon closely followed by the significant rise in electronic commerce (EC) has changed and is still changing the way business is conducted around the world. For many companies, EC has become one of the most promising and opportunistic tools for reaching out to customers, communicating with business partners and the running of business operation. Despite the economic downturn and the burst of the \"dot-com\" bubble, EC is expected to continue its significant growth. In the US alone, the second decade of EC would boost online sales from $172 billion in 2005 to $329 billion in 2010 (Forrester Research, 2005), while Asia Pacific's B2B EC is forecasted to grow rapidly at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 59 per cent (IDC, 2004). Specifically, in Australia, EC is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion dollars annually (Australian Government Information Management Office, 2005).EC permeates all facets of business strategy, enabling organisations to improve business communications as well as business processes. It is also known to benefit all stakeholders in the business such as consumer, supplier, management team and investors. One section of the economy that has clearly benefited from the opportunities that EC offers is the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). EC has helped opened up the market, particularly on the supply- and demand-side for SMEs. Small firms are now able to compete in the same global arena that has previously only been the exclusive territory of multinationals corporations. This massive change for SME's has resulted in a number of studies being undertaken by EC researchers worldwide. The strong interest is driven by two clear facts:1. SMEs play a significant role in most countries' economies; and2. EC can provide SMEs with an unprecedented range of benefits, including a relatively inexpensive means of accessing global markets using a low cost communication medium.1.1 Importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises\n2. Theoretical perspective of the study: It should be noted that this study has been informed by a substantial variety of previous research on adoption, implementation, and innovation diffusion theories applied to technology in general: information systems (IS), information technology (IT), electronic data enterchange (EDI), inter-organisational system (IOS), and management of information systems (MIS). Clearly, EC is not identical with any of them. It necessarily involves IT which it shares with IS and MIS and at more sophisticated levels is likely to enable EDI. It is also undeniably \"Inteorganisational\". It may therefore be argued that any factor that has been shown to influence the adoption and implementation of technology or application in general is worthy of consideration as a potential explanatory variable with respect to EC. To ensure thoroughness, wherever previous research or reasoning suggested a relationship between a factor and one of the variables, its possible influence on the focal variables will also be hypothesised. Innovation diffusion theories have been particularly useful for understanding the facilitators and inhibitors of EC, because they provide insight into the factors that influence the adoption of innovation. After a critical analysis of existing models, their influencing factors, stages, and process, the theoretical framework is extended to incorporate important organisational and contextual aspects of adoption in the development of the research model.2.1 Adoption and implementation of EC\n3. Research model: In this study, it is proposed that several factors influence the satisfaction level of EC implementation. To assist in the selection of the most significant variables for EC adoption, a number of possible relevant factors have been identified from previous adoption studies and grouped into broad categories of internal and external environmental factors. The distinction between internal and external environmental factors is made to separate organisation-specific (and organisation-determined) factors from those that are imposed (and determined) from outside the organisation. Figure 2 presents the research model in which the relationship between the influencing factors and the overall satisfaction was examined.3.1 Influencing factors of EC adoption and implementation\n4. Research methodology: A positivist approach was undertaken in order to develop a research model rather than confirming an existing one. This model is operationalised on the basis of correlational hypothesis testing, as opposed to the determination of a definitive cause and effect relationship. The desired result testing the model is the identification of variables that are associated with the overall satisfaction of EC adoption. A cross sectional approach was undertaken to measure firms' responses with regard to the adoption of EC.4.1 Data collection\n5. Results: Table II represents the Australian results of the stepwise-backward elimination, whereby factors that are statistically significant in the model for overall satisfaction are retained. These reveal an expected moderate reduction in R-squared and an increase in adjusted R-squared value from 0.397 to 0.407. There is also an improvement in the overall significance of F-value from 0.001 to 0.000.Since the F-value is significant at the 1 per cent level, it can be asserted that there is strong evidence to support that the overall model is significant and the independent variables retained are related to the overall satisfaction. As illustrated in Table II, the adjusted R-squared value indicates that 40.7 percent of the variation in overall satisfaction by Australian SMEs is explained by the corresponding variations in observability, variety of communication channels, customer pressure, supplier pressure, and perceived governmental support. All variables are significant at the 0.05 level or better.As for the Singaporean data, the regression model explained 60.6 per cent of overall satisfaction. Of all the three factors, Observability was the only significant variable at the 0.01 level for the Singaporean SMEs (Table III). This result is consistent with the Australian findings. Both organisational factors, size of the firm and perceived readiness, are associated with significance in the Singaporean data but not in the Australian data. This may imply that firm size and perceived readiness are more of an issue for the implementation of EC in Singaporean firms than for companies in Australia.Figure 3 depicts the factors that are supported by significant evidence in both countries.\n6. Discussion of findings: The study has provided a framework for understanding the factors affecting the implementation of EC in SMEs. The application of the framework has contributed to a discussion of the role of internal resources, communication methods, Government support, customers' and suppliers' pressures in small business decisions to implement EC. Previous studies have mainly focused on the importance of characteristics of the innovation and organisational context on SMES EC adoption behaviour. This study has shown that the characteristics of these two context are necessary conditions for the implementation of EC for Singaporean SMEs, but not sufficient enough for the Australian sample. Communication and external environmental context are keys in this process. As EC supports multiple business function (from human communication to business transactions) and has an interorganisational focus, the utilisation of different communication channels and attaining trading partner's support (i.e. customer and supplier) is essential to successfully implement EC.6.1 Size of firm\n7. Conclusion, limitation and further research: The major contribution of this study is in understanding what the organisational, technological, communication, and external environmental drivers of EC implementation are. The study has been conducted in Australia and Singapore. The study has found that the proposed model can be used in investigating drivers of EC implementation in SMEs, and the empirical data has adequately supported the model. The findings have showed that the organisational and innovation characteristics are necessary, but to provide a more comprehensive picture in explaining the implementation behaviour of SMEs, one needs to consider other factors and contexts especially when testing the model in different countries. Communication methods employed, government support, external pressure from customers and suppliers have been found to be very important for Australian SMEs in this decision.In this paper, overall satisfaction is the more subjective measure of success that complements the other components of implementation success in the broader study (such as extent of deployment and the level of usage). According to the results of this study, firms in Singapore that are larger, possess higher sense of readiness, have higher confidence and observability in the value and benefits that EC would bring them, tend to be more satisfied with the implementation of EC. In Australia, apart from possessing positive attitude towards future gains of EC, those that use a greater variety of communication channels to disseminate EC-related information tend to have greater overall satisfaction with the adoption. Supplier pressure should not be resisted by SMEs and it should be viewed as an opportunity to seek support from supplying firms to improve its EC capability. In contrast, when higher customer pressure is experienced, the overall satisfaction tends to be lower for the adopters. Interestingly, the factors that were found to be unique to the SMEs in Singapore are internal environment-related (size of firm, perceived readiness), while factors that are exclusive to the Australian experience are external environment-related (supplier pressure, customer pressure, and perceived governmental support). This further confirms the view that SMEs in both countries adopt a different attitude towards adoption and implementation of EC. In Singapore, SMEs adopts an inward-looking attitude towards adoption and implementation when the knowledge of sufficient resources seemed to improve the overall satisfaction. On the other hand, firms in Australia are more outwardly-oriented when the overall satisfaction of the adoption involves adequately managing or controlling the pressure that was exerted by their trading partners, and attaining assistance from the Government. Then again, the perceived readiness amongst Singaporean SMEs may also be due to the extensive effort put in by the Singapore government in establishing electronic-infrastructure services and setting (Garelli, 2001)[3].The exploratory nature of the research has helped identify associations between variables from which more confirmatory or causally directional hypotheses can be generated in the future. Progress towards the formulation of a more comprehensive causal model may be achieved in future research. Here, the technique of structural equation modelling may be usefully applied. It would also be insightful to conduct longitudinal studies to confirm the direction and to help clarify causality and test for feedback effects of adoption decisions. In this study, no attempt was made to control for industry type. The models may be tested more intensively in a chosen or a specific industry. Comparison of the research model can also be conducted over several countries to test for generalisability, particularly in different geographic regions. The contrasting contexts may provide some interesting results. Last, having established the soundness of the theoretical framework of implementation success for SMEs, other researchers may investigate its applicability to a wider range of business communication technologies and further innovations in the future.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of electronic commerce (EC) implementation success for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to present outcomes of a comparative study between two countries to reflect the differences in the adoption strategies and explore reasons behind such variations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Preliminary studies were conducted in both Australia and Singapore prior to a cross-country survey, which collected the perceptions of small businesses about their experience with internet-based EC. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the influencing factors that affect success in the implementation of internet-based EC.\nFindings: - By regressing overall satisfaction on the 19 influencing factors of EC success, the paper found that five factors: observability; communication channel; customer pressure; supplier pressure; and perceived governmental support, make significant contribution to the adoption of internet-based EC in Australia; and only three factors: firm size; perceived readiness; and observability, have significant impact in Singapore.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The exploratory nature of the research means confirmatory or causally directional hypotheses could be generated in the future. It would also be insightful to conduct longitudinal studies to confirm the direction, to help clarify causality and test for feedback effects of adoption decisions. There was also no attempt made to control for industry type, which could tested more intensively in a chosen industry. Generalisability to other geographical context could be achieved if the research model can be tested over several other countries.\nPractical implications: - The study has found that the proposed model can be used in investigating drivers of EC implementation in SMEs, and the empirical data has adequately supported the model. The findings show that the organisational and innovation characteristics are necessary, but to provide a more comprehensive picture in explaining the implementation behaviour of SMEs, one needs to consider other factors and contexts especially when testing the model in different countries. Communication methods employed, government support, external pressure from customers and suppliers have been found to be very important for Australian SMEs in this decision.\nOriginality/value: - A major contribution of this study is that it provides an understanding of what the organisational, technological, communication, and external environmental drivers of EC implementation are. The findings of this study could also help companies embarking upon cross border activities by illustrating the differences in EC adoption between the two Asia-Pacific nations. The study also provides a close examination of the inhibiting and facilitating factors which can affect EC adoption success. By knowing the relative importance of these factors, SMEs may be spared from expending their limited resources and energy on less important factors which have limited contribution to EC implementation success.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How long should a training program be? A field study of "rules-of-thumb"
|
[
"Behaviour",
"Skills training",
"Role play",
"Discipline",
"Employee behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The traditional approach to the design of organizational training programs \"falls more in the category of 'art' rather than the category of 'technique based on rigorous empirical research'. We need to know more about ... choosing the right combination of methods and techniques ... \" (Wexley, 1989, p. 487). This reality persists today, despite significant investment in training. It was estimated that in 2005, US companies spent almost $110 billion on employee learning and development (Rivera and Paradise, 2006). Although a recent meta-analysis of the relationship between training design and evaluation features and the effectiveness of training showed a medium to large effect size (ranging from 0.60 to 0.63 across various effectiveness criteria) for organizational training, the authors concluded that studies examining the differential effectiveness of different training methods for the same content were warranted (Arthur et al., 2003).Importance of length of training\nMethod: Research design\nAnalysis and results: Needs analysis\nDiscussion: The empirical results reported here provide evidence of the extent to which training effectiveness is sensitive to length of time taken for the training. The study results indicate that when training aimed at behavioral change is designed with a length determined by \"rules-of-thumb\", the training program may not be long enough to achieve its behavioral change goals. In this study, extra training time was required for trainees to demonstrate behavior changes, relative to a control group, which could be recognized by unionized employees and experts.The hypothesis that the increase in self-efficacy would be greater for participants in the longer training condition was not supported. Self-efficacy increased significantly for participants in both training conditions. Although participants in both training conditions indicated significantly enhanced self-efficacy relating to disciplinary fairness, actual behavior did not bear out this belief for participants in the shorter training condition. This result supports previous findings of self-deception in the early stages of training (Lee and Klein, 2002).The results also demonstrate that it is possible to provide training in difficult behavioral skills such as one-on-one feedback and achieve measurable behavioral change, given sufficient training time. Behavioral change is the goal of many supervisory and management development programs because of the importance of behavioral skills in effective management (Hunt and Baruch, 2003; Taylor et al., 2005; Longnecker and Fink, 2006).Implications\nConclusion: The results of this research have the potential to be broadly applicable to management training and may possibly generalize to training in other disciplines where the training is intended to effect behavioral change. The most important conclusion from this research is that more attention is required to the length of training programs as they are being designed, especially if behavioral change is a goal of the training. A minimalist approach to training, using rules-of-thumb regarding training length, may be insufficient for bringing about behavioral change. It is necessary to allow time for repeated practice to permit enactive mastery of the learning points and subsequent behavioral change. Thus some training programs may not be effective as currently designed. More systematic evaluation is needed to assess the validity of existing and future training programs. In particular, further research is needed to explore various lengths of training time to find the specific length of time that is required to effect behavioral change. Future research could also incorporate other factors affecting training effectiveness such as curriculum design and method of delivery, as well as interactions between these factors and training length.The study included a broad range of public and private unionized organizations, and therefore results appear to have external validity for supervisors in unionized settings. Future research could investigate whether these results generalize to non-unionized workplaces.Further investigation is also required to examine additional measures of training effectiveness including results criteria such as grievances, and number of arbitration cases. Such data are important because they may provide evidence that the training has practical significance for cost-conscious organizations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine the question of how long a behavioral skills training program should be in order to result in measurable behavioral change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An empirical field study was conducted to compare two different lengths of time for a managerial skills training program aimed at achieving behavioral change. The training time for the first training condition was based on \"rules-of-thumb\" found in the literature. The training time was increased in an \"extended\" training condition that covered the same material but permitted more time for lecture, role-playing and discussion.\nFindings: - Results showed that, relative to a control group, participants in the \"extended\" training condition exhibited behavioral change, but those in the \"rules-of-thumb\" training condition did not. Self-efficacy increased significantly for trainees in both training conditions.\nPractical implications: - More attention is required to the length of training programs as they are being designed, especially if behavioral change is a goal of the training. Using rules-of-thumb regarding training length may be insufficient for bringing about behavioral change. More importantly, the need for more effective management skills will not be met, and organizational performance outcomes may be jeopardized.\nOriginality/value: - The results of this research have the potential to be broadly applicable to management training and may possibly generalize to training in other disciplines where the training is intended to effect behavioral change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The long-run interrelationship between exchange rate and interest rate: the case of Mexico
|
[
"Interest rate",
"NARDL",
"Exchange rate"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the 1990s, many emerging economies experimented damaging currency crises with governments reacting by drastically changing their monetary and exchange rate policies. Since then, Central Banks have switched to inflation-targeting policies to be more effective in maintaining monetary stability and increasing their credibility. Under the new regime, short-term interest rates have become Central Banks' main operating target.\n2. Theoretical background: The relationship between interest rate and exchange rate has been investigated in various theoretical and empirical models. However, to the best of our knowledge, most of the studies have been focused on the causality between exchange rates and interest rate in a linear way while, in this work, we are focusing on the existence of asymmetric relationship between these variables. Since the seminal work by Mundell (1963), economists have dedicated many theoretical and empirical studies to the nature and the strength of the relationship between exchange rate and the interest rate. The dominant theory clearly specifies that given the assumption of perfect capital mobility, under flexible exchange rates a small country cannot maintain a different interest rate than the one that dominates at the international level. As a matter of fact, the effects of interest rates differentials on the exchange rate are particularly relevant over the short run. For instance, if the domestic interest rate is higher than the one prevailing on the international markets, the country experiences a positive financial capital inflows and an increasing pressure through the balance of payments on the exchange rate that leads to the appreciation of the domestic currency. Yet, things might not be so straightforward since monetary authorities can react by increasing bank reserves to contrast the pressures on the exchange rates and the possible negative impact of domestic currency appreciation on the economy.\n3. Data and methodology: Our empirical analysis uses monthly data in the interval 1996M2-2017M6, hence we are able to test the interrelationship between the interest rate and the exchange rate under a regime of flexible exchange rate and no inflation targeting (1996-2000) and a period of inflation targeting 2001-2017. We obtain data from different sources: the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central Bank of Mexico and the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography.\n4. Non-linear autoregressive distributed lags model: The NARDL model (Shin et al., 2014) is an extension of the linear autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and is built on the assumption that the long-run effects (positive and negative) of a variable xt on a variable yt can be asymmetric. Formally the long-run relationship between these two variables can be written in the following way:(1)\n5. Empirical results: Economic theory suggests that major changes in the exchange rate are mainly caused by the differential between domestic and foreign interest rates. These differentials produce financial capital inflows and outflows and, in turn, exchange rate depreciation and appreciation. Yet, as previously discussed, in the long run movements in the exchange rate may influence the interest rates through reserve accumulation. We now test whether in the long-run, in a developing economy such as Mexico, it is the interest rate that determines the exchange rate or, vice versa, it is the exchange rate that influences the rate of interest.\n6. Conclusions: The nature of the interrelationship between the real interest rate and the real exchange rate is complex and bidirectional. If on short time horizons, the real interest rate, as theory predicts, affects the real exchange rate, on longer horizons, the causality between these variable reverses. This is particularly true for emerging economies in which central banks attempt to control for the stability of exchange rates by accumulating foreign reserves. Interestingly, variations in the exchange rate appear to affect asymmetrically the real interest rate. We find that Mexican data support this evidence and observe that positive changes in the exchange rate (depreciation) have a lower impact on the interest rate than negative changes (appreciation).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the long-term nature of the interrelationship between interest rate and exchange rate.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By employing Mexican data, the authors estimate a non-linear autoregressive distributed lags (NARDL) model to investigate the nature of the changes and the interaction between interest rate and exchange rate in response to monetary authorities' actions.\nFindings: The results show that, contrary to simplistic predictions, the real exchange rate causes the real interest rate in an asymmetric way. The bounds testing approach of the NARDL models suggests the presence of co-integration among the variables and the exchange rate variations appear to have significant long-run effects on the interest rate. Most importantly, these effects are asymmetric and positive variations in the exchange rate have a lower impact on the interest rate. It is also interesting to report that the reverse is not true: the interest rate in the long-run exerts no statistical significant impact on the exchange rate.\nPractical implications: The asymmetric long-term relationship between real exchange rate and real interest rate is evidence of why monetary authorities are reluctant to free float exchange rate. In Mexico, as in most developing countries, monetary policy strongly responds to exchange rate movements because these have relevant effects on commercial trade. Moreover, in dollarized economies these effects are stronger because of pass-through impacts to inflation, income distribution and balance-sheet equilibrium (the well-known \"original sin\").\nOriginality/value: Under inflation targeting and flexible exchange rate regime, despite central banks pursue the control of short-term interest rate, in the long-run one could observe that it is the exchange rate that influences the interest rate, and that this reverse causality is stronger in emerging economies. This paper contributes by analysing the asymmetric relationship between the variables.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corn starch dextrin changes intestinal microbiota and its metabolic activity in rats fed a basal and high-fat diet
|
[
"Obesity",
"Prebiotics",
"Bacteroidetes",
"Corn dextrin",
"Firmicutes",
"SCFA"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A considerable body of research has shown that obesity is associated with, inter alia, significant changes in the composition and metabolic function of the gut microbiota; thus, of special importance is the preservation of appropriate proportions between Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes strains (Ley et al., 2006; Sanz and Santacruz, 2008). According to Backhed, Gordon and De Filippo, human obesity is linked to the composition of the gut microbiota (Backhed et al., 2004; De Filippo et al., 2010; Ley et al., 2006). Backhed et al. reported that the proportion of Bacteroidetes was much lower in obese mice (20 percent) than in normal individuals (up to 40 percent) (Backhed et al., 2004; Backhed et al., 2007). However, there are studies that do not confirm that the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes is a characteristic of obese or lean people. Meta analyses show that the ratio of Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes is not a consistent feature distinguishing lean from obese human microbiota generally (Finucane et al., 2014; Walters et al., 2014; Sze and Schloss, 2016). In another study on mice, Flessner found that a diet high in animal fat and low in dietary fiber led to a reduction in Bacteroidetes and an increase in Firmicutes (Fleissner et al., 2010). Other studies conducted on rats and healthy humans confirmed that prebiotics prevent overweight and obesity and decrease hunger while enhancing satiety (Cani et al., 2007; Parnell and Reimer, 2009). These beneficial outcomes vary between prebiotics and their exact effects on the growth of gut microbiota and its activity, including short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production; they also indirectly depend on the levels of the peptide PYY (synthesized and secreted by ileal and colonic L cells, stimulating the satiety center) and GLP-1 (reducing glycemia, insulin resistance, and fat tissue content in the body and increasing satiety) (Alvarez-Castro et al., 2012; Delzenne et al., 2011; Parnell et al., 2012).\nMaterials and methods: Dextrin\nResults: Although after 12 weeks of the experiment the consumption of the HF diet by the rats decreased (Table III, p<0.001), the diet nevertheless led to a significantly higher final body weight, body weight gain and epididymal fat mass (all at p<0.001); these parameters were not affected by corn dextrin supplementation (not significantly affected).\nDiscussion: Recent research has shown that the gut microbiota plays an important role in maintaining normal body weight. Thus, a strategy of combating overweight and obesity could involve the development of prebiotics (food ingredients) which would be fermented by the colonic microbiota and selectively stimulate the growth of bacteria secreting beneficial metabolites. It has been found that overweight and obesity may be reduced by the consumption of dietary fiber (Du et al., 2008; Grube et al., 2013; Slavin, 2008). In the present study, to gain a better understanding of the activity of corn starch dextrin, experiments were conducted to determine the effects of standard and high-fat diets supplemented with corn dextrin on the abundance and relative proportions of the intestinal bacteria Bacteroides, Prevotella (phylum Bacteroidetes), Bifidobacterium (phylum Actinobacteria) and Clostridium, Lactobacillus (phylum Firmicutes). The diets were administered to rats over a period of 12 weeks, after which time the composition of the gut microbiota was analyzed and the glycolytic activity of the bacteria, as well as their metabolites (SCFAs) in the distal intestine, were examined.\nConclusions: Dextrin obtained as a result of heating corn starch with HCl (as a catalyst) and citric acid (as a cross-linking agent) at 130degC for 180 min can beneficially modify the composition of the gut microbiota, selectively stimulating the growth of Bacteroides, Prevotella (phylum Bacteroides) and Bifidobacterium (phulum Actinobacteria) at the expense of Clostridium, Lactobacillus (phylum Firmicutes). Furthermore, irrespective of the diet type, supplementation with corn dextrin enhances bacterial glycolytic activity and the cecal production of total SCFAs, with strongly increased propionate and decreased butyrate fermentation. The presented findings indicate that except for reducing butyric acid fermentation, corn dextrin brings about favorable changes in the distal intestine. However, those benefits are in themselves insufficient to prevent overweight and obesity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of low-fat and high-fat diets supplemented with dextrin obtained from corn starch on the numbers and relative proportions of enteric bacteria Bacteroidetes (Bacteroides, Prevotella), Actinobacteria (Bifidobacterium) and Firmicutes (Clostridium, Lactobacillus). Moreover, basic indicators of gastrointestinal function (among other things: epidydymal fat mass, mass with contents, pH in the colon, cecum, small intestine, fecal enzymes were investigation) and short-chain fatty acids are analyzed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In vivo experimental studies in rats (analized samples of the ileal, cecal and colonic digesta; pH; blood serum; fecal enzymes); determination of the number of bacteria - fluorescence in situ hybridization; and determination of type and concentration SCFA - HPLC were considered.\nFindings: No statistically significant differences in final body weight were found between rats fed low-fat and high-fat diets supplemented with dextrin. In rats fed the low-fat diet with dextrin, the gut microbiota composition was as follows: 42.74 percent Bacteroises and Prevotella (Bacteroidetes), 35.28 percent Clostridium and Lactobacilllus (Firmicutes) and 21.98 percent Bifidobacterium (Actinobacteria), while in rats fed the high-fat diet with dextrin it was similar. Irrespective of the diet type, supplementation with dextrin enhances bacterial glycolytic activity and the cecal production of total SCFAs, with strongly increased propionate and decreased butyrate fermentation.\nPractical implications: Dextrin may enrich food or be a component of functional foods.\nOriginality/value: Dextrin from corn starch may contribute to changes in the composition of intestinal microbiota.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Strategic positioning, differentiation and performance of Brazilian wineries
|
[
"Strategic positioning",
"Differentiation",
"Performance",
"Quantitative",
"Wines",
"Strategy",
"Survey research"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to the Brazilian Institute of Wine (Ibravin), the market for fine wines shrank by [?] 3 per cent between 2015 and 2016 and by [?] 18 per cent between 2016 and 2017, which were equivalent to 0.6 and 3.6 million liters fewer, respectively. In contrast, during the same period Brazilian imports of wines and sparkling wines from countries, such as Portugal, France, Italy, Argentina and Chile increased by [?] 13 per cent for 2015-2016 and [?] 37 per cent for 2016-2017 (Ibravin, 2017).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Strategic positioning\n3. Research methodology: The empirical component of this research project was conducted using quantitative analysis of data collected using survey techniques. The sample, selected by convenience, comprised 123 wineries located in several different regions (states) in Brazil. In this respect, the sample can be characterized by region of origin as 78.86 per cent from Rio Grande do Sul; 13.01 per cent from Santa Catarina; 2.44 per cent from Parana; 2.44 per cent from Sao Paulo; 1.63 per cent from Bahia; and 1.63 per cent from Pernambuco. According to Ibravin (2018a), these regions are the main wine producing regions in Brazil. It should be noted that the state of Rio Grande do Sul has the largest number of respondents because it is accounts for 90 per cent of national production, according to Ibravin (2018b). The sample, therefore, respects the proportionality of the geographical distribution of the wineries.\n4. Research results: The procedures for analyzing the data collected were initially run for prospector orientation. The results of confirmatory factorial analysis returned values for the CFI (0.781) and TLI (0.694) that were below the expected minimum that is 0.900. From another perspective, the RMSEA indicator (0.000) was considered to indicate fit because a value of <0.100 was expected.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Considering the results of the data analysis, it is clear that the association between prospector behavior and differentiation is compatible with the reasoning set out in Miles and Snow's seminal research, as one characteristic of this type is to attempt to enter new markets and to anticipate competitors in terms of introducing new practices. According to Malone et al. (2008), Sollosy (2013) and Bebber et al. (2016), organizations with a predominantly prospector orientation do not just to identify but also to actually exploit opportunities through product and market development, so differentiation is a practice that is compatible with the strategies of this orientation.\n6. Practical and social implications, limitations and future research: 6.1 Practical (management) implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to verify whether managers' strategic orientation influences decision-making related to differentiation and whether these two factors impact on the performance of the firms in the Brazilian wine industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted with representatives from 123 wineries located in the following Brazilian states: 78.86 per cent in Rio Grande do Sul; 13.01 per cent in Santa Catarina; 2.44 per cent in Parana; 2.44 per cent in Sao Paulo; 1.63 per cent in Bahia; and 1.63 per cent in Pernambuco. The data were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques, resulting in a structural equations model of the constructs.\nFindings: The research findings show that there is a positive association between prospector orientation and differentiation. Analyst positioning was negatively associated with differentiation of winery companies. It was also possible to show that differentiation has a positive relationship with performance.\nOriginality/value: While a previous study attempted to identify wineries' strategic orientation using other theoretical constructs, this study makes a contribution to consolidating reflections on strategic orientation focused on differentiation and performance. The results contribute to expanding the scientific debate by filling a gap in existing theory and also provide information of use to decision-makers, demonstrating, which approaches improve differentiation, and hence, performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Value in professional service relationships
|
[
"Performance",
"Value",
"Loyalty",
"Relationship marketing",
"Professional services",
"Co-creation"
] |
[
{
"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.\nBackground: Relationships develop over time\nSetting and method: This is an exploratory study. We obtained data from a well-known and well-respected global firm that provides a full range of consulting and marketing research services (including customer satisfaction) to a broad spectrum of clients in a variety of industries, primarily in the USA. As a part of the vendor's own customer satisfaction program, an independent professional conducted client assessments for each completed project over a seven-year period (2000-2006).\nAnalysis: We began our analysis by first conducting three separate multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) - one for each distinct set of variables:\nDiscussion: A database of client evaluations of professional service projects that the vendor used for tactical management of customer relations was segmented into three tenure-related client categories, i.e. transactional customers, and emergent and mature relationships. The groups did not differ on average satisfaction and five performance quality variables (understanding objectives, meeting timelines, results when needed, interpretation, results guidance). However, on other perceived facets of relationship quality and service quality performance the groups differed. Furthermore, differences were obtained on all six image-related attributes of the vendor.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Business to business (B2B) professional services depend on inter-firm cooperation for the co-creation of value. Such cooperation rarely happens overnight; it requires time for the relationship to develop. The purpose of this research is to investigate how different performance attributes of a professional service differ with the tenure of the relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This exploratory study utilizes seven years of longitudinal customer data provided by a B2B professional service firm. The firm's customers assess satisfaction, value, loyalty, performance quality and their image of the firm after each project.\nFindings: Data were classified into three tenure related groups - i.e. transactional, emergent and mature relationships. MANOVA and post hoc contrasts of the average attribute scores of the three groups were conducted. The data support the conclusion that high performance in professional services is evident in mature relationships.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data come from company archives and reflect the firm's efforts for tactical management of client relationships, not independent informant reports from randomly selected accounts.\nPractical implications: Satisfaction surveys can be employed tactically by professional service providers to develop stronger relationships with their clients en route to co-creating extraordinary value from high levels of service quality and the client's high regard for the provider's professional qualities, such as expertise, customer focus and initiative.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, no one has shown empirically the dramatic performance advantage stemming from relationships. This is important because theory suggests that customer relationships hold strategic value. Because they are immobile and inimitable, they represent a potential sustainable competitive advantage. However, relationships take time to develop. This begs the question of whether they are worth the time and effort to develop. In the professional service context, where buyer and seller seemingly must collaborate to co-create value, mature relationships indeed yield higher performance, compared to transactional and emerging relationships.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Grey consumers are all the same, they even dress the same - myth or reality?
|
[
"Older consumers",
"Clothing",
"Market segmentation",
"Buying behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Adults who are aged over 50, the growing \"grey market\" have been the focus for several researchers (Beck, 1996; Mitchell, 1996; Kang and Ridgway, 1996; Weaver, 1996; Burt and Gabbot, 1995; Semon, 1995; Mazur, 1993). Population figures and forecasts suggest that the youth market is shrinking (Carrigan and Szmigin, 1998). The developed countries have more people over 50 years old than ever before in the history of mankind with growing trends in absolute as well as in relative values (Dychtwald, 1999). Today, there are approximately 600 million people over the age of 60 living on this planet. By the year 2050 this figure is expected to almost quadruple to two billion (Moschis, 2003).Two main forces have been responsible for this global aging: the \"baby-boom\" in post-second world war years with its high birth rates and the increase in life expectancy in the twentieth century, when we gained 30 years in life expectancy (Moschis, 2003).Nowadays, elderly people differ substantially from all the other elderly people before them. They live longer, are healthier, more vital and active, which has led to changes in their lifestyle, attitude towards life and in their consumer behaviour. These facts make the segment of elderly consumers worthy of a selective marketing approach and increasingly interesting from both a practical and theoretical side (Treguer, 2002; Dychtwald, 1999; Guenter, 1998).The changing demographic trends with the rise of the older population are creating a whole new marketing opportunities for several industries, including apparel (Beck, 1996; Weaver, 1996; Anon., 1994; Doka, 1992).Authors generally agree that older consumer market is attractive in terms of numbers and spending power and that it is heterogeneous (Long, 1998; Ahmad, 2002).1.1 Demographic trends in Slovenia\n2 Research model and data collection: Different authors argue that \"grey market\" is far from being homogeneous. The myth \"All older people are the same\" is one of the most unrealistic (Dychtwald, 1999). The professional and social activity level proved to be an efficient segmenting base (Weijters and Guenes, 2003). The objective of this research it is to test both, the myth \"All older people are the same\" and if the professional and social activity levels play an important role in dividing the respondents into different segments in the field of apparel shopping. According to the literature review, there is a lack of researches and of reliable information on the consumption of apparel by the elderly (Figure 1).2.1 Independent variables\n3 Results: 3.1 Brief sample description\n4 Conclusion: Changes in demographics, growing numbers and share of people over 50 years old results in an increased interest in this part of population. The so called \"grey market\" 50+ or \"older population\" is becoming more and more the focus of marketers and, thus also in the apparel and fashion businesses. The lack of scientific studies on this matter led us to investigate one of the myths (Dychtwald, 1999) namely that \"all older people are the same\". Is this true for apparel consumer behaviour? We tried to find out if it is possible to use a relatively simple base for segmenting older population consisting of just two questions namely \"Are you retired or employed?\" and \"Are you socially active?\", suggested by Weijters and Geuens (2003). These two questions segmented the sample into four groups or a priori segments.We examined seven aspects of apparel consumer behaviour: where do our respondents buy apparel and how often in each retail place; do they like shopping; how often they buy apparel; how much they spend; who/what influences them to buy; who/how influences their clothing style and other statements about consumer behaviour related with apparel.There were found statistically significant differences between all four segments on six fields with the exception of \"willingness to shop for apparel\". In fact, we found significant differences in three out of ten items concerning factors influencing the purchase of apparel and in three out of eight items regarding influences on apparel style. As for the frequency of purchase, significant differences have occurred in four out of six items, whereas other statements about apparel consumer behaviour have showed differences between groups in sixteen out of twenty nine items.Taking into account the results of the survey, we can conclude that it is not true that \"all older people are the same\", as far, as the apparel business is concerned. The population observed in our research is not homogeneous, although the differences are not so obvious and numerous as one could expect. However, we must not overlook the fact that segmentation was based just on two simple questions.A careful look at the significant differences among groups leads to the conclusion that most were due to the employment status of the respondents and less by social activity. Irrespective of this social activity differentiates senior respondents in a way which allows the planning of separate marketing strategies and marketing communication mixes for senior apparel consumers.Moreover, the results are useful for planning differential marketing mixes for each consumer segment. It is important for product management to consider that older consumers want more comfortable clothes, that they buy clothes only if they need them (not if they just like it) and, that they wear clothes longer than other consumers. As for place management, it is important to take into account that older consumers like to shop more in independent small shops and less in shopping centres, and that they are very receptive to personal advices from sales people. Regarding price management, it is necessary to have in mind that older apparel buyers are more price sensitive, spend less money and shop less frequently than younger consumers. Concerning promotion management, it is also important to note that grey consumers are not loyal to brands and are not so fashion driven as younger consumers.Identical marketing strategies, which assume that the market of elderly consumers of apparel is just a part of the entire market (one size fits to all), can lead companies to not meet the requirements of such an enormous and varied consumer segment.The difference between retirees and employees becomes increasingly significant as the age of the consumer and their shopping enjoyment declines.For clothing retailers and advertisers, it is just as important to know where consumers are not getting their clothing ideas, as it is to know where they getting it. Celebrities, and store personnel are at the bottom of the list of where they are getting ideas. The impact of those factors is essentially minimal as consumers' get older (Textile Consumer, 2003). This fact is confirmed by our research, where celebrities, friends and fashion magazines were found to be of minimal importance for the socially inactive retirees. Therefore, marketing strategies that rely on celebrities should be carried out with care. Furthermore, it appears that retailers could make more effective use of their in-store-personnel by improving their ability to deal with older consumers.In practice, the retailers of apparel and advertisers targeting senior consumers should take into account the proposed segmentation. Among retirees, it might prove useful to focus on the socially active subgroup. Compared to their socially inactive counterparts, and apart from their higher probability of influencing others (social contacts), these people are showing higher attitudinal brand loyalty, less price sensitivity, purchase apparel more frequently and spend more on clothing.The communication mix can be adapted to meet their media habits: they are heavy users of radio and TV and more easily reached by internet (Weijters and Geuens, 2003).In conclusion, both professional and social activities, as measured in this study, have proven their usefulness. Although some results shows that a posteriori segmentation based on cluster analysis (Mumel and Prodnik, 2005) is more powerful in differentiating older consumers even such a \"primitive\" approach shows that older population is not a homogeneous group. Compared to some other segmentation procedures, the procedure used in this research is easy to implement. The derived segments are accessible, responsive and actionable. The provided profiles of each segment make a target marketing approach feasible.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research was to test the statement. \"All older people are the same\" and answer the question if professional and social activity play an important role in dividing the respondents into different segments in the field of apparel shopping. We examined seven aspects of apparel consumer behaviour: where do our respondents buy apparel and how often in each retail place, do they like shopping, how often they buy apparel, how much they spend, who/what influence them to buy, who/how influence on their clothing style and other statements about consumer behaviour related with apparel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - First, the results of 271 older consumers of apparel through multiplicity sample were collected. Then an a priori segmentation based on social and professional activity was conducted.\nFindings: - Based on the survey, it can be concluded that it is not true that \"all older people are the same\", as far, as the apparel business is concerned. The population observed is not homogeneous, although the differences are not so obvious and numerous as one could expect.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper demonstrates a simple a priori segmentation based on professional and social activities of respondents. In further research it is inevitably to compare results with a posteriori segmentation based on cluster analysis or discriminant analysis.\nPractical implications: - The results are useful for product, place, price, and promotion management and through this for planning differential marketing mixes for separate older consumer segments.\nOriginality/value: - The value of this article is to extend our knowledge in the field of apparel behaviour of older consumers, and to demonstrate how useful could be just two simple questions (about professional and social activities) in differentiating older consumers regarding apparel behaviour.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effects of humour usage by financial advisors in sales encounters
|
[
"Financial services",
"Humour",
"Selling methods",
"Marketing strategy",
"Banks",
"Customer satisfaction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The financial industry has historically been perceived as conservative, traditional, and somewhat boring (Frye, 2001; Shanmugam and Bourke, 1992; Uzelac and Sudarevic, 2006). Similarly, as seen in movies involving the banking sector, financial advisors are often depicted as tedious and old-fashioned characters (that is, when they are not portrayed as crooks). In other words, the use of effective humour by financial advisors seems scarce in most customers' minds.\nLiterature review: Humour\nMethodology: Research context\nAnalyses and results: Sample description\nDiscussion and managerial implications: The main objective of this research was to determine the effects of humour usage by financial advisors on the client's perception of perceived risk, trust, service quality, satisfaction, purchase intentions, and WOM propensity. In the last paragraphs, we presented several findings worthy of further discussion. The purpose of this section is to discuss research results, to distil from their interpretation some interesting conclusions, and to examine their practical and theoretical implications.To our knowledge, we are the first authors to test the links between salespeople's sense of humour and much of the aforementioned relational outcomes. What is striking after a glance at Table III is that in the client sample, humour was strongly and significantly related to all the consequences under study. While this, by itself, may not be a novel finding, the results clearly signal that perceptions of salesperson humouristic skills play an important role in enhancing relational outcomes. Several plausible explanations (worthy of further exploration) for these findings can be offered.The impact of a salesperson's sense of humour on the client's perceived risk is in line with the work of Avolio et al. (1999), where the use of humour has been perceived as a proof of confidence, competence, and knowledge. It is also consistent with the contention of Dobson (2006), who claims that a great sense of humour has also been linked to social confidence and a healthy perspective on life (Dobson, 2006). This may explain why humour decreased the customers' perceptions of risk. Strangely, no correlation was found in the financial advisor sample. Perhaps, advisors, with their strong financial and accounting training, only (or mostly) considered the financial component of risk. In comparison, clients may intuitively have thought of different and complementary types of risk (i.e. psychological, social, etc.).In the client sample, humour explained 22 per cent of the variance in trust. In an interesting study involving organizations, Barsoux (1996) also found that humour improved trust among employees. Additionally, Lyttle (2001) argued that humour increases the perception of likeability and credibility, two important facets of trust. However, the impact of humour on trust was non-significant in the financial advisor sample. It is plausible that advisors perceive humour as a threat to client comprehension of key information and that it trivializes the importance of a highly involving service. As Gleason (1982) once stated, perhaps financial advisors perceive that the use of humour should not be used as a substitute for accuracy or clarity. Nonetheless, since client perception are central in marketing, it is important to note that an interesting correlation between humour and trust was observed in this research.Our results indicate that higher levels of humouristic skills positively influence the perception of service quality. In studies undertaken outside the selling arena, humour was found to lighten the atmosphere (Avolio et al., 1999) and close communication gaps (Barsoux, 1996), two factors that are known to increase service quality (Zeithaml, 1988). Higher employee motivation caused by the use of humour (Teng Fatt, 2002) may also explain its significant influence on service quality. The strong correlation between the two constructs is particularly interesting since service quality has become a principal competitive weapon in the banking war as products can be very easily duplicated. Furthermore, most customers put less emphasis on attributes that are difficult to assess (like complex financial products) and rely more on search and experience attributes to judge the service offering.Another important consequence of salespeople's sense of humour is customer satisfaction. In fact, the perception of effective humour explained 13 per cent of the variance in satisfaction in the financial advisor sample and a surprising 36 per cent in the customer sample. In the anecdotal literature, Tschohl (1996) claimed that humour improves customer satisfaction. Humour is also a great stress and anxiety reliever (Lippit, 1982; Teng Fatt, 2002). A relaxed customer may thus feel more satisfied than a stressed one. Our findings also support Vuorela (2005), who contended that humour helps to forge better relationship and improve interpersonal success.An additional interesting finding of this study involves the strength of the relationships between salespeople's humouristic skills and their customers' purchase intentions. The effects of humour on WOM propensity were even stronger; humour explaining 22 per cent and an astonishing 47 per cent of the WOM variance in the financial advisor and client samples, respectively. To explain these results, we argue that the positive social phenomenon engendered by humour broadens the salesperson's social network, which in turn, plays a very important role in the occurrences of WOM. The theory brought forward by Anderson et al. (1998) also provides an interesting explanation. They believe that buyers usually respond in a way that is consistent with what they receive from the seller. For example, a buyer who perceives the salesperson to be boring will probably be tedious towards the salesperson. Conversely, when a salesperson is funny and humouristic, the customer may more likely desire to give something back to the salesperson, like positive WOM publicity.In a business era where building lasting relationships is critical, the knowledge that humour can affect customer relationships is valuable for sales force managers and sales representatives alike. Some practical implications are discussed in the next section.Managerial implications\nLimitations, research opportunities, and conclusion: Part of the strength of a research project lies in the recognition of its limitations. It is important to understand the present paper's shortcomings and constraints to properly interpret its results. Fortunately, the limitations of one study can also become the source of inspiration for others. Clearly, the present study raises more questions than it provides answers. Because there are so many possible limitations and research avenues, this section briefly introduces those that we see as the most significant.Firstly, inferences about generalizability should be treated with caution since we tested our hypotheses in only one industry. This certainly constitutes an important limitation, even though we perceive that it was appropriate to select only one sector. Calder et al. (1981) argue that in theory development the focus should be on internal validity and, therefore, use of homogeneous samples is recommended. Weilbaker (1990) claims that considering the variety of selling positions and their requirements, it is important to examine only one type of selling before attempting to prove external validity and generalizations. While the context of the present research provides such homogeneity, researchers should now seek to examine the relationships tested in this study in other sales situation.Secondly, when interpreting the results, readers should be reminded that causal relationships cannot be determined based solely on our findings. Results obtained from SEM analyses provide the degree of association between two factors in a single time period. In other words, we treated the independent variables as humour consequences. However, some of them could be considered as antecedents of effective humour. For instance, some researchers argue that sufficient trust has to be developed first before using humour (Duncan, 1982; Maples et al., 2001).Thirdly, even if our findings show that having a good sense of humour has an impact on several relational outcomes, it does not explain on which base customers evaluate humour. In that fashion, our two-item scale of humour would certainly benefit from a more thorough conceptualization. For example, further research is needed to identify the different cues used by customers to assess a salesperson sense of humour.Fourthly, a key limitation with presenting long questionnaires to busy professionals (such as financial advisors) is the high potential for respondent wear-out (Marshall et al., 2003). Since we had to expose our sample to a limited list of key consequences of humour effectiveness, we fully acknowledge that other important outcomes exist. What are the other consequences of humour beyond what our study investigated? Researchers could examine important variables such as relationship commitment, perceived salesperson expertise, surprise, salesperson adaptiveness, customer vulnerability to price competition, and propensity to give feedback to salesperson. These ideas give matter to reflection and constitute fertile areas for study.Fifthly, in this paper, we used salespeople and customer perceptions to evaluate humour effectiveness. The assessment of perception, especially in a questionnaire, can sometimes cause halo effects. In our case, perceptions of the major outcomes (e.g. trust and satisfaction) may have caused bias in customer evaluations. Even if perceptions serve as a useful proxy, they can only be indicative of what a salesperson actually does. Would an observable assessment of humour yield different results? In the future, researchers could replicate this study with observable evaluations instead of perceptions.Lastly, would we obtain the same results at the international level? Or for a different sales job? Or toward a commercial clientele (B to B)? To answer these questions, researchers could eventually test the relationships examined in this research, but under a completely different angle. Studies could, for example, be conducted in another industry (e.g. retail), for a different type of clientele (e.g. corporate buyers or first-time customers), for another sales position (e.g. telemarketers or missionaries), or in another region (e.g. Europe or Asia).Until recently, researchers and theoreticians only axiomatically assumed the importance of humour usage by financial advisors in selling interactions. It is our hope that this investigation will be used as a springboard to accrue the proliferation of research efforts and continued theory development in understanding the rich role of humour.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - For many years, the financial industry has been perceived as conservative, old-fashioned, and somewhat tedious. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of humour usage by financial advisors on several sales performance outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was completed by more than 400 buyer-seller dyads. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses were conducted. An important strength of SEM is its ability to incorporate the psychometric notions of constructs and measurement errors in the same estimation procedure.\nFindings: - A financial advisor's good sense of humour has a positive impact on the clients' perceptions of service quality, trust, satisfaction, purchase intentions, and word-of-mouth propensity.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although only customer perceptions were used, the paper suggests many ways to use the results as a spring board by sales researchers to accrue research efforts in understanding the truly rich role of humour.\nPractical implications: - Many practical implications are suggested to entice organizations to emphasize salespeople's humouristic skills as a competitive advantage.\nOriginality/value: - This is believed to be the first paper to investigate the effects of humour usage in sales encounters in the financial industry. A better understanding of humour is useful for service providers owing to its mass potential, its low cost, and its positive benefits for customers and financial advisors alike.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Development of population-based resilience measures in the primary school setting
|
[
"Surveys",
"Primary schools",
"Research methods"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concept of resilience\nMethod: Study design and population\nResults: Participation and sample characteristics\nDiscussion: The findings of both the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses reported above, indicate that the measures represented in the Student Survey, the Parent/Caregiver Survey, and the Staff Survey are valid instruments for measuring resilience and associated protective factors. Such a approach reflects not only the perceptions of the student sample, but also those of the broader school community, including parents/caregivers and school staff.Exploratory factor analysis: structure of the Social Support Scale of the Parent/Caregiver Survey\nConclusion: The instruments discussed above provide a significant addition to the tools available to measure the critical mental health construct of resilience. Increasing numbers of policy statements and mental health promotion plans identify this construct as central to reform initiatives (Veenstra et al., 2005), but few specify the components of the concept and even fewer locate it within a holistic, or ecological setting. An attempt has been made here to provide validated and reliable instruments that have the sensitivity to recognise the complexity both of the concept of \"resilience\" and also of the intricacy of working within the multi-layered world of the school environment. The Resilience Scale of the Student Survey provides a validated tool for collecting data regarding the perception of students about resilience factors. The Parent/Caregiver Survey provides a tool both for measurement and to engage them in a dialogue about their perceptions of the school environment, family functioning, and social support for the family. These elements have been widely recognised as critical protective and contextual factors for student and family resilience. The Staff Survey provides an appropriate tool to evaluate organisational social capital and the extent to which staff perceive their school to be a health promoting school.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the population-based study in the paper is to report on progress in formulating instruments to measure children's resilience and associated protective factors in family, primary school and community contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this paper a total of 2,794 students, 1,558 parents/caregivers, and 465 staff were surveyed in October 2003. A cross-sectional research method was used for the data collection. Three surveys (student survey, parent/caregiver survey, and staff survey) were developed and modified to measure student resilience and associated protective factors. Exploratory factor analysis with Oblimin rotation and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyse the reliability and validity of the scales of the three surveys.\nFindings: - The surveys in this paper find good construct validity and internal consistency for the social support scale of parent/caregiver survey, which had been modified from previous studies. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a goodness of fit for the following scales: student resilience scale of the student survey; the school organisation and climate scale and family functioning scale of the parent/caregiver survey; and the health-promoting school scale and social capital scale of the staff survey.\nPractical implications: - The paper specifies aspects of the resilience concept within a holistic or socio-ecological setting. Measures of validity and reliability indicate that these instruments have the sensitivity to elucidate the complexity of both the resilience concept and the intricacy of working within the multi-layered world of the school environment.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides health educators and researchers with reliable and valid resilience measures, which can be used as guidelines in implementing evaluation programmes for the health-promoting school project and the prevention of mental health problems in children.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Training and developing non-Irish workers: The perspectives of interested stakeholders
|
[
"Cultural differences",
"Cultural diversity",
"Diversity/Inclusion",
"Language acquisition",
"Learning styles",
"Legal training requirements"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper explores the challenges Irish organisations face in their approach to the training, learning and development (L&D) of a multicultural workforce. It examines a gap in the research that exists between the theories and real-life practices of L&D with employees from diverse cultures. In addressing this gap, the research investigates approaches adopted by these organisations, giving all stakeholders an opportunity to put forward their opinions. It provides a balanced view of current practices, with stakeholders including individuals, groups or organisations that can affect or be affected by the strategies and approach to training and development of this cohort of workers. It gave interested stakeholders an opportunity to express their opinions regarding the challenges and issues now confronted by Irish organisations, and this produced wide-ranging views and evidence from those with a direct interest in this topic. The author defines current practice and strategies for L&D in a multicultural workforce, and further considers the issue of language acquisition for these workers.\nLiterature review: Moran et al., authors of \"Managing Cultural Diversities\", suggest that anyone with any global experience no longer needs to be convinced that \"culture counts\". They quote Schein as suggesting that at the root of all issues, \"we are likely to find communication failures, and cultural misunderstandings\" (Schein, 1993 quoted in Moran et al., 2007, p. 4). There is no universally accepted definition of national culture according to Baldwin et al. (2006). However, because culture impacts performance, morale and productivity at work (Moran et al., 2007), it is obvious to organisations and managers the world over that national culture and cultural differences should be studied, examined and analysed to ensure success both organisationally and globally (Gandz, 2001; Monks, 2007, Flynn, 2008). In this paper, the word \"culture\" refers to national culture as opposed to organisational culture.\nDiversity and cultural differences: There is broad agreement in the literature that the influence of national culture on organisations is positive and has many benefits for the organisation (Gandz, 2001; Monks, 2007; Flynn, 2008). The value of diversity, according to English (2002, p. 203), is that \"it provides an exciting mix of people; a wider pool of skills; synergy; better decision-making; increased creativity; and success in an intercultural and multicultural workplace\". However according to Roberson (2006, p. 234):\nLearning and development provision for non-Irish workers: That the L&D of staff is critical to organisational success is a given, but the development and training of a culturally diverse workforce is one of the greatest challenges facing organisations in the twenty-first century (Flynn, 2008). While heretofore cultural differences have not impacted Irish organisations' strategies for L&D, they have gradually had to face the same complex issues encountered by multicultural organisations across the globe.\nLanguage acquisition: Cultural differences can also mean language differences. Much of the literature suggests that a proficiency of the host country's language can be a useful tool in breaking down the cultural barriers experienced by some immigrants and enhancing intercultural effectiveness (Mamman, 1995; Birman et al., 2002).\nResearch approach: A qualitative approach offered an in-depth understanding of the challenges organisations face from the perspective of the participants. The aim and objectives of the study were derived from reviewing the literature. This drove the deductive aspect of the study and provided a conceptual framework on which to focus the research. The purpose of the research was to assess the current L&D strategies for non-Irish workers in some Irish organisations. Little is known about the success or failure of Irish organisations in their approach to this new workforce and this research investigates the approaches of the participants and explores best practices in the area, potentially assisting and influencing future approaches.\nStudy respondents: Thirty-three in-depth semi-structured interviews provided invaluable insights into the policies and practices of a range of stakeholders. To reflect all viewpoints, referred to as \"purposive or judgemental sampling\" by Neuman (2000, p. 198), the researcher used non-random sampling and selected individuals based on a preset number of cases in each of several predetermined categories. The sampling frame was a non-probability, convenience sample where the respondents were selected at the convenience of the researcher, via their organisations. Stakeholders were chosen primarily for their understanding of the topic and ability to provide a wide variety of views on the topic in question. Human resource managers and training managers who contributed to the research were chosen to represent companies that employ large numbers of non-Irish workers from both the public and private sectors. The trade union representatives and non-Irish employees interviewed for this study provided insight from the point of view of the employees, while the regulatory bodies (such as the Equality Authority and the Health and Safety Authority) offered yet another perspective as well as in-depth information related to the legal issues employers face when managing this cohort of workers. The sample included two hotel groups, two public transport companies, a regional airline, a mapping agency, a retail/wholesale company, an airport baggage handling provider, two hospitals, a medical devices company, a surveying company, a construction company and four public/semi-state companies. Government agencies interviewed included the Health and Safety Authority, the Equality Authority, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and the Small Firms Association, as well as trade union groups (including representatives from SIPTU, IMPACT and the ICTU). Employees were also interviewed from the tourism, aviation and IT industries, and the public sector. Agreement was obtained from L&D specialists, training managers, human resource managers and health and safety managers within the aforementioned organisations. An in-depth interview with the Minister for State for Integration in Ireland concentrated on the Irish Government's approach to the issues in the study (Table I).\nData collection: All 33 interviews took place during a four-month period using a standard set of questions for each participant. The questions were left sufficiently broad to facilitate case-specific responses and build a more complete picture of the approaches, practices and policies in use across various groups. Questions were, for the most part, the same for each stakeholder group, and covered topics regarding the general approaches by stakeholders in the training and development of their culturally diverse workforces, the provision of L&D opportunities for a diverse workforce and the importance of language acquisition and its provision. Questions for the regulatory bodies focused more on the legal aspects of approaches used by various organisations, but participants from this sector were also asked about the importance of development opportunities for a culturally diverse workforce, the importance of language acquisition and whether they felt employers were in fact struggling with this new workforce. (see Appendices for the theme sheet for different stakeholders.) Each interview lasted 60 min, and the researcher transcribed all of the recorded interviews. Transcriptions were synchronous, so that findings and other crosschecked notes would be fresh.\nData analysis: The process was repeated, checking and cross-checking with other interviews ad documents as themes began to emerge from the data. Data analysis therefore proceeded as data continued to be gathered. Interpretivistic analysis of the interviews provided a valuable source of information to address the questions posed in the research. All participants were guaranteed confidentiality and anonymity and were referred to only by code (e.g. ER2 was Employer No. 2, TU1 was a trade union representative, EE1 was an employee and RB3 was one of the regulatory body representatives).\nResults: The main purpose of this work was to assess the understanding of how cultural differences impact L&D strategies for non-Irish workers within some Irish organisations. Several themes emerged from the interviews with participants and while all stakeholders agreed that the training and development of a culturally different workforce was important, not all agreed how this should be achieved.\nDiversity and cultural differences: Employers' perspective\nEmployees and trade union perspective: While other stakeholders agree with the points made by the employers, they felt there was a lack of understanding of the issues among some Irish employers. One participant from the regulatory sector suggested:\nDiscussion: This study assessed the current L&D strategies for non-Irish workers in a number of organisations and investigated whether the successful development of these workers also depends on a fluency in the host country language. It provides insights into the many problems employers and employees face: a lack of understanding of cultural diversity, issues related to training and development of non-Irish workers and challenges of language acquisition and proficiency in English.\nPolicy implications: General policy lessons from the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) (2006, p. 153) Report include social and economic integration and require that immigrants are able to communicate well in the language of the host community, economically independent and able to find work commensurate with their abilities and qualifications. This research also indicates that providing for this integration is important if migrants are to become part of our society and of the organisations in which they live and work.\nPractice implications for learning and development specialists: This study has a number of important implications for training professionals and for managers of culturally diverse organisations, and the findings suggest a need for cultural diversity training and development for managers and professionals in intercultural situations. All workers, irrespective of race or cultural background, must be provided with training and development programmes to enhance their effectiveness, and employers should consider the implications of reducing L&D opportunities for their non-Irish cohort of workers. In relation to the government's role, the findings are clear on what must be considered a priority: assisting organisations in their strategies for training and development; focusing on long-term objectives; and the attraction, retention and protection of these workers. Higher education institutes should furnish trainers and educators with an understanding of the requirements of different cultural styles of learning, thus providing much needed expertise for these workers. If sectoral initiatives are considered, with different industries and sectors collaborating and sharing information and knowledge, this will ultimately foster synergies that will benefit organisations and their employees.\nFuture research: Several areas of further research could guide policy and practice for the successful training and development of migrant workers. Areas of research could include investigation of attitudes and behaviours in a multicultural workplace following improvement of the economy in Ireland. An assessment of the gender-specific approaches taken in the management of cultural differences in male- versus female-orientated industries would assist in the understanding of cultural differences in L&D of various groups in Irish organisations. Among trainers and learning specialists, an evaluation of understanding of culture styles could be studied. Some measurement of the levels of English proficiency shown by non-Irish national workers upon their arrival in Ireland could also be investigated.\nSummary: In the absence of any consistent and standardised approach to issues of integration, language acquisition and L&D of non-Irish workers by the government, regulatory bodies or employers, there is a risk that agencies and employers will react in an ad hoc and ill-informed way to these issues. Consequently, it is important to identify which L&D initiatives are being considered by employers for these workers.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges facing Irish organisations in the training and development of non-Irish workers. It analyses the importance of fluency in the host country's language and the approach taken by organisations in relation to language training. In-depth semi-structured interviews provide significant insights for the policies and practices of multiple stakeholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical research comprised 33 in-depth interviews conducted with employers, employees, trade unions and regulatory bodies, and an objective content analysis provided insights into the challenges Irish organisations face in the training and development of non-Irish workers.\nFindings: The results indicate that Irish organisations are given little advice or support regarding the development of non-Irish workers. The study concludes that organisations should re-consider current approaches to cultural diversity training and development of these workers, prioritising the provision of English language training for these workers. The study maintains that an understanding of cultural differences is a vital component in the training of this cohort of workers.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research is required in this area. This could include an investigation into the levels of transfer of learning upon completion of training programmes for non-Irish workers, and an evaluation of the understanding of cultural learning styles among trainers.\nPractical implications: Learning and development (L&D) initiatives are dependent on English language supports, which will ultimately be central to the successful training and development of non-Irish workers, and provision of affordable high-quality English language classes is crucial. An understanding of cultural differences, diversity and inclusion is equally important if this cohort of workers is to thrive in an Irish working environment.\nSocial implications: The government's role must be considered a priority, assisting organisations in relation to their strategies for L&D.\nOriginality/value: There has been a paucity of research on the issue of L&D for migrant workers in an Irish context. This paper contributes to the discussion and provides guidelines for employers and opinions for policymakers.\n",
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Information seeking behavior of the poor: the study of parents' school choice decisions
|
[
"Information services",
"Information seeking behavior",
"Disadvantaged community",
"Immigrant families",
"Poor parents",
"School choice policy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: School choice is a significant decision parents make for their school-age children. Choosing a school is often challenging due to the multitude of options available and because of several other daily life situations that intervene in the decision-making process. Thus, to make the best decision that fits their own situation, parents have to navigate multiple factors and understand the different issues and policies surrounding school choice. In addition, each factor has complex sub-factors such as the availability of resources at the disposal of parents (Jones-Sanpei, 2008), the challenge to find relevant and useful information (Bulman, 2004), the numerous school characteristics to take into account such as students' scores on achievement tests, teacher quality, school reputation, class size, distance and safety (Walberg, 2007), parental and public opinion and value attached to education (Maddaus, 1990) and even market forces (Hastings, Weelden, and Weinstein, 2007). These complex factors increase the difficulty of choosing the right school for a child. It could be argued that parents can navigate this complex landscape and make sense of the whole situation when they are able to seek, find and use relevant information.\nLiterature review: School choice\nMethodology: Two theoretical accounts guide the design of this study:\nResults and discussion: Level of participation/involvement in school choice programs\nInformation seeking activity and school choice decisions: As noted in previous sections, the focus of this study was to understand the information practices of immigrant parents when making school choice decisions. The analysis for the second category of questions focused on those who indicated that they have participated in school choice decisions. Parents were asked if they gather information before choosing a school and, if so, what sources and channels they use. As shown in Table VII, 72.6 per cent of research participants said that they gather information when making school choice decisions.\nConclusion: The purpose of this study was to investigate the information seeking behavior of the immigrant families who live in Aurora, CO, by using school choice decisions as a proxy and/or problematic situation. This study sought to find answers to several questions, including to what extent parents from disadvantaged communities were aware of school choice policies; what their level of participation in school choice programs was; how often parents from this community took advantage of school choice programs to send their children to better-performing schools; and how much of these decisions were mediated by information seeking activities. Our results reveal that the majority of research participants (70.8 per cent) were aware of the existence of school choice policies, but only 21 per cent (24 families out of 113) participated in school choice programs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate information seeking behavior of immigrants in disadvantaged communities in the state of CO, USA, using school choice decisions as a problematic situation. The study investigated the extent to which immigrant families in poor neighborhoods took advantage of school choice policies and the extent to which these decisions were mediated by information seeking activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Quantitative study using survey questionnaire was used. The study design used everyday life information seeking behavior (Savolainen, 1995) and information-poverty lived-experiences of poor people (Chatman and Pendelton, 1995) as a framework and theoretical lens, respectively. Parents of school-age children who met the criteria of \"poor\" based on the federal poverty guideline were recruited to participate in the study.\nFindings: The study found that only 21 per cent (24 families out of 113) participated in school choice programs. Within the smaller group of parents that took advantage of school choice policy, 72 per cent gathered information before choosing a school, and of this group, about 80 per cent asked friends followed by school visit and a phone call to schools as information sources. Library use as sources of information was also selected by 61 per cent of the respondents. One important finding of this study is that although a majority of the families are aware of school choice policy, their level of participation is low and that is largely due to their economic and life circumstances.\nSocial implications: Access to quality education is widely investigated and multiple entities have a stake in it, including parents, policymakers, researchers and school districts. The social implications of this study are significant in that the mere presence and awareness of school choice policy did not translate into increased participation by parents from disadvantaged communities for whom the policy was designed to benefit. Consistent with findings in the extant literature, parents in low socio-economic status also value quality education for their children. To address the issue of low participation in school choice, cities need to work toward strengthening schools and library systems in poor neighborhoods instead of diverting resources away.\nOriginality/value: Based on two theoretical accounts - i.e. the information-poverty lived-experiences of poor people, or the outsiders, (Chatman, 1999, 1996), and theory of everyday life information seeking (Savolainen, 1995) - this study investigated how immigrants and disadvantaged communities seek, acquire and use information to navigate school choice policy in the city of Aurora, CO. The findings of this study are relevant for educators, policymakers, libraries, school districts, cities, counties and parents to determine the necessary policy measures that are required to increase school choice participation by immigrants and disadvantaged communities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Spatial, temporal and social dimensions of a 'destination-in-motion'
|
[
"Destination marketing",
"Netnography",
"Railway",
"Journey",
"Mobilities"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Destination marketing strategies usually focus on geographically defined areas such as countries, regions or cities and marketing of these destinations is based on the careful management of a number of interrelated elements (Balakrishnan, 2009; Riege and Perry, 2000). These include both tangible and intangible components alongside destination attributes such as services, retail, heritage and attractions. However, studies which explore the impact of modes of transport on the destination development, or compare the transportation experience with the destination experience are lacking (Prideaux, 2000; Su and Wall, 2009). In introducing the mobilities paradigm, Sheller and Urry (2006) critique the prevailing perspective that travel is often viewed as a \"black box\" that merely facilitates other seemingly more important aspects of life but not worthy of investigation in its own right. By approaching destination marketing from a mobilities perspective, our paper recognises the significance of human and object mobility to tourist experiences and offers a new perspective to existing research which biases a geographically bound understanding of destinations.\nTheoretical foundations: The mobilities paradigm critiques a sedentarist approach to understanding contemporary society (Sheller and Urry, 2006). It emerges from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, most notably tourism, sociology and human geography. In this section, we discuss the defining features of the paradigm and its potential to inform destination marketing strategies.\nMethodology: The case\nFindings: Journey mobilities\nDestination mobilities: We are standing at Mallaig station waiting for the train, a thin plume of smoke in the distance signalling its arrival. The village is quiet, apart from some cars waiting for the ferry and one or two photographers. The arrival feels like an event for Mallaig and within a few minutes of the passengers stepping onto the platform, there is a real bustle to the village. All the benches on the high street are full of people eating ice-cream, and there are queues at the fish and chip shop located at the station. Suddenly there is a holiday atmosphere; the sun even comes out for the occasion. It seems that every shop on the main street is full and we see passengers clutching souvenirs and snacks.\nDiscussion: The mobilities paradigm has featured strongly in a range of disciplines, but marketing researchers have been slow to embrace it. In this paper, we highlight potential for a mobilities perspective to cast new theoretical light on our understanding of destination marketing. We contribute to theories of mobility and destination marketing through our concept of the \"destination-in-motion\" which can be interpreted in two distinct ways. First, we build on Sheller and Urry's (2006, p. 208) notion of modes of travel as \"forms of material and sociable dwelling-in-motion\" and suggest that the spatial, temporal and social mobilities of the rail journey transform it into a \"destination-in-motion\" in its own right. Second, the significance of the mode of transport also transforms the landscape it moves through and its terminus, which might otherwise be a neglected destination. As a result, a static destination also moves, ebbing and flowing in line with the socio-material dynamics that the journey precipitates.\nImplications and future research: The transformational impact of the destination-in-motion on the fixed destination offers an alternative perspective to existing research which views destinations as geographically bound. Adopting a more fluid understanding of the destination will give greater scope for destination marketing strategies, meaning that non-traditional and otherwise neglected destinations can be integrated into a wider, more lucrative tourism network. Existing research rarely considers the wider appeal of transport to a destination (beyond its \"delivery\" role). For destination marketers, alternative forms of transport which facilitate multi-sensory experiences could offer an important differentiation strategy and become core to a destination's portfolio. In investigating the spatial, temporal and social mobilities of the Jacobite, we have illustrated how the steam train creates a unique travel experience that is distinct from both modern railway services and other forms of transport. Although attracted by different motivations, the passengers in our study shared an appreciation of a sense of escapism from the everyday. This suggests that destination marketers should consider how travel experiences can be made memorable so that they stand out as distinct from public transport journeys associated with everyday life. Of course, some aspects of the journey experience will be uncontrollable, such as the weather or the temperament of passengers. However, other aspects can be prioritised such as aesthetics and service interactions that will enhance the destination-in-motion.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the mobilities paradigm by exploring the role of tourist mobilities in destination marketing. This is important as studies that explore the impact of modes of transport on the development of destinations, or compare the transportation experience with the destination experience are lacking.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses the context of the Jacobite steam train, which runs in the Scottish Highlands. It draws on multiple qualitative methods including participant observation, interviews and netnography.\nFindings: The study explores the spatial, temporal and social mobilities associated with the journey and the destination, reveals how a rail journey becomes a \"destination-in-motion\" and, in turn, transforms what might otherwise be a neglected destination.\nPractical implications: The study demonstrates how modes of transport that offer rich embodied experiences to visitors can present an important differentiation strategy and become core to a destination's product and service portfolio.\nOriginality/value: By approaching destination marketing from a mobilities perspective, this paper recognises the significance of human and objects mobility to tourist experiences and offers a new perspective to existing research which biases a geographically bounded understanding of destinations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Patient-journey modelling and simulation in computed tomography: An integrated framework
|
[
"Innovation",
"Healthcare",
"Simulation",
"Process modelling",
"Patient journey"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although many business process reengineering (BPR) efforts appear to streamline processes through waste elimination, simplification, integration, and automation (the four key principles of BPR), the methods and tools adapted in BPR projects have not been fully explored and enhanced to maximise potential outcomes. For instance, Clegg (2006) proposes a holonic modelling approach based on the application of systems thinking to design, manage, and improve business processes - however, this approach limits attention to the integration of data. Similarly, Samaranayake (2009) proposed an enhanced event-driven process chain (EPC) methodology of business process modelling for process integration and automation - yet this too was mainly focused on processes. These (and other) earlier attempts can have considerable limitations - these include the use of outdated data, inaccurate processes, and (related to these) a limited capacity to identify opportunities for process improvement. Nowhere is this perhaps more critical than within health services.\nLiterature review: CT services\nMethodology: A BPR framework was developed to integrate healthcare processes, data, and the patient journey. This was achieved using a mixed-method research design, which incorporated a case study to understand the hospital context (Yin, 2008), as well as the EPC methodology (Samaranayake, 2009) using the unitary structuring technique (Woxvold, 1992). The EPC methodology and unitary structuring technique helped to map and model healthcare processes; model the patient journey with associated data elements; and simulate the patient journey to test hypotheses. The EPC methodology incorporates functions and events like key process elements, which are connected with logical operators (AND, OR, and XOR) to form business process models. The EPC methodology is a well-recognised process modelling method and consists of: functions, events, and logical connectors (van der Aalst, 1999). This is demonstrated through its deployment in tools such as, \"SAP R/3 (SAP AG), ARIS (IDS Professor Scheer GmbH), LiveModel/Analyst (Intellicorp Inc.), and Visio (Visio Corp.)\" (639).\nNumerical simulation, results, and analysis: Appointment bookings and rebookings\nDiscussion: Internationally, the management of many health services is far from ideal (Schoen et al., 2009, 2010; Schoen and Osborn, 2010). This in turn can have considerable implications for those who fund or manage these services, for those who deliver healthcare, and for the patients and family members they support (Rowe et al., 2006; Bond et al., 2007; Bishop, 2010; Huang et al., 2010).\nConclusion: The integrated BPR framework presented in this paper has two clear implications for healthcare delivery and related research. First, it demonstrates how complex healthcare processes can be captured to identify opportunities to improve efficiencies, without risk to the service, its limited resources, or the patients it supports. This is likely to be advantageous for health service managers who have limited discretionary resources to trial alternative ways to improve service management.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a business process reengineering (BPR) framework of process and data integration with patient journey as the basis for process evaluation and the improvement of patient-flow.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A BPR framework is developed using a mixed-method research design, which incorporated a case study to demonstrate a healthcare scenario with associated processes and data elements, using process models based on event-driven process chain methodology as well as patient and data models, based on unitary structuring technique. The framework includes key processes including patient booking and rebooking, and associated inputs, outputs, and control parameters. In this case, the framework is demonstrated through application to computed tomography (CT) services in a hospital to improve patient-flow, with numerical simulation of CT data collected over time.\nFindings: The framework supports flexible patient scheduling and the associated planning of healthcare operations and logistics - this in turn helps to improve patient-flow. Furthermore, mathematical modelling and simulation precisely reveal the impact of booking and rebooking on the performance of the CT department.\nResearch limitations/implications: This innovative framework has potential value for other services, within and beyond the hospital setting.\nOriginality/value: The proposed framework of process modelling, data, and patient journey addresses the lack of a holistic approach to monitoring and evaluating service performance in hospital settings. Patient journey modelling is an integral part of process and data models that can be implemented in an integrated system environment such as an enterprise resource planning system for real-time monitoring of patient-flow under dynamic conditions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The influence of brand equity on consumer responses
|
[
"Consumer-based brand equity",
"Consumer responses",
"Consumers",
"Brand equity",
"Brands"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The emergence of international brands competing in diverse geographical markets has given rise to the issue of how brands should be managed in a global landscape. However, while the importance and management of brands from the perspective of domestic marketing has been notably addressed in the literature, studies examining brands from an international perspective are limited (Wong and Merrilees, 2007). Specifically, the role of brand equity in international marketing has not been explored in detail (Pappu et al., 2006; Whitelock and Fastoso, 2007; Broyles et al., 2010).\n2. Brand equity: Brand equity is a core concept of marketing. Although extensive research has been conducted on brand equity, the literature on this subject is largely fragmented and inconclusive. Numerous definitions of brand equity have been proposed. Most of them, from a consumer perspective, are based on the premise that the power of brands lies in the minds of consumers (Leone et al., 2006). Others, from a financial perspective, consider brand equity as the monetary value of a brand to the firm (Simon and Sullivan, 1993). The financial value of a brand is, however, the final outcome of consumer responses to brands (Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2010) and as such previous research on brand equity has tended to focus on the consumer perspective.\n3. Conceptual framework and hypotheses: The proposed model investigates the effects of brand equity on consumer responses towards brands. A literature review was carried out to investigate key consumer responses with capability to provide sustainable competitive advantages to firms. Special attention was given to those consumer responses that can provide greater sales and ability to grow, which in turn positively impact on firm performance. In particular, as can be seen in Figure 1, this study examines the effect of brand equity on four factors: consumers\n4. Research methodology: The framework in Figure 1 was tested by collecting data in two European countries, the UK and Spain, since much of the published brand equity research has been developed in the USA or other non-European countries, as explained earlier.\n5. Results: 5.1 Measurement model\n6. Discussion and implications: In the brand equity literature, there is little empirical research which has focused on the relationships between consumer-based brand equity and consumers\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model to better understand brand equity. It seeks to investigate the effects of this construct on consumers\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Measurement invariance and stability of the model across the two national samples was assessed using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis.\nFindings: Results indicate that brand equity dimensions inter-relate. Brand awareness positively impacts perceived quality and brand associations. Brand loyalty is mainly influenced by brand associations. Finally, perceived quality, brand associations and brand loyalty are the main drivers of overall brand equity. Findings also corroborate the positive impact of brand equity on consumers\nResearch limitations/implications: A limited set of product categories, brands and countries were used.\nPractical implications: Findings provide useful guidelines for brand equity management. Managers can complement financial metrics with consumer-based brand equity measures to track brand performance over time and to benchmark against other brands. Building brand equity generates more value for corporations since a more favourable consumer response results from positive brand equity.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the scarce international brand equity literature by testing the proposed model using data from a sample of consumers in two European countries. It also enriches the brand equity literature by empirically examining the relationships among consumer-based brand equity dimensions and its effects on consumers\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The mediating effect of intellectual capital, management accounting information systems, internal process performance, and customer performance
|
[
"Intellectual capital",
"Performance",
"Management accounting",
"Information system"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Background: Nowadays organizations have to face several challenges due to the changing business environment. The management must be more professional in managing its resources to improve organizational performance. This results in environmental uncertainty and increasingly sharp levels of competition. Under this situation, management is required to achieve certain performance, in which they have to perform above the industry average (above average returns or AAR). Management may find it hard to achieve performance with the expected AAR. A high competitive advantage is needed to outperform competitors in a dynamic competitive market and innovative efforts are needed to sustain competitive advantage (Porter, 1996).\n2. Research framework: The contingency theory, RBT and the I/O Theory become the grand theories in this study. The theories and views above play a very important role in explaining what factors contribute to performance related to strategy implementation. In contingency theory, organizations must adapt to various contingency factors, such as organizational structure, environment, organizational size and business strategies if the organization wants to achieve high performance. The contingency theory assumes the contingent fit between competing variables and their contextual variables will bring the organization to good performance (Chenhall, 2006). Furthermore, the I/O approach emphasizes on how to earn income above the industry average by studying the external environment. According to RBT, AAR for a company is determined by the characteristics and internal factors within the company. This model focuses on developing or acquiring valuable resources and capabilities, which are difficult or impossible for competitors to imitate. RBT believes that core competencies are important for company's competitive advantage, strategic advantage, and show the company's ability to obtain AAR. There is a theoretical gap in this case; therefore, throughout the present study the researchers are motivated to close the gap using the contingency theory. Besides that, the results from previous studies seem inconclusive.\n3. Research method: The population in this research was medium and large manufacturing company business units in Java. Business units are part of a company considered as the profit center. According to Anthony et al. (1992, p. 172), \"business units or divisionalization when such organizations are responsible for both the manufacturing and marketing of a product or family of products.\" Hansen and Mowen (2007, pp. 419-420) define divisionalization as a process of decentralization based on the type of produced goods or services or by geographical. As the profit center, division managers measure their performance based on sales and costs or obtained profits. Kotler and Keller (2012, p. 47) mention business units as strategic business units which have the following characteristics: a related single business or business group and each has a separate plan; having its own competitors; and having a manager responsible for strategic planning and achieving certain profit targets and controlling various factors that influence profit achievement.\n4. Findings and discussions: 4.1 The relationship of innovation strategies, intellectual capital and financial performance\n5. Conclusion and suggestion: Based on the aforementioned explanation, the study has come to the following conclusions: an innovation strategy that includes product innovation, process innovation and technology has an impact on FP if there is a good internal process performance, reliable management accounting information system and good CP. The internal process performance, which includes operations management processes, customer management processes, innovation processes and regulatory and social processes, optimizes the relationship of the strategy with FP. In this study, IC does not affect CP and internal process performance, nor does the management accounting information system affect FP. However, information systems affect FP through internal process performance and CP.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of intellectual capital (IC), management accounting information systems, internal process performance and customer performance (CP) on the relationship of strategies with financial performance (FP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The population in this research was medium and large manufacturing company business units in Java. The business unit as the unit of analysis in this research is part of the organization that: is responsible for the production and marketing of a product or set of products; is formed by product type; has its own competitors which are different from competitors of other business units or divisions within a parent company; and has a manager who is responsible and has authority over the planning and implementation of strategies to achieve the specified profit target.\nFindings: An innovation strategy that includes product innovation, process innovation and technology has an impact on FP if there is a good internal process performance, reliable management accounting information system and good CP. The internal process performance, which includes operations management processes, customer management processes, innovation processes and regulatory and social processes, optimizes the relationship of the strategy with FP. In this study, IC does not affect CP and internal process performance, nor does the management accounting information system affect FP. However, information systems affect FP through internal process performance and CP.\nOriginality/value: The originalities of this study are: the use of the continuous innovation strategy in an integrated manner between product innovation and process and information technology - this has never been conducted by other researchers, especially in Indonesia; the use of IC, management accounting information systems, internal process performance and CP as mediating variables; the use of an integrative approach by including variables of IC, management accounting information systems and non-FP as contextual variables related to contingency approaches that have never been conducted in previous research; the modeling of new related concepts with the one developed in the balanced scorecard; and using single mediating and multiple mediating on the influence of sustainable innovation strategies on FP.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consensus-based policy recommendations for geriatric emergency care
|
[
"Geriatrics",
"Emergency services",
"Service delivery",
"Health services",
"Elder care"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The emergency department (ED) is an important link between the hospital and the community (McCusker et al., 2001). Older adults (Brown and Goel, 1994) in particular have multiple unmet needs (i.e. medical, functional, cognitive, and social support) necessitating a coordinated emergency geriatric interdisciplinary response (Longino and Murphy, 1995; McCusker et al., 2000; McCusker et al., 2003; Siebens, 2005). Not only does this population require a different approach to care, their vulnerability to adverse outcomes and functional decline may perpetuate dependence on the health care system (Aminzadeh and Dalziel, 2002; Hebert, 2002; McCusker et al., 2001).Compared to younger adults, older people not only use hospital EDs at higher rates, (Statistics Canada, 2003) they use more resources during a visit, have greater level of urgency, stay longer in the ED, and are more likely to make a return visit (Brown and Goel, 1994; Aminzadeh and Dalziel, 2002; Beland et al., 1991) are more likely to be admitted or die (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2001). Older adults also experience higher rates of adverse health outcomes after discharge (Aminzadeh and Dalziel, 2002) and report need for more information and improved communication with ED professionals (Watson et al., 1999). Predictors of ED visits in older people are primarily related to medical need and include medical diagnoses, cognitive ability, functional ability, number of medications, co-morbid problems, and previous visits to the ED or an overnight hospitalization (Boult et al., 1993; Caplan et al., 1998; McCusker et al., 2003; Meldon et al., 2003; Pacala et al., 1995; Shah et al., 2001). In addition to need, problems with access to and continuity of primary care contribute to increased ED utilization (McCusker et al., 2003). Potentially avoidable adverse events following an ED visit in this population include functional decline, return ED visits, hospitalization, nursing home admission, and death (McCusker et al., 1999).Controlled trials conducted in several countries - Canada (McCusker et al., 2001), United States (Mion et al., 2003), United Kingdom (Runciman et al., 1996), Australia (Caplan et al., 2004) - have reported that some adverse outcomes can be prevented or ameliorated by ED based geriatric interventions (e.g. nurse liaison and discharge planning). Other intervention studies have been conducted to reduce the frequency of in patient admissions, repeat visits, and inappropriate visits to the ED. The interventions have ranged from multidisciplinary teams located in the ED to consultative models integrating case finding and referral processes with community based deployment of resources (Baraff et al., 1997; Baraff et al., 1999; Friesen, 2005; McCoy et al., 1992; Mion et al., 2001; Moss et al., 2002; Spillane et al., 1997).The first International Interdisciplinary Conference on Emergencies (IICE) held in Montreal in June 2005 recognized the special features that an aging population brings to emergency services (McCusker, 2006). As part of a special geriatric program within the IICE, a public round table discussion and think-tank session was held, sponsored by Fraser Health in British Columbia, Canada. This activity involved interdisciplinary experts knowledgeable in geriatric emergency service from multiple countries. This session attempted to extend the work done by the American Geriatric Society research agenda setting activity (RASP) (Wilber and Gerson, 2003). The aim was to develop policy recommendations to advance ED care and service delivery to older adults (McCusker et al., 2000). This paper describes the process participants underwent to identify policy recommendations that emerged from the think-tank event.\nMethods: The consensus development process involved the following three steps:1. identification of participants;2. the round-table and think-tank activities held at the IICE; and3. post-conference activities.Identification of participants\nResults: The final categories (Appendix 2) represent policy issues that participants identified as critical to improving or achieving best practice in emergency services for older adults. The rank order of the categories and corresponding recommendations (most important to least important) remained constant throughout the process. Noteworthy however, was that academic and clinical experts prioritized differently; academic participants placed greater emphasis on generating new knowledge while clinicians and administrators focused more attention on operational aspects of care and service delivery. Both groups saw the transfer of new knowledge into operations as critical. The final categories and specific recommendations are a synthesis of all participants' contributions.\nConclusion: The paper has described the process and results of a consensus development activity for ED care and services of older adults. These recommendations reflect the consensus of an interdisciplinary, international panel of 20 experts in ED care and service for older adults, validated by an external review panel.These policy recommendations echo themes previously reported in the literature, but which have lacked evidence-based support. Further research is critical to extending the evidence-based support for policy recommendations, which may lead to policy change or a change in the recommendations if research does not support the hypothesized benefits of the proposed interventions.The recommendations address not only specific interventions (as in the RASP document) but the overall role of the ED in the healthcare system. Focused attention and coordinated efforts are required to advance the clinical care and organizational health services. Accessible recommendations similar to those found for children (Department of Health Great Britain, 2003) affirm the need for policy direction to focus efforts to:* Improve ED response to the aging population at both the hospital and community level.* Determine the efficacy of innovations in home care services, types and availability of primary care services, and the integration of services between hospital ED and home.* It is hoped that these recommendations will be ratified by organizations that represent the key stakeholders in ED policy-making for older adults.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to establish policy recommendations to address service and care delivery challenges facing hospital emergency departments (EDs) responding to the needs of increasing numbers of older adults.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The consensus development process used an international expert interdisciplinary panel, convened at an international conference. Following a round table discussion and think-tank session, a nominal group method with constant comparative analysis and coding techniques was used to identify policy recommendations. Two rounds of electronic input followed the face-to-face meeting to reach consensus on priority ranking of the policy recommendations. Findings underwent an external review by four independent experts.\nFindings: - A total of seven categories of policy recommendations were developed: education, integration and coordination of care, resources, ED physical environment, evidence-based practice, research and evaluation, and advocacy.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The consensus development process did not include a systematic literature review on the topic. However, participants included experts in their disciplines.\nPractical implications: - The recommendations may assist administrators, policy makers, clinicians, and researchers on future directions for improving emergency care and service delivery for older adults.\nOriginality/value: - The paper describes the process and results of a consensus development activity for ED care and services of older adults.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Psychological and behavioural drivers of male fashion leadership
|
[
"Middle East",
"Lebanon",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Clothing",
"Fashion marketing",
"Fashion leadership"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the past decade intensive restructuring has been witnessed in the markets which has required companies to renew their marketing approaches and strategies. These changes have also inevitably affected the textile and fashion industries (clothing, textiles, footwear and luxury goods), which represented an almost $2,560 trillion market value worldwide in 2010 (Breyer, 2012). Some of the most dramatic changes have been technological which has had a major impact on the fast production techniques and consumption of fast fashion clothing items. Globalisation has led clothing and fashion companies to enter new markets and it has also driven markets to become more competitive due to imports from low-cost manufacturing countries.\nChanges in male consumption: One of the bases for the conceptual framework of the studies investigating male and female consumer behaviour is gender and gender roles. Biological gender refers to how people are defined as female, male or intersex; it describes peoples' internal and external bodies and is interchangeably used with sex. From the social perspective, gender can be described as the psychologically, sociologically and culturally rooted behavioural tendencies of men and women (Moss, 2009). It is a socially accomplished human trait and is reinforced by interaction with other institutions in any society. This approach considers that men and women in the society adhere to certain roles. Gender identity, on the other hand, refers to a person's private sense, and subjective experience, of their own gender. This is generally described as one's private sense of being a man or a woman, consisting primarily of the acceptance of membership into a category of people: male or female. According to this approach, masculinity and femininity are regarded as orthogonal constructs coexisting in varying degrees within the same individual. Individuals within the same gender exhibit varying degrees of masculine and feminine traits. Gender role attitudes refer to differences regarding the responsibilities, roles and rights of men and women.\nMale fashion shopping and male fashion leadership: Fashion shopping has been considered a feminine activity for a long time. Thus, the industry has become gender embedded, implying that clothes, shops, services and also the display of clothes are feminised (Pettinger, 2005). During this period, such masculine qualities as status, strength, virility and business success were a constituent part of clothing and appearance for men.\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: Fashion-oriented consumer behaviour results from a multitude of behavioural processes and is among the most complex acts of consumer behaviour. Literature suggests that male fashion leaders are different than others on several dimensions, including demographic, psychographic and behavioural characteristics.\nDemographic drivers of male fashion leadership: The literature does not present a clear picture about the demographic differences between fashion leaders and fashion followers. Goldsmith et al. (1993) indicated that fashion leaders were younger than non-leaders, although not statistically, and there were no differences in the levels of either income or education, while Summer (1970) claimed that higher levels of fashion leadership were found in those who are younger, more educated, have higher incomes, and higher occupational status. In the study of a cross cultural comparison of US and Austrian fashion consumers, fashion leaders were found to be younger in both nations (Quigley and Notarantonio, 2009). Vieira (2009) found that younger consumers are more involved with fashion clothing than older groups. In line with these findings, it can be hypothesised:\nPsychological drivers of male fashion leadership: Fashion consciousness\nBehavioural drivers of male fashion leadership: Fashion clothing attributes\nResearch methodology: Sample and data collection method\nFindings: The binary logistic regression method and procedure was employed in the analysis of the data in order to test the hypotheses. Binary logistic analysis is preferred over discriminant analysis and standard regression analysis since both techniques, as a result of their nature, depend on strict statistical assumptions, i.e. normality of independent variables, linearity of relationships, lack of multi-collinearity among independent variables, equal dispersion matrices for discriminant analysis (Hair et al., 1998). In this context, logistic regression appears to be a very useful analysis technique for modelling and discrimination problems in marketing. Since it has alternative data distribution assumptions, it generates more appropriate and correct findings in terms of model fit and correctness of the analysis (Akinci et al., 2007).\nConclusion: The study identified that some demographic, psychological and behavioural variables affect male consumer fashion leadership behaviour. Three demographic variables - marital status, age and occupation - influenced male fashion leadership. Of the psychological factors, fashion consciousness, product knowledge, mood enhancement and confidence in decision making were found to be very significant variables positively affecting male fashion leadership. This is in line with the findings of previous studies (Sindicich and Black, 2011; Ross, 2011; Tuncay, 2006; Seo, 2009) which identified males as fashion conscious. The study clearly indicated that male fashion leaders are interested in fashion; this increases their fashion knowledge which makes them more confident in fashion shopping decisions. It can also be concluded that male fashion leaders use fashion clothing to increase their social status and to boost their status in their social circles, thereby enhancing their mood, as was uncovered in the other studies (Moody et al., 2010). The study identified that male fashion leaders do not switch their brands for change for variety reasons. This can be explained by the fact that switching is a risky behaviour, especially in terms of social risks and, traditionally, men are more time limited than women. Therefore, male fashion leaders tend to stick with their brands unless they are dissatisfied.\nTheoretical and practical implications: The study has some important implications for practitioners and researchers. First, male fashion leaders are single, young and professional. Second, they are interested in fashion, knowledgeable about current trends in fashion and confident about their shopping decisions. They employ fashion clothing to alter their mood for either escaping from stressful work conditions or reflecting positive energy in their environments. Male fashion leaders try to stick to their fashion brands as long as they are satisfied.\nLimitations and directions for future studies: The study has some limitations. As it focused on male fashion leadership in Lebanon, the findings cannot be generalised to fit all countries. As Sullivan and Bauerschmidt (1989) stressed, testing concepts in different economic, political, cultural and institutional settings creates the contextual meanings to evaluate the robustness of prevailing theories. More research will be required in other countries to produce more reliable and enlightening conclusions for the subject and this will help to better understand male fashion leadership.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting male fashion leadership behaviour. The study examined the effect of fashion consciousness, fashion knowledge, mood enhancement, decision-making confidence and brand switching as the psychological factors. It also included the influence of behavioural factors such as the information sources, attributes of purchasing fashion clothing and type of retailers on male fashion leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data were collected through a structured questionnaire distributed in the main shopping districts of Beirut, Lebanon, during March 2012.\nFindings: The study uncovered that fashion consciousness, fashion knowledge, confidence in decision making and mood enhancement are to be the most important psychological factors influencing male fashion leadership behaviour. The study also found that frequency of reading fashion magazines is negatively and significantly affecting fashion leadership. Male fashion leaders use colleagues and friends as the main information sources for fashion. The effect of attractiveness, brand name, store image and quality of clothing is positive and significant whilst value for money negatively and significantly influences male fashion leadership. Male fashion leaders mainly shop from specialty shops, chain stores, department stores and the internet.\nOriginality/value: Although there are a handful of studies which examined female fashion leadership, the male fashion leadership concept has not been extensively addressed in the literature. In an attempt to at least partially address this, the study attempts to identify the factors affecting male fashion leadership behaviour in Lebanon.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
LEED accredited professionals' perceptions affecting credit point adoption
|
[
"Sustainable design",
"Costs"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Green building as a category is a recent phenomenon. The prospects of climate change, resource depletion and emissions generation have conspired to create an increasing awareness of sustainability issues and demand for green construction practices in general (Fernandez-Solis, 2008a, b); however, the construction industry has been characterized as traditional and conservative, slow to change in both products and processes (Groak, 1992, 1994). When the green movement started, a need appeared to rate practices and products in order to compare and contrast best practices. These would lead toward sustainability in construction through a series of principles aligned with the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction's (CIB's) seven principles of sustainable construction (Kibert, 1994):1. reduce - resource consumption;2. reuse - resources;3. recycle - use recycled resources;4. protect - nature;5. eliminate - toxins;6. economics - apply lifecycle costing; and7. quality - focus in creating high performance buildings.The implementation of these principles required a method for assessing the application with an open mind to innovation and experimentation, as well as rating the process and final product (Jawali and Fernandez-Solis, 2008). Resistance to implementing a rating system and to the principles of sustainability was expected. It was manifested through opinions, as well as data claiming that credit points were difficult to achieve, they resulted in higher initial costs (Miranda, 2005), and both the labor in administering the process as well as the added complexity to the process and final product also increased the initial cost (Ottman, 1998). Early users, during the first ten years of practice, priced in a premium for doing a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) project as the learning curve required additional effort by all parties concerned. This paper takes a snapshot of these issues in time, after approximately ten years of practice.The United States Green Building Council - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC-LEED) has emerged as the premiere green building rating system in the USA, utilized on a voluntary basis (Watson, 2001). One major driver for LEED acceptance is that the federal government is requiring new federal buildings to adhere to LEED standards (White, 2004). Additionally, some state governments are providing incentives, declaring regulations and/or enacting legislation crafted around LEED standards (Siegel, 2006).Studies have revealed the benefits of green buildings and LEED certification (Kats, 2006); however, first costs associated with green buildings are still perceived as a primary drawback by the majority of professionals (Luthra and Fernandez-Solis, 2009). The following three major objectives are established for this study:1. to determine the trends in LEED credit point adoption;2. to determine the LEED APs' opinions about incremental cost; and3. to assess LEED APs' perception of the level of complexity associated with implementation of each LEED credit point adoption.Out of nine different possible LEED categories (e.g. new construction, existing buildings, commercial interiors, etc.,) this study is limited to LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC), versions 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2, primarily because of the constraints of data availability from the first ten years, cost and time.The trends in LEED credit point adoption are historical facts that can be discerned from the records kept by USBGC (LEED Rating System, 2008); however, the record does not capture the rationale for choosing one point over another. This research assumes that the surveyed LEED Accredited Professionals (AP) had a direct involvement with a project's LEED accreditation process and is familiar with the decision-making inherent in pursuing a credit point and that the information that supported the decision making is accessible to the AP. Surveys of this nature rely on a carefully crafted set of instructions and a relatively simple survey methodology that captures the strong impression that an easy or a difficult credit may have created.Early in the LEED adoption process, practitioners found that credit points could be linked in two possible ways, i.e. internally and externally (Kibert, 2007). Internally (within a credit), by achieving a higher degree of performance, an additional point may be attained, such as water efficiency credits 1.1 and 1.2 regarding water efficiency landscaping. Externally, a credit may also be linked to another credit and thus, it allows achieving points for the two of them; for example, Sustainable sites credit 7.2, regarding heat island effect in roofs, aids stormwater runoff control in Sustainable sites credits 6.1 and 6.2 (stormwater design), and aids in energy conservation and thermal control in Energy efficiency credit 1 (optimize energy performance). On the other hand, certain credits preclude the possibility of gaining points in other credits; for example, Sustainable sites credits 7.1 and 7.2, regarding heat island effect in non-roofs and roofs, respectively, where the pursuit of one precludes going for the other. Knowledgeable LEED APs may go after the synergies that credits have between them and maximize the number of points that a project may achieve. This approach certainly affects the rationale for choosing one point versus another.Incremental initial cost to the project is a more difficult parameter to assess in relation to each credit; however, the survey also relies on the impression that the debate about pursuing costly points created for the team and for the LEED AP of the project. Initial incremental cost was most likely an issue discussed during the design and estimation of the project by the architect and its consulting team, the creation of a pro forma by the owner and the estimation of the general contractor regarding implementation as well as product and process costs. Process costs may have included commissioning efforts, among others, and product cost may have included upgraded equipment, controls and special features. This survey does not distinguish the types of costs that were incurred on the project, but draws on historical data as presented by the LEED AP.Complexity (Chu et al., 2003) is the hallmark of the building construction industry (Bertelsen, 2003). Within the complexities of the industry, we have project complexities that mirror those of the industry (Bertelsen, 2004). The nature of a rating system is also complex, requiring a learning curve and the breaking of barriers such as tradition, lack of education, and risk taking (Cryer et al., 2006). In this sense, complexity may have an additional burden, due to perception (real or imaginary), that is added into the final cost. This survey does not distinguish the types of complexity, but captures ordinary and LEED complexity as experienced by the LEED APs.Because of the above, the following definition of terms was included in the instructions for the survey:* Adoption rate - The percentage of responses that stated the implementation of a particular LEED credit point (Epsten and Larsson, 2002).* Incremental cost - The additional cost incurred to implement a particular LEED credit point. This is an individual subjective measurement which is measured on a category ordinal scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents very low cost, and 5 represents very high cost. The scale was simple to use and adequate for the level of precision required (Fink and Kosecoff, 1985).* Level of complexity - The level of complexity with which a particular LEED credit point can be achieved. This is an individual subjective measurement that depends on factors such as design team expertise, competency, team integration, etc. It is measured on a category ordinal scale (Fink and Kosecoff, 1985), ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 represents a very low level of complexity, and 5 represents a very high level of complexity.The following are the limitations of this study:* the study does not consider variations in the opinions of the respondents depending on conditions such as geographical location, age, and number of projects executed; and* the study does not reflect the effects of incremental cost and level of complexity on the actual decision of the respondents.\nResearch design and methods: In order to meet the research objectives, the following steps were adopted:1. literature review;2. questionnaire development;3. selection of participants;4. data collection; and5. statistical data analysis.The following paragraphs summarize these phases.Literature review\nFindings and data analysis: The following sections introduce the responses obtained from the survey, and present the analysis of the survey findings.Demographic characteristics of survey respondents\nConclusions: This study was conducted to identify trends in the adoption of LEED credit points and to determine the perceptions of LEED APs about these credit points. An online survey was conducted with LEED APs who had experience working on at least one LEED-NC certified project using 2.0, 2.1 and/or 2.2 versions. The participants of this study were from the majority of states in the USA. The responses to this survey indicate that a mix of projects sizes and types have opted for some type of LEED certification, and the majority of the projects were commercial buildings. Moreover, almost 50 percent of the respondents reported that owners consider the level of certification of the project to be extremely important: the higher the level of certification, the more important it was perceived to be to the owner.The review of literature documented studies that illustrate the benefits of green buildings and encourage industry professionals to opt for LEED certification (Kats, 2006; Kibert, 2007). On the other hand, LEED has also received criticisms, particularly for increased first costs and difficulty in documentation, possibly due to the associated cost increases due to labor in handling LEED process documentation at the front end, higher levels of project team integration with early on participation, etc. (Kibert, 2007).This study shows that in terms of the adoption trends for credit points across the LEED categories, some of them are more frequently adopted than others (see also Luthra and Fernandez-Solis, 2009). As the limitations of the study imply, a stronger link may be sought between the adoption rates of LEED credit points and their incremental cost and level of complexity. In this study, each one of these variables was measured on a different scale and referred to specific project accomplishments versus general perspectives of LEED APs. Nevertheless, this study shows that the credit points with lower adoption rates were perceived to result in higher incremental costs and considered to require higher complexity for their implementation than the others. Thus, this study argues that these two factors play an important role and affect the adoption trends of LEED credit points.Recently, the global resource consumption and emissions generation crisis (which does not include the 2008-2009 current global economic and construction decline) has become a major area of concern. Considering the alarming statistics of resource consumption and emissions generations, attempts are being made across the USA to increase awareness of green design and construction. The findings of this study reflect trends in adoption of LEED-NC credit points, as well as the impact of incremental cost and level of complexity on adoption rates of LEED-NC credit points.The results of this study reveal that LEED APs perceive that implementing LEED-NC: bears some medium level of incremental cost increase; and results in a moderate increase in complexity.This research articulates and confirms the perception by LEED APs that there is a degree of incremental first cost and level of complexity in the process of certification. The reasons behind this perception cannot be readily inferred from the findings of this research.Future study could quantify these incremental costs associated with various LEED credit points, and compare the perceptions of LEED APs with the actual costs. This study was limited to the USA; therefore, a similar study could be conducted in other countries where LEED or other methods of introducing sustainability into the building design and construction processes have been implemented. This would verify the findings and broaden the sample to a global level. Moreover, the results of this study may be used for improving current LEED credit points, and developing future revisions of LEED.With the increased involvement of facility managers in the design and new construction of buildings and infrastructure, and with the growing awareness of issues like green construction and sustainability, it is more and more important to the facility management profession to be aware of these global trends and development in these areas. In large and medium organizations, where facility managers are in charge of design and construction teams, the information presented in this paper is valuable in terms of pointing to trends in the adoption of various LEED credit points, as well as showing the trends in their perceived incremental cost and level of complexity.Along with sustainability, issues such as aesthetics, security, and cost-effectiveness have also started gaining more importance than in the past. A study could be conducted to determine measures taken by owners and designers to move in the direction of whole building design, constructing high performance buildings, where sustainability is one parameter taken into consideration.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Literature review indicates that Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) practicing during the first ten years of LEED in the building industry hold perceptions that have influenced the adoption of LEED. These perceptions may include that some LEED credit points are more difficult to obtain than others, LEED projects have higher first costs, and LEED projects have higher levels of complexity. The literature also indicates that the relationship between these three topics merits research attention, in an effort to discover the magnitude of those perceptions. This paper aims to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Both self-administered questionnaires and interviews are utilized to secure information directly from practitioners. Out of a pool of 8,000 possible interviewees, a total of 102 qualified respondents participated in the cross-sectional survey. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software is used to analyze the data derived from the survey information and to arrive at conclusions.\nFindings: - The survey identify which LEED credit points are perceived by LEED APs as more difficult, as contributing to higher initial costs and as increasing project complexity. The conclusions indicate a trend toward a higher adoption rate of points that are perceived as having lower initial costs and a lower level of complexity. These findings are primarily due to two reasons: increased cost in managing project documentation; and increased cost in project complexity.\nOriginality/value: - The results of this study can be used by designers, construction professionals, and facility managers who are involved in new construction projects. The trends in credit point adoption, and the professionals' perceptions of their initial cost and level of complexity, may encourage others to consider using systems that introduce sustainability concepts into their design and construction process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Enhancing organizational performance of Malaysian SMEs : The role of HRM and organizational learning capability
|
[
"Human resource management",
"Small to medium-sized enterprises",
"Workplace training",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Organizational learning capability",
"Company performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) including microenterprises in Malaysia have played an significant role in fostering growth, employment, and income, and have been the primary driver in Malaysia's economic transformation process. SMEs constitute 99.2 percent of total business establishments in the country, contribute 32 percent of GDP, 59 percent of employment and 19 percent of exports. The majority of the SMEs are in the services sector (87 percent), followed by manufacturing (7 percent) and agriculture (6 percent), of which 79 percent are microenterprises. Real gross domestic product (GDP) of SMEs has consistently expanded at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent since 2004, outperforming that of the overall economy average annual growth rate of 4.9 percent. In the last few years, SMEs have witnessed a marked improvement in their performance (SME Master Plan 2012-2020, 2010). However, their contribution to GDP is still somewhat lacking compared with their counterparts in developed countries. SMEs in Singapore are four times more productive than Malaysian SMEs, while SMEs in the United States are seven times more productive. Malaysian SME productivity (value-added per worker) averaged RM44,000 in 2008 and was estimated to have averaged RM47,000 in 2010, about one-third of large estabishments (RM148,000). Thus, industry players remain hopeful that the government can support the growth of SMEs to contribute 41 percent of the country's GDP by 2020 (Wong, 2012).\n2. HRM: While studies on HRM within SMEs have been limited, Rutherford et al. (2004) point out that there has been an increasing focus within the large-organization literature on the critical role of HRM to an organization's success. Researchers largely concur that: first, human capital can be a source of competitive advantage; second, HR practices have the most direct influence on the human capital of a firm; and third, that the complex nature of HRM systems of practice can enhance the inimitability of the system. Thus, it is an important source of competitive advantage to the organization (Delery and Shaw, 2001).\n3. OL capability: Contemporary organizations have been urged to innovate and explore new opportunities in order to sustain their competitiveness in an increasingly turbulent environment. The innovation literature describes knowledge as the basic building block of innovation and the key resource which underpins sustainable competitive advantage of firms. According to Kogut (2000), the performance heterogeneity among firms can be traced to differences in their knowledge base as well as their capabilities to develop and exploit knowledge. Researchers refer to the process where organizations develop and exploit knowledge as OL. Huber (1991) defines OL as the process of firm-wide information processing, involving the acquisition, dissemination, interpretation, and institutionalization of knowledge. It is a dynamic process which involves individual, group and organizational-level actions and interactions (Crossan et al., 1999), being shaped by the structural and social context of the organization. An organization is deemed to have learned when knowledge acquired by individuals is transferred and integrated into the organization's knowledge base, leading to changes in its range of potential behavior.\n4. Relationships between HRM, OL capability, and firm performance: HRM plays a key role in developing OL capability. The management can signal a strong commitment to learning by implementing distinctive HR practices to support learning at the individual, group, and organization levels. The use of formal selection criteria ensures that new recruits possess the requisite skills and knowledge that serve as basis for further knowledge development (Schmidt and Hunter, 1998). Investment in training and development enhance the human capital of the firm and individuals' absorptive capacity (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2004). Compensation schemes that reward the development of new skills and knowledge provide the motivation for individuals to experiment with new ideas, leading to the development of new knowledge (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005b; Lawler et al., 2001). The use of teams and cross-functional collaborations promote knowledge sharing among individuals (Appelbaum and Reichart, 1998; Lepak et al., 2007). These support the transfer and integration of knowledge at the group and organizational levels (Garvin, 1993; Goh and Ryan, 2002). Likewise, these practices together with those which promote clear communication and broader work experience within the organization will foster cohesion and shared perspective among organizational members.\n5. Research design: A cross-sectional design was adopted, where data were collected from a sample drawn from the SME population in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, utilizing a survey questionnaire. The data for the present study forms part of a broader study that analyzes the relationship between OL capability, selected organizational contextual variables and competitiveness of SMEs. A pilot study was undertaken with the aim of testing the validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Non-random purposive sampling technique was used to select 55 managerial-level executives from 24 SMEs as respondents for the pilot study. These SMEs are members of the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak. Analysis of the collected data indicated the scales achieved desired level of reliability.\n6. Research findings: 6.1. Measurement model analysis\n7. Conclusion: The present study contributes the following to the existing literature on HRM and OL capability. First, we identify and validate a bundle of HR practices adopted by our sample of Malaysian SMEs. This is parallel to the \"configurational\" perspective (Delery and Doty, 1996) which asserts that some multiple interdependent HR practices should be administered together to best enhance organizational performance (Wright and McMahon, 1992). A key conceptual theme that underpins these practices is that they contribute to the development of organizations' human capital. Hence, we conceptualize these practices as human-capital enhancing HR system. This corresponds to the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) domain of Jiang et al.'s (2012) AMO model. The statistical significance of these practices also suggests that these are prevalent among the sampled SMEs. Hence, contrary to the general notion that SMEs do not plan the management of their workforce and are not concerned with human capital development, we show that our sampled SMEs do adopt a set of HR practices which are consistent with one another, in terms of their impact on human capital development.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational learning (OL) capability as a mediator of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and performance of Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional design was adopted, where data were collected from a sample of 286 manufacturing and service SMEs, utilizing a survey questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Results from a two-stage structural equation modeling analysis suggest that the use of human-capital enhancing HR practices strengthen SMEs' learning capability. Furthermore, SMEs' learning capability mediates the effect of the HR practices on firm performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: It uses a cross-sectional design which has prevented the examination of cause and effect relationship between two constructs. It also did not include large organizations in the sample population. It also did not consider other SME contextual variables which may otherwise exert significant impact on OL capability, or moderate the relationship between the constructs under study.\nPractical implications: A profound understanding of HR practices' holistic effect on performances would assist organizations to implement strategies to sustain competitive advantage. Company capabilities embedded in employee behavior are less likely to be inimitable and organizations could effectively nurture the needed employee capabilities to achieve the desired performance outcomes.\nOriginality/value: The study advances knowledge on HRM among SMEs by proposing that decisions on selection of HR practices can be guided by the objective of developing the OL capability of the firm.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The roles of deals and business networks in innovation processes
|
[
"International new ventures",
"Innovation process",
"Venture capital",
"Business networks",
"Deals",
"TAVI"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper reports on a study of the innovation processes that created a radically new technology and medical procedure called transaortic valve implantation (TAVI) in the domain of minimal invasive thoracic surgery. This study is part of a broader study that primarily researched how practitioners at various Scandinavian hospitals adopted, organized and used this new technology. In these studies, it became very clear that two major global companies, Edwards Lifesciences and Medtronic CoreValve, played particularly important roles in these adoption processes. Both have their headquarters in Irvine, California, and until recently were the completely dominant producers in this rapidly growing medical technology niche market. To understand how these two companies emerged in their particular roles, and the background for the formats they apply in their interactions with the hospitals, we started investigating the innovation history of TAVI and following the two firms' pathways back to the early invention by a Danish interventional cardiologist in 1988/1989.\nThe innovation process literature: The apparent controversy between the IMP literature's emphasis on the dependency of new innovative ventures on established business networks and investments in place, and the view of the entrepreneurship literature that entrepreneurs actually grow their new companies very fast from small local size to large global enterprises that capture substantial space and roles in global markets, is intriguing. In order to dig deeper into these matters, we recognize the need to bring the financial aspects of innovation processes more into the core of the analysis in more decisive ways than what is represented in the literature in both IMP and international entrepreneurship research. In Hakansson and Olsen (2015), it is suggested that studies of innovation processes should focus on deals, and it presented a definition of deals that builds on and expands from the network and process understanding of value creation and real world business activities in IMP theory. This study will apply and further explore this research strategy in a study of an international innovation process in a complex empirical setting.\nWhat is a deal?: One important result from studies of interorganizational business interactions is that they often tend to be thick as they include a variety of development, improvement and problem-solving processes that necessitate a variety of such interactions. It is also a general observation that informal networks of engaged actors across company borders tend to govern and execute these interactions in multiple ways. (Hakansson, 1982; Hakansson and Snehota, 1995; Hakansson et al., 2009). However, within the total interaction there are also specific formal agreements as soon as monetary means exchange. Hakansson and Olsen (2015) identified these formal agreements involving money as \"deals.\" Deals is an analytical construct at the intersection between social-material activities on the one hand, and monetary transfers on the other. It formalizes when the social-material interactions between two business units need to be delimited and specified in relation to a necessary monetary component.\nMethods: Our study regards the development and the adoption of a new medical technology in the domain of minimally invasive heart surgery. The study departs from and builds on a structured investigation into the history of such adoption processes at eight different Scandinavian heart clinics, seven of which are at university hospitals and one is a self-governed foundation. We also inquired into the trajectories of the new technology internationally from its invention in the late 1980s until its first introduction at Scandinavian heart clinics around 2006-2009.\nWhat is TAVI?: The TAVI procedure offers a new treatment for people who suffer from severe aortic stenosis, which is a narrowing of the heart valve between the left ventricle and the aorta. This substantially reduces the capacity of the heart to pump blood through the body, causing blood to back up in the heart. The condition is life threatening and mostly of concern to the elderly. TAVI is a minimally invasive procedure where an artificial valve can be implanted using a wire passing, for instance, through the femoral artery instead of having open-heart surgery.\nThe innovation journey of Edwards' TAVI valve: The story of TAVI starts with the Danish Cardiologist Henning Rud Andersen at Arhus University Hospital. At an interventional cardiology conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1988, he was inspired by presentations of coronary artery stents to start thinking about how to enlarge such a stent to place an artificial heart valve within it. Back in Denmark, he went on to build a prototype by constructing a larger metal stent, sewing it together and placing within it a valve made from pig hearts obtained from the local butcher shop. He then used a transcatheter delivery device that had been developed by Dr Alain Cribier in France in the 1980s that at the time was being used for the balloon aortic valvuloplasty procedure (BAV) (European-Hospital, February 11, 2012).\nTAVI at Arhus University Hospital, Skejby: The inventor of TAVI and owner of the early TAVI patents, Henning Rud Andersen, is still an interventional cardiologist at Arhus University Hospital in Denmark. As we already learned, he was involved from time to time in the efforts to commercialize his invention, which finally ended up as a new technology at Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California. Because the commercialization was based on an exclusive licence agreement on Andersen's patents, he never obtained a formal role in the companies that sought to exploit the licence. However, he has been a close partner with PVT and, in collaboration with Edwards, has been deeply involved in several battles over patent infringements with Medtronic CoreValve over the years (interview Andersen, 2014; Milford and Cortez, 2014)\nDeals as critical turning points in a staged and geographically re-locating innovation process: From this case description, we identified seven-specific deals where \"money-handling processes\" and \"social-material value-creating processes\" combine and interact.\nRoles of deals in the innovation process: Let us now first have a look at each of the seven deals before identifying more general findings.\nConclusions: The deals presented and discussed in this paper play particular roles in a rocky, emergent innovation process. A first observation is that they do not all describe or explain the whole process. Instead, each deal is part of a larger process and is only building on some specific dimensions of it. However, each deal is in some critical way a precondition for the next, as the object acted upon by the actors in the following process is the outcome of the processes initiated by the previous deal. This regards both the regular daily deals as well as the more isolated ad hoc ones. Together they create a pattern. But again this pattern only gives a partial and very specific picture of the total process. One important reason is that every deal has to cut out, in a very distinct way, what is included in the deal. In the first three deals it is rather simple because in principle it is a document giving some rights that are exchanged. The same with the fourth one, but here the rights are in terms of ownership. The fifth and the sixth are much more complicated and include a set of resources and activities that must be separated out through a much more complicated process. In the seventh it is moving back to a rather well-defined product. Consequently, deals are based on a clear specification of what is included, and this is only possible to do in certain situations. Complex interacted business structures are difficult to slice up in suitable pieces for making deals.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the roles of deals in innovations processes, based on the definition of a deal as the interaction of social-material value-creating processes with money-handing processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a study of the historical emergence of transaortic valve implantation (TAVI) as an innovative new technology in the area of thoracic surgery in a global setting. The study is based on a combination of interviews and secondary data analysis.\nFindings: The authors found that deals play important roles in innovation processes as critical junctions that mark entries to different phases and generate major shifts in location as well as combination of resources, activities and actors. These shifts include radical changes in control, where actors in possession of resources necessary to bring the project through the next phase, move in to take control - thereby expanding their businesses to new growth niches. Based on the analysis of seven deals, the authors argue that the innovation process is a combined push and pull process where later stage entrepreneurial interests play very significant roles. Deals may also represent radical turning points and moves of the projects that set the project off in a different direction, usually also associated with shifting ownership control rights through the innovation and scaling process. The authors also argue that inventions in the periphery will tend to move to the areas with the most competent relevant business networks capable of adopting and expanding the innovation to a global business operation. The innovation process is not primarily about creating new resources and activities, but about recombining existing resources, competencies and activities. Supplier networks play particularly important roles in these processes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors suggest that the study indicates that IMP researchers should turn more attention to studying business deals and financial flows and influences - in particular in studies of innovations and innovation processes - to investigate the mechanisms by which new innovations interact with and transform existing business networks.\nSocial implications: This work highlights why and how an innovation that may initiate anywhere in the periphery, will tend to move to the most competent and capable networks around the globe, that are the most relevant to the needs of the innovation project. Hence, the more powerful business networks and eco-systems will tend to pull interesting inventions in from their periphery, and grow them effectively.\nOriginality/value: The paper expands the efforts in IMP theorizing to include financial/monetary interactions more explicitly into business network theory. It also aims at clarifying core IMP arguments toward entrepreneurship research, in particular research on international new ventures.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Audit quality and real earnings management: evidence from the UK manufacturing sector
|
[
"Manufacturing industry",
"Earnings management",
"Audit quality",
"Panel data analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The accounting scandals in recent times have led to several reforms in financial reporting and corporate governance regulations globally (Leuz and Wysocki, 2016). For example, fundamental changes to corporate governance code have occurred in the UK. The UK Corporate Governance Code based on the recommendations set out in the Higgs (Kassamany et al., 2017) attempt to address these accounting scandals. Consequently, a study that sheds further insight on real earnings management and audit quality is very relevant, as real earnings management is one of the scandal perpetrated by managers.\n2. Literature review: Unlike accrual-based earnings management that involves altering the level of accruals to obtain the desired reported earnings, real earnings management is defined as deviation from normal business practices to manipulate reported earnings (Roychowdhury, 2006). Several methods have been identified to manage earnings through deviations from normal business practices. These methods can either be divided into deviations from operating and investing activities, and deviations from financing activities (Xu et al., 2007).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Empirical results: Panel A of Table I shows descriptive statistics comprising of mean, median, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, skewness and kurtosis from Equation (4). This table essentially provides descriptive statistics for all variables in real earnings management regressions with its relation to audit quality. Audit quality is defined by audit fees and Big4 audit firms. The average audit fee in this sample is 5.1 from the range of 9.8 as the highest fee and 2.2 as the lowest fee. Most of companies in the sample, 70 percent, are audited by Big4 audit firms, whereas the remaining companies are audited by non-Big4 audit firms. The mean of auditor tenure is six years from ten years as the longest period and one year as the shortest period.\n5. Conclusions: This study is built from the premise that agency conflicts between managers and shareholders occur due to information asymmetry. High information asymmetry leads to high earnings management that motivates managers to focus on meeting short-term earnings target instead of long-term performance. Although real earnings management falls outside auditor's authority, high-quality audit service is important to prevent bias from earnings manipulation. This study, therefore, investigates whether audit quality is related to real earnings management. The paper employs audit fees and Big4 audit firms as tools to measure audit quality while real earnings management is proxied by abnormal operating cash flows, abnormal discretionary expenses, abnormal production costs and real earnings management index as an overall measurement.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether audit quality is associated with real earnings management in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors apply the panel fixed effects method that controls for heterogeneity across firms to investigate whether audit quality is related to real earnings management for a large sample of UK manufacturing companies for the period 2010-2013. The authors utilized three proxies to measure real earnings management and two proxies to measure audit quality.\nFindings: The results provide evidence that audit fees are negatively related to abnormal operating cash flows. Conversely, audit fees are positively related to abnormal discretionary expenses. Besides, audit quality proxies show insignificant relationship with abnormal production costs and real earnings management index. Overall, the study finds partial evidence of significant relationship between audit quality and real earnings management.\nResearch limitations/implications: These results are important subject to the adequacy of the indicators of real earnings management and audit quality. Like previous research works that mostly focus on upward earnings management, the authors do not address the question of whether and how firms take real actions to manage earnings downwards in certain contexts.\nPractical implications: The findings inform monitoring bodies that the imposition of higher levels of audit quality may result in unintended consequences. Therefore, monitoring bodies, such as audit committees, should consider the implication of imposing higher quality auditing, which may drive firms to potentially value-decreasing real earnings management practices. Managers should curtail real earnings management practices, especially abnormal operating cash flow, because attempt to use higher-quality auditors to mitigate such practice may destroy firm value. Also, managers' employment may be threatened due to the potential deterioration of firm value caused by using higher-quality auditors to mitigate managers' real earnings management practices. Moreover, shareholders are informed of the potential detrimental effects of imposing higher levels of audit quality which may lower the value of their investments.\nOriginality/value: The paper extends previous research on earnings management in several ways. First, while earlier studies usually use accruals methods to measure earnings management, the authors use the real earnings management approach as managers can switch from accruals to real earnings management when facing more scrutiny from auditors and/or more constrained regulations or standards that may limit their capability to use discretionary accruals. Second, this study reports new findings, as the authors find partial evidence of a significant relationship between audit quality and real earnings management. Third, it is one of the few studies to use a real earnings management index to measure earnings management and its link to audit quality.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Job resourcefulness, work engagement and prosocial service behaviors in the hospitality industry
|
[
"Work engagement",
"Job resourcefulness",
"Prosocial service behaviours"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In a competitive marketplace, delivering high-quality service is considered a key success factor in the hospitality industry (Tsaur et al., 2014). The pursuit of service excellence is considered an essential strategy (Johanson and Woods, 2008). Thus, an increasing number of service providers seek to offer excellent quality beyond customers' needs and expectations (Torres et al., 2014). Previous studies have suggested that service quality can be enhanced when hotel employees do \"that little bit extra\" for the customers (Wan, 2010). The prosocial service behaviors (PSBs) of employees can be considered a customer-oriented service (Lee et al., 2006; Malhotra and Ackfeldt, 2016), and have a crucial influence on service evaluation and long-term success of hotels (Tsaur et al., 2014; Tsaur and Lin, 2004). Therefore, PSBs have critical implications for hospitality firms.\nLiterature review and hypotheses: Job resourcefulness\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults: Characteristics of the sample\nDiscussion and conclusions: Previous studies have explored the relationships between personal resources and behavioral outcomes (Harris et al., 2013; Karatepe and Douri, 2012). The current study posits one personal resource, job resourcefulness and one behavioral outcome, PSBs. This study also investigates that work engagement mediates the relationship between job resourcefulness and PSBs to obtain a deep understanding of the personal resource-job outcome relationship in the hotel industry. The empirical findings indicate that job resourcefulness has direct and positive effects on RPSBs, ERSBs and employee cooperation. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the relationships between job resourcefulness and the three types of PSBs. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are as follows.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Prosocial service behaviors play a major role in the hospitality industry. However, few studies have examined how job resourcefulness affects prosocial service behaviors. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between job resourcefulness and prosocial service behaviors as well as clarify the mediating effect of work engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed to collect data from 282 frontline service employees in Taiwan's hotel industry. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the hypotheses of this research.\nFindings: The results indicate that job resourcefulness is positively related to role-prescribed service behaviors, extra-role service behaviors and cooperation. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the relationship between job resourcefulness and prosocial service behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The design of cross-sectional research restricts inference to the findings of cause-effect relationships. Also, the design of this study could not rule out the effect of common method variance, as all the data used in the study were acquired using the same questionnaire.\nOriginality/value: The current study contributes to the hospitality management research by investigating the link between job resourcefulness and prosocial service behaviors, and elaborating the partially mediating role of work engagement in this relationship.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Remedies for information asymmetry in online transaction: An investigation into the impact of web page signals on auction outcome
|
[
"Electronic commerce",
"Auctions",
"Information exchange",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Internet has created an enormous electronic commerce (e-commerce) market in which most transactions occur between people who have never met (Ba and Pavlou, 2002, Liu, 2000). In fact, in the initial phase of e-commerce, beginning in 1995, online businesses were expected to replace traditional retail markets (McQuivey et al., 1998). However, the e-commerce bubble crashed in 2000 as the stocks of many \"dot.com\" companies collapsed (Laudon and Traver, 2005, p. 28). More recently, the volume and variety of profitable e-commerce businesses like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay are becoming more evident. The most prosperous e-commerce market on the Internet is the online auction market, where the leading company, eBay, has been growing since September 1995 and now has approximately 87.7 million active users worldwide (eBay, 2009).Because of the numerous advantages enjoyed by e-commerce (e.g. 24/7 access, low marginal cost of printing and mailing catalogs, assess to customers worldwide), the number of sellers that have adopted the Internet as their strategic sales channel, whether through their own retail sites or as individual retailers within auction sites, is increasing. Annual revenue on online auction sites is already in the range of tens of billions of dollars and is predicted to continue to grow substantially. However, despite the many aspects of e-commerce that are superior to traditional modes of commerce, the online environment still has some inherent problems (e.g., Lawson, 2002; Pinker et al., 2003). For instance, consumers may have difficulty discerning the seller's identity and cannot touch and verify the authenticity and quality of products prior to purchase. Therefore, information asymmetry is more prevalent in the online transaction environment than in traditional brick-and-mortar stores (Smith, 2004)To mitigate the problems of informational asymmetry in the market, Akerlof (1970) and Heal (1976) suggested that sellers offer warranties, brand names, and solid reputations to increase buyers' trust. Eastlick et al. (2006) demonstrated that, when two parties have not interacted previously, an atmosphere of trust can mitigate information asymmetry by reducing the risk of specific transactions, thereby allowing reputable sellers to demand premium prices. Ba and Pavlou (2002) proposed that a seller's feedback score on an auction site can be thought of as calculation-based trust in which one's credibility could facilitate online transaction when there is a lack of personal interaction and familiarity. Other research has found that the seller's feedback score has significant impact on auction outcomes (e.g., Lucking-Reiley et al., 2000; McDonald and Slawson, 2002; Resnick and Zeckhauser, 2002).However, consumers' buying decisions may also be influenced by the transaction surroundings, such as clues about sellers or products, that may reduce or increase the consumers' perception of risk. Further investigation is needed on what factors, other than the seller's reputation, may affect bidders' online auction intentions. From a practical standpoint, understanding the web page signals that affect buyers' bidding intentions can help sellers design better business models and increase their success in online auctions. This information can not only benefit sellers' revenue over time, it can also help sellers decrease the perceived risk of their products on the Internet, thereby increasing its power as a retailing tool and its usefulness to buyers.The purpose of this research is to characterize patterns of signal information contained on a web page and then to examine those patterns' effect on auction outcomes. We use publicly available data from the leading online auction web site, eBay, and classify the signals into three categories:1. seller's reputation;2. product condition; and3. the quality of the sellers' argument.We organize the rest of the article as follows: first, we explain the information signal theory and the research hypotheses of the study. Second, we describe the research methodology for testing research hypotheses. Third, we present the results of the tests of hypotheses about the effects of signals on auction outcomes. Finally, we conclude with a presentation of the research findings and implications for auction sellers.\n2. Literature review and research hypothesis: 2.1 Theoretical background\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Samples selection and coding process\n4. Results: 4.1 Results of auction signals on number of bids\n5. Conclusion and implications: The present study contributes to both online auction theory and practice. It adds to the existing literature on electronic commerce by characterizing online auction signals into three types: seller reputation, product condition and argument quality. The asymmetric information problem is widespread in Internet transactions, and this study makes a contribution to understanding how the signals affect customer purchase decisions. This information can not only benefit sellers' revenue over time, it can also help sellers decrease the perceived risk of buying on the Internet, thereby increasing its power as a retailing tool and its usefulness to buyers.Consumers' perception of risk can be lessened if sellers have a good strategy to design the signals that solve the asymmetric information problems. Our research confirmed that three types of signals can increase consumers' positive intention toward the auction item: seller reputation, product condition, and argument quality. First, the feedback scores a seller accumulates on an online auction site play the role of reputation as in an offline world. Since feedback scores are compiled from ratings by people who have completed transactions with one another, sellers have to cultivate their reputations through their feedbacks score by doing business that satisfies buyers. Second, in order to improve auction outcomes, sellers have to pay special attentions to the product condition signals - whether the item is new or used, damage revelation, and warranty. Third, sellers must present persuasive arguments to encourage buyers to participate in an auction, thereby influencing how many bidders participate and how much they are willing to pay. Most importantly, as the number of participants increases, the rising competition may increase the auction outcome. These findings yield important implications for the short-term and long-term strategies for sellers dealing with online auctions, as well as other online businesses.5.1 Short-term strategy\n6. Limitation and future study: Our findings have practical implications for online sellers who want to operate a successful auction. However, future studies may use comprehensive content analysis to investigate the influence of semantics on buyers in an online environment. In addition, because online auctions are prevalent around the world, they provide a potential opportunity to investigate the online auction scenario in different cultures. More investigations conducted in different locales would shed light on questions about the differences from country to country.This article uses observations from only one auction site, the eBay web site, which may limit the generalizability to other online auction sites. We also use only one product, laptops. Future research could use our model to test other transactions in other online auction sites. The degree of information asymmetry could also be different for different product categories, so further research could test the impact of signals using different product types.Past research has found that reserve price is related to an auction's outcome, such as the number of bids and auction success. Riley and Samuelson (1981) showed that a reserve price allows auctioneers to attract additional bids, not only from more individual bidders but also from bidders who are willing to place multiple bids for the product. Katkar and Reiley (2006) found that it is a better strategy to set a lower starting price while using a reserve price to ensure the product sells at a reasonable price. Since price is an extrinsic signal of quality in many cases (Zeithaml, 1988), a product auctioned with a reserve price may also make buyers perceive higher value for the product. In our study, reserve price is set as a control variable in the model, but more study regarding the impact of the independent variables in the model on reserve price is needed. While our research is the first to classify the signals that appear in online auction sites into three categories, this taxonomy needs further investigation in terms of testing its replication under different Internet-based transactions. Finally, the new technology applied in Internet auction like Internet chat tool, virtual auction tool, buy it now function, etc. are potentially to influence auction process and auction outcome. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for future research to incorporate those factors based on our research model to better understand the impact of new technology on Internet auction.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to investigate the signals on which consumers may rely to reduce the problems of information asymmetry on an online auction site. The research aims to develop and test based on information signaling theory. It classifies signals from auction web pages into three types: seller reputation, product condition, and argument quality. To understand how the signals affect consumers' online buying decisions, the study intends to test the impacts of these signals on the auction outcome variables: number of bids, auction success, and willingness to pay.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper employs an empirical test with real observation data comprised of 5,013 samples coded from the eBay auction site in the USA. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to predict the effect of web page signals on the number of bids, logistic regression to determine which web page signals contribute to auction success, and Tobit maximum likelihood estimation to estimate the impact of web page signals on willingness to pay.\nFindings: - Results show that, in addition to the seller's reputation, signals like product condition and the quality of the sellers' arguments on the web page are significantly related to the three auction outcomes. Buyers tend to rely on these signals to resolve information asymmetry in online auction transactions.\nOriginality/value: - Past studies have found that the seller's feedback score is central to a positive online auction outcome. This paper is the first to classify web page signals comprehensively and to investigate their impacts on online auction outcomes using real transaction data. The findings provide substantial evidence and implications for both academic research and practitioners in online auctions. A dynamic strategy for success in online auctions is offered in the conclusion section.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding the determinants of guests' behaviour to use green P2P accommodation
|
[
"Structural equation modelling",
"Theory of planned behaviour",
"Environmental commitment theory",
"Green P2P accommodation",
"Value-belief-norm theory"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The rapid development of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation business leads to great development in the hospitality and tourism industry (eMarketer, 2017; Fortune, 2017), making it one of the top priorities for practitioners and researchers in the field (Heo, 2016; Tussyadiah and Park, 2018). Today, individuals are able to easily connect with each other to share temporary access to underutilized spaces via platforms such as Airbnb, 9flats and onefinestay. Researchers have argued that the accelerated growth in platform's market share may be attributed to its benefits that address the fundamental needs of consumers concerning societal and economic considerations (Yang et al., 2019; Ert et al., 2016). That is, the platform enables consumers to seek low-cost accommodation and desirable authentic experiences through more meaningful social interactions with the local community while visiting a travel destination.\nLiterature review: The theory of planned behavior\nMethodology: Sampling procedure\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\nLimitations and future research directions: Though the present study makes some contributions, it also has some limitations, which provide a direction for further research. First, our study uses the TPB and VBN models to predict guests' behavior to book green P2P accommodation in developed countries (the UK context), so further research may need to apply our model in a developing countries context. Moreover, some variables such as trust in green accommodation, their perceived value and self-identity seem to be appropriate elements, which can affect the variables of guests' green booking behavior. Second, the cross-cultural issue was overlooked in our study; so, further studies in different countries might add to the knowledge if our proposed model was validated there. Third, our proposed model has been applied in the P2P context; thus, further studies might focus on other sectors such as fast food restaurants and green travel products. Finally, the present study model integrating the TPB, environmental commitment theory and VBN theories is open to adding new variables. Essential factors in the context of green consumption may not have been integrated in the framework. Examining such factors and adding them to our study model would be a helpful extension of the present study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework in which to understand the determinants of guests' behavior to use green peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation in the UK P2P context by emerging the theory of planed behavior, environmental commitment theory and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory into one model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Adopting a quantitative approach, the present study proposes an integrated model integrating theory of planed behavior, environmental commitment theory and the VBN theory and subsequently tests the model using structural equation modeling data analysis. Data collected from 721 respondents were analyzed through (AMOS) to test the proposed model.\nFindings: The results indicate that our integrated framework demonstrates a favorable level of prediction power for guests' behavior, which verified the superiority of the suggested framework. Furthermore, the findings verified the moderating impact of guest attributes on guests decision regarding the booking process.\nPractical implications: This study contributes to the existing theory and practice by offering important insights about determinants of guests' behavior to use green P2P accommodation in the UK P2P context.\nOriginality/value: This research was the first to explore the determinants of guests' behavior to use green P2P accommodation in the UK P2P context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumer initial trust toward internet-only banks in France
|
[
"France",
"Banking",
"Trust",
"Reputation",
"Internet-only banks"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internet penetration is growing rapidly in France with over 58 million internet users and about 85 percent of the population having access to it, making online banking a rapidly expanding service in the French banking industry (Internet World Stats, 2015). In 2013, the number of French online banking users was estimated at nearly 25 million with a penetration of about 58 percent in 2014 (Statista, 2015). In France, most of online banks are subsidiaries of traditional banks, insurance firms and finance companies. The majority of traditional French banks are using the \"clicks and mortar\" banking model to make it easier for consumers to perform the transactions. Due to the fact that consumers do not have the time to stop by their bank to complete their transactions, online banking has become a necessity. With this banking model, banks target consumers who need self-care offerings in parallel with their branches and aim to reduce costs by providing clients with low-value-added transactions, such as bill payment, balance inquiries, account transfers and credit card lending. At the same time, the branch often remains a possible point of contact for customers. However, few banks use a stand- alone \"Internet-only banking model\" (IOBs), in which their website is the sole delivery channel to the customer. In 2014, French IOBs accounted for two to three million customers and their market share represented only 7 percent of the banking sector. Their penetration has increased 14 percent between 2014 and 2015, reaching 18.3 percent in 2015 and it is expected that over 23 percent of traditional banks users will consider switching to IOBs in the near future (Simon-Kucher and Partners, 2015). Today in France, one in three new bank accounts are opened with online banks and one in five people are considering opening an online account in the future (Boursorama, 2015).\nConceptual framework: Online banks, such as Fortuneo banque, BforB Bank, Monabanq and Hello Banque, function as independent entities. These IOBs have gained popularity as a result of the cost savings made. By being branchless, these banks spend less on property rentals and payroll, and can use some of their overhead cost savings to increase their market share, attracting customers by paying higher interest rates on deposit accounts, lower loan rates and reduced fees. To attract new customers, IOBs position themselves based on a low-cost strategy, such as offering free access to their online banking website, as well as attractive promotional offers for new online customers (bank cards for free, bank charges and revolving credit at half price). According to Simon-Kucher and Partners' (2015) study, ING Direct, Boursorama, Fortuneo and Hello Bank are the four IOBs that French consumers consider attractive and intent to adopt in the future (Table I).\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. In this study, the goodness-of-fit statistics was the main criterion used in testing the hypotheses. The standardized path coefficients (b) and corresponding t-values were examined to test the significance and strength of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The model's key statistics are good and acceptable since the CMIN/DDLl=1.26; GFI=0.893; AGFI=0.856; CFI=0.981; NFI=0.917; TLI=0.976; RMSEA=0.033 (0.023; 0.043), SRMR=0.040. We can, thus, conclude that the research model is valid and fits the data (Figure 2).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate internet-only banks' (IOBs) adoption by French consumers and attempt to understand the factors that influence consumers' initial trust in this type of service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A non-probability convenience sample of potential IOBs adopters from France was used to test a structural equation model that analyzed the antecedents of initial trust and usage intentions of IOBs.\nFindings: The study shows that trust is a major influencer in IOBs' adoption in France. It has also been found that consumer familiarity with internet banking, high perceived structural assurance, perceived website quality, bank reputation and relative advantage are critical factors influencing IOBs' initial trust formation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study shows the applicability of the initial trust-building model in the context of IOBs and underlines the importance of factors such as familiarity, reputation and perceived quality in the context of online banking services in France.\nPractical implications: This paper provides e-banking companies with the most important factors that contribute to build the initial trust of customers. E-banks need to focus on making themselves known and promoting their brand more effectively through advertising and advocacy.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes significantly to the marketing research related to consumer trust and brand reputation, as well as to the electronic banking literature. The results show the importance of initial trust in the context of services and the main factors that influence it, including a key branding variable such as reputation. The paper also focuses on the IOBs' adoption in France, a market understudied compared to the USA, and seeks to understand the mechanisms associated with the initial formation of French consumers' trust toward it.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Barriers and enablers to women in fire and emergency leadership roles
|
[
"Australia",
"Women",
"Emergency services",
"Female leadership",
"Flexible working",
"Work barriers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper identifies the major barriers to women achieving leadership roles in fire and emergency service organisations in Victoria, Australia, and offers strategies to address them. The research was commissioned and part-funded by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) with the purpose of increasing the capability and effectiveness of fire and emergency management. In 2014, of the 2,422 DELWP and associated employees in Networked Emergency Organisations (NEO) accredited in fire and emergency roles[1], 671 (28 per cent) were women and 1,751 (72 per cent) were men. Fewer held leadership roles in fire and emergency (defined as Strategic, Incident and Team leadership). Of the 889 leaders, 175 (20 per cent) were women and 714 (80 per cent) were men. The research was to investigate reasons for this gender disparity and inform moves to increase women in leadership roles. Increasing the proportion of women allows a bigger pool of potential employees, broadens diversity and increases the capacity of this sector. Further, a diverse workforce better reflects the community.\nLiterature review: This literature review focuses on Australia, New Zealand and countries from the Global North in recognition of both overt and covert dynamics of discrimination against women in these countries. It is commonly assumed that gender is no longer a barrier to achievement and that gender inequality is not an issue for Australia, with lack of progress \"blinded\" through the uptake of postfeminism and neoliberal notions of choice and \"leaning-in\" (Lewis et al., 2017). However, Australia's ranking on gender equality slipped to 46 in 2016 with a modest recovery to only 35 in 2017 (Wadhwa and Farquhar, 2016; World Economic Forum, 2017).\nResearch methodology: The aim of the research was to understand the barriers that exist for women to take on fire and emergency management leadership roles within DELWP, Parks Victoria, Melbourne Water and VicForests, and to suggest strategies to address them to increase the capacity and capability of firefighting in Victoria. The commissioning body intended to increase the proportion of women in fire leadership roles to allow a bigger pool of potential employees, to broaden diversity, and increase the capacity of this sector.\nResults and discussion: This section reports findings from the survey, the interviews and focus group. Together, they capture observations and opinions on sexism and gender equality in the workplace, and barriers to women's progression, as well as personal experiences and recommendations.\nDiscussion: Findings from both the quantitative and qualitative data align with other research in reporting barriers to women taking on leadership roles in fire and emergency. Women have fewer role models and sponsors than men and less developed networks. They face barriers in accessing training and release for deployments. They work in a self-described \"boys' clubs\", where men are seen to dominate meetings and stereotype the abilities of women. Men predominate in senior roles, leaving senior women isolated and often overlooked.\nPractical strategies: The section below identifies a number of strategies to address key barriers identified in this research. These strategies have been informed by the DELWP/NEO participants, the survey findings, the literature review and the research team. The strategies may appear idealistic in an environment of ongoing resistance to women's workplace equality, including in fire and emergency services. However, the strategies that follow were accepted by DELWP and NEO. Workshops with DELWP staff were held in April-May 2016 to share the research outcomes. These workshops, together with the research findings, informed the development of an Action Plan, released in November 2016[2]. The Action Plan included a commitment to women holding 50 per cent of fire and emergency leadership roles. The initiative shown by senior DELWP and NEO managers in seeking authentic answers to the research question is reflective of the forward-thinking leadership they have shown over recent years in addressing gender inequity. It echoes the progressive stance taken by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews when he announced that 50 per cent of appointments to government boards and courts would be women, stating[3], \"I'm sick of walking into meetings and seeing a room full of blokes sitting around a table\"[4]. These are the recommended practical strategies:\nConclusion: Reflecting the wider literature on barriers to women in executive roles, this study bring to the fore that key barriers were threefold - related to career penalties not faced by men for family responsibilities; discrimination and sexism; and assumptions of women helping other women's careers. Some participants were under the misapprehension that women need to earn their leadership positions on \"merit\". The fear of many women who informed this study was that any attempts by management to fast track or nurture women for leadership roles would lead to scepticism about the capability of women in senior roles. Strong leadership is essential to addressing gender inequity in emergency organisations and removing the identified barriers to women taking on leadership roles in fire and emergency management. Male privilege ensures that male characteristics are more highly valued and rewarded. These include both biological characteristics with the male population generally taller and stronger than the female population, and socially constructed characteristics such as being stoic, decisive and unemotional. Maleness guarantees one dimension of privilege whereby all men share a sex-based advantage to some extent (Kahn, 2011). In educating all levels of staff to understand gender dynamics and the extant discrimination against women, it will be necessary to challenge \"push-back\" from men who feel their unearned advantage slipping away.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand what (if any) actual and perceived barriers exist for women to take on fire and emergency management leadership roles within the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An anonymous quantitative online survey was used to collect data about opinions and thoughts of staff. This informed the qualitative component of the research - in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The combination of these techniques provides deeper insight into the nature of the barriers for women.\nFindings: Respondents identified real barriers for women accessing leadership roles in fire and emergency. Reflecting the wider literature on barriers to women in executive roles, those identified related to sexism, career penalties not faced by men for family responsibilities, and assumptions of women helping other women's careers. There were more men in senior roles, leaving senior women isolated and often overlooked. Women had fewer role models and sponsors than men and less developed networks, finding it harder to access training and deployments. The context was described by most as \"a boys' club\", where men were seen to dominate meetings and stereotype the abilities of women.\nOriginality/value: This paper analyses the barriers to women in fire and emergency leadership roles within a masculine workplace and is rare in including a qualitative aspect to the issue in the Australian context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and use of food labels among Indian adults with multiple chronic conditions: A moderated mediation model
|
[
"Trust",
"Self-efficacy",
"Gender",
"Attitude",
"Nutritional knowledge",
"Food label use",
"Multiple chronic conditions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, India has experienced a rapid growth in consumption of packaged and processed foods, especially in urban areas (Ali and Kapoor, 2009; Vemula et al., 2014). This dramatic change in consumption patterns, coupled with increased consumer skepticism of the quality, genuineness and shelf-life of such foods, poses serious challenges to public health and regulatory agencies (Vemula et al., 2014). As a result of these developments, the demand for comprehensive food labeling regulations has risen. Recently, the Indian Government issued additional regulations requiring packaged food labels to include information such as nutrients, serving size, identification of manufacturer and brand name, lists of ingredients contained in the product, and dates of manufacture and expiry.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 IMB model and self-efficacy as a mediator\n3. Method: 3.1 Data collection procedure and sample\n4. Results: 4.1 Preliminary analyses\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Practical and social implications\n6. Conclusion: The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the indirect effects of nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use on food label use through self-efficacy and trust. Results from a sample of Indian adults with multiple chronic conditions show that nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use influence food label use through self-efficacy and trust. However, these mediation effects are moderated by gender such that the indirect relationship was stronger among men than women. Food marketers and government agencies engaged in food and nutrition education campaigns targeting patients with chronic diseases should incorporate strategies to improve their confidence in comprehending food label information. Regulators may consider mandating nutritional labels on foods to help people living with chronic conditions improve their food or dietary choices. From a theoretical perspective, this study confirms the applicability of Fisher and Fisher's (1992) IMB skills model in predicting food label usage of Indian patients with multiple chronic diseases.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the indirect effects of nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use on food label use through self-efficacy and trust, as well as whether gender moderates this relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of Indian adults with multiple chronic conditions was surveyed about their nutritional knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy and use of food labels. Hypotheses were tested using Hayes's (2013) PROCESS macro for SPSS.\nFindings: The results show that nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use positively predict food label use through self-efficacy and trust. However, these mediation effects are moderated by gender such that the indirect relationship is stronger among men than women.\nPractical implications: Food marketers and government agencies engaged in nutrition education campaigns should aim to increase patients' confidence in comprehending food label information.\nSocial implications: Since food labels can be a valuable tool to help patients with chronic diseases to make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle, regulators may consider mandating nutritional labels on foods to help them improve their food or dietary choices.\nOriginality/value: This study uniquely applies Fisher and Fisher's (1992) information-motivation-behavioral skills model as a theoretical framework to examine the influence of nutrition knowledge and attitude toward food label use on food label usage of Indian patients with multiple chronic diseases.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Positive team coaching
|
[
"Development",
"Beliefs",
"Coaching",
"Teams",
"Positive deviance",
"Positivity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Coaching continues to emerge as a powerful and productive method for maximizing potential and productivity for individuals and organizations. The International Coach Federation (2014) global consumer awareness study shows increased awareness, understanding, and utilization of coaching worldwide. Organizations are utilizing coaching for development and strengthening people rather than fixing problems (Cotu and Kauffman, 2009). Considering the methodology of how coaching occurs, the industry began with coaching as a 1:1 relationship. As organizational coaching evolved, coaches moved into working with groups and teams to offer a scalable program for individuals and to expand the reach and potential impact of coaching. Over the past six or so years, we have observed the need for a more rigorous method of coaching in organizations where the outcome includes development of the team as part of the goal. The Wisdom of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith, originally published in 1993, speaks to the value of moving from individual thinking to team performance. This is only accomplished through working together with a willingness to address conflict, trust, interdependence, and work ethic (Katzenbach and Smith, 2003). There are multiple ways we work with teams as a coach, consultant, and facilitator of learning. Definitions, standards, and practices vary as we look at coaching within a team scenario. We believe team coaching is about eliciting the wisdom, strength, learning, and commitment from the team, and we term our approach positive team coaching.\nThe journey from individual to group to team: As we have worked within organizations we have observed leadership cultures with characteristics that cross the spectrum from command and control to openness and learning. It is also not uncommon to find individualistic traits as a norm, consciously or unconsciously, as organizational leaders struggle to understand why departments that should be interdependent operate as silos. We find members of teams striving for a culture of WE - where people consistently work toward a shared goal that is larger than one's own interest. Yet most of what we see in organizations are groups on the road toward this goal. Why is it that we so clearly can see this is WHAT to strive for? However, getting to the HOW to achieve a culture of WE is generally not an easy one. We have come to recognize three stages of cultural development that we contrast to the stages of development - moving from early life to adulthood (Cox and Jackson, 2010). In early life we are dependent on others. Our life is created by people around us. For a young child this is the natural state of the world. Continuing this dependency as we grow can turn into blame - \"It's because of you\" or \"It's your fault.\" As we continue our growth, we develop our individuality and become independent moving into ME. Again, this is a very natural stage for a human being growing up, however, when the ME stage continues into adulthood we describe it as a stage of strong individualism or ego-state - \"It's because of me\"! The third stage occurs when we mature into adulthood and begin to understand there is something more than dependence. When we are ready to accept and utilize the concept of interdependence, a mutual reliance on each other, we begin to approach a culture of WE - \"It's because of us\"!\nTeam performance and positivity: High-performing teams demonstrate commitment, purpose, trust, and shared leadership (Katzenbach and Smith, 2003). While a coach's expertise is in the coaching process and not organizational or industry content, it is important to have some understanding of organizational context, team dynamics, and systems to quickly build trust and navigate through the complexity often faced within the environment. Defining the goals and desired outcome, assessing engagement, and measuring progress are important elements of any coaching engagement, and especially in work with teams. Organizations want teams to be high performing, coaching can help this happen.\nPositive team coaching: Our coaching approach is the primary tool we use in positive team coaching, however, we also believe in having a full toolbox accessible to support this work. Myers-Briggs type indicator, change theory and stages of change, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis, DRAMA triangle, and systems analysis are tools to help the team understand its members and draw on synergies that strengthen the whole (Thornton, 2010). The team diagnostic(tm) tool presented by Sandahl (2015) uses a 2x2 matrix to assess positivity and performance. Positivity is located on the x-axis while performance is on the y-axis giving us the positivity-performance matrix (Figure 1). Using a tool of this sort in a team coaching context where the initial work on agreements and how we work together support trust, transparency and a safe space, provides for interesting dialogue, inquiry, discovery, and learning.\nConclusion: Team coaching is a powerful process that can catalyze team and organizational success. Positive team coaching is consistent with a strengths-based approach we are familiar with as coaches. The foundation for positive team coaching has evolved from our work with teams and our exploration of positive deviance and positive beliefs. It is important coaches recognize the context and complexity working with organizational teams and build the additional skills and competencies necessary for success. Positive team coaching encourages creativity, builds mutual respect and value, strengthens the team, and accelerates learning. We invite you to walk with us on this journey to create a culture that inspires success, sustainability, and a flourishing future.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper is in follow up to a presentation by its authors at the 2015 Association of Training and Development Conference in Orlando, Florida where participants gathered to learn new and innovative ways of working with people. Teams are everywhere in our global society, and we see untapped opportunities to harness the energy and potential to achieve positive results. The purpose of this paper is to offer a coaching approach to working with teams that utilizes positive deviance eliciting strengths, unique skills and knowledge, and building on these to create engagement and results.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the coaching and professional development work with leaders and teams in organizations. The concept of positive deviance is one that the authors have explored with individuals, groups, and teams over the past several years. The approach emerged from the application of theory in practice supporting ongoing learning and development.\nFindings: The authors of this paper find organizations and members of teams wanting to be successful yet often still operating in silos. Supporting leaders and team members using a positive team coaching approach creates an environment that expands thinking, encourages creativity and learning, and develops strong teams.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes utilizing an approach that brings multiple theories together in practice. Positive team coaching includes establishing a mindset of positivity, exploring for and promoting positive deviance, and cultivating positive beliefs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Lean and Green: practices, paradigms and future prospects
|
[
"Environmental sustainability",
"Lean and Green",
"Models of management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the 1970s, there has been a growing concern about the environmental issue (Tilman et al., 2001). As a result, increasingly restrictive environmental legislation is emerging from local and federal governments (Chang et al., 2013). Facing this problem, there is an increase in the number of academic publication on the subject (Beatriz et al., 2014). In organizations, environmental issues are included in various management models and methodologies, such as ISO 14001 (Green et al., 2012). The evolution of environmental management practices goes through \"end-of-pipe\" treatment, followed by systemic approach, process management and focus on ecodesign (Holt, 1999; Kumar and Malegeant, 2006). The inclusion of operational and strategic environmental management practices in organizations affects both suppliers and customers (Sarkis, 1998; Green et al., 2012). In this context, the organizations are searching for truly sustainable production systems (Pagell and Shevchenko, 2009).\nMethodology: The objective of a literature review is the consolidation of research constructs and the delineation of scientific gaps. Thus, systematic literature reviews on emerging themes have been fundamental to consolidate and indicate new themes bringing possibilities for future studies (Luiz et al., 2016; Bartocci et al., 2017; Jabbour, 2013).\nLiterary bases for systematization: A proposal of categorization was established, taking into account the following: the positive and negative approaches on \"Lean and Green,\" previously presented by Florida (1996) and Dues et al. (2013); scenarios involving motivation for adoption of positions within the supply chain (Dev and Shankar, 2016; Azevedo et al., 2016); strategic questions vs operational questions (White and James, 2014); and results related to the reduction of environmental impacts.\nResults: Table II presents 107 articles that were categorized and analyzed according to the methodology proposed by Lage Junior and Godinho Filho (2010) and Jabbour (2013).\nDiscussion: Analysis of the bibliographical relations and the most cited terms\nFinal considerations: This extensive literature systematization involved a search in the state of the art about the theme of Lean and Green research. As this term was used with a keyword, providing greater accuracy in the consolidation of the database, the result is a systematization of the literature with 107 articles, subdivided into 10 categories. The main confirmed constructs are the positive approach of the Lean and Green union, evidenced by studies premised on the independent variable category demonstrating that their union influences other environmental performance variables. In this perspective, focus on waste reduction and waste reduction techniques paradigms were consolidated.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the conceptual framework related to the Lean and Green practices, paradigms, future prospects and problems, indicating points of convergence and divergence between them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on this premise, through vast literature systematization, the authors sought to categorize studies in order to consolidate constructs, reinforcing aspects regarding the positive and negative approaches and pointing out the gaps in the current state of the art. Broad literature systematization was carried out; the authors found 107 articles published between 2014 and 2018, separated into 10 categories.\nFindings: The main constructs confirmed are the positive approximation of the Lean and Green union, evidenced by studies premised on the independent variable category demonstrating that their union influences other environmental performance variables.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present research is a systematization of the literature, so its results have to be confirmed by other studies.\nPractical implications: The study supports the Lean and Green theme, confirming converging issues between the two areas and launching new topics for future research.\nSocial implications: The study contributed to the environmental theme by confirming synergies of the Lean and Green union and presenting new research themes.\nOriginality/value: To assert that Lean and Green systems union is sustainable, with regard to the tripod of sustainability, more studies on the social category are necessary.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Virtual 3D model of Canseleri building via close-range photogrammetry implementation
|
[
"UAV",
"Accuracy",
"3D model",
"Close-range photogrammetry"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Photogrammetry is a technique developed from the advancement of the science of measuring object dimensions in photographs (Molg and Bolch, 2017). The creation of a photo-realistic 3D model is popular in geomatics society nowadays. Mesas-Carrascosa et al. (2018) stated that the advancement of technology such as faster computer processing units increases the ability of computers to render a high-quality 3D model. The CRP technique creates many applications of 3D models, such as 3D games, cultural heritage documentation, virtual reality, special effects and geospatial application (Counts et al., 2016; Guidi et al., 2014). The images captured require further processes using related Photogrammetry software tools such as Agisoft PhotoScan to create a 3D model.\nResearch design: Several processes need to be carried out to develop the reconstruction of a 3D model using the UAV platform. One of the UAV products known as the DJI Phantom 3 Standard was used in this study. The research design was divided into four phases: namely planning, data acquisition, data processing and data analysis (Figure 1).\nResults and analysis: The calibration of the camera was vital as the images could affect the quality and accuracy of the 3D model. There were several ways to calibrate a camera using the Agisoft PhotoScan that did not require manual calibration. There was a built-in calibration in the software that could automatically calibrate the images captured by the camera or known as self-calibration. After undergoing several processes, the 3D model of the Canseleri building was successfully created. Once the photos were loaded into the software, they must be aligned. At this stage, the Agisoft PhotoScan performed the camera orientation with the position of each photo. After the computer processed the image alignment, the position of the photos was revealed and the sparse point cloud model was displayed. The quality of the 3D model was based on the quality of the images from the camera and the specifications of the computer used to process the 3D model. The higher the quality of the images, the higher the quality of the 3D model. A computer with high specifications could process the photos precisely with fine details, thus producing a 3D model with better quality and accuracy. Figure 6 shows the 3D model result of the Canseleri building at UiTM Shah Alam.\nConclusions and future work: The CRP method was used to achieve the 3D model of the Canseleri building using UAV as a platform for image acquisition. An oblique method with a random position of the UAV waypoint was used to acquire the images of the building. The UAV sped up the image acquisition process. This study proved that the UAV could produce accurate 3D model with textures. The accuracy assessment was done by comparing the measurement of the 3D model of the Canseleri building with the direct measurement of the Canseleri building using a measuring tape. In this study, the generated 3D building model had an accuracy of about 0.015 m. This result showed the UAV could produce a 3D building model at the centimetre level. Therefore, UAV can be used in the architecture or construction field to develop 3D models of buildings. The architecture or construction field requires a detailed and accurate 3D building model for inspection, renovation, progress monitoring, and maintenance purposes. The limitations of UAV must also be considered, such as signal noise, obstacle and light exposure during image acquisition.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The current technique used to measure construction is the conventional total station method. However, the conventional method is time-consuming and could not be used to create a photo-realistic three-dimensional (3D) model of an object. Furthermore, the Canseleri building is located at a slope. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The aim of this study is to assess the geometric accuracy of a 3D model using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. There are two objectives in this study. The first is to construct a 3D model of the Canseleri building using UAV images. The second objective is to validate the 3D model of the Canseleri building based on actual measurements.\nFindings: The close-range photogrammetry method, using the UAV platform, was able to produce a 3D building model. The results show that the errors between the actual measurement and the generated 3D model were less than 4 cm. The accuracy of the 3D model achieved in this study was about 0.015 m, compared to total station measurements.\nOriginality/value: Accuracy assessment was done by comparing the estimated measurement of the 3D model with the direct measurement. The differences between the measured values with actual values could be compared. Based on this study, the 3D building model gave a reliable accuracy for specific applications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Training's radical agenda: New challenges are destroying old comfort zones
|
[
"Learning styles",
"Equal opportunities",
"Languages",
"Emergency measures",
"E‐learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Business is being governed by new rules. Globalization and its underpinning communications technologies have thrown up new challenges for managers. Decisions need to be made faster, while there is also greater complexity - everything from managing multicultural workforces, to being prepared for assault from the hidden enemy of international terrorism.\nChanging worldviews: Among the keys to success in the modern era are adaptability in business and the ability to embrace, and thrive on, ambiguity. Cooperation, collaboration and networking have swept away old models of command and control culture. As people though, we are wired to draw on past experience in tackling new challenges. Eighty percent of brain activity draws on old information. We are much better at using past solutions than coming to terms with the challenge of the new.The new challenges are ones that encompass the managing of diversity - this immense opportunity to harness the best talent on a world basis to achieve the goals of the organization. Diversity is a feature of a global, interconnected world, but it goes beyond race and nationality and embraces the challenges of gender equality and the changing aspirations of the generations.It needs a new worldview from managers. An easy statement to make, but the road to Damascus is a stony one. Learning specialists examining this area have identified as key considerations:* Being open to difference requires managers to value the learning from human relationships and encouragement of divergent thinking.* Being self-aware requires the total self (values, beliefs and feelings) to be involved in the learning process and an openness to feedback.* Being open to possibilities, creativity is vital in increasing learning capacity and creative learning encourages \"out of the box\" thinking.For organizations the advice is to promote an outcomes-based mentality and draw upon experiential learning to create meaningful learning at work, and prepare key people for the challenges they face at work.\nMore than one language of global business: Human beings have covered so much of the world's surface because migration is an inbuilt component of the human condition. Today the tools of migration, global media and cheap travel, have considerably speeded the process up. Talent is migrating towards opportunities. Demographics in western societies, combined with world inequalities in income levels, have determined diverse, multilingual workforces have clustered around economic activity. In short, people have traveled to where the well-paid jobs are.In many parts of the USA English is no longer the only language of business. Spanish is the native language of many within the workforce. A 2003 survey by the US Urban Institute revealed that 46 percent of foreign-born workers have limited English language proficiency, and of these, 73 percent speak Spanish.Often these workers occupy the entry-level jobs, and their talents are insufficiently harnessed given their poor English language skills. Providing corporate training in their native language is an appealing option and can yield very good results. There are a few concerns - it can feel discriminatory and counter-cultural to separate Spanish speakers from English speakers - focus groups can help decide suitability and acceptance of the process. Much can be lost in translation, and sourcing an external provider may be the best way to go. If choosing a provider, be aware that cultural knowledge should be considered as well as mere language skills. The benefits come from achieving the critical success factors of business - consistent customer service, improved guest experiences, or whatever the differentiator that ensures business success.\nIt is about life and death: In recent years the USA has given the impression of being a society under siege. Some might argue for good reason. Natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, and the man-made atrocities of September 11, 2001 have shaken US society, which has responded with a focus on emergency management and disaster recovery that is unprecedented in what we tend to classify as \"peacetime\". Homeland security has acquired a buzzword status. It has also secured large amounts of government dollars as efforts are made to reduce threats and manage recovery more effectively.One of the results is a massive training and development activity that is perhaps under-reported in the mainstream media. E-learning is playing an important role, and blueprints for training are being rapidly developed and rolled out. Speed is of the essence, and scale-ability the key. Some of the numbers are very impressive.* 145,000 police, fire and emergency personnel have been trained in New Jersey on the GeoLearning company's GeoMaestro platform, training that can now be scaled up nationwide.* 60,000 employees at 450 airports were trained \"seemingly overnight\" by a provider called Plateau who made extensive use of an online training management system.* In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, MC Strategies are a web-based training provider serving 1,500 hospitals as well as 100 colleges.Speed of response, scale-ability and accessibility are at the heart of many outcomes-focused training efforts. Consistency is needed. Time is of the essence. Technology is providing solutions.\nFacing new challenges: Organizations reflect the lives and times in which they exist. Dynamic change is the key to survival, and the platform for growth. Complexity is increasingly a feature of the managerial existence, and society itself is changing.Yet this is a time for optimism for those who can seize the moment, craft strategies quickly, and role out effectively across their organizations. The world's talent can join the payroll - either by migrating or through company outsourcing and off-shoring policies. New threats can be minimized, old threats from nature responded to more effectively.Training is in the frontline. Training technology can play a large part in the solutions to big, big challenges. Sensitivity, responsiveness, an open mind and an ability to embrace change and step out of old comfort zones are the attributes needed to succeed.\nComment: This review article is based on the following articles:* \"Shaping the way we view the world\" by Neil Chalofsky (2005) published in Training & Development provides a readable roundup of some classic learning theory. It is a timely reminder and good sense that is never more needed.* \"Clear language\" by Kathryn Tyler (2005) published in HR Magazine charts the changing nature of the American workforce, highlighting diversity, and providing practical advice on providing training in more than one language.* \"Emergency training takes center stage\" by Paul Harris (2005) published in Training & Development again provides an American perspective on a highly topical issue for trainers - the massive job being undertaken in response to homeland security issues.All three papers are pragmatic in nature and highly readable.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints 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: - Business is being governed by new rules. Globalization and its underpinning communications technologies have thrown up new challenges for managers. Decisions need to be made faster, while there is also greater complexity - everything from managing multicultural workforces, to being prepared for assault from the hidden enemy of international terrorism.\nPractical implications: - Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n",
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] |
Race, gender, and language concordance in the primary care setting
|
[
"Health services",
"United States of America",
"Ethnic minorities",
"Gender",
"Disadvantaged groups",
"Communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction, background and context: It is well established in the scientific literature that health disparities exist for minority populations and that it is a multifaceted problem. Adopting Braveman's (2006, p. 180) language, we define health disparity or inequality as \"a particular type of difference in health ... in which disadvantaged social groups ... systematically experience worse health or greater health risks than more advantaged groups\". The federal government, through Healthy People 2010 (USDHHS, 2000) and the US Department of Health and Human Services' five-year strategic plan (USDHHS, 2004), recognized the importance of eliminating health disparities among different segments of the population. Furthermore, according to the 2000 US Census, nearly one-third of the US population has received minority status and this number is projected to approach 50 percent by 2050 (Suh, 2004). Thus, ameliorating minority population disparities and improving their health status are issues of great concern.Several variables contribute to health disparities. In their Institute of Medicine evaluation report, Betancourt and Maina (2004, p. 315) note that \"social determinants such as lower education levels, lower socioeconomic status, inadequate and unsafe housing, racism and living in close proximity to environmental hazards disproportionately impact minority populations and thus contribute to their poorer health outcomes\". This and numerous other studies indicate that lack of access to care and insurance coverage issues lead to delayed care seeking, a lack of regular care source and a decrease in overall health. While it is important to understand the relationship between social and access variables to health, it is also important to recognize race, gender and language as possible reasons for a lack of parity in quality health care.Schulman et al. (1999) used actors with scripted dialogues to investigate racial and sexual discrimination among patients referred for cardiac catheterizations. They found that women and Blacks were less likely to be referred than men and Whites, respectively, and that Black women were significantly less likely to be referred than white men. They concluded that patient race and sex independently influence how physicians manage chest pain. DeBocanegra and Gany (2004) reported that different racial, ethnic, linguistic or socioeconomic backgrounds can negatively affect health outcomes. Language congruence between provider and patient was found to directly affect health outcomes.Other studies associate race, gender and language concordance with provider service satisfaction, mistrust, lack of communication, conscious and unconscious bias and overall patient preference (Saha et al., 2003; Barrett, 2001; Geiger, 2001; Chen et al., 2005; Cooper-Patrick et al., 1999; Rathore et al., 2000; Morales et al., 2001; Saha et al., 1999; Carrasquillo et al., 1999; Saha et al., 2000). Recommendations and policy implications from these findings include increasing caregivers' cultural competence; that is, integrating knowledge about individual and group culture into medical practice to improve outcomes, implementing medical education standards, funding cultural mediators and translators, cultural diversity improving cross-cultural communication, offering linguistically appropriate healthcare services and increasing minority physician supply. These studies imply that race, gender and language's importance cannot be ignored when discussing health disparities; however, there is little empirical evidence to support the relationship between these variables and service quality. For example, Saha et al. (2003) did not find an association between race concordance and quality of provider interactions, satisfaction with health care services, or health service use. Contrary to their hypothesis, \"racial disparities in healthcare use were not attributable to the quality of the patient-physician relationship\" (Saha et al., 2003, p. 1718). Therefore, it may be that policy decisions are adopted and resources allocated without fully exploring the relationship of concordance to quality health care. Our aim, therefore, is to examine the relationship between race, gender and language concordance and quality primary care self-reported measures. Utilizing 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data, we extracted variables that measure attributes or domains of primary as proxies for quality care. Our findings may have significant policy implications by providing empirical data to evaluate current activities.\nMethods: The 2003 MEPS is a nationally representative assessment of US civilian, non-institutionalized population co-sponsored by several governmental agencies. It uses an overlapping panel design in which data are collected through a preliminary contact with a random sample of households drawn from the National Health Interview Survey sampling frame, followed by a series of interviews. Detailed discussion of MEPS complex design has been published elsewhere (Cohen, 1997a, b). Specifically, the MEPS Household Component (HC) collects detailed data on demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, health service use, charges and payments, access to primary care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income and employment (Cohen, 1997b). We used primary care attributes (dependent variables), concordance attributes (main independent variables) and individual characteristics (covariates) measures that have potentially confounding effects on primary care experience. The final sample included 20,052 subjects less than 65 years followed over two rounds.Primary care attributes\nResults: Bivariate and multivariate results are reported in Tables I and II, respectively. Multivariate analysis includes unadjusted and adjusted (for age, sex, marital status, employment status, insurance, USC location, perceived health status, perceived mental health status, ADL help, and IADL help) odds ratios.First contact\nDiscussion: It is well documented in the scientific literature that minority populations experience a disproportionate share of health disparities. However, it may be that race, gender and language concordance concerns are addressed through policies based primarily on intuition and isolated case studies. Thus, concordance may have been advocated and resources allocated without fully exploring these relationships. Using data from the 2003 MEPS Household Component, we sought to determine the relationship between race, gender and language concordance and self-reported primary care quality measures. A total of 12 survey items were selected in four distinguishing primary care attributes or domains (first contact, coordination, longitudinality and comprehensiveness) to measure primary health care quality attributes. These attributes or domains have been identified and validated by Safran et al. (1998); Starfield (1992, 1998); Flocke et al. (1998); Newacheck et al. (1998).After adjusting for covariates, only six items remained significant. Regarding race concordance, choosing a primary care physician (versus specialist) as USC, the USC having office hours and going to the USC for new health problems are the only significant items. However, these things are not intuitively related to race in terms of healthcare quality.When considering gender concordance, choosing a primary care physician (versus specialist) as USC and the USC having office hours are significant. However, there is no clear relationship between these quality indicators and gender. This finding conflicts with the literature that supports primary care service demand and utilization based on gender. When taking into account language concordance, only a lack of difficulty contacting the USC after hours is significant. This item may be correlated with a quality primary care outcome, given that contacting a physician via telephone would be hampered by a language barrier.Using four distinguishing primary care attributes or domains to characterize quality primary care outcomes, the six significant items in our study appear to be isolated cases rather than indicators that race, gender and language concordance play a key role in determining primary care quality. Language barriers and communication issues are the only areas where improvement appears warranted. This analysis appears to contradict many findings from previous studies (Saha et al., 2003; Barrett, 2001; Geiger, 2001; Chen et al., 2005; Cooper-Patrick et al., 1999; Rathore et al., 2000; Morales et al., 2001; Saha et al., 1999; Carrasquillo et al., 1999; Saha et al., 2000) regarding patient satisfaction, mistrust, lack of communication, conscious and unconscious bias, and overall patient experience, which have driven policy development and implementation in an attempt to improve quality health care.Given race, gender and language's perceived significance in health disparity terms, why might language and communication concerns be the only areas identified in this study for improvement? One explanation is that primary care providers are naturally sensitive to patient needs regardless of racial, ethnic, or gender differences. In essence, professionals are not discriminating in providing care to improve patient health. A second reason is that policies and recommendations to increase the number of minority providers, resulting in \"concordance-appropriate\" access for patients, has been effective in removing concordance bias.The unique contribution of our study is to suggest that race and gender concordance may not accurately predict primary health care quality. If this is true then the emphasis on race and gender equity in terms of provider availability to patients may be overstated and overemphasized in health care policy. Further research is needed in this area to assess the impact of prior policies and to determine the need for additional programs. While all primary care providers should be trained to provide socio-demographically and culturally sensitive care, language and communication remain areas where healthcare quality appears to be affected. Particular emphasis should be placed on exploring the language/communication and gender concerns exposed in this study.One study limitation is that the 2003 MEPS Household Component consists of self-reported results, which introduces bias. Additionally, there are limitations with primary care quality measurement using four primary care distinguishing attributes or domains (first contact, coordination, longitudinality and comprehensiveness). While the study has strong accessibility and interpersonal relationships measures, those for service coordination and comprehensiveness, two cardinal domains of primary care, are limited. Our analyses' cross-sectional nature also poses a problem in drawing causal relationships and conclusive findings. Finally, sample size limitations preclude stratified analyses across racial/ethnic groups, an important consideration as the relationships between concordance and quality may well vary across these groups.\nConclusion: The US population continues to become more diversified, with minority representation expected to approach 50 percent by 2050 (Suh, 2004). A significant portion of this growth will be non-English-speaking immigrants. This study has highlighted the need to consider language concordance as a healthcare quality influence. The intrinsic relationship of race and gender concordance to health care quality, however, was not supported in our study. Given the importance of concordance in health disparities, and our study's limitations, more research is needed, particularly regarding language/communication and gender to determine future resource allocation and policy direction.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine race, gender and language concordance in terms of importance to primary care.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS) was used. Four distinguishing primary care attributes and selected measures were operationalized primarily from a sample subset that identified a usual source of care (USC): accessibility to USC; interface between primary care and specialist services; treatment decisions; and preventive services received from the USC. Bivariate and multivariate results are reported.\nFindings: - Adjusting for covariates, the following items remained statistically significant: race - choosing primary care physician as USC, USC having office hours, and going to USC for new health problems; gender - choosing primary care physician as USC and USC having office hours; and language - lack of difficulty contacting the USC after hours. However, these items appear to be isolated cases rather than indicators that concordance plays a key role in determining primary care quality. Language barriers/communication issues are the only areas where improvement appears warranted.\nResearch limitations/implications: - While the study has strong accessibility and interpersonal relationship measures, service coordination and comprehensiveness indicators are limited. The analyses' cross-sectional nature also poses a problem in drawing causal relationships and conclusive findings. Finally, sample size limitations preclude stratified analyses across racial/ethnic groups, an important consideration as the relationships between concordance and quality may vary across groups.\nPractical implications: - This study indicates that more research is needed in this area to determine future resource allocation and policy direction.\nOriginality/value: - The unique contribution of the study is to suggest that race and gender concordance may not accurately predict primary health care quality.\n",
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Using alternate reality games to support first year induction with ELGG
|
[
"Induction",
"Students",
"Indoor games",
"Learning",
"Higher education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In higher education, the use of \"play\" and \"games\" has been shown to promote engagement and task completion (Colarusso, 1993). However, as Whitton showed, when entertainment and education is combined in this way, despite highly increased engagement, the potential was often limited by cost-effectiveness and accessibility of the game (Whitton, 2007). This study looked to find a game format which could overcome these limiting factors and which could increase student engagement in the first year induction process. Specifically, it reports on the format of an alternate reality game (ARG).Alternate reality games began growing in popularity over the early 2000s with advertising campaigns for films and games such as the Beast for A.I. and I Love Bees for Halo 2 (Szulborski, 2005). These games deliberately blurred the lines between the in-game and out-of-game experience for players:Alternate reality games are games that are cross-media and that blur the line between the game space and the real world experience (De Freitas, 2006).ARGs were identified by this study as providing a way to offset the cost and accessibility issues by using familiar, established web technologies and enabling game design to make use of existing physical and virtual resources on and around the university campus. An ongoing fictional plotline combined with tasks completed in the students real world would make the game coherent. Benyon and colleagues identified a number of contributing elements towards engagement, which this study believed as compatible with ARGs: a sense of authenticity and identification, adaptivity of the environment, compelling narrative, immersion and flow (Benyon et al., 2005). Task-based ARGs are also a clear mirror of existing problem-based learning techniques (Boud and Feletti, 1991) allowing this study to build on existing experience within the institution.The aims of developing an ARG for this study were:* To provide a useful and engaging supplement to existing University of Brighton induction processes making use of online and offline resources, and allowing in-depth and physical exploration of selected services and resources.* To provide an alternative to those students who miss some elements of existing inductions and to provide induction content which covers a longer period than otherwise provided.* To provide a support area for the game players using the new University of Brighton social networking system Community@Brighton, based on the Elgg software. The community would provide a blog for the players to support each other by sharing hints, discussing challenges and work together on any team-based tasks.* By accessing the Elgg support community, players would be provided with the opportunity to meet other students and hopefully build networks during their early weeks rather than just being provided with information.* To provide players with tasks/activities designed to be completed in no more than 30 minutes each week so as to not interfere with studies.* To provide new students with an activity outside the formal school/course structure.* To consider if the ARG format was effective and appropriate to meet these aims via a pilot run of the game.\nThe game: The game itself took place as a pilot in Term 1, Academic Year 2006/2007 and was called \"Who is Herring Hale?\". The format was a series of nine tasks, one per week over the term, with an underlying time-travel storyline and a supporting online community on Elgg also called \"Who is Herring Hale?\". The tasks were based on services available to students, both online and in the physical locations around the campus sites.At the time of launch, all first year students were members of a \"New Students Area\" on the university's managed learning environment, which is called StudentCentral, and much publicity had been given on this area to a \"New Students Quiz\". All students scoring 6 out of 10 or above on this quiz (217 students out of approximately 5,000 new students) were invited by e-mail to join. It should be noted at this point that no mention was made of this being \"a game\". The text of the e-mail was also repeated in a blog post (Figure 1) on the support community on Elgg inviting any other interested students to sign-up (a further 68 students). Partner college students who are eligible to use the university support services were welcome to play.E-mails triggering the tasks and student responses to the tasks were handled via a dedicated \"education detective\" e-mail address and managed by the project team.Tasks were released weekly via emails to all current players, i.e. those that had completed at least one task or signed up to the community area on Elgg. The e-mails directed the players to the Elgg area for more information. The support area, blog posts and all printed materials were clearly branded with an orange background and \"h\" logo to help players identify with the game and recognise elements when they came across them.Each task covered one of the major support services at the University, and was designed to feature an aspect of the service that was felt to benefit from additional highlighting. The clues all involved finding codes and cryptic content that were hidden within \"normal\" information about the featured service.For the first task, the aim was to make students aware of the desk loan library book service, which they would discover while trying to find the name of a \"saboteur\", in a particular book which was selected as it was on desk loan in each of the four main campus libraries:I now have the information to track down the first saboteur.The name you are looking for this time is contained in the book: \"Doing Your Research Project\" (2005) - 4th edition by Judith Bell.The clue to find the name in this book is: p128, 24 down, 6 across. I hope you can help me solve this clue.The saboteurs will have ensured this book is available in all site libraries, so you should all be able to view a copy.I need you to find the one-word name and e-mail it back to me as quickly as you can. Points will be awarded to everyone who emails the name to me within a week, and bonus points for the first 10 people to do so. You can keep an eye on your scores on my community area.Other clues provided small rewards to players as well as further interaction with university staff, e.g. a clue based in the computer pool rooms making students aware of the computer helpers who wore distinctive orange t-shirts (Figure 2).Scores were recorded and published to the players weekly based on completion of tasks, speed bonuses and tip bonuses for those that helped the others without revealing the solution.The ten tasks and timeline for the game were agreed with the support departments as shown in Table I Mini-prizes were also available in some weeks.\nWhat worked and what did not?: During the first few tasks, it became clear that players were comfortable making use of the community area on Elgg to help each other and discuss tasks. This allowed the tasks designed to become more challenging so that as long as a few players could solve it, they could help the others. An example of this was the week 6 task involving the players looking for handwritten codes in a fire safety film:I know the next saboteur has an assistant named Bill, and he's been working at the university disguised as a fire safety officer.Watch the fire safety film he made on student central in the student services area, and see if you can find the evidence he's left behind. There are two important comment codes written by Bill. After watching the film, enter these codes together as the password for the task 6 test in the safety area. Complete the next part of the task, and if you are successful you will find the name of the saboteur which you should e-mail to me.The handwritten codes the students were looking for in the film were not highly legible or on screen for long. Students used the community area on Elgg to ask for help and to support each other in identifying the handwriting (see Figure 3).Another example of students supporting each other is shown in Figure 4. An interesting observation from this post is that this student has truly entered into the spirit of the game and chosen to give each help and support in the same style as the clues, without ever giving away the answer. This was typical of the blog posts from the players.The University of Brighton is based on four main campuses, with outlying partner colleges, all of whom were involved in the game. Physical objects, such as vouchers with codes or baseball hats were distributed to players at various points, which was achieved through using the university courier service between sites. Players not based at the main sites commented that it was unfair as they often received their items later than others as speed bonuses were awarded each week for the fastest ten players to complete a task. Future runs of the game would remove any element of a race. Also, access to post drawers/pigeon holes was not consistent across the sites, and it was noted for the future that central distribution through library desks or computer pool room was more reliable than sending items to individuals.The final task required the players to work in teams to take photographs. It was felt that a teamwork task should not be attempted too early in the game until players were comfortable with each other and with the game itself. This final task was light-hearted and the aim was to get the players to work together and use some of the file upload tools on the community area. The players used the blog to arrange themselves into teams and organise their meetings, in many cases really encouraging each other (Figure 5).At the time, the interface for file uploading on Elgg was fairly basic (Figure 6), however the players found a way to achieve the task without requiring documentation or training on how to use the tools, almost as if figuring out the software was just another part of the task they were already engaged with.The main prize was a Video iPod each (total PS1,000) for the top four scorers, with all other players who completed all tasks receiving a 1 GB USB stick (total PS250). Although aware there would be a \"reward\", the players were not aware at any point what the prizes were or how many there were until the game was completed (Plate 1).\nResults and evaluation: In total 42 students completed at least one task (15 per cent of those invited); 12 students (29 per cent of all active players) completed all nine tasks.All of the final 12 were invited for \"debriefing\" (informal interview) for evaluation purposes and to hand over prizes. A total of eight interviews took place.Sample feedback from the 12 students who completed all tasks:* \"In induction week they tell you where to go to get help, Careers for instance. But you forget it all 5 minutes after you've left. This was brilliant - now I really know where to go\"* \"I was wrapped up in too much programming, it helped give me a break and get a new perspective\".* \"... a really good way to learn\".* \"Thank you all for a wonderful and inspiring term! From chasing orange techie people to strapping spoons on my forehead, its been fun :)\".Several students commented on the feeling of \"fun\" and \"being part of something special\" (Figure 7). It would be hoped that this could be built on and possibly linked to student retention as a key issue in higher education. One of the factors identified as affecting retention is the quality of the induction process (Yamnikar, 2006) and this model may be able to appeal to an increasingly diverse student population.It was observed that many of the players in the final 12 were overseas students, and future work could look to investigate a link between this kind of activity and the categories of students it particularly appeals to:Just wanted to say thank you, but it is hard to explain how grateful I am to be a part of this community, and to collaborate for a great cause of saving the future of education n Herring Hale. It had been an absolute pleasure and I want to thank the hole of Student Central Team for the wonderful experience I have come across over these nine weeks.Comments were also invited from students who had started but failed to complete the quest via email. Some comments were also received on the community area.Feedback from the students who completed at least one task but not all:I didn't really understand the student quest - I can't remember how I managed to join it and wondered what it was all about!I completed the tasks all the way until the final two. I just found the last two tasks too time consuming as I had to search around the uni for the posters and I am only here two days a week and don't live on campus.In brief, holding down a three day a week job, plus two days studying on campus, plus study time, in addition to at least one hours travel in each direction five days a week, didn't really leave me much spare time to be carrying out tasks! Think it was a good idea for first year undergrads living locally, as a way of finding out stuff about campus etc., but doing an MA and a job etc. didn't leave me any spare time to sleep, let alone anything else!As noted above, students had already observed the speed bonuses were not fair, but also it seems the fact each task had to be completed within a particular week was limiting.\nAuthor's verdict: This pilot provides some evidence that the alternate reality game/treasure-hunt format can provide an interesting alternative to existing mechanisms for introducing students to certain types on information or services. This format does not appeal to all students, but is very effective for those that like it. The format also provides students with something special to feel part of and to provide a break from their formal course. The use of a blogging platform for supporting the players was practical and effective.The author proposes to repeat the study in the 2007/2008 academic year, focusing on the areas identified above of making the game more fair, and evaluating in particular any effects on retention and the categories of students that particular can benefit from this format of induction.The author wishes to thank the following for their support and contributions to this project:* University of Brighton, Student Services.* University of Brighton, Learning Technologies Group.* University of Brighton, Centre for Learning and Teaching.* LearnHigher, National Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe a pilot project investigating the use of alternate reality game/treasure-hunt formats to provide an alternative to existing mechanisms for introducing new students to university information and services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An alternate reality game was designed to be played online and offline, which aimed to be fun, intriguing and engaging through task design and storyline. The university's social network was used as a platform for players to support one another in solving each task as well as for fictional characters in the story to interact with the players.\nFindings: - Logistical problems are identified with the campus environment, and successes are highlighted where tasks were particularly effective or enjoyable. The game format also provided students with something special to \"feel part of\" and to provide a break from their formal course.\nPractical implications: - It was found that the game format did not appeal to all students, but was very effective for those that liked it.\nOriginality/value: - The author believes the alternate reality game/treasure-hunt format can provide an interesting alternative to existing mechanisms for introducing students to certain types of information or services.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Gender diversity in the governance of the Nigerian securities market
|
[
"Nigeria",
"Corporate governance",
"Financial performance",
"Gender diversity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: African stock markets are relatively small and illiquid, suffer infrastructural bottlenecks and exhibit problems that make financial integration difficult. Yartey (2010) and Ojo (2010) observe that African stock markets have not lived up to their expectations in terms of promoting economic development. Thus, it is important to explore the factors that inhibit the performance of stock markets in Africa. Calderon-Rossell (1991) develops a behavioral structural model of stock market performance. The model identifies the key determinants of stock market performance as economic growth and stock market liquidity. Yartey (2010) modified the model following the work of Garcia and Liu (1999) by dichotomizing the determinants into two categories. The macro-economic category includes variables such as the gross domestic product (GDP), credit to the private sector, gross domestic investment, stock market trading activity, private capital flows, foreign direct investment, gross domestic savings, inflation and real interest rate. The second category included institutional quality variables such as political risk, corruption, law and order and democratic institution.\nThe Nigerian stock market and its performance: The NSE was established in 1960 as Lagos Stock Exchange, a limited liability company. It was renamed NSE in 1977, with trading floors in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna. Additional trading floors were created later, and the exchange saw the creation of a second-tier securities market for trading securities issued by medium-sized and wholly owned Nigerian enterprises (Ayadi et al., 1997). The evolution of the market had led to a three-tier market comprising about 200 listed securities on the NSE representing the first tier, 15 securities on the second tier and the third-tier market listing the securities of small and medium-scale enterprises. The NSE is an automated market with electronic listing and trading facilities. It functions through the Central Securities Clearing System, a subsidiary company of the NSE which also offers clearing, settlement, delivery and custodian services (SEC, 2009).\nGender diversity and corporate governance: One of the nexus of the corporate civil rights debate revolves around the issue of equitable access to leadership positions by women. The under-representation of women in corporate governance is ascribed to an institutionalized environment which Nelson and Levesque (2007) described as \"discrimination without intentionality\". Yet Simpson et al. (2010) argue that the inclusion of women on boards of corporations is seen as a good business decision because they possess unique attributes that tend to contribute positively to performance. Carter et al. (2003) report results that suggest a positive relationship between gender and ethnic diversity of corporate boards and corporate performance measured by Tobin's Q. However, Adams and Ferreira (2009), reported a negative effect of gender diversity on corporate performance. This result is premised on the significant impact that female board members have on chief executive officers through excessive monitoring. According to Almazan and Suarez (2003) and Adams and Ferreira (2009), too much board monitoring of corporate executives leads to a decrease in shareholder wealth. A recent study done in Indonesia (Darmadi, 2013) found that the representation of female top executives is negatively related to return on assets or Tobin's Q, suggesting that female representation is not associated with an improved level of performance. However, this study only covered one financial year (1997).\nMethodology: The modified Calderon-Rossell model\nEmpirical results: Table II reports the comovement among the variables used in this study. It is striking to note the high correlation coefficient (0.90) between CAP and VAL. This is an indication that market capitalization and liquidity are highly related. The table also reveals a high correlation between CAP and GDP. The negative correlation between money supply (MON) and direct foreign investment (DFI) points to an active monetary policy on the part of the Nigerian Central Bank. The apex institution seems to try to mop up liquidity in the economy by decreasing money supply when new funds enter the economy via direct foreign investment. There is also a high correlation between money supply and savings in the economy.\nSummary and conclusion: The focus of this study is twofold. The first focus is to identify key determinants of stock market performance measured as the ratio of stock market capitalization to GDP. The second focus is to examine if gender diversity in the management of the NSE plays a role in the performance of the stock market in Nigeria. This study represents the first attempt to explore corporate performance of an institution with a female CEO in Nigeria. The empirical analysis shows that level of income, real exchange rate, liquidity, banking sector development, institutional quality, macroeconomic stability and gender are important determinants of stock market performance of the Nigerian stock market. The results also indicate that at worst, gender diversity does not play into stock market performance in Nigeria, and at its best, the appointment of women in the management of NSE is associated with better performance. This result is in tandem with those reported by Adams and Ferreira (2009), who found no difference in firm's financial performance around the appointment of a woman or a man as the CEO in the USA The puzzle in the results is the negative relationship between empowerment, used as a measure of institutional quality, and stock market capitalization. The puzzle can be viewed in relation with the base of foreign investors' decisions; beyond the quality of governance, legal protection and accountability in a potential investment environment, the authentic base of huge foreign investments is profit eagerness for the sake of increasing power. In the past few years, one has seen countries such as Italy and Spain with well-consolidated democracies, legal protection and accountability being attacked by speculators (foreign investors) through financial markets, making, for example, in Spain, its risk rate to increase to a not returning point for the economy as it happened in Greece.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify the key determinants of stock market performance in Nigeria. More specifically, it is an attempt to determine the effect of gender diversity in leadership roles on the performance of the stock market in Nigeria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses annual data from 1980 through 2011 to model the development and performance of the Nigerian stock market through a modified Calderon-Rossell approach. Specifically, the leadership role of women in the governance of the stock market is investigated. Robust regression approach is used to avoid complications associated with the violations of the assumptions underlying the application of ordinary least squares regression.\nFindings: The empirical analysis shows that level of income, real exchange rate, liquidity, banking sector development, institutional quality, macroeconomic stability and gender are important determinants of stock market performance in the Nigerian stock market. Further, the results indicate that at worst, gender diversity does not play into stock market performance in Nigeria, and at its best, the appointment of women in the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange is associated with better performance.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the empirical literature on the role of gender diversity and financial performance. The contribution of this paper is the inclusion of gender as an institutional factor among the determinants of stock market performance in Nigeria.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Technology adoption model and a road map to successful implementation of ITIL
|
[
"United Arab Emirates",
"Critical success factors",
"Implementation road map",
"Information Technology Infrastructure Library",
"ITIL",
"ITIL adoption",
"UTAUT"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As managements begin to recognize the importance of information technology (IT) to the core business, demand for a governance model or a quality improvement framework such as Six Sigma, total quality management (TQM), or business process reengineering (BPR) also increases. However, two problems lie when adopting conventional quality models. The first problem is due to the fact that most models are designed for products not services; the second is due to the limited scope of coverage. These two issues were addressed by researchers and governmental bodies resulting in the development of governance frameworks targeting IT, such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), ITIL and Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). Among these three IT governance models, ITIL proved best adherence to Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) (Cater-Steel, 2006; Iden and Langeland, 2010; Kabachinski, 2011; Kanapathy and Khan, 2012).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 ITIL\n3. Methodology: In this paper, extensive literature reviews were performed to identify the CSFs for the implementation of ITIL. As indicated in Section 2.2, the 18 identified CSFs for implementing ITIL are then grouped into seven key classes of CSFs. We then use a combination of comprehensive review of the literature and logical reasoning to link the seven key factors to the four main constructs of the UTAUT adoption model. The proposed links between the seven synthesized CSFs and the UTAUT constructs are summarized in Table III.\n4. Applying the proposed UTAUT adoption model to the case study: As an illustration, the proposed ITIL adoption model based on UTAUT (Figure 1) was applied to a developing stock exchange in the UAE. This particular firm was chosen for the case study because it has the financial, and human resources necessary to manage a variety of activities; it has service management professionals within the company; and it has the ability to acquire differentiated knowledge about best practice adoption through various cooperative strategies with other organizations experienced in ITSM. At the time of first approaching the company, the firm had just finished its ITIL implementation. This situation provided an excellent opportunity to test our proposed model in an attempt to identify the factors that drive success of ITIL implementation and highlight the pitfalls that could impede the adoption of ITIL framework.\n5. Proposed roadmap for ITIL implementation: ITIL best practices can definitely help organization or IT department specifically to manage internal change in a better manner by focussing on preparation, benefits to affected personnel, and user involvement. However, implementing ITIL can be very challenging (as illustrated in the case study). ITIL provides only general guidance on what processes to implement but provide no advice as to how to implement them. While this approach gives ITIL the flexibility to work for a wide variety of industries and businesses, it also introduces many challenges. One of the most apparent challenges is to map ITIL processes to the real world.\n6. Discussion and implications: In this paper, ITIL synthesized CSFs were identified from a comprehensive literature review in an attempt to link them to technology adoption model, namely UTAUT. The proposed model advances the existing literature by improving the process of ITIL implementation and adoption. The model was verified by proper studying of the literature and applying it to a case study of a company that suffered from implementing ITIL. The case study not only confirmed the proposed CSFs but also revealed some challenges that the firm faced during ITIL implementation. We learned many valuable lessons from the case that can help other practitioners who are considering ITIL adoption. The most important lessons learned are:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of technology adoption model UTAUT as an adoption model of IT governance frameworks, specifically Information Technology and Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The aim is to help the decision maker to better map ITIL processes with business performance, to make a better decision on what processes to implement, and how to implement them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a literature review detailing critical success factors of ITIL implementation. The proposed model was then implemented by applying it to a case study of a company in the United Arab Emirates where the ITIL implementation project failed.\nFindings: The proposed model gives ITIL the flexibility to work for a wide variety of industries and businesses, but it also introduces many challenges. One of the most apparent challenges is to map ITIL processes to the real world. As a result to analyzing the case study in light of the adoption model, a road map to successful implementation of ITIL is proposed.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is targeted more toward practitioners such as the IT experts; therefore further studies need be conducted to understand the views of the business in respect to the challenges and benefits of the ITIL implementation.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposed an adoption model for ITIL based on UTAUT which is evidently absent from the current literature. The research findings lead us to a proposal of a roadmap for ITIL implementing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Buying behaviour of consumers for food products in an emerging economy
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Food products",
"Retailing",
"India"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food purchase behaviour of consumers in most emerging economies such as India has significantly changed due to an increase in the per capita disposable income, global interaction, information and communication technologies, urbanisation, education and health awareness, movement of households towards higher income groups, changes in lifestyle and family structure (Rao, 2000; Shetty, 2002; Deshingkar et al., 2003; Vepa, 2004; KPMG, 2005; Kaushik, 2005; Kaur and Singh, 2007; Pingali, 2007). Consumer buying behaviour for food and grocery products has always been influenced by a number of economic, cultural, psychological and lifestyle factors (Shaw et al., 1993; Brokaw and Lakshman, 1995; Asp, 1999; Roux et al., 2000; Roslow et al., 2000; Roininen, 2001; Choo et al., 2004; Ling et al., 2004; Ahlgren et al., 2004; Goyal and Singh, 2007; Nagla, 2007). In the recent decades, sustained economic growth and increasing urbanisation are fuelling a rapid growth in the demand for high value food products like fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs and fish (Bhalla and Hazell, 1998; Kumar, 1998; Bhalla et al., 1999; Kumar et al., 2003; Landes et al., 2004; Pingali and Khwaja, 2004; Rao et al., 2006).On an average, an urban household in Uttar Pradesh[1] spends about 47 per cent of its consumption expenditure on food items, out of which, about 30 per cent is spent on grocery items and about 16 per cent on fruits and vegetables (NSSO, 2006). Increase in income, particularly of the lower and middle-income households, is having a significant impact on the demand for food items, because these groups tend to spend a relatively larger share of their income on food consumption. Middle income and urban consumers also spend a greater part of their income on upgrading and diversifying their diet towards high value products like fruits and vegetables, eating out more often and eating more processed and convenience food items (Landes et al., 2004).In addition, a growing consumer preference for shopping convenience is fostering the growth of modern retailing in India, which in turn demands greater efficiency, quality and safety standards in the food supply chain (Chengappa et al., 2005; Mukherjee and Patel, 2005; Umali-Deininger and Sur, 2007). Consumers have now become more discriminating in their food product choices and have started emphasising more on convenience, freshness and quality of the products (Quagrainie et al., 1998; Acebron et al., 2000). With the emergence of the supermarket and hypermarket culture, consumer preference for packaged food products has increased significantly in the recent years (Stewart-Knox and Mitchell, 2003; Silayoi and Speece, 2004; Wells et al., 2007). The desire for convenience and an increase in the number of working women are some of the important factors driving a strong growth of packaged food products (Goyal and Singh, 2007). Besides, consumers have now started preferring quality food intake and are becoming more conscious in terms of nutritional diet, health and food safety issues (Ruth and Yeung, 2001; Rimal et al., 2001).With the evolution of food retail modernization and rapid changes in the buying behaviour of consumers, the retail market for food and grocery is growing by leaps and bounds. To capture the opportunities of a growing organized retail market in the country, big corporate organizations are foraying into this segment. These organizations are in the process of investing huge amounts for creating retail chains throughout the country.Given the above situation of a demand for modernization of the retail food segment, there is a need to assess the various products and market attributes for designing an appropriate food retail market structure.\n2. Research objectives and hypotheses: Food purchase patterns in developing economies like India are characterised by daily or frequent purchasing from nearby marketplaces called \"mom and pop stores\" (Veeck and Veeck, 2000; Sabnavis, 2008). This paper analyses the buying behaviour of consumers with respect to food and grocery[2] products. These consumers are relatively in an advantageous position in terms of their purchasing power and awareness of health and nutrition. Empirical evidence argues that socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, educational status and income play an important role in determining the food consumption pattern across the world (Roux et al., 2000; Roslow et al., 2000; Turrell et al., 2002; Choo et al., 2004; Rao et al., 2005; Krystallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005; Batte et al., 2007; Goyal and Singh, 2007; Bukenya and Wright, 2007). Several other empirical studies also show that store choice is recognized as a cognitive process which is highly influenced by consumers' socio-demographic characteristics (Arnold et al., 1998; Arnold and Luthra, 2000; Sinha and Banerjee, 2004; Fox et al., 2004; van Waterschoot et al., 2008). In view of such evidence, this study aims at identifying the factors which influence consumer choices for food and grocery products and also analyses the nature of marketplace preferred by consumers for purchasing food and grocery products. The result obtained from this analysis can help in identifying a diversified set of preferences for products and market attributes which in turn can help in better decision making by the retail chains in the emerging organized food and grocery retail environment. The analysis of the buying behaviour of relatively advantageous consumers has greater relevance for the emerging organized retail organizations in the food and grocery segment in India, as consumers belonging to this group are considered as potential early adapters of organized retail chain culture. The specific hypotheses tested in this study are as follows (see Figure 1):H1. While purchasing grocery, fruits and vegetables, consumers give similar emphasis to various purchase decisions such as frequency of purchase, monthly expenditure, preferred marketplace, distance to the marketplace and food packaging.H2. The socio-demographic profile of consumers (gender, age, education and income) significantly influences the purchase decisions for grocery, fruits and vegetables.H3. Consumers lay similar emphasis on various food product attributes (freshness and cleanliness, product price, quality, variety, packaging, convenience and non-seasonal availability) while purchasing food products.H4. Consumers give similar importance to various market attributes (related to products, market infrastructure, additional services, etc.) while selecting a marketplace for food purchasing.H5. The socio-demographic profile of consumers (gender, age, education and income) significantly influences the underlying factors of product and market attributes in food purchase decisions.\n3. Data and methods: 3.1 Data collection and sample\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Consumers' profile analysis\n5. Summary and conclusion: Food consumption patterns in India are rapidly changing from cereal-based food products to high-value food products and slowly from fresh, unprocessed, unbranded food products to processed, packaged and branded products. A strong economic growth has brought with it a new set of consumers with sufficient disposable income, who are more conscious of the latest trends in health and hygiene, particularly in the fast growing cities. To reap the benefits of the changing buying behaviour of the consumers and their capability for buying quality food and grocery items, modern organized retail formats are growing at a phenomenal pace throughout the country. This has induced big national and multi-national corporations to invest into organized retailing.In the emerging Indian retail environment, this study provides insights on consumers' preferences of food and grocery products in terms of product and market characteristics with the help of primary survey data. Findings of the study clearly indicate that vegetables and fruits are most frequently purchased from nearby markets as compared to grocery products. High consumer ratings on the product attribute of freshness/cleanliness along with price and quality suggests that food retailing needs to be customized as per their requirements. Apart from this, the study also addresses issues related to a diversified set of market characteristics for efficient management of organized retailing of food and grocery products. Results of the factor analysis of various market attributes clearly indicate that consumers prefer a convenient marketplace with additional service facilities. Market attributes like entertainment for children, basic amenities and affordability of the marketplace are also considered to be important by the consumers. The study provides strategic inputs to the upcoming food retail markets regarding the products that can be offered at a marketplace and the required physical environment of the market.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a marketing strategy for a modern food/grocery market based on consumer preferences and behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 101 households having sufficient purchasing power were personally surveyed with a structured questionnaire. These households are spread across the well-developed Gomtinagar area of Lucknow city. Simple statistical analysis such as descriptive statistical analysis, frequency distribution, cross tabulation, analysis of variance, and factor analysis to assess the consumers' preferences for food and grocery products and market attributes were carried out.\nFindings: - The preferences of the consumers clearly indicate their priority for cleanliness/freshness of food products followed by price, quality, variety, packaging, and non-seasonal availability. The consumers' preference of marketplace largely depends on the convenience in purchasing at the marketplace along with the availability of additional services, attraction for children, basic amenities and affordability. Results suggest that most of the food and grocery items are purchased in loose form from the nearby outlets. Fruits and vegetables are mostly purchased daily or twice a week due to their perishable nature, whereas grocery items are less frequently purchased.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper analyses the buying behaviour of the consumers under survey with respect to food and grocery items. These consumers are in a relatively advantageous position in terms of purchasing power and awareness of health and nutrition.\nPractical implications: - The results may help the food processors and outlet owners to understand a diversified set of preferences for products and market attributes, so that they can make better decisions in the emerging organized food and grocery retail environment.\nOriginality/value: - The topic is relatively less researched in emerging markets especially where organized retail is still in its early stages.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The natural environment as a disaster hazard: The growing global health threat
|
[
"Disaster",
"Risk",
"Environment",
"Hazards",
"Mortality",
"Reduction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Human activity has so affected the earth's natural systems and physical environment, it now poses a serious threat to human health and risk of premature death worldwide (Steffen et al., 2018; Landrigan et al., 2018; Whitmee et al., 2015). Human behaviour has harmed the planets ecosystems and physical environment causing deforestation, freshwater degradation, ocean acidification, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss, which are singularly and cumulatively causing morbidity and shortened human life expectancy (Corvalan et al., 2005; McMichael et al., 2006; Bennett and McMichael, 2012; Whitmee et al., 2015).\n2. Methodology: The study employed a two-step process, involving a retrospective health risk assessment of each disaster event and then the application of the results to a semi-quantitative novel health risk matrix. This provided a crude assessment of the health risk characterisation for each hazard event to be established.\n3. Results: 3.1 2015 Equatorial Asia smoke haze disaster\n4. Discussion: The health risk assessment approach used in this study to retrospectively test both hazards reveals the Equatorial smoke haze characterised at an \"extreme\" level of health risk and the thunderstorm asthma event at \"high\" level of health risk. Notwithstanding the methodological limitations of using health risk matrices previously well defined (Vatanpour et al., 2015), it is challenging to draw any other conclusion of the risk characterisation, given the historical frequency of each event and the size of each respective vulnerable population. The sheer number of people at risk meant that any significant event would produce a large and possibly catastrophic level of morbidity and mortality.\n5. Conclusion: To substantially reduce global disaster risk and loss of life and livelihoods, requires urgent attention to address potential catastrophic levels of risk from exposure to environmental hazards. The two disaster events examined in this study demonstrate the transportability of risk through the environment and across national boundaries, to expose large populations of people to grave health risks at a rapid pace.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The rapid deterioration of the earth's natural ecosystems are increasing the risk of human morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hydrometeorological hazards are concentrating contaminants from the damaged environment and exposing large vulnerable populations to life threating illnesses and death. This study performed a retrospective health risk assessment on two recent events where such impacts unfolded, namely, the 2015 south east Equatorial Asia smoke haze disaster and the 2016 Melbourne thunderstorm asthma epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to test if the characterisation of health risk warranted earlier and more effective risk reduction activities prior to the disasters occurring.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A retrospective health risk characterisation assessment was performed combing United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Health Aspect in Disaster Risk Assessment (2017) framework with a thematic and targeted word literature review to identify the level of risk knowledge prior to each event. A risk characterisation matrix was then created to characterise the health risk of each hazard event.\nFindings: The 2015 south east Equatorial Asia smoke haze disaster risk assessment was characterised as \"extreme\" health risk and the 2016 Melbourne thunderstorm asthma epidemic was characterised as \"high\" health risk.\nPractical implications: Reaching the goals of the Sendai Framework require strategies and plans which urgently address the catastrophic level of mortality risk posed by exposure to environmental contaminants.\nOriginality/value: Innovative approaches and partnerships are necessary to mitigate the risk from the deteriorating health of the environment and natural ecosystems, along with disaster response initiatives that reduce exposure of vulnerable people on a large scale.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Quiet unintended transitions? Neo-Durkheimian explanation of institutional change
|
[
"Institutional change",
"Cultural theory",
"Harold Macmillan",
"Neo-Durkheimian"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper examines a puzzle in the explanation of organisational change - namely, how can change from one institutional form to another arise from a process which might usually be expected to bring a deepening or radicalisation within an institutional form? The puzzle is examined within the neo-Durkheimian institutional framework introduced by the anthropologist and social theorist, Mary Douglas (e.g. 1978/1982, 1986), to the development of which Gerald Mars's work has made some of the most important contributions. The next section introduces the framework's theory of organisational change and sets up the puzzling type of case. Then three possible causal mechanisms for resolving the puzzle are considered, each taken from Mars's work. The empirical section considers the case study of the cabinet and core executive, considered as an organisation, during the latter years of Harold Macmillan's government in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The analysis section examines the case for evidence of any of the three mechanisms taken from Mars, concluding that his concept of capture can be adapted to enable the theory to explain cases of this puzzling kind. The conclusion draws out implications for the theory and for understanding institutional change.\nChange in the forms of institutions: a neo-Durkheimian theory: Most institutional theories of organisations explain adoption and diffusion of empirical forms of formal institutions (e.g. M form in firms, district general form in hospitals, cabinet government), using cost, ideational or regulatory factors (Powell and DiMaggio, 1991; Scott, 1995/2008; Scott et al., 1994). Often, such frameworks predict only either gradual or catastrophic change (Mahoney and Thelen, 2010). By contrast, neo-Durkheimian traditions argue that informal institutions are causally key, that generic elementary forms are more significant than empirical ones, and that quite rapid informal institutional change is common. Building on his (1895/1982, p. 45) argument that institutions defined as \"modes of action and [...] ways of judging which are independent of the particular individual will\" are central to social change, Durkheim, 1912/1995) showed that elementary forms of institutions ritually cultivate ways of classifying; Goffman (1967) demonstrated that informal, quotidian conversation ritual interaction carries the same causal force. Douglas (1978/1982) developed a neo-Durkheimian typology of four elementary forms of institutions. She also shifted the explanandum to argue that each elementary institutional form (6, 2014c) of social organisation cultivates a distinct thought style (Douglas, 1986), meaning the manner in which people frame decisions - measured, for example, by their stance towards anomalies in classification, past and future, issue linkage, risk, fallback options in strategy, issue linkages (6, 2011). Thus, people paint their own social organisation in microcosm or in transposed forms on to ways of framing their problems, options, choices (Durkheim and Mauss, 1902-1903/1963, p. 11). Those elementary forms consist in basic structures of informal institutions, distinguished by the limited variation available on Durkheim's (1897/1951, 1925/1961) two dimensions of social integration and social regulation. Social integration is the degree to which relations and actions are governed by accountability to bounded groups or conversely by significantly reduced attachments, save those pursued or abandoned instrumentally; social regulation is the degree to which social relations and activities are governed by accountability to rule and role and constraint by given fact or immutable condition, or conversely by discretion and scope for less fettered choices.\nQuiet transitions between forms, contrary to intentions: method and mechanisms: Mars's work suggests three possible ways in which the neo-Durkheimian institutional approach could deal with the puzzle. The first explains apparent quiet unintended between-form change arising from intended within-form change as cases where actors are misled by their own blinkers about what counts as behaviour that will sustain within-form deepening or perpetuation. Mars's (1988) explains transitions in Israeli kibbutzim from enclave to other forms in this way. He argues that blinkering effects of the enclaving were so great that boundary-spanning work was not recognised as blurring those boundaries and thereby changing the predominant organisational form.\nCase study, data, coding and background: This paper considers organisational change in Harold Macmillan's cabinet in British government between 1957 and 1963, with special reference to the final three years.\nTransition to isolate ordering: informal institutional organisation: During 1961 and 1962, the government's institutional ordering changed significantly, and the manner of that change appears at first sight to be a case of quiet, contrary-to-intended change from a predominantly hierarchical ordering to one in which isolate ordering was very significant; from now on, this will be referred to as an \"isolation dynamic\" (6, 2015a).\nTransition to isolate ordering: political judgement and feedback upon social organisation: The isolation dynamic brought about corresponding changes, as Figure 1 leads us to expect, in the style of political judgement, the register in which thought style is articulated in government (6, 2011). The isolate style of political judgement affected many fields of policy making. But only in some politically very central fields did the changing style of judgement about particular policy problems exhibit sufficiently strong \"second phase\" or \"lower loop\" feedback effects upon the government's social organisation.\nRule violation: The isolation dynamic exhibits several important kinds of rule violation, in distinct roles. Some constitute violations of informal rules of social organisation under hierarchical institutions about collegiality. Many of these take the form of the cultivation of distinct kinds of guile, but several of Macmillan's ministers sacked in July 1962 regarded their dismissals as violations of such norms too. Other cases are violations of more formal rules established in policy. Most of these violations have already been mentioned, including Macmillan's deals with Beeching kept secret from his colleagues, or his willingness to tip the wink to the rail unions that accepting a modest settlement in one pay round would be rewarded with an inflationary one in the next round, or in hanging a colleague out to dry. One more might be cited, which was the decision to institute a review of security following one of the spy scandals, when in fact there was no serious intention to make substantive changes, but the priority was simply to distract the press from criticism of the government for the handling of the particular scandal.\nQuiet unintended transition between forms: The transition in Macmillan's government provides a good case study to study the puzzle, because Macmillan's intention to deepen both social regulation and integration was generally shared by his ministers. There was little enclaving within the cabinet; no zone of individualism opened up to allow rivals to become patrons; and isolate ordering was not deepened as a result of very strong articulation prior to 1961 (as would be the case under Heath, for isolate ordering was very significant in the Conservative leadership led by Heath even in opposition: 6, 2015a). The government slipped into isolate ordering while intending to seek what can only be coded as hierarchical institutions, and without great resistance to the ideal of hierarchy being provoked.\nExplaining the puzzle: Can any of Mars's three mechanisms provide an explanation consistent with the neo-Durkheimian framework?\nConclusion: Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory explains transitions between elementary forms of informal institutions by concentrating on feedback effects within and among those forms. The two fundamental dimensions of institutional variation in institutions are not supposed to be causally efficacious in their own right. They provide only descriptive measures of the change to be explained. Descriptions which use the two dimensions can be enlightening. It is an important first step to discover that, descriptively, deepening social integration in pursuit of hierarchy can unintendedly bring about weakening integration, yielding isolate ordering but without apparent and obvious leaching away by people in structural isolate serf positions who seek to evade the burdens of hierarchical ordering. But the neo-Durkheimian argument is that this cannot constitute a convincing explanation. Faced with the appearance of transition between forms brought about by a ratchet effect, it proposes that the ratchet cannot be on one dimension of variation causing movement on the other, for a dimension of variation is neither a uni- nor a bi-directional dimension of causal change. The apparent anomaly between the description of the case and the theory is to be resolved by showing that there was in fact negative feedback all along, but that fact was obscured by the work of informal institutions cultivating bias for as long as they operate.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to resolve a puzzle in the explanation of organisational change, where change appears to be within-form but results unintendedly in a transition between forms, yet first appearances suggest the absence of \"noise\" of the kind expected during shifts between forms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses qualitative analysis of primary archival and secondary sources on an historical case, analysing the data by coding using categories derived from neo-Durkheimian institutional theory. It examines the case of the cabinet, treated as an organisation, in the British government led by premier Harold Macmillan between 1959 and 1963, when a strategy for increasing hierarchy resulted unintendedly in an isolation dynamic.\nFindings: It demonstrates that the neo-Durkheimian institutional approach can explain such puzzling cases. Appropriately for a special issue in honour of Mars' work, it shows that his method of following rule violation and an adapted version of his concept of capture can provide a method of causal process tracing and a causal mechanism for resolving the puzzle.\nResearch limitations/implications: The argument is presented for purposes of theory development, not testing. It examines a single case study in depth.\nSocial implications: The findings demonstrate some of the risks which arise in changing informal institutional ordering, especially within decision-making executives, from the process by which informal institutions shape styles of judgement and decisions driven by those styles then feed back upon those executive bodies.\nOriginality/value: This is the first examination of puzzling unintended between-form transitions, the first to propose an adaptation of Mars' concept of capture to resolve such puzzles and the first detailed causal process tracing analysis of such a case using neo-Durkheimian institutional theoretic tools. It therefore offers a significant advance in institutional explanation of organisational change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Patient value co-creation in online health communities: Social identity effects on customer knowledge contributions and membership continuance intentions in online health communities
|
[
"Co-creation",
"Health services"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: MDJ has been \"a soft place to fall\" for me [...]. [I] take comfort in finding others here who share their knowledge and compassion. Many members have helped me just by understanding my anguish and validating my pain. We are working together to encourage research toward a cure (Member, Dercum's disease support group, MDJunction.com).\nLiterature review: Co-creation of value in the health care sector\nStudy 1: Methods\nStudy 2: Theories of social identity\nDiscussion: Value co-creation for improved well-being is a key research priority for service literature (Ostrom et al., 2010). However, few studies examine the motivators that actually drive patients' value co-creation activities in health care settings. This study contributes to value co-creation literature by empirically investigating the antecedents in OHCs. Employing a two-study research design, we find that social identity is essential for determining patient value co-creation in OHCs, at least in terms of knowledge contribution. In addition, value co-creation is a long-term behavior; when patients highly identify with their OHCs, they express stronger intentions to continue their membership and interact with peers. Interactions among OHC members and shared cognitive resources (i.e. shared vision and shared language) contribute to knowledge contributions and membership continuance intentions, either fully or partially through the effects of social identity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Patient value co-creation represents a key research priority and an essential determinant of health care service outcomes. Yet few studies empirically examine the factors that motivate patients to participate actively in value co-creation. The purpose of this paper is to seek to identify the motivators of such activities in online health communities (OHC) and examine their specific and unique effects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A netnographic study helps identify the motivators that drive patients' value co-creation activities in OHCs. The combination of these results with social identity theories suggest the hypotheses; mediation analyses test the hypothesized model with data collected from eight OHCs that address both life-threatening and non-life-threatening illnesses.\nFindings: The netnographic results show that social identity drives patients' value co-creation activities. Interactions among OHC members and the cognitive resources of the OHC both contribute to the development of its social identity. Furthermore, benevolence trust, shared vision, and shared language determine how likely an OHC member is to identify with a particular OHC, which further influences his or her value co-creation activities in that OHC.\nOriginality/value: Although value co-creation is critical to the health care sector, few studies examine antecedents of patient value co-creation empirically. This study represents an initial attempt to do so by combining innovative netnographic analyses with mediation analyses.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Exploring "Meka's method" to achieve effective teaching and training outcomes
|
[
"Meka's method",
"Teaching pedagogy",
"80:20 teaching",
"Teaching strategies",
"Teaching and training tool",
"Teaching",
"Teaching methods",
"Training"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: We learn ... 10% of what we read; 20% of what we hear; 30% of what we see; 50% of what we see and hear; 70% of what we discuss; 80% of what we experience; 95% of what we teach others (William Glasser).\nImportance of new teaching tools: Bertrand Russell quoted, \"More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given.\" In fact, novel teaching techniques encourage students to take part actively in the learning process, and help in uncorking their hidden potential as they think intelligently, and apply the theory into practice effectively. Studies have made it clear that the students' achievement, excellence, and success depends on having experienced and trained teachers who have a passion to make a difference in the lives of students. Hence, teachers must do research, update and innovate themselves constantly to create new teaching tools and techniques to succeed academically, otherwise they will become obsolete. They must understand various learning styles of students and mould their teaching style as per the students' needs, to create a compatibility and chemistry between the teachers and the students.\nWhat is \"Meka's method\"?: In this method of teaching, as outlined in Figure 1, the teachers must adopt a four-step process of researching, innovating, updating and taking feedback constantly to excel as effective teachers. They must use their body animation, voice animation, facial animation along with interaction, questioning, and involving students' participation, taking feedback from their body language, and molding the teaching strategy as per the situation. They must ask both close-ended and open-ended questions to students and involve them into the teaching process. They must also focus on above average, average and below average students in the classroom, to ensure effective teaching takeaways.\nWord lag: Listening is the skill least mastered by human beings. S. Cohen writes in The Effective Public Manager: Achieving Success in Government (Cohen, 1988) as follows: \"Listening is an essential and undervalued skill.\" People take listening for granted. Atwater (1992)[1] puts the typical speaking rate at about 120 to 180 words per minute. We can generally listen with good comprehension at 500 to 800 words per minute. Epictetus rightly quoted, \"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.\" The gap between the speaking rate and the listening rate is known as \"word lag\" or \"time lag\". Bridging this gap is indeed a highly challenging task! Newkirk and Linden (1982)[2] came out with several active listening techniques, such as paraphrasing, reflection, neutral technique, clarifying and summarization, which help leaders to become great listeners.\nSignificance of JAM in Meka's method: JAM is the acronym for Just A Minute. Some companies conduct this session during their recruitment to test communication skills of candidates. In this method, the candidates speak for a minute on a topic of their choice or on a topic given by the recruiters. It is also conducted by educators to encourage introvert and shy students to open up their minds and come out of their comfort zones in the classroom. It prepares students for placements. It helps students think mentally, process the acquired information, condense the content precisely, and speak only the key ideas and insights within a minute. It is conducted as a part of Campus Recruitment Training (CRT) programs in India to improve communication skills among the students and enhance their employability skills.\nEncourage students to think: Plutarch said, \"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.\" Hence, teachers should not dump knowledge in the minds of students. They must encourage their students to think. Only when students think they will be able to differentiate between the knowledge and the information, and appreciate true knowledge and acquire it. They also think of various ways to apply the acquired knowledge in their real lives. In fact, application of knowledge is more important than acquisition of knowledge. Teachers must shoot questions in the classroom to widen students' mental faculties. They must probe students to the maximum possible extent, so that students are awakened and interested in the classroom learning.\nMode of teaching: Educators must teach in such a way that students get out of rote learning and enter into creative learning where they feel comfortable in learning the subject. They must widen the intellectual horizons of students by introducing them to real-life applications, as this builds competencies and capabilities. Benjamin Franklin once said, \"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.\" Therefore, educators must involve students by conducting exercises, activities and role-plays to ensure meaningful learning. Regular assessments and self-assessment questionnaires will also help students realize where they stand.\nHumor quotient and teaching: The current complexity and ambiguity calls for a Humor Quotient (HQ). It seems that people are so busy with their daily chores that they often forget to smile. This is one of life's ironies. Even students are not spared from this complexity and ambiguity. They come under tremendous pressure while studying, and sometimes find it boring and taxing to listen to the educators. Hence, there is a need for HQ on the part of the educators to lighten the classroom environment to refresh students. Students get charged up once they enjoy jokes. However, this should not become overloaded as the classroom would become a mockery.\nAdopt 80:20 teaching strategy: In 1906, Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80 per cent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 per cent people. It unfolds that 20 percent of input gives 80 percent output and 80 percent of input gives 20 percent output. That means everybody doesn't put sincere efforts to achieve effective outcomes. If people focus on this concept seriously, it can deliver amazing goods. Initially the concept was confined to economics and gradually spread to other spheres. Although many people are aware of this principle, very few understand its application. Teachers can make use of this principle to teach effectively. They must make their sessions more effective by following Pareto's Principle, wherein they must make use of their precious time to ensure effective outcomes. For instance, if they deliver the session for 50 students for one hour, they must realize that the total time invested on teaching is 51 hours as 50 students invest their time apart from teacher's one hour of teaching. Hence, they must be more careful in designing the lesson plan or session plan, so that the session can achieve effective outcomes. If teachers take note of Pareto's principle and the time invested by both the teachers and the students during the session seriously, they will become more accountable and responsible.\nTools to inspire your students: It is rightly remarked, \"To merely provide an experience, no matter how powerful, and expect the students to take it home and sort it out on their own, is to invite failure.\" Hence, teachers must fire enthusiasm among students, apart from sharing their experience. To achieve these objectives, teachers must analyze the minds of the students; find out their aspirations and expectations; and design innovative teaching strategies accordingly. They must design the course curriculum to make it interesting, and is appropriate to their domain, age and expectations. They must reward students' success publicly and immediately. They must offer sandwich feedback to students; encourage non-participants to participate in the teaching session; respect students' failures. To encourage dull students, teachers must begin with close-ended questions, followed by open-ended questions. Here are some more tools for teachers to inspire students:\nTeaching techniques: Here are a few teaching techniques for the teachers to adopt:\nUnlearn, relearn and learn: Alvin Toffler once remarked, \"The illiterates of the 21st century are the people who cannot unlearn, relearn and learn.\" Hence, teachers must unlearn, relearn and learn constantly in their methods of teaching because what worked at a particular time might not work in future, as the technology changes rapidly. They must catch up with times and technologies and equip with new tools and techniques to stay relevant and competent in the current context. As good teachers are good students, they must behave like students while learning and behave like teachers while sharing their knowledge. To conclude, teachers and trainers must do continuous research to create new teaching and training tools, to ensure effective outcomes among students and trainees.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Meka's method - an innovative teaching and training tool to teach and train students and trainees effectively to achieve desired teaching and training takeaways.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is gleaned from the author's 31 years of practical experience in industry, teaching, training, research and consultancy. It places emphasis on the need to take feedback from students through their body language and mould their teaching style accordingly during the teaching session to create a compatibility and chemistry with the students. It explains humor quotient and elaborates Just a minute (JAM) session. It enlightens 80:20 teaching based on Pareto's Principle.\nFindings: The paper unveils tools to inspire students and unfolds teaching techniques. It implores teachers to unlearn, relearn and learn to remain relevant and competent in the current context.\nResearch limitations/implications: Qualitative/action research inevitably needs to be backed up by more formal research into the topic. This paper offers an agenda for action and further qualitative/quantitative research in teaching and training methodologies.\nPractical implications: The tool can be applied in teaching and training sessions. It enables improvement of training and teaching pedagogy. It is transferable wholly or partially to educational institutions and organizations.\nSocial implications: This innovative teaching and training tool is essential for teachers and trainers to bring out the behavioral changes among the audiences and impact the society as a whole.\nOriginality/value: The article offers a unique concept to add value to teaching and training so as to benefit students and participants with the help of a diagram.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The Blue Ocean that disappeared - the case of Nintendo Wii
|
[
"Competitiveness",
"Blue Ocean strategy",
"BOS",
"Game consoles",
"Global marketing",
"Red Ocean",
"Strategy canvas",
"Value innovation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Kim and Mauborgne (2005a, b, c) use the ocean as a metaphor to describe the competitive space in which an organization chooses to swim. Red Oceans refer to the frequently accessed market spaces where the products are well-defined, competitors are known and competition is \"bloody\" and based on price, product quality and service. In other words, Red Oceans are an old paradigm that represents all the industries in existence today.\nCase: Nintendo Wii (2006) and Nintendo Wii U (2012): A few years ago, very few analysts would have predicted that Nintendo Wii would be the market leader in the games console market against the established Playstation 3 (PS 3) and Xbox 360 brands. According to Table I, Nintendo Wii took over the world market leadership in the beginning of 2008.\nNintendo - key facts and financial data: Nintendo Co. was founded in 1889 as the Marufuku Company to make and sell hanafuda, Japanese game cards. It became the Nintendo Playing Card Company in 1951 and began making theme cards under a licensing agreement with Disney in 1959 (\nThe video game console industry: The interactive entertainment software market is characterized by short product life cycles and frequent introductions of new products. Game consoles are relatively expensive in the beginning of the product life cycle. Hard-core game freaks pay dearly to have a console early, but sales really jump in years two and three, as Moore's law and economies of scale drive prices down and third-party developers release must-have games. By year four the buzz has begun about the next generation, and at that time, the game consoles can be found at the local grocery store at discount prices.\nNintendo's original launch of Wii in November 2006: The company's console, Wii, was launched in November 2006. Nintendo's arguments for using this brand name were (Carless, 2006):\nWii's Blue Ocean strategy: Nintendo's new direction was clear from the outset: instead of offering an incremental hardware upgrade, Nintendo offered a new way to play games, one that involved gamers in a new way which differentiated the experience from that of its competitors. What the Wii represented was the first major home console innovation that did not involve graphical or power updates, but a new way to play, and it was a perfect vehicle with which Nintendo was able to disrupt the market.\nNintendo's strategy (2006-2010): Wii became a market leader by emphasizing its simplicity and lower price (compared to Sony and Microsoft) to break down barriers for new customers.\nWii's market share development compared to Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (SP3): Table I shows the worldwide unit sales of games consoles from 2005 to 2012, together with the corresponding market share.\nThe competitors' reaction (2010): The two main Wii competitors have both undergone dramatic changes, since the first console was introduced:\nSony Playstation: In 2008, cumulative sales of PlayStation2 (PS2) reached 130 million units, making it the world's best-selling game platform. However, the 2006-2007 launch of Sony's new-generation PS3 did not translate into the immediate success that the company had hoped for. PS3 was not as successful as the Nintendo Wii. Sony suffered from a perception that it was a complex console to be used only in a darkened room by young men. The core age group used to be a tight demographic group of 14- to 30-year-old men (Brightman, 2012).\nMicrosoft Xbox 360: Microsoft continues to target the \"serious\" gamer segment with the Xbox 360, whose graphics, games and Xbox live internet gaming have been popular with the core user segment, primarily young males. The US market remains the most important so far, accounting for nearly 50 percent of overall Xbox sales.\nNintendo's strategy (2011-2013): Nintendo's response to the two competitors' new product launches came in late 2012. In November 2012 Nintendo's new Wii U was released. The Wii U console and controller prototypes were first shown at the exhibition E3 2011 (\nConclusion: This case underlines that the Blue Ocean strategy cannot be a static process (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005b).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose with this article is to analyze the \"Blue Ocean\" phenomenon in depth. The goal is to better understand the underlying dynamic strategies in the form of interactions between theory and management practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Single case study, Nintendo, which strategy is being confronted with the strategies of the two competitors, Sony and Microsoft. This is done in order to distinguish the value propositions of the three players in the game console industry\nFindings: The main finding is that even if a company can create a Blue Ocean very fast with the right value proposition at the right time, it may be short-termed and may be transformed into a Red Ocean again within 1-2 years, unless the company's competitiveness is safe-guarded.\nPractical implications: The results show, that Nintendo started out with a Red Ocean around 2005 with their GameCube. Then they turned it into a Blue Ocean with their introduction of \"Wii\" in November 2006. But Nintendo could not prevent Sony and Microsoft in turning it back to a Red Ocean, with their introduction of similar product features (motion controls), but at better quality. If Nintendo will be able to reestablish the Blue Ocean with their introduction of the \"Wii U\" in November 2012 is questionable.\nOriginality/value: There is constantly a need for reformulating the strategy through a dynamic and creative process, in order not to turn the Blue Ocean into a Red Ocean again.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Men in context: privilege and reflexivity in academia
|
[
"Reflexivity",
"Self-reflexivity",
"Men",
"Feminism",
"Sex and gender issues",
"Academia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPrologue: This paper is written as a reply to commentaries on our earlier text published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Styhre and Tienari, 2013). It is helpful for the reader to consult the original texts when seeking to follow the line of argument established here. Taken out of context, some of our ideas may seem awkward or, indeed, lacking in reflexivity.\nMen in context: We have both engaged in gender studies research since the mid-1990s and we have taught courses on gender and management since the late 1990s. We are (pro-)feminist men working in a Swedish (Alexander) and a Finnish (Janne) business school. In an earlier article published in this journal, we shared some experiences related to our research work, in a desire to contribute to the debate on reflexivity in organization and management studies, with a particular focus on self-reflexivity by means of autoethnography (Styhre and Tienari, 2013). We gave two examples of incidents that puzzled us and made us react emotionally. Both involved experiences where others made us acutely aware of our male gender and how it matters in our work. In Alexander's case these commentators were female industry professionals, while in Janne's case they were female gender studies scholars.\nPrivilege and reflexivity: We are fully aware - we are to some extent self-reflexive, you may say - that there is something like an involuntary comical streak in our original article inasmuch as two white, heterosexual, middle-class business school professors - the very gestalt of the privileged figure in the contemporary society, the phantom figure of the usual suspect - step forward and claim a piece of the authority and credibility that accrues to those who address social inequalities, including the highly relevant question of gender equality. Have these men not already had enough opportunities to voice their opinions? This is what our colleagues seem to think, echoing the vast feminist literature that highlights and scrutinizes male privilege in society. Our answer is yes, in general they have, but not with regard to the doing of gender research. In contexts where research is done, the answer is much more complicated and ambiguous. It also opens up a set of somewhat uncomfortable questions.\nReflexivity and context: Being reflexive is to reflect on reflections (Antonacopoulou and Tsoukas, 2002). If one accepts, like we do, that reflexivity is more of a predicament or event rather than what is executed at will, the commentators' claim that we did not take \"self-reflexivity far enough\" becomes questionable. Thinking outside of our horizon of understanding is impossible as we are always contained within our own beliefs, preferences, and experiences. For instance, the issue of \"whiteness,\" in itself a most relevant, in some cases acute, source (or target) of reflexivity was not really a matter in the two experiences that we examined in our earlier article.\nMore views on reflexivity, not less!: Our earlier article offered two arguably fragile and anecdotal examples from our own research activities with the aim of saying something worthwhile about self-reflexivity and its limits. This image of reflexivity is, we hope, something different than the reflexivity advocated by Alvesson et al. (2008) and favored by our commentators. While Alvesson and colleagues advocate an instrumentalist and rationalist position, we view reflexivity as events wherein deep-seated beliefs and norms become subject to critical self-reflection as our social world as taken for granted is challenged, disturbed, or collapsed. Such self-reflexivity is emotional as well as rational, and it is in our view suspect to try to disentangle the two, and to highlight the latter over the former.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on self-reflexivity and, in particular, explore the notion of context in relation to men's reflexivity in academic work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is a commentary on an earlier paper published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion addressing the issue of reflexivity in organization studies and commented on by three different scholars.\nFindings: Relating specifically to men doing gender studies research, the authors argue that they are always men in context, and their \"privilege\" (and reflections on it) needs to be accounted for in situ; in relation to the assumptions, relations, and practices at hand, rather to some abstract and vague \"privileges\" contained in, and carried by, men as a general category.\nOriginality/value: The paper seeks to advance a novel understanding of reflexivity not so much anchored in the willful capacity to reflect on scholarly work but as engagement with experiences of exclusion or unexpected outcomes in fieldwork and in interacting with other researchers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Harnessing information and communication technologies for effective knowledge creation: Shaping the future of education
|
[
"Online learning",
"ICT",
"MOOCs",
"Knowledge management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A phenomenon that is driving change worldwide, no matter where we look and in a manner never seen before, is the World Wide Web or the internet. Its effects on an economy where the longstanding resource crunch only served to heighten motivation for change is particularly startling in developing economies. And the whole world is watching. With the extraordinary access to information that was enabled overnight, it has simultaneously empowered ordinary people not only to access information they struggled to obtain earlier, but it also engendered a sense of entitlement, as more and more people connected with each other online; the like-minded uniting in huge forums of seekers. Common people have gained in confidence because of awareness of just how many of them are out there, thereby further legitimizing their common goals. This network of connected and dynamic updated communities is growing exponentially and has gained enough momentum to change the landscape permanently.\n2. Literature review: Progress has been the constant endeavor of humankind. Technological advancement and product innovation have altered our lifestyle and ways of learning. Our educational system, like other sectors, must revamp itself to ensure its sustainability and relevance in the future, especially in the wake of increased global competition and highly demanding corporate jobs. It is becoming all the more important as students become active agents and take the initiative, accepting responsibility for their learning (Ahmad, 2015). Today the motto is life-long learning, competency-based education and skill development. In the global crisis of contemporary civilization, education is the only hope which can lift the masses out of poverty, ignorance and despair (Sampaio, 2016). Academicians must prepare future generations in such a way that they can face complex future problems with conviction and ease.\n3. Discussion: 3.1 Opportunities for online learning\n4. Effectiveness of MOOCs as a foundation for knowledge creation: The field of education lays the foundation for knowledge creation including knowledge sharing and knowledge representation; it enables development of insight and experience. All these activities were hitherto performed in the classroom with the aid of textbooks and libraries. However, now ICT is extensively used for this purpose. The authors have made an attempt to view the knowledge creation process in education through MOOCs with the help of Ba and SECI models. The Ba and SECI models are the most widely used models for the process of knowledge creation. Ba means space, a learning environment, where knowledge is created, shared and practiced. The knowledge cycle in both the models has four modes. Four modes of Ba model, i.e. originating Ba, interacting Ba, cyber Ba and exercising Ba (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) along with four characteristics of SECI model, i.e. socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (Nonaka, 1991) are used to discuss knowledge creation and its management in MOOCs (Figure 3).\n5. Research syntheses: Various empirical studies have been conducted with online learning as a subject, to ascertain the type of students who enroll in MOOCs and their motivation. Studies have also been conducted to determine the effectiveness of these courses compared with that of physical classrooms. Christensen et al. (2014) surveyed students from the University of Pennsylvania, 32 Coursera offerings. It was found that the MOOC student population was young, male and employed, with a majority from developed countries. Harvard and MIT released a report, in 2016, analyzing their platform edX, four years after its launch. They discovered that though participants are heterogeneous in nature, most of them already have graduate degrees. It is also found that teachers are active participants in the MOOCs (Chuang and Dean, 2016).\n6. Future of education: It is an exciting time when fundamental restructuring of education is happening worldwide. Education is continuously evolving, and coupling education with ICTs can provide better learning opportunities and experiences to students than before.\n7. Sustainability of MOOCs: The question if MOOCs are a fad or the future has often been raised (Billsberry, 2013). Developing countries, though faced with challenges of low bandwidth, are now eagerly entering partnerships for success in MOOCs. Recent strides in ICTs have thrown open a new world of opportunities. Now the whole world is viewed as one class room. Students can now obtain global access to their dream institutions (Baturay, 2015). The democratization of higher education (Khanna, 2013) is a boon for the deprived section of society and open educational resources mark a clear shift from a knowledge hoarding to a knowledge sharing culture which provides access to learning material for free (UNESCO, 2002). In Free and Open Source Software, software code is made open for modification, improvement and distribution (Antoni, 2009). All these initiatives will augment learning and help build a more educated, empowered and better world:\n8. Future scope: This paper presents a conceptual framework on harnessing ICTs for effective knowledge creation; this provides room for further empirical investigation. So far, empirical studies comparing effectiveness of MOOCs in developed vs developing countries are few. It can be a topic for further research. Likewise, there is scope for work on customizing MOOCs based on learning preferences, behavioral characteristics and individual personality types. Learning analytics, data mining and academic analytics are also emerging fields which offer data for better integration of courses and student learning objectives (Romero and Ventura, 2013). MOOCs can also be developed for K12 classes and emerging technical and social fields. How technological innovations penetrate education and contribute to creating knowledge societies is another area worth exploration.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Education is subject to the same pressures as a business, it has to spur innovation, improve customer service and achieve operational excellence. Education is expected to solve intricate problems that heralded the twenty-first century. Niche areas emerged in education that need further study and research. The authors postulate such demands may be met by information and communication technologies (ICTs) that opened up the avenue for innovation and experimentation in education. One such innovation is online learning and massive open online courses (MOOCs) that represent immense opportunities in education. With their advent, even the permanent relevance of physical classrooms has been questioned. The purpose of this paper is to answer to all these questions and attempts to fill gaps in the understanding of the future of education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper came into being after a review of literature pertaining to the changing ecosystem of education and an analysis of newer platforms like MOOCs. The paper surveyed books, scholarly articles, reports, conference proceedings and online databases in the area of education and related technological developments.\nFindings: The existence of MOOCs in the education landscape cannot be ignored. This is proven by the fact that MOOC enrollment surpassed 35 million users in 2015. MOOCs were considered a popular concept in the developed world to start with. But, today MOOCs are being offered by universities in developing nations too. As the number of participant countries increases, MOOCs in vernacular languages are being developed to overcome the language barrier. The paper found that the online model cannot replace the brick and mortar model completely. Rather, it will complement it by providing an enriching experience to various stakeholders, including the learner and the instructor. In the future, students will have the advantage of a blended classroom where the best of online and offline models converge into an optimal experience.\nResearch limitations/implications: As the theme of the paper is new and the educational landscape continues to evolve, it is very difficult to determine the pace of transformation of education. However, the authors have tried to suggest a conceptual framework for the future in education, subject to empirical validation.\nPractical implications: This paper helps us understand that we are in a rapidly evolving scenario where innovations have the potential to disrupt the existing model. Such disruptions can have behavioral, economical and social ramifications. A better understanding of such alterations will help academicians equip themselves for evolving classrooms and the changing nature of their jobs. The new ICT enabled ecosystem will also try to overcome issues related to the quality of education and knowledge dissemination.\nOriginality/value: The present paper is a comprehensive study of the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging classrooms.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The importance and formalization of service quality dimensions: a comparison of Chile and the USA
|
[
"SERVQUAL",
"Hofstede",
"Cultural differences",
"Cultural dimensions",
"Service quality dimensions",
"Chile",
"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 issue.\nIntroduction: Services account for a very large portion of the economic activity in most countries. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that an average of 67 percent of the total gross value added in OECD countries comes from services (OECD Factbook, 2010). In addition, marketing researchers have recognized a shift in companies' business orientation, from a goods-dominant logic to a service-dominant logic (Lusch and Vargo, 2006; Vargo and Lusch, 2004). That is, even in industries typically classified as \"manufacturing\", the service component has gained importance. Therefore, service quality (SQ) becomes a critical aspect of most companies' marketing strategy.\nHofstede's cultural dimensions: In this research, we look at culture in terms of national culture, which has been defined as the values, beliefs, norms, and behavioral patterns of a national group (Leung et al., 2005), and it is expected to be stable over time (Hofstede, 2001). We consider this conceptualization of culture to be especially relevant for service quality research, because a key challenge for international service companies is to find an adequate balance between standardizing and adapting service protocols and specifications in each country where they participate as service providers.\nThe SERVQUAL model: Over the years, researchers have proposed several frameworks to measure and evaluate service quality. Among these, the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988, 1991) is the most widely used, and it constitutes the basis for the analyses in this research. Specifically, we focus on the work by Parasuraman et al. (1991), where the authors propose five dimensions of service quality, and measure their degree of formalization.\nComparing Chile and the USA: service quality dimensions' importance and degree of formalization: Development of hypotheses\nMethodology: Data collection\nConclusions: This research provides evidence that company executives' consider reliability and responsiveness (in that order) to be the two most important dimensions of service quality, both in Chile and the USA. And it is precisely in these two dimensions that the relative importance between these two countries differ, being reliability more important in Chile, and responsiveness more important in the USA. By using Hofstede's cultural dimensions as a conceptual framework, we explain how the perceived importance of SQ dimensions may differ among countries with different cultures. Specifically, we suggest that cultures that are more uncertainty avoidant tend to assign a greater importance to reliability than cultures that are not. Similarly, we advocate that cultures that are more individualistic tend to assign a greater importance to responsiveness than cultures that are not.\nImplications for marketers: Cultural differences within and among countries are clearly important to global marketers. The results of this research suggest that companies that operate in countries that are characterized by having a more collective and uncertainty avoidant culture, should have more formal standards for service quality than those operating in more individualistic and less uncertainty avoidant cultures. Therefore, global service companies should consider these differences when designing their service protocols in each country.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Services account for a very large portion of the economic activity in most countries. While there is abundant academic research on service quality, which has focused mainly on determining service quality dimensions, understanding service quality antecedents, and relating service quality to key outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and performance, there is, however, limited research on an increasingly relevant issue, which is how service quality perceptions differ among cultures. The aim of this research is to address this question.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research used two identical surveys administered to managers in two different cultures. One survey was in English for the US sample and one was in Spanish for the Chilean sample. The surveys measured the importance of the five SERVQUAL service dimensions as well as relevant information about the respondent's experience, position and type of company at which he/she worked. Each country was examined for significant characteristics using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Hypotheses were developed reflecting the differences expected by the characteristics of the cultures in which the respondents worked. Data was analyzed to extract meaning from the data using ANOVA.\nFindings: Of the five service quality dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy), reliability is the most important in both countries. Responsiveness is the second most important. Three of the hypotheses testing the difference in perceived importance among service quality dimensions between Chile and the USA, were supported. H1: no difference exists between the two countries in the importance of tangibles, is supported (p=0.000). H2: reliability is more important in Chile than in the USA, is also supported (p=0.039). H3: responsiveness is more important in the USA than in Chile, is supported as well (p=0.012).\nResearch limitations/implications: Use of MBA students as survey respondents limits the generalizability of the results. Despite the fact that each subject was employed in a managerial position within a firm, each subject was also enrolled in an MBA program. Arguably, the subjects are all employed in business but differ from others who are not in degree programs.\nPractical implications: The research highlights the need to attend to perceptions of service quality globally. The Hofstede cultural dimensions provide a clear and easy to apply framework that allows companies to identify what is important in a host culture. That information will enable service quality adjustments that offer the potential of improving customer satisfaction and firm success.\nOriginality/value: The current research is the first to use two tested conceptualizations to assess differences in service quality importance across cultures. It explores the relationship of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, with perceptions of service quality. It hypothesizes which service quality dimensions will be important based on the characteristics of the culture in which they are delivered. No other study has compared service quality perceptions between the USA and Chile. Each country has a vibrant, free market economy. The study provides a foundation for approaching other markets in Latin America and in countries with similar cultural dimensions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Passenger rail SOEs as domestic institutional market actors
|
[
"Denmark",
"Sweden",
"Marketization",
"State-owned enterprise",
"Passenger rail"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Little academic attention has been paid to the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as part of the contemporary public governance (Florio and Fecher, 2011; Thynne, 2011; Grossi et al., 2015). Outside the Anglo-Saxon world many SOEs have not been sold off (OECD, 2014), but have become actors (Christensen, 2015; Paz, 2015; Rentsch and Finger, 2015) in the public markets created by the new public management (NPM) reforms (Hood, 1991; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2011). The SOEs have inherently stayed state-owned as part of the state under some kind of public scrutiny (Wettenhall, 2001) while their activities have moved toward contracts, partnerships, etc. under market regulation (Wettenhall and Thynne, 2011). This paper aims at contributing to the renewed academic interest in SOEs by exploring and conceptualizing the role of the SOE in this contrasting governance structure through the lens of historical institutionalism focusing on the gradual institutional change as a process of interpretation between rule makers and rule takers (Streeck and Thelen, 2005; Mahoney and Thelen, 2010) after reforms are passed (Hacker et al., 2015; Conran and Thelen, 2016). The paper explores: how has the role of the SOE evolved in the external marketization of public service delivery via interpretations by the state and the SOEs?\nA gradual institutional change perspective on SOEs in external marketization: Earlier reasons for state ownership were to secure growth in situations with lack of market or to take over activities from the markets for strategic reasons (Farazmand, 1996). Milward (2011) adds broader concerns of social and political unification and national defense as a motivation for former state ownership. As Lodge (2002) points out, then, public ownership and undertakings were as natural in public administration as privatization became in the 1980s and 1990s by its advocates. If not outright privatized through NPM reforms, SOEs can be said to have been reformed in two different ways. In internal marketization, they were corporatized (Christensen, 2017), which created an ownership relation and not (only) a political relation to the state (Christensen and Laegreid, 2003). It created an economic and judicial independent actor within the state that could be a step toward privatization (Thynne, 2011). Second, which is under investigation in this paper, came external marketization where the activities of SOEs were liberalized and the SOEs became market actors in the new markets of public service provision of their former activities (Christensen, 2015; Paz, 2015; Rentsch and Finger, 2015). Research has, with divergent results, compared the performance of SOEs with their private counterparts (Willner and Parker, 2007; Bruton et al., 2015) and how they have internationalized (Clifton et al., 2011). This paper explores in a public governance perspective the domestic role of SOEs in public service delivery in the external marketization of their former monopoly.\nMethods: The paper is based on a qualitative comparative case study of the incumbent SOEs in Danish and Swedish passenger rails to explore the evolving role of SOEs in external marketization. Inspired by Florio and Fecher's (2011) call to rediscover contemporary SOEs, in-depth case studies have been conducted to help advance our empirical and conceptual understanding. With the purpose of making analytical generalization, the two cases were selected by purpose as two polar cases (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). Hence, passenger rail is a network industry with state involvement both in infrastructure and via subsidies for services (Sclar, 2005) and a sector with many SOEs (Finger and Messulam, 2015). As EU-members, both countries have been influenced by the European railway packages where Sweden is seen as a frontrunner (Finger, 2014). Denmark has set up legislation to comply, but has put liberalization on hold (Danish Ministry of Transport, 2015). The cases present new empirical insights on the sector that together lead to analytical generalizations about SOEs in external marketization in a public governance perspective.\nAnalysis of the role of the SOE in external marketization: In the following, the cases of SOEs in the external marketization of passenger rail in Sweden and Denmark will be analyzed, respectively. In both cases, external marketization started out with a layered process where new market-based elements were put on top of the existing delivery by the SOE. In Sweden, the implementation was, however, an example of displacement of many of the tasks of the SOE and drift of the SOE as market actor owing to strong regional transport authorities as important actors of change. In the Danish case, on the contrary, the layered market-based elements were weakened over time and the SOE was reconverted toward its historical role.\nDiscussion: The analysis from a gradual institutional change perspective has shown that the external marketization of passenger rail in Sweden and Denmark has created passenger rail sectors with more actors and markets, but at different paces, and with different uses of governance mechanisms and different governmental levels. The SOEs have in this set-up become strategic market actors where their historical institutional position both enables and constrains them. The following discusses this development in a gradual institutional change perspective and how it could be understood and conceptualized in a public governance perspective.\nConclusions: Two qualitative case studies of the development of passenger rail in Sweden and Denmark from 1990 to 2015 were used to analyzed how the role of the SOE has evolved in the external marketization of public service delivery in the perspective of gradual institutional change put forward by Streeck and Thelen (2005). The literature on SOEs is growing and this paper brings new empirical evidence to the Danish and Swedish developments (Bruton et al., 2015). The comparative analysis shows that the market reforms were initially layered, which kept the SOEs as bases for passenger rail with the new markets added on while the SOEs also became market actors among others. The SOEs hold privileges based on their historical positions, and in the transformation to market actors the dynamic between the two created a position for the SOEs that goes beyond that of a market actor and can be seen as that characterizing an institution. Against this background, it is suggested to conceptualize the role of today's SOEs in public service delivery as that of IMA. The implementation of this layered set-up took different trajectories in the two countries. In Sweden, local/regional transport authorities as endogenous actors pushed the layered set-up, which created a displacement of the historical role of the SOE to the regional level. It has left SJ as a market actor in drift, but with the societal expectations of solving national sectorial challenges and thus a new public governance IMA. In Denmark, the SOE was redirected toward new goals, but finally reconverted to a New Weberian IMA as a formal sector coordinator because of problems with the SOE as a market actor and closeness to the national political level.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to make an empirical-based conceptualization of the contemporary domestic state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as domestic institutional market actors (IMAs) in the marketization of public service delivery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a qualitative comparative case study of the SOEs in passenger rail in Denmark and Sweden from 1990 to 2015.\nFindings: The paper shows how marketization results in a layered institutional set-up of public service delivery based on both competition and monopoly where the SOE becomes what we call an IMA bridging sectorial challenges. In Sweden, this role has a new public governance form as the monopoly over time is fully dismantled. In Denmark, over time marketization is put on hold due to problems with the SOE as a market actor, but the SOE is nevertheless safeguarded in a new Weberian model as a sector coordinator.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the recent literature on SOEs and marketization with an original and novel conceptualization of contemporary SOEs in public governance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Analyzing the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company
|
[
"Job satisfaction",
"Employee loyalty",
"Hostage employees",
"Isfahan Province Gas Company (IPGC)",
"Loyalty matrix"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Employee retention is critical to the long-term success of any organization (Peltier et al., 2013). Similar to market segmentation, wherein customer loyalty and customer satisfaction are of particular importance, employee loyalty and job satisfaction are of considerable importance in human resource management (HRM). While job satisfaction does not guarantee employee loyalty and intent to stay, organizations recognize their employees as a valuable resource and believe that employees who are satisfied with their jobs will likely to be more loyal and will promote the productivity of an organization.\n2. Literature review: Available studies on the relationship between employee dissatisfaction and disloyalty are relatively few among which, Silvestro (2002) could be referred to who confirmed such a relationship in UK's four large supermarket chains. Chun (2009) also surveyed employees of an organization in crisis following a merger due to poor employee morale and high labor turnover. She found that the perceptions of organizational empathy, warmth and conscientiousness were strongly correlated with employee loyalty, perceived job security, satisfaction and emotional attachment. Rice et al. (2017) surveyed cross-sectional attitudes of employees within a hospital setting in Australia. They found that highly loyal employees who experienced inter-professional dysfunction also experienced disproportionately high levels of job tension. Gevrek et al. (2017) found that employees who have less favorable perceptions of salary adjustments, compared to what they believe their colleagues think, are more likely to consider another employer. Fahim (2018) also emphasized that job dissatisfaction often gives rise to employee turnover. Maden et al. (2016) explained that unmet job expectations may cause a variety of adjustment problems for employees such as low job satisfaction.\n3. Employee loyalty: Employee loyalty or organizational commitment has been one of the most investigated topics since the 1960s (Ibrahim and Al Falasi, 2014), since firms benefit from employing loyal workers (Linz et al., 2015). Loyalty to a community (union) is the pride that a person has for having a membership, having positive attitudes toward that community and its values and realizing the advantages of existing in that community. High level of employee loyalty is important for organizational survival and well-being (Narteh and Odoom, 2015). Organizations strongly invest in recruiting and selecting employees, and then invest even more in their training and developing over time (Dechawatanapaisal, 2018). Commitment to the community includes three factors of the belief in the union; accountability to the union and having a desire to work for the union. This is helpful in clarifying the difference between the construct of loyalty and organizational commitment. Both structures seem similar and can be considered as behaviors toward the organization (Niehoff et al., 2001), while they can be different in some cases. This is because full faith, as described by loyalty, does not require to be correlated with a solid belief system or an emotional affiliation about a subject or person. Usually, a commitment structure involves a strong emotional affiliation with the organization and its value system. In summary, a person can be loyal to friends, family members or organization without being committed to their ideals and values (Niehoff et al., 2001). Loyalty can be defined as a willingness to stay in the organization; willingness to do extra work; feeling of belonging to the organization and desire to be more accountable (Yee et al., 2010). According to Yu et al. (2017), \"employees who understand and positively identify with a firm's values and strategies can venture beyond attitudinal commitment and present behavioral loyalty.\"\n4. Job satisfaction: Employees are the most valuable resources of an enterprise. Their satisfaction determines whether enterprises and employees can keep a harmonious sustainable development trend (Jun et al., 2017). According to Robbins et al. (2017) and Matthews et al. (2018), job satisfaction is defined as \"an employee's general attitude toward his or her job.\"\n5. Classifying employees based on job satisfaction and loyalty: Jones and Sasser (1995) presented a quadruple division of customers based on their job satisfaction and loyalty values. In such classification, known as the loyalty matrix, customers can be divided into four groups: Apostle, Hostage (pseudo-loyal), Mercenary (non-loyal) and Qutter (Anti-faithful). Similarly, Jahanbazi et al. (2019) measured job satisfaction and employee loyalty in IPGC and proposed a quadruple form for classifying employees. Their findings indicated that the majority of employees (77.83 percent) were classified as hostage employees (Figure 1).\n6. Research methodology: The statistical population of this study included 633 administrative employees of IPGC in all 26 city offices and the central headquarter in the province of Isfahan. These employees were classified into three groups of managers, heads of units, experts. A questionnaire was used to collect data. In fact, by using the results obtained from the study of Jahanbazi et al. (2019), the research questionnaire was compiled. The questionnaire included the dimensions identified for employee loyalty and job satisfaction. It consisted of 40 questions for job satisfaction and 20 questions for employee loyalty, asking respondents to explain their answers in the form of a five-point Likert scale (very low to very high). Out of the 633 distributed questionnaires, 212 completed questionnaires were returned and were found suitable for analysis indicating a 32 percent response rate. The research variables and the questions are presented in Table I.\n7. Case study and findings: A literature review indicates that studies on the subject of human resources have had a steady increase over the past couple of decades in the Middle East (Budhwar et al., 2018). In Iran as one of the developing countries of the region, the concepts of HRM and development have been critically investigated in many organizations in different sizes. One of such organizations is the IPGC, a subsidiary company of National Iranian Gas Company which was established in 2000 with the purpose of distributing natural gas to domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. Employees of this company are from two sectors of gas companies in the counties of Isfahan Province and the gas company in the city of Isfahan. They work at various organizational levels as managers, heads of units and experts. In total, 55 percent of employees work at the offices of gas companies in the counties of Isfahan Province and 45 percent work at the headquarter gas company in the city of Isfahan. The purpose of the survey was explained to the respondents, and they were assured that their responses will remain confidential.\n8. Discussion: Since the majority of employees of IPGC (80 percent) located in the hostage category, the influence of job satisfaction on employee loyalty was analyzed merely for this category. Findings indicated that job satisfaction did not have a significant influence on hostage employees. Considering the fact that these employees are not in a good and desirable condition in terms of job satisfaction but they are at a desirable level in terms of loyalty, it can be stated that this group of employees who constitute a high percentage of IPGC have been remained in the company due to the pressures of the environment, society and their families. According to Aljayi et al. (2016), there are cases such as cultural context, factors that are found in the family and society, and social pressures from the family and the environment, and such pressures make individuals to be apparently loyal to their employers. Hammer (1996) also believed that loyalty to the company is considered as a cultural artifact that had been replaced by the commitment to business success. Indeed, this is highly observed in companies affiliated to the oil industry wherein many experienced and professional employees exist. Although they are less satisfied with the working conditions and the concerned organization, they still remain loyal to their organization and are not willing to leave their organization even by the offer of huge salaries and benefits from the companies operating in the oil and gas industries of neighboring countries.\n9. Conclusions: In this study, the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty was analyzed in IPGC. For this purpose, SEM was used for analyzing the data collected from a sample of 212 hostage employees. Findings indicated that job satisfaction had no significant influence on loyalty. Therefore, the company should concentrate on improving the identified dimensions of job satisfaction and employee loyalty together and try to enhance job satisfaction of employees closer to the desirable level, so that they shift from hostage category to apostle category. Consequently, the company will be able to increase productivity and improve employee performance, more effectively.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company (IPGC).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The statistical population of this study included the formal recruited employees of IPGC out of which, 212 employees have been selected using a stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire has been developed and used for data collection regarding job satisfaction and employee loyalty. In this study along with the other studies of the authors, employees of IPGC were classified into four different categories on the basis of loyalty matrix, and the majority (78 percent) of them were located in the hostage category. Structural equation modeling has been used for data analysis.\nFindings: The findings imply that job satisfaction does not have a significant influence on the loyalty of hostage employees.\nPractical implications: Organizations are encouraged to identify the individual and organizational factors and obstacles, take necessary measures to increase job satisfaction and maintain the level of employee loyalty and gradually shift them from the hostage category to the apostle category, which results in an increased number of loyal and satisfied employees.\nOriginality/value: This study indicates how the application of the concepts of loyalty matrix, particularly its hostage category, can be expanded in the field of organizational behavior management.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Effects of Lean Six Sigma in program management
|
[
"Project management",
"Six Sigma",
"Lean manufacturing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although Lean Six Sigma (LSS) originated in manufacturing, it has since been successfully applied and studied in a number of non-manufacturing fields (Sunder et al., 2018), such as human resources (Suarez-Barraza and Ramis-Pujol, 2010), financial services (Delgado et al., 2010), government (Radnor, 2010), maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) operations (Thomas et al., 2015) and construction (Koskela, 1992; Koch and Friis, 2015). However, to date, there is limited application and a lack of systematic research on the use of LSS in program management (PM).\n2. Literature review: To support this study, two different bodies of knowledge were reviewed. In the interest of concision, this section summarizes the main findings of these literature reviews; however, the reader can see Null (2017) for more details. The first body of knowledge focused on LSS in non-manufacturing environments, while the second focused on CSFs in PM.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Case organizations\n4. Results: 4.1 H1 - relationship between input factors and average financial benefit\n5. Discussion: This study examined the relationships between LSS average financial benefit ($K/year), LSS project percentage of improvement and the input factors (LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area), using data from the 511 completed projects in a PM organization. The lack of fit p-values for the average financial benefit and percentage of improvement regression models were greater than 0.05, which along with sufficient residual plots, suggested an adequate model fit to the data. Furthermore, the adjusted R2 values for the models were 31.47 and 21.43 percent, respectively, further supporting the adequacy of model fit. The mechanisms by which the significant input factors impact the outputs were not always clear and require future research; however, the factors where the impact mechanisms were more intuitive are further discussed below (although future research is still needed to confirm these mechanisms).\n6. Conclusions: 6.1 Summary of research findings\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As program managers seek to improve the quality, speed and financial benefits of the programs they manage, many are turning to process improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS). However, although existing literature includes multiple studies that apply the methodology to non-manufacturing environments, there is no specific framework for applying LSS within program management (PM). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area and project outputs, in PM organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses archival data from 511 LSS projects completed from 2006 to 2015 by a large government agency in the USA composed of 13 PM organizations. The study focuses on four types of input factors: LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area; and two output variables: LSS project average financial benefits and percentage of improvement. Multiple regressions are applied to determine what relationships exist between the input and output variables, as well as the nature of such relationships.\nFindings: The results of this study show LSS is beneficial to PM and also indicate which tools and organizational contexts have positive and negative associations with project outcomes, serving as guide for future applications. In addition, this study can provide clarity and confidence to program managers who are currently skeptical of LSS, by showing that it can provide cost, schedule and performance improvements beneficial to their programs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations of this research include the use of a single government agency in the USA, the non-experimental design of the study and limitations associated with the nature and data collection process of the archival data. Future studies should include additional PM organizations, input variables and research designs.\nOriginality/value: There is no specific framework formalizing the concept of LSS application within PM. The literature includes several studies that apply the methodology to non-manufacturing environments, but not to PM specifically. Furthermore, the existing literature on PM does not explicitly cite any continuous improvement methodology as a critical success factor or provide any detailed guidelines for the application of LSS in PM. This paper contributes by studying the relationships between LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area, and project outputs, in a PM environment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion: mediating effect of digital consumer protection
|
[
"Mobile money services",
"Digital consumer protection",
"Financial innovation",
"Financial inclusion",
"Cyber insecurity",
"Fintech ecosystem"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Numerous studies have shown that micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form a large part of the private sector in both developed and developing countries. This contributes greatly to economic growth and poverty alleviation mostly in developing countries (Ayyagari et al., 2005). According to Beck et al. (2005), MSMEs create over 60 per cent of the total jobs that partly solve the lack of employment and income inequality rampant in developing countries. Accordingly, to survive and grow to create more jobs and contribute to economic development, MSMEs require finances through financial inclusion (Beck and Demirguc-Kunt, 2006; Organization for Economic Corporation and Development, 2017).\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion: the mediating effect of digital consumer protection\nDigital consumer protection and mobile money adoption and usage: According to CGAP (2017), consumer protection refers to an essential element of inclusive financial systems, which ensures that current users of formal financial services get transparent and fair treatment in the market so as to instil confidence regarding the formal financial services and the providers among the potential consumers.\nMobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion: According to ACCION (2011), full financial inclusion entails four dimensions, which are vital in expanding access to and use of basic financial services, especially among the unbanked population in developing countries. These include: what is provided (full range of the financial services such as savings, credits loans, payments and insurance), how it is provided (with quality e.g. convenience, affordability, safety, dignity of treatment-consumer protection), who receives (everyone who can use these financial services, including all the vulnerables such as the poor, disabled, refugees and women), who provides (a range of providers lead by main stream financial institutions). Thus, for full financial inclusion to be achieved, the provision of basic financial services, which are relevant and suitable to the unbanked population, should be without price or non-price barriers by both formal and non-formal financial institutions (World Bank, 2014).\nMethodology: Study design and approach\nResearch findings: Study response rate\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study intended to establish the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion with data collected from MSMEs in Gulu district, northern Uganda. The following discussion focuses on the hypotheses that were generated in this study:\nConclusion: This study intended to establish the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion with data collected from MSMEs located in Gulu district, northern Uganda.\nPolicy implications: The promoters of digital financial services, managers of MNOs and financial inclusion advocates should consider strengthening the existing consumer protection laws applicable to mobile money platform. A collaborative approach between the mobile network operators, financial institutions and regulators should tighten the existing laws against mobile money fraudsters and an efficient mechanism for recourse, compensation and remedy should be set up to benefit the victims of frauds and cybercrime on the Fintech ecosystem. Stringent laws and legal sentences should be placed on guilty mobile money fraudsters.\nStudy limitations: This study used partial least square (PLS-SEM) combined with bootstrap confidence intervals through a formative approach to establish the mediating effect of the mediator variable. Hence, it ignored the use of covariance-based SEM and the MedGraph programme. Furthermore, data were collected from samples located in the northern district of Gulu in Uganda with MSMEs as the main data source. This limits generalization of the study findings to other population who also use mobile money services.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Drawing from the argument that mobile money services have a significant potential to provide a wide range of affordable, convenient and secure financial services, there have been rampant frauds on consumers of financial products over the digital financial platform. Thus, this study aims to establish the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion with data collected from micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in northern Uganda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To achieve the main objective of this study, a research model was developed to test for the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion. The data were collected from MSMEs and structural equation modelling in partial least square (PLS) combined with bootstrap was applied to analyze and test the hypotheses of this study. The direct and indirect effect of mobile money adoption and usage on financial inclusion was tested through digital consumer protection as a mediator variable.\nFindings: The findings from the PLS-structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that mobile money adoption and usage has both direct and indirect effect on financial inclusion. Moreover, financial inclusion is influenced by both mobile money adoption and usage and digital consumer protection.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study used partial least square (PLS-SEM) combined with bootstrap confidence intervals through a formative approach to establish the mediating effect of the mediator variable. Hence, it ignored the use of covariance-based SEM and the MedGraph programme. Furthermore, data were collected from samples located in Gulu district, northern Uganda and specifically from MSMEs. This limits generalization of the study findings to other population who also use mobile money services.\nPractical implications: Promoters of digital financial services, managers of telecommunication companies, and financial inclusion advocates should consider strengthening the existing digital consumer protection laws on the mobile money platform. A collaborative approach between the mobile network operators, financial institutions and regulators should tighten the existing laws against mobile money fraudsters and an efficient mechanism for recourse, compensation and remedy should be set up to benefit the victims of frauds and cybercrime on the Fintech ecosystem.\nOriginality/value: The current study gives a useful insight into the critical mediating role of digital consumer protection as a cushion for promoting financial inclusion through mobile phones over the Fintech that face great threat and risk from cyber insecurity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
India's emerging market strategy for modelling happiness at work: Creating win-win positive motivation with commercial value built-in
|
[
"Workplace happiness",
"India",
"Workplace culture",
"Knowledge workers",
"Happiness at work",
"Job engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The automobile tycoon Henry Ford advocated that \"Profit is a by-product of work, and happiness is its chief product,\" which promises the arrival of a sense of fulfillment by working hard in one's chosen occupation. As humans continue to chase the elusive panacea of happiness, employers can create a win-win situation with their employees by investing in a workplace culture that's compatible with the pursuit of happiness.\nBlending positive psychology with the Indian lifestyle: The concept of happiness at work, while already popular in western societies, is still gaining traction in emerging economies like India as employers search for new sources of competitive advantage. This is because Indian workers have increasingly catered for their basic needs, and so are now seeking higher levels of human fulfilment from the commercial environment. Indian lifestyle is arranged around its collectivist family-centered culture and its long working hours, and individuals seek to inject happiness into their lives synergistically through both of these domains. Harmony between people is highly valued, as is the formation of long-lasting relationships with others. In particular, people in Mumbai are among those with the highest number of annual working hours in the world. India is an attractive and therefore rapidly growing emerging economy thanks to its low average population age, low salary levels, and its analytically skilled, English-speaking workforce.\nHappiness at work constructs: Identified within the study are the following three constructs of happiness at work:\nRecommendations for managers: The culture scale used in the study is compatible with the Indian population because it was originally conceived in the context of Spanish society, which bears similarities to India's social fabric in its collectivist-centric low level of individualism, long-term views, and its manifestations of masculine identity. Hence the authors assert that their findings are of value both in developed countries and in emerging market countries. The model can be applied, in outline, to assess measures such as performance, turnover, and employee motivation that may warrant a dedicated intervention by the human resources team where such measures are potentially or actually detrimental. Based on their findings, the authors make the following recommendations to company leaders and human resources teams:\nCommentary: The review is based on \"A psychometric validation of the happiness at workplace scale\" by Mansi Rastogi (2019), published in \"Industrial and Commercial Training.\" This research paper concentrates on unpacking the structural properties of workplace happiness. The results revealed that a cultural scale developed in Spain was equally applicable in India, since the populations of both countries demonstrate collectivist values that transcend the domains of work life and family life. Creating happy workplaces is a strategy that emerging economies can now tap into, following the lead of developed world organizations, as a way of unlocking additional competitive advantages through maximizing the potential of their people. Achieving this to boost employee retention rates is a powerful factor in India's knowledge worker-focused, rapidly developing labor market.\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: This research paper concentrates on unpacking the structural properties of workplace happiness. The results revealed that a cultural scale developed in Spain was equally applicable in India, since the populations of both countries demonstrate collectivist values that transcend the domains of work life and family life. Creating happy workplaces is a strategy that emerging economies can now tap into, following the lead of developed world organizations, as a way of unlocking additional competitive advantages through maximizing the potential of their people. Achieving this to boost employee retention rates is a powerful factor in India's knowledge worker-focused, rapidly developing labor market.\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"
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] |
A counterfeit network analyzer based on RFID and EPC
|
[
"Production management",
"Counterfeiting",
"Inventory control",
"Tracking",
"Radio frequencies",
"Codes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Manufacturing enterprises face tough competition in an increasingly globalized market, with increased regulatory scrutiny and requirements. To provide responsive and lean supply chain planning in meeting the conflicting demands and increasing the competitiveness, it is important for manufacturers to deliver a safe product with the right part in the right place at the right time. Harrison (1992) summarized the concept as \"meeting demand instantaneously, with perfect quality and no waste\". However, such a concept is getting more and more difficult to satisfy as counterfeiting problems have impacted on the manufacturing industry significantly in recent years. According to the study conducted by the ICC Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau (2005), counterfeiting is one of the serious issues in today's manufacturing industry. A counterfeit product is any product bearing an unauthorized representation of the original manufacturer of the products (Rochester Electronics, 2007). They not only lead to compromises in public safety, but also cause economic loss to manufacturers, and pose a threat to the supplier's brand name and reputation. Inexpensive copying, lack of traditional packaging and the unusual distribution channels make the counterfeits easier to be launched in the global market (Berman, 2008).At present, a range of product authentication technologies, such as using holograms and security labels, are available to enhance the package design in product authentication (Hopkins et al., 2003). However, the counterfeit situation has still not yet improved because these technologies using in optical detection and identification are insufficient to address the counterfeiting problems and they are easier to be imitated over a period of time. Instead, Kwok et al. (2008) and Bastia (2002) argue that the anti-counterfeit measures will be more effective when the movement of the product (i.e. product supply chain) can be tracked and monitored. When the distribution channels (or so-called supply chain) are authorized by the manufacturers, it is claimed that the product is authenticated when it is moved and delivered in a verified flow (Rochester Electronics, 2007). Thus, a system is needed to enhance the visibility and transparency of the product movement.So far, radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic product code (EPC) have been adopted in the manufacturing industry for visualizing the product movement and combating counterfeits (Baudin and Rao, 2005; Lu et al., 2006; Huang et al., 2007; Visich et al., 2009; Wamba and Chatfield, 2009; Wang et al., 2009), especially in the pharmaceutical industry (Wyld and Jones, 2007) and the electronic component manufacturing industry (Rochester Electronics, 2007). In general, through the automatic and real-time reporting features of RFID, and seamless sharing of RFID-related data in the EPC network, every tagged object that moves in the supply chain can plausibly be checked (Hou and Huang, 2006; Pawlak and Malyszek, 2008). As each RFID tag has a unique EPC identification number, the specific object in motion can be recognized. At the same time, all these RFID signals can be captured and transmitted to the back end information system for further checking of the authenticity of a tracked product. Essentially, if the information is not verified, it is ascertained that the product is a suspected counterfeit and concerns should be raised. Thus, track and trace-based solutions that provide downstream visibility can help preventing counterfeiting and theft of products (He et al., 2008).To further enhance the effectiveness of an anti-counterfeiting solution, it is critical for companies to detect and identify the parties involved in counterfeit distribution channels (Zurich, 2007). By taking a holistic perspective of product movement and supply chain information captured via RFID, network analysis helps to analyze the product flow (among all the involved parties) and hence identifies suspicious supply chain parties that have the highest likelihood of distributing the counterfeits. With the leverage of real-time information shared in the EPC network, the movement of the product (so-called pedigree) can be visualized efficiently, and inconsistent movements can be detected automatically by means of a knowledge-based system.So far, very few research activities (Kim et al., 2006; Choi and Poon, 2008; Kwok et al., 2008) have been undertaken in this direction and the present study thus aims to establish a counterfeit network analyzer (CNA) for discovering and analyzing anomalies in the data collected from an EPC network. The CNA is used to convert the EPC information into a network map so as to determine the counterfeit distribution level of each party in a network. Since security is another important measure to track and trace accuracy, an encryption and decryption mechanism is developed. A prototype system has been built and trial implemented in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The results of the trial implementation show that the RFID solution is reliable and it is capable of improving the detection of counterfeit distributors. The challenges of the implementation of the solution are discussed in the last section of the paper.\n2. Comparing the conventional and the CNA approaches: The conventional approaches for counterfeiting prevention can be divided into two types, namely product authentication technologies and automatic information sharing networks, respectively. Figure 1 shows a comparison of the workflow of the counterfeiting source detection for the conventional approaches and the CNA approach.2.1 Product authentication technologies\n3. Mechanism of CNA: The system architecture of CNA is shown in Figure 2. Simply stated, it comprises three-modules designed to handle the display (presentation module), processing logic (product authentication module), and data services (data warehouse module), respectively.To enhance anti-counterfeit mechanisms in the current technology adoption approach, a rule-based mechanism (i.e. the ePedigree verification engine) is employed to process the real-time information captured in the EPC network. Such a knowledge-based approach provides the advantage of delivering accurate supply chain information with intelligent feedback during the complex product transfer processes.3.1 Presentation module\n4. Case study and discussions: The capability of the CNA approach is demonstrated through a pilot study for the counterfeit prevention practices in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Hong Kong, called Harmonic Health Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd (Harmonic). The company develops health foods and beauty products extracted and purified from pure Chinese medicines. The company's health food series have been selling in the market since 1999, and the company has been a pioneer in the production of Chinese medicine capsule pills.Over the years, these pills established a good reputation in Hong Kong, but this has also attracted the attention of counterfeiters, causing subsequent loss of business and damage to the goodwill of the company. Harmonic has modified the packaging design of these products four times in the last two years with the aim of differentiating its genuine products from the fakes. An example of genuine and counterfeit packages is shown in Figure 6. Owing to the fact that the original packages were found to be counterfeited very quickly, the company suffered from potential business risk which adversely affects the business operations of the company. Moreover, Harmonic needs to distribute the products around the world and many activities would take place at each intermediate point in the supply chain. To avoid any counterfeiting behavior existing in these intermediate points, the company requires the supply chain party at each immediate point to manually record the information in Harmonic's single standalone database via a web-based system. However, such approaches have suffered from human error and many parties are not willing to update the data in the system. Owing to the potential drug hazard (as the drug can be changed or counterfeited easily), the lack of visibility of the product flow, and the expensive repackage design, Harmonic was selected as the reference case to demonstrate the feasibility of the CNA.4.1 RFID deployment\n5. Conclusion: Manufacturing enterprises face tough competition in an increasingly globalized market, with increased regulatory scrutiny and requirements in recent years. Product safety is a complicated and important issue, as well as a major challenge to global trade. This paper presents an EPC- and RFID-enabled supply chain network for enhancing the track and trace capabilities of product movement and anti-counterfeiting within the supply chain. The proposed network, employing an advanced tracking technology, RFID and EPC technology, provides an efficient and effective approach to product authentication and data visualization in supply chain management. The generic infrastructure allows for flexibility in deterring product counterfeiting and protecting RFID data. The results of the present study indicate that one of the obvious strengths of the proposed system is its ability to track and trace the product anywhere and anytime. In particular, the system is not only limited to depicting product supply chain information to authorized parties, but it can also integrate such information with other applications to support decision making and communication.The proposed CNA provides companies with an effective solution for detecting counterfeit products. This represents a breakthrough in such applications when compared with other existing anti-counterfeit solutions (Tables I and II). Although the adoption of RFID and EPC technology in anti-counterfeiting is still in its infancy, the pilot study discussing its development has experienced explosive growth. This provides support and consideration for manufacturers (e.g. pharmaceutical manufacturing companies) in particular to further adopt the application in a global and standardized fashion, so as to realize its full potential as an authentication solution and supply chain analyzer.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on the design of a counterfeit network analyzer (CNA) for aggregating all the problematic product flows in order to discover any counterfeit distribution source, and to control the spread of counterfeit goods. The analyzer leverages radio frequency identification (RFID) information stored within the electronic product code (EPC) network.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The system architecture of the proposed CNA is first discussed. A case study of the system application in a Hong Kong pharmaceutical manufacturing company then presents the adoption process and the challenges encountered in such technologies.\nFindings: - Compared with traditional approaches, the results show that the proposed RFID solution is reliable and is capable of discovering counterfeit distributions, as well as reducing the detection costs by means of higher product movement visibility within the supply chain.\nPractical implications: - A prototype system has been constructed and trial implemented in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. It proved to be of benefit to the manufacturer who is able to deter product counterfeiting effectively and visualize real-time supply chain data automatically.\nOriginality/value: - The proposed CNA is designed to overcome issues of information invisibility, which is considered a huge cost lost in the identification of counterfeit products, loss of sales and reputation associated with the counterfeiting, and ineffective product authentication in the manufacturing industry. This paper contributes to the RFID research in the counterfeiting area by studying the feasibility and practicality of shifting the focus of product identification from the traditional package redesign solutions to the visualization of the movement of the product (i.e. product supply chain) via the use of RFID and EPC. Furthermore, a pharmaceutical manufacturing site provided a case study for discussing the advantages, critical issues for implementation of the RFID system, and lessons learned.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Hindered growth: the ideology and implications of population assistance
|
[
"Social economics",
"Population",
"Population policy",
"Birth control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: For more than two decades, John Conway O'Brien has written on the importance of ethics for economic growth. In one of his recent articles, he concludes \"although the Illuminated may have been activated by the most altruistic of motives, their search for the good society was doomed from the start\"[1]. Similarly, in an effort to promote development, the international community has spent increasingly large amounts of money on controlling the fertility rates and limiting the population growth of developing countries. To avoid negative connotations of racism, imperialism and coercion, population control is packaged in the more acceptable terminology of environmental protection and women's empowerment. Though people are the acknowledged center of development, at least in principle[2], in reality this ideal has been twisted to the point that control over people is seen as the cornerstone of development and population activities have become more and more identified with population control[3]. Thus, population control has become \"population assistance,\" and birth control has become \"reproductive health services.\"Under the leadership of the United Nations and with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, mainly the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)[4], efforts have been undertaken to change cultural preferences and promote a desire for smaller families; vast sums have been spent by developed and developing countries, private organizations[5], and development banks to provide contraception and other reproductive health services to those who could not otherwise afford to buy them and who, for the most part, would rather have funds for real economic development activities[6]. Behind this expensive provision of reproductive information and services ensuring developing countries' women their \"reproductive rights\" is a clearly stated movement towards dramatically slowing population growth[7].When this underlying agenda is clearly separated from its feminist wrappings[8] and forced to stand on its own, most of the arguments in its defense are given on economic and development grounds. Uncontrolled population growth is often presented as a primary cause of poverty, resource scarcity, environment, and unrest[9]. No single relationship, however, has been recognized between population growth and economic development, or population growth and the environment. Furthermore, despite large population increases in the twentieth century, the economic and ecological disasters many predicted in the 1960s and 1970s have not occurred[10]. In fact, rather that having a positive effect on development, slowing population growth has been shown to hamper human capital, an essential element of economic development, and create, instead, other problems, such as aging population[11].Both developing and developed countries have poured billions of dollars over the years into lowering fertility rates in the name of \"population assistance.\" This expenditure is supported by the radical feminist groups' lobby as essential if women are to be empowered[12]; by politicians and policy-makers it is justified in the name of economic and social well-being. In reality, population control is pursued at the expense of women's rights and to the detriment of real economic growth and social improvement[13]. \"Population assistance,\" however, has been more than money badly spent[14]. It has been accompanied by a neglect of other areas critically important to real economic growth. O'Brien's words, quoted at the beginning of this paper, seem to describe the population assistance efforts accurately.This paper will highlight the role of the United Nations in the formulation and implementation of the current understanding of \"population assistance\" and examine some of the arguments for \"population assistance\" in the form of reproductive health care. It will then present the data for global population assistance and briefly compare these figures to data for other developmental sectors, recommending certain policy change if real development is to be achieved.\n2 Population control in UN conferences: The United Nations has been, perhaps, the most important forum for the international population debate. Beginning in 1954, it has organized five international conferences addressing the issues of population and development - each of which was followed by a five year review - held in Rome (1954), Belgrade (1964), Bucharest (1974), Mexico City (1984), and most recently in Cairo (1994). The first two of these conferences were primarily scientific in nature, but the last three centered on population policy, setting forth principles, objectives, and actions of national and international scope and value[15]. Population issues were also included at conferences devoted to other topics, including the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, the 1995 World Conference on Women and the 1995 Social Summit, as well as their respective follow-up conferences.Through the evolving language of these conferences and the documents they produced, it is possible to trace an agenda of population control and cultural change. Historically the most enthusiastic advocates of this agenda have been the developed countries of the West[16]. However, the United Nations and in particular the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), began to play an increasingly important role in the 1990s in coordinating the global network of \"population assistance.\" In this section, we will present a chronological outline of population issues at the conferences of the United Nations, emphasizing the unchanging agenda behind evolving language.2.1 Bucharest\n3 The reproductive health package as population assistance: Although United Nations documents are created by a consensus among delegates, in both the academic and political worlds there is little consensus on the ideas that the Cairo reproductive health package represents[51]. The provision of contraceptives for both purposes of \"empowering women\" and slowing population growth has been severely criticized[52]. Its supporters posit it as a long-term, holistic approach to effect progress in several areas but there is evidence that such measures have little effect on or actually retard true progress[53].3.1 The arguments\n4 Towards true development: If the less developed countries are ever to develop and to elevate their many citizens living in poverty, the international community should invest in human capital and their real economy rather than in means of limiting population growth. Funds should be moved from \"sustainable development\" to real development, from education on the regulation of fertility to education and training, and from reproductive health care to the more basic and serious health care needs.4.1 Investment in real economic development\n5 Conclusion: In its opening principles, the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action rightly places people at the center of development and acknowledges that they are the most valuable resource a country can have[98]. Instead of directing assistance funds towards real investments in the economy, sanitation, and human capital that would materially improve the lives of people in the less developed countries, the document allocates billions of dollars to reducing the fertility of women under the guise of reproductive and sexual rights.These twin agendas of population control and cultural change have been promoted through the United Nations for years, ostensibly for the good of developed countries. In the wake of Cairo and the monetary support given these agendas through the Cairo Programme of Action, their enthusiastic promotion has given rise to a well-organized and well-funded \"population assistance network\". The network monitors how much the governments of the Development Assistance Committee spend on the \"population package\" formulated in the Programme, in what countries that money is spent and the components on which it is spent. In addition, both developed and developing countries are continually exhorted to increase their levels of funding.Unfortunately, so far from assisting the countries or peoples of less developed countries, these funds actually hinder their real economic development, who often desire for other forms of aid, and infringe on the human rights of their citizens, especially women, who often do not understand the contraception being given them. Instead of helping developing countries stave off economic disaster, this \"assistance\" creates new problems for economies that can ill-afford to face them. Furthermore, the funds which developing countries themselves are encouraged to spend (accounting for two-thirds of international population spending) drain resources better spent elsewhere. Were the money currently spent on reducing fertility and providing women with contraception instead spent on reducing malaria and providing women with education and access to credit, the wealthy nations as well as the international organizations would do much to further the development of poorer states in the present and provide for their continued development in the future.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to highlight the role of the United Nations in the formulation and implementation of the current understanding of \"population assistance\" and examine some of the arguments for \"population assistance\" in the form of reproductive health care.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - It presents the data for global population assistance and briefly compares these figures with data for other developmental sectors, recommending certain policy changes if real development is to be achieved.\nFindings: - During the last decade increasingly large amounts of money have been spent on limiting population growth of underdeveloped countries. Population control is seen as the corner-stone of development and population activities. Thus, population control has become \"population assistance,\" and birth control has become \"reproductive health services.\" Population control is pursued at the expense of women's rights and to the detriment of real economic growth and social improvement.\nOriginality/value: - For more than two decades, John Conway O'Brien has written on the importance of ethics for economic growth. In a recent article, he concluded that \"although the illuminated may have been activated by the most altruistic of motives, their search for the good society was doomed from the start.\" This paper attests the validity of his remarks.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Embedding work lessons for life: Those who stay have more qualities than mere loyalty
|
[
"Management development",
"Retention",
"Employee turnover",
"Occupational psychology",
"Leadership",
"Employee development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nLess security: One man in his time plays many parts, as Shakespeare observed. What is true in life applies less often in the world of work although, especially in trades and professions, it is common to see people ploughing the same furrow through their entire working life.The last two decades have seen a weakening of the jobs-for-life security that many organizations offered. Redundancies, so-called \"rationalization\" and the contraction of some industries make the 40-plus-years employee an increasingly rare creature. Perhaps this helps to explain why, as Ng and Fieldman (2009) point out, there has been a growing interest in examining \"job embeddedness\", the phenomenon whereby people stay over many years with the same organization, doing the same work.The writers' focus, however, is on \"occupational embeddedness\", through which individuals become \"enmeshed\" in their occupations. The two might be different concepts but they offer a considerable amount of scope for common-ground research; for example, on whether occupational embeddedness operates in a similar fashion to its job cousin, in promoting good performance, and also whether occupational embeddededness can help as a predictor of job performance.Three hypotheses were tested relating to such issues as employees' core task performance, behavior, and creativity. Data were collected from 175 employees working in a wide range of occupations. Each employee respondent was also instructed to invite one co-worker to respond to a shorter survey about the main subject's work performance, because it was felt subjects would be less happy to involve supervisors and line managers. There were 162 responses for researchers to work on.\nSacrifices made: Questions related to fit - the matching of abilities to requirements; links - ties that individuals have with other people; and sacrifice - what people would give up, such as pensions or insurance benefits, if they were to leave. Within the links dimension, they were asked direct questions such as \"how long have you worked for this organization?\" The questions relating to fit and sacrifice were done on a five-point Likert scale, with responses raging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Within this framework, \"trait positive\" and \"trait negative\" affects were measured, the first affecting the level of pleasurable engagement with the working environment, the other negative emotional responses to work.The findings revealed that all three of the main dimensions studied - fit, links and sacrifice - are important components of occupational embeddedness. Fit had positive main effects on task performance, citizen behaviors and creativity; links was similar in its effect on creativity while also tending to make counterproductive interpersonal behavior less likely; sacrifice had a weaker but still positive effect on behavior. Overall, a clear picture of better performance, more creativity and better workplace behavior emerged when levels of occupational embeddedness were higher, and this was the case even after controlling in the research for the effects of organizational embeddedness.The authors identify plenty of area for future research including the relationship between embeddedness, performance and turnover. It could be that high embeddedness will bind the high-performing employees and their employers, though this might depend on the nature and culture of the organization, and the extent to which talent is truly valued.That latter issue is at the heart of the research carried out by Kontoghiorges and Frangou. Talent management has become a big issue for anyone examining HR issues, and some would go so far as to argue that it is the issues which most occupies them these days. For many executives, competitive advantage is most likely to be achieved by one company over another through talent management. Research focussing on a Cypriot broadcasting organization was carried out, then, with a two-fold objective: to identify and prioritize predictors of talent retention; and to examine whether talent retention is associated with bottom-line organizational performance.\nTalent retention: The sampling frame took in 317 employees of the organization, of whom 62 percent - 197 employees - returned the survey. They included senior managers, managers, salaried professionals (44.1 percent, the largest grouping), administrative personnel and contract employees. Again, Likert-type scales were used to gauge responses.The survey looked at characteristics of organizations which lend themselves to encouraging talent retention. It found that a change-driven organizational culture, speedy operations, effective recruitment and selection of talent, and high degree of organizational flexibility were the most significant factors in achieving that end. Effective leadership and promotion of creativity were also considered important.It does seem, then, that an organization setting great store on an innovative and flexible high performance work system, with high levels of integrity and respect for its workforce, will do better when it comes to retaining its talent, and that talented performers appreciate the culture of \"fast-pace, team-and-change driven environments where quality performance matters\". They want, in other words, to be part of something special rather than to be beacons of excellence in an otherwise mediocre set-up. When people say: \"I'm too good for this place\" it means one of two things. They are either wrong and (usually) know it, or they are right. If they are wrong they stay put; if they are right they jump ship to a more progressive set-up.Where organizations have leaders who communicate openly and effectively, share information and encourage employee involvement, that also encourages talent retention, although this is less of a factor than the strongest predictors, including the change-driven organizational culture. Significantly, too, reward did not feature greatly as a reason for talent retention, showing that the way people are treated is at least as important as compensation.In the end, the organizational culture has to be paramount; genuinely talented individuals who don't like the set-up but are well paid can and will move on. Leaders have to understand the complexity of the organizational system and the part they play in enabling employees to function within it holistically. That requires respect for employees and integrity in dealing with them. These qualities will always have strong associations with retaining the brightest and best talents.\nStimulate the creatives: Goffee and Jones' (2009) article starts with the premise that organizations do have that talent at their disposal, and then looks at ways to harness those skills. It is vital, they argue, that organizations provide a stimulating environment for the really clever people. There is a danger that the recession is creating too many grim working places as businesses become obsessed with reductions in cost and, as a corollary, staff numbers. No one, least of all the really creative individual, is going to thrive in a climate of fear.The authors identify nine common characteristics of clever people, which bosses need to pay heed to if they are going to get the most out of them. Significantly, two of them chime with observations made by Kontoghiorges and Frangou.First, clever people know their worth. There is no false modesty among people who know their value to the company and who know that their talents will be hard to replace if they move on. In other words, they are the sort of people who, in a badly run set-up, would be most likely to say: \"I'm too good for this place\", and then ship out. Keeping the creative types onside requires leaders to value them. But leaders must also demonstrate that they, too, are making a valuable contribution; skepticism comes with the territory with clever people and leaders will get a far better response if they can demonstrate that their management is based on expertise rather than hierarchy. Second, clever people want to be connected with others like them. They need this stimulus to ensure that they achieve their full potential.Several of the characteristics identified by Goffee and Jones are closely linked to sometimes maverick nature of the most creative executives. They are unlikely to be impressed by corporate identity, and believe that they do not want to be led or managed. This is not the same thing as not wanting to be managed at all. Subtlety is the key in dealing with them and as Christina Kite of Cisco Systems says: \"It's all about influencing through skill and knowledge, not through the title.\" This is a tacit acknowledgement of the fact that there is nothing wrong with skepticism on the part of clever people. What must be avoided is allowing skepticism to lurch into cynicism.\nTough questions: Clever people will ask difficult questions, and this characteristic should also be valued by company leaders. They are also \"organizationally savvy\" and good at fighting their corner for what they believe to be right, both in terms of policy and resources. The notion, then, that they are too focussed on their own talents to indulge in office politics is way off the mark.Leaders will not always hear what they want to hear from clever people, and they might be disappointed if they expect thanks. One way of measuring your success in dealing with them is by \"your ability to remain on the fringes of the radar\". If clever people say you are not getting in the way, that should be taken as a compliment.Many of the rules of \"clever engagement\" are common sense and should be applied throughout any organization. But with the most clever people, it is going to be especially important that they are given space and resources, time, recognition, and straight talk. They will be particularly sensitive to interference, excessively tight deadlines, lack of credit for good work, and deception.A balance needs to be struck between freedom and the right kind of discipline which stops the egos from getting out of hand. Organizations and leaders who pull off this deft maneuver can expect to reap the benefits.\nComment: This review is based on \"Occupational embeddedness and job performance\" by Ng and Fieldman (2009). \"The association between talent retention, antecedent factors, and consequent organizational performance\" by Kontoghiorghes and Frangou (2009) and \"How to harness the special talents of clever people\" by Goffee and Jones (2009). \"Teaching the fuzzy front end of innovation: experimenting with team learning and cross-organizational integration\" by Martinsuo (2009), \"Wild frontiers - reflections on experiential learning\" by Reynolds (2009), and \"The changing L&D skillset\" by Fairhurst (2009).Ng and Fieldman's article pins down neatly the factors that lie at the heart of occupational embeddedness, although their research then goes to considerable lengths to make some discoveries that are not hugely enlightening. However, they do also identify some potentially interesting areas for future research.It is perhaps surprising that employee turnover has been the subject of so much research, while the issue of retaining talent, tackled by Kontoghiorges and Frangou, has been largely overlooked. Perhaps this is because it had always been envisaged that the findings would be predictable. But some interesting points do emerge, including the suggestion that the best employees are more likely to stay if surrounded by like-minded high-fliers.Goffee and Jones could be accused on generalizing somewhat on the nature of creative executives but their check list offers valid observations. Some advice might need to be diluted occasionally when mavericks go too far \"off message\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to look at specific issues that relate to 'occupational embeddedness' through which individuals become 'enmeshed' in their occupations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three hypotheses were tested relating to such issues as employees' core task performance, behavior, and creativity. Data was collected from 175 employees working in a wide range of occupations.\nFindings: - A balance needs to be struck between freedom and the right kind of discipline which stops egos from getting out of hand. Organizations and leaders who pull off this deft maneuver can expect to reap the benefits.\nOriginality/value: - Clever people will ask difficult questions, and this characteristic should also be valued by company leaders. They are also \"organizationally savvy\" and good at fighting their corner for what they believe to be right, both in terms of policy and resources. The notion, then, that they are too focussed on their own talents to indulge in office politics is way off the mark.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Branding of geographical indications in India: A paradigm to sustain its premium value
|
[
"Branding",
"Trademarks",
"Geographical indications"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTrademarks: an Indian perspective: The purpose of \"The Trade Marks Act 1999\" is to establish a unique visibility to goods and services, based on three major notions (Narayan):\nGeographical indications: an international perspective: Typically, geographical indication (GIs) convey an assertion of quality and uniqueness, which is a fundamental characteristic of its origin in a distinct geographical locality, area or nation. The right to use a GI tag is vested upon a member of a community producing a craft, textile, agricultural product or other qualifying subject matter by an endowment board, association or any other body that acts as its registrant. An authorized user, as a consequence of being so authorized, enjoys the right to further the common cause of his community through the use of the GI tag. In this regard, he does not enjoy the right as a matter of personal entitlement, but as a member of the community which imposes upon him restrictions as to his scope of use.\nGIs - Indian perspective: Real potential of GIs\nGIs as brands: Brands are protected by way of trademarks, whereas GIs are protected under the GI Act, but there is a considerable overlap between the two. The first references of trademark are in the form of symbols indicating geographical origin of goods. These symbols were used by traders of that time to distinguish the merchandise produce in a region/territory and convey a sense a quality for exploiting the local reputation. Under the Trade Marks Act, geographical name is considered prima facie not distinctive or capable of distinguishing any goods and accordingly not be able to register as trademark. The registration of geographical names is permitted under Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, if it satisfies certain conditions and enables such names to be protected by an action for infringement and enjoy other benefits by registration.\nElements of branding: \"Brand elements\", also called \"brand identities\", are the devices on which the trademark can be applied, which serve to recognize and distinguish brands, and these devices include brand name, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, slogans, packages, etc. (Wood, 2000). It is important to have product-specific visual, phonetic, aesthetic and/or functional identity as embodied in these elements, as it is easier for consumers to identify the standard brand element placed over each individual unit of the product (Henderson et al., 2003). Elements representing a brand should be memorable, meaningful, likeable, transferable and adaptable. Another significant characteristic of a brand element is its \"protectability\". The brand element should be legally protected as a registered trademark held by the manufacturer/seller in the region where it is to be sold. Registration is done by a nodal authority for the region, which is Registrar of patents and copyrights in case of India. Legally protected brand element confers an undisputed and unreplicable advantage to the manufacturer/seller, and this is the point where brands diverge from GIs.\nGIs as \"Pseudo\" brands: GIs may be termed as \"pseudo\" or \"half\" brands due to their inherent deficiency of having no distinct visual element. GIs carry a label or categorization title on the output or produce. This label or categorization is granted to a select/qualified group by a government authority (Registrar of GIs in case of India). Qualified manufacturers are allowed to use GI (label or categorization claim) that signifies presence of certain attributes in the product as believed to be inherent in the GI. It is only the qualified group that can use that label (or make the claim), and anybody making an unauthorized use of the same is liable to be prosecuted under the GI Act 1999. However, similarity ends here only. Following are the points of difference between a GI and a brand:\nGlobal initiatives in the use of logos for GIs: There are many examples in the global context wherein the registered proprietor has created, promoted and enforced a unique and distinct identity to the GI output. A classic example is Columbian coffee. In 1927, the coffee growers from Colombia associated themselves creating an institution named \"Columbia Coffee Growers Federation\". The federation focussed on the development of the member growers and their families ensuring the said coffee is grown in a sustainable manner, reinforcing widespread interests among coffee-growing communities while positioning Colombian coffee as the best among the other coffees in the world. The federation represents more or less 563,000 families of coffee growers. In 1959, the federation created a logo depicting a fictional Columbian coffee grower \"Juan Valdez\". The logo is the undisputed identity mark of Columbian coffee the world over.\nRecommendations: In India, initiatives in this direction have been few and very weak. The most prominent example is of \"Darjeeling Tea\". Legal protection using element of visual identity for \"Darjeeling\" brand was done for the first time in 1983, when the \"Darjeeling\" logo was created. Home protection for this logo was obtained by the Tea Board as a certification trademark under the Indian Trade and Merchandise Marks Act 1958, which is now the Trade Marks Act 1999. Subsequently, the logo was registered as a trademark in numerous other countries like UK, USA, Canada, Egypt, Japan, Germany (covered under Madrid Agreement), Italy, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, France, Portugal and former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, most registered proprietors of GIs did not proceed in this direction, which may be a possible reason for sub-optimal utilization of true potential of GIs in India.\nConclusion: For realizing complete potential of GIs in India, it is mandatory that GI output should catch attention and gain acceptance of a wide set of customers. Except for a handful of GIs like Basmati rice and Darjeeling Tea that are globally known and wanted, most of Indian GIs are obscure. Nearly 90 per cent of Indian GIs relate to handicrafts and agricultural output and essentially come from small producers/manufacturers that are unable to establish GIs to the global marketplace. This provides an opportunity for organizations/associations of manufacturers and growers to create, communicate and regulate standard value for global markets. However, the proposition is bound to face several challenges. Established suppliers and manufacturers having strong brands in these categories (like Basmati rice) may not be strongly inclined to let common identity super cede their own brands. May be the propositions hold good in cases where there is a lack of strong individual brands. The next issue may be the choice between making these recommendations compulsory or voluntary. The ultimate solution could be a compromise between the different constraining forces, but the direction should be towards creating a common identity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify inherent deficiencies of the geographical indications (GIs) as protective brands adding to the premium value of the products as compared to the protection guaranteed to brands under the trademark route. Whereas the former protects the attributes of the goods, the latter adds to the brand equity of the goods. The paper attempts to find means to assign a strong visible identity that creates a premium visibility for GIs to help them emerge as strong brands just like the brands envisaged for the trademarks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative research based on primary and secondary source of information. Secondary sources comprise statutory provisions of two main acts on GIs and trademarks, articles/news items available in academic/trade journals and information generated from Government of India websites. Primary research involved face-to-face interactions with practicing advocates and select holders of GIs. Information was collected on parameters related to efficacy, applicability, enforceability, monitoring, marketability and legal issues of GIs and trademarks.\nFindings: Though the GI Act was enacted to improve the commercial prospects of manufactured/grown outputs by entities based in a particular geographical limit, it has not delivered to the extent it was expected. The GI product still faces the challenges of poor awareness, fratricidal competition and threat of ingenuine products. The same concept under the trademarks is adequately promoted and protected by ensuring visibility through the logos. And hence, the same can be made mandatorily under the grant of GIs.\nOriginality/value: Most of the research done so far on GIs is from a legal perspective. It is perhaps the first work on the theme that takes up the cross-functional approach and explores adding a marketing dimension to a concept that was considered only under the domain of law. The article tries to assimilate best of both the worlds in terms of legal protection and marketing appeal for the geographical indicators.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Interventions to increase free school meal take-up
|
[
"Poverty",
"Schools",
"Nutrition",
"Implementation",
"Food",
"Health promoting schools",
"Eating",
"Interventions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Improving the nutritional quality of school meals in England became a focus of government policy in 2006 (Nelson, 2011). Since 2009, meals served in English state schools (excluding academies founded between 2010 and June 2014[1]) have had to conform to nutrient-based standards (Adamson et al., 2013). The introduction of these standards has improved the nutritional quality of school lunches (Nelson, 2011; Adamson et al., 2013; Spence et al., 2013) with school lunches having a healthier nutrientprofile than packed lunches (Pearce et al., 2011, 2013; Stevens et al., 2013). The School Food Plan emphasises the need to continue striving towards creating a \"great food culture\" in all schools with an increase in take-up identified as critical to success (Dimbleby and Vincent, 2013).\nThe research approach: The Health Promoting Schools model underpinned this research (Young and Williams, 1989). This emphasises involving the whole school, including the ethos, policies and management style, in the process of change. It incorporates the taught curriculum, encourages partnerships with families, communities and outside agencies plus changes to the school environment. The approach of the FSM research project was a holistic one. The research team worked with different agencies within the school including senior managers, teaching staff, catering providers and administration staff to tackle both the culture surrounding FSMs and the systems involved. Outside agencies, in particular the local benefit services, were actively involved whilst engaging with parents was seen as a critical part of the project. Recent research examining the process of improving school nutrition includes an evaluation of the Battle River Project in Canada (Gleddie, 2012), the Healthy ONES group randomized trial in USA (Coleman et al., 2012) and a process evaluation of a whole school food programme in UK primary schools (Orme\nMethods: The intervention process\nResults: Ten Leeds schools were recruited, with a total of more than 750 pupils eligible but not taking their FSM. Table II shows the characteristics of participating schools. Interventions have been categorised into those to improve the claiming process, minimise discrimination and maximise awareness. In each section the interventions are described, levels of implementation given and any comments on acceptability presented.\nThe implementation process: Factors for success and barriers that emerged from the working party focus groups and interviews are now presented.\nDiscussion: This study recruited five primary and five secondary Leeds schools to implement a series of interventions to improve FSM uptake. By examining this process and working parties' perceptions, key learnings emerge on how to affect change in school nutritional policies. Many concur with existing evidence but this study adds further insight.\nConclusion: This study found that the interventions designed to increase FSM uptake were perceived as acceptable to schools with the majority implemented. The process of change utilising school working parties, examining current processes including pupil and parent questionnaires and individualised action plans with support provided by the research team was effective. The key challenge is how to increase awareness of the issue of FSM uptake so schools start the process of investigating the need for change without the input of a research study. Having a designated contact in schools with dedicated time would be beneficial. Future projects need to investigate how to involve pupils more actively in their school food policies and how to engage with parents so improvements in school food impact on healthy eating in the home.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to design and implement interventions to increase free school meal (FSM) uptake in pilot schools. This paper describes the interventions, reports on acceptability (as perceived by school working parties) and explores the process of implementing change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research consisted of two phases, an exploratory phase followed by an intervention phase. Findings from the latter are presented. Ten pilot schools (five primary and five secondary) in Leeds, England were recruited. Each established a working party, examined current claiming processes and implemented individualised action plans. This paper draws on the final action plans and interviews/focus groups with working parties.\nFindings: Interventions to improve FSM claiming process, minimise discrimination and maximise awareness were designed. The majority were implemented successfully, the exception being amending anti-bullying policies. Creative ways of delivering interventions were demonstrated. The process of change was effective, critical factors being having individualised action plans that allowed flexibility in implementation, reflecting on current claiming processes, and setting up working parties.\nPractical implications: Ways of working with schools to increase FSM uptake and more generally improve nutritional policies are suggested. Amending claiming systems in schools is recommended as is greater pupil and parent involvement in nutrition policies.\nOriginality/value: An estimated 300,000 UK children do not take FSMs they are entitled to - with many schools unaware of the issue. This study worked with schools to discover how to address this issue and evaluated the perceived acceptability and feasibility of the approach.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Voluntary reporting of intellectual capital: Comparing the quality of disclosures from New Zealand, Australian and United Kingdom universities
|
[
"Universities",
"Intellectual capital",
"Quality disclosure"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Intellectual capital (IC) is recognised as the pivotal driver behind value creation in many private and public sector organisations (Whiting and Miller, 2008). Alcaniz et al. (2011) explain that \"strategy permeates the entire organisation, identifying the path that all departments and functions have to pursue in order to accomplish the objective of creating value\" (p. 106). Importantly they state that \"intellectual capital resources are often performance drivers; hence there is a causal relationship between those resources and value creation\" (p. 106). Some studies have suggested that between 50 and 90 per cent of the value created by an organisation may be derived from its IC rather than the production of goods and services (Guthrie et al., 2004b). In spite of its importance, it is unusual for IC items to appear on organisational balance sheets. The reason is that these intangible assets are not normally captured by traditional accounting practices (Sonnier et al., 2007; Yi and Davey, 2010; Alcaniz et al., 2011; Rashid et al., 2012). Adding to IC's importance is the fact that it is increasingly being seen as an innovative management technology (Chiucchi and Dumay, 2015) and is topical in the academic literature and practice.\n2. Literature review: In today's economic environment, the value of most organisations is created through the judicious management of their IC (Guthrie et al., 2004b; Lee et al., 2007). Although the topic of IC reporting has drawn the attention of academics since the early 1990s, there is still no consensus on the definition of the IC concept for two reasons. First, the definition of IC can differ between industries, or can even differ between departments in an organisation. As a result, it is difficult to provide a common definition. Second, researchers have tended to use their own IC definition rather than rely on a generally accepted definition. Further, there is no legal requirement for organisations to report or measure IC, which means that any disclosure of this information is provided voluntarily (Petty and Cuganesan, 2005).\n3. Methodology: In the development of any research study, the researchers need to explain their methodological approach and the methods that they used to answer the research objectives posed for the study. Guthrie et al. (2004a) explain that \"methods are the means whereby one collects and analyses data\" (p. 419), whereas \"methodology refers to the philosophical issues which underlie those methods\" (p. 419). Guthrie et al. highlight that these terms, therefore, mean very different things, although journals vary in the extent to which they exercise that difference. For instance Dumay and Cai (2015) and Krippendorf (2013) write about content analysis as a methodology while others (Flick, 2015; Neuendorf, 2002) might view content analysis as a method or technique of data collection and analysis.\n4. Development of an IC framework for this study: The definition of IC categories has been generated from companies in various knowledge-intensive industries, including services, financial sector, pharmacy, fashion, and biotechnology industries. In contrast, IC research on higher educational institutions is relatively scarce. As stated earlier, because industry norms vary, the meaning that IC information carries also varies (Adrem, 1999). Therefore, the definition of three categories generated in prior company-based studies may not be directly applicable to a university context. For this reason, the definitions initially established for companies were modified by Sanchez et al. (2006) to apply to universities and research institutions as follows:\n5. Sample: The sample analysed for this study comprised 191 universities: eight universities from New Zealand, 39 universities from Australia, and 114 universities from the UK. It was decided to focus on New Zealand and Australia because of the close ties between these two countries. UK universities were selected because of the British influence on the other two countries.\n6. Development of quality measuring system: In order to measure the quality of IC disclosure in annual reports, a quality measure which was drawn from prior IC disclosure studies (see Table II) was employed. A six-point measure (Yi and Davey, 2010) was used as it is comprehensive and allows more distinctions when assessing the quality of IC disclosure (see also Firer and Williams, 2003; Shareef and Davey, 2006; Schneider and Samkin, 2008). For the purpose of this study, the authors have used quality measures for scoring the text units for each of the components in the three IC categories. The maximum quality measure was 5. Schneider and Samkin (2008), however, noted that some components in the IC framework were of a descriptive nature and it was, therefore, difficult to assign quantitative or monetary value for those components. These components include: management philosophy; management processes; information system/networking system; university culture; university brand or image; quality standards; work-related knowledge/know-how; and cultural diversity. For those components, the maximum quality measure of 3 (see Table I) was assigned.\n7. Results: This section presents the results generated from analysing the 2011 annual reports of universities in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. The results generated from the three countries' universities were analysed in several different ways including: general performance levels of disclosures of IC categories and components; disclosure quality of categories and components; and overall performance of IC disclosure of universities.\n8. Comparative analysis: An IC category-wise comparative analysis of IC disclosure quality among the universities in the three countries was made (see Table XII). With respect to the disclosure quality mean measure of universities in these three countries, the external capital category had the highest average among the three categories, followed by internal capital and human capital. In addition, Australian universities averaged 0.55 out of a maximum possible 1 on average. This value showed that Australian universities outperformed the average mean of universities in New Zealand at 0.51 and UK universities at 0.42.\n9. Longitudinal analysis: In the longitudinal analysis, the study utilised results derived from universities' annual reports for a three-year period (2009-2011) with the intention of identifying potential trends for IC information disclosure. The quality of IC disclosure has increased for seven of New Zealand's eight universities, the exception being the AUT (Table XIII). For Australian universities, the quality of IC disclosure has increased for 36 out of 38 universities (Table XIV). Curtin University of Technology was the only university that failed to increase its quality measure over the three years. Similar to the trends identified in the other two countries' universities, most of the UK universities analysed (42 out of 44) improved the quality of their IC disclosures (Table XV). However, the IC disclosure quality measure for Anglia Ruskin and Aston universities remained unchanged.\n10. Discussion: Overall, the results show that New Zealand and Australian universities' IC disclosure outperforms the IC reporting practice of UK universities. As for New Zealand universities, Victoria University of Wellington scored the highest among the eight universities. A high level of quality was found with the disclosure of the external capital category. Further, research project was the most favourable IC component. Not only was it disclosed by all eight universities, but it also had the highest disclosure measure compared with other IC components. With respect to Australian universities, the Australian Catholic University is the top performer as a result of both its high levels of disclosure and quality of IC disclosure. As was the case with New Zealand universities, the external capital category is also the most favourable IC reporting category and management process is the most reported IC component. With regard to universities in the UK, the general performance of IC disclosure is not that favourable. The top performer in this country was the University of Chester which reported 16 out of 19 IC components, giving it higher disclosure quality than other UK universities. In line with the other two countries, students, brands, and employees were the three components disclosed by all 44 of the UK universities analysed.\n11. Conclusion: This is the first comparative study of IC voluntary disclosures of selected universities in New Zealand (eight), Australia (38), and the UK (44). This study examined the quality of the voluntary disclosure of IC made by these universities. An IC framework was developed to measure IC reporting in the university sector. Using content analysis, 2011's annual reports were examined before undertaking a three-year period comparative analysis. New Zealand and Australian universities outperformed the UK universities in terms of IC disclosures. The study found moderate increases in the levels of IC disclosures over the period of the study. The quality of IC disclosures by New Zealand universities was generally higher than that of their Australian and UK counterparts. Internal capital and human capital were the most disclosed categories with external capital being the least disclosed in all three countries. However, the quality of external capital disclosures was higher than that of internal and human capital. Finally, most IC disclosures were narrative in nature.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of voluntary intellectual capital (IC) by universities in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An IC framework was developed to measure IC reporting in the university sector. Content analysis was used to analyse the 2011 annual reports before a three-year comparative analysis of 90 universities (eight New Zealand universities, 38 Australian universities, and 44 UK universities) was undertaken.\nFindings: New Zealand and Australian universities outperformed the UK universities in terms of IC disclosures. Additionally, the study found moderate increases in the levels of IC disclosures over the period of the study. The quality of IC disclosures by New Zealand universities was generally higher than their Australian and UK counterparts. Internal capital and human capital were the most disclosed categories with external capital being the least frequently disclosed in all three countries. However, the quality of external capital disclosures was higher than internal and human capital. Finally, most IC disclosures were narrative in nature.\nPractical implications: The framework developed in this study could be adapted, further enhanced, and then applied to exploring IC disclosures in higher educational institutes in other jurisdictions.\nOriginality/value: This is the first comparative analysis of IC disclosures made by universities in three countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Bullying effects on performance and engagement among academics
|
[
"Higher education",
"Bullying",
"Workplace bullying",
"University",
"Work performance",
"Work engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The purpose of this study is to examine relationships between workplace bullying, work engagement and work performance among Estonian academics. Identifying bullying in daily life is not easy at all. In similar situations, one person may feel bullied, whereas another may not. In addition, conceptions related to bullying vary across different working contexts and professions, as well as between countries, because of cultural differences. Regardless, the prevalence of workplace bullying is undeniable in higher education at all levels, among students, academics, general staff and administrators, and across all disciplines (Henning et al., 2017; Sinkkonen et al., 2014).\nEffects of bullying on work engagement: Work engagement is a positive feeling, a sense of fulfilment and a sense of work that promotes mental health. The key factors of work engagement are a strong dedication to work, enthusiasm and pride in work, and participation and experiencing work success (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008; Schaufeli et al., 2002). The significance of engagement is obvious, and the benefits are remarkable at individual and at community level.\nRelationship between bullying and performance: Individual work performance is a multi-dimensional and dynamic concept that includes both a process aspect (i.e. behavioural) and an outcome aspect. The behavioural aspect refers to what people do at work - the action itself (i.e. goal-oriented behaviour) -while the outcome aspect refers to the result of the individual's behaviour (e.g. productivity) (Sonnentag et al., 2008).\nRelationship between engagement and performance: The linkage between engagement and performance is well known, but there is no consensus on the causality. Increased engagement is typically understood as an explanation for better performance, or engagement is considered to mediate between working environment factors and employees' performance (Kim et al., 2012). As mentioned earlier, work-related stressors (e.g. bullying) are factors that influence engagement and further, performance. In such cases, engagement is a mediator that passes the effects of bullying onto performance. As far as we know, there is no study that addresses the effects of perceived bullying on performance and further on engagement. Moreover, it has not been carried out in a university setting.\nMethod: For data collection, a private e-mail with a link to the questionnaire was sent to all the staff members across nine large-scale public universities (N=3,756) in the Spring of 2014.\nResults: The relationship between perceived bullying and work engagement\nDiscussion: We examined the relationships between perceived bullying, work engagement and work performance among Estonian academics. Specifically, work engagement and work performance were explored in relation to five sub-dimensions of bullying: person-related insulting, work-related blaming, professional understating, unreasonable work-related demands and work-related malpractices (Merilainen and Koiv, 2017).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between perceived bullying, work engagement and work performance among Estonian academics. Specifically, it details what forms of bullying affect work engagement and performance. Moreover, the study explores the relationship between engagement and performance among bullied academics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 864 faculty members from nine Estonian universities participated in an e-mail survey in Spring 2014. Bullying was measured using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R22), and work engagement was assessed using the nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Respondents' perceived performance and productivity were measured on a ten-point rating scale. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationship between bullying, engagement and performance.\nFindings: Perceived bullying - especially \"professional understating\" - decreased work engagement and work performance among Estonian academics. The decrease in performance preceded the decrease in engagement or vice versa. The decrease in engagement was followed by lowered performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: A longitudinal study is needed to prove the specific one-way effect of (decreased) performance (because of perceived bullying) on engagement.\nPractical implications: Preventing bullying and further increasing engagement and performance among Estonian academics requires getting out of policy of professional understating.\nSocial implications: The authors need to determine why Estonian academics experience professional understating, which includes being ordered to perform tasks below one's level of competence and having key areas of responsibility removed or replaced with more trivial or unpleasant tasks.\nOriginality/value: The present results prove that it is possible to differentiate between specific forms of bullying in a specific context and further reveal those factors specifically that affect work performance and work engagement. Among Estonian academics - revealed in this study - \"professional understating\" seems to be such a factor.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Diversity in leadership: race in leader-member exchanges
|
[
"Leader-member exchange",
"Relational demography",
"Task performance",
"Leader-follower relationships",
"Racial diversity",
"Socially situated cognition"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leader-member exchange (LMX) research focusses on studying the quality of exchange relationships between a leader and a member of an organization, a leader and a follower, or a supervisor and a subordinate. Although some LMX research has suggested that similarity of leaders and followers relates to higher quality relationships (Turban and Jones, 1988), other studies have found no support for demographic similarity/dissimilarity on LMX (Bauer and Green, 1996; Matkin and Barbuto, 2012; Stark and Poppler, 2009). These inconsistent findings are the catalyst for the current research focussing on racial diversity in LMX dyads. In particular, a conscious attempt was made to systematically examine the influence of racial diversity on LMX in a leader-following follower dyad both in the field (Study 1) and in the laboratory (Study 2). As such, this paper provides an important reference point in which future research on LMX and diversity can build, with such efforts ultimately helping future organizational leaders better navigate the increasingly diverse workplace.\nRacial diversity and LMX: LMX theory\nStudy 1: race across LMX dyads: As stated above, similarity-attraction theory has been used to explain affect or liking, which may influence some of the four dimensions of LMX proposed by Liden and Maslyn (1998). Similarity is expected to be positively related to affect and liking, therefore, it is possible that racially similar leader-member dyads will be related to only the affect dimension of LMX (Byrne, 1971; Liden et al., 1993; Turban et al., 1990). Liden and Maslyn (1998) defined affect as the \"[...] mutual affection members of the dyad have for each other [...]\" (p. 50). In other words, it is more similar to a friendship than a professional work relationship. In cross-race dyads, it may be expected that this level of mutual attraction is lower, based upon the attraction-selection-attrition model (Schneider, 1987) which suggests that people are attracted to people who are similar to them. While there may be relatively high levels of affect in cross-race dyads, it should be lower compared to same-race dyads, given that individuals may be more comfortable with members of their same race (Ibarra, 1995). While we do not necessarily expect race to have a negative influence on LMX, the multi-dimensionality of the construct implies the possibility of differentiated effects acknowledging the variable results of the relationship race has with LMX (Bauer and Green, 1996; Liden et al., 1993; Matkin and Barbuto, 2012; Riordan and Shore, 1997). Thus we predict the following:\nStudy 2: LMX, race, and performance: Study 2 was designed to examine a possible alternative explanation to the findings above on the relationship of dyad diversity in LMX. In designing Study 2, a conscious effort was made to search for new and innovative ways to examine the influence of race in LMX relationships. Since most previous research designs looking at race in LMX relationships used survey-based field studies (including Study 1), we decided a new design approach was warranted given the mixed results to date. Laboratory experiments provide, \"an optimal environment within which to engage in research for purposes of discovery/innovation\" (Brown and Lord, 1999, p. 534) and \"an ideal opportunity to assess the unique contributions of constructs that may be so highly interrelated in natural settings that it is impossible to disentangle their unique effects in the field with survey data\" (p. 535). Therefore, a laboratory design was used in Study 2.\nGeneral discussion: Taken as a set, the two studies presented in this paper investigate the relationship among dyad racial diversity, LMX quality, and employee performance. The first study, which applied similarity-attraction theory to a multi-dimensional construct of LMX produced mixed results. Based on the literature that suggests that homogeneous relationships have fewer challenges, it was expected that homogeneous relationships would report better quality LMX relationships for certain dimensions (affect and professional respect), and an ordering of LMX quality based on racial status (loyalty and contribution). We found that demographic similarity is not necessarily directly associated with LMX quality, with the exception of the contribution dimension. Demographic similarity does not appear to be associated with differences in professional respect, and only shows partial support for affect among the four types of dyads.\nConclusion: In this paper, we addressed the inquiry raised in the context of understanding diversity and leadership by expanding the boundaries of LMX theory, thus contributing overall to the relational demography literature. Given the recognized importance regarding diversity in organizations and current workforce trends of increased diversity (Cox, 1994; Richard and Miller, 2013), it is increasingly important for researchers to examine the possible impact of diversity variables on the development of leader-follower relationships, as was done in our current study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse and yet leadership research has lagged behind this trend. In particular, theory links leader-member exchange (LMX) to the development of racially diverse leaders (e.g. Scandura and Lankau, 1996). Yet, there remains a need for empirical evaluation of this premise. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper, results of two studies of the effects of leader-member diversity on the LMX dimensions of professional respect, affect, loyalty, and contributions were examined. In the first study, supervisor-subordinate dyads in an applied work setting were examined, while in the second study a laboratory study was used.\nFindings: Results in Study 1 indicated that cross-race and minority dyads reported different LMX attributes of professional respect, affect, loyalty and contributions compared with dyads where both members were of the racial majority. In Study 2, racial compositions of dyads was not associated with reported differences in LMX relationships, but was associated with differences in task performance.\nOriginality/value: This research provides the first systematic examination of the influence of racial diversity on LMX in a leader-follower dyad. As such, this work provides an important reference point in which future research on LMX and diversity can build. Such efforts will help future organizational leaders better navigate the increasingly diverse workplace.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Probabilistic analysis of a repairable robot-safety system composed of (n-1) standby robots, a safety unit, and a switch
|
[
"Robotics",
"Product reliability",
"Safety",
"Maintenance",
"Failure (mechanical)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nowadays, an increasing number of robots are being used in the industry sector to perform various types of tasks. For example, worldwide investment in industrial robots has increased by 19 percent in 2003, 17 percent in 2004, and orders for robots were up by 13 percent in the first half of the 2005. An annual forecast for the world wide investment increase in the robotics is about 6 percent for 2005-2008 (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2004, 2005).Industrial robots may be simply defined as automatically controlled, re-programmable, multi-purpose, and manipulative machines with several degrees of freedom (Gaskill and Went, 1996). These robots are becoming more and more complex and sophisticated. A careless use of such machines can cause hazards to humans (Dhillon, 1991). Thus, reliability and safety issues concerning robots must be considered seriously. A recent surge of interest is witnessed by the increasing number of publications on the topic (Dhillon et al., 2002; Dhillon, 2002).This paper presents reliability, availability and mean time to failure analyses of a robot-safety system having (n-1) standby robots and one safety unit with a perfect switch to replace a failed robot unit. The block diagram of this robot-safety system is shown in Figure 1 and its corresponding state space diagram is presented in Figure 2. The numerals and letter n in the boxes of Figure 2 denote system states.As soon as a robot fails, it is replaced with one of the standby robots. The overall robot-safety system can fail the following two ways:1. All the robots fail with the normally working safety unit.2. All the robots fail with the failed safety unit.The following assumptions are associated with this model:* The robot-safety system is composed of n identical robots (only one operates and the rest remain on standby), one safety unit, and a perfect switch.* One robot, a switch, and a safety unit start operating simultaneously.* The completely failed robot-safety system and its individually failed units (i.e. robots) can be repaired. Failure and repair rates of robots and the safety unit are constant.* The failed robot-safety system repair rates can be constant or non-constant.* All failures are statistically independent.* A repaired robot or the total robot-safety system is as good as new.\nNotation: The following symbols are associated with the model:i ith state of the robot-safety system: for i=0, means one robot, the switch and the safety unit are working normally; for i=1, means one robot, the switch, the safety unit are working normally and one robot has failed; for i=k, means one robot, the switch, the safety unit are working normally and k robots have failed; (i.e. \\;k=2,3......n-1); for i=n, means one robot work and the switch are working normally and the safety unit has failed; for i=h, means one robot and the switch are working normally while h-n robots and the safety unit have failed; (i.e. h=n+1, n+2......2n-1);j jth state of the robot-safety system: for j=2n, means the total robot-safety system has failed (i.e. all the robots and the safety unit have failed while the switch is working normally); for j=2n+1, means the robot-safety system has failed (i.e. all the robots have failed while the safety unit and the switch are working normally.)t Time.ls Constant failure rate of a safety unit.lr Constant failure rate of the robot.mr Constant repair rate of the robot.Dx Finite repair time interval.mj(x) Time dependent repair rate when the failed robot-safety system is in state j and has an elapsed repair time of x; for j=2n, 2n+1.Pj(x,t)Dx The probability that at time t, the failed robot-safety system is in state j and the elapsed repair time lies in the interval [x,x+Dx]; for j=2n, 2n+1.pdf Probability density function.wj(x) Pdf of repair time when the failed robot-safety system is in state j and has an elapsed time of x; for j=2n, 2n+1.Pj(t) Probability that the robot safety system is in state j at time t; for j=2n, 2n+1.Pi(t) Probability that the robot-safety system is in state i at time t; for i=0, 1 ... 2n-1.Pi Steady state probability that the robot-safety system is in state i; for i=0, 1 ... 2n-1.Pj Steady state probability that robot-safety system is in state j; for j=2n, 2n+1.s Laplace transform variable.Pi(s) Laplace transform of the probability that the robot-safety system is in state i; for i=0, 1, 2 ..., 2n-1.Pj(s) Laplace transform of the probability that the robot-safety system is in state j; for j=2n, 2n+1.AVrs(s) Laplace transform of the robot-safety system availability with the normally working safety unit.AVr(s) Laplace transform of the robot-safety system availability with or without the normally working safety unit.AVrs (t) Robot-safety system time dependent availability with the normally working safety unit.AVr(t) Robot-safety system time dependent availability with or without the normally working safety unit.SSAVrs Robot-safety system steady state availability with the normally working safety unit, the switch and the robot.SSAVr Robot-safety system steady state availability with or without the normally working safety unit.Rrs(s) Laplace transform of the robot-safety system reliability with the normally working safety unit.Rr(s) Laplace transform of the robot safety system reliability with or without the normally working safety unit.MTTFrs Robot-safety system mean time to failure with the normally working safety unit.MTTFr Robot-safety system mean time to failure with or without the normally working safety unit.\nGeneralized robot-safety system analysis: By using the supplementary method (Gaver, 1963; Grag, 1963), we write the following equations for the Figure 2 diagram: Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Equation 4 Equation 5 Equation 6 where: Equation 7 Equation 8 Equation 9 Equation 10 Equation 11 The associated boundary conditions are as follows: Equation 12 Equation 13 At time t=0,P0(0)=1, and other initial state probabilities are equal to zero.Using Laplace transforms and solving equations (1)-(9), we get: Equation 14 Equation 15 Equation 16 Equation 17 Equation 18 Equation 19 Equation 20 Equation 21 Equation 22 Solving equation (17), we get: Equation 23 Together with Equation 24 we obtain: Equation 25 where Equation 26 or Equation 27 Equation 28 where wj(x) is the failed robot safety system repair time probability density function.Using equations (10)-(25), we obtain the following Laplace transforms of state probabilities: Equation 29 Equation 30 Equation 31 Equation 32 where Equation 33 Equation 34 Equation 35 Equation 36 Equation 37 Equation 38 Equation 39 Equation 40 Equation 41 Equation 42 Equation 43 The Laplace transform of the robot-safety system availability with the normally working safety unit is given by: Equation 44 Similiarly, the Laplace transform of the robot-safety system availability with or without the working safety unit is given by: Equation 45 Taking the inverse Laplace transforms of equations (32) and (33), we can get the time dependent state probabilities, Pi(t) and Pj(t), and system availabilities, AVrs(t) and AVr(t).\nGeneralized robot-safety system steady state analysis: As time t approaches infinity, all state probabilities reach the steady state. Thus, from equations (1-9) we get: Equation 46 Equation 47 Equation 48 Equation 49 Equation 50 Equation 51 Equation 52 The associated boundary conditions are as follows: Equation 53 Equation 54 By solving equation (40), we get: Equation 55 Together with: Equation 56 we get: Equation 57 where Equation 58 where, Ej[x] is the mean time to robot safety system repair when the failed robot safety system is in state j and has an elapsed repair time x.Solving equation (34-46), together with Equation 59 we obtain: Equation 60 Equation 61 Equation 62 Equation 63 where Equation 64 Equation 65 Equation 66 Equation 67 Equation 68 Equation 69 Equation 70 Equation 71 Equation 72 Equation 73 The generalized steady state availability of the robot safety system with the normally working safety unit is given by Equation 74 Similarly, the generalized steady state availability of the robot safety system with or without the working safety units is given by Equation 75 For different failed robot-safety system repair time distributions, we get different expressions for G as follows:* For the failed robot-safety system gamma distributed repair time x, the probability density function is expressed by Equation 76 where x is the repair time variable, G(b)is the gamma function, mj is the scale parameter and b is the shape parameter. Thus, the mean time to robot-safety system repair is given by Equation 77 Substituting equation (65) into equation (61), we get Equation 78 * For the failed robot-safety system Weibull distributed repair time x, the probability density function is expressed by Equation 79 where x is the repair time variable,mj is the scale parameter and b is the shape parameter. Thus, the mean time to robot-safety system repair is given by Equation 80 Substituting equation (59) into equation (52), we get Equation 81 * For the failed robot-safety system Rayleigh distributed repair time x, the probability density function is expressed by Equation 82 where x is the repair time variable,mj is the scale parameter. Thus, the mean time to robot-safety system repair is given by Equation 83 Substituting equation (62) into equation (52), we get Equation 84 * For the failed robot system lognormal distributed repair time x, the probability density function is expressed by Equation 85 where x is the repair time variable, Inx is the natural logarithm of x with a mean m and variance s2. The conditions on parameters are: Equation 86 Equation 87 Thus, the mean time to robot-safety system repair is given by Equation 88 Substituting equation (67) into equation (52), we get Equation 89 * For the failed robot system exponentially distributed repair time x, the probability density function is expressed by Equation 90 where, x is the repair time variable andmj is the constant repair rate of state j. Thus, the mean time to robot-safety system repair is given by Equation 91 Substituting equation (70) into equation (52), we get Equation 92\nRobot safety system reliability and mean time to failure analysis: Setting mj = 0, (for \\;j=2n, 2n+1), in Figure 2 and using the Markov method (Dhillon, 1999), we obtain the following equations: Equation 93 Equation 94 Equation 95 Equation 96 Equation 97 Equation 98 where Equation 99 Equation 100 Equation 101 Equation 102 Equation 103 Equation 104 At time t=0, P0(0)=1 and other initial conditions are equal to zero.Using Laplace transforms and solving equations (72-79), we get: Equation 105 Equation 106 Equation 107 Equation 108 Equation 109 Equation 110 Equation 111 Equation 112 By solving equations (80-87) with the Laplace transform method, together with Equation 113 we obtain the general Laplace transforms of state probabilities: Equation 114 Equation 115 Equation 116 Equation 117 where Equation 118 Equation 119 Equation 120 Equation 121 Equation 122 Equation 123 Equation 124 Equation 125 Equation 126 Equation 127 The Laplace transform of the robot-safety system reliability with the normally working safety unit is given by: Equation 128 Similarly, the Laplace transform of the robot safety system reliability with or without the working safety unit is expressed by: Equation 129 Using equation (94), the following equation for the robot-safety system mean time to failure with the normally working safety unit was obtained (Dhillon, 1999): Equation 130 Similarly, using equation (95), we get the following equation for the robot-safety system mean time to failure with or without the working safety unit (Dhillon, 1999): Equation 131\nRobot-safety system mean time to failure analysis for a special case: Substituting n=2 into equations (96) and (97), we get the following equations for robot-safety system mean time to failure, respectively: Equation 132 and Equation 133 For lr=0.002, mr=0.001; and using equations (98) and (99) and Matlab computer program (Hahn, 2002), the Figure 3 plots were obtained.\nConclusions: This paper presented reliability, availability, and mean time to failure analyses of a robot-safety system composed of (n-1) standby robots, a safety unit, and a perfect switch. It is contended that the result of this study will be useful to maintenance management to make various robot-safety system reliability and availability-related decisions.This study can be further extended when the switch is subject to fail and there are redundant safety units.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to study reliability, availability, and mean time to failure of a repairable robot-safety system composed of (n-1) standby robots, a safety unit, and a switch.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Generalized expressions for system state probabilities, system availability, reliability, and mean time to failure are developed when the failure rates of robot and safety unit are constant and the failed system repair times are arbitrarily distributed. Supplementary variable and Markov methods were used to develop these expressions.\nFindings: - This study clearly demonstrates that standby robots and the repair process help to improve system availability.\nPractical implications: - This study will help maintenance engineers and reliability practitioners to become aware of the combined effect of standby robots and the repair process on the performance of the robot-safety system. Consequently, they will make better maintenance related decisions in organizations such as automobile manufacturers that use robots quite frequently.\nOriginality/value: - This paper has studied the effects of having redundant robots and the repair facilities on the performance of a robot-safety system with perfect mechanism to turn on a standby robot. This is one of the first attempts to study the combined effects of all these factors on a robot-safety system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
25 years of quality management research - outlines and trends
|
[
"TQM",
"Quality management",
"Text mining",
"Cluster modeling",
"Probabilistic topic modeling",
"Quality movement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For a considerable period of time, quality has been at the center of management studies and debates concerning theoretical as well as practical issues (Aune, 1999; Boaden, 1996, 1997; Chiles and Choi, 2000; Dale et al., 2001; Dean and Bowen, 1994; Fisher and Nair, 2009; Garvin, 1988; Kroslid, 1999; Miller, 1996; Rogberg, 2006; Sousa and Voss, 2002; Zairi, 1994). Hence, it is fair to say that defining, delimiting and describing the essence of quality and its various incarnations in the field of management studies has fascinated scholars for years. Indeed, Perla and Parry (2011) and Schoengrund (1996) would argue that this fascination has continued for centuries. During recent decades, many different quality-related topics have appeared in theory as well as in practice, such as: quality control (QC), total quality control, company-wide quality control, zero quality control, quality improvement, quality management (QM), total quality, total quality management (TQM) and business excellence (BE) (Bergman and Klefsjo, 2010; Dahlgaard et al., 2007; Dale et al., 2007; Oakland, 2014). Additionally, with the aim of underlining the shared origins and values of the topics, all-inclusive descriptions such as the quality movement and quality revolution are also present (Dahlgaard-Park, 1999, 2011; Senge, 1992; Winter, 1994). The multitude of terminologies would perhaps not pose such a dilemma if it was simply a question of a number of synonyms, however, as Klefsjo et al. (2008) elegantly summarize the issue - do we really agree on what we are talking about and does it matter? Barley and Kunda (1992), Giroux and Landry (1998), Xu (2000) and Zbaracki (1998) would most probably agree with Klefsjo et al. (2008) that terminologies and rhetoric do matter and that they influence the evolution and development of academic fields and communities.\nBackground: Over the last few decades, data mining has been used frequently within business intelligence (BI), and text mining is now expanding as a method to extract knowledge (Carneiro Moro et al., 2014; Chakrabarti, 2003; Kent, 2014). Text mining and data mining share the same purpose: to look for valuable patterns, correlations and trends in large data sets with the help of statistical and mathematical techniques; a process too complex and resource-demanding for manual processing (Aggarwal and Zhai, 2012a, b; Liu, 2011). Not surprisingly, text mining is increasingly used in quality and business development and new areas of application are being continuously developed and tested in theory as well as in practice (Choudhary et al., 2009; Finch, 1999; Heim and Field, 2007; Kent, 2014; Khamis et al., 2013; Koksal et al., 2011; Lo, 2008).\nMaterials and methods: Data mining process\nOutlines and trends in the data: Figure 6 displays a visual representation of the publications of each journal as well as the total number of publications during 1990-2014. In addition, Figure 6 shows a trend analysis using support vector machine as well as sliding average on the totality. From the time series analysis, it is evident that the total number of published papers is showing a positive trend, which could be interpreted as showing that QM in general is still a vibrant and active academic discipline. On the other hand, the positive trend is largely due to TQMBE increasing the number of annually published papers. In turn, TQMJ is showing an overall negative trend reaching a peak in 1992, after which a ten-year decrease in annual publications is manifested, whereupon it increased somewhat and stabilized. The development of IJQRM can be said to lie in-between the two other journals, with a decrease in publications between 1995 and 1999 after which it also stabilized - displaying a slight overall positive trend. This evolvement does not say anything about the standard of the publications, meaning that an increased number of publications is not necessarily better than a lower number - it could all be a consequence of conscious strategic decisions from the editorial boards. However, as all three journals show a relatively stable track record for the last 12 years, this could indicate that research on QM has reached a more stable phase, supporting the conclusions by Dahlgaard-Park et al. (2013) that QM has matured as an academic discipline. It is good to keep in mind the number of publications as the cluster modeling on both the totality as well as the five time periods is executed on the complete data set, not an equalized sample from each journal. As showed in the methodological section, there is not a significant difference regarding the number of publications between the journals when it comes to the overall data set. But, looking at the two time periods 1990-1994 and 2000-2014, the results can be accused of being biased toward TQMJ, respectively TQMBE rather than showing a representative picture of the specific time periods. However, given that the three journals together represent the research field, the results do portray what topics were more widespread than others at the time and thus provide fair snapshots of the time periods.\nDiscussion: Initially, it is important to acknowledge that cluster modeling will always bundle together on the basis of similarity. It is highly likely that the cluster modeling is influenced by the formal similarity or structure of each abstract, meaning that abstracts from each journal adhere to specific standards, whereby they have a higher probability of being matched as similar. The same goes for subfields - a subfield may present its research or write abstracts in a comparable way, which in turn may influence the cluster modeling. This could be the reason for specific techniques and tools such as ISO, Six Sigma being singled out, possibly overemphasizing their importance and giving them undeserved presence in the spotlight. Ultimately, it is important not to take the modeling results as definitive but as a complementary perspective on existing findings, exploring and describing QM research over time. Also, it is important to keep in mind that the study only covers journals and articles published in English, which inherently favors native English speakers (Cho, 2004; Duszak and Lewkowicz, 2008; Flowerdew, 1999; Uzuner, 2008). Taken together with the results from Dereli et al. (2011), showing that 50 percent of contributing authors in TQMBE are linked to English-speaking countries, coupled with the results from Lo and Chai (2012), revealing that approximately 40 percent of the contributors are from Europe, the study could be suspected of portraying QM from a European and English-speaking perspective, rather than a global one. When studying differences between North American-based scholars in strategic management and those established elsewhere in the native English-speaking world, Pilkington and Lawton (2014) found clear disparities in research method and epistemology between North American and non-North American English language academics. According to Pilkington and Lawton (2014), the impact implications on strategic management teaching, executive development and consulting are likely to be significant. However, further studies are needed to establish the existence and range of such possible effects. Given that bibliometric studies regarding country affiliation of authors have only been found for TQMBE, analyzing and discussing the results of the current study from such perspectives becomes somewhat ambiguous. However, as the areas are closely related, it is plausible that the findings of Pilkington and Lawton (2014) are also valid for QM. This would suggest that QM as a discipline could benefit from studies which enhance our understanding of how contexts such as language and domicile have influenced the discipline.\nConclusions: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe how research on QM has evolved historically. Thus, topics of QM research and their development over time have been documented. Central topics within QM research are found to be:\nManagerial and policy implications: The study brings new perspectives on the evolution of QM which might aid researchers as well as practitioners to position and comprehend their efforts from fresh dimensions, be they academic or applied. For individuals and organizations that have applied and abandoned QM initiatives at a fast pace, the central topics might help to find a more lasting approach to QM, which could lead to a less volatile future. Conversely, conservative gatekeepers of traditional QM perceptions may perhaps see an opportunity for innovation and progress in that some newly introduced terminologies might not merely be temporary fashions and fads, but actually bring valuable knowledge and learning to the table.\nLimitations: The data set for this study consists of research paper abstracts from three scientific journals. Consequently, it is possible that outlines and trends of QM research that could be identified through other scientific journals and scientific publications, such as books; book reviews; general reviews; secondary articles; editorials; guest editorials; awards for excellence (notifications); conference proceedings; introductions or summaries from conference and notes from the publisher, are omitted. The Quality Management Journal (QMJ) in particular could have added a valuable perspective to the study. QMJ is highly ranked and cited by the QM research community and, as it is published by the American Society for Quality, it supposedly could represent how QM research in the USA has evolved from 1993 and onwards. Since the current study could be suspected of incorporating a European bias, as discussed in the methodological section, such a complementary viewpoint could strengthen the study's validity. Although, given that bibliometric studies regarding country affiliation of authors has only been found for TQMBE, actions aiming to reduce regional bias may well, unintentionally, have the opposite effect. Also, the inclusion of QMJ would not reduce the bias in favor of native English speakers and regions. For this purpose, it would be necessary to include academic journals written in languages other than English. Furthermore, inclusion of IJQRM and TQMBE in the data set may have skewed the results in favor of reliability management and BE, giving the topic a more prominent place than it actually deserved - especially as the data was not screened prior to modeling. Lastly, classifications and interpretations have been made qualitatively and are thus exposed to the risk of subjective judgements negatively influencing the evaluation process. As a way to minimize such personal bias and thereby improve what Arbnor and Bjerke (2009) refer to as internal and external validity, it would have been beneficial to utilize validation strategies, such as peer-review or member checking, proposed by Creswell (2013). Accordingly, in order to improve the accuracy of future studies, it could be sensible to reconcile preliminary classifications and findings with viewpoints from scholars representing a diverse set of perspectives.\nFuture research: Future studies could gain in reliability and relevance by including additional scientific journals in the data set. For studies where minimal profiling of data is prioritized, QMJ would be an additional data source to consider. Screening and profiling of data prior to modeling could be a way to further strengthen the reliability and validity of results, focusing more distinctly on QM and TQM. It would also expand the list of scientific journals from which data could be collected, as it would allow specific writings on the selected topics to be pinpointed as opposed to complete publishing records. Additionally, it could be possible to include discontinued journals in the data set. This would increase the list of possible journals to include in the study in addition to, possibly, amplifying trends and fads. Taking on a Kuhnian viewpoint, such case selection could perhaps help to identify anomalies and crises within QM as well as clarify how normal science within the paradigms has evolved and where it is heading. Potential journals which could be considered for this purpose are: International Journal of Quality Science (merged into IJQRM in 1998); Journal of Quality Management (discontinued as of 2002), International Journal of Applied Quality Management (discontinued as of 2000) and the Asian Journal of Quality (discontinued as of 2012). Furthermore, to increase the relevance of a time series analysis using number of published papers as baseline data, it would be fitting to expand the data so that it contains SNIP, IPP and SJR values (or IF when available) for each scientific journal. This way, it would be possible to link or evaluate the trend regarding the number of issues annually with the assessed importance by the academic community. Additionally, further bibliometric studies, with the aim of mapping basic information as well as tracing links between authors, journals, countries, etc., could help broaden our understanding of how QM has evolved as well as why.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how research on quality management (QM) has evolved historically. The study includes the complete digital archive of three academic journals in the field of QM. Thereby, a unique depiction of how the general outlines of the field as well as trends in research topics have evolved through the years is presented.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study applies cluster and probabilistic topic modeling to unstructured data from The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, The TQM Journal and Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. In addition, trend analysis using support vector machine is performed.\nFindings: The study identifies six central, perpetual themes of QM research: control, costs, reliability and failure; service quality; TQM - implementation and performance; ISO - certification, standards and systems; Innovation, practices and learning and customers - research and product design. Additionally, historical surges and shifts in research focus are recognized in the study. From these trends, a decrease in interest in TQM and control of quality, costs and processes in favor of service quality, customer satisfaction, Six Sigma, Lean and innovation can be noted during the past decade. The results validate previous findings.\nOriginality/value: Of the identified central themes, innovation, practices and learning appears not to have been documented as a fundamental part of QM research in previous studies. Thus, this theme can be regarded as a new perspective on QM research and thereby on QM.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Determining how packaging and labeling of Requeijao cheese affects the purchase behavior of consumers of different age groups
|
[
"Marketing",
"Packaging",
"Focus groups",
"Labels",
"Requeijão cheese"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumer purchasing habits are affected by many factors including age. Consumer age influences decision-making of food choices (Yoon and Occena, 2015; Wood et al., 2016) and risk-taking (Elsner, 2002). Many researchers have focused on specific age groups to understand how they connect to specific products and how to make them faithful to a brand (Letona et al., 2014; Andersen and Hyldig, 2015; Padulo et al., 2017). For example, those under the age of 15 years old might exert influence on a family's food choices when they accompany their parents to buy groceries (Wingert et al., 2014). Therefore, it is important to understand what attracts younger consumers in the purchasing process. Studies of older consumers are also important since they control household assets, which make businesses very interested in this market segment (Guido et al., 2014). Being aware of decision-making purchasing factors per age category is a key for manufacturers to design and market a product effectively in order to motivate for consumers to purchase-specific products (Broderick et al., 2015).\n2. Materials and methods: The target population of this study focused on consumer within Brazil. Focus group participants were recruited from questionnaire administered in the South of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The respondents were told in advance that the topic of the interview sessions was Requeijao cheese. The questionnaire was comprised of 17 mostly multiple choice questions with a few open ended questions related to the aim of this study. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. Section A (nine questions) asked demographic questions about the respondents to build a profile of the focus group participants. Section B (four questions), identified the frequency of purchasing Requeijao cheese. Section C (four questions) asked questions regarding the frequency of reading labels on food items. The eligibility criteria for the study included age (18-70 years old), frequency of reading labels of food products (\"often\" or \"always\") and buying Requeijao cheese at least once per month.\n3. Data analyses: The discussion material was transcribed and analyzed by applying thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998). Initial themes were identified based on the criteria described by Fernqvist, Spendrup and Ekelund (2015) and Fernqvist, Olsson and Spendrup (2015), and were chosen by packaging and labeling characteristics that are important in predicting consumer purchasing habits of Requeijao cheese. In the first step of the process, all transcribed material was reviewed by the two assistants and moderator, who looked for themes based on answers. The answers from the participants were coded according to these themes and the code was validated when there was a common agreement between the moderator and two assistants. In the second step, the material was analyzed repeatedly to identify subthemes relevant for each group.\n4. Results: Seven themes were identified according to the order of importance: packaging, type of lid, images on label, product information, label color, brand, and price, respectively. The following results represent the final themes most discussed by the three focus group respondents.\n5. Discussion: Packaging was the first element to be evaluated in consumers' purchasing of Requeijao cheese. In terms of packaging size, group 1 was perceived as supporting packaging that reflected their beliefs toward reducing waste than groups 2 and 3. Suki (2013) showed that younger consumers used their environmental knowledge when deciding which products to purchase and their concerns with reducing product waste make them prefer smaller packs. Aschemann-Witzel et al. (2015) stated that 20-25 percent of food waste is due to packaging factors, such as packages being too large and being difficult to empty. Groups 2 and 3 prefer larger packages. The findings are aligned with Hollywood et al. (2013), who linked the preference for larger packages to people 44-60 years old due a higher amount of consumption within their households.\n6. Conclusion: Consumers of three age groups presented different concerns and choices regarding the packaging characteristics of Requeijao cheese. Through thematic analysis, it was possible to identify seven attributes in package that are used by consumers in the decision to purchase Requeijao cheese. Group 1 (18-30 year old) preferred smaller packaging (220 vs 250 g or larger), instead of group 2 (31-50 years old) and 3 (51-70 years old). Groups 1 and 2 preferred glass containers and group 3 plastic packages. Plastic lid combined with aluminum cover was considered the most hygienic lid for all groups, although group 1 still preferred metal lid. Group 2 was the most concerned with information, followed by the group 3 and finally the group 1. Groups 2 and 3 were more concerned with price than brand, instead of group 1. This study showed that consumers in the three focus groups were attracted to label images that depict the origin of the product and certain colors to distinguish between low-fat or non-fat products. Since food packaging elements are analyzed by consumers before purchasing, the results of this study are useful for food manufacturers to create better marketing strategies to increase sales of Requeijao cheese.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The buying process is affected by many aspects, in which consumer's age is certainly an important feature to be considered. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of packaging and labeling of Requeijao cheese on the purchasing behavior of different age groups of consumers in order to obtain marketing information that aid in increasing sales of Requeijao cheese.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three focus groups were created, each one composed of ten participants. The first group was aged 18-30 years old, the second group included people aged 31-50, and the third group participants were aged between 51 and 70 years old. Requeijao cheese labeling and packaging was presented to all groups to facilitate a discussion. A moderator asked participants in the three groups about the factors on the packaging and labeling of Requeijao cheese that influence their desire to purchase. Seven final themes were analyzed by thematic analysis: packaging, color and images on label, information, lid, price and brand.\nFindings: The factors of greatest importance that influenced purchasing for the first and second group were glass packaging and color labels. Groups 2 and 3 preferred a packaging size of 250 g, an aluminum cap protected with a plastic cap, information, and affordable prices. Group 1 demonstrated high interest in 220 g packaging, metal lid and brands. Group 3 preferred plastic packaging. All groups were attracted by images on labels related to the product origin. The results from this study may be advantageous for creating marketing strategies to increase sales of Requeijao cheese and similar milk products that are sold in comparable ways.\nPractical implications: Concept and attitudes toward packaging and labeling have changed in modern times. The present study demonstrates how consumers of different age groups have divergent opinions about packaging and labeling of Requeijao cheese, factors that have huge influences in the purchasing of this product. The results from this study will aid in creating marketing strategies to increase sales of Requeijao cheese and similar milk products that are sold in similar conditions. The findings will also assist manufactures in creating bonds with costumers once packaging and labeling might be produced in accordance with the preference of each age group of consumers, and consequently makes the visual aspects of packaging more attractive to them.\nOriginality/value: This study collected information about the most features in packaging and labeling of Requeijao cheese that attract consumers in the food buying process. There are many companies that sell Requeijao cheese. Then, it is necessary to understand the needs of consumers in relation to packaging and labeling of similar products, to make it more competitive in the market and to meet the expectations of consumers in order to create bond with them.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Young adults' perceptions of smoking actors
|
[
"Tobacco",
"Magazines",
"Australia",
"Young adults",
"Influence",
"Behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Smoking in movies\nMethods: The purpose of the present studies was to examine the effects of perceived smoking status on young people's assessments of actors and perceptions of the prevalence of smoking. Mock \"movie magazines\" were developed and shown to young people, who were told they were taking part in a study to evaluate reactions to a proposed new magazine. In one version of the magazine certain actors were shown smoking; in the other version the same actors were shown not smoking. Each participant was exposed to only one version of the magazine. This same methodology has been used in several studies examining the impact of perceived smoking status on young people's evaluation of models in youth magazines (Barton et al., 1982; Gray et al., 1996; Amos et al., 1998).Study one\nResults: The participants reported watching an average of 3.2 movies at the cinema in the past three months (i.e. approximately one per month); and 11.4 movies on video (i.e. approximately three per month). The most popular genres were \"Action\" and \"Comedy\".The majority of the participants (76 per cent) described themselves as non-smokers; six (11 per cent) as social smokers; and seven (13 per cent) as regular smokers. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of smoking status (i.e. smoker, social smoker, regular smoker). In terms of acceptability of friends' smoking among non-smokers, the mean response equated to \"I don't like it, but I wouldn't openly object\".Reactions to the magazine\nDiscussion: There were few differences in perceptions of the actors between the groups exposed to the \"smoking\" versus \"non-smoking\" versions of the magazine. Those differences, which were observed, may have been, at least in part, influenced by differences in the attractiveness of the photographs chosen, independent of smoking status. Further, contrary to our hypothesis, it appears that the most significant differences may be in the rating of the non-smoking \"control\" actors.\nStudy two: Method\nResults: Reactions to the magazine\nDiscussion: Consistent with Study One, we found very few differences in perceptions of the ten actors between the \"smoking\" and \"non-smoking\" depictions, suggesting that the presence or absence of a cigarette did not impact, in most instances, on perceptions of the attractiveness or appeal of the various actors. The finding that the only differences in ratings of the actors between the two versions of the magazines were for the two \"control\" actors is consistent with the results of study one, and supports the assertion that non-smoking actors may actually appear more attractive in the presence of other smoking actors. That is, both of the control actors (Katie Holmes and Adam Sandler) received higher mean scores for likelihood of watching a movie starring them when they were shown in the presence of other smoking actors than when they were surrounded by others not identified as smokers. Also consistent with this, two of the non-control actors were rated lower on their status as a role model in the smoking version (i.e. they were less likely to be perceived as a role model when shown smoking). This is an important finding as it suggests that the differences identified in the first study were indeed due to differing perceptions of non-smoking actors rather than due to variance in the attractiveness of the specific photographs chosen for the magazines. However, these were small differences and the main finding remains that there was little differences in responses to the 10 actors across the two versions of the magazine.\nDiscussion of the two studies: While smoking initiation \"generally\" occurs before the age of 18 years, it has been suggested that many young people begin to smoke while at university, and that this may be associated with alcohol consumption in this cohort (Reed et al., 2007); and US research has found that nearly one in eight college (university) student smokers reporting commencing while in college (Wechsler et al., 1998; Wetter et al., 2004). While cross-sectional and thus not directly demonstrating causation, Australian research found that smoking rates were 11.8 per cent among first year medical students but 13.7 per cent among final year medical students at the same university, with an increase from 12.4 to 19.3 per cent among males (Richmond and Kehoe, 1997). Further, a longitudinal study of almost 2,000 Australian school leavers found that there was considerable flux in smoking patterns, with 38 per cent changing their self-labelled smoking status (categorized as heavy smoker, light smoker, occasional smoker, ex-smoker and non-smoker) over the 15-month study period; and the authors suggest that smoking prevention programs are thus important for this age group (Schofield et al., 1998).We conducted two experimental studies to examine university students' perceptions of smoking and non-smoking actors in mock movie magazines. Both studies found that the attitudes of the young people in our samples towards well-known actors, in terms of interest in reading about them and watching their movies, were influenced very little by the presence or absence of cigarettes in the photographs.While there are several possible explanations for this finding, we posit that the most likely explanation, particularly given the participants' high estimated prevalence rates, is that young people are indifferent to the smoking status of actors. If young people believe more than half of actors are cigarette smokers, it is likely that they are so used to seeing actors smoke that they do not notice the presence or absence of a cigarette. This supposition is supported by the fact that post-experimental checks confirmed that the participants had accepted the cover story that this was a study of interest in movie magazines, and that they did not realize that the study was related to smoking until allowed to compare the magazine versions after collection of the questionnaires.Similarly, a previous New Zealand study of adolescent perceptions of smoking in movies found that young people see the portrayal of smoking in movies as an accurate reflection of life and consistent with their expectations, and concurrently demonstrate unrealistically high estimates of prevalence of smoking among both their peers and adults (McCool et al., 2001).This view is supported by the fact that the most consistent differences in actor ratings were the evaluations of the control actors in the smoking versions in both studies (Adam Sandler and Katie Holmes in study one; and Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes and Christina Applegate in study two). It would appear that the absence of a cigarette is more notable than the presence of one. On a positive note, we point out that the ratings of these non-smoking actors was higher when they were in the company of several smoking actors, which suggests that young people may - at least subconsciously - admire those actors who choose not to smoke.Not surprisingly, in those instances where participants who were smokers differed in their ratings, they tended to rate the \"smoking\" actors more highly when they were pictured with a cigarette. This finding continues the ongoing debate as to causation in the link between smoking status and preferred actors discussed in the introduction: do young people smoke because their favourite actors smoke, or do young people who smoke choose as their favourites those actors who smoke? This is related to recent research which aims to disentangle peer effects from selection effects in adolescent smoking - with results demonstrating that inter-peer correlation in smoking status is a function of both peer effects (choosing to smoke because peers smoke) and selection effects (choosing peers who smoke because of self-identification as a smoker) (Krauth, 2005; Lundborg, 2006).Limitations\nConclusion: In a review of research on smoking in movies and adolescent smoking (Sargent, 2005) provided an overview of a range of potential interventions - including the SmokeFree Movies campaign (which includes an R-rating for smoking movies, the certification of no payment for the inclusion of tobacco, anti-smoking advertisements, and non-identification of tobacco brands); technological devices that enable parents to restrict access to television programming; incorporating anti-tobacco advertising into movies; and media literacy.The results of the current studies suggest two key implications for health education/social marketing. The first is in relation to respondents' elevated perceptions of smoking prevalence among their peers, parents, and celebrities; with the mean estimates for each groups being at least double actual prevalence rates. This suggests that there is a need to emphasise in communications to young people the social norm of non-smoking, including providing accurate information on actual smoking prevalence.The second is in relation to the potential use of celebrities - such as actors - as spokespersons or role models in anti-smoking campaigns. Our results, while preliminary, suggest that young people may admire actors who choose not to smoke and view these individuals more positively than their smoking peers. While caution should always be exercised in the use of celebrities in such campaigns (for example, due to the damage that could be caused if the individual was later found to be a smoker in real life or acted as a smoker in a subsequent movie) this is an opportunity that should be further explored by health educators/social marketers who are engaged in reducing youth smoking uptake.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of portrayed smoking status of actors on their popularity with both smoking and non-smoking young people, as well as their perceptions of the prevalence of smoking\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Two experimental studies were conducted with Australian undergraduate university students, in which students were exposed to different versions of mock magazines featuring images of actors smoking and not smoking, as well as control actors.\nFindings: - The attitudes of young people towards well-known actors were little influenced by the presence or absence of cigarettes, but non-smoking actors were perceived more favourably when depicted in a group with smoking actors. Smoking actors tended to be preferred by young people who smoked. The results of both studies confirm that young people's estimates of smoking prevalence are considerably inflated.\nOriginality/value: - The results of the current study suggest two key implications for health education: the need to address young people's elevated perceptions of smoking prevalence among their peers, parents, and celebrities by communicating the social norm of non-smoking; and the potential use of celebrities - such as actors - as spokespersons or role models in anti-smoking campaigns.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The influence of religiously motivated consumer boycotts on brand image, loyalty and product judgment
|
[
"Saudi Arabia",
"Loyalty",
"Brand image",
"Arla foods",
"Boycotting",
"Religious animosity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In an era of increased competition, companies nowadays are bound to make substantial efforts to manage their brand image. Nevertheless, the news abounds with instances of firms finding themselves in the middle of an unforeseen, boycott-caused, marketing crisis stemming from a controversial event with which the firm has no explicit, direct relation. Although boycotting as a voluntary, anti-consumption behaviour has occurred for decades, consumer groups are increasingly adopting boycotts as their favoured coercive means of expressing their dissatisfaction against firms in the marketplace (Sen et al., 2001). Despite this increase in boycotts, the impact of consumer boycotts on brand image and customer loyalty has seldom been examined. Klein et al. (2004) have found that the act of boycotting harms brand image beyond the effects of perceived corporate egregiousness, supporting the partial mediation of boycotting on the relationship between egregiousness and brand image (Baron and Kenny, 1986). Nevertheless, the effect of boycotting on customer loyalty has yet to be explored.\nResearch context: Starting on 30 September 2005, a wave of religious animosity unfolded within the Muslim community because of the publication by Jyllands-Posten, an independent Danish newspaper, of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in an insulting manner to the worldwide Muslim community (Riefler and Diamantopoulos, 2007). In February 2006, a number of European newspapers reprinted the cartoons, spreading the controversy across the world. Soon thereafter, transnational religious animosity spread among Muslim communities. In the absence of direct access to Jyllands-Posten and to the Danish Government, who supported the newspaper's freedom of speech, protesters throughout the Muslim world identified indirect boycott targets.\nReligious animosity: The concept of animosity, derived from sociological literature, refers to the strong emotions of antagonism and enmity that people can have based on beliefs of past and on-going events of hostility between nations or people (Averill, 1982). Research on consumer ethnocentrism, examining the morality of purchasing foreign-made products, precedes that on consumer animosity defined as \"the remnants of anger reactions related to prior or current political, military, economic, or diplomatic events that affect consumers' purchase behaviour\" (Klein et al., 1998) by over a decade. The possibility that a country's military or political actions in the international arena may create animosity towards the brands produced by that country has motivated research into consumer animosity, its antecedents and its effects on purchase decisions (Leong et al., 2008). Nonetheless, additional motives such as religious ones may be at the base of consumer animosities. In fact:\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Consumer ethnocentrism and religious animosity\nBoycotting behaviour, brand image, product judgment and customer loyalty: Research related to consumer boycotts is essential, especially on a managerial level, due to the repercussions that it can have on the performance of companies (Farah and Newman, 2010). Numerous empirical studies on the stock market reactions to boycott campaigns show evidence that boycotts significantly reduce the market value of firms (Friedman, 1999). In addition, the targeted firm usually suffers a number of other consequences, including a brand image damage, a decline in customer loyalty and possibly a decrease in the way consumers evaluate the products of the targeted company (Klein et al., 2004).\nResearch study: Prior to engaging in a quantitative analysis, the researchers examined the various effects of this religiously motivated boycott by conducting eleven face-to-face interviews with Saudi boycotters of Arla Foods (three females and eight males). The purpose was to examine consumers' perceptions of Arla Foods in the midst of the boycotting campaign. The interviews revealed a similar attitude among the interviewees towards Arla Foods, with minor variations as to the extent of their negative sentiment toward the brand. One interviewee (male, aged 23 years) said \"I hate seeing any Danish product in our markets. We don't need these products. We have our own products and we should help our firms\". Another participant (male, aged 42 years) said:\nResults: All constructs in the model were operationalised using multi-item scales. Table I below shows the scales, scales' source, items retained, the factor loadings, composite reliability, Cronbach's alpha, average variance extracted and the results of the unidimensionality tests. To ensure that the statements would be appropriate in testing the hypotheses, they were subjected to a rigorous assessment of validity and reliability. Validity assessment was conducted using LISREL 8.51. The utilisation of this technique enables statistical efficiency and effective testing of multiple relationships amongst constructs simultaneously in a systematic and holistic manner (Hair et al., 1995).\nDiscussion: Prior research has suggested that boycotts are effective in that the mere announcement of a boycott can have a negative effect on an organisation's share price, pushing it to take either reactive or corrective actions (Davidson et al., 1995; Pruitt and Friedman, 1986). When consumers boycott a company, positive emotions tied to its brand image, and consequently sales and stock price, are likely to decrease. The key findings show that consumer ethnocentrism increases the occurrence of boycotting behaviour and reduces customer loyalty towards Arla Foods.\nManagerial implications and future research: Once targeted by a macro-boycott campaign, companies typically face a great challenge choosing amongst the various strategies available to counteract boycotting campaigns. Arla Foods would have been more successful in counteracting the boycott if it had considered the following suggestions:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of religiously motivated boycotts, such as the one conducted in Saudi Arabia against Danish companies, on corporate brand image, customer loyalty and product judgment. Despite a growing research interest in understanding the effects of different types of consumer animosities on companies' performance, there appears to be a scarcity of studies addressing the specific effects of religious animosity. Religious animosity is considered as an additional type which may have more stable and longer-term impacts than other animosities on behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was based on a two-stage design: an exploratory qualitative stage involving 11 in-depth interviews, followed by a more comprehensive quantitative stage designed to test a proposed theoretical model. Data was collected from Saudi customers of the Danish company Arla Foods in Saudi Arabia. Data was analysed using structural equation model (LISREL 8).\nFindings: The model confirms that boycotting have strong negative impact on brand image and consumer loyalty but does not influence consumers' product judgment.\nPractical implications: Religious boycotts have significant consequences on both corporate profits and brand image. The study provides clear steps for companies to combat the influence of religious boycotts especially in relation to brand image and customer loyalty.\nOriginality/value: The study tested the influence of consumer religious boycotts on brand image and customer loyalty. Religious animosity was found to cause a more persistent boycott that negatively impacts brand image and weakens customer loyalty. However, by and large, boycotting was found not to have any significant impact on product judgment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Assessing Egyptian construction projects performance using principal component analysis
|
[
"Key performance indicators (KPIs)",
"Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)",
"Overall performance",
"Performance assessment model",
"Principal component analysis (PCA)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The construction sector is comparatively a significant sector in both developed and developing economies. In developed economies, gross domestic products (GDP) contribution of the construction sector amounts to almost 10 percent, and more than 4 percent for developing economies (Lowe, 2003). Commonly, the construction sector is the catalyst which motivates the growth of a nation's economy, especially during recession. The construction sector is a major contributor to the Egyptian economy and is considered as one of its fastest-growing sectors. During several past decades of the twentieth century, the construction sector in Egypt achieved a considerable growth rate at an average of 9.7 percent per year (Egypt Economic Report, 2015). It similarly made a significant contribution to the economy, averaging 4.8 percent of the GDP in 2015. Small Egyptian construction firms have contributed a generous share of this amount. In addition to this economical contribution, it also plays a significant role in providing employment to the Egyptian people working in both private and public domains. The construction sector post 2011 Egyptian uprising plays a very important role in economic activities resulting from the construction of many new \"Mega Projects\" such as the Suez Canal tunnels, high capacity power plants, various renewable energy power plants, upgrade of the roads and metro infrastructure, building the new administrative capital and north coast holiday and tourism cities. Evaluating performance on such large-scale projects can no longer continue with the previous insufficient methods, and an improvement in this regards is required. Another challenge to the Egyptian construction sector results from an increase in private investment in infrastructure projects through many financial arrangements such as EPC finance and private public partnership projects. Key performance indicators (KPIs) represent one of the best methods to measure and improve performance evaluation and consequently improvement of the industry as a whole.\n2. Literature review: Performance measurement and benchmarking are the cornerstones of challenging any business to become world class (Beatham et al., 2004). Oke et al. (2016) stated that the failure of any construction project is mostly related to the performance problems. Neely et al. (2002) stated that if there is no measure, there will be no improvement. Performance measurements are the quantitative indicators that are chosen to track the specific states of performance such as productivity, effectiveness, efficiency, customer satisfaction, quality and cost. They are historic in nature and do not provide the opportunity to improve. De Wit (1988) stated that it is still not clear how to measure project success since project participants identify success or failure in different ways. Lim and Mohamed (1999) indicated that projects success should be observed from different perspectives, whether from the individual client, developer, contractor, end user or the general public.\n3. Research methodology: Many construction companies in Egypt whether large or small are lacking an effective method to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses measure their performance and propose future improvements. Due to the missing standard method of assessing project performance in Egypt and lack of historical performance data, there is a major lack of benchmark for these measurements. This research aims at identifying and prioritizing the main KPIs for the construction projects in Egypt, taking into consideration the other two aspects which are the size of the organization and the type of project. Based on these results, the research introduces different mathematical models to measure the overall project performance indicators. This paper considers three aspects in measuring project performance (location, size and type) which has not been addressed before in literature. The research also proposes the use of POPI assessment models to measure the performance of different construction projects. To achieve the objective of this research, the following methodology was followed:\n4. Identification of indicators: The application of KPIs has received noticeable attention after the issuance of \"Rethinking Construction\" report in 1998. Chan and Chan (2004) proposed using eight KPIs in measuring the construction projects performance. Westerveld (2003) used only four KPIs for measuring the performance. According to Beatham et al. (2004), 15 KPIs should be used. Costa et al. (2006) proposed that the measure of the construction project performance should be using up to 30 KPIs. Leu and Lin (2008) used only eight KPIs. Yeung et al. (2009) presented using 17 KPIs to measure the performance of the construction project. According to all these previous studies, the total different KPIs used before were 56 indicators. Yeung et al. (2012) studied these 56 indicators and found that many of them have the same technical meaning or were used to measure the same type of performance. His findings summarized the previous work in KPIs in using 28 different indicators. In this research, most of these 28 KPIs were used, plus the new KPIs proposed from construction experts based on the interviews with them. In total, 35 indicators were proposed and presented for evaluation through the survey.\n5. Design of the questionnaires: The survey questionnaire was titled \"Questionnaire to develop a series of KPIs to measure performance of construction projects in Egypt.\" The questionnaire included questions that required the respondent to elicit thoughts of the importance of KPIs and to rank them after considering the size of the organization and type of the projects. The questionnaire started with an introduction that gave a summary of the purpose of the survey and provided definitions of terminology used inside the questionnaire. The main structure of the questionnaire contained three sections; the first section asked about the respondent's personal information. The second section collected information about the organization and the current status of KPIs' implementation in the organization. Finally, the third section contained 35 KPIs which were required to be evaluated and identified for their importance index based upon the respondents' previous experience.\n6. Questionnaire findings and results analysis: The 230 questionnaires received from 71 Egyptian construction companies represent 74 percent of the total copies distributed. The respondents were from companies of different scales and working in different types of projects. The results obtained from the questionnaire analysis were as follows.\n7. Exploratory factor analysis: PCA is a mathematical procedure that transforms a large number of possibly correlated variables into a smaller number of uncorrelated variables called principal components. It combines input variables in a specific way after dropping the least important variables while still retaining the most valuable parts of all of the variables. Dogbegah et al. (2011) used PCA in the analysis of project management competencies for the Ghanaian construction industry. PCA is used by Francom and El Asmar (2014) to investigate the effect of using building information modeling on project changes.\n8. Overall assessment models: Generating the POPI is the main target for this research. Cheung et al. (2004) introduced a web-based project performance follow up and control system. Eight performances measuring categories were defined in this system. Since 2007, Scottish construction center has chosen nine KPIs to measure the performance. Starting in 2005, Danish contractors bidding for jobs were requested to present and compare competence in 14 KPIs suggested by the benchmark center for the Danish construction sector. Starting from 2010, a new group of only seven KPIs was proposed to measure and evaluate performance for Danish contractors. Yeung et al. (2007) used the Delphi survey technique to develop a model to measure the performance of partnering projects in Hong Kong by using seven KPIs. Yeung et al. (2009) applied the same technique again to formulate a model to assess the success of relationship-based construction projects in Australia by using eight KPIs selected according to survey results. Khosravi and Afshari (2011) proposed project success index based on measuring five KPIs. Chan and Hiap (2012) generated overall performance equations for target cost contracts by using seven KPIs. Ten KPIs were used by Yeung et al. (2012) to develop a benchmarking model for construction projects in Hong Kong. El Asmar and Hanna (2013) developed a framework to measure and evaluate construction project performance by using five main KPIs. Ofori-Kuragu et al. (2016) proposed using nine KPIs for measuring the performance of Ghanaian contractors.\n9. Validation of the proposed models: A set of KPIs models have been developed in the previous section to measure the overall performance of different types and sizes of construction projects in Egypt. Three case studies were chosen to check and validate these models. The data were collected and adjusted to be in the same financial manner by using net present value technique and average yearly interest rate in Egypt up to 2016.\n10. Summary and conclusion: Measuring the performance of construction projects during the entire project life cycles is a very important issue. This evaluation is required to identify and measure the project success in a quantitative manner from many perspectives, and not only from a financial and profitability point of views. Performance measurement is a dynamic knowledge area. Indeed, it is considered as the force that drives project management improvement. Also, measuring performance helps an organization to identify the areas requiring attention and improvement, given the chance to take the required corrective actions or mitigation plans. The measuring, evaluation and action are critical for controlling the project.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The construction sector is a major contributor to the Egyptian economy and gross domestic products, plus considered as one of its fastest-growing sectors. Various deficiencies such as low productivity, delays, cost overrun, poor quality, etc. have plagued the construction sector, leading to undesirable project performance across Egypt and several other countries. One of the best methods to measure and improve performance evaluation and consequently a step toward industry improvement is key performance indicators (KPIs). The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the importance index for 35 KPIs. The KPIs were identified and selected based on an extensive literature review and one on one interview with expert construction professionals. Moreover, exploratory factor analysis method has been used to analyze and determine the inter-relationships between the set of indicators.\nFindings: Seven indicators that have the highest importance indicator were selected to create project overall performance indicator assessment models to consistently measure the performance of different construction projects. Seven equations are introduced reflecting the output of the research while considering both organization size and project type.\nPractical implications: The proposed evaluation assessment models can be used to: evaluate the relative success of projects; indicate the areas of strengths and weaknesses in performance and establish company benchmarking. Three projects were selected to validate the performance evaluation models.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides mathematical assessment models for evaluating overall construction project performance in Egypt, taking into consideration organization size and project type. Previously published research works on the subject matter are quite limited, and frequently deal with only one or two selected aspects.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Price strategies for sustainable food products
|
[
"Marketing",
"Certification",
"Sustainability",
"Environmental-friendly products",
"Fair trade products",
"Price strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable development - that is, development in which economic, ecological, and social aspects go hand in hand (Brundtland et al., 1987) - often comes at a price. In some situations, new technologies or systems may be both sustainable and cost efficient, but when these technologies are absent, products produced through more sustainable production techniques suffer a generic competitive disadvantage in terms of costs. An extensive study on the Dutch market showed, for example, that organic food products average a price premium of 60 percent compared with similar products without organic certification (Baltussen et al., 2006). Ecological economics attributes such price differences to a hidden subsidy paid by future generations (Hawken, 1994); future generations have no impact on the price formation but rely on the same natural resources (see Hawken et al., 2000).\nBackground: Our current food system generally overuses natural (and sometimes social) resources, meaning that to create a product it uses more natural resources than that it replaces (cf. Fresco, 2012). In the current competitive market system, the short-term benefits are weighted in that respect stronger than the long-term arguments for preserving the resources (Shultz and Holbrook, 1999). The marketing instrument \"price\" is at the heart of this discussion, because on the one hand, a low price activates the short-term self-interests of people (Griskevicius et al., 2012), while on the other hand it should cover the costs for sustainable resource management. Researchers in sustainable resource management study price, for example, as an instrument to discourage the use of resources, like water by increasing the price for water usage (Le Gal et al., 2003) and clean air by increasing the price for use of the road network (Steininger et al., 2007).\nCase study concepts: In the case study methodology that we describe below, price strategies, the pricing situation, and the pricing environment are considered as case study concepts. Such concepts facilitate case analysis and connect case study data to the existing theory in a field (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003). A price strategy is the means by which the firm attempts to achieve its pricing objectives in the market (Ingenbleek and Van der Lans, 2013). The objective of a price strategy may also be covering the costs for sustainability.\nMethods: Case selection procedure\nResults and discussion: The analysis reveals six strategies that occur in the practice of sustainable agro-food production (see Table II). The subsequent discussion considers the different price strategies in the context of their pricing situation, namely, competitive, new product, and product line pricing. The cost-based pricing situation is not discussed separately because each strategy that falls in the cost-based pricing situation simultaneously also falls in another situation.\nConclusions and implications: This study analyzes cases that suggest price strategies for sustainable products that enable producers to minimize the potential competitive disadvantage they suffer because they must cover the extra costs for sustainability. In general, this study breaks new theoretical ground by complementing the pricing literature on sustainability with a managerial perspective. The study inventoried strategies that are in use in managerial practice, and placed them in a theoretical framework that provides a rationale for the strategies and for the conditions under which they are likely to occur.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Sustainable products often suffer a competitive disadvantage compared with mainstream products because they must cover ecological and social costs that their competitors leave to future generations. The purpose of this paper is to identify price strategies for sustainable products that minimize this efficiency disadvantage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The strategies and their determinants from the pricing environment are derived from an inductive sequential case study of certified food products, such as organic and fair trade products. Data are collected through desk research and interviews.\nFindings: The results reveal six different strategies that build on three basic mechanisms: cost-based pricing in combination with price fairness, increasing willingness to pay through perceptions of quality and/or price, and price stability in which costs are compensated for by scale and/or learning effects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The framework can help companies that offer sustainable products strengthen their market positions and it can help policy makers that partly rely on markets to achieve sustainability objectives.\nOriginality/value: The existing pricing literature on sustainability predominantly takes a consumer approach. This study breaks new ground by extending this work with a strategic marketing approach offering a choice set of strategies for managers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Reliability analysis of multi-state complex system with multi-state weighted subsystems
|
[
"Sensitivity analysis",
"Universal generating function",
"Mean time to failure",
"Multi-state system",
"Weighted system"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Quality of a system or item or product could be performance of its type and functionality. Most reliableness engineering efforts, however, consider the functionality instead of the looks of the system or product. The reliability function, which is a monotonically decreasing function of the life time, is a quantitative measure for the quality of the product. The reliability of a system is defined to be the probability that the system will perform its task satisfactorily for a certain period of time under specified conditions. Reliability is one of the most important measures of the performance of any system (Barlow, 2003).\n2. Universal generating function: Consider a discrete random variable Xn, n = 1, 2,..., N. Let every variable has mn possible values\n3. Formulation of mathematical model: Consider a system having Cj(j = 1, 2,..., n) component with corresponding probabilities pjw*, where w*(w*=1, 2,..., m) is the state of the component, and j is the possible number of the system's component. Let\n4. Reliability indices of the system: P1. Consider a multi-state weighted r-out-of-n subsystem (S1) with the multi-state linear (f, l, k): G components connected in parallel arrangement then UGF of the component (f, l, k): G of subsystem S1 is obtained as:\n5. Illustrative example: Let us consider a system which consists of two subsystems S1 and S2, as shown in Figure 2. Let the sub-system S1 (multi-state weighted 29-out-of-4: G system) has identical four components (linear multi-state (4,3,2):G) and the sub-system S2 (multi-state weighted 40-out-of-4: G system) also consist of four identical components (circular multi-state (4,3,2):G). Let every component of the subsystems S1 and S2 have four elements\n6. Conclusion: In this work, non-repairable multi-state complex system with two subsystems S1 (multi-state weighted r-out-of-n: G) and S2 (multi-state weighted s-out-of-m: G) systems having component linear (f, l, k): G system and circular (f, l, k): G system, respectively, has been taken. Our main concern of the study is to analysis reliability, MTTF and components sensitivity measure of the systems with the application of UGF and Markov stochastic process. A numerical example has been presented to show efficiency and effectiveness of the applied method. It is observed that the method is useful and easy to calculate reliability indices of the complex systems. The study shows that the reliability (Figure 3) of the MSS is decreasing with increment of time. Further, the observation of Table II reveals that the MTTF decreases with respect to increment of the failure rates. Sensitivity analysis of the considered systems components has also been discussed corresponding to failure rates. The sensitivity of components with respect to time is found to be decreasing earlier and increasing later.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reliability indices such as reliability, mean time to failure and sensitivity analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A non-repairable multi-state complex system with two subsystems, namely, S1 and S2, is studied. The subsystems S1 and S2 are multi-state weighted r-out-of-n: G and s-out-of-m: G systems, respectively. Every component of the sub-system S1 consists of linear (f, l, k): G system, and the sub-system S2 consists of circular (f, l, k): G system. The subsystems are connected in series arrangement and components of these subsystems are arranged in parallel.\nFindings: Markov stochastic process has been applied to obtain probability of components of the subsystems and various results discuss such as reliability, mean time to failure and sensitivity analysis with the help of the universal generating function.\nOriginality/value: In this work, reliability measures of the purpose system can be enhanced under the high profit.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Team-leader program refreshes Selecta UK: Vending-company managers deliver higher market share and profitability
|
[
"Food industry",
"Team leaders",
"Management development",
"Organizational performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A UK vending-service provider has seen its profitability and market share rise significantly following the implementation of a management-training program. Selecta UK, recently acquired by Allianz Capital Partners, is part of the largest food and beverage vending-services operator in Europe. With more than 150,000 points-of-sale in 24 countries, it offers catering solutions from large self-contained restaurants to small vending outlets. It has over 5,000 employees and generates more than EUR700 million a year in revenue.\nThe Team Leader Academy: The company therefore formed a Team Leader Academy (TLA).\"Recognizing the need to provide a rounded and inclusive training experience, we selected a range of learning methods and assessment techniques,\" commented Kadisha Lewis. \"It was essential that all delegates had support and feedback from both their line managers and their allocated mentor - a member of our senior-management team. Both line managers and mentors were included in discussions at all design stages, the result of which was a robust system that provided the candidates with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply the learning gained from the various training activities before, during and after course completion.\"The TLA was a three-day training program incorporating subjects including situational leadership, coaching and motivation, delegation, strategy, managing performance and loss prevention.In total, 56 candidates attended the TLA over a four-month period. Each session was a full day, incorporating a range of subjects and training methods.The final day was dedicated to the assessment process and involved the completion of three assessment areas. The final project brief was delivered as a 25-minute presentation to the board, to allow the delegates to demonstrate their understanding of the course.\nThe Management Academy: \"Several requests were then made to roll out the TLA across our operations division,\" Kadisha Lewis explained. \"We therefore introduced the Route Relief program to train our route reliefs, which consisted of a one-day intensive version of the TLA. The TLA was then developed further, culminating in the Management Academy (MA). This is a three-day residential program for service-team managers, area service managers and engineers.\"The full suite of training was highly commended in the UK National Training Awards, has been endorsed by the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) and won a highly commended award from the ILM in 2007.\nThe training outcomes: \"Over 18 months the training and development department trained 15 percent of the workforce on the MA, TLA or Route Relief program,\" said Kadisha Lewis. \"At the end of the last financial year we improved profitability by 32 percent and market share by 22 percent.\"The company has seen significant improvements in managerial skills, performance management, presentation skills, trust-building, co-operative working, dispute resolution, problem solving, self-confidence, time management and decision-making.Two particular achievements were that delegate satisfaction levels with training and development increased from 42 to 81 percent and the level of satisfaction with working for the company rose from 40 to 88 percent.\nThe views of delegates: Team leader Shirley Brooker commented: \"The TLA has been the best training I have ever attended. I am now much more confident in directing my team.\"Service team manager Craig Lamont said: \"I have used many more coaching skills, developing my staff both on a one-to-one basis and in group meetings. I have also had more structured disciplinary meetings with staff and these have resulted in better performance of the team as a whole.\"Team leader Siobhan Smith, who received a Dedication to Excellence award, explained: \"I am now able to manage members of my team in the way they should be managed. I have increased in confidence enormously.\"Fellow regional manager Martin Boyle added: \"I now have a senior team manager who is more commercially aware of the financial side of the business and delegating more to the team leaders.\"\nBetter understanding of delegation: \"With no benchmark for our original design and the uncharted nature of the programs, the training continues to be an outstanding success,\" said Kadisha Lewis. \"The blend of learning methods, strength of the outcomes and the benefits it continues to have all contributed.\"The company's performance on its clean, full and working index rose from 68.4 to 87.2 percent in six months. The higher profile in the company of those who successfully completed the program resulted in four internal promotions, saving the business around PS20,000.Two of the final projects submitted by delegates have generated PS500,000 in extra profit.\"The majority of the workforce understands and appreciates the principles of delegation through having read the One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. This represents a major cultural shift in the understanding of management practice,\" said Kadisha Lewis.Selecta UK has also seen a new thirst for learning, resulting in a ten-fold increase in its training portfolio and a number of unforeseen improvements to the training and development department's key performance indicators.\"Prior to the TLA we had a 45 percent attendance rate on our training courses. This has doubled to 98 percent. We have also increased the productivity of our trainers from 35 percent to 84 percent,\" said Kadisha Lewis.\"The MA and TLA have become part of our company strategy to upskill our management population. We are now in a situation where we have a waiting list of employees who wish to attend the course as part of their ongoing professional development.\"Martin Boyle said: \"It is now widely accepted that the training and development department has gone from being a 'nice day out' to a department that facilitates exceptional performance and delivery in line with business strategy.\"Managing director Andy Mee concluded: \"The TLA has been fundamental in providing our middle management with the skills to support the development and growth of the business. In addition it has galvanized the management team in tackling business issues with an enhanced level of enthusiasm and commitment.\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe how vending-service provider Selecta UK Ltd has seen its profitability and market share rise following the implementation of a management-training program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Examines the background to the program, the way in which it was delivered and the benefits it has brought.\nFindings: - Reveals that Selecta UK developed its team leaders through the Team Leader Academy which, on the basis of feedback from delegates, evolved into a three-day residential program for all of its middle-management employees. Over 18 months the training and development department trained 15 percent of the workforce.\nPractical implications: - Details how Selecta UK has seen a new thirst for learning, resulting in a ten-fold increase in its training portfolio and a number of unforeseen improvements to the training and development department's key performance indicators.\nOriginality/value: - Contends that most of the workforce now understands and appreciates the principles of delegation. This represents a major cultural shift in the understanding of management practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Burden of multiple disabilities among the older population in India: An assessment of socioeconomic differentials
|
[
"India",
"Activities of daily living",
"Disability",
"Older people",
"Socio‐economic factors",
"Health care",
"Elder care"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Twenty-first century is witnessing a serious health concern emerging out of unprecedented population ageing. The process of population ageing has begun to play a key role in the health policy formulation, having a large programmatic implication for the developed and most of the developing countries including India (Kennedy and Minkler, 1998; Meson et al., 2005; Bloom et al., 2010; Bloom, 2011; National Research Council of the National Academies, 2011). According the census 2001, the older population of 60+ accounted for 6.9 percent of total population in India (RGI and Census Commissioner, 2001). The United Nations Population Division projected that India's population aged 50 and above will reach 34 percent by 2050. Between 2010 and 2050, the share of 65 and older is expected to increase from 5 to 14 percent, while the share in the oldest age group (80 and older) will triple from 1 to 3 percent (United Nations Population Division, 2006).As the population ageing continues in India, there will be a shrinking pool of working age group which will directly impact the means of supporting the older population (Alam, 2004; Rajan et al., 2005; Yadav et al., 2011). The current projection estimates suggest that the old age dependency ratio - the number of people aged 60 and above to the number of people aged 15-59 - is expected to rise from 12 per 100 to 31 per 100 by 2050 (Goli and Pandey, 2010; Population Reference Bureau, 2012). A comparative study of China and India predicted that, by 2030, the older adults will bear two thirds of the total disease burden in China and nearly half in India. Moreover, it is also found that the health status of the older adult populations in India is significantly worse than their counterparts in China (Chatterji et al., 2008).Researchers in India have made an effort to identify critical determinants of health and wellbeing of the older population. A recent study by Goli et al. (2012) has identified the critical socioeconomic determinants of self-reported health status among the older population in India based on robust statistical assessment. Yadav et al. (2011) indicated that the social networks and marital status are the crucial factor responsible for staying active in employment, in the old age. This study also found an evidence of strong linkages in employment and chronic diseases prevalence among the older population in India.With the rising old age population, the disability is expected to increase as the bulk of disability is contributed by the older cohorts (Murray and Lopez, 1997). The latest available estimates for India suggest that the disability-adjusted life expectancy is only 53 years, as against the overall life expectancy of 67 years (WHO, 2004). A study by Pandey (2011) noted that disability prevalence is positively associated with poor standard of living; therefore, poverty increases one's likelihood of being disabled. However, a comprehensive investigation on the prevalence of disabilities and the factors effecting disabilities is lacking in India. The public health research on the subject of disability in India is paralyzed due to both, paucity of the data on disability and anomalies in the available data (Mitra and Sambamoorthi, 2006; Jeffrey and Singhal, 2008). Alam and Karan (2011) argued that not only these anomalies may affect research on geriatric health; they may also undermine efforts to plan for old age healthcare services and socioeconomic security in the country. The existing literature on disability among the older population at the national level is limited to male-female and rural-urban differentials (NSSO, 2003; Rajan et al., 2005; Chatterji et al., 2008; Desai et al., 2010; Walia, 2010; Pandey, 2011; Alam and Karan, 2011).This study, therefore, aims to fill the gap in the disability studies in India with a seemly innovated assessment of disabilities among the older population, particularly the addition of a number of disability dimensions, the scores, the socioeconomic differentials, the living arrangements and the social networks. Given the paucity of research conducted in India on the association between socioeconomic status and disability, this study will render useful for policy implication and for future research endeavors.\nMethods: Data\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nConclusion and implications: Overall, the results of this study show high prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India. The disability prevalence increases with an increase in age and decreases with increasing in the socioeconomic status of the older population. The findings suggest that being female, belonging to rural, with no education and widowed are the one more likely to be on the higher side of disability. On the other hand, being male, from urban, with more years of schooling, married and belonging to the highest wealth quintile are on the advantageous side and are most likely to have lesser disability. Although, the prevalence of disabilities shows considerable difference by all the socioeconomic characteristics of the older population, age and the economic factor emerged as dominant predictors.The dimension specific assessment reveals that inability to walk is the highest disability among the older population, followed by far-sightedness, difficulties in the toilet, and difficulties in dressing. A more critical outcome of disability is that a significant number of the older populations in India are suffering with multiple disabilities, even substantial proportion of them are suffering from more than one disability and such proportion is increasing with age and decreasing with the increasing socioeconomic status.Half of the disabled older population in India do not have a social network and the majority of them are living with children and others. Moreover, more than half of the disabled older populations are not working. Though, government benefits are the major financial support for disabled older population, the proportion of population getting government support is less than 20 percent in six of eight disability dimensions (including any ADL).In view of the social and the health policy perspective, this study is a timely effort to fill a critical gap in the field of ageing, health and social policy research. Providing health care, social and economic support for disabled older population is not only a challenge for the households but also for the state and the federal government of the states. Moreover, the growing number of the older population with multiple disabilities is not only a health concern but also a socioeconomic concern for a country like India, anticipating reaping a widow of opportunities to boost its economy. Therefore, in addition to the existing social policies (e.g. old age pensions and laws to protection of property and inheritance rights, and self-employment loans to handicapped) and health care initiatives, it is imperative that India need to initiate a major plan of actions to mitigate the burden of multiple disabilities to ensure that the older population is actively involved in economic and social functions of the society. Overall, the healthcare provisions in India need to distinguish the disabled from the general population and provide the geriatric services with specific needs of the disabled older population. What is required will be to overhaul the entire health system target at providing special services required for the disabled older people, with special concern for the poor socioeconomic groups. In a nutshell, what is absolutely clear is that there is a critical need of increasing the public expenditure on health from a mere 1.2 percent of GDP, at the same time, earmarked to deal with the various disabilities. Initiative of this kind will not only promote healthy ageing but also a healthy and sustainable economy, and create congenial social environment in the country.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of this study is twofold, first, to estimate the prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India; second, to examine the socio economic determinants of multiple disabilities among the older population.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study used the India Human Development Survey Data (IHDS) for the analysis. Bivariate, multinomial logit regression and multiple classification analysis are used as methods for the study. Disability score is constructed for measuring the multiple disabilities among the older population.\nFindings: - The results of disability prevalence show, a high prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India. Further, disability prevalence varies considerably by age and socio-economic characteristics of the older population. Among all the socioeconomic factors, economic factor emerged as a dominant predictor of prevalence of disabilities among the older population in India. The findings of the dimension specific assessment reveal that the disability in walking is the highest among all the disabilities. The distribution of disabled older population by living arrangement and the social network indicates that a large proportion of disabled older population lives with their children. In addition, only a few of the disabled older people have social networks. The distribution of disabled older people by employment and financial source reveal that there is a meager government support to the disabled older population in India. This study evidently suggests that a significant number of older populations in India are suffering from multiple disabilities. The number of multiple disabilities increases with the decrease in the socioeconomic status. The living arrangement and financial security assessment suggest that there is an increasing need of children and government support to the disabled older population.\nOriginality/value: - The distinctiveness of this study can be primarily found in the type of the data used, the assessment of additional disability dimensions, and the inclusion of differentials such as living arrangement, social network and work status as part of the analysis. Overall, the study with its robust statistical assessment provides a number of key insights into the social, economic security, and health care needs of the disabled older population in India.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The impact of electronic word-of-mouth: The adoption of online opinions in online customer communities
|
[
"Internet",
"Electronic commerce",
"Consumer behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In a time where Web 2.0 applications are starting to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, retailers are looking for the opportunities to unleash the power of this new marketing channel to promote their products and services. In particular, the web has created the opportunities for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication through electronic media, such as online discussion forums, electronic bulletin board systems, newsgroups, blogs, review sites, and social networking sites (Goldsmith, 2006). eWOM communication through electronic media allows consumers to not only obtain information related to goods and services from the few people they know, but also from a vast, geographically dispersed group of people, who have experience with relevant products or services (Ratchford et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2006).A recent survey found that most consumers perceive online opinions to be as trustworthy as brand web sites (ACNielson, 2007). Rowley (2001) also proposed that commercial enterprises should try organizing online communities rather than to simply advertise on the Internet. These studies indicate how great of a potential impact eWOM can have on the consumer decision process.Consumer knowledge sharing in the Internet environment has been a popular research area in recent years (Rafaeli and Raban, 2005; Lee et al., 2006). Current studies mostly focused on the factors driving consumers to share knowledge/information, but very little attention was paid on the factors driving consumers to use online consumer reviews for purchase decisions. As a marketing researcher and practitioner, it is essential to investigate this phenomenon of information sharing in online communities. Discerning the most motivating aspects of information adoption in particular, could help electronic marketers better promote their brand and presence on the net. This study could surely help them as well as pave the way for future research on the topic. The objective of this study is to investigate how eWOM in online customer communities affects the consumption decision by discovering which factors encourage information adoption. Online community moderators may also benefit from this study by seeing how to better manage their web site for facilitating information adoption and electronic word-of-mouth.The rest of this paper is organized as below. First, we provide a review on the literature related to electronic word-of-mouth and information adoption. Second, we introduce the research model and hypotheses. Next, we describe the research methodology and discuss the statistical results. Finally, we summarize the findings and discuss the implications for both research and practice.\nLiterature review: In this section, we will provide an overview of the literature on electronic word-of-mouth and how it influences purchasing decisions. We will also review the relevant literature relating to information adoption model, information quality, and source credibility.Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)\nResearch model and statement of hypotheses: Figure 2 depicts the research model used in this study, explaining the determinants of information adoption level within an online consumer community. This research model was built upon the information adoption model (Sussman and Siegal, 2003). It examines individual relationships between argument quality, source credibility, information usefulness, and information adoption. Further analysis will be discussed regarding the components of argument quality and source credibility.Information adoption and information usefulness\nResearch methodology: As this study focuses on the factors affecting information adoption within online consumer opinion platforms, the research model was tested based on an existing online consumer community, Openrice.com. Openrice.com is a platform used for sharing information about restaurants and food in Hong Kong. Details about OpenRice.com, data collection methods, demographic data and measures will be discussed in the following sections.Openrice.com\nData analysis and results: The research model was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS), a structural modeling technique that is well suited for highly complex predictive models (Wold and Joreskog, 1982; Lohmoller, 1989; Barclay et al., 1995; Chin, 1998). In this section, we will first examine the measurement model and then assess the structural model by following the two-step analytical procedures (Hair et al., 1998).Measurement model\nDiscussion and conclusion: This paper sought to explore the motivations behind adoption of online opinions. The research model is built on the theoretical model of information adoption by Sussman and Siegal (2003). Resulting relationships between Information adoption, Information usefulness, Relevance, Comprehensiveness, Accuracy, Timeliness, Source expertise, and Source trustworthiness, are discussed in the following section.In this study, we clearly find that Information usefulness had a strong and significant impact on consumer decision to adopt information within online communities. This study also investigated the precursors to informational usefulness (source credibility and information quality). Source expertise, Source trustworthiness, and the four dimensions of information quality explained 65 per cent of the variance in information usefulness. Among the antecedents of Information usefulness, only Relevance and Comprehensiveness exhibited significant impacts on perceived Information usefulness. According to Bickart and Schindler (2001), online consumer forums are more relevant to consumers as the opinions and reviews are contributed by other fellow consumers. This is in line with previous research on the impact of communication source. Previous studies have showed that perceived similarity with the contributors will enhance the persuasive influence (Hass, 1981). Comprehensiveness is especially important in the current study. As mentioned before, there are more than 10,000 restaurants in Hong Kong. Consumers would like to obtain a broad range of categories of restaurants and detailed information about each restaurant (location, price, service, pictures of food, and customer reviews).Source credibility (Source expertise and Source trustworthiness), Accuracy and Timeliness were not found to impact information usefulness as much as Relevance and Comprehensiveness. Source credibility did not play a significant role in influencing information usefulness in this study. Any user can freely register and post comments without any signature or authorization check. It was left up to users to discern from individual signatures the source of the comment. Even with that, it would have been quite difficult for users to evaluate whether the comment was posted by an expert, a child or a chef. It could simply be that in this example of Openrice.com, not enough clues were present for users to speculate as to the source of the comment, making it less relevant to their evaluation of comment usefulness. Source credibility may prove to be more helpful in determining information usefulness when there is more indication of who the poster is and who they represent.Similarly, Accuracy was another dimension of information quality that may have been difficult for users to evaluate within the online community. The previous discussion about perceived accuracy stated that there was required confirmation or disconfirmation of things the user knows to be as definitely true or definitely false within the comment. If part of the comment matched what the user already knew to be factual, they would be more inclined to deem the rest of the comment as accurate. In the context of OpenRice.com, if there was a comment about a restaurant they had never been to, it would be unlikely for them to know whether any or all of the comment is factual. Accuracy therefore was also found to have little influence on information usefulness. In other contexts, where there is opportunity for partial confirmation or disconfirmation the comment, accuracy may prove to more influential. Previous experience with the source providing the opinion may offer the user some opportunity to perceive the accuracy of the comment. Pertaining to the previous discussion regarding source credibility, the anonymity of online sources makes it more difficult for a user to have any confirmation or disconfirmation, as there is no benchmark as to whether that source tends to be accurate or not. When outside of the online environment, there is less anonymity for sources to hide behind; therefore perceived accuracy may prove more influential in an offline context than online.Timeliness also displayed no significant relationship to information usefulness. In the online environment, comments about casual topics like food and restaurants may not be as time sensitive as other topics. Comments from the past may even have proved to be useful in this case as they could help to map out a growing reputation for the restaurant. Online comments about products or services that do not need to be absolutely up to date will not have timeliness impact on the usefulness of the information as highly as more imminent topics. Timeliness would likely have more of an impact in situations where, for example, an offer expires or if it refers to an event that has already taken place.Limitations of the study\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Web-based technologies have created numerous opportunities for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. This phenomenon impacts online retailers as this easily accessible information could greatly affect the online consumption decision. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which opinion seekers are willing to accept and adopt online consumer reviews and which factors encourage adoption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using dual-process theories, an information adoption model was developed to examine the factors affecting information adoption of online opinion seekers in online customer communities. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 154 users who had experience within the online customer community, Openrice.com. Users were required to complete a survey regarding the online consumer reviews received from the virtual sharing platform.\nFindings: - The paper found comprehensiveness and relevance to be the most effective components of the argument quality construct of the research model, making them key influencers of information adoption.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Only 46 per cent of the variance is explained by the constructs due to its intentional simplicity. This would indicate that there are more actors in motivating information adoption than solely information usefulness. A closer look should be taken at the effectiveness of some of the other motivational factors suggested in the previous research on this topic.\nPractical implications: - The paper outlines ways to effectively promote one's business or cause through online customer communities, as well as general tips for web site and forum moderators for facilitating such presentation in a manner useful to the members of their online communities.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is one of the first to develop and empirically test a theory-driven information adoption model for opinion seekers in online customer communities. It also uniquely breaks down and tests the components of argument quality to discern the important motivating factors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Managing drought in mountain resort communities: Colorado's experiences
|
[
"Tourism",
"General management",
"Colorado"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The twenty-first century in Colorado started with what many media sources and public officials referred to as \"the worst drought in Colorado history\". A multi-year drought event, with its peak in 2002, affected the entire state, resulting in significant water shortages. Detailed climatological analyses (Pielke et al., 2005) proved that precipitation deficits were not exceptional in all areas of the state. It was the combined effect of decreased precipitation, evaporation losses, increased temperatures, and higher than average municipal and agricultural water demands, which resulted in a drought event that not only affected Colorado's economy and environment but lead to the conclusion that \"Colorado society is now more vulnerable to ...drought than in the past\" (Pielke et al., 2005).A drought management approach that includes proactive mitigation measures, preparedness, planning and careful evaluation of available water resources tends to increase communities' adaptive capacity and reduce drought vulnerability. The Colorado Drought Mitigation and Response Plan (State of Colorado, 2001) created an institutional structure for interactions between responsible agencies throughout the state in the event of a drought. The plan was originally developed in 1981, was revised in 2000, placing more emphasis on drought mitigation, and activated for the first time since 1981 in 2002.In early 2002, Colorado was in its fourth consecutive year of below-normal precipitation. In January, snow pack levels were measured at 65 percent of normal. By April, the statewide snow pack totals had declined to 52 percent of normal. In addition to persistent dryness, above-normal temperatures accelerated evaporative losses and increased demand on available water supplies. In April 2002, the Colorado Governor requested activation of the Colorado's Drought Mitigation and Response Plan (Byers, 2002) and convened all state drought impact task forces to recommend drought response measures, which included federal and charitable aid for supporting fire-fighting efforts and financial assistance to farmers. A Presidential Disaster Declaration for the 2002 Colorado wildfires aided thousands of Coloradans in areas affected by fire.Impacts from this drought event were significant and wide-spread, affecting agricultural production (e.g., Webb et al., 2005), municipal water supplies (Kenney et al., 2003), and the tourism industry. Every sector of the tourism industry, especially summer-oriented tourism activities, in Colorado was negatively affected by the drought. In fact, most service oriented businesses in resort communities, such as restaurants, retail stores, and groceries, experienced reduced economic activity. In addition, dangerous wildfire conditions and smoke, national park and campgrounds closures, and extensive media coverage of the Colorado wildfires significantly reduced summer tourism.A number of studies have been conducted to address societal vulnerability to drought in the context of agriculture (e.g., Wilhelmi and Wilhite, 2002) and water management (e.g. Knutson and Hayes, 2001), but little has been done to look at the local level drought preparedness and responses in communities dependent on recreation and tourism. In Colorado, tourism accounts for approximately US$8.5 billion of the state's economy in a given year. Skiing, the largest sector of the tourism industry, accounts for 19 percent (US$1,368 million) of total tourism spending (State of Colorado, 2002). Reliance of many Colorado tourism and recreational activities on water availability (e.g. rafting and skiing), in addition to increasing population migration to mountain areas, increases water demands. These trends suggest a likely increased vulnerability of resort communities to drought, which correlates with the overall statewide increase in societal vulnerability to drought (Pielke et al., 2005).In this article we investigate the impacts and vulnerabilities that are specific to the mountain resort communities (with some implications for the tourism industry, in general, as well). Based on the case study of drought conducted in Colorado mountain communities, we share experiences and lessons learned from this drought event and provide a set of practical recommendations in order to mitigate drought impacts in the future and decrease societal vulnerability to drought.\nCase study: 2001-2003 drought in Colorado: Impacts of drought largely depend on societal vulnerability and the level of preparedness at the time drought occurs. The multi-year drought event in Colorado centering on 2002 presented an opportunity to study unique challenges to resort communities during droughts, in particular, the complex interplay between environmental sustainability, economic vitality, and social perceptions. This drought event also provided an opportunity for communities, government officials and resort managers to assess their level of preparedness for extended periods of dryness.Goal and methodology\nLessons learned: Several important lessons learned through this study have implications for all resort communities vulnerable to drought events. The first of these lessons was that drought alone was not responsible for creating the variety of impacts that had an effect on Colorado resort communities during this drought event. Other factors contributing to the impacts on these communities included the wildfires, the threat of terrorism and war following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, an overall decline in the US economy, an increase in gas prices, West Nile Virus concerns, grasshopper infestations, and national trends in tourism. It is important to realize that in all cases, the complex interaction between local conditions and the climatological, economic, and social issues at a variety of scales determine the magnitude of impacts association with drought events on resort communities.The recent drought event in Colorado highlighted the importance of water resources to the economic well-being of resort communities. In the western United States, there are already a variety of interests competing for the limited water resources in the region, including the combination of rapidly growing mountain development and reliance on water resources for recreational and tourism activities. One might think that adding a severe drought into this competitive environment would cause serious conflicts. On the contrary, this particular drought event created a situation where, in particular for those resorts and communities isolated from urban centers, there was the desire and necessity for cooperation in order to get through the difficult times of drought and seemed to generate necessary discussion around water resource management. In order to sustain local economies, cooperation developed in many instances between various sectors, including agriculture and tourism, the resort itself and a resort community, and also between communities themselves.Another lesson learned was that the recreation and tourism sector in general, and resort communities in particular, are very sensitive to both media and public perceptions. There were several very clear examples of this, and it drove home the point that \"all publicity is good publicity\" may not be true for resort communities. While the media were very quick to point out stories about the negative impacts of droughts and wildfires across Colorado, drought recovery stories were not considered newsworthy. Resort communities had to identify ways to shift marketing and the media to focus on positives. The Colorado Office of Tourism also developed a comprehensive public relations plan during the summer of 2002 as part of the Drought Task Force activities. Because of the sensitive nature of perception on recreation and tourism, officials must be extremely careful requesting financial relief aid and should ensure that the geographic and sector requirements of this aid are clearly described. In this way, the request does not perpetuate negative perceptions that could affect people's decision to travel there. Several communities had communication plans in place, recognizing that media and public perceptions are critical.\nRecommendations: Based on the lessons learned from the study, a set of recommendations have been developed that apply to Colorado resort communities, yet are general enough that they also apply for any resort community vulnerable to drought impacts.1. Improve communication and coordination\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate drought impacts and vulnerabilities specific to mountain resort communities and the implications for the tourism industry, in order to derive a set of recommendations for reducing drought vulnerability of this economic sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article presents the results from a case study conducted in Colorado, USA, mountain communities evaluating the multi-year drought that culminated in 2002. Using qualitative research methods, a series of interviews were conducted to garner the experiences of state and local tourism officials, ski resort representatives, and environmental, municipal and agricultural organizations.\nFindings: - This study finds that drought alone was not responsible for creating the variety of direct and secondary impacts on Colorado resort communities. The paper highlights the importance of water resources to the economic wellbeing of resort communities and recognizes the critical roles of communication, planning, media and public perception during a drought.\nOriginality/value: - Societal vulnerability in mountain resort communities in relation to drought has rarely been addressed in the literature. The study provides specific recommendations to the resort managers and tourism officials for mitigating drought impacts of, and reducing resort communities' vulnerability to, drought.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Is the Middle East the land of the future? It is not a given!
|
[
"Economic development",
"Middle East",
"Land of the future",
"Sports development",
"Sports"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This viewpoint paper seeks to establish to what extent the Middle East may be prepared for an evaluation of readiness on the looming deadline of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Additional areas of focus and interest include whether the region has ticked enough boxes thus far? If not, can it tick these boxes come 2015?Building on the theme of the special issue on \"Is the Middle East the land of the future?\" the article highlights the achievements recorded by Middle East economies, as well as the challenges - past, present and future - facing the region in the run up to the looming 2015 deadline.As already documented in the guest editorial, considering that goal 3 has been the main focus of most papers in this special issue, it is only appropriate to dedicate this concluding piece to the readiness question, especially as it concerns achieving the other seven goals stipulated in the MDG framework - i.e. poverty eradication (goal 1); universal education (goal 2); child health, maternal health and the HIV problem (goals 4, 5 and 6); environmental sustainability (goal 7); and global partnerships development (goal 8).Following this section, the paper sets out to outline, in section two, the achievements thus far. In that section the future of the Middle East is evaluated through the sports investment lens (see Madichie, 2011a, b) as a means to developing a conceptual framework for a better understanding of the strides that have been made towards achieving the UN MDGs within the 2015 deadline. This is followed by what is considered a galvanizing theme - i.e. leveraging sports; what has become an area of multi-billion dollar investments from the region, and related to goal #8 on global partnerships being forged by most Middle Eastern economies in the field of education and sports. The implications of these on other MDGs such as health, the poverty question, gender neutrality and environmental sustainability are also highlighted.\n2. Land of the future - is the Middle East on course?: To unravel the motivation of the region's gargantuan investments in global sports ranging from Formula One racing (Bahrain, Istanbul, UAE, Abu Dhabi, Qatar); through Tennis (Dubai, Doha); to Football (Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Getafe, Paris St Germain, FIFA World Cup 2022). Indeed the business of sports is phenomenal and the region has been more involved in the multibillion spending in sports in general and football in particular, which raises questions as to motivations and implications of such investments. Moreover, as the region prepares to witness the first mega event of the magnitude of the FIFA World Cup (Qatar 2022), and potentially bidding for the 2020 Olympics (Turkey), the question about being the land of the future becomes ever more pertinent.The approach taken by this paper is in an area where the region has made some of the most news headlines - i.e. sports, and the importance of sector as the new \"engine of growth\" -requiring traditional business and management strategies, tools and techniques. Just as an illustration, both Manchester United (partnership with Turkish Airlines) and FC Barcelona (sponsorship deals with Qatar Foundation and now Qatar Airways) are listed on world stock exchanges. Sports development in the region is, therefore, advanced as the galvanizing force behind the required global partnerships of the MDGs (i.e. goal 8).Reflecting upon recent events in the global sports landscape and their implications for the Middle East (Madichie, 2011a, b), especially in their aspiration to be the future destination of the sport, this study draws upon a mixture of interviews, personal observation and a documentary analysis of media reports. The main objective is to provide insights into how the Middle East may need to reshape their future aspirations towards becoming the land of the future - albeit through sports.However, even as the tiny Gulf State of Qatar has \"controversially\" won the hosting rights of the greatest football event in the world (i.e. FIFA World Cup football), its FIFA world ranking puts it just within the top 100 global footballing nations (ranked 98 as at February 2013) same as its sibling, the UAE - both eighth and ninth position in the AFC behind the likes of even Jordan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq. Paradoxically both Qatar and the UAE have made the most investments in sports, and especially football, in recent years.2.1 Sports development\n3. Discussion: The Middle East region, which groups together the wealthy Gulf oil-producers with Turkey, Israel, Cyprus and Syria, as well as politically volatile countries such as Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories (Reinl, 2010) is a contradictory geographic entity. However the richer GCC States and key players such as Turkey and Iran are making individual and fragmented progress - which poses challenges for a Middle East coalition. In any case an attempt is first made to highlight progress made by the region on its torturous route to the 2015 MDG deadline. The discussion here is reliant upon the conceptual framework provided in Figure 1, from global partnerships (notably through sports) to progress on other areas especially environmental sustainability.Before going into the specific MDGs it is worth highlighting that the Middle East is a region renowned for global foreign direct investment in a range of sectors from the environment (notably IRENA-Masdar) through sports (investments in football clubs either through acquisitions or sponsorships), global media (Al Jazeera's recent forays into the US market), aviation (where they big carriers such as Etihad, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have been known to forge strategic alliances with big names such as American Airlines, British Airways and more recently Qantas). Indeed such global partnerships are gargantuan, but the question is that of how they impact the MDGs, which is the main focus of this special issue.3.1 Global partnerships\n4. Conclusions and implications: It is worth recalling that the United Nations has communicated sports worldwide as a means to promoting education, health, development and peace. Sport has a number of unique factors including mass media distribution and communication power, youth appeal, positive health impacts, social interaction and sustainability awareness. What it then means is that through gargantuan investments in sports from the Middle East, the spillover effects in meeting the MDGs need to be some form of benchmark for success. Whether this has been achieved is another matter.Indeed the challenge of meeting the 2015 deadline of the MDG in the Middle East can be seen as mixed at best and perhaps a tall order for most parts of the region. While countries such as those in the GCC trade bloc, Turkey and Iran might have made outstanding progress in terms of forging global partnerships, the same cannot be said for over a dozen others. Poverty remains a key issue and so also is health and education. It seems very much like the power of sports in the development of the latter two has not been effectively leveraged. Furthermore, the contribution of women in the economic development of the region remains fragmented at best. On the balance of probability, therefore, it is persuasive to argue that the Middle East, as Richard Slaughter once said about America, \"[...] is not the future, but may be part of it.\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to be a conceptual contribution to the special issue on \"Is the Middle East the land of the future?\". It aims to provide a holistic picture of the efforts of the Middle East towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using investments in sports, as a galvanizing force. The paper concludes that, on the balance of probability, this might not be a given.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on personal observations and documentary analysis of numerous studies including those in this special issue.\nFindings: - Although the Middle East has made \"front page\" news on most global media platforms - albeit for a variety of reasons, there are signs not to be too optimistic as to whether this geographic entity is, by default, the land of the future.\nResearch limitations/implications: - As a conceptual piece, this article cannot be generalized across the expanse of what constitutes the Middle East. Most of the observations are based on the most boisterous in the region - notably members of the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC) and Turkey with its rising regional influence.\nPractical implications: - While the Middle East may have been in the global spotlight, there remain challenges that cannot be so easily wished away. One such is the inability to leverage the investment in sports in a sustainable global partnership that spills over into other MDGs. There are persuasive arguments for deeper integration rather than what seems to be the fragmented sibling rivalry across the Middle East.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides a holistic framework for analyzing a region that has been bedeviled with unrest in recent years; and one that has, to a very large extent, weathered the storm of the Arab Spring and attracted global attention.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The influence of culture on impulse buying
|
[
"Power distance",
"Culture",
"Impulse buying",
"Individualism/collectivism",
"Masculinity/femininity",
"Uncertainty/avoidance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to microeconomic theory, a simple rational buying decision starts by recognizing a need, and it continues with setting a budget, identifying product offerings, and gathering information. Impulse buying can be defined as a departure from this ideal system (Wood, 1998). Beatty and Ferrell (1998) define impulse buying as a sudden and immediate purchase without pre-shopping intention either to buy a specific product or fulfill a task.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Impulse buying\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Background\n4. Results: 4.1 Results: Vietnam\n5. Discussion: The main research results show that culture generates particular effects on impulse buying behavior that diverge across the three countries. For Turkey and Vietnam, the present study has not found any relationship between impulse buying behavior and individualism/collectivism. In Sweden, however, there is a significant and positive relationship between impulse buying behavior and collectivism. This positive relationship could be attributed to the distinctive nature of Swedish culture, which, according to Triandis and Gelfand (1998), has the characteristics of sameness, equality, and conformity. These characteristics can be attributed to collectivism; at the same time, Swedish culture also exhibits characteristics of individualism, which is at the other end of the spectrum and emphasizes independence and self-sufficiency. Daun (1996) also argues that Swedes have a tendency to underline similarities, sameness, and mutual understanding. The amalgamation of both individualistic and collectivist attributes is highlighted in the study of Kalogeraki (2009) as well. Therefore, it can be assumed that the findings derived from this study could be interpreted in the light of distinctive characteristics of Swedish culture. This culture carries both individualistic and collectivistic characteristics that may contribute to a positive relationship between collectivism and impulse buying behavior.\n6. Theoretical and managerial implications: In many consumer behavior studies, researchers have made an effort to understand impulse buying (Lim and Yazdanifard, 2015), which is a psychologically complex phenomenon (Rook, 1987). However, cultural influences on impulse buying are under investigated (Muruganantham and Bhakat, 2013), and this study attempts to fill the gap. The study expands the comprehension of impulse buying by looking further into the role of culture, which provides a different perspective in the impulse buying literature. The cultural role of impulse buying was brought up by a few researchers in the literature, but Hofstede's four cultural dimensions and their relationship to impulse buying behavior is tested for the first time in the literature across three different countries: Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam.\n7. Future research and limitations: Despite the theoretical and managerial implications of this study, the data analysis reveals relatively low R2 value, which clearly calls for further research that incorporates additional factors to address the variance in impulse buying behavior. Rubinfeld (2000) discusses that low R2 is a sign of the unexplained portion of the model, but it does not necessarily indicate a poor model. Furthermore, it should be highlighted that globalization is causing remarkable changes in society, which can be seen with diminishing homogeneity within the countries and increasing homogeneity and commonalities across the globe (Khanna, 2012). Therefore, the effect of culture on impulse buying could be decreased by this homogeneity across the globe, which could be one of the reasons for the low R2. Further research could include other factors such as external factors, personality traits or situational factors to increase explanatory power.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to expand the understanding of impulse buying behavior by looking further into the role of culture in cross-cultural contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-cultural questionnaire was administered across three countries, namely, Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam.\nFindings: Culture impacts impulse buying behavior of subjects with different cultural backgrounds. However, the findings also indicate that other factors may affect impulse buying behavior.\nOriginality/value: The cultural role on impulse buying was brought up by a few researchers in the literature, but Hofstede's model of four cultural dimensions and their relationship to impulse buying behavior is tested for the first time in the literature across three different countries: Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam, which, respectively, represent northern Europe, southern Europe/a part of West Asia and South East Asia.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Developing relational capabilities in hotels
|
[
"Supplier relations",
"Vendor relations",
"Hotel and catering industry",
"Competitive strategy",
"Outsourcing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Highly significant changes are currently taking place in tourism, with a notable increase in competition between hotel companies and especially between emerging and consolidated tourist destinations. The first consequence of this competitive environment is the need for hotels to rethink their competitive strategy. They must broaden their perspectives beyond a mere internal vision that aims to consolidate their competitive position over other hotels to include an external view where relations play an important role in maintaining levels of attraction and profitability. This relational view introduces a new perspective when analyzing the sector's problems; a perspective characterized by a holistic conception of hotel companies interacting among themselves, and of the different factors comprising the destination.From this perspective, the competitiveness of a determined company is based on joint action in a set of aspects within the internal and external environments, with the feature that it is the appropriate combination of both spheres to generate competitive advantage through the creation of value to the customers. The same question arises again: how to create value to the end consumer in today's hotel activity. The answer is literally the same answer, namely, by increasing utilities and reducing costs. However, what has changed significantly in recent years is not so much the \"what\", but the \"how\". The problem lies in the conception or mental model with which to meet the challenges appearing in the hotel sector because of increased competition, changes in consumer preferences, and the advanced stage of the life cycle of some tourist destinations. In this context, the \"how\" of creating higher value is more related to the development of relational capabilities since that is the way for the company to increase the efficacy and efficiency of its processes and activities and so improve its competitiveness.This work addresses that problem by contributing a methodology to develop relational capabilities in the outsourcing of activities, since the internal vision of the resource and capability theory (Barney, 1991; Grant, 1991; Rumelt, 1984, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1984) is shown to be insufficient for hotel management in contexts of hyper-competitiveness. Kim and Oh (2004) echo that and propose a model made up of Porter's five-forces approach, the resource-based approach and the relational approach. Moreover, it becomes clear that one key aspect for the competitiveness of hotel companies faced with the new challenges is the development and consolidation of relational capabilities since it is not enough to propose conceptual models that stress the need for the relational view. It is also necessary to determine how those relational capabilities can be achieved in order to consolidate each hotel's internal core competence. At the same time, additional competitive advantage is generated, thus promoting a core competence that embraces the entire network in which the hotels operate.\nMethodology to develop relational capabilities: Relational capabilities can be defined as superior skill(s) to manage resources shared between companies. From the process perspective they can also be defined as superior skills to manage the resources that play a part in a single process shared between companies. Relational capabilities are steadily created as a result of a lasting relationship between two or more companies (hotel-hotel, hotel-supplier, hotel-hotel-supplier, supplier-supplier). The characteristics of relational capabilities are related to their being idiosyncratic to the relationship between companies, to the great difficulty in imitating them due to their gradual generation over time, the high transaction cost that dispensing with a partner and finding a new one would involve, and the generation of additional rents. Any new relationship represents a new process of adaptation and integration at different levels, such as the cultural level, the definition of shared values, operational values, team work, transfer of knowledge, joint planning and taking of joint decisions.The main questions to be asked are: \"How are relational capabilities developed in the outsourcing of activities in hospitality?\", \"How can opportunities to develop relational capabilities be identified?\" and \"How can the extent of the development of relational capabilities be evaluated?\" With regard to the first question, Dyer and Singh (1998) consider that the sources of relational rents depend on specific assets in the relationship, shared knowledge and routines, complementary resources and capabilities and efficient governance of the relationship. However, for those relational rents to materialize in something practical and tangible, we consider it necessary to follow a process comprising the following stages (see Figure 1).Stage 1: internal analysis of resources and capabilities\nBasic processes to develop relational capabilities: The processes and the level of integration form the basis of the study to develop relational capabilities; therefore, this section contains a more detailed analysis of those aspects. Processes can be defined in various ways since companies that theoretically compete with one another and operate in the same sector may have significantly different notions of how to define the processes, determine their number and establish the scope of their internal and external development. Table II shows the principal processes within the hotel activity. It can be seen that superior relational capabilities have to be developed both vertically backward (e.g.: planning and governance processes, logistics, sales process), and forward (e.g.: loyalty process) or outsourcing (processes of transfer of information and knowledge, accommodation, food and beverage, human resources and maintenance). In any of those processes superimposed structures based on collateral relationships between hotels can be proposed. In that case, two or more hotels reach temporary agreements in order to improve the processes through collective integration of processes at their different levels. The hotels decide to share activities or entire processes with the aim of achieving a critical mass that enables them to create relational capabilities more easily, e.g., share customer data bases and jointly negotiate with the tour operators. Moreover, companies in the same sector, but in different countries, may have significantly different notions.As previously mentioned, relational capabilities are constructed through process integration between companies so that processes and their activities constitute the basic unit of analysis. In these circumstances, how can it be determined that a determined process or activity has become or is becoming a relational capability? This is a highly complex question that requires a detailed analysis of different aspects. Firstly, the level of process integration that converts the process into a relational capability depends on the levels obtained in the sector, especially by competitors. Secondly, the processes are made up of activities and so one way of determining the level of development of relational capabilities is by the number of activities performed, independently of who performs them. At this point we should establish that, according to Lambert et al. (1996), two or more companies act in process integration when they share a significant level of integration and each considers the other(s) an extension of itself with there generally being no \"end-date\" for the partnership relationship. We should add that there is a fluid and spontaneous exchange of information and knowledge and a climate suitable for team work, joint learning and innovation is generated. Thirdly, not all processes have the same impact on the creation of competitive advantage, therefore, each of them must be evaluated, and the basic processes that support the development of the hotels' relational strategy must be established. Fourthly, the evolutionary process of relationships between companies is what determines the degree of idiosyncrasy and specificity as well as the ability to differentiate from competitors. Finally, in practice, relational capabilities become apparent through additional rents. Although, in the beginning there is no reason why they should materialize in increased performance, it is their continuous action over time that results in the consolidation of those additional rents in companies that collaborate closely to optimize activities.\nOutsourcing and collateral relational capabilities: Outsourcing is becoming a strategic function of great importance to the hotel sector. Although relationships with service companies constitute an opportunity to develop relational capabilities, the procedures to obtain a competitive advantage on that basis have not been widely addressed in the academic literature. Figure 3 shows a model with two dimensions for the development of relational capabilities in outsourced activities, based on the analysis of activities according to their strategic contribution to the company's objectives and the competence of the companies. This perspective is exclusively internal, that is, the individual approach of a company to the need to outsource determined activities and so develop relational capabilities with service companies. However, there is another relational perspective, the collateral perspective, where focal companies operating on the same level and, therefore competing with one another, decide to cooperate. This orientation to relationships contributes a new approach to understanding relational capabilities that has a great impact not only on hotel chains and associations, but also on the competitiveness of tourist destinations. This is because cooperation between focal companies is essential to be able to plan a destination with possibilities of attaining a position in such a dynamic and competitive sector as tourism.Outsourcing relational capabilities\nConclusions: The analysis of relational capabilities currently constitutes a topic of great academic interest because of the significant increase of strategic alliances, partnership relationships and outsourcing. Dyer and Singh (1998) establish the sources of obtaining additional rents but do not examine the means and procedures that must be followed to achieve and develop relational capabilities. This article focuses on the study of relational capabilities in the hotel sector and concludes that a methodology aimed at creating them and strengthening them must start with an internal analysis based on the resource and capability theory. The clarification of the internal perspective is what permits the relational analysis to be addressed; an analysis that can be verified in various directions: suppliers, service outsourcing, collateral relationships and customer loyalty promotion.Another aspect that becomes clear is that having a good, close relationship with another company is insufficient if it does not lead to additional rents. In this respect, the integration of processes is the main operational aspect leading to the materialization of sources of additional rents providing that the aim is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the processes while simplifying or eliminating activities that do not create value to the end consumer. The combination of those three perspectives results in the creation and consolidation of relational capabilities. In turn, these have a direct effect on the reinforcement of the relational capabilities of the hotel companies in the relationship. That effect is the materialization of additional rents, differentiation from competitors, and concentration of resources and capabilities on the activities comprising the core competence. A double loop feedback is also generated between the reinforcement of associative and internal competitive advantage. Some of the aspects proposed in this article are difficult to consider in the industrial or services sector since a different analysis is required in the tourism sector. Competitiveness in the tourism sector is analyzed by the efficiency and quality offered by a destination rather than by a specific hotel. Therefore, collaboration is necessary at all imaginable levels, considering that joint resources and capabilities that favour the hotel in the first and last instances can be obtained from the sum of possible collaborations.Self-assessment\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to show that relational capabilities is a topic of interest for the competitiveness of hotel companies. This paper aims to present a methodology based on the analysis of processes in order to create and strengthen relational capabilities and proposes a model with three dimensions that jointly analyzes this phenomenon in relation to the outsourcing of activities and the collateral relationships maintained between different hotels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Creates a methodology to rethink the relationships between the hotel company, its suppliers and other hotels in the same tourist destination. The creation of relational capabilities necessarily requires the hotel to study and analyze the following stages: internal analysis of resources and capabilities; relational analysis of activities; and process integration. A model is also proposed to analyze this question.\nFindings: - The development of relational capabilities in outsourcing is based on the level of competence of the service companies and on the strategic contribution of the activities, with four cases analyzed: high competence and low strategic contribution; low competence and high strategic contribution; low competence and low strategic value; and relational and internal capabilities. The joint analysis of the outsourcing relationships and collateral relationships among hotels adds a third dimension of process integration, with four possibilities: non-core activities and low collateral processes integration; core activities and low collateral processes integration; non-core activities and high collateral process integration; and core activities and high collateral processes integration.\nPractical implications: - A short self-assessment questionnaire is developed that may help hotels to implement the methodology, as well as to create the basis for the empirical application by researchers in hospitality management.\nOriginality/value: - The paper studies the possibilities of developing relational capabilities in the sector. It also determines the process to be followed in order to develop relational capabilities in the outsourcing of activities and in collateral relationships between hotels.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The emergence of the customer relationship portfolio of a new venture: a networking process
|
[
"Interaction",
"Networking",
"Customer relationships",
"New ventures",
"Customer portfolio"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The ways in which initial business relationships impact the development of new ventures has gained increasing attention among IMP researchers (Aaboen et al., 2017; La Rocca et al., 2013). Several empirical studies testify that initial customer-supplier relationships affect the development of a new venture (La Rocca et al., 2017). Those initial relationships allow the new business venture to connect to existing resources held by others (Ciabuschi et al., 2012) and to gain \"a face\" within the ever-changing business network (Axelsson, 1992; La Rocca et al., 2017). But, if initiating a relationship with a customer is not easy for start-ups (Aaboen et al., 2017), it is likely even more difficult for new ventures to deal with an emerging portfolio of customer relationships (Havenvid and La Rocca, 2017). Furthermore, the first customer relationship(s) for a new venture are an extremely important asset, but it can also easily transform into a burden (Baraldi et al., 2017).\n2. The emergence a new venture's customer relationships portfolio: Our theoretical framework touches upon two streams of literature. The first focuses on better understanding the process of new venture development from a business network perspective (reported in Section 2.1) and addresses the topic of initiating business relationships. This literature is complemented by insights from studies on customer relationship portfolio (reported in Section 2.2).\n3. Method: The paper uses a single longitudinal case study methodology (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2009; Stake, 1995) to shed light on the emergence and development of a new venture's customer relationship portfolio. We adopt a case study and qualitative methodology due to the explorative nature of our study and the limited extant knowledge on this topic (Voss et al., 2002). Indeed, to our knowledge, there is no previous study that empirically examines the topic of customer relationships portfolio in the context of new ventures.\n4. The story of Hyperlean: 4.1 Hyperlean in a nutshell\n5. Discussion: We now discuss the Hyperlean case by addressing our two research questions concerning how the customer portfolio of the new venture emerged and how initial relationships affected subsequent customer relationships. Looking at how Hyperlean's portfolio developed, there is no doubt this new venture had an impressive journey, going from 0 to about 100 customer relationships in only seven years. A careful look at this development reveals an interesting pattern showing a slow start, with a lot of resistance in acquiring the first 25 customers in the first five years, and then an explosion with about 75 customers acquired in just the past two years.\n6. Conclusions and implications: Our findings confirm the important role of early relationships in shaping the development of new ventures (Aaboen et al., 2011; Baraldi et al., 2018; La Rocca et al., 2017), but penetrate more in the details of how specific relationships orient this development by favoring connections to specific customers at the expense of others or by explicitly creating such connections. Our study confirms the \"imprinting\" effect the initial relationships have on the development of new ventures (Aaboen et al., 2011) and provides evidence of the role some relationships have in facilitating the initiation of new business relationships (Aaboen et al., 2017). Another important result of our study is that it takes time to create such connections, delaying the effect of actual customer acquisition, but the cumulative effect of these connections can expand very rapidly as soon as several elements (internal to the company, e.g. a dedicated sales force, as well as external elements, e.g. a reputation acquired via referrals or distributors' contacts) fall into place.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: While several studies have focused on the initial phases of new ventures and their first customer and supplier relationships, we have a limited understanding of how the new venture's portfolio of customer relationships emerges. This paper aims to explore the emergence of the customer relationship portfolio of a new venture and to investigate the effects of early relationships on subsequent ones.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Methodologically, the authors rely on a longitudinal single case study of a new venture which develops, implements and sells customized cost-management software. The study is exploratory and based on 24 in-depth interviews.\nFindings: The findings show that the development of a customer portfolio depends on the cumulative effect of heterogeneous elements and network connections. These include the initial link between the new venture and the first customer and a subsequent series of interconnections that develop with the emerging network capability of the new venture.\nOriginality/value: As one of the few studies that explore the emergence of new ventures' customer relationship portfolio, this study demonstrates the value of applying a relational/network approach for studying relationship portfolio dynamics.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Effect of Lean Six Sigma on quality performance in Malaysian hospitals
|
[
"Hospitals",
"Lean Six Sigma",
"Quality performance",
"Top management commitment",
"Workforce management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Healthcare is a service industry with unique characteristics. In healthcare, customers are the immediate patients followed by their families and friends, as the outcome of the healthcare service potentially affects all their lives. Error or mistake in this field can be devastating to individuals and groups alike as lives and quality of life are at risk. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a report \"To err is human: building a safer health system\" which estimated that up to 98,000 people die annually in the USA due to medical errors (Hunt, 2002). However, a new report published in the Journal of Patient Safety reveals that each year 210,000-400,000 patients die because of preventable adverse events in US hospitals (Allen, 2013). Those figures would make such medical errors the third leading cause of death in America behind heart disease, which is the first and cancer, which is the second according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Allen, 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Lean Six Sigma\n3. Methodology: The present study used stratified random sampling to collect data from 15 selected hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. The research questionnaire measured LSS, top management commitment, workforce management, and quality performance of the hospital based on 36 items. Out of these 36 items, five items measured the top management commitment of the hospitals which adopted from Harmancioglu et al. (2010) and Guesalaga (2014), six items measured the workforce management which adopted from Kennedy and Daim (2010) and Zeng et al. (2015), seven items measured the quality performance which adopted from Gowen et al. (2012) and Antony and Kumar (2012), and 18 items measured the six sub-variables of LSS, namely continuous quality improvement, Six Sigma initiatives, Lean initiatives, patient safety, value-added activity, and teamwork. These sub-variables items were adopted from previous studies (e.g. Gowen et al., 2012; Antony and Kumar, 2012; El-Jardali et al., 2014). The respondents of the study included only doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical laboratory technologists. The research data were collected from four different regions in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Central region (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor), Northern region (Penang, Kedah, and Perak), Southern region (Johor Baru and Melaka), and Eastern region (Pahang). In this study, 673 self-administered questionnaires were distributed randomly to the respondents to obtain 335 useful responses which gave a 49.47 per cent response rate. Outliers, normality, confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) were undertaken using SPSS version 23 and AMOS version 22.\n4. Data analysis: 4.1 Outliers and normality\n5. Discussion and conclusions: The present research outcomes indicated that the LSS approach and workforce management have direct and significant influence on quality performance of the Malaysian hospitals. The findings also indicated that there is no significant relationship between top management commitment and quality performance in the Malaysian healthcare organisations. Though research findings indicated that top management commitment has no direct significant impact on quality performance, it has an indirect significant impact on quality performance through the mediating effects of the LSS approach and workforce management. Thus, top management commitment alone cannot influence on quality performance of the healthcare organisation without the mediating effects of LSS applications and workforce management.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and workforce management on the quality performance of Malaysian hospitals. This paper also investigates the direct and indirect relationships between top management commitment and quality performance of the healthcare organisations in Malaysia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study applied stratified random sampling to collect data from 15 different hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. The self-administered survey questionnaires were distributed among 673 hospital staff (i.e. doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical laboratory technologists) to obtain 335 useful responses with a 49.47 per cent valid response rate. The research data were analysed based on confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling by using AMOS version 23 software.\nFindings: The research findings indicated that LSS and workforce management have a significant impact on quality performance of the Malaysian hospitals, whereas senior management commitment was found to have an insignificant relationship with quality performance. The research findings indicate that senior management commitment has no direct significant relationship with quality performance, but it has an indirect significant relationship with quality performance through the mediating effects of LSS and workforce management.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research focussed solely on healthcare organisations in Malaysia and thus the results might not be applicable for other countries as well as other service organisations.\nOriginality/value: This research provides theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions for the LSS approach and the research findings are expected to provide guidelines to enhance the level of quality performance in healthcare organisations in Malaysia as well as other countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Managerial insights into sachet marketing strategies and popularity in the Philippines
|
[
"Philippines",
"Consumer goods",
"Marketing strategy",
"Sachet marketing",
"Package size",
"Multinational companies",
"Distribution systems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Whether as trial packs or regular stock keeping units, piecemeal purchase options like sachets provide an ingenious way of marketing consumer goods often used to face up to challenges such as introducing product lines or confronting economic realities in developing world markets. The markets for consumer goods in small packs have expanded from lower income groups at the bottom of the pyramid to middle and even upper income groups. The top three reasons for the acceptance of sachet marketing across economic strata, according to the findings of this study, are accessibility, affordability, and dosage controllability.\nThe objective and contribution of the study: Although previous studies have explained the reasons for the success of sachet marketing in such economies as the Philippines and India (Hammond and Prahalad, 2004; Mahajan and Banga, 2006; and Singh et al., 2009) and have investigated the effect of package sizes (Chen, 1997; Granger and Billson, 1972; Jardine, 2006; Pornpitakpan, 2010; Rundh, 2005; and Wansink, 1996), there has been little analysis of multinational consumer goods companies' strategies that caused the quick acceptance of sachets by consumers in urban and rural areas alike. This study aims to fill this gap in research and shows, through in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight marketing managers of multinational consumer goods companies operating in the Philippines, how companies have adopted the traditional piecemeal retailing and adapted their strategies to create what is now a burgeoning sachet market. This study contributes to literature by providing key managerial insights into sachet marketing strategies of the world's prominent multinational consumer goods companies in the Philippines, where sachet marketing is extremely popular throughout the country.\nMethods: This study adopts the use of case studies (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007; Dyder and Wilkins, 1991; Wilson and Vlosky, 1997; and Yin, 2003). Based on Eisenhardt's (1991) conclusion that the use of four to ten cases could work well in theory building, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight marketing managers of multinational consumer goods companies in the Philippines [one each from Nestle, Kraft, Universal Robina Corporation (URC) and L'Oreal, and two each from Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Johnson & Johnson (J&J)]. All these managers were responsible for marketing their products in sachet both in urban and rural areas. These companies were selected due to their global coverage, reputation, and active sachet marketing in several countries. Many of them are leaders in sachet marketing (Mahajan and Banga, 2006; Prahalad, 2006) and dominant players in the market (see Table I). The interviewees were senior marketing managers who had considerable experience and involvement in sachet marketing for the whole country in their respective companies.Though the interviewees were asked similar questions, their responses differed in emphasis, which resulted in variegated discussions of the issues. Held in company premises, each interview lasted for around 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. The interviewees were asked background of their companies, followed by their company's decision to enter sachet marketing. They were probed about the reasons for using sachets, their experience in using such a strategy, and its impact on company performance. The interviews were recorded and transcribed for content analysis and were grouped into similar themes for each country. The researchers initially did the content analysis alone, and then all the resulting concepts were reanalyzed and reconciled to arrive at the final set of concepts.\nResults: The interview results show that the perceived top three factors favoring sachets are affordability or minimal cash-out for the consumers, portability or the convenience of the smaller packs, and setting of dosage that facilitates control over consumption. All the eight executives, regardless of product category, agree that sachet marketing has succeeded in the Philippines because of the low cash-out for the consumers, given the \"total proposition of price and volume\" for their immediate needs. It can be adjusted for promotional use, as well as for sustaining the presence of their brands among a wide spectrum of consumers across income groups. Due to portability and affordability, products in small packs are made available in practically all types of outlets - from mammoth wholesalers to ambulant peddlers - penetrating all segments of the society. It is precisely this flexible distribution channel, whether it is deemed systematic or not, that works as the substratum for the dynamic existence of sachet marketing in the Philippines.The rest of the paper elaborates on experiences and views of the marketing executives interviewed regarding sachet marketing.Affordability of products in sachets\nDiscussion: This study presents results of in-depth interviews with senior marketing managers of multinational companies in the Philippines to gain insights into the tremendous success of sachet marketing in the Philippines. Where appropriate, propositions are presented as managerial implications or observations awaiting future empirical investigations.The discussion below covers managerial advices and implications for using sachet marketing, factors to consider before employing sachet marketing, and suggestions for future research. Culling from the insights and observations of the Filipino executives of the multinational companies that have employed sachet marketing, this paper sets the benchmarks for companies to consider before launching new products in the sachet format.An important consideration is the establishment of the retail network, which has to render the substratum for distribution of downsized goods quickly enough for viable returns. The extensive distribution network within the country provides the convenience necessarily required by those who buy in sachets. The cost of having to purchase products in sachets more frequently should be compensated by the convenience afforded by the ubiquitous presence of corner stores and available financing.The frequency of wage payment (whether it is daily, weekly, or monthly) is another important factor that affects the success of sachet marketing. Daily wage earners' cash shortage allows sachet marketing to thrive since it is a way to match cash availability with the price of the product.Pricing within the coinage system of the country facilitates higher turnover by making transactions more convenient, as well as making the product look more affordable to buyers. These price points pose higher challenges to marketers who want to provide a level of quality within the set price.Next, products sold in sachets must be supported by sufficient advertising and promotion since corner stores will keep inventories of only products/brands that are heavily demanded by the market due to their limited resources and storage space. Furthermore, especially for semi-urban and rural markets, upfront visibility of the products is critical to sachet marketing success.Additionally, to succeed in sachet marketing, companies have to design sachets in a way that makes the packages look bigger than competing brands. This could be achieved through packaging design engineering and special offerings like a two-in-one package. Finally, pre-mixed products in sachets have garnered success not only in rural areas but also in urban cities, where target markets may include single households that may not know how to cook or prepare food or simply may not have the extra time needed to prepare the meal.Sachet marketing provides an easy avenue for marketers to introduce their products to new consumers while at the same time allowing present consumers the option to try several brands of the same product. Where no strong local brands exist, a multinational company may use sachet marketing to its advantage. However, when local brands are popular and sold at low prices, multinational companies' use of sachet marketing may not be that effective.For the hundreds of thousands of corner store retailers, products in sachets allow them to offer more product and brand varieties within their small shops. This may pave an easy way for new brands from multinational companies to penetrate this distribution channel. These corner stores may also attract new customers who may prefer more choices of products and brands.For the upper classes, products in sachets have always been convenient when they go on a trip. In fact, hotels and resorts have been adopting this product form for a long time. Continued presence in this segment may guarantee a group of stable customers.Whether as a means to control one's own consumption (e.g., buying cigarettes by the stick) or another person's consumption (e.g., house helpers' use of laundry soap), products in sachets should be promoted for the number of benefits they afford the consumers. An on-going effort to make unit costs of products in sachets lower compared to products in regular stock keeping units would provide greater benefits to consumers and may indeed be a strong motivation for consumers to become loyal to the brand. With this effort, there should be an agenda for coming up with biodegradable packaging materials.Apart from the benchmarks for success in sachet marketing that this paper discusses, studies have traced the socio-historical roots of the sachet marketing tradition, providing invaluable psychographics about predisposition of the Philippine consuming public and similarly situated markets in other countries to this retail modality. Though it may be obvious that sachet marketing enhances the resilience of both buyers and manufacturers (indeed, the entire market itself) in times of economic downturn, this study implies that the tradition of piecemeal retailing of global brands has the capacity to downsize and calibrate even the law of supply and demand. Further studies can pursue this implication, as well as all the other implications teeming in this study.In facilitating the penetration and spread of global brands in terms of both awareness and distribution down to the bottom of the economic pyramid, sachet marketing has somehow democratized taste and access, without compromising the image and positioning of prestigious brands. Developing the taste for Western things is deep rooted in former Western colonies. An earlier study (Ang and Sy-Changco, 2007) notes that sachet marketing usually works well in places with a strong colonial tradition. Therefore, to some extent, this study can also imply that globalization might be another face of neocolonialism.However, the environment that bears tons of discarded sachets and other non-biodegradable containers could groan for a return to reusable containers or biodegradable packs employed before the multinational companies adopted and modified the piecemeal retail modality. Perhaps it would take a while before they could catch up with their counterparts in the food service industry, which already use brown paper bags and carton clamshells for packaging. Otherwise, they risk losing their market share after stirring the ire of an increasingly conscientious public. How companies face up to this challenge will certainly be worth studying by those in the manufacturing business and worth watching by the consuming public.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide managerial insights into how consumer goods companies adopt the traditional mini-sized retail modalities and adjust their strategies to market sachets successfully in the Philippines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study uses case studies through semi-structured in-depth interviews with marketing managers from major multinational and regional companies that have used sachets as part of their marketing strategy.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that companies use sachet marketing to facilitate trials of new products and to deliver value across the market by making products more affordable and accessible. The extensive network of corner stores provides the distribution system needed to reach the farthest and remotest markets. To be successful, the brands must be popular and priced in a manner compatible with the coinage system in a market.\nOriginality/value: - There has been little analysis of consumer goods companies' strategies that cause quick acceptance of sachets. This study fills this gap in research and shows how companies have adopted the piecemeal retailing and adapted their strategies to create a burgeoning sachet market.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Impacts of family status and gender on the relationships between job demands, job control, and distress: Gender comparison among Korean employees
|
[
"Gender",
"Stress",
"South Korea",
"Job demands",
"Family roles",
"Job control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Despite increased attention to individual well-being in organizational studies, it has not been clearly understood how an employee's gender relates to distress, the negative aspect of general psychological stress that occurs when overall demands exceed individual capacity (Le Fevre et al., 2003). Research has revealed contradictory results on employee distress by gender. Several studies indicated that there is no gender difference in distress symptoms (Bakker et al., 2008; Gronlund, 2007). Some studies demonstrated that males experience a higher level of distress than females (Armon et al., 2010; Choi and Ha, 2009), while a number of studies verified the high vulnerability of females to distress symptoms (Hall et al., 2006; Herrero et al., 2012). From the traditional viewpoint which focuses only on the work domain, males and females exhibit different values of and responsibilities for work; thus, males generally reveal more distress symptoms than females in the workplace (Matthews et al., 2001).\nConservation of resources theory: Combining several models that demonstrate how resources can be overwhelmed (Barnett et al., 2012), conservation of resources (COR) theory has successfully predicted outcomes in organizational settings and employees' everyday distress (Hobfoll, 2001). Although the theory does not separate distress from eustress (positive stress), its reference to stress was used to mean negative stress. In COR theory, people preserve and protect their resources as much as possible by nature and education. Resources include, but are not limited to, valued objects, attainments, personal characteristics, physical and psychological conditions, energies and even gender status. Distress generally occurs when the value of the resource loss is greater than that gained or when an investment of resources fails to yield expectations (Grandey and Cropanzano; Hobfoll, 2001).\nGender roles in work-family domains: Another theory that supports our framework is the role theory that highlights individuals' \"hierarchical view of roles, with one salient or highly valued role\" (Symoens and Bracke, 2015, p. 50). Married individuals' lives are deeply influenced by the work and family system because they make daily transitions between work and family domains (Clark, 2000). As the two separate spheres operate in an open system and interrelate (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006), the inter-role conflict between work and family spheres is likely to bring negative outcomes, including job and family dissatisfaction, low job performance, poor performance of the parenting role and turnover (Moen et al., 2011).\nJob demands, job control and distress: Based on COR and role theories, we assume that the relationships between job demands, job control and distress are contextual. As employees' resources are finite, heavy job demands may create a great depletion of resources for employees (e.g. time, energy) in the process of juggling work and non-work domains (Grandey and Cropanzano, 1999; Symoens and Bracke, 2015). Korean employees' high job demands are deeply connected to their national culture. The hierarchical and collectivistic culture has been embedded in the organizational system in Korea resulting in a heavy emphasis on strong work ethic, loyalty to superiors and commitment to their organization, increasing employees' work pressures (Hemmert, 2012).\nMethods: This study was designed to compare the gender differences in the relationships between job demands/control and distress through family roles as a spouse or parent. The research model was depicted in Figure 1. The data were collected from Korean employees using a self-reported questionnaire survey. In total, 403 Korean employees fully responded through a convenience sampling that was useful for this study as the population requires specific conditions (i.e. a Korean who works in Korea, full-time and salaried) and is very large (the total number of employees who satisfy the conditions). To collect the data, we contacted HR managers in 16 manufacturing and finance companies in Korea; 14 companies accepted our request to invite their employees to participate in the survey. We provided detailed information on the research including the data collection procedure and survey materials. The HR managers distributed a letter of invitation via email with a follow-up reminder to potential participants one week later. The survey was conducted during a two-week time frame in 2014.\nMeasures: Distress\nAnalysis: We tested the common method bias of the data because of the use of a single self-reported questionnaire during the same period. To detect if the data contained a substantial common method effect, two approaches were examined: Harman's single-factor test using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a single-method-factor approach using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The EFA eigenvalues and scree plot indicated that three factors were detected which accounted for the majority of the variance of the data. The CFA results indicated that a common latent variable for all items of each measure accounted for 12.2 per cent of the total variance, suggesting that the data in this study may not be seriously biased by the common method variance (Williams et al., 1989).\nResults: In the data, there were 230 male and 173 female participants. The majority of men were in their 30s (49.1 per cent) and 40s (22.6 per cent); the majority of women were in their 20s (24.9 per cent) and 30s (38.7 per cent). The majority of both men (60.0 per cent) and women (76.3 per cent) were in non-managerial positions. Regarding marital status, there were more married or cohabiting males (65.8 per cent) than single men (34.2 per cent), while the rate of married and cohabiting women and single ones was 48.8 and 51.2 per cent, respectively. In total, 54.6 per cent of the male sample had children, while 62.4 per cent of the female sample did not have children. Most companies for which the participants worked were in the manufacturing, finance, educational services or information technology industries.\nDiscussion: This study investigated the gender differences in the relationships between job characteristics and distress among Korean employees with the moderating effects of marriage and parenthood. The results of this study highlights that how employee distress occurs may differ by family status and gender in the Korean context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in the relationships between job demands, job control and distress with the moderation effects of family status (i.e. marriage and parenthood) in the patriarchal cultural context of Korea.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors formulated hypotheses on the grounds of stress and role theories and tested them using a hierarchical regression analysis. A sample of 403 Korean employees (230 males; 173 females) was used for the analysis.\nFindings: Family status moderated the relationship between job demands and distress for both males and females, whereas family status significantly moderated the effect of job control on distress for only males. Regardless of gender, marriage and parenthood were associated with distress affected by job demands, while only males exhibited significant distress in interactions between family status and job control.\nOriginality/value: This exploratory study is one of few that explicitly addresses the concepts of the job demands-control model dealing with the unique characteristics of demographic groups. By incorporating data from the single, the married and parents, this study identified applications of the conservation of resources and role theory for various family statuses in a non-Western culture. Particularly, this study is meaningful in that it highlighted the impacts of family roles on distress that can be observed in any culture, but is salient in a highly hierarchal, patriarchal and work-centered culture, like Korea.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Danish study shows mixed-gender workplaces make men less likely to want to become managers, but have no effect on women's aspirations
|
[
"Gender diversity",
"Gender stereotyping",
"Management aspirations",
"Danish public sector"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A Danish study of the relationship between workplace gender diversity and management aspirations has shown different effects on males and females. The results indicated that men in mixed-gender workplaces were less likely to express management aspirations than men in male-dominated ones, but women in mixed-gender offices displayed the same - low - degree of management aspiration as their counterparts in female-dominated offices. The authors derived the responses from thousands of public-sector workers across 13 professions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose was to find out if greater gender diversity affected male and female aspirations to be managers\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hypothesis 1A was that: \"Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with management aspirations among women, but negatively among men.\" Hypothesis 1B was that: \"Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with perceived career possibilities among women, but negatively among men.\" The authors studied questionnaires from 2,818 respondents from 13 occupations\nFindings: The data only partially supported Hypothesis 1A. Results confirmed that it was negatively correlated with men, who had a 4.6% point lower probability of being interested in a management position than males in less diverse organizations. But there was no positive effect of gender diversity on women, in contradiction of expectations. Meanwhile, Hypothesis 1B was rejected.\nOriginality/value: The authors advise organizations to look for advice in studies of management recruitment strategies for solutions to these problems. As women represent the largest pool of available resources in public organizations, they say it would be wise to focus more energy on them.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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User-centered design and evaluation of overview components for semantic data exploration
|
[
"Human computer interaction",
"Search",
"Linked data",
"Semantic web",
"Exploration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The growing volumes of semantic data available on the web result in the need for handling the information overload phenomenon (Thomas, 2007). The potential of this vast amount of data is enormous but in most cases it is very difficult and cumbersome for users to visualize, explore and use this data, especially for lay-users (Dadzie and Rowe, 2011) without experience with Semantic Web technologies. From the end-user perspective, the available data sets are monolithic and opaque files, which usually can just be explored using complex semantic queries or complex user interfaces. Improving the cognition of large data sets remains a standing problem in the Semantic Web.\n2. Related work: Related work can be roughly classified into tools supporting Linked Data visualization and exploration as well as approaches for creating overviews of large data sets.\n3. Approach: Our starting point is the fundamental set of tasks for data analysis proposed by Shneiderman (1996). In the following, we present each task associated with the chosen interaction pattern for web design (Kalbach, 2007):\n4. Overview in Semantic Web data sets: Overview is the first user task when dealing with a data set. The objective is that the user is capable of getting an idea about the overall structure of the data set. However, overviews become difficult to achieve with large heterogeneous data sets, which is typical in the Semantic Web. As data sets grow bigger and more complex, it becomes more difficult to understand the overall structure and to browse them efficiently (Hirsch et al., 2009). A common approach to obtain an overview and support the exploration of large data sets is to structure them hierarchically (Elmqvist and Fekete, 2010). Hierarchies allow users to visualize different abstractions of the underlying data at different levels of detail. They can improve the navigation as they allow users to create a mental model of the content structure (van Ham and van Wijk, 2002).\n5. Overview components: The overview components are created from the hierarchy structure generated. For data sets without a schema it is also possible to use these components but their structure will be flat. Next, we describe the overview components that have been implemented.\n6. Evaluation: The goal of the evaluation was to determine whether solving tasks with the four different components differs with respect to task completion times, response accuracy and user satisfaction. Comparisons between the different components can provide valuable information about the effectiveness and usability of these systems depending on the use case. We do not aim to face the systems against each other but to provide a basis for design recommendations and guidelines.\n7. Conclusions and future work: We presented four components that support the overview task proposed by Shneiderman in his visual seeking mantra. These components are useful for obtaining a broad view of the data sets, their main types and the relationships between them. The RDF data model being prevalent on the Data Web enables us to create these overviews in a generic and automatic way. A good overview provides users an appreciation of the collection of objects and can help achieving their information seeking goals. Rhizomer, with these overview components, allows users to explore data sets even if the publisher of the data does not provide any exploration or visualization means.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The growing volumes of semantic data available in the web result in the need for handling the information overload phenomenon. The potential of this amount of data is enormous but in most cases it is very difficult for users to visualize, explore and use this data, especially for lay-users without experience with Semantic Web technologies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The Visual Information-Seeking Mantra \"Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand\" proposed by Shneiderman describes how data should be presented in different stages to achieve an effective exploration. The overview is the first user task when dealing with a data set. The objective is that the user is capable of getting an idea about the overall structure of the data set. Different information architecture (IA) components supporting the overview tasks have been developed, so they are automatically generated from semantic data, and evaluated with end-users.\nFindings: The chosen IA components are well known to web users, as they are present in most web pages: navigation bars, site maps and site indexes. The authors complement them with Treemaps, a visualization technique for displaying hierarchical data. These components have been developed following an iterative User-Centered Design methodology. Evaluations with end-users have shown that they get easily used to them despite the fact that they are generated automatically from structured data, without requiring knowledge about the underlying semantic technologies, and that the different overview components complement each other as they focus on different information search needs.\nOriginality/value: Obtaining semantic data sets overviews cannot be easily done with the current semantic web browsers. Overviews become difficult to achieve with large heterogeneous data sets, which is typical in the Semantic Web, because traditional IA techniques do not easily scale to large data sets. There is little or no support to obtain overview information quickly and easily at the beginning of the exploration of a new data set. This can be a serious limitation when exploring a data set for the first time, especially for lay-users. The proposal is to reuse and adapt existing IA components to provide this overview to users and show that they can be generated automatically from the thesaurus and ontologies that structure semantic data while providing a comparable user experience to traditional web sites.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Explaining the embodied hospitality experience with ZMET
|
[
"ZMET",
"Embodied experience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It has been widely noted that researchers have adopted a narrow operational focus towards understanding hospitality and associated experiences (Ji et al., 2016a, 2016b; Lugosi, 2014; Lynch et al., 2011). Perhaps because most hospitality publications have emerged from business and managerial related disciplines, it has been commonplace to reduce hospitality experiences to measurable constructs and scientific measurements that fit within the established domains of satisfaction, behavioural intentions and loyalty. Lynch et al. (2011, p. 3) have called for more intellectual representations in hospitality research that consider \"the most pressing social, cultural and political questions of our time\". Hospitality experiences should also embrace such critical insights and incorporate more and broader theoretical and politically laden questions ranging from \"the material to the ethical to the neuroaesthetic to the imaginative\" (Lynch et al., 2011, p. 13). (Though neuroaesthetic approaches have merit for future research, discussion is presented in the latter sections of this paper as they are beyond the scope of the present investigation.) The plentiful literature on tourism image has made way for the growing interest in deeper aspects of the tourist encounter. Simplistic interpretations of the visual have been increasingly challenged by anthropological, sociological and semiotic perspectives that have informed the increasingly customized tourist experience, as it has been mediated through the process of digitized co-creation. A wider range of methodological techniques is needed to elicit insights that extend beyond the superficial and which delve into the tourist's unconscious. The present study views the hospitality experience as a sociocultural, metaphorical and economic exchange and adopts an embodied approach for purposes of conceptualization.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Embodiment\n3. An application of Zaltman's metaphor elicitation technique: To provide an example of the ZMET in action, the authors draw upon a study of the emotional encounters of Chinese tourists dining in Portuguese restaurants in Macau. Although the applicable samples consisted of tourists rather than of restaurant customers more generally, the tourist perspective provides valuable insights into a particular customer profile. The research setting is deliberate. Portuguese cuisine is the legacy of about 440 years of colonial influence over Macau (1557-1999). This extended colonial history might prompt one to expect that Chinese tourist encounters with Portuguese associations would be emotion-laden because of their derivation from transformed power relations (Macau is now a Special Administration Region within China) and sense of nostalgia. The authors contend that cuisine provides a representation of culture and that restaurants can represent \"socio-cultural containers\" (Ji et al., 2016a, 2016b). In this context, Portuguese restaurant food has the potential to generate imaginings and understandings about \"Portugueseness\". The Macau study provides a demonstration of the components of emotional encounters from the following perspectives: the types of prevalent emotions, what has produced them, the meanings of such encounters, and any associated actions.\n4. Discussion and conclusions: The authors have observed that ZMET offers an effective means of eliciting tourists' hidden feelings and experiences. A particularly beneficial aspect was storytelling and using metaphors and pictures. The authors were pleasantly surprised by the quantity, quality and richness of the information that was elicited. Various interviewees were positive about the innovative and informative aspects of ZMET. They also reported that they \"felt empty\", almost as if they had poured out all of their thoughts by the laddering technique. One challenge of using ZMET is the uncertainty that prevails until the themes coalesce. This shows the need for patience when applying ZMET. Another challenge is that laddering technique can create silent responses. Researchers have to be sensitive and flexible with probing questions. Furthermore, there shows obstacles to apply the collage to the tourism and hospitality interviewees. Consideration should be given to these limitations when making the best use of collage. It might be possible to ask the interviewees to consider in advance prior to their interviews or schedule a following interview for collage.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Scholars have rarely applied an embodied perspective when studying hospitality experiences. They have given even less attention to methodological considerations. This paper aims to introduce Zaltman's Metaphor elicitation Technique (ZMET) to explore various domains of the embodied experience.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In demonstrating the applicability of the ZMET procedure to understanding embodied hospitality experiences, the researchers present a study of emotional encounters that involve the dining experiences of Chinese tourists with Western cuisine. The focus of the paper is on data collection, i.e. detailing the step-wise procedures of ZMET that have received minimal scholarly attention.\nFindings: Through the medium of this empirical study, the ZMET example uncovers deep metaphors and answers previously unanswered questions about embodied experiences. The detailed information and nuanced insights that are generated through this ZMET application offer the prospect of enhanced understanding of the hospitality experience.\nOriginality/value: This investigation contributes an innovative research method to the embodied experience in the hospitality and tourism context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Distributed manufacturing: Proposal for a conceptual scale based on empirical evidence in the rubber and plastic sectors
|
[
"Distributed manufacturing",
"Conceptual scale"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The provision of value-added products and services is essential for manufacturing companies to remain competitive and increase their market share. Also, the growing emphasis on ecological and social impacts of organizations, on the surroundings they operate, compels manufacturing companies to adapt efficient and green product development, production and supply chain management strategies (Berrone et al., 2013; Jasti et al., 2015; Dangelico et al., 2017; Sulistiarini et al., 2018; Famiyeh et al., 2018). The organizations undergo significant transformations due to financial crisis, new trade laws and social/economic reorganizations and need to assimilate new roadmaps, frameworks and systems able to maintain a sustainable business life cycle (Metaxas et al., 2016). The manufacturing companies will achieve customer value in future not only through a product or a service realization but also through socially and environmentally responsible and economically efficient manufacturing processes encouraging positive effects for society (Rauch, Seidenstricker, Dallasega and Hammerl, 2016; Rauch, Dallasega and Matt, 2016). To achieve the goal of sustainable manufacturing operations, organizations need to overcome several challenges. These challenges comprise new types of products, operations and organization models to comply with new constraints and objectives of sustainable manufacturing (Garetti and Taisch, 2012). The sustainability in manufacturing can be achieved by a holistic view spanning the product, the manufacturing process, the supply chain and the manufacturing systems across multiple product life cycle (Kabongo, 2018). The literature discusses different approaches used to implement sustainability in manufacturing. Some of these approaches include servitization (Neely, 2008), product life cycle management (Vila et al., 2015), additive manufacturing (Ford and Despeisse, 2016), product-service system (PSS) (Huer et al., 2018) and distributed manufacturing (DM) (Srai et al., 2016; Srai, Harrington and Tiwari, 2016). DM is considered as one of many production strategies for manufacturing companies to achieve their sustainability targets and objectives. DM is an appropriate strategy for sustainable production due to its micro production units which allow local production on demand, reduced transportation cost and strengthening of local economy (Rauch, Seidenstricker, Dallasega and Hammerl, 2016; Rauch, Dallasega and Matt, 2016). DM as a promising production model for sustainable operations and the organizational capabilities required for its implementation is discussed in this study.\n2. Literature review: This section is divided into three sub-sections: DM, DM dimensions and research gaps.\n3. Development of the conceptual scale: The next step is the development of a conceptual scale to evaluate the development level of DM in companies.\n4. Construction of the conceptual scale: After the description of DM basic dimensions, we may proceed to the construction of the overall DM scale. The DM conceptual scale is developed in two steps:\n5. Application case studies: With the aim to show the use of the DM conceptual scale, we analyze some application case studies. These case studies are analyzed to determine the positioning of firms with respect to reference profiles on the conceptual scale. This positioning is helpful for firms to assess their current capacity and plan accordingly to adopt DM.\n6. Conclusion: The growing emphasis on sustainability, resource efficiency and minimal waste, makes DM a promising alternative to overcome the barriers of unresponsive supply chains and wastage of scarce resources (Ratnayake, 2019; Hennelly et al., 2019; Tziantopoulos et al., 2019). The today's business environment has become highly volatile and manufacturing companies need to be adaptive to new technologies and changing consumer trends in order to offer customized products and increase their market share. Meanwhile, sustainability considerations are also important to reduce the environmental impact of production, minimizing operational costs and socially more responsive. The highly competitive market, regulatory pressures and consumer awareness compel organizations to improve their social and environmental performance besides financial performance by achieving sustainability in manufacturing practices, supply chain operations and offering sustainable products to market (Brockhaus et al., 2016; Sarkis et al., 2016; Ray and Mondal, 2017). The cornerstones of new sustainable world, including the manufacturing sector, will be new technology, new business models and new lifestyle models (Garetti and Taisch, 2012). In this context, DM paradigm is being researched as a potential methodology to meet the challenges of competitive advantage and sustainability. DM enables sustainability by producing products at or near the consumption point in small, efficient, adaptable and customer-oriented production units (Rauch, Dallinger, Dallasega and Matt, 2015). For a manufacturing company, a shift from centralized to distributed paradigm not only brings opportunities in terms of sustainable operations and processes but also poses challenges (of cost, quality and efficiency) in this transition process. The transition process can be initiated once the existing status of DM in the company is well understood and precisely documented.\n7. Implications and limitations: 7.1 Implications of the research study\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a preliminary conceptual scale for the measurement of distributed manufacturing (DM) capacity of manufacturing companies operating in rubber and plastic sectors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-step research methodology is employed. In first step, the dimensions of DM and different levels of each dimension have been defined. In second step, an empirical analysis (cluster analysis) of database firms is performed by collecting the data of 38 firms operating in Italian mould manufacturing sector. Application case studies are then analyzed to show the use of the proposed DM conceptual scale.\nFindings: A hyperspace, composed of five dimensions of DM, i.e. manufacturing localization; manufacturing technologies; customization and personalization; digitalization; and democratization of design, is developed and a hierarchy is defined by listing the levels of each dimension in an ascending order. Based on this hyperspace, a conceptual scale is proposed to measure the positioning of a generic company in the DM continuum.\nResearch limitations/implications: The empirical data are collected from Italian mould manufacturing companies operating in rubber and plastic sectors. It cannot be assumed that the industrial sectors in different parts of the world are operating under similar operational, regulatory and economic conditions. The results, therefore, might not be generalized to manufacturing companies operating in different countries (particularly developing countries) under different circumstances.\nOriginality/value: This is first preliminary scale of its kind to evaluate the positioning of companies with respect to their DM capacity. This scale is helpful for companies to compare their capacity with standard profiles and for decision making to convert the existing manufacturing operations into distributed operations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Emotion, power and identity. Emotional display of envy when taking on management roles in a professional hierarchy
|
[
"Emotion",
"Management",
"Identity",
"Power relations",
"Envy",
"Health care hierarchy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The focus of this paper is placed on the management of a clinic during a process of change, where new leading roles were to be created. It is an attempt to develop previous results from an ethnographic study about organising and identity processes in Swedish healthcare. The theoretical aim at that time was to analyse the power relations among healthcare staff, as well as their construction of identity in a hierarchy, from a Foucauldian viewpoint of power and a social constructionist perspective. Considering the individual and group narratives that were performed during the gathering of the empirical material I saw further possibilities for elucidating emotional displays in the interactions between the professional groups and how that may have shaped the production and reproduction of power relations and the construction of leader identity. Emotions like anger, fear and resentment appeared to be embedded in their acts and talk when they tried to accomplish their projects in interaction with each other. Accompanied by or converted through these feelings, envy seemed to be a driving force in the identity construction, when new leading and managing roles were to be taken and learned.\nEmotional display in organisational discourse: In the original study, discourses of power and political directives were the framework within which social identity construction was interpreted. Emotional processes were not fully taken into account to elucidate the actions taken within, and between, the occupational groups at the clinic. As mentioned, strong feelings seemed to be expressed in the narratives related during a period of change. According to Fineman (2000) organisational change, often accompanied by cutbacks in personnel forces or changes in professional roles, may be strongly influenced by the threat to some actors' existence. Such conditions often allow great scope for emotional processes.\nEmotional displays at the clinic: The empirical findings that relate to the change process stem from a period of one year before and six months after the implementation of the new organisation plan. The period prior to the change is considered an outcome of the decentralisation process and the flat organisation that followed. The period after the organisation plan was implemented is viewed as a new situation where a differentiated management of the units was initiated. The empirical data of the two periods are described and analysed separately in the following text, where the narratives are related in considerable detail in chronological order. My intention is to show clearly how interpretations are made from statements and events where emotional displays implicitly seem to be a part of the dynamics.\nConclusions: The narratives at the clinic gave a local picture of the decentralisation and corporate changes in the Swedish healthcare system. Similar processes were going on in all hospitals at the time, and similar or slightly different solutions to the one in this study, were reached. By taking a closer look at the findings of the study it is possible to achieve a deeper understanding of the difficulties involved in an organisational change, where the construction of identity in the occupational groups is deeply rooted in an institutional hierarchy. As pointed out in the aims of the paper, the narratives that are described are reflected on and interpreted through a discursive emotional reading.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Drawing on a previous study of organising processes and the construction of identity in a Swedish geriatric clinic, the impact of emotions is brought to the fore in the interpretation of power relations among professional groups. The purpose of this paper is to find a way to interpret emotions as discursively constructed in organising processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sequence of critical events is described where leading positions were negotiated at the clinic. Senior physicians and head nurses are highlighted as opposing forces in a struggle where envious emotions seemed to be a driving force in the political interplay. The empirical material in this paper comes from the previous study. It is a set of participant observations and parts of interviews that took place before and after the implementation of a new organisational plan for the clinic.\nFindings: The envious and regressive undertone in the relationships between the actors made them act for egocentric reasons instead of creating new ways of collaborating and learning new leading roles. The power relations of the medical hierarchy were reproduced, which made new ways of relating threatening and difficult to achieve.\nOriginality/value: The results of the study confirm that people involved and perhaps in conflict with each other have to be able to, or get help to, make sense of their emotional experiences to employ them constructively. Otherwise they fall back into well-known patterns in order to feel secure. A vital part of learning in change processes is the support to individuals and groups in gaining emotional understanding of themselves and others. Leaders and managers who often are initiators of change ought to be aware of the importance of emotional support in change processes. If they are not, they are destined to be a part of the confusion and unable to lead or support their staff in change processes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Internationalisation of service firms through corporate social entrepreneurship and networking
|
[
"Network",
"Social entrepreneurship",
"Internationalization",
"Base of the pyramid",
"Corporate social entrepreneurship",
"Service firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the increasing saturation of the mainstream markets in both developed and developing countries, service multinational corporations (MNCs) are under pressure to find new solutions to unlock the opportunities in the base of the pyramid (BoP) market segment (London and Hart, 2004; Webb et al., 2010). The BoP markets has traditionally been ignored because of its low purchasing power, different consumer behaviour and lack of proper infrastructure (Prahalad, 2010). However, with its population of four billion, and aggregate purchasing power of US$5 trillion (Hammond et al., 2007), entering the BoP markets is perceived as \"the engine of the next round of global trade and prosperity\" (Prahalad, 2010, p. 6).\n2. The context of the base of the pyramid in India: The BoP segments are constrained by their disposable income; of the four billion living at the BoP, 1.4 billion have daily incomes of between $2 and $8, and 2.6 billion of them earn <$2 per day (Hammond et al., 2007; UNDP, 2008). In India, 469 million people earn <$1.25 per day and 850 million people earn <$2 per day (The World Bank, 2014). The aggregated purchasing power of the BoP people in India represents more than $1 trillion, while the global figure is more than $5 trillion (Hammond et al., 2007).\n3. Theoretical background: Social entrepreneurship theory and corporate social entrepreneurship\n4. Research method: Research design\n5. Overview of the entry of the company cases into the BoP markets in India: Overview of Insurance Co's entry into the BoP markets\n6. Findings: Addressing neglected key needs of the BoP people\n7. Discussion: Considering the conditions at the BoP and the necessity of ensuring the four A's, the service MNCs studied in this research had to devise solutions to aid their entry into the BoP markets. The majority of the BoP population in India are illiterate, live in scattered rural areas and suffer from poor infrastructure and low incomes (Hammond et al., 2007). The findings of this research illustrate that MNCs do not possess all of the resources required for entry into the BoP markets, that is, for building awareness and offering a product that is affordable, accessible and acceptable (Anderson and Billou, 2007). As a result, and in line with the argument of Hadjikhani et al. (2008), MNCs seek collaboration with the key actors in the market to complement their own resources. Prior studies have highlighted that companies benefit from participating in networks in which their partners bring resources, capabilities or other assets that they cannot easily attain on their own (Kogut and Zander, 1992). The benefits of participating in such relationships are more prominent in BoP markets where \"a firm is unable to purchase the [required resources] through a market transaction\" (Madhok, 2000, p. 76). NGOs prove to be one of the best choices for partnerships at the BoP as they are embedded in the BoP through decades of social efforts (Johnson and Prakash, 2007). This was pointed out by one of the interviewees from Telecom:\n8. Conclusion: This study enhances our understanding of the internationalisation of service firms into the BoP. In this research we have attempted to answer the question of how employing socially entrepreneurial initiatives and developing a network of relationships with NGOs can facilitate service MNCs' entry into the BoP markets. The findings of this research illustrate that MNCs' pursuit of socially entrepreneurial activities facilitated their establishment of relationships with NGOs and the mobilisation of the latter's resources to achieve the critical factors of the four A's.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how employing corporate social entrepreneurship and developing a network of relationships with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can support and contribute towards the internationalisation of service firms into the base of the pyramid (BOP) markets in emerging markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research adopts an exploratory approach employing qualitative multiple case studies. Three service firms that have targeted the BOP markets in India were studied. In total, 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with multinational corporations (MNCs) and their NGO partners. Data analysis was facilitated through pattern matching and systematic case comparison.\nFindings: The findings reveal that, by engaging in social entrepreneurship, these MNCs have focused on the neglected needs of the BOP population, developed sustainable solutions and empowerment, and started with social value creation and postponed value capturing. The pursuit of corporate social entrepreneurship has paved the way for them to establish relationships with NGOs. While the MNCs have mainly had the technical knowledge and financial resources required, collaboration with NGOs have allowed them to learn about the BOP's specific needs and benefit from the NGOs' knowledge, human resources and good relationships in this market.\nOriginality/value: This research unravels how service firms can seize opportunities at the BOP. The authors build on social entrepreneurship theory and bring new insights to the field of international business. In addition, the authors broaden the network view and show how networking with social actors such as NGOs enables the mobilisation of resources, actors and activities in emerging markets.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Leading effectively through a crisis: How to generate learning opportunities for managers
|
[
"Problem based learning",
"Learning",
"Leadership",
"Development",
"Management development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: During current turbulent times, managers have been confronted by many responsibilities and issues, and the recent financial meltdown has had a tremendous impact on the sustainability of organizational success. The creeping effects of impending change have led many managers to redefine their priorities, shape their expectations and seek new contributions.\nProblem-based leadership: Problem-based leadership is a management model based on the principles of problem-based learning (PBL) which is commonly employed as an educational vehicle through which people get to try the roles and skills they require in order to contribute at higher levels.Two critical components of problem-based leadership methodology are ACTION and LEARN:* Ask probing questions.* Clarify your doubts.* Test your assumptions.* Inquire about alternatives.* Obtain relevant support.* Nurture your team members.* Liberate the problem.* Engage in dialogue.* Act on concrete ideas.* Reflect on the solving process.* Number your lessons learned.\nACTION: the propulsion: Ask probing questions. Deep questioning is fundamental to conquering uncertainties that surround an impending problem. A problem is only a problem when it disrupts work flows, destabilizes routines and challenges managers' competence in handling unpredictable outcomes.Clarify your doubts. To help increase the confidence level of decision making through problem solving, managers need to seek active feedback from, and engage in meaningful dialogue with, their coworkers to socially construct meanings and solutions that would have an impact on process improvement.Test your assumptions. Managers testing their assumptions should ensure that their \"theory\" works to some extent by being bold enough to innovate and do things differently.Inquire about alternatives. Seeking alternatives in problem solving takes tested assumption to a higher level. It focuses on managers' readiness to take the path less traveled, the ability to think outside the box and the audacity to veer away from tried-and-tested approaches.Obtain relevant support. If everyone on the team is focused on the same problem page, the manager will be able to ensure that the members act out their roles in efficient and productive ways. In order for problem solving to take better shape, a strong buy-in is essential.Nurture your team members. Managers need to facilitate mutual participation in problem solving and decision making through a shared vision. Managers need to understand that in order to succeed, they ought to lead through others.\nLEARN: the sustainability: Liberate the problem. Loosening the grip on problems gives managers the freedom to prioritize them in multifaceted ways, which helps them see combinations and make connections to conceptualize better solutions.Engage in dialogue. Managers need to engage in dialogue which goes beyond amplifying their \"voices\" through talk; dialogue connects people at multiple levels and promotes the exchange of values and beliefs that allows diverse worldviews to intersect.Act on concrete ideas. Concrete ideas are ideas that have a specific process to a solution where there is an envisaged start and end point. Acting is a demonstration of one's confidence and courage in responding to potential ambiguities and risks.Reflect on the solving process. Sometimes, problem solving can be a frustrating process as managers are often pressurized by the need to work out a solution. They need to focus on the process rather than the outcome so that they are mindful of the route (solving) rather than being eager to reach the destination (solution).Number your lessons learned. The question managers should ask is: can my learning impact others? If impact is a catalyst for the unraveling of greater potential in others, the key lessons learnt need to be identified.\nLeadership development using PBL: Andrew is a senior manager, and as part of a Master's Leadership program, he is completing a problem-based-learning module in strategic learning.The aim is to provide Andrew with the opportunity to use a strategic issue within his organization as the source of analysis, reflection, research and action-taking. By use of an identified strategic issue he is able to set a contract of activities to be undertaken and completed then reflect on the results achieved.Andrew was concerned that his service, in developing a vision for change, had failed to pay attention to the consultation process. As a consequence, neither managers nor staff had any ownership of policy and did not subscribe to the vision. He, therefore, asked his first probing question: how can we create a vision that has the ownership of all managers and staff?Andrew reflectively considered the problem and highlighted the dominance of senior managers in imposing a vision for change on distant stakeholders who, by virtue of their lack of engagement, had no interest or commitment to it. As an alternative, there was talk of Andrew working with his staff as a group that would engender discussion and dialogue. As a result, further questions were set:1. Will all stakeholders engage?2. What steps do I need to take to ensure \"buy in\"?3. How can I show leadership in providing a vision for the service?To add to the dialogue, examples of success and failure from well-known cases of Hewlett Packard and Xerox were brought into play. Lack of trust and support among stakeholders provided insights into why strategies failed. The next step was to work with this group to \"act on concrete ideas\" gained from their discussion by starting a wide-ranging and comprehensive consultation with key stakeholders.Andrew encouraged all participants to challenge assumptions and think critically, a step into the unknown and a move out of comfort zones. As a consequence, difficult questions continued to be posed about deficiencies in the service as seen by service users. At the end of the process the most striking realization was the sense of achievement that raised the morale of all involved.It was clear that strong leadership needed to occur in tandem with the requirement of space for expression and a part to contribute to a shared vision for the service. At any moment, the group could walk away from the process but this did not happen and this inspired a new sense of belief that if people are engaged, the returns are unlimited.\nLeading effectively: When problems begin to undermine organizational processes, managers must have the courage to confront them, live through them and, most importantly, create growth paths for business operations that outperform them.Understanding that problems, although a potential source of destruction, could be liberated to generate many learning opportunities for managers, helps them appreciate turbulent times for the recreation of a much stronger leadership identity. To lead effectively is to face the Goliath rather than running away from forces of destruction.\nComment: This is a review of \"Problem-based leadership: nurturing managers during turbulent times\" by Roland K. Yeo, and Jeff Gold. This article identifies several pertinent action points for managers to lead through problems while understanding their capacity to empower themselves and others to face challenges at work. It is clear and concise, and employs an interesting and readable style. The article is of value to managers who aspire to make an impact on organizational process and improvement.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints 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: - During current turbulent times managers have been confronted by many responsibilities and issues, and the recent financial meltdown has had a tremendous impact on the sustainability of organizational success. The creeping effects of impending change have led many managers to redefine their priorities, shape their expectations and seek new contributions.\nPractical implications: - Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nSocial implications: - Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that can have a broader social impact.\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 TV sponsorship can help television spot advertising
|
[
"Television",
"Sponsorship",
"Advertising effectiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Often, an ad break starts with a sponsorship bumper saying, \"this program was brought to you by the program-sponsoring brand\". These sponsorship bumpers, usually about 5 s, convey little more than the sponsoring brand's logo and perhaps a slogan. Brands can sponsor TV programs, advertise during ad breaks or do both. The sponsorship bumper's 5 s of brand exposure should add to the effectiveness of a subsequent TV spot ad for the same brand. This study tests the effects of sponsorship bumpers on TV spot ads. Does this potential boosting effect work for ads immediately after the bumper or after a delay and does this boosting effect happen for familiar or unfamiliar brands?\nLiterature review: In the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, multiple sponsors and spot advertisers have supported program production, rather than exclusive sponsors (Lavin, 1995). Multiple sponsorship of programs remains a large income source for public TV networks, such as public broadcasting service, in the USA (Masterson, 2005). TV sponsorship bumpers, typically about 5 s in duration, convey little information. Their purpose is to link a well-known brand with a well-liked program, for the brand's benefit. This brand-program association works best with viewers interested in the program and a strong brand/program association; the two seem to fit together (e.g. both are sports-related) (Brennan, 2009; Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001; Masterson, 2005; Martensen et al., 2007; Olson, 2010; Olson and Thjomoe, 2009).\nMethod: Design\nResults: Manipulation checks\nDiscussion: Television networks earn billions of dollars from TV spot advertising and TV program sponsorship. Advertisers can buy program sponsorship and TV spot advertising packages for the same program. Building on prior research (Olson and Thjomoe, 2012), this study used realistic stimuli, a sample representative of the general US population and multiple measures of communication effects. The study results show that sponsorship bumpers can boost TV spot ad effectiveness compared to either sponsorship or TV spot ads alone. This sponsorship-boosting effect occurs across multiple communication goals, including aided and unaided awareness and ad liking (Dens et al., 2018).\nImplications for advertisers: These results confirm that program sponsorship bumpers are a viable and economical alternative to television advertising (Arrazola et al., 2016; Olson and Thjomoe, 2012). The results replicate findings showing that sponsorship bumpers can be as effective as 30-s ads (Olson and Thjomoe, 2012). These findings generalize to another country, the USA rather than Norway, and to typical 1-h prime time programs as opposed to short sports or games show content with a limited ad loading.\nLimitations and future research directions: To increase external validity, this study used a representative sample and realistic stimuli, including 1-h programs with many filler ads competing for attention with the test ads (Dens et al., 2018). Nevertheless, several limitations merit consideration when interpreting and using the study results. The first limitation is that this lab study probably favored TV spot advertising, compared to television viewing outside the lab. TV viewers at home can avoid ads by ignoring them, leaving the room or changing channels (Dix and Phau, 2017; Speck and Elliott, 1997). Avoidance is hard for the 5 s when a sponsorship bumper screens between the program and the ad break (Olson and Thjomoe, 2012). Thus, TV sponsorship bumpers are likely to be even more effective outside the lab, where TV spots are easily avoided.\nConclusion: Despite its limitations, this study builds on prior controlled empirical research to show that TV sponsoring bumpers can rival and boost the effectiveness of TV spot advertising. The results clearly show that short exposures to sponsorship bumpers can be as effective as long exposures to TV spot ads. When both advertise the same brand, the combination is more effective than either bumpers or spot ads alone, especially for unfamiliar brands. Repeat exposure rather than forward priming effects explains this boosting effect. Broadcasters and advertisers, using either a reach or a frequency strategy for their media placement, will benefit from thoughtful use of these results.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to test TV sponsorship bumper effects, for the same brand, on 30-s TV spot advertising.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental study tests sponsorship bumpers and 30-s TV spot ads for eight brands, four familiar and four unfamiliar, using realistic stimuli and a sample representative of the US population.\nFindings: Sponsorship boosts ad effectiveness and is measured by ad awareness and ad liking. Both effects were stronger for unfamiliar brands.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results show that combining sponsorship with spot advertising has an additive effect. The study design did not allow tests for potential synergy (multiplicative) effects.\nPractical implications: Advertisers can use the results to evaluate investing in sponsorship and advertising packages, which can help unfamiliar brands achieve familiar brand awareness.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to compare the effectiveness of sponsorship-boosted ads with sponsorship bumpers alone and with TV spot ads.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A descriptive analysis of consumer's price promotion literacy skills
|
[
"Australia",
"Literacy",
"Consumer confusion",
"Numeracy",
"Price promotions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Price promotions are temporary price reductions signalled to consumers by distinctive point-of-sale signage (Blattberg et al., 1995). Over the past decade, fast moving consumer goods manufacturers and retailers across the globe have doubled their spending on trade promotions, such as price reduction, features, and displays. Currently, they spend about US$1 trillion annually in order to stay competitive in today's cluttered retail environment. In the USA, more than one-fifth of consumer products are sold with one type of promotion or another (Bogomolova et al., 2015; Nielsen, 2015). Thus, price promotion signage is highly prevalent in the retail environment (Plate 1).\nBackground: Price promotion communication\nResearch questions: In this study, the authors build on the literature relating to both price promotion and consumer literacy/numeracy to address the following research questions:\nMethod: Sample\nData analysis and findings: The specific response percentages within each question are listed in Tables II and III.\nConclusion and implications for public policy, practice, and management: The present study is an initial inquiry into the levels of comprehension (literacy) and effective use (numeracy) by a representative sample of consumers in Australia regarding common types of price promotion communication.\nLimitations and future research: The main limitation of this study is the lack of motivation for the respondents to solve the questions and give the correct answers. There were no incentives offered, such as lucky draws or gift vouchers for the respondent who achieved the highest score. Hence, some of the respondents might not have paid sufficient attention to the questions, or even attempted to answer them correctly. Because the respondents were sourced from a panel provider, they would receive payment regardless of their level of engagement and effort to correctly answer the items of the questionnaire.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a descriptive analysis of consumers' ability to comprehend and use common price promotion information when they choose to do so (e.g. to find the least expensive price or to understand the savings amount); second, to identify which consumer groups (in terms of demographic characteristics) find price promotion comprehension particularly challenging.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire with 14 measures (four literacy, ten numeracy) was administered in the study. Data from 607 Australian consumers were analysed using descriptive, cross-tabulation, and multiple regression analysis via IBM SPSS analytics software.\nFindings: On average, 20 per cent of the consumers surveyed were unable to comprehend the price promotion signage. On average, 13 per cent of the consumers were unable to carry out arithmetic tasks using the information on price promotion signage. Multiple regression models showed that income level was the main driving factor for the consumers' price promotion literacy and numeracy levels.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present study is the first exploratory examination of consumers' levels of comprehension (literacy) and effective use (numeracy) regarding common types of price promotion communication. The use of online samples and data collection method overestimates the results effect.\nOriginality/value: This is a pilot field study to investigate whether levels of consumers' price promotion literacy and numeracy are adequate for everyday decision making. The information can be used as evidence and justification for further research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Think outside the box: managerial relevance and theoretical developments within B2B marketing
|
[
"Managerial relevance",
"Theory development",
"Methodological clarity",
"Imagination",
"Creativity",
"Solution research mode"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: 1.1 Background and aim\n2. The methodological landscape revisited: 2.1 Three main epistemologies - instead of two\n3. Implications of adding the 3rd epistemology: 3.1 Increased managerial relevance and revitalized theoretical advances\n4. A proposed model for theoretical developments within B2B marketing: This article posits that both managerial relevance and the 3rd epistemology (belonging to the second research mode) have important roles to fill for theoretical developments within B2B marketing. As an applied science, B2B marketing research should not only be something that is sent out; it should also more often use the receiver perspective to be aligned in perspectives with managers' challenges and needs. This is the aspect of research and managerial relevance that this article wants to promote.\n5. Conclusion: Using managerial relevance as a method by which to forward B2B marketing theory comes down to space. That is, space against practice, to use academia as the sanctum it is for reflective thought, outside of the reactive mode of everyday business life; and space for managerial relevance and the 3rd epistemology's interrogations, against the default research mode and its normative epistemologies. This article has attempted to create this space, from the root, and to show that the approach is called for in literature. Recognizing that there is a second research mode plays a role similar to the opening of a lock in a subjacent waterway system, where it has too long monitored a biased regularization, making the 3rd epistemology the constant underdog and effectively hindering the use of managerial relevance and theoretical perspective-turning.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This article aims to identify methodological openings and barriers for using managerial relevance as a method to further business to business (B2B) marketing theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: There is currently an imbalance between two research modes; notably, the normative knowledge accumulation mode confers scant space to the solution mode. This negatively affects both the production of managerially relevant research and theoretical developments within B2B marketing which, in turn, hinders the development of marketing as an applied science. Against the background of an upgraded methodological cartography, emphasizing the equal importance of the two research modes, this article illustrates the context of using managerial relevance as a method to forward B2B marketing theory. An aggregate picture of corresponding calls in the literature shows why this is important.\nFindings: Calls for increased managerial relevance and methodological diversity outside the normative knowledge accumulation mode will face difficulties in terms of changing researcher behavior, as long as the biased relationship between the two research modes persists. For managerially relevant research to increase, and for B2B marketing science to progress, underlying assumptions of different methodological stances have to be uncovered, calling for increased methodological clarity.\nResearch implications: To prevent a relapse, the analysis suggests a further strategy by which to modify schematic models to study organizational change and behavior.\nPractical implications: A more significant role attributed to managerial relevance for theory development early in the research process, permits to align the perspectives of research with the needs of practice and will decrease the research-practice gap.\nOriginality/value: The article pinpoints two research modes and three epistemological stances - predict, describe and depict - which sharpens methodological clarity beyond traditional qualitative-quantitative, and conceptual-empirical classifications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Service capabilities and servitized SME performance: contingency on firm age
|
[
"Service management",
"SMEs",
"Firm performance",
"Servitization",
"Capabilities",
"Software firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Servitization - increasing the role of services - is seen by many product-centric firms as a way to achieve competitive advantage (Gebauer et al., 2011; Lightfoot et al., 2013; Baines et al., 2017). Accordingly, many firms now provide hybrid offerings. These consist of both products and services (Shankar et al., 2009; Ulaga and Reinartz, 2011), and providing them requires organizational changes, including the development of organizational capabilities \"to facilitate the integration of products and services, as well as to develop, sell, and deliver services.\" (Paiola et al., 2013, p. 391). Prior research has sought to identify servitization-related capabilities through explorative research (Ceci and Masini, 2011; Davies, 2004; Gebauer, Paiola and Edvardsson, 2012; Gebauer, Ren, Valtakoski and Reynoso, 2012; Paiola et al., 2013; Storbacka, 2011; Windahl et al., 2004). Yet, our understanding of these capabilities and their effects on firm performance remains limited (Baines et al., 2017; Ceci and Masini, 2011).\nPrior research on capabilities and servitization: Prior research has established that servitization requires product-centric firms to develop new organizational capabilities related to system integration and service operations (Davies et al., 2006; Miller et al., 2002). Capabilities are firm-level combinations of organizational routines that affect how effectively firms can perform the activities necessary for its business by combining and using available resources (Helfat and Peteraf, 2003; Peng et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2012), and hence an important part of the operations strategy of a firm (Hitt et al., 2016). In practice, organizational capabilities are manifested in organizational initiatives such as quality management and just-in-time practices (cf. Baines and Lightfoot, 2013; Wu et al., 2012). Prior research clearly indicates that capabilities affect firm performance (Hitt et al., 2016; Tan et al., 2007; Avella and Vazquez-Bustelo, 2010).\nConceptual model and hypotheses: The prior literature on servitization (Paiola et al., 2013; Storbacka, 2011; Ulaga and Reinartz, 2011) and operational capabilities (Coltman and Devinney, 2013; Avella and Vazquez-Bustelo, 2010; Wu et al., 2012) suggests that service capability is not a uniform construct. To further conceptualize service capabilities, we draw on service research, which suggests service business requires balancing two contradictory operational goals: standardization and customization (Gronroos and Ojasalo, 2004; Rust et al., 2002). This is analogous with the trade-off between efficiency and flexibility in manufacturing (Boyer and Lewis, 2002; Ebben and Johnson, 2005). Standardization emphasizes cost efficiency while customization emphasizes customer value and increasing revenues through enhanced value creation.\nMethodology: Empirical setting\nResults: We used hierarchical ordinary least squares regression to test our hypotheses. H1 and H2 were tested as the main effects of BO and FO service capabilities on firm performance. H3a and H3b with firm age as moderator were tested using interaction terms. We performed the analysis for ROS in a stepwise fashion, adding first the control variables (model 1), then the main effects (models 2a-2c, and, finally, the interaction terms (model 3). The results of the regression analyses are shown in Table IV. The explanatory power of the full regression model, measured with adjusted R2, was 0.178, comparable to prior research using similar measures of performance (Carr and Pearson, 2002).\nDiscussion: Our findings provide new insights into how service capabilities affect the performance of SMEs providing hybrid offerings. We found support for the hypothesized positive relationship between FO service capability and firm performance. However, the effects of BO service capability were contrary to our expectations. We found a negative relationship between BO service capability and firm performance, suggesting that high BO service capability can be detrimental for SME performance. Importantly, we also found that firm age moderates the impact of both BO and FO service capability on firm performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of back-office (BO) service capability and front-office (FO) service capability, and how firm age influences the impact of these service capabilities on small and medium size enterprise (SME) performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the prior literature on servitization and firm operational capabilities, hypotheses were developed on the impact of service capabilities on firm performance. These hypotheses were tested using a survey and externally sourced financial data on 224 SMEs in the software industry.\nFindings: FO service capability has a positive impact on firm performance of SMEs. The effect of BO service capability was weaker and partly contrary to expectations, showing a negative effect on firm performance for young SMEs. As hypothesized, the impact of both BO and FO service capability is moderated by firm age. Young SMEs benefit more from FO service capability. For older SMEs, BO service capability becomes increasingly more important.\nPractical implications: As different capabilities lead to different outcomes, SMEs need to carefully consider which service capabilities to invest in. As the relative importance of capabilities changes over time, SMEs need to be ready to change their strategic focus over time toward BO capabilities to attain optimal outcomes.\nOriginality/value: The findings suggest that factors such as industry, firm size, and firm age affect the optimal servitization path, and that current understanding of servitization does not necessarily apply to all servitized firms. The study also provides further evidence of the impact of service capabilities on firm performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumer reaction to service failure and recovery: the moderating role of attitude toward complaining
|
[
"Service failures",
"Complaints",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Brazil"
] |
[
{
"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.\nConceptual model and hypotheses: In this section, we present the theoretical background of the proposed model and the expected direction of the relationships between the constructs. Figure 1 illustrates the constructs and relationships investigated in the research model. This model includes the main variables involved in a situation of service failure/recovery. Once customers go through a failure followed by a recovery, they will form a satisfaction with that experience. Their level of satisfaction (positive versus negative) will depend on how severe the failure was, how responsive the recovery was and how fair the recovery process was. These aspects are contemplated in the model by the variables of failure, recovery and perceived justice (see Figure 1). The level of satisfaction will have an effect on the behavioral responses of the customers, represented in the model by the repurchase intentions, the propensity of giving positive recommendations of the service provider (word-of-mouth) and the complaint intentions. These behavioral responses should be influenced on how the customers perceive the stability of the problem, i.e. in what extension the problem is more or less likely to occur again in the future with the same service provider. In this model, we revisit relationships already tested in the literature and integrate them. Our key contribution, however, is the proposed moderating effect of ATC, hypothesizing that there is a difference of effects when comparing customers with low versus high ATC.Satisfaction in the context of service failure and recovery\nMethod: Data collection procedures and sample\nResults: Of the 204 participants, 111 (55 percent) were male and 92 (45 percent) female. Most of the respondents (106 or 52 percent) were under 25 years, followed by those in the 31-40 range (47, or 23 percent) and those in the 26-30 range (37, or 18 percent) and 13 (6 percent) older than 41. About half the sample were undergraduates (103, or 51 percent), followed by graduates (76, or 37 percent) and those who had just finished a college degree (23, or 11 percent).Failed service encounters\nDiscussion, conclusions and managerial implications: Service failure and recovery is an important research subject in the services marketing literature. Although studies on this topic have investigated how customers react to service failure and recovery, as well as how situational variables affect satisfaction and repatronage intentions (Harris et al., 2006; Mattila, 2001; Maxham, 1998; Smith and Bolton, 1998), more recent research testing moderating effects has found mixed results, such as a significant role of company responsiveness and a non-significant effect of attitude toward complaining (ATC) on the satisfaction-complaining intentions relationship (Voorhees and Brady, 2005).In this context, the main purpose of this research was to test the moderating effect of ATC in the satisfaction-complaint intentions link, as well as in the relationships of failure-satisfaction, and recovery-satisfaction. By reviewing and integrating the relevant literature on service failure/recovery, we developed a conceptual model that:* revisits relationships that have already been tested (e.g. direct effects between failure severity, company responsiveness, satisfaction, repatronage intentions, complaining intentions and word-of-mouth); and* investigates the moderating effects of ATC.Our findings indicate that failure severity and perceived justice influence satisfaction, which affects repatronage intentions, word-of-mouth, and complaint intentions. Our main contribution is to demonstrate that ATC is a significant moderator, especially considering the relationships of recovery-satisfaction and satisfaction-complaining intentions. The effect of service recovery on satisfaction was stronger for consumers with higher ATC. Figure 2 presents a summary of these results.Satisfaction was not directly influenced by company responsiveness, except when considering the moderating effect of ATC (we discuss the moderating effects ahead). Significant direct effects included:* the negative influence of failure severity on satisfaction (in agreement with Mattila, 1999);* the positive influence of perceived justice on satisfaction, which is in agreement with previous research (Tax et al., 1998); and* the consequences of satisfaction, including a positive relationship with repatronage intentions and word-of-mouth, and a negative relationship with complaining intentions (consistent with Andreassen, 1999; Maxham and Netemeyer, 2002; Smith and Bolton, 1998; Voorhees and Brady, 2005).Stability attributions did not have a significant effect on satisfaction and repatronage intentions, similar to the results found by Smith and Bolton (1998) in the hotel setting. The same non-significant pattern was found in the effects of stability attributions on complaining intentions. On the other hand, stability attributions had a significant influence on word-of-mouth, indicating that a customer's propensity to spread positive word-of-mouth was lower (higher) when he/she believes that the service failure is more (less) likely to happen again.Although support was found for the direct effect of failure severity on satisfaction, a contrary result was found for the moderating effect of ATC in this relationship. We predicted that customers who were more likely to complain would have their satisfaction more affected by a service failure encounter. Results showed the opposite, that the relationship was significant only for the low ATC customers. This finding suggests that the satisfaction level of high ATC customers do not depend on the severity of the failure. A possible explanation may be that if these customers with higher propensity to complain are more likely to complain regardless of their satisfaction (as proposed by Voorhees and Brady, 2005, and as we found in H6a), negative influences on satisfaction seems not to be as important for them, as they are \"ready\" to complain. Another possible explanation is that customers who have high ATC may form their satisfaction differently from those with low ATC. Future studies should investigate this process further in the context of services failures.Voorhees and Brady (2005) also found unexpected moderating effects of ATC, but on the link satisfaction-complaining intentions, and they called attention that future studies should reinvestigate these effects. We tested this hypothesis and found a significant result, corroborating what they had proposed, i.e. that customers with higher ATC are more likely to complain regardless of their level of satisfaction. And because of this, satisfaction is a stronger predictor of complaining intentions for customers with low ATC. Our study provided support for this proposition.In agreement with predictions, the effect of company responsiveness on satisfaction was stronger for those consumers with high propensity to complain. This finding is strong evidence that company responsiveness is important for achieving customer satisfaction in a service recovery situation and it is even more important for those customers who are more likely to complain (high ATC). It is another evidence that ATC is an important moderator in the consumer reactions to service failure and recovery (Bodey and Grace, 2006; Voorhees and Brady, 2005).One important finding for managers dealing with service failures and recoveries is the moderation effect of ATC. Results showed that the effect of service recovery on satisfaction was stronger for those consumers who have higher propensity to complain. This finding suggests that not only responsiveness is important for a provider to accomplish customer satisfaction in a context of service failure, but also that it is even more important for achieving satisfaction of those consumers who are more likely to complain (high ATC). Thus, managers dealing with failure/recovery situation could segment customers according to their ATC level. As those with high ATC are more likely to complain (e.g. to other customers and spread negative word-of-mouth), the company should create special mechanisms/channels to listen to these \"loud\" voices. Customers with low ATC should not be ignored, either. Managers should think that maybe they do not complain very easily because they switch service provider on the first incident of service failure. If so, managers should think about raising the switching costs of these customers, especially strengthening the provider-customer relationship in the affective dimension (Jones et al., 2007).Managers should also consider that customer perceived justice has a significant effect on satisfaction. Thus, managers should make every effort to guarantee to the customer a fair complaint handling process. This principle will be of great importance, as satisfied customers will be more likely to repatronage and engage in positive word-of-mouth. Also, if customers perceive that the experienced problem is not probable to occur again in the future, they will be more likely to engage in positive word-of-mouth. Thus, managers can also work on these stability attributions to make customers feel more confident in their service provider.Our study provided results from a wide variety of service settings, contributing to external validity (generalizability) and to strengthen the implications of the results, both for academicians and managers. We note that no difference of the ATC score was found between the categories of the variables gender, age and education, meaning that these variables did not influence ATC. New studies could investigate if there are differences of ATC and complaint intentions across service industries and how these attitudes and intentions are related to other variables of the context (e.g. switching cost). A limitation of our study is the cross-sectional design, in which predictor and response variables are measured at the same time. Future studies could consider the use of a longitudinal approach in order to check, for instance, how intentions of complaining behavior result in actual complaining behavior and what variables are related to this process.Another limitation is the relatively low reliability found for the scales of attitude toward complaining and future complaining intentions, although similar findings have been presented in the literature (Bearden and Mason, 1984; Singh, 1988; Zeelenberg and Pieters, 1999), indicating the difficulty in measuring constructs related to consumer complaining behavior. Nevertheless, future studies should emphasize the development of more reliable scales for these constructs.In general, the results presented here suggest that studies dealing with service failure and recovery should take into account consumer's attitude toward complaining (ATC) as a way to improve explanation in the proposed models and to understand the boundary conditions of the investigated relationships. Future studies should also investigate how service failure and recovery affect real consumer complaining behavior, instead of intentions of complaining behavior. For example, word-of-mouth could be fully investigated, including negative comments over a bad service provider and positive ones related to an excellent recovery. Also, new moderators should be included in the model (e.g. the availability of alternative service providers and different levels of switching costs), increasing its external validity further (Lynch, 1999).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to investigate, in a context of service failure and recovery, how consumer satisfaction is affected by problem severity and company responsiveness, how satisfaction influences repatronage intentions, word-of-mouth, and complaint intentions, and how consumer attitude toward complaining (ATC) moderates these relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An integrated model is proposed, following recent developments in the service recovery literature. This model is tested using data from a survey with 204 complaining customers.\nFindings: - Service recovery affected satisfaction more strongly for consumers with high ATC, indicating a moderating role of ATC. This moderator was also supported in the link between satisfaction and complaining intentions. Also, failure severity and perceived justice influenced satisfaction, which affected repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth, and complaining intentions.\nPractical implications: - Service managers should consider the differences between customers with low versus high ATC when providing recovery for a service failure. For instance, the importance of responsiveness in service recovery is even greater for those customers with high ATC, and those customers with low ATC have their complaint decision more dependent on their satisfaction level. Also, it is important to improve the customers' perceived fairness in the complaint resolution process.\nOriginality/value: - This paper investigates the key antecedents and consequences of satisfaction in a context of service failure and recovery by integrating previous research in a comprehensive model. ATC is proposed and tested as a moderator when complainers and non-complainers are compared in the level of the strength of the relationships. Previous research has not found a moderation effect in this level.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Key research topics likely to generate Australian and other wine producer countries' support during the period 2020-2030
|
[
"Wine industry research strategy",
"Big ideas",
"Business",
"Wine marketing",
"Data"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Most academics develop their research from their personal interests and conduct studies that are likely to be published in academic journals. Also, in wine business, academics usually do not have local research teams, so they often conduct relatively small-scale projects that do not have \"big picture\" application. This behaviour has often led to the accusation, particularly from industry, that our research does not provide answers to the questions that really matter.\n2. Method: The University of South Australia Business School sponsored a session during the 17th Australian Wine Technical Conference in July 2019, which was attended by approximately 50 leaders and researchers in wine business, wine tourism, economics and marketing, to discuss the important business-related issues the Australian wine industry should consider investing in over the next 10 years. After about two hours of discussion, attendees voted individually on which topics they felt were most important. We set out below the key areas the group believed should be funded to maintain Australia's position as an innovative and data-driven wine sector. At the same time, these topic areas should be of interest to wine producers around the world as all face much the same changing environmental and market conditions. The suggested areas of research are selected for being researchable, tangible and actionable and would deliver significant impact and ROI. The structure and sub-topics within each major topic are a thought-piece by the authors, rather than a specific guide to what to research.\n3. Key research areas: 3.1 What are the most profitable and sustainable wine business models for different sized wineries?\n4. Conclusions: The objective of this paper was to provide some impetus wine business researchers regarding the \"big\" topics to consider in our future research. We did not plan for an exhaustive list, but rather a summary of the of the topics raised at the Adelaide forum, to which we added a couple of our own as issues we ought to consider in upcoming research. Focusing on the \"big\" ideas, our community has proven to be an excellent platform to engender collaboration across people and countries. We hope this paper starts some discussion and eventual collaboration to look into some of these topics, which will certainly impact the development of wine businesses in the next 10 years.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present seven mega-topics wine business researchers could collaborate on to help the global wine industry better cope with changes occurring across the world.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The first six of these topics emerged at a strategy planning session held in Australia in July 2019, and one more topic of concern was decided to be added that will help wine business researchers better model wine buying/wine tourism behaviour.\nFindings: The seven topic areas are profitability and sustainability of different wine business models; interrelated risk and opportunities in the wine supply chain; how to stimulate innovation; managing growing social pressure and social license; building regional resilience and managing local growth; conducting research in emerging markets and how to measure the impact of marketing activities there; and accounting for infrequent and non-wine alcohol buyers in research.\nOriginality/value: Academics in wine business (and other areas) often pursue research of personal interest and convenience. However, this behaviour has often led to the accusation, particularly from industry, that this research does not really provide answers to the questions that really matter to industry. This viewpoint provides an industry-generated set of big picture research areas that have both academic and practical value.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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